Chasing a Familiar Shadow

by Aman Gupta

  As Vik handed the phone back to Clay, Clay put his knee into Vik’s guts. Vik vomited blood.

  Vik was put inside the back of a van with no windows, with a guard. Clay sat on the front seat with the driver. A soldier threw a small cube inside Nucleus, and jammed the door from the outside. A few seconds later, the cube popped open, and smoke came out of it, followed by gas. Emma coughed and passed out a few seconds later. Soon, the fleet of 4 cars left towards Sierra as the dawn was almost upon them.

  Vik was lying on the floor. He was disappointed that he couldn’t say goodbye to Emma before leaving. He wasn’t sure he was going to make it back. She’ll think I left her again, he thought. He wasn’t aware that Emma had woken up, only to fall asleep by inhaling the gas, a mild incapacitating agent.

  A few hours later, Vik knocked on the panel of the van, prompting the driver to open the window in the partition. Clay sighed and slid the panel open. Vik saw through the windshield. It looked like 11 AM based on the sunlight. There were crossing a county, but it didn’t look like Fedric County.

  “Where are we?” asked Vik.

  “You should go back to sleep. We’re still eight hours out,” said Clay.

  “Where are we going?” asked Vik.

  “Maybe you should be quiet,” said Clay.

  “Who’s Maia?” asked Vik. “She misses you. She’s cute. You like redheads?”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to meet her,” said Clay. “She’ll knock you out with one punch.”

  “If she’s alive, maybe. But now that I’ve seen her face, you got one more reason to protect me,” said Vik as he stopped hogging the window, and sat back against the van.

  Clay closed the window. A few minutes later, he opened the window again.

  “What do you mean?” asked Clay.

  “Nothing, I was just checking if you cared about her. By the way, why didn’t Anton come? Why you?” asked Vik.

  “Anton is busy,” said Clay as he began closing the window.

  “Your turn,” said Vik. “Go ahead, I’m sure you want to part of the game too.”

  Clay thought about it for a minute.

  “Fine,” said Clay. “What’s this about?”

  “Oh, that one is easy. It’s about greed,” said Vik. “Greedy people wanting more than they can chew. Is that my turn again?”

  “Go ahead,” said Clay.

  “Where are we?” asked Vik.

  “That’s it? I thought you would ask more about my boss,” said Clay.

  “I’m not wasting my turns on questions that you can’t answer with absolute truth,” said Vik.

  “We’re in 18th District,” said Clay. “Or TS – 18, as your kind says it.”

  “My kind? Oh, I see. You’re one of the rebels,” said Vik.

  “My father was,” said Clay. “He died in that war.”

  “Then why are you supporting someone who engineered it?” asked Vik.

  “I’m not,” said Clay.

  “There’s that omission of truth I was talking about,” said Vik. “Why are we going through 18th District? I thought you could reach Sierra through the other side of the fence?”

  “We’re not going to Sierra,” said Clay. “Not exactly.”

  “The compound on the cliff?” asked Vik.

  Clay turned around and looked through the grilled window.

  “How do you know about that?” asked Clay.

  “I got my eyes on the property. Love the view, and I heard the property taxes are non-existent,” said Vik.

  Clay smiled. “So what makes you special? Why you and your daughter?”

  “In another life, I did some unimaginable things,” said Vik. “Made a few friends.”

  “And you are paying for it?” asked Clay.

  Vik laughed. “You have no clue what is happening here, do you? Clearly, Anton kept you at arm’s length.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what am I missing?” asked Clay.

  “Patience,” said Vik. “I don’t want to rob you of the moment when you discover it yourself.”

  “That good, huh?” said Clay.

  “It will change your reality,” said Vik. “Suddenly, a fight with your spouse is as irrelevant as a sand particle on a beach.”

  Clay started to close the window.

  “You mind leaving it open? I would like to spend my last days looking at the view,” said Vik.

  Clay closed the window before opening it a few seconds later.

