by P K Stadnyk
“Where should we go?” she asked.
“Well, our choice is unlimited. We should walk until we find something. I leave choosing a direction to you. I haven’t the foggiest clue which way to go. No pun intended.”
“I have.” She put a hand in her jacket’s pocket and retrieved a small note covered in blood. “I found it in C199. On the floor, behind the cabinet, I found a dead bod[WP(1]y of a man holding it in his hand. Even when he was dead, he wouldn’t let it go. It’s not fully legible, but I can guess what it says. Have a look first and see what you think.
“That can’t be right…” The note was dark, brown colored, and I couldn’t see anything, not even one letter. I tried hard to no avail. The note was empty. Dirty but empty.
“So? What is it and what are you doing with your eyes?” she asked.
“Errr…I can’t see anything,” I said carefully, looking at her and noticed something else. “Did you see that?” Maya was sitting in front of a little hill, but I wasn’t sure if that was the one we came from. In the middle high of it was a rock moving from one side to another. “I bet it’s a camera. Do you think it works?”
“I hope it doesn’t. That would mean somebody is watching and probably listening to us. There was nobody in there intelligent enough to use computers and cameras. Unless the receiver is somewhere else…”
“We better get away from here… quickly!” The little harmless rock turned straight in my face and stopped. I waited for it to turn away, but it didn’t. I got the feeling somebody was watching us like ants in a terrarium waiting for us to do something interesting, maybe even laughing at us, knowing something was coming.
I looked around for Maya, but she was nowhere… Shiver went down my spine, letting me know somebody’s eyes were on me. Was I going crazy? There was nobody around and nowhere to hide. Where was Maya? I ran around looking for her like an ant searching for its missing mate. I could almost hear the watchman’s laugh in my ears…
While I kept running in circles, I felt something pulled my arm and whispered with his empty voice, “End of your journey.” When I turned around, nobody was there, but the hand holding my arm was putting more pressure on it. Maybe there was something in the air. We didn’t check if it was poisoned or irradiated. The hand moved to my neck and started to choke me. I tried to fight, but it was difficult to fight with a ghost who had you in a choke hold; I couldn’t even grab him much less see him. Yet I wasn’t going to give up, and, surprisingly, I wasn’t running out of air…Both hands were wrapped tightly around my throat, but I still wasn’t choking. It was a shame I didn’t see the face of my opponent; I bet he was surprised… Suddenly, I saw footsteps in the sand coming toward me, and I expected another ghost would hit or jump on me; instead, it attacked my unsuccessful killer. He didn’t let go of me, though; so, we all went on ground. I didn’t see them, but I heard them though-their sighs, heavy breathing, and punches, but I couldn’t tell who was winning. The fight was brutal from what I could tell, but it soon came to an end. It was quiet, so I waited in the same place I had landed for what was coming next. After few minutes, when nothing happened, I stood up and walked, looking for Maya. When I turned around, the camera was still pointed at the place we were before and footsteps were behind me all the way. They definitely weren’t mine, as they were much smaller. It had to be…
“Maya? Is that you?” I felt stupid talking to the air. How would she be invisible? But then I could hear a muffled laugh that sounded like Maya. I started to think that I was going crazy and that everything around me wasn’t real until Maya appeared from nowhere in front of me.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” she said, smirking.
“Did I not?! Who or what was that?!”
“Security. He tried to kill you. Is that how you say thank you?”
“Why couldn’t I see you or him?”
“There were two of them. That’s why I got to you a bit late. Let’s get out of here. More of them might be coming.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me everything!” I sat down with crossed arms on my chest.
“Just like old times! You haven’t change a bit. It’s time to grow up, Max. How about I play your 20 questions on the way?”
We started walking in silence. I couldn’t talk because memories began to flood my brain: memories of us as lovers; memories of the riots, wars, and destruction that followed the breakdown of civilization; and memories of volunteering for the Project. Before I could formulate a question, she broke the silence.
“Well? Why are you so quiet? Before, you wouldn’t move without the answers, and now you don’t even make a sound.” I felt embarrassed and started talking.
“I’m trying to explain to myself what’s going on. He was choking me for so long, but I wasn’t even short of breath. The strangest part was that everybody around me, including you, were invisible! How did you put down two men? I can’t find any logical answers!”
“I played with this,” she said, displaying the metal device she had found in the underground facility. “I kept pressing and bending it but it wouldn’t work until I put it around my wrist. It lit up and then I was attacked by a ghost too. In the fight, he must have pressed it and I disappeared. Here’s one for you,” she said, handing me an identical device. “Just remember to never use knives or guns while using the invisible mode. You could get electrocuted.”
“Where are we going?”
“You saw it on the note.”
“I didn’t see anything. It’s just a bloody piece of a paper, literally? Am I missing something here?
“It says Washington.”
“First, there’s nothing on it. Second, it’s impossible. Washington was destroyed long ago. Why are we going there? To waste our time?”
“Maybe it never was destroyed. Maybe it was just for the world to see and believe.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know. I suggest we find out. We have nowhere else to go, do we? No more pieces to the puzzle besides this one. Your eyesight should be completed soon…”
“Completed? What are you trying to say? Are you sure you didn’t hit your head in the fight?”
“I don’t know everything, but we’ve changed, Max. I can see the letters on this paper, and we both can see in the dark. I know you can; I saw you walking in the dark corridors full of disgusting stuff and you didn’t even touch any of it.
“I don’t remember anything about Washington. I just know it was destroyed. How is it possible that it wasn’t?”
“I feel the same way. That’s why we should go there and find out.” She took my hand and we started walking.
We walked for long days before our surroundings started to change. Everything was totally the same. I thought we were walking in circles. We slept only twice under the open gray sky. The weather didn’t change a bit; a thick fog was still hung lazily above our heads. Our food and water supplies were almost full; surprisingly, hunger and thirst weren’t bothering us much. The atmosphere was playing its tricks, trying to change our moods into miserable and gray. At first, it was working; we didn’t talk much, then our smiles and laughter disappeared. But it would have been worse if we didn’t have each other.[WP(2]
.
* * *
[WP(1]I thought Max removed all the dead bodies before she awoke?
[WP(2]This is good place to stop. You can begin Chapter two with “One day…”