by RJ Johnson
“What’s the source?” Meade asked.
Johnny smiled and pointed up, “That’s the Source.”
Meade followed the direction of his finger where he was pointing and he gasped. Above them was a series of large gray cylindrical tubes. They were outlined in red that pulsed upwards into the sky above their heads. There was no sky per se, it was more of a dark gray fog that extended up into a black infinite darkness.
“What the fuck is that?” Meade asked in wonder.
“That’s what connects this little reality of ours to the outside world,” Johnny pushed Meade forward. “We all go back to the Source eventually.”
“’Cept me.”
“Except you,” Johnny nodded, agreeing. “Keep moving.”
Meade couldn’t shake the feeling that if he could just find the right direction to push the man, he should be able to provoke a reaction that could help him get away.
“You been with that other guy long?”
“’Bout three months,” Johnny replied.
“He always treat you like that?”
“I’ve knocked off ten years of my sentence so far thanks to him,” Johnny shot back. “I always get my share too, which I can’t say happens with any of the other people I allied myself with in here.”
Meade grunted, “Seems like the kind of thing that only a bitch would put up with.”
A shadow crossed Johnny’ face as he pulled on the rope tied to Meade’s restraints, “I’m no bitch.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Meade said. Then, unable to help himself he added, “Bitch.”
Johnny slapped the back of Meade’s head, “Shut the fuck up, we’re almost to camp anyway, so I’d conserve all that extra energy you’ve got were I you. You’re gonna need it.”
Meade felt the belt tying his hands together slip even more. He was able to wiggle his wrist just enough so that he could feel the restraints slipping. One more push ought to do it.
“Jesus, you even hit like a little bitch,” Meade tensed up.
“Shut up!” Johnny roared, and swung the club he was holding against Meade’s back.
Just as Johnny drew back, Meade forced his way out of the cuffs and spun on his heel, holding up his hand and catching the club just as it began its downward arc on his head. Meade used Johnny’s momentum to twist the club out of his hands and slam it down to the ground. Johnny’s eyes went wide in shock and anger, as Meade grinned and slammed the heel of his palm against Johnny’s nose.
The man holding him hostage crumpled to the ground. Meade leaned over to check his pulse, which was still beating. Hopefully it worked the same way in Enzeli as it did in the meatworld. In a few minutes, Johnny would wake up with a splitting headache and realize he got away, and Meade was hoping to be far from his kidnapper long before he came to.
“Sleep now, and enjoy the headache my friend,” Meade said gently, leaning over him to pick up the club. He glanced at Johnny’s backpack which had spilled the Bioxx box out on the ground and looked around for anyone who might have seen them.
Seeing no one, he grabbed the pack and moved quickly through the rough terrain towards the imposing and impossible looking cables that led into the sky. If he was gonna get out of here, he could think of no better way than by going back to the Source.
Chapter Twenty Three
Meade didn’t know where he was going, all he knew was he needed to move fast and get far. From the way those two idiots were talking, the Source was apparently an entity that had its own thoughts, feelings and motivations. Meade suspected that the Source was actually the Ambassador, but, you never knew with the Coalition.
He scrambled up a hill, grabbing onto the trees that dotted the landscape around him. He took a moment to thank whatever programmer thought to program the prison as a landscape instead of a building. Probably gave the inmates a better sense of freedom – even as they were trapped.
The sky lit up above him and the sky displayed his photo as a booming pleasant female voice thundered through the valley.
“Attention inmates. New arrival in Enzeli. James Meade, Inmate 54038 has broken his restraining bolt and is considered extremely dangerous. Take all necessary precautions if you encounter this man in Enzeli. There will be no further announcements regarding this topic.”
Meade groaned, “Well, that can’t be good.”
He picked up the pace and moved up the hill as fast as he was able, the dirt and gravel making it tough going up the steep hill.
He summited the hill and looked around him to get a better idea of what Enzeli looked like.
Portions of the valley below him looked eerily familiar. He couldn’t quite place it, but Meade felt like he had been there before somehow. To the west, was a never-ending desert that was dotted with occasional thick forests of trees and woods. What looked like a burnt out small village lay to the north. To the east were more mountains, higher, steeper and much more impossible looking. Meade figured that was the programmer’s way of saying, “You don’t get to go this direction.”
And finally, to the south was the indescribable cabling that reached into the sky that Johnny called the Source.
He paused to take stock of his situation. He was stuck, with no supplies, weapons, or shelter. He cursed himself, thinking of the club Johnny had dropped after Meade had managed to brain him and get away. He should have grabbed it when he had the chance. Now, he was defenseless. He glanced around him and spotted a nearby tree that had several branches that might make for a decent club.
Meade moved to the tree and kicked one of the lower branches. Nothing, the tree didn’t even budge, it was as if he hadn’t even touched it.
Meade chuckled and thought of what an idiot he must be. The tree was programmed as a single entity, he could no more tear off a piece of it as it could split the atom by clapping his hands. Clubs like that must already be programmed into the system as tools for the innmates to use. He stopped for a moment to consider the implications of that – unless he missed his guess, the source was a warden of sorts for Enzeli. It probably used a complex series of programs to keep the inmates in line. Programs that probably included rewards like clubs and food. He’d have to keep an eye out for any opportunities.
