Chapter 4

“So, that’s it for the day, all of the cases that we could reasonably tackle for one afternoon. I don’t know about you, Annette, but I don’t approve of loading up an extreme workload and wearing the body out over something that can always be dealt with tomorrow. Too many lawyers, myself included, used to wear themselves thin in the past, and for what? If the Mayhem has taught us anything, it’s that life is fragile. We have to embrace it. Democracy might be dead, but we aren’t, are we?” Deputy Commissar William Hepburn, “Bill” to his friends, encouraged his new assistant, Annette Chambers, to stop working for the day.

“Why is democracy dead now? Just curious,” Annette inquired, hoping that Hepburn wouldn’t take offense at the query.

“Because Leviathan had to finish it off once he took over, and frankly, it failed. America, the UK, much of the English-speaking world had become failed states in the wake of the Mayhem, as had so many others. You saw this in action recently. Remember the wholesale massacre that happened in Lubbock just six months ago, part of why guns now have to be registered? Those guys took over an entire block of town and slaughtered three thousand people? Admittedly, they were neo-Nazis, but you get the idea.

“There was a similar incident in Muncie, Indiana, with those radical feminists who killed and castrated ninety-eight men before they were stopped? It got less press, but it was serious business. Yeah, Leviathan rose to power because the social contract was broken and democracy was the god that failed us all. Look at Italy, you got that rogue bastard General Barbacia seizing large chunks of real estate there as a warlord, and I don’t think that he’s going to stop anytime soon. Better Leviathan than someone like Barbacia, trust me. At least here, you have the rule of law. Barbacia just lines people up against walls and orders his firing squads to shoot,” Hepburn observed, making Annette shudder in response.

“Yes, sir, I definitely take your point. Better dictatorship than anarchy, and better a sane dictatorship with some kind of legal framework and protection than a warlord who summarily executes dissidents. Italy, of all places, who’d have guessed it? Italy! I’ve wanted to go there for years as a tourist, but now I might be an old woman before I make it there safely, if ever. Italy’s now effectively an occupied country under this madman’s rule, isn’t it?” Annette confessed her desire to visit Italy sometime in her lifetime, largely due to the romance of the idea.

“Oh, I imagine that Italy will settle down soon enough, but it will be at a price. Barbacia will win. Mark my words. He’ll take power throughout the country, maybe beyond it as well. You’ll be visiting a future Italy under one-man-rule. Military dictatorship, plain and simple. He’ll ease up on the executions once his regime has stabilized. This isn’t a Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, or even a Mussolini. The brutal summary executions are a means to an end, the end being to scare any resistance into surrender.

“Those other guys kept killing people after they took power, because they intended to purge and purify society, to cleanse it like Robespierre of any perceived taints or blemishes. He’s not an ideologue, just a wannabe Caesar. That’s very different. His regime will be authoritarian, yes, but not totalitarian,” Hepburn concluded, even as he caressed Annette’s left cheek with his hands.

“God, I hope that you’re right. The sight of death squads in Italy, of all places, is very chilling to my bones. It’s the last place that I would have expected such things. Incidentally, did you hear the reports that there was a nuclear device set off in Pakistan? Is that true? I hope that, especially since they could then nuke India in response. I don’t know, but it sounds very terrifying to me,” Annette shivered, even as Hepburn slid his hand up her skirt and felt for the dampness that he could smell.

“Relax, babe. Yes, it’s gonna be rougher environmentally, but climate change is already fucking a lot of things up and is a large part of what brought the Mayhem, as you know. It’s especially bad for the locals, but I have it on good authority that what the Indian commander did was to eradicate the missile sites in Pakistan that threatened India, nothing more than that. It was what is called a ‘counterforce’ strike, meaning that it targeted silos, not civilian population centers.

“Don’t get me wrong, plenty have died and will die as a result, but the death toll won’t be as high as you might think and Pakistan won’t be able to retaliate effectively. Both nations are collapsing, anyway, as we speak,” the Deputy Commissar reassured Annette, even as he pushed the crotch of her panties aside and played with her twat.

“So ... no nuclear winter or anything crazy like that, I hope,” Annette probed, unsure of that issue, even as she felt his fingers slipping inside her slit to pleasure her.

“No ... no nuclear winter, at least from what I can see. It’s not good, but it won’t go that far. Now, let’s stop talking about such unpleasant things, missy. No more shop talk, either. Let’s clock out and have that date ... at my place. And you’re going to cook for me. When you’ve done that, we’ll see what comes next, alright? Now, taste yourself on my fingers. You know that you want to do it. Aren’t you curious?” Hepburn invited Annette, who felt chills down her spine as she licked his fingers clean of her own juices.

“Damn ... very good! I actually taste good! I never would have guessed that. My ex told me that my pussy stank like a fish, which was why he never went down on me. Personally, I never saw what was so wrong with the smell of fish, anyway. What about you, sir?” Annette responded as Hepburn slid her panties down and stuffed them in his back pocket.

“Oh, me? I love the smell of fish! I’m Creole on my mother’s side. Long story there. Anyway, let’s clock out and ditch this place,” the Deputy Commissar invited her, taking her hand in his as they exited the courthouse.

“This isn’t ... you know, against the rules anymore, then?” Annette wondered aloud.

“No, honey, not by a long shot. New rules, new laws, new playbook. It’s a brand new day for all of humanity and civilization. Trust me on that. Leviathan’s shaken everything up and is restructuring society in ways that will transform it for generations to come. The old paradigms just don’t work anymore and you know it. You’ll see what I mean, but one big change is that the old rules about human resources and workplace romance are out the window. We’re not doing that anymore. Same with ‘morality clauses.’