by JD Dutra
Before Nathan had even finished his sentence, Nazeer did it exactly as he was told. Nathan stepped closer, checking that the cuffs were on tight.
He then walked around the front of his car, his eyes and gun still fixed on Nazeer, then he opened the door and got in. Nazeer was fetid. Nathan could smell the disease on him and there were sweat stains and bodily fluids damping the leather seat. Nathan held the gun with his left hand, muzzle pointing at Nazeer as the motor of his car roared to life. The black Audi pulled out of the driveway, leaving two thick stripes of rubber on the concrete, heading out into the night.
Chapter 35
Maryvale, Phoenix,, Arizona
Sunday, October 25th, 2020
6:37 P.M
“Still no movement. I’ll call you as soon as there is anything, so keep your phone close,” said Mei Lin.
“The world is getting even more dangerous. Be careful,” said Ivan.
“I can take care of myself. I just hope this plan of yours works.”
“It should. Keep me posted, we’re ready to go.”
“I will,” said Mei Lin before hanging up. She was about 50 yards away from Oneita’s apartment, laid low on the driver seat of an old and, once white compact car Ivan had given her to use. She was not the only one there, two figures were in the shadows of the worn out parking stall covers on the edge of the stairs to Oneita’s place, occasionally talking as they scanned the street from one side to the other.
She opened the browser on her phone, then went to the local newspaper’s website. If the latest news were any indication, her life as a young CEO of one of the most powerful charities in Phoenix would come to an end either way. The local headlines were full of news stories about tens of thousands of people getting sick and going to hospitals where there was no help. Just as many were presumed already dead. The mysterious illness was airborne and it was quickly spreading around Phoenix as much as it was across the entire world. The death toll reported was in the hundreds of millions around the globe, including in China, and this caused Mei Lin to wonder again if her parents were still alive.
Apparently the spread of the disease gave no sign of slowing down and medical experts in every country were still trying to figure out exactly what was happening. Life as people knew it had gone from normal to crumbling in just three or four days, all due to the most powerful pandemic seen since the Middle Ages. Even some of the mainstream news websites were no longer working, and when she went to the alternative media sites, images from an entire world thrown into chaos filled her screen. There was everything from crowded hospitals and masses of people looting, to armies fending off protesters as politicians tried to use violence to keep things under control.
Did we do this? Why?
The heart-breaking image of a four year old little girl in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil filled her heart with crushing guilt. According to the photo’s description, her entire family and everyone in her community had succumbed to the illness, but she seemed to be naturally immune to the disease. She was now roaming the slums from one shanty home to another, trying to find food or someone she knew. With matted hair, torn clothes and the dirt streaked marks of countless tears under her tired little eyes, the haunting picture had captured the young girl’s fear of being alone in the world. The picture was being shared all over the world, she was quickly becoming the face of this new era. Mei Lin knew exactly how she felt, but she also wondered how many other children like this little girl were out there after so many wars raged around the world, for so many years.
Fighting back her own tears, she opened another website to read more about what was happening in the US. There was a severe shortage of every essential service and martial law had just been declared and several states had been grouped together in different regions under just a few surviving governors. These desperate leaders were calling on the people who were still healthy to volunteer their help as they came to seek shelter at one of the FEMA camps around the state.
People were dying everywhere in unbelievably large numbers and the chaos that started just a day or two ago when the news of the pandemic could no longer be hidden, went from involving the entire community down to a few bands of survivors hungry for resources. There was plenty to go around for now, but everything that was taken couldn’t be replaced anymore. In a world where everything was on demand, from TV shows to the food on the shelves of supermarkets, things wouldn’t be the same as the people who worked to keep the fragile system going were now rotting somewhere or fleeing for their lives.
Mei Lin felt physically fine and everyone in her team also looked healthy before they headed south. The reason why they were suddenly ordered to take what was described as a flu shot months ago, now became clear. She wondered if it was a coincidence that Ivan and his crew were also healthy, as far as she could tell. Again she thought of her parents and how she had tried to call over and over again, but no one answered.
Night was now falling in Phoenix and in the half-light she saw a dark gray cloud of smoke come streaming out of the mouth of one of the two watchmen. Suddenly he threw the cigarette to the ground as he nudged his colleague. Wondering what had attracted their attention, Mei Lin grabbed the scope of one of her guns and saw a large party of people coming out of the apartment building. She recognized Raymond and the man who was with him digging for trash around her house just two days before, but something didn’t seem right. Raymond had his wrists bound and someone was shoving him along to make him walk alongside the other guy. They had about a dozen men and women around them, all armed with revolvers and pistols. She looked down to her phone and the GPS signal from her box was still hovering in the exact same place as before, inside Oneita’s apartment.
The group started getting into three cars, even the men who had previously been standing watch in the front of the apartment’s parking lot. As they drove away she checked the GPS app one more time, refreshed it, and when the last of the cars turned a corner down the street, the dot still indicated the safe box was at Oneita’s place. She closed the app on her phone and began to dial a number.
