by Noah Michael
“Thank you all for your support, and enjoy the rest of your evening.” With one last smile and wave, they returned to the table. As they sat down, James stood up abruptly and left. As he departed, Alia’s eyes were drawn again to the golden-eyed man to her right.
“Hello, Alia,” he said, his voice penetrating. “I’m Marcus.”
Alia stared deep into his eyes, struggling to read them the way they were reading her.
“Don’t bother,” he smirked.
“You’re a Reader?”
“Yes. We are among the last of our tribe. How is your sister?”
“How do you know my sister?”
“I know many things about you. Your eyes tell all.”
He is powerful, but so am I. “How does it feel to be so close to the top of the world’s most powerful organization, but forever stuck as Roko’s pet?”
The man shifted uncomfortably, but his eyes did not move an inch. “Soon, you shall find yourself in the same situation. But you and I together…we could reach the top.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need the top,” Alia whispered harshly. “Go fish.”
She didn’t like this guy. She could sense trouble in his slender, pale face.
“Ah, Alia, I see you have met your new mentor,” Roko said, smiling at Marcus.
“But, aren’t you my mentor?”
“I am not a Reader. There is only so much I can teach you. Marcus, on the other hand, is the most powerful Reader alive today. He will help you reach your full potential and teach you things that only a fellow Reader can teach you.”
“Thanks,” Alia said, forcing a smile. “And this,” Roko continued, directing her attention across the table, “is my General, Stone. He has never lost a battle and he is immune to pain. They say even the angel of death himself cannot slay Stone. He has over a hundred years of experience in battle against every type of Enlai. They say he was even alive long enough to serve Vespirus himself. He is the only one among us who has ever stood up to a Guardian and come out victorious. He slew Armolin.”
Stone was a giant of a man. He wore no shirt, his muscles bulged from beneath his skin. His head was bald, his skin dark, his face filled with battle scars. On his wrists were two steel armbands. What scared Alia the most was his face. As hard as Alia tried to read him, there was nothing to be found. No weak points. No emotion. Stone filled Alia’s heart with fear. She would stay far away from him.
Looking for a polite way to distance herself from Stone, Alia noticed James was still gone, and now Marcus had left as well. The thought of them together made her uncomfortable. She excused herself to find the restroom. Exiting the ballroom, she saw no sign of Marcus or James. She checked the bathroom, they were not there either. Pondering where to look next, a familiar voice filled her head. “Check the third door to the right.”
Bella? The voice did not respond. Alia walked over and pressed down slowly on the handle. It was locked. She put her head to the door and, to her surprise, she heard voices.
“Roko doesn’t care about Galaxius. We need to take things into our own hands!”
“I agree. Remember, James, all you need to do is break into your brother’s computer and discover the creature’s true name. You have more of a chance than anyone at breaking through Salience’s codes.”
“It won’t be a problem. Once we have its name, we’ll command it to free Galaxius and kill Roko.”
The voices quieted, and Alia struggled to hear.
“Re....the..........176. Good luck.” The significance of the number was not lost on Alia but the interaction between the two men was puzzling.
Marcus is manipulating James, I can tell by his voice. But James was also lying. He doesn’t care about Galaxius. He wants to free his brother. Marcus must know that.
At the sound of footsteps, Alia ducked into the women’s bathroom and waited.
James is going to the 176th floor. There is something there that Marcus wants. If Marcus succeeds at whatever he’s up to, Roko will fall, and I will never get Bella healed. This is my chance to gain Roko’s full trust.
Alia’s heart raced as she entered the elevator. “Alia to floor 176.” To her surprise, the elevator rose. James must’ve unlocked the floor for Marcus in case something went wrong…
Her heart raced faster by the second. Whatever lurks up there is deadly enough to scare Roko, and I’m willingly heading right to it.
The hallway was black as night. She turned her watch to flashlight mode and walked slowly, carefully placing each step. The walls were scratched and torn and the lights on the ceiling had all been smashed. One lamp flickered next to a door. Alia approached it slowly, every sense telling her to turn back.
This is for you, Bella.
Though she couldn’t see it, she knew a terrible presence lurked on the other side of the door. She could feel it in her bones. Something deep and dark. Something ready to kill. A faint hissing sound echoed through the air. She opened the door.
The room was dark and vast, filled with abandoned desks and lab tables, many of them overturned. Smashed lab equipment and scattered papers littered the floor, many of them stained with blood. Sparks flew from broken electric circuits and computers. The air stunk strongly of decay. The hissing noise grew louder.
An array of massive tubes lined the back wall. Inside of them were bodies. Shriveled up, wrinkled, decayed bodies of men and women. Their eyes were colorless. Their skin had turned black. Between the tubes, in the middle of the wall, was a single, rusted, steel door.
At a sound behind her, Alia spun around. The shriveled form of a woman, or at least what used to be a woman, crawled slowly toward her. Her pupils were white, her skin black.
“Help......” she hissed, drawing closer. “Help....” The woman grabbed Alia’s foot. Kicking her off, Alia moved back. If she was going to turn back, now was the time. Then a scream echoed from the other side of the door. It was James.
