Choco explained things to the crowd. And since the whole thing had been broadcast across the country, he explained things to, well, everyone.

He stuttered and stumbled over his words, used vocabulary that was probably too advanced for half the people watching, and dropped the microphone at least once, but in the end, everyone seemed to understand.

Mat dried my tears with his human hand. Choco attempted to pry Preston away from Rob's tree, and failed. Vikk and Lachlan sat down against the railing, and Lachlan began ranting about something to Vikk. Kenny jumped down into the arena to help Choco. Mitch and Jerome started hugging, and it appeared that they weren't going to let go anytime soon.

Vaq was most definitely dead - he'd been absorbed by the tree, along with around thirty government officials.

It appeared that Rob had been absorbed by his own creation, as well.

There were still things to do.

The government had still not been successfully overthrown.

I wasn't even sure how to go about doing that.

I sunk to the ground and crossed my legs. Mat joined me. I felt two familiar presences appear behind me.

"The flowers are pretty," one of the presences, KJ, commented.

"I wonder what kind of tree it is," Ashley, the other presence, said.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. The crowd began to disperse, flowing unevenly out of the arena.

"We still need to overthrow the government," I said glumly. "How we're going to do that, I don't know."

"To be honest, I'm not even sure who the president is," Mat said, glancing at me, then at Ashley, then at KJ (who were both behind me).

"You know what? Me either," Ashley said curiously.

"Me either, I have no idea," KJ said. "I'm sure there are some officials left around here that we can ask, though."

Mat stood up and offered me a hand. I gladly took it, and struggled to stand on my tired feet.

The four of us circled the arena, looking for anyone in any sort of official looking outfit. We didn't have a whole lot of luck, and the arena was large and took a lot of time and energy to travel around. Eventually, we stumbled across one - a scared looking young man, clutching desperately to a wound in his stomach.

I went up and knelt in front of him. He flinched back, as though I was going to hurt him.

"Hey," I said in a quiet, comforting voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Y-you killed them," he said, his lower lip trembling.

"I didn't kill all of them," I said, in a slightly less comforting tone. "Listen, I need to know who's been giving you orders. Who's in charge."

"Who's in charge?" The official asked, with a grim, breathy laugh. "Fuck if I know."

"You mean, you don't?" Mat butt in.

"N-no!" The official exclaimed. "I have no idea. No one does. We're given orders through a screen. We read what it says and comply without question."

I looked back at Mat, KJ, and Ashley. They all seemed as perplexed as me.

"A computer gives you orders?" I asked.

"Well, presumably it's not really a computer," the official continued. He attempted to get up, but winced in pain and sat back down. "There's a room, you see? There was a person in that room. The president. He had some sort of terminal illness, and locked himself in that room. He didn't give anyone the key. He gave orders through his computer and didn't talk to anyone. The last time anyone saw him in person was, oh, I don't know, a decade and a half ago."

"No one's seen the president for fifteen goddamn years?!" I yelled, standing up and waving my arms as I spoke. The official shook his head, startled by my sudden loud tone of voice. I looked back at Mat. "Excuse me, but what the fuck."

Mat shrugged.

I tugged on my hair anxiously. "Where's....where's that room?"

"Underground," the official said, his voice shaking. "Underneath this arena, actually. The roots of that miracle tree probably dug into it."

Two birds, one stone, I thought.

"Take us there."

~~~

Soooo close. Sooooooooooooooooo close to ending. Y'all ready?

Ciao!