It was about two weeks into it, and 10 PM. I was tired, but couldn't sleep- a rarity for me- and I wasn't curious at all about much of anything right now, and I had nothing else to do. Except feel hungry. Damn, maybe I'll run into some food out here, although we've pretty much already taken all the plants available. Maybe one of the pigs out here? Even if I don't, I'll be getting what I want, some relaxation out here in the dark. Wearing black would have meant my near invisibility, except for my albino face and growing head of hair.

I chuckled to myself, remembering all the admonitions Paul's parents had given him- 'Come home before dark, there's some real creeps out there!' Creeps in the bushes, waiting to grab kids. Unsurprisingly in retrospect, my 'parents' had said little on the subject, because if I was being watched from the shadows, it was certainly by other agents. And if I actually was attacked by some normal, we all know what would happen. Creeps in the bushes, what a joke. This island has the highest density of creeps per square mile outside of Langley, VA.

Walking, smiling, and thinking, I walked over some fallen branches which snapped audibly. "Okay, which one of you is it?", Howard's annoyed voice called down from a tree. (Wait.. Howard in a tree? He does what he wants..) Apparently he thought I was one of the other creeps who had forgotten his lessons of stealth, instead of me who was never told to care.

"It's me, Billy.", I called up.

"Billy.. what the fuck are you doing out here?" I could ask you the same thing!

"Couldn't sleep and figured a walk would help."

"Get up here.", he commanded. The tree he had selected was great for climbing, although it was very dark. Let's see.. there, there, there. The fabric gripped the tree bark very well and I got to where he was rapidly. Wearing white, he easily shows up even in the moonlight, although he looked like he was..

"Howard, are you upside down?", I asked.

"Yeah. And so are you, right next to me." He moved over and I knee-hanged in the same position he was in. Fortunately, this shirt won't fall out of these pants that easily. The reversal of gravity poured the blood into my head and for some reason I let out a huge yawn.

It also reminded me how empty my stomach felt. "This starvation fucking sucks.", I informed him, as if he didn't already know.

"Yeah, really. 'Hey Howard, you're going to be Dominator now! Oh, wait, you've got all this pointless shit to do first!'", he said, sarcastic and angry. "Right. Like four weeks of having to whip spics to get food is going to make the tiniest fucking bit of difference." Hearing Howard bitch is ironic; although he does have something to bitch about now, in three more weeks he won't at all. "At least they didn't think about the rainforest and the pigs."

"Yeah.. Hey, Howard, why are we hanging upside down anyway?"

"The ceiling's down there, and the floor's alllllll the way up there. Puts a new perspective on things. Everything looks so.. different upside down, ya know?" He was right, it did.

"Yeah, but it's dark out here. I can barely see anything. If it wasn't for the breeze, we might as well be inside where it's warm." I wasn't just asking him, I was also sort of asking myself why I came out here.

"But we're not. And you were walking around out here anyway."

"Yeah, I know. Didn't expect to find you out here though.", I said, as it started to drizzle, the rain hitting our knees, and clouds covered the moon, making it even darker. It was nice, in a way. It felt mysterious, spooky, even if all the spooks here belong to Howard. I imagined being in some sort of possible similar situation, out in the darkness and rain, fighting for my life and struggling to spot the snipers before they fired. Only thing is, I'd probably be doing something like that with Howard, now. Even in the continuing horror, at least it would be some good action.

"Well, here I am.", he said, smiling, and sighed, thinking of something else. "I wish I could understand them."

"Who, the Mexicans?"

"Normals in general. I understand how the manipulation works, if we do X then Y will happen because of mental element Z.. but.. even after two weeks, I don't understand why it works! How can those things go through their heads? How can they surrender themselves when they at least have a suspicion that all we really offer is their slavery?"

"Because they run on false hope, and not much goes through their heads.", I answered bluntly.

"Yeah, I know they can't think.."

