by Sourav Deka
Mom turned to me. “Ross, you still have the chance. You can leave all this, forget about it. Start a new life.”
“That’s why you are here, to stop me?” I said. “You never tried to contact me and now you just suddenly pop up in Brazil when I am killing people.”
“I am here to stop you,” she grabbed my arms. “I didn’t know that you were into this. Our boss told me and brought me here.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Your boss?”
“She is from Aivor, Sam brought her,” dad said. “He brainwashed her to distract you from your goal.”
Mom nodded. “Yes, Sam brought me here. But I am not brainwashed. Whatever he told me was the truth. Aren’t you killing people? Aren’t you involved in this? Look, what you have become.”
“He is using her against you, Ross, so that you stop. That’s his plan, don’t you see it?”
Mom gazed at me. “Your father will always tell you that because he doesn’t want you to stop. He is obsessed with the seeds. He wants it no matter who gets destroyed along the way.”
“I can’t stop, mom,” I said. “I am already into this, I have to finish this. I am not saying this because of dad,” I inhaled deeply. “I want to finish this. No more blood will be spilled in the name of seeds. This has to end and I will end it.”
“You don’t understand,” she grabbed my hands. “If you don’t listen to me he will kill you. Please Ross listen, it’s for your own good.”
“Why do you think he said that? He wants the seeds so that he can destroy it. As I joined Savor he wants to kill me. He is trying to kill me for days, mom.”
Mom hugged me and whispered in my ear. “He is here. If you don’t listen to me he is going to kill you, just fake it that you agree with me. He has snipers all over the place aimed at you.”
I looked at dad, Michael and Martin.
“RUN, RUN, HIDE, SAM HAS SNIPERS,” I shouted.
We all ran in different directions. I grabbed mom and ran towards the mall near us. Mom yelled, “What have you done? He will kill you. What’s wrong with fake agreeing with me?”
“I am sorry, I don’t trust him.”
They started shooting at us, but missed. Some of the civilians got shot as everyone at the mall started running and screaming in fear. We all hid in different rooms. They lost us and the firing stopped and started searching the mall. I took out my phone and called Michael.
“Aivors are here,” I whispered. “When will your equipment arrive? We can use it on them.”
“I called them half an hour ago, they were close,” he said.
“Where are you?”
“I heard a gunshot. Are you okay? I am at the shop next to the mall.”
“Aivors are here. We need help now.”
“What?”
“This is a chance, Michael. Let’s kill the Aivors. Call all of your men, a lot of them.”
“No, forget them. We can’t fight Sam’s men here. He must have planned this,” Michael said. “He might have surrounded the whole area.”
“How many times we will keep running, Michael. Let’s finish them for good.”
“No, we can’t risk ourselves getting killed. We have descendants to kill. That’s what Sam wants Ross, to distract us, to stop us. Just run away.”
“We can’t run away, Michael. They have surrounded us. Even if we escape they will come for the descendent. They are in Brazil, they will interfere. They know where we are going to go. We can’t run away from Brazil without killing the descendant, you know that. We have to fight them.”
“You don’t understand. Some of them may know magic. We can’t risk getting killed. We are so close to the seeds.”
I nodded. “I know, I know, but there is no other way. They are going to stop us when we go after the descendant. We only have two descendants to kill, Michael. They will prepare everything to kill us at the descendant’s house. We can’t escape them. They are going to create problems so we have to finish them here. Tanner isn’t here, Sam might have kept him waiting at the last descendant’s place. If we kill Sam and his minions here we will have one less problem to worry about for the last one.”
“But I only ordered smoke grenades and thermal goggles.”
“It’s okay. Bring some guns too”
“But Tanner already tried to kill Sam, remember? He healed back, we can’t kill Sam. He will heal again.”
“I know that but we destroyed Bristy’s voodoo doll. It destroyed her magic. She was the one who did the protection spell on Sam. Now the doll is gone, so the magic also wore off. We have to kill him before Bristy’s magic comes back. We can kill him, Michael.”
“What makes you sure? Perhaps it wasn’t Bristy who did Sam’s protection spell.”
“I am not sure. But there is a chance, she was Aivor’s leader, she might have done it.”
“But what if you are wrong?”
“We don’t have a choice, Michael. We have to fight them, if not now then at the descendant’s place. We have to try. There is no choice.”
He sighed, “Okay, then.”
“Call your people, every member of Savor who can arrive at this moment. How many of them you have in Brazil?”
“Forty something I think.”
I nodded. “Call them now, every one of them.”
Michael called his saviors. It would take time, but we didn’t have much time. Aivors were searching for us in every room.
“Ross, you know you can’t hide here forever,” Sam shouted from outside. “I will find you. You made the wrong choice, buddy. You shouldn’t have chosen Savors. They are going to destroy this planet. How can you be so stupid?”
Mom and I were grabbing each other’s hands hiding in one of the mall’s rooms.
“It’s okay, mom,” I said in a low voice. “Savors are coming.”
“Come out of your hiding,” Sam shouted again. “I promise you I am going to make it quick. I won’t give you a slow death.”
