Lucinda could do nothing but watch on in amazement as the man was pulverised by a volley of bullets from various directions. He must’ve been mad, she thought.
The pretty man collapsed backward under the onslaught and the bikers ceased firing. Satisfied they’d killed him with their barrage, they all turned to each other in a stunned silence.
“Did anybody know who that was?”
“Some damn weirdo.”
“Yeah what the heck?”
“I swear that was Mikko’s bike, how the hell did he get his …”
She’d been following their conversation with such interest she failed to pay any attention to the man who was just slaughtered in front of her. Logic dictated that he should have been dead after such a barrage of gunfire. But in an instant the man had risen and launched himself forward at the group, brandishing his motorbike helmet as a weapon.
She couldn’t believe his speed as he systematically took the surprised gang out with fast and precise blows to the head, the helmet waving around her eyes in a dizzying display. Not only did he move with speed, but also with the grace of a dancer, Lucinda found herself enjoying the spectacle.
A few of the bikers managed to fire off a shot, but it did nothing to deter the assault, the man was too fast and seemingly too strong for the group. His blows were quick and accurate, eliminating the group almost instantaneously.
Within the blink of an eye, they’d all fallen under his blows and the man stood alone with bodies strewn about him. Satisfied he eliminated the threat the bikers posed, he dropped the helmet and retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket.
“Hot work this,” he said, looking at her as he wiped sweat from his forehead and re-arranged his long blonde hair.
Lucinda pulled at her restraints, trying to force them apart.
“Howdy Ma’am,” he smiled at her.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Didn’t you hear?” he replied as he walked over to her. “My name is Yonas.”
“Thank you,” she responded, looking at the mess he had made.
“You’re welcome, Ma’am.”
She flicked her head at the use of her former title and looked at him unsure. “Excuse me?”
“I said you are welcome.” He smiled again, wiping a bead of sweat as it dropped from his forehead, “Ma’am.”
“For what?”
“Well, in case I’m mistaken, I just rescued you.”
“What do you want?” Lucinda asked.
“What I want is to go home.”
“Well go then.”
“I have a job for you first.” he said quite plainly, walking back to one of the bikers and checking his pockets.
“What?”
“I said I have a job for you.” He smiled as he pulled a set of keys off the body in front of him.
“What job, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Redemption my dear, I’m talking about redemption.” He came over and silently unlocked the cuffs that secured the woman.
“Okay,” she said, removing the restraints around her legs and standing back up. “That makes perfect sense then, thank you so much for telling me that,” she replied sarcastically, rubbing her sore wrists.
“Would you like to know what the job is?”
“And what on earth would make you think that I would want to help you?”
“Well I did just save your life, didn’t I?”
“That’s true, but I never asked for you to.”
“But you are happy to receive it?”
“I am indebted to you sir, but I’m afraid I have more important things to do.”
“What could be more important than saving the world?”
Something about the way he’d said the last sentence made her stop and think, “Huh?”
“I said, what could be …”
“I know what you said.” She cut him off and took a moment to really consider the man.
“Well then ...”
“Well then what?”
“Well then we need your help.”
“We?”
The man smiled again, not in a mocking way but more in a manner that said she’d just played exactly into his hands. He reached inside his jacket pocket, found what he was looking for and pulled it from his jacket. He held it in his hands for a minute and then with a big smile on his face threw it at her, landing it at her feet.
Lucinda jumped back at first, not sure what it was. But as the object landed she could see what he threw at her was just a crumpled up, old newspaper. She stretched out her foot and used it to unfold the pages to reveal the front cover.
And there on the front cover of the Melbourne Age was the reason for her being there, she’d left the facility for exactly this reason, to find this man.
The heading for the cover page read, “WANTED.”
Underneath was a picture of a man, a dark man wearing blue coveralls who was wanted in connection for a bank robbery.
“Do you know who this man is?”
She hung her head. “Yes.”
“Well recently I came across this chap on a rooftop. He was in a terrible mess when I found him I’m afraid, but we’re slowly getting to the bottom of things now. Hopefully, well … with your help …”
“Mister, do you know who I am? What I’ve done?”
“Of course I do.”
The woman only stared, blank faced, back at him.
“Ma’am, your name is Lucinda and I know exactly who you are.”
“And?”
“Smith,” he indicated the picture. “He needs your help now.”
“How?”
“Here, take this.” He tossed her a small object from his pocket, a small plastic figurine.
“What is it?” She looked over the strange toy figurine.
“I’m told it’s going to help you.”
“And what makes you think that I’m going to help you exactly?”
“He told me you would object, that you were stubborn.”
“Who?”
“Smith.”