A Reader’s greatest weakness is emotion. I need to clear my head. Release all fear. I am brave, I am strong. What happened to them won’t happen to me.
Alia opened the door. The room was warm. The night sky shone dark from a window. The walls were painted white, decorated with paintings and pictures of a family, two boys and their parents. A dining room table was set with plates and silverware and laden with platters of chicken, potatoes, rice and salad.
“Salience, James, dinner is ready!” A woman walked in, taking off her apron and sitting down. Her hair was long and black, her eyes dark, too dark for Alia to read.
“Excuse me ma’am,” Alia asked, “Where am I?” The lady didn’t hear her. Alia repeated her question but was ignored again.
They can’t hear me, or even see me. Where am I? Is this a simulation?
A familiar looking boy of about seven walked into the room.
“James, honey, come sit down, your father and Salience will be down any minute.” James took a seat next to his mom. He was troubled, his expression sad. “What’s wrong sweetie?”
“They are arguing. Again. Why can’t we just be a normal family?”
“Your brother is just nervous. But we will never let them hurt you. We are working hard to protect the family. Your brother just has trouble seeing that.”
“You mean the Resistance?” The woman shifted uncomfortably. “You don’t have to hide it from me, I know what the Resistance is. It’s in every argument with Salience. And you always mention it when you talk to Roko.”
“All these things will be over soon, sweetie. Focus on happy things, like how much your father and I love you. How much your brother loves you.”
James cheered up a bit, but it was short-lived. Two men walked into the room. One of them was James’s frozen brother Salience. His hair was blonde, unlike the rest of his family’s black hair. Alia could see on his face that he was hiding something.
That meant the other man was their father. He wore an expensive suit and looked strikingly similar to the older James Alia knew.
Is
this a memory?
They sat down, both looking angry. The family began to eat in silence. James didn’t touch his food. He looked up at his brother, at his father, then stormed out of the dining room.
“I’ll handle this,” Salience said, and he followed James upstairs, Alia in his wake.
The room was painted blue, filled with toy soldiers and books. James was on the floor of his room crying. Salience sat next to him. James embraced his brother, crying into his shoulder.
“Why do you always have to fight with Mommy and Daddy? Why can’t things just be like they used to be?”
“James, Mother and Father have changed. They are not who they used to be.”
“They are my same Mommy and Daddy, and they love me!”
“James, of course they love you. But there are bad things happening in the world. I also wish things could go back to the way they used to be. We just need to remember Mother and Father as the good people they used to be, not the monsters they have become.”
“They are not monsters!”
Salience thought out his next words carefully. “James...do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“A lot of bad things are going to happen soon. Things that you will not understand. I want you to know that whatever happens, I will always be your big brother, and I will always love you. I will always be there for you. Do you understand me?” A tear dripped down Salience’s cheek as he embraced his brother.
“Yes. I love-”
A loud smash came from downstairs. Two men had stormed into the kitchen. James’s father pulled up his sleeve, revealing a glove like the one Alia had seen on James, he aimed his hand at the men and fired. After dodging the blast, one of the men pressed a button on a wristwatch and transformed into a werewolf. The other man was not as swift and was smashed into a nearby wall. Pictures crashed to the ground. Glass shattered.
The man quickly recovered and returned fire with a glove of his own. The wolf pounced at James’s mother, tearing her leg as she dove for cover. She grabbed a kitchen knife and swung at the wolf who dodged swiftly and pounced again. They crashed through the kitchen window, the wolf’s fangs clenched around her neck.
“Rosette!” James’s father roared. A second blast sent the man flying backwards again.
“How dare you come into my home!?”
The stranger struggled to his feet, reflecting energy blasts as he did. “You have betrayed the Alliance. We do what we must to protect mankind from greedy monsters such as yourselves!”
“The humans are the monsters. They need to be controlled, not us!”
“Is that what lets you sleep at night!?”
The battle raged. The man blew up the chandelier on the ceiling above James’s father, and as he shielded himself, his assailant shot him in the stomach. He fired a huge ball of electricity at the man, striking him in the chest. The man screamed and fell to the ground. The wolf returned through the window and mauled James’s father to the floor, claws digging into his flesh. The wolf bit the machine on James’s father’s wrist and then jumped back as energy surged wildly.
“Daddy!” Salience stood with his horrified brother at the top of the stairs. “That’s my daddy! Leave him alone! Where is mommy!?” James fell to his knees. Salience walked down the stairs towards his father. The wolf turned back into a man. He let Salience through.
The father looked up at his son, his breathing weak. “Salience...help me...”
“I tried,” Salience said, tears in his eyes. “I tried to help you. But you wouldn’t listen. I will always remember you for the man you once were. But what you have done is unforgivable. You murdered innocent men, women, and children.” Salience took his father’s hand. “My father was a great and honorable man. But he died a long time ago. I can’t let you kill anymore.”
Salience let go of his father’s hand. “Take him away.”
“I thought you loved me!” came James’s anguished cry. “We were a family!”
“James please, one day you will...”
“I hate you, Salience! I HATE YOU!”