We kept hiding in our room. Sam kept making threats trying to make me come out of my hiding. Where are you Savors? Please, hurry, Aivors are going to find us. Suddenly, the door cracked open and two bearded men with guns entered our room.
“Boss, we found them,” one of them said, and grabbed my arm tight.
“No, please,” mom begged.
They didn’t listen and dragged me out to Sam. He was on the ground floor in his usual back suit and an assault rifle on his hand.
“Ah, finally,” Sam half smiled and walked up to me.
“If you kill me you will never find the seeds,” I said.
“We want the seeds so that we can burn it. You have chosen Savior. You and your brother are supposed to die. You don’t know what you are doing, kid. You may think that I am the bad guy, but I am not. Those seeds shouldn’t be out in this word.”
“Just because of your fear that the population will go out of control doesn’t mean you are right. Scientists have been trying to cure diseases from ages. The seeds are the solution to cure all the diseases. You don’t get it.”
He looked at mom. “Why don’t you try to change his mind? You are his mother, you are an Aivor.”
“I never believed in Aivor,” mom said, raising her chin. “My son is right. It can save the world. Aivor was wrong, always wrong.”
He pointed his gun at mom. “Then you should die too. You were never a true Aivor.”
He was going to pull the trigger but a car crashed into the mall and it collided with Sam. He flew into the wall and fell. About twenty people in white suits entered the mall with their guns and started shooting at Aivors. Mom and I ran from our spot and took cover. Michael was inside the car. He jumped out of it and quickly took cover near us. Aivors and Savors were firing at each other from their covers. Cops and Special Forces entered the room to control the situation. They shot every person with a gun or anyone who looked violent.
Sam was healed as his body was spelled. He picked up his gun and started shooting at any Savor he could find. The
shootout continued and we stayed hidden in our covers. After a few minutes most of the Aivors and Savors were dead. It was a bloodbath. Sam continued shooting like a maniac but at last he ran out of ammo. The cops got him and arrested him. But it was not over the cops and Special Forces were attacking Savors too.
Michael turned to one of his guys. “Did you get the smoke grenades and thermal goggles?”
“Yes sir,” he answered.
“Give me three thermal goggles and some smoke grenades.”
He put down his bag and took out three blue colored goggles and some smoke grenades. He handed those to Michael. Michael gave me two goggles and a couple of smoke grenades.
“How to use this?” I said, eyeing at the smoke grenades.
“First wear the goggles. Remove the pin on the upper side of the smoke grenade and throw it. Watch me and learn,” Michael wore his thermal goggles and threw a smoke grenade towards the cops taking cover. Smoke started filling the air.
I tossed the goggles to mom. She wore it.
“Throw more, we have to escape. Make it impossible for them to see us. Come on,” Michael patted my back.
I wore my goggles, it looked different. Every person behind the smoke can be identified, they glowed. I took out the pin on the smoke grenade and threw it, Michael and I did it again and again. After a minute the whole area was covered in smoke. The cops began to cough. It became difficult to breath.
“Let’s move, we don’t have much time. The Special Forces will be inside with thermal goggles. They will get through the smoke, we have to leave now,” Michael said. “We have to go to the roof, a helicopter will come for us.”
“You go get Martin and dad,” I wrapped around my handkerchief on my mouth. Mom and I ran towards the lifts. I pressed the buttons but it didn’t work.
“The lifts are blocked. We can’t use them,” mom said. “We have to take the stairs.”
“Oh my god!” I tightened my cheeks. “It is a fifteen story building.”
We took the stairs. Dad, Martin, Michael and a couple of Savors were ahead of us climbing the stairs. It was breathtaking. I was feeling tired on the 6th floor.
“Come on son, you have to work on your stamina,” Dad patted my back.
I was out of breath on the 10th floor.
“Those cops will kill us. Do you want to die here? Let’s go,” Michael said.
“Just a minute,” I said, trying to catch my breath.
“Oh god!” Michael rolled his eyes. “I should have trained you more. You have to move, you can’t die here.”
Somehow we got to the roof after a few minutes of climbing struggle. The sky was clear and there was no helicopter. We could hear the cops and Special Forces climbing through the stairs. We didn’t have enough time.
“Where is the damn helicopter?” I shouted.
“It’s coming,” Michael checked his phone. “Just a minute, it will be here.”
We saw the helicopter coming towards the building. It landed on the roof.
“Where will it take us?” Dad asked.
“A safe place,” Michael replied.
“What are we going to do about the descendant? We have to kill the one in this country.”
Michael pressed his lips. “I know, but we became fugitives here. The cops will be looking for us. We will need a new plan.”
“No, we don’t need a new plan,” I said. “We kill the descendant and get out of this country. Sam is behind the bars, we have an advantage. Aivor lacks a leader. Sam won’t be a problem for us now.”
Michael sighed. “First let’s get to the safe place before those cops shoot us.”