“Oh,” she paused. “And I guess he told you what to say next then?”
“He did.”
“And?”
“He said ... ‘time endure finish, time redemption here’…”
- -
RECALLING
destiny
Apartment 28a
BOOM!
A loud explosion reverberates off buildings in the street, creating a weird echo down at ground level. The sound bounces off so many buildings it becomes impossible to tell in which direction it’s come from, but there is no mistaking what it is, a bomb blast.
Several glass-panelled windows shatter with the resulting shockwave, shards and debris fall to the ground below and make another deafening noise.
Harrison, still climbing the back stairwell, knows exactly where the explosion’s come from and stifles the emotion he feels bursting to the surface. His friend was up there, protecting them, but Harrison certainly didn’t expect an explosion.
He’s the last one to get off the rungs of the ladder, the other two are waiting patiently at ground level for him despite the panic bubbling up inside them.
“Where’s Truck?” Suni asks.
Harrison shakes his head and looks away back up at the apartment and then back at Suni with tears in his eyes. She’s heard the explosion as well and realises what’s taken place, she knew how protective Truck was of them all.
“Dammit!” Suni curses, just as she hears footsteps echoing in the street.
Squinting, she makes out figures of uniformed men carrying rifles and heading in their direction. “Boys!” she screams.
Down the opposite end of the street it’s the same story, they were quickly being surrounded
by a plethora of soldiers. Regardless, Suni hurried the team into the waiting car.
“Suni?” Doc questions her, alarmed at the number of soldiers appearing.
“Not now, we can’t get caught Doc, not now … it will all be for nothing if they get us!” She says to him, pleading for his consent, which he gives with a slight nod.
The three of them jump into the car, Suni turns the engine over and jams it into reverse. They pull out sharply onto the street, despite shouts to halt from the soldiers who now fill the small little street. She ignores them, switches to first gear and floors it in the direction of the nearest main road.
The soldiers behind them immediately give chase and shout louder for them to stop, but Suni ignores them, her gaze is set forward. The soldiers in front, after seeing the car pull out in haste, start to take cover behind stationary vehicles with their rifles raised, also barking orders to stop.
They are sandwiched in between two groups.
Suni is having none of it though, she is one directional in her approach. She isn’t sure how they even ended up in this situation, how the government even found them. But it didn’t matter, they needed to get away, capture was not an option, capture was failure.
“Harry get down!” she calls to him in the back of the car.
“What?”
“Get down, stay out of sight! Now!”
Harrison complies with the request and Suni speeds the car up to its limit as they approach the forward unit of soldiers, who wait with guns raised. With Suni having ignored their calls to stop one of the soldiers fires a shot out in the street, a warning for them to stop.
In amongst the commotion nobody notices a nearby pickup truck, idling by the side of the street innocuously.
Suni ignores the warnings to halt and steels herself for the task ahead, her hands clench the steering wheel tightly as the vehicle propels forward.
Muzzles flash in the street, automatic gunfire ringing out in response to their failure to comply. The car now becomes the target of a barrage of bullets, no more warnings from the soldiers, they have given fair caution.
The windscreen shatters under the gunfire and splotches of red start spraying everywhere inside the car as it continues its forward momentum.
The car swerves suddenly, turning sideways and veering off to the side of the alley. It careens into a parked car on the side of the road, crushing the passenger side door and bringing the car to a smoky halt.
The engine stalls, spits and then goes dead, a moment of silence follows.
Calls from the soldiers begin echoing out in the street again, breaking the silence as they shout orders and make their way towards the crashed vehicle. Inside the car though, there is no movement, only silence and a burgeoning trail of smoke pouring from the engine.
Just as both the forward and the rear units of soldiers are about to reach the crashed car, the inconspicuous pickup truck begins to make a move. It’s been sitting quietly during the incident, nobody paying it any heed, until suddenly it pulls out from behind the army unit in the rear.
It hits the road and gains momentum, a roar sounding as the engine revs and changes gears. So oblivious were the soldiers to its presence that they don’t see the mysterious truck appear until right at the last moment. It comes crashing into them from the rear, scattering them underfoot and all over the street.
The truck does not stop there though, it continues down the street, this time aiming for the forward unit. Immediately the soldiers, seeing the damage it has caused to their compatriots, retreat and seek refuge. Some aimlessly open fire on the truck as they dive for cover but the shots are inaccurate and fly wide.
Just as the truck careens past the crashed car and into the forward unit of soldiers, it slows. Quickly it reverses back till it reaches the crashed car, where it drops a magnetic tow unit stationed on its rear tray.
The truck then switches from reverse and begins rolling forward again. The unit drops to the ground, trailing behind the truck slowly, until it swerves suddenly to the side, pulled on by a magnetic force.