He continued through the hills and terrain searching for anything that could help him. He walked and walked and walked for what felt like an eternity, but was not getting any closer to the mystical bundle of cables leading into the sky. Meade was flummoxed, another programmer’s trick to keep a goal out of sight for him.
Great. Now what was he going to do?
Suddenly, it came to him. He might not be able to contact anyone on the outside, but, he did know someone on the inside. It was just a matter of finding him.
Meade smiled and leapt to his feet. He might not know exactly how to find him, but at least he had a plan.
He backtracked and moved quickly through the simulated landscape. He was surprised at how he didn’t feel thirsty or hungry – neither thing was a necessity for them on the inside with all their body’s needs provided for on the outside. He missed the feeling of drinking something, even though he felt no particular thirst.
Finally, after walking for what felt like days, he reached a large hill that he managed to summit. Once on the top, he looked around the valley for any signs of human settlement. Johnny had been vague on the details of where it was, but he had mentioned a village or campsite of some sort, so he knew that there were places where people gathered. It stood to reason that someone in that camp would know where the captain was.
The only problem was that the Source had shown his face to everyone in Enzeli with that little light show. Enzeli prisoners weren’t exactly standup citizens to begin with and were even less likely to listen to reason. It was subtle, but the message that came from the Source was made to put people on edge and to shoot first and ask questions later.
He stopped to consider this. How could he find the Captain without exposing himself as the man the Enzeli prisoners had just been told t
o kill?
What he needed was intelligence on what exactly he was facing. He got up and began moving towards the small encampment he had spotted from his vantage point. That was where Johnny was likely taking him since there wasn’t a whole lot else in the area.
It didn’t take him long to get down the mountain. Scrambling down the side of the hill was much easier when gravity was on your side. It was more like controlled falling, but whatever got him down safely was good enough for him.
He skidded to a stop as he fell the last ten feet down into a natural crevice in the mountainside. The route he had taken down the mountain left him only a few hundred feet away from the camp. Meade moved through the tall weeds keeping his head low as he approached the eastern wall.
Here, dozens of sheet metal sections (likely cannibalized from the burnt out buildings Meade had arrived in), had been stitched together as some basic wall. It was more inconvenience than it was tactical, the thin sheet metal didn’t exactly inspire confidence against anyone who might be particularly determined to get inside. Meade figured they put the walls up so that any invaders might funnel their forces towards weaker entry points like the gate where they could use their limited firepower more effectively.
Meade tested the integrity of the nearest sheet metal section. It was tied to a pole was in the ground with wire that wrapped around it at several different points. He pushed it back and forth seeing how well it was secured.
Thankfully, while the whole section wasn’t going to budge, the lower corner was not as securely fashioned to the pole as the rest of it was. Meade was able to pry the sheet metal up and make a hole big enough for him to squeeze through.
As he wiggled through the tight quarters, he found himself fall unceremoniously out into a small alley between two large green tents. The tents were at least twelve by twelve and sat on top of a raised platform. He ducked back under the sheet metal and pulled the backpack with the Bioxx through with him. He set it down gently next to the tent next to him and he peered out into the camp.
Surprisingly, it looked as normal as any other settlement outside the Lid on Mars. If someone had told him they had dropped him off out on the Martian plains and near one of the many dogtowns that people set up out there, then he wouldn’t have been surprised.
Meade didn’t see many people moving around. It was late, and he hoped that most were still asleep in their beds. It was then that he spotted his two kidnappers from before.
Howie was screaming at the top of his lungs at Johnny while slapping him hard with the side of that odd looking shovel blade.
“How the fuck did you let him get to you like that?” Howie screamed, his face turning beet red from the effort, “We had him you incompetent fuck! We had him and we could’ve knocked a full twenty years off, and now, we got nothing thanks to you!”
“I’m sorry Howie, I’m real sorry,” Johnny said humbled. He kept his head low since Howie was still attacking him.
Howie stopped and shook his head, looking at his friend, “Not only that, you lost the Bioxx box! You know how long and how many favors it took for me to get the Source to give me that thing?”
“He can’t have gotten far!” Johnny protested, “I mean, that box is heavy, and why would he keep carrying it around? He doesn’t know how to use it, he can’t eat it or turn it into a weapon. I’ll bet he already dropped it off somewhere and all we have to do is go find it.”
“WE?” Howie thundered. “WE will not be doing anything, YOU will go out and you will either find him and bring me back my forty years, or I guarantee I’ll take those forty years outta your ass.”
Howie kicked Johnny in the ass and he fell to the ground, “Now get moving and don’t come back til you got one or the other.”
Johnny nodded quickly, his feet scrambling as he got up and ran back out the camp and towards wherever he thought Meade might be.
Howie watched his young friend leave and he withdrew a disgusting looking handkerchief and sneezed violently into it. Putting the handkerchief away, he moved towards a nearby tent, lifted the flap and went inside.