“Ivan, it’s me.”
“Did they leave? I got a text message from one of them saying they’re heading over to meet us,” said Ivan.
“Yes, they left in three cars, about 15 people in total. They all look armed, but as far as I could tell all they had were revolvers and pistols.”
“Are they bringing the box with them?”
“I didn’t see it and the app is indicating it’s still here at the apartment. They might be bringing you something from it or everything. I’ve no way of knowing…”
“So you know what to do. I’m sending two of my men to help you out. Wait for them, they’ll be looking for your car. With 15 heading my way, two is all I can spare.”
“I don’t think I need any help here, I’ve been watching the apartment all day, counting people who are going in and out. Oneita is alone in there or maybe she has one or two others, but I’ll be fine. I can take care of them on my own.”
“These people are very unpredictable, Mei Lin. Wait for my men, they’ll be there in 15 to 20 minutes.”
“I’ll go take a closer look and I’ll keep you posted.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“If you were me you’d be going in there… Right Ivan?”
There was a brief silence as Ivan cleared his voice and then he answered.
“I’d have nothing to lose…”
“Neither do I,” said Mei Lin. “Good luck with your meeting and thanks for doing this.”
“I’m glad to be of help, but I’m just doing my job. We are more than lucky they came straight to us and agreed on a price so I hope that luck will stay with us just a little longer. If they’ve brought everything I’ll do the exchange and call you. Gotta run.”
She turned off her phone and stuck it in her pocket before she ran her long fingers over the equipment she was carrying a compact .45 caliber pistol, two extra magazines fille
d with hollow point bullets and a boot dagger. She looked in the review mirror, didn’t see anyone anywhere. The street was completely deserted by the living, but there were corpses in cars, two of them on sidewalks that she could see. When she slowly opened the car door the smell of decay instantly made her gag, she had almost forgotten how bad it was. She thought being in the car with a faint scent would get her used to the nauseating smell but that clearly hadn’t worked. She shut her door, rethinking everything.
What if I just drive away and start over somewhere else?
What if she could find a place, where the healthy people like her would eventually gather to? That way she could help people rebuild their lives and do that with her own life. She could turn her back on a past she regretted having anyway. She had never felt as alive as she did when running her non-profit organization and helping families. The rebellious young girl that had agreed to join a secret cell had blossomed into a woman who felt alive the most when she could forget about herself and serve others. If she left, she could still help a lot of people, and doing that without a dark secret and the worries it brought to her mind and heart would be just perfect.
Why don’t you do it, Mei Lin? Do it now. Just forgive Oneita and move on.
Her hands touched the keys in the ignition as images from a future she knew she could have begun to flood her mind.
A few dozen yards away, from behind a dumpster in a dark alley nearby, Daniel Cross adjusted the utility knife in his pocket and checked the chamber of the semi auto shotgun he was carrying. He was thankful he’d let a series of robberies around his neighborhood scare him into buying something for home defense. The trips to the range from time to time kept him semi accurate and confident with the shotgun in his hands.
His pocket was full of birdshot shells, but with the shotgun he only had five chances to end a threat before reload time. He wished he’d bought more guns and had more options, maybe a rifle, something that would give him more accuracy and more rounds at a time. There was nothing he could do now besides paying the price for his procrastination.
The world has gone to hell and I was so unprepared.
He pushed away the feelings of guilt, because he needed anger and hatred for what he was about to do. The thought of Whitey, of what he would do to him someday if he was even alive. He thought of his son and daughter, then breathed in the rotten air as deep as he could; it was like octane for his furnace of rage. He stood up and peaked around the corner to make sure the gang that had come out of Raymond’s apartment was really gone. When Daniel had seen Raymond himself, he’d gotten confused. His face was swollen as if he had been beaten for several hours and he was being pushed to walk and every step made him grimace in pain.
Just wait until you and I meet again Raymond. Your pain now will be nothing.
Daniel hadn’t seen his daughter or son getting into any of the three cars so, with any luck, they were still in the apartment. He would make sure the five shots would be enough to bring them back safe.
He was stopped momentarily when he saw someone approaching Raymond’s building from the other end of the street, the person had a hoodie on and jeans. Even in bad lighting he could tell by the figure that was a woman and she appeared to be heading to Raymond’s unit, crouching low, stalking the place.
These thieves even prey on each other.
Daniel thought about shooting her right from where he stood, but he was too far away to do any real damage and it would give away his presence. Suddenly, a shadow moved near her and she turned around, pulling a gun, aiming straight into the darkness. As she did so, the shadow materialized into two men who appeared from the apartment under Raymond’s, their guns drawn and they were pointing right back at her. The woman in the hoodie pointed the gun to one of them, then the other, back and forth as if trying to keep both men under threat and at a distance. She began to step back as the men walked closer to her and they slowly stepped away from each other, like two wild scavengers encircling their prey. Suddenly a voice filled the air.
“Get back! Or I’ll kill you both!” She shouted.
