"Another beauty of the drug is that you can actually hear me as I tell you how you're going to die. It's a variation of the MS virus that Mavis used with great success in a previous job. You can hear, you can understand, and you can see. That's it. Oh, and by the way, you can't sleep. Did you know that doctors and coroners can't find the true cause of death when a person dies because of sleep deprivation? We do this in case somebody finds your body before we can take it away. Not much chance of that happening over the holidays when this building is shut until January. Sleep deprivation plus water and food deprivation is a tough combination to fight. We usually run a pool on how long busybodies like you last. You look strong. I'm thinking 100 hours? Blink bye-bye to everybody, Lucas Wiltz. Oh, dear me. I forgot you can't even blink."
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Chapter 45
Five sets of eyes were looking at a wheel chair that had tipped over and was blocking the elevator door from closing. Mavis was on her knees beside Lucas who was face down on the courthouse's basement floor in front of the elevator. She had her hand on his wrist.
"Pulse is good," she said.
"What happened?" the judge asked Snoozer.
"I dunno. I was almost out of the elevator and all of a sudden the chair tipped over. He was scrunched up in the chair already when I put the chair in the elevator. I had trouble keeping him centered."
"Roll him over."
Mavis and Snoozer did. "Nasty bump on his forehead," Mavis observed.
"Will this be a problem?" The judge was showing concern.
"You mean is he still going to die?" Mavis asked. "Yes, he's still going to die."
"I meant will it affect how long it will take him to die?" the judge asked.
"You want to redo the pool. Is that it?"
"Well technically, he hasn't reached his cell yet."
# # # # # # # #
Lucas was flat on his back on the pad of the old bed hanging out of the wall in the last cell in the block.
"His eyes are closed," Mavis said.
"So?" Prosecutor Lee asked.
"Just that I've never seen the eyes closed before. No brain impulses are reaching any of non-essential muscles in the body. Why would his eyes be closed? They were open in the courtroom."
"You said that he was probably unconscious from the bump on his head."
"No way of knowing for sure."
"Tape his eyelids open if it's bothering you."
"No point," Mavis replied to the prosecutor. "If he's unconscious, he's not hearing us and he's not seeing us."
"Does this mean that his body is sleeping?" the judge intervened.
"Yah, I guess. You want to bring in Sandman to check him out?"
"He's with some of our friends. You're the expert on this poison," the judge said.
"We really have to redo the pool," Slider said. "I'm way too soon." Slider was now cast-free. He had had a miraculous recovery.
"Does this increase the chances of his discovery?" Prosecutor Lee asked.
"Don't see how," Snoozer replied. "No-one ever comes down here."
"Snoozer, disable the basement button on the elevator," the judge instructed. "Lock the door at the bottom of the stairs. Give Mavis the key. Snoozer – I want you to come down with Mavis to deliver the food from now on."
"Mavis could do all of that herself, Slider said."
"She'd lie about when he died."
"I don't know how that chair tipped over," Snoozer said. "It was like it had a mind of its own."
# # # # # # # #
Wednesday, December 26, late at night. Two people were meeting in Ranch #4's root cellar that night – its normal pitch-black interior lit by a tiny candle. They were the same two people who had been whispering there after Karita had first arrived at the ranch four months ago.
"Big Momma believes that Karita is dead," the male voice said.
"Good," the female voice replied. "Thank you."
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Other Novels by David J. Wighton
It would be best to read the novels in the Wilizy series in order.
I Got'cha: Book #1 in the Wilizy Series (July 2081 to October 2081
If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.
The Get-Even Bird: Book #2 in the Wilizy Series (November 2081 to April 2082)
Will and Izzy are forced to flee from Zzyk's army. After months away from Alberta, they fly their sailing ship into B.C. thinking that they would be safe there. Bad mistake! Izzy is captured. All Will has to do to save her life is turn himself in for a free brain-band fitting appointment. That's what happens when you wear a Zorro costume to a dance.
Assassination Day: Book #3 in the Wilizy Series (May 2082 to September 2082)
A DPS technician offers to defect if the Wilizy will rescue his daughter from The Citadel – some super smart military people who are friends with Zzyk. Izzy thinks that their new recruit is an assassin, but Yollie insists that he's a decent man. Can assassins be decent men? It will take a hair-raising experience to find out.
Hoist the Jolly Lucas: Book #4 in the Wilizy Series (September 2082 to March 2083)
It's bad enough that Zzyk pins the blame for two assassinations on Izzy and launches a full out assault on their home compound. But then, another enemy takes advantage of a security lapse to get revenge for a war that happened 20 years ago. The Wilizy are left reeling with two key members kidnapped and stashed where they can't be found, let alone rescued. For the family to survive, everybody must enter the battle. The story is as much about the past as it is about the present.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes: Book #5 in the Wilizy Series (March 2083 to September 2084)
Mac disappears and doesn't want to be found. Will and Wolf use time-travel to search for her and discover secrets she wouldn't want them to know. The Alaskans attack when Will is finding out what happens to a submarine's air when it is lying helpless on the ocean floor. Between the Alaskans' impenetrable fortress and their bubblegum weapons, life is going to get a little sticky for the Wilizy.
Bob, the Invisible Dragon: Book #6 in the Wilizy Series (September 2084 to May 2085)
Raging hormones as well as Raging Gardeners play key roles when young Wilizy warriors are attacked and the Wilizy's scientific marvels offer no protection. The youngsters' future will rely on a different kind of warrior protecting them. Warning: events at the end of the story will move quickly. They certainly won't drag on.
Nary, Nary, Quite Contrary: Book #7 in the Wilizy Series (May 2085 to December 2085)
Theo and Lucas move to Toronto to live on their own. Both meet girls but neither is brave enough to introduce his new friend to the family. They wouldn't have the time anyway, what with villains trying to assassinate them and Voodoo royalty greeting them as though they were Voodoo gods. At the end of the story, Lucas receives a surprise Boxing Day gift that leaves him speechless.
Maddy's a Baddy: Book #8 in the Wilizy Series (December 2085 to May 2086)
Maddy had escaped from Big Momma only to find herself all alone in the cold and begging for food in Eastern Canada. While she's trying to return to her home in Seattle, the Wilizy have their own problems. Everybody in the family is intent on bringing the judge to justice for what he did to Lucas. It would have been so easy for them to rescue Maddy, but they didn't know anything about her.
Bite Me! Book #9 in the Wilizy Series (May 2086 to July 2086)
Spurred on by Marie's desire to eat a meal with her former slave masters, the Wilizy plan to put Safe Haven ranches out of business. In the process, they encounter two foreign assassins intent on abducting Mad
dy. Theo and Nary become closer but a red-eyed chaperone does not approve. The Wilizy's war with Safe Haven starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.
Wheelchair Moccasins! Book #10 in the Wilizy Series (July 2086 to November 2086)
A 13 year old girl pretends to turn to prostitution to gain her freedom from her crime boss father. In Wilizy family news, Winnie agrees not to meddle in Mathias' love life. No, the world isn't ending, so long as you don't have a green vegetable for your name. Best advice ever? If somebody wearing moccasins and sitting in a wheelchair offers to sing you to sleep... run!
Yes, there'll be an eleventh book in the series.
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About the Author
David J. Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil.
Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.
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