  Vik looked at the beauty that lied beyond the fence. It wasn’t unimaginable, but somewhere he wanted it to be a lie.

  A couple of hours went by, just like that. Clay and his team had stopped at a roadside food stall for their afternoon snacks.

  “Hurry up, boys. We’re only stopping for five minutes,” said Clay as he got out of the van.

  Vik stayed in the van, even though the door had been opened. Clay knew Vik wasn’t going to escape. But if he did, Clay would love the chance to hunt a human. Clay had a casual discussion with a street vendor, which Vik noticed. Almost as if Clay knew him.

  A couple of minutes later, Clay approached the back of the van and tossed a bowl of chips to Vik. Vik didn’t touch it.

  Five minutes later, they were on the road again. Vik remained reticent for few minutes to throw Clay off guard.

  An hour later, they crossed the boundary of TS – 18 and entered into TS – 17. The boundary was well-guarded, like a border wall between two countries.

  “Looks like the 17th and the 18th district don’t get along,” said Vik, taunting Clay.

  Clay was too proud of his heritage. It was Vik’s feeble attempt to re-engage Clay into a conversation. He wanted to know more about the place he was visiting and the man in front of him.

  “Yeah,” said Clay. “Both sides accuse other of stealing resources, destroying economies and lives. TS – 17 is one of the richest districts in Elane.”

  “Elane?” asked Vik.

  “That’s what we call our home,” said Clay. “Elane is one of the five realms on Earth beyond the fence, and the first one.”

  “Realm? This will be interesting. Which are the other four?” asked Vik.

  “Xaios, TerraX, Astra, and Gazone,” said Clay. “There are mainly active across the ocean, though not nearly as powerful.”

  “Astra?” asked Vik.

  “Yeah,” said Clay. “You have heard about it?”

  “Can’t say that I have,” said Vik.

  Vik heard Clay murmuring something, and got closer to the window to hear him.

  “Birth to Freedom. We live..,” uttered Clay, before Vik interrupted him.

  “Where the two meet,” said Vik.

  “How did you know that?” asked Clay as he turned around and gazed his eyes upon Vik’s face.

  “What is that?” asked Vik. “Some kind of prayer?”

  “It’s a reminder of our past and the promise of the future. It’s a token of trust that unites the five realms,” said Clay, looking straight ahead.

  “How does that work?” asked Vik. “If I say it, you have to trust me?”

  Clay didn’t respond.

  “How come a guy like you started working for Anton?” asked Vik.

  “I don’t work for him. I work with him,” said Clay. “We have different areas to look after.”

  “He looked after Atlantis, and you look after Sierra. Is that it?” asked Vik.

  “I used to be in charge of Atlantis, before I requested a transfer to Sierra,” said Clay.

  “Why did you request a transfer?” asked Vik.

  “I didn’t want to be a part of their side project,” said Clay.

  “What side project? You mean the emulations?” asked Vik.

  “You know a lot for a guy claiming to be ignorant,” said Clay. “Yeah, the emulations.”

  “I was told they are 100,000 emulations. Is that true?” asked Vik.

  “No,” said Clay.

  “Oh, that’s disappointing,” said Vik.

  “I’ve hea
rd there are over a million,” said Clay. “When I left Atlantis, I went to Sierra. It looked normal, but then I learnt its secrets. Apparently, Atlantis controlled the creation of Apollos and Alphas, but shared their research of Betas with Sierra.”

  “Have you ever met one? Apollo or an Alpha?” asked Vik.

  “I have. It took me a while to figure it out. They’re pretty much everywhere. A friend told me that two Apollos were in Morrow a short while back,” said Clay. “A male and a female.”

  “Who was the female?” asked Vik.

  “You know about the male?” asked Clay.

  “Yeah, I do. But I don’t think he knows that he is an Apollo,” said Vik.

  “Must be a nascent one,” said Clay. “Why haven’t you tried to get rid of it?”

  “I’ve been busy with other stuff, so I couldn’t put my mind to track the real person before getting rid of the Apollo,” said Vik.