It’s a magnetised tow cable.
It veers quickly and deliberately to the nearest object that attracts it, the crashed car. It moves fast and attaches itself to the side, quickly enough so the truck dragging it doesn’t have to stop. As the truck rolls forward, the slack of the tow lines becomes taut and the car jerks forward.
But the magnet holds tightly onto the car.
It rolls forward. The two move as one.
In amongst this happening, the soldiers recover quickly and recommence firing at the now smoking truck. It proves to be worthless though, as after only moments of being attached, the two vehicles lurch forward together, moving down the street.
Mystified, the soldiers can only look on in amazement at what is taking place … a magnetic pickup truck is towing their bullet strewn, crashed car out into the streets of Melbourne. It fly’s past them all, hits the end of the small street and continues off until it’s out of their sight.
Out of harm’s way.
- -
Harrison
Harrison’s frantic, everything seems to be happening all at once and he has no time to think or to react to what’s happening. He got into the car as instructed, saw the soldiers appear in the street and hoped to hell they could get out.
When the first shot is fired in the street he instinctively ducks down behind Suni in his seat. Then, when he hears the bullets start to ping off the cars exterior, he dives in deeper behind the driver’s seat and covers his head with his hands. He screams a few times, especially when the back-windscreen shatters and he gets covered in glass.
Unexpectedly, the car comes to a complete halt, as if it smashed into something solid. His head thumps violently into the seat, causing a wound to open above his eye. The car’s engine spatters, jumps and then shuts off completely, at a dead still.
It takes him a moment to realise what’s happening but once he shakes the dizziness out of him he realises the car has crashed and the gunfire has stopped. Harrison wipes the blood covering his eyes and is about to stick his head out from behind his protective spot when gunfire again rings out in the street.
He closes his eyes and ducks for cover, head buried back down into the seat. But this time it is different, he can hear the shots clearly but none of them are hitting the car. In fact, the shots are going nowhere near him.
They are shooting something else.
He looks up quickly to investigate and can hear the rumble of an approaching truck and wonders if he’s mistaken, it seems so out of place. Strangely the sound gets louder and closer and is followed by a loud clunk and a rattle on the outside of his car.
Without time to think about what’s causing the noise, Harrison can only sit still, tucked away behind the seat as the car lurches and then begins moving again.
Only this time it isn’t moving like a normal car, the engine isn’t running and all the movements are slightly jerky, forcing him into an uncomfortable position in the back seat, he struggles to get where he can see properly.
He notices the gunshots have ceased again after a minute and determinedly decides to open his eyes and pop his head up for a look out the passenger’s window.
Movement, the car was moving, that’s a good thing.
“Suni, Doc … are you guys ok?” he calls out, trying to un-wedge himself from between the driver’s seat and his own.
He grabs at Doc’s shoulder for support, trying to get back into his seat properly, he pulls on his sleeve to get his attention.
But he gets no response from Doc, he is limp to Harrison’s touch.
“Suni?” he calls out. “Doc?”
By now he’s up righted himself properly in the seat and can’t help but notice the car is moving and moving fast. Instinctively he looks out the window to see what’s propelling the car along.
Realising it’s the truck hauling them on, he marvels at the sight. His small car being towed along via magnetic cable, through the streets of Melbourne. Only a person like Harrison can truly appreciate the value of the moment, he thinks it’s ingenious.
Distracted by the adrenaline rush of the moment, Harrison soon remembers his friends and returns his attention back inside the car, which is now stable enough for him to be able to check. His previous elation at having a joyride is quickly replaced though, as the horror of the scene presents itself to him.
“Guys?” he calls out, fretting. “Are you guys alright?”
It’s more the sight of blood that causes him distress, the front windows are completely shattered and covered in large splotches of it. The seats and floor now have pools of blood and even his face is covered in thick streaks of it.
He’s trying to steady himself in the back seat to check on Suni and Doc when the car suddenly starts to lean sideways, forcing him deep into the back seat. He tries to make out whether Suni and Doc are ok but all he can see is them both limp in the front seat, swerving with the cars movements.
He cries out this time, more so in panic. “Guys, are you ok?”
Nothing.
“Guys, talk to me!”
No response, only flaccid movements.
“Please, say something!” he screams, still attempting to steady himself in the car so he can get a look at them.
“Please!”
This time the car jerks to the other side as it makes a turn and Harrison is flung all the way across the back seat, slamming himself into the side of the car and knocking his head again. The car steadies and a dazed Harrison, realising the futility of his situation, decides to put on his seatbelt and wait till the car has stopped before making any more attempts to move.
Recalling Destiny Page 31