The house disappeared, and Alia was outside with running and screaming people. Robots were everywhere, firing shots from blasters. Dozens of burning houses came crashing to the ground. A blast of energy surged past her, striking a woman in the head. Alia looked for the source of the blast.
James’s father stood in the midst of the violence, commanding the robots. He fired at men, women, and children alike. A helicopter flew by above and its door opened, revealing Roko.
“I will search for survivors, you finish the job!” Roko shouted down.
“Father, what have you done!?” James, now a horrified adult, shouted at his father. Bullets whizzed towards James as he approached, but they passed right through him like a ghost, signaling to Alia that this was the real James.
“This isn’t what you th-” his father started, but James cut him off.
“You are a monster! I thought Salience betrayed me, but he was right!”
Interesting…Nothing seems to be able to see or hear us except for James’s father. He’s different.
James’s father walked towards him, placing a hand to his son’s chest. James screamed out in pain, his eyes rolling backwards. Alia urgently sprinted towards them and smashed her foot into James’s father’s face. When he landed, he was no longer James’s father. No longer human. Before Alia could get a good look at the creature, it turned back into James’s father.
“I didn’t bring you here!” it hissed, no longer in a human voice.
“You aren’t real!” Alia shouted back.
James’s father shot her with an energy blast, shocking her with powerful electricity. Alia rolled to her side, barely dodging a second blow, and ran through a crowd of people, only to run straight into James’s father again. He grabbed her by the throat. As she struggled for breath, the people around her transformed, each of them taking the form of James’s father. The man holding her morphed into a terrifying creature with no eyes and no face. It was made of pure darkness. In the place of its fingers were long, black, shadowy blades moving toward her chest.
“The sweet taste of life,” it hissed eagerly. Alia’s eyes closed as the creature stabbed its blades inwards. Instead of piercing her skin, the creature’s hand flew back, as if repulsed by Alia’s skin. Screaming with confusion and rage, it dropped Alia. As she gasped for breath, Bella, only much younger, appeared, separating Alia from the creature, radiating light. “Alia, it’s time to leave.”
Alia blinked. She was on the floor back in the lab, her body aching. James sat up behind her. “What are you doing here!?”
Alia struggled to her feet. “Saving your life, moron.”
“You weren’t supposed to be here!” James fired at Alia, and she dove out of the way.
“I should have killed you while I had the chance!” James took aim again.
“Enough!” Robots stormed into the room with Marcus and Roko. Marcus punched James violently in the face. Roko ran to Alia, helping her to her feet. Marcus dragged James over to Roko by the collar. He looked at Alia, eyes raging. Roko turned towards James.
“Marcus warned us of your plans to free the creature. I guess betrayal runs in the family.” Roko turned to Alia. “Why are you here?”
“I read on James’s face that he was planning something. I followed him.”
“Were you the one who stopped the creature?”
“I...I think so...”
“Then you saved our lives. You are a miracle.” Roko kicked James in the ribs. He grabbed a gun from his belt and pointed it at James’s skull.
“Don’t. There may be a use for him later,” Alia said.
Roko hesitated. “All of James’s privileges are hereby given to Alia who will replace him as my right hand. But first she must be trained accordingly. Is that understood Marcus?”
“Yes, sir.” Marcus looked disgusted.
“Drones, take this man to our prison.” Two of the robots dragged him awa
y.
“Now let’s get out of here before the beast returns. My shields trap it in this room. Drones, make sure to reactivate the shields once everyone has left the room. Alia, do you need an escort back to your room?”
“No thank you, I’ll be ok.”
“You can hardly walk. Marcus, please escort Alia back to her room. I will send a doctor immediately.”
“Yes sir.” Marcus put his arm under Alia’s shoulder.
“What was that thing?” Alia whispered.
“Something beyond your understanding,” Marcus said, avoiding the question.
“You were trying to frame James, weren’t you? You were hoping you’d be given his position.”
“My plans do not concern you. What should concern you, is that you have gotten in my way. If that ever happens again, I will do whatever it takes to crush you.”
Neither of them spoke for the remainder of the walk. Alia dwelled on a multitude of thoughts. What was that creature? I’ll never get answers from Marcus or Roko. And why were they searching for its name? Is that the key to freeing Galaxius? What was Marcus up to?
But from all the questions, one dominated the forefront of her mind.
Was that really Bella?
Chapter Eleven
Hunted
Michigan City
July 15
7:00 a.m.
Raiden woke up as something wet fell onto his hair. He felt the top of his head. Bird poop. Aggrieved by the indignity, he trudged over to a nearby fountain and washed his head and face. He went back to the table on which he had fallen asleep and picked up the book. He had learned a lot the previous night, reading about a couple different tribes he had never heard of.
“Raiden, we’re leaving now. Are you ready?” Maximus was standing at the entrance.
“Aren’t we gonna have breakfast first?”
“We can waste no time while Sarah is imprisoned. Gil gave me a bag of food and some weapons for the journey,” Maximus said. “We must be on our way.” They left the aviary and Gil led them to large room glowing with ultra-violet light.