  “They may not be alive anymore,” said Clay.

  “That’s what I fear the most,” said Vik.

  “Trust me, you should take out the Apollo before it starts creating a family of Alphas,” said Clay.

  “It’s a fight for another day,” said Vik.

  Clay smiled.

  “What?” asked Vik.

  “Nothing,” said Clay. “You remind of someone. That’s why I’m not looking forward to what’s coming for you next.”

  Clay closed the window before Vik could speak another word.

  Soon, they crossed TS – 31, entering TS – 47, before heading towards TS – 51, that allowed a route to the compound through the hills.

  ***********************************************************

  Emma woke up several hours later, rubbing her eyes and scratching her itchy forearms. It took her a few seconds to register how she ended up passing out earlier. She stood up immediately and ran frantically all over the place, searching for Vik. She called Vik, but her attempts to reach him were futile.

  Sweating profusely and breathing heavily, she called Kate and told her to pick her up at Nucleus immediately. She called Joey as well, who called Eric. Emma went looking for the live surveillance footage being captured by the drones. The drone over the compound had been destroyed as Emma couldn’t access it. The system showed that it was offline. The two drones over Sierra were still functioning, though Emma couldn’t spot anything. She tried to pilot the drone forward. However, soon the drones stopped responding and lost power before crashing in the forest near Sierra.

  Around 12 PM, Kate, Joey, and Eric reached Nucleus. Emma hugged Joey when he arrived first and unjammed the door. Kate and Eric arrived shortly after.

  “Tell me everything,” said Joey.

  Emma was distraught. She feared an unknown group had kidnapped Vik.

  Emma briefed Kate, Joey, and Eric about the events that happened last night. Eric didn’t buy the concept of an invisible city, but Joey and Kate believed her even though she couldn’t paint a complete picture. It was the stuff beyond her wildest dreams.

  “He had access to an arsenal. Why didn’t he put up a fight?” asked Joey.

  “Maybe they overpowered him,” said Kate.

  “I didn’t hear any gunshots or a struggle. They were just talking loudly,” said Emma.

  “He surrendered because he wanted to go with them,” said Eric.

  “And there’s only one place he wanted to go,” said Joey.

  “Sierra!” said Emma.

  “So what do we do?” asked Joey.

  “What do you mean? We have to go there and rescue him. They already have almost 8 hours on us,” said Emma.

  “I know. He was the one who was supposed to create a plan for all this,” said Joey. “I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a bit out of my depth.”

  “We all are, but we have to do something,” said Kate.

  “Yeah, why are you so against it?” asked Emma.

  “As far as I know, he went willingly with those people. They might know about Katie. Vik has told us a thousand times that we shouldn’t try to intervene when it comes to Katie. Maybe we should do just that. He bought all these weapons so that he could get into Sierra. They’re taking him through the front door,” said Joey. “You told us that he didn’t want to drop a missile on the invisible city. I don’t know any other way we could go inside, if we manage to do that.”

  They contemplated the intentions behind Joey’s statement. He wasn’t wrong, they thought.

  “So what should we do? Stay here?” asked Emma.

  “It won’t be the worst thing we have done to him,” said Joey.

  Emma and Kate were chagrined. Joey had hit a little closer to home than they would’ve have liked to make his point.

  “Okay,” said Kate. “We’ll let things be.”

  “I’d be the first person to get in the car if you guys want to go,” said Joey. “But we don’t know what we’re dealing with. We should wait for a few days. Sierra is only a day away.”

  “Okay,” said Emma.

  “Meanwhile, I’ll make a few calls and ask the police department of neighboring counties about any surveillance footage in their county. Maybe the people who have taken Vik, landed on camera,” said Eric.

  “Yeah, that’d be useful,” said Kate.

  “Let’s load this stuff back in the truck,” said Eric. “Don’t want it to get into the wrong hands.”

  They put the crates filled with handguns, rifles, and grenades back in the truck. Joey drove the truck to the police station. Emma, Kate, and Eric went back to their day jobs.