Both of the men looked at one another for a brief moment, before one of them said, “Come here, you pretty thing… Chill out cuz you’re gonna be my geisha tonight.”
Still in the alley Daniel thought about getting involved. If he could get close enough he could pepper one of them with lead, straight to hell, but he worried about the risk and not being able to rescue his family. He continued to watch what happened to the woman.
Seemingly not seeing her as a real threat, the men got closer and suddenly the woman grabbed the barrel of the gun held by one of the men. She moved it away, while squeezing off a round from her handgun into the second man’s chest. He fell down and his gun went off, the bullet ricocheting off a nearby car. More shouting filled the air and two other men now rushed out of the apartment towards them.
Now there were three men and the one woman, Daniel felt he had to get involved but as he tried to move, his legs felt like they were planted on the ground. His kids needed him alive, once more he felt unsure what to do.
As the woman and the first man got into a closer struggle he tried to free his weapon from her hand, but she seemed to have an incredibly strong grip. Instead, he now tried reaching for the pistol in the woman’s hand, but she had stepped out of the way and a shot rang out from her handgun, the muzzle flash illuminating the night and the second body fell to the ground.
Before she could turn her pistol onto the two other men from the apartment, they tackled her down onto the pavement. As they scrambled to control her, she began screaming for help, probably already knowing the violence and worse that waited for her. Daniel relived in his mind what happened to him just hours before in the Tent City Jail meal room.
After a few moments they had her by her arms and legs, she twisted and turned her body in different directions, but she her mass was not enough to match their strength. The hood on her sweatshirt had come off and even from a distance and in the dim light of the apartments, Daniel could see an attractive face framed by long jet black hair.
He looked up at Raymond’s unit, there was only one man on the window looking down. He had a red bandana on his forehead like a maid and he probably watched the whole thing. He stepped away from the window, disappearing into the darkness of Raymond’s apartment.
Daniel looked around and the apartment complex seemed deserted save for a few faces in some of the windows here and there, peeking out enough to be able to watch while making it clear that they didn’t want to get involved. By the time Daniel looked at the woman again, she was being carried away into the unit below Raymond’s.
It’s now or never, thought Daniel.
Chapter 36
Bohemian Grove
20601 Bohemian Avenue, Monte Rio, California.
Sunday, October 25th, 2020
7:00 P.M.
In the darkness of the depths of the Bohemian Grove, illuminated by torches carried by the men who escorted him, the one they called ‘The Vessel’ made his was down a red earth path. The gray ceremonial slippers he was required to wear had embroidery on the toes, showing a pyramid with thirteen steps and the All Seeing Eye. With each step, the slippers came in and out of view from under his heavy black robes and cloak.
As quietly as he could, he inhaled deeply from behind his golden ritualistic mask trying to calm his nerves. After years of preparation he was about to be called to serve and begin an entirely new life, one he had once longed for, yet everything about this moment frightened him to the core. From somewhere in the woods, every so often there was a loud scream of a woman or a child followed by an unsettling moan. Whether it came from a man or animal he couldn’t tell, but it made his stomach churn with fear. The air smelled heavy of the blend of earth and thick vegetation and the ancient giant redwood trees that surrounded him blocked the moon and stars. The air temperature was way below that in the nearest city.
The group of seven men who escorted him never spoke a w
ord during the walk. As he had been commanded, The Vessel dared not to lift up his gaze from the earthy path. The torches the men carried gave sound to the wind, which made the flames roar louder and glow brighter whenever nature tried to blow them out. Suddenly the disturbing moan in the distance became clearer, it was a man’s voice, a low melancholic sound with words that were too faint to be understood. As he got closer to his destination, the voice became clearer, it repeated the same phrase, spoken in a language The Vessel couldn’t understand. The voice got louder with each step, chanting the incomprehensible intonation over and over again.
Two loud bangs filled the air, sounding like the beating of a large and ancient drum that echoed through the old woods.
“Vessel, you may now lift up your gaze and contemplate your destiny,” said one of the men next to him.
The Vessel obeyed, and his eyes went from watching the rhythm of his slippers to looking straight ahead, and the scene before his eyes made him forget to breathe. When he finally did, the air felt colder than before and beneath his heavy robes, he began to tremble.
Just a few steps away was a stone altar where a young woman lay naked and motionless, with a gaping wound in her chest. Directly behind the altar there was a wide and dark stone platform resembling the shape of a pyramid with thirteen steps. It went about 30 feet high into the air and it was equally wide at the base, the structure was illuminated by large fire pits on each of the four corners.
There were men and women wearing heavy black cloaks on each of the steps, the dark shapes only discernible by the features of their Egyptian headdresses. Each woman wore a modius, a type of flat-topped blue cylindrical headdress, and the men had nemes, a head cloth of striped blue and gold fabric that fell down either side of their faces. The nemes resembled a Pharaoh’s headdress one might see in a museum. All wore golden masks from ancient Egypt that made their faces shine with a frightening glow as the flames danced before them. There was no one on the flat top of the pyramid.