The FAYZ Trials
Freddy Wishman read over his case notes for the final time before stepping out into the court room. He was about to take part as a prosecuting barrister on the world's most talked about trials since Nuremburg.
The FAYZ Trials. A series of unbelievable cases. A town full of kids trapped underneath a massive dome where weird mutations took place and normal life had crashed and burnt. Freddy had read the notes and was aware of the difficult situations that those kids had been through whilst in the FAYZ. But there were still some events that would not go unnoticed back in reality.
Today he was a part of what was labelled The Mineshaft Incident. It involved the murder of Duck Zang. Two boys, twins, namely Caine Soren and Sam Temple had thrown Duck into what was known as the Darkness, an unexplainable being that caused chaos and tragedy inside the FAYZ. Freddy knew that Mr Zang had effectively sacrificed himself by telling the boys to throw him at the Darkness which was also known as the Gaiaphage. Mr Zang had a mutation that allowed him to sink or rise through space and solid objects, by being thrown he would close up the mineshaft and prevail the Darkness. These two boys had thrown him which meant that they had killed him, or, to be more precise sacrificed him. It was delicate ground, Freddy knew that there would have been no malice involved but it was his job to make sure the jury knew what decision to make.
"Mr Sam Temple you are being trialled for the murder of Mr Duck Zang, how do you plead?"
The boy looked a bag of nerves, Freddy could see the fear in his eyes. His opponent, the boy's defendant was his good friend Karim Smith, Freddy sighed, this wasn't going to be easy.
"Not guilty," the boy mumbled.
The judge nodded and began to reel off the events of that night for the jury. They'd already been told one hundred times and Freddy was eager to get into action but formalities were formalities and they had to be done.
"So Mr Temple and Mr Soren both agreed to throw Mr Zang into the Darkness," the judge's tone was dry and disbelieving, Freddy knew it sounded absurd but the case had to be taken seriously. "Now we shall hear from Mr Wishman the prosecutor,"
Freddy stood up and faced the jury, he braced himself. Over the years he'd been branded as inconsiderate, unprofessional and ruthless but that hadn't stopped him from being selected for the world's most anticipated trials, nor had it stopped him from successfully bringing over twenty murderers, ten rapists and five terrorists to justice in his six year career. The world held its breath as Freddy carefully formed his expression for the cameras. It was to be the first globally televised, live court case in history and Freddy wanted to look his best. Set in London, the kids had travelled halfway across the world and whilst Mr Temple looked tired and scared, Freddy looked sharp and alert in his Armani suit.
"Mr Temple," he began "How is it that you can condone tossing a fellow human being into a creature that you knew was capable of killing and destroying Mr Zang?" Always a good opener-question the morals.
"Duck told us to," replied Sam. Freddy grinned ready for his next question.
"So If I told you to play in traffic you would?"
"No, but we didn't just throw him for no reason we were rescuing Lana,"
"Ah yes!" Freddy said theatrically smiling as the cameraman closest to him moved over for a better angle of his face. "You were part of a rescue squad, I forgot!" the sarcasm worked well and Sam Temple flushed red.
"Remind me again, who is this Lana we're talking about?" Freddy played fake innocence-ironic being in a courtroom.
"Lana was the Healer, she'd been possessed by the Gaiaphage but we had to get her out of the mineshaft because Edilio and Diana were dying."
Now the complicated part, Freddy knew about Miss Arwen-Lazar's possession by the Darkness and so did the jury but Freddy needed to make sure he got all of the details.
"So, Mr Temple, you decided to courageously enter the mineshaft to go and rescue the 'Healer' so that you could save others?" Sam Temple nodded slowly and then added quickly
"We wanted to save her too, we would have gone and saved her anyway, not just because there were people hurt!"
"Sure, sure," Freddy said with mock understanding. The boy was nervous and reluctant to engage Freddy decided that offending him might work well.
"So tell me Mr Temple, when you bravely decided to enter this mineshaft, was Mr Zang a volunteer or did you persuade him to 'tag along'" Freddy knew the answer full-well. Mr Zang had been blackmailed into going into the mineshaft by Mr Quinn Gaither.