"No, Howard, you don't understand. You think that it's that they can't think properly or logically or on the same level you can. Well, all of those are true- but the fact is that they can't think at all. Their brain cells may act, they may learn to some degree, but they can't step in and say 'Hey, wait a minute, what I've been doing hasn't been getting me anywhere, how about if I try something else.' They can't.. they can't decide, Howard. Not for themselves.. if they could, we wouldn't even exist." Normals making decisions for themselves means no Illuminati means no secret genetics means no Dominator and twin. "And the few of them who can think usually realize that there's no way out, because you and your merry men are simply too good at what you do, and either they realize that there is a conspiracy and they lose all hope, or they think that there's not and they run right into whatever traps you've set up. When you look at it from their perspective, it becomes miserable as shit." Isn't that why he came out here, to hang upside down, to gain a new perspective on things? On principle I always want Howard to understand, even if I want to kill him at the same time.

"Damn, you didn't tell me any of that earlier.", he said.

"You never asked, and I didn't really know. I've been studying misery for two weeks straight. The reference materials just kick ass." He started chortling to himself like a madman, a wide grin on his face.

"Billy, that made sense. I've been thinking of them in my terms and I don't know why." Because he's been spending too much time around me, would be a guess.

"Howard, just how genetically different do two things need to be before we start saying they're different species?", I asked, feeling my knees get soaked from the constant pitter-patter.

"It varies. You mean that they might not even be.."

"These guys aren't. Can't be. Not even smart normals, not really." White, black, brown, red, or yellow; Christian, Jew or Muslim; slum-dweller, middle-class, or normal rich-kid inherited wealth; male or female; it doesn't matter. Your intelligence and ability differences are to the Dominator the difference between breeds of normal dog.

"Then I definitely shouldn't be thinking of them in my terms."

"Nope. I can't wait until these spics die."

"You want to watch?"

"Watch? Watch?! No, no, no. I don't want to watch. I want to do it. With my own bare hands." The more we talk about it, the more homicidal I think.

"Well, when the time comes, you can kill as many as you want if the Enforcers don't get them first. I might take a crack at 'em myself."

"Enjoy.", I said, smiling, and we both heard a snorting at the bottom of the tree.

"Ssh!", he blurted at me. "Pig. Stay where you are." Damn, so he's going alone, taking the hunt for himself.. I'd love to be in on it, but I really don't care, I just want some of the meat. At first Howard was trying to be slow and stealthy, but then there was an enormous boom of lightning, the pig started running, and he swung down from branch to branch, a more-advanced primate doing less-advanced primate things. There was a lot of squealing and a lot of movement through branches, growing farther and farther away, then a crash of something hitting the ground. Then there was a snap and a loud squeal of pain. A thump and a squeal, another thump and a barely-audible whine. Then, at about the same time as another lightning bolt arced across the sky, a SMASH and no noise at all from the pig. Good job, Howard. Now mind letting me down before I get zapped?

"Billy, where are you?", he called, apparently having gotten lost. I answered and he told me to come inside, which I did eagerly, stepping out of the cold rain into the nice, cozy warmth of Howard's heated mansion. He came in right behind me, carrying the bloody pig, its leg broken and its skull smashed. I'm surprised it was so large. At a guess I'd have to say it weighed about forty pounds.

"That is what I call a meal.", he said, chucking it into the freezer for later use. Wait a minute.. gah!

"Don't tell me you're going to eat that whole thing yourself.", I muttered, half-expecting him to say something like 'Yes, but you'll get more potatoes to make up for it.' He looked at me and reconsidered saving it for later, re-opening the freezer and ripping off the broken leg of the pig with a single, savage yank, taking bites out of it.

"Take some.", he told me, and I did, attacking it. I went immediately for the throat, tearing it open with my teeth, lifting its body, and letting the blood dribble down my esophagus into my stomach. Then I bit down on the gristly windpipe, crushing it, and taking more and more bites of the fresh meat out of its neck, feeling the blood run down my face. Glorious! I've got a serious carnivorous streak, what can I say? Howard dropped what was left of the leg, found a butcher knife, and took the pig from me. He carved its stomach open, reaching in and ripping out the intestines. He took several bites before throwing it back in the freezer, closing the door, and telling me not to eat any more pig until he said so. Damn! Oh well, that was yummy, at any rate. We were both covered in blood- there was a hamper built into the wall near his room and he chucked the white suit down it, then went to bed. I quickly did the same- these clothes are going to reek unless they get washed.

I went to bed and got a nightmare involving long pig.