We got into the helicopter, the cops and Special Forces reached the roof and started shooting at us, but they were too late. We made it out of there just in nick of time. The helicopter took us to an abandoned area. There was no sign of habitation for miles. All the buildings were empty. It was a ghost town which was vacant for years. Our helicopter landed on one of the building’s roof, half of it was covered with sand. I guess sandstorms occur here regularly. It smelled like shit, and felt like we landed on some garbage filled with sand.
“Where have you landed? This place smells like garbage,” I said.
“We are safe here,” Michael said. “No one comes here.”
I looked around. “This is a ghost town.”
“Yeah, it has been like this for a long time. Some of my people are coming to provide us some supplies and ammo.”
“What supplies?”
“You know some food and water. We can’t go out there now. Cops are looking for us,” he turned away. “Just wait for my people, they are bringing supplies. We will have disguises, guns and stuff.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Disguises?”
“Yeah, you will see.”
We all waited there for Michael’s people. Dad and Martin started chatting with the helicopter pilot while Michael was speaking to his walkie talkie trying to contact his people. I sat on the roof and rested.
Mom came towards me. “So you are going to do it? Kill the descendent?” she said.
“Yeah, I have to finish this,” I said.
“Think about this, Ross. It’s not the right thing to do.”
“I already murdered people, mom. I am a killer, I can’t turn back now. I have come a long way for this. We are just a few steps closer to the seeds,” I gulped. “I can’t give up now.”
She lowered her head. “I didn’t expect this from you.”
“What did you expect? You left us. You were gone. Maybe if you would have stayed, things would have been different.”
“I left you but…………………….”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I interrupted her. “It was for our own good,” I chuckled. “Look how I ended up, look how Aaron ended up.”
“There is still time. You can stop,” she said softly.
I shook my head. “It’s too late.”
She stayed silent and turned her back.
“So what are you going to do after this? Are you going to leave me again, like you did when I was a kid?”
“I never wanted to leave, Ross,” she said, staring at the clear blue sky.
“Now you have the chance, don’t leave,” I said softly.
She tried to smile. “But where will we stay? We don’t have anything. I was always moving from place to place, Aivor helped. As now I betrayed them, I am sure they want me dead.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. After all this is over we will build our home and stay like a family. We can start over.”
“And the Aivors?”
I scoffed. “Aivors? They are pretty much finished.”
She shook her head and sat beside me. “No, there are more.”
“I know but it won’t matter. If we get the seeds Aivors will fail. Savors will help us, they will protect us.”
Mom nodded. “I hope so.”
“We can be a family again.”
“I always wanted that,” mom fought back her tears. “But it never happened.”
“It will happen. I will make it happen.”
She tried to smile. “I wish that it happens.”
“It will mom, it will.”
Mom looked at dad. He was talking to the helicopter pilot. “He gave his whole life for the seeds, so obsessed with it,” she said. “He shouldn’t have involved you in this.”
“It’s okay, mom. We can’t change the past.”
“I know but……………..he has made you a murderer. He should have stopped you.”
“It’s okay. I chose this. Back at the mall you mentioned that you survived five years ago, what happened then?”
“Savors were after me. Your dad tried to save me and accidently I fell into a river from a cliff. Everyone thought that I died, but I survived.”
“Dad never looked for you?”
She nodded. “He did, but he didn’t find me. After a year Aivors found me. They forced me to work for them and I had to as I was an Aivor from birt
h.”
“Why were Savors after you back then?”
“They wanted me to convince you and Aaron to join Savor. As you know both groups don't let rare kids go away easily.”
“So they were what…………..threatening you?”
“Yeah, kind of,” she pressed her lips together. “I didn’t want you or Aaron to join any of the groups. I know they are both ruthless. They both have done horrible things. But it doesn’t matter how much I tried, you already joined a group,” she sighed and looked down. “You killed people, I didn’t want that.”
“Dad never told me about that.”
She scoffed. “Why would he? He is just obsessed with the seeds. When he saw you getting close to the seeds, he didn’t stop you.”
“I know, but he loves me.”
She took a deep breath. “I know he loves you, but he is obsessed with the seeds. He just wants to find it and end all of this even if it made you a killer.”
“We can’t escape our destiny, mom. It was my destiny.”
She gave me a half smile. “What kind of destiny is this? You are killing people, Ross.”
“But that’s for a great cause.”
“That’s what they keep telling you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, look from Savor’s perspective, it’s true. We are going to save people. Imagine a world where every disease is cured. No one will have to suffer anymore.”
“What if someone steals it and uses it over and over to stay immortal. Using the seeds every time also stops aging, no one should live forever.”
I looked away. “You sound like Aivors. I had that discussion before, mom. Savor will take precautions.”
“How are you sure? There will always be a risk. Even if they take some precaution, still there is a chance that someone can steal it.”
“Then Savor will hunt the thief.”
She scoffed. “You are saying it like it’s very easy. If people become immortal we will have an overpopulation problem.”
“Think about the other inventions in the past. Everything has a good side and a bad side, mom. I know there are some risks, there can be problems, but we will tackle it. This is the greatest invention ever. This can save millions of lives. How can you not see that?”
“The seeds can give immortality, Ross. If people keep on using that and stay immortal. There will be an imbalance in nature and that’s a very big problem.”