"Well, we did have to persuade him a little," Sam Temple replied.
"Oh I see, a simple 'no thank-you' wasn't acceptable no?" Freddy spotted the jury raising their eyebrows and facing Sam Temple with sceptical looks.
"Duck had powers! We needed strong people to come down in there with us!" Sam Temple's voice was shaking now and Freddy smiled with satisfaction. In the corner of his eye Freddy could see Karim squirming in his seat, itching to have his say. Freddy decided he'd wrap things up for the time being.
"Okay, Mr Temple I understand, safety in numbers right?" and he indicated to the judge that he'd said his piece-for now.
Karim stood up and addressed the jury.
"Alright folks, what we have to understand here is that there kids were not in a circumstance that any of us can ever begin to imagine,"
Freddy smirked, typical Karim talking to the jury first. To be fair, he had the tougher job of the two. It was easy to accuse the kids but Karim had the harder job of defending actions that sounded so barbaric.
"Okay Sam," Karim addressed Mr Temple informally "Tell me, did Duck ask you to thrown him?"
"Yes,"
"And were you aware that this was a highly dangerous action?"
"Of course I was,"
"But you had little time to think the action through?" Karim prompted.
"Sure, we had the Darkness right there in front of us, Lana was possessed and we had literally seconds to make a decision, it was a miracle that Duck thought so quickly." Sam Temple seemed more relaxed and Freddy noticed the jury nodding.
"So when Mr Zang suggested sacrificing himself you acted quickly." Karim wasn't asking he was stating.
"Thank-you, Mr Smith, now I will open the court for Mr Wishman and yourself to further question Mr Temple." The judge said
Freddy was up in a flash.
"Okay, I understand you had little time," he said thinking fast "but you had a lot more time whilst on solid ground, so much time in fact that you bribed Mr Zang with food in order to come down with you"
"It was a fish." Karim responded
"In a time where food was a luxury," Freddy countered "So why, Mr Temple was there the desperate need to drag Mr Zang down with you, after all Mr Soren and yourself were both 'four bars'" Freddy used the term that he'd had to familiarise himself with and from the reaction of the jury, they too knew what a 'four bar' meant.
"We needed back up." Sam Temple replied looking scared.
"Back up suggests that Mr Soren and yourself would have tried to defeat the Darkness prior to Mr Zang's heroic display," Freddy had him there, the jury and the people in the gallery began to murmur in agreement."
"Mr Temple was not to know that Mr Zang would be needed sooner than expected." Karim said but Freddy already had his comeback.
"So you're saying that Mr Temple was intending to 'use' Mr Zang at some point?" Karim hesitated and faltered, then he slowly replied.
"No, I'm saying that Mr Temple did not have any specific intentions regarding Duck Zang neither did he ask him to enter the mineshaft with any pre-planned ideas."
Karim was good, he'd really watched his words, Freddy had to think hard on how to retaliate, he decided to change his tactic.
"So Mr Temple, was it not possible for you and Mr Soren to find an alternative way of saving Miss Ladris and Mr Escobar without the help of Miss Arwen-Lazar or were none of you familiar with basic first aid?" it was below the belt but it opened a new debate. Why was The Healer so important?
"Edilio Escobar had been shot!" Karim snapped at Freddy "I don't think pressure and elevate would have helped him out there, and Miss Ladris was concussed, The Healer was vital for their chances of saving the lives of the two who were injured!"
"Alright then let me ask you this: who shot Mr Escobar?" Freddy was very confident that by now he was winning. Lana had shot Mr Escobar and yet they wanted to bring her back? Freddy was interested to hear how Karim would respond to that.
"Yes, it was Miss Arwen-Lazar who shot Mr Escobar, however," he stressed he however. "She shot him whilst under the influence of the Darkness, which is worse than any drug or substance we have been exposed to in the past."
"Were you not concerned that she would not help you?" Freddy decided that Mr Temple ought to speak for himself before Karim got too good.
"I had faith in Lana,"
Clever. Very clever, Freddy could see what Temple was doing. Playing the 'I knew what I was doing' card. Well that was a gamble that Freddy hoped would not pay off.