  Chapter 37: Loss

  Sarah was drinking wine in her study when she got a call from an unknown caller. Not many people knew her current phone number, apart from Anton, Victor, Sylvia, and her husband. She thought it must be a case of a wrong number. She let the phone buzz on the brown table, as she poured another drink. She sipped a mouthful before the phone started buzzing again. She didn’t recognize the number or its sequence. She was still reminiscing about her husband’s visit last week before he left for work. He had expressed interest in Sarah moving with him to his home, but for the last three and a half years, Sarah hadn’t lived on the other side of the fence. Still, she told him that she would think about it. The incessant buzzing of the phone broke her out of her dream like trance.

  Sarah activated a voice distortion software on her phone and picked up the call. To the caller, she would sound like a 70 year old male with a hoarse voice.

  Sarah didn’t say a word, rather waiting for the caller to say something. But she didn’t hear a voice. Not even a static tone or surrounding noise. A few seconds later, the call got disconnected.

  Sarah was a bit confused. She put the phone down and finished her drink. She got up and went to her bedroom to grab a night robe. When she returned to grab her phone, she received a call again from that number. She again picked up the call but didn’t say anything. The call disconnected again.

  She switched off her phone and went to sleep just past midnight.

  The next morning, she woke up and switched on her phone. As soon as she turned it on, she received a call from an unknown number again, though it was different from last night. Sarah sat up instantly. She let the phone ring for a few seconds before picking it up after activating the software.

  “Hello?” said the caller. “Sarah?”

  Sarah recognized the voice. It was Sylvia. Sarah deactivated the software.

  “Hi, Sylvia,” said Sarah. “Where are you calling from?”

  “Sierra. How are you?” asked Sylvia.

  “I’m fine. It’s early. Do you need anything?” asked Sarah.

  “No, just wanted to ask if you have heard from Anton lately?” asked Sylvia.

  “No, I haven’t,” said Sarah. “Why?”

  “No reason,” said Sylvia. “Anyways, I shouldn’t have disturbed you. Bye.”

  “Sylvia, is everything alright?” asked Sarah.

  “I shouldn’t tell you. Victor doesn’t want you involved,” said Syl
via.

  “Involved in what?” asked Sarah.

  “Sierra was attacked a few days ago,” said Sylvia.

  “Attacked?” asked Sarah.

  “Yeah, someone hacked into Sierra,” said Sylvia. “Victor thinks it’s..”

  “Who?” asked Sarah.

  “Josh. Victor thinks it was Josh,” said Sylvia.

  “What?” said Sarah as she gasped.

  “Yeah,” said Sylvia. “Anyways, you should keep your eyes open and go offline for the next few days.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” said Sarah. “Oh, and Sylvia?”

  “Yeah?” asked Sylvia.

  “Did you call me last night?” asked Sarah.

  “No, we restored the tower an hour ago,” said Sylvia.

  “Oh, okay,” said Sarah. “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Sarah went to the kitchen, and smashed the phone with a hammer, in the sink. She threw the phone in the trash and went back to her bedroom and opened a secret locker behind a portrait of her daughter, and took out a new phone.

  She was hesitant to turn it on but turned it on, anyway.

  Sarah spent her days doing gardening, drinking, and working in her store. She was a part-time florist. It helped her in keeping her sanity. Flowers calmed her when nothing else would. She met her husband on the first day in the store. She worked alone and mostly took orders via referrals. She had a two acre compound, most of which was used for gardening.

  Victor’s men guarded the compound. Though most of the time, they were running errands and deliveries for Sarah. At the end of the day, Sarah still felt incomplete. She thought of starting a new family with her husband, but she couldn’t move past Katie. She felt she was tarnishing her memories by thinking about starting a family when Jay was still out there living like nothing had happened. Sarah had learnt everything about Jay’s alter ego Vik, through Anton.

  She wanted a chance to confront him and kill him regardless of his response. He had entered her happy life for a sinister purpose – to destroy the Daulton Empire for his misplaced sense of justice.