Meade moved behind the tent he was next to and made his way over to where Howie was making his bed for the night. Once there, he could hear Howie’s raspy breathing through the thin canvas.
He waited until he heard Howie settle down and get into his cot. After a few minutes when Meade was certain that Howie was asleep, he stepped inside the tent and kneeled next to the man who had taken five years of his life. He reached under the bed and pulled the covers together tight, securing them with a nearby clamp.
Sure that Howie wasn’t gonna go anywhere, he clasped his hand over his meaty face and pressed down hard with the dual purpose of keeping Howie from moving or screaming out for help.
Howie woke back up instantly and began to struggle under Meade’s sudden weight.
“Shhh, shhh,” Meade whispered into Howie’s ear. “I’m just here to reclaim what’s mine and hopefully get you to point me in the right direction.”
Howie screamed through Meade’s palm, but no one could hear him, muffled as he was by Meade’s heavy hand. Meade shook his head.
“You make trouble for me, I’ll just go ahead and knock you out here and now.”
Howie shook his head and stopped moving underneath him.
“Good,” Meade said softly. He reached behind him and picked up the backpack extracting the Bioxx box. “Now, the way I remember you using this was by attaching these wires here.” Meade took the red alligator clips attached to the spool of wire on the side of the box and attached it to the back of Howie’s hand.
Howie’s eyes widened and he began to shake his head from side to side.
“And then, if I remember correct, you attached these wires to your pointer finger,” Meade mused. He leaned on top of Howie’s body to keep him from moving too far and attached the Bioxx wire to his pointer finger.
“Now, all I have to do is flip this switch and…” Meade flipped the switch on the Bioxx box and the LED display lit up and started running. Howie’s face instantly metamorphosed into someone who was in an incredible amount of pain. The Bioxx box however was somehow keeping his Avatar from making any noise at all.
On Meade’s end, his finger began to tingle – it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling like what he felt when Howie had stolen five years from him, but rather something akin to what happens when your foot would fall asleep. Not painful, just, odd.
The feeling didn’t stop at his fingertip either. The longer the machine was on, the more the feeling spread through his body. His whole arm was tingling within the first few seconds, and it traveled further up his arm and down the trunk of his body. He felt like he was in the middle of a fire, but without the pain.
He looked at the monitor on the Bioxx box and saw that he had already taken his five years back. He took the alligator clips off his finger and the machine spun down. Howie coughed and then violently vomited all over his chest, still shaking from the aftereffects of the machine. Meade stood back, the vomit missing his clothing.
“Howie, I was just thinking that…” Johnny stepped up through the flap and saw Meade and Howie. Johnny was speechless. He had been sent out to find these two and here they were, right under his nose the whole time. Johnny gave a quick shout and charged at him, holding the club.
Meade kicked up the edge of Howie’s shovel blade, and it landed in his hands. He parried Johnny’s clumsy rush and kicked his feet, making the man lose his balance.
Johnny skidded forward and hit his chin on the edge of the cot Howie was still shaking uncontrollably in.
Meade put the sharpened blade of the shovel against Johnny’s throat.
“Seems we just did all this,” Meade said without irony. “This time though, I’m hoping for a better outcome on my end.”
“What do you want?” Johnny asked, fear in his eyes.
“Two things, since I already got my time back from your amigo over here,” Meade began. “Number one, I need to know Captain Gonzalez�
�s location.”
“Who…?” Johnny stammered.
Meade ignored him.
“And two, I need some sort of climbing equipment.”
Howie turned back over to Johnny, his voice hoarse, “Don’t tell him shit, don’t give him shit, don’t…”
“Shut up moron,” Meade said, and casually hit Howie over the head with the back of the impromptu weapon he was holding. “Think you can help me with either one?”
“Climbing equipment shouldn’t be too tough,” Johnny said hesitantly, “There’s plenty of rope and stuff around that they use for construction, that’s one of the most common rewards we get from the Source. As far as Captain Gonzalez goes…”
“Yes…?” Meade asked.
“If you’re talking about who I think you are, you’re too late,” Johnny said apologetically. He nodded over to the side of the Howie’s tent where there was a stack of white cotton t-shirts.
“What’s that?”
“Trophies mostly,” Johnny said softly.
“Trophies?” Meade looked at the shirts confused. He picked a few up, examining them. Some were stark white, fresh as they would be coming out of the laundry, while others were smeared with blood and grime.
“It’s what he does,” Johnny nodded over to Howie. “He ambushes ‘em once they land and after he steals all the years he can get out of their brain, he dumps ‘em naked and shivering.”
“And you saw him take the captain?”
“That’s what the man claimed to be,” Johnny said nodding. “We get all types in here, but no one expected a Coalition captain. He didn’t last long at all, plenty of folk have lots of reasons to hate blue bells like him.”
Meade felt like someone had socked him in the gut. Captain Gonzalez was his friend, his surrogate father figure and actual father to his friend Sarah.
“He the one who killed him?” Meade nodded towards Howie who was still shaking.
Johnny nodded, “He ain’t dead exactly.”
“What do you mean?” Meade asked.