"Speaking off faith Mr Temple," Freddy spoke as an idea materialised in his head. "Did you think that it would be acceptable to play God?"
"Excuse me?" Sam Temple asked looking genuinely bemused.
"Well, it seems pretty clear to me that you thought that it was okay to save Miss Ladris and Mr Escobar but not really care too much about Mr Zang or am I getting the wrong end of the stick?" Freddy winked at the cameras hoping to boost his Google search rate.
"Mr Wishman!" Karim looked really annoyed now and it pleased Freddy.
"What's wrong Mr Smith? Didn't you realise that this sick boy had it all planned?" he scoffed playing the ever so useful 'insult both client and lawyer."
"Order! Order!" the judge intervened. "Alright let's wrap this up, Mr Wishman your plea please."
"Yes your Honour," Freddy turned to the jury whilst carefully angling himself so that the cameras would get his good side. "Okay folks, you've heard what he has to say," he jerked his thumb towards Sam Temple who looked pale and scared. "Sure he didn't intend to kill Mr Zang but he didn't hesitate in doing so, he decided that Mr Zang's life was worth less than those of Mr Escobar and Miss Ladris-he decided that when he aided Mr Soren in throwing Mr Zang to his death-think, would you want a boy like that out on the streets? One who decides which people should live and which people should die? The decision is yours but could any of you live knowing a killer walks free?" he paused and slowly, dramatically sat back down. Karim stood up looking irritated.
"Now if you bought that then you obviously have no real understanding of the horrors these kids went through during their time within the FAYZ. Mr Temple did not chose to kill Mr Zang and technically speaking he did not kill him, the Darkness did. Mr Temple should be receiving help and support, he has been through hell and has witnessed the death of his friend Duck Zang, and if you send this boy to prison then you will never understand how brave and strong this boy has been." Smooth, Freddy thought, using the 'praise the brave boy' tactic, it was one that always touched the hearts of the jury and would normally throw a spanner in the works.
"Thank-you gentlemen," the judge said "The jury will come to their decision in due course, for now we shall take a recess," he dismissed them and Freddy watched as Sam Temple was escorted from the room by the police.
Karim was all too aware of the cameras in the court room. He thought it was unprofessional to exploit the fate of children on global television. The whole thing seemed like one big movie set and Freddy was the big smarmy hero.
Karim had known Freddy for years, they'd gone to law school together but, despite being close friends Karim didn't like Freddy in the courtroom. Freddy didn't 'play fair,' naturally they were against each other-he was defending the boys and Freddy was trying to send them down, but this was more that professional rivalry, Karim felt Freddy was only taking part to boost his ego. Maybe it was because Freddy had originally planned to go to a performing arts college, maybe that was why he was such a dramatist? Whatever it was they were chalk and cheese.
Karim checked his notes as he prepared to go back into the courtroom. Caine Soren was a strange boy, child psychologists had labelled him a sociopath and capricious yet, when Karim had met with the boy he'd been charming, polite and honest about the terrible things he'd done. Now that was a list! Caine Soren along with Sam Temple wasn't just being trialled on the Mineshaft Incident case but also the Thanksgiving Massacre, The Human Crew Fire, The Night of Blackness, The Night of Spilt Blood and so many others that the boy looked like a candidate for Death Row. Karim wasn't going to let the jury send him down though, Caine Soren had been put in a difficult situation and had also saved lives and helped out in the FAYZ Community on several occasions.
"I think it's safe to say that you can't find any excuses for what this kid has done," Freddy was standing behind him with a skinny latte in one hand and the latest Blackberry in the other.
"Oh wait and see Frederick," Karim replied hoping to sound confident even though what Freddy said had an element of truth.
The two of them headed back into the courtroom; Caine Soren was already there with four big security guards either side of him. This boy needed more security than Sam Temple, although their powers had disappeared after the FAYZ disappeared they both still had traces of mutant power left and Caine Soren was more likely to use his.
"Mr Caine Soren you are accused of the murder of Duck Zang, how do you plead?"
Caine Soren smiled a feral smile revealing a gleaming set of teeth,
"Not guilty."