by Daniel Evora
“This is useless,” I said, rolling over deflecting his sword.
“Useless?” Andrew asked, as we both crossed swords.
“Why can’t you go a little easy on me?”
“Because your opponent will not hesitate to kill you! This is war, Nate. Again.”
Andrew attacked first. He swung his katana towards my chest from the right as I blocked his attack. I pushed towards his hand, and I grasped the weapon and pulled it out from under him. I kicked him, pushed him to the ground, and pointed the tip of the katana towards his neck while gasping for air. Sweating like a pig.
“Good, you used more than your weapon this time,” Andrew explained, while I put away my katana. “Using your head can get you out of a sticky situation.”
Andrew got up on his feet and brushed off his clothes. I handed him his wooden staff, and he sat down to take a bit of a break.
“Alright, Nate, let’s go get a bite to eat. I’m starving,” Andrew said.
“Okay,” I replied, while taking a sip of water. “I’ve got some frids left to buy some thing’s from Bill’s place.”
“Go on ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” Andrew answered.
I exited the bunker and squinted my eyes once the light from the blazing Sun reached my pupils. I waved at the cook and smiled as I made my way out to the farmer’s market near the center of the South Vegas District. The crashing sound of the waves of people coming passing hurt my ears for a second to get used to the noise again. It was a polar opposite to when I was in Kalo City with Sam and Adrana.
Once I got to the center of the city, the crowd was slightly smaller within the farmer’s market. However, I noticed a man who glanced at me, he wore some robes, but I could see his shoes. They were clean, and scrubbed. It was a very unusual outfit choice for the man to be wearing such mean fittings, and then be wearing fancy shoes. I never thought about it too much and went on my way by shrugging it off.
Bill smiled at me, as I approached his shop. He was different from other people. Bill was almost too kind, especially for someone of his age of sixty. He did sell great crops though.
“How we doing, Nathaniel?” Bill said with a strong southern accent.
“Like any other day,” I responded. “I’m fine.”
“That’s good,” Bill said, slowly nodding his head. Then, he noticed the fading color surrounding my right eye. “What’s up with the eye? You alright?”
“Oh, er...Andrew took me out to the ranch to do some sniper practice,” I explained, while grinning. “The scope jutted right into my eye when I took the shot. Knocked me off my ass.”
Bill laughed a bit. “You better be careful with those things, especially with the Silent Death running around here for the past few weeks.”
“In the city?”
“Yeah, but it’s probably just another convoy rolling through like usual. I’d stay discrete with those weapons or yours for the time being.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” I added.
“Well that’s good,” Bill commented. Then, he asked, “So, you here for the usual stuff?”
“Nah,” I answered, shaking my head. I gave him a handwritten list. “Just here for a couple things.”
Bill took the list out of my hand and scanned from top to bottom, and nodded his head, “Stay here.”
I stood back as even more people passed through to allow them to check the merchandise. I looked around waiting for Bill to come back until I saw another conspicuous person who glared at me the same as the other man did, the same robes and the same shoes, but a different face. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right.
Andrew came to the shop right next to me, I nearly jumped until I found out it was found.
“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked with eyes squinting at me. “It’s just me--”
“Quiet,” I blurted out; interrupting.
“Alright, I got all the items in this bag here--” Bill explained.
“Here,” I said, while transferring the frids to his Interface device. “Keep the change.”
Bill watched curiously as Andrew and I walked away in an instant.
“Nate, what are you doing?” Andrew whispered; annoyed and confused while I pulled on his arm.
“Just act natural,” I said calmly. I could hear the two men approaching us. Andrew could hear it, too. He nodded and followed along with me as we made a detour in a small alleyway.
The two men lost us in the crowd as they strolled along into the same alleyway. They continued to walk down to our location as we hid across from each other. As soon as they walked past us we tripped both of them using our weapons. Both the men brought out their hand cannons with illegal silencers. Their robes were flipped inside out and revealed their suits that hid under the robes. Each of them had a Silent Death logo on their badges. Pretty soon the four of us were pointing some sort of weapon at each duo.
“I knew it,” I said as my words were stoic and authoritative-like.
“Don’t,” Andrew commanded as one of the Silent Death tried to report the incident. The two of us ripped their weapons away from them as they put their hands up in anger.
Andrew and I then grabbed the men and pinned them to the wall with their chest to the building right next to us. We searched them for any other weapons. I found a knife, grenade, and then...a tracking device with the words Interface on it. Interface was a line of electronic devices that everyone used, funded by the Silent Death. The Silents and the Rebels each respectively have each turned the Interface itself into their own weapons. I took the tracking device out only for Andrew to find the same one. We both threw them to the floor and stomped on the devices, instantly turning them into scraps.
“I believe it’s too late for that, lad,” one of the Silents muttered, laughing to himself. “We will find where you’re hiding sooner or later.”
“Over my dead body,” Andrew said. His words filled my rage.
“Just spare us, please,” the other man said in terror.
Andrew took one of the Silents’ hand cannons that he and myself looted from the Silent Death soldiers. He shot the man who was scared first before looking into the eyes of the other spy.
Andrew pointed the gun at him, “You’d just come back with more.”
He pulled the trigger. And threw the gun while taking the clip out and into his pocket. The spy’s body collapsed to the floor, while the other whimpered as I continued to stare at him.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked as my hand froze; holding the gun up to his face. Andrew glared at me, and expected me to shoot.
After a second of just standing there, Andrew sighed, cocked his gun, and shot the other man for me. The bullet penetrated his skull as he collapsed in the same way as his partner. I looked up from his corpse and back to Andrew’s straight face; completely unphased.
“You shouldn’t hesitate. Don’t forget they’re after you, too.”
“I know.”
“C’mon, then. Help me hide these bodies.”
The two of us grabbed one body and placed both together in a dumpster under a bunch of other junk and trash.
“What do we do, Andrew?” I asked worryingly. “I mean we just got spotted by Silent Death spies. They had trackers.”
“I know,” Andrew replied with his head down.
“They could come back with more!” I shouted to myself.
“I know, Nate,” Andrew repeated, with a slightly more annoyed tone. “But we can’t think about it too much.”
“Well, that’s all I can think about now,” I replied.
“Then maybe you should’ve thought about it before you decided to leave,” Andrew sneered at me.
“Maybe, I don’t wanna be a part of it! I had to abandon my friends; Adrana and Sam! You think my choice to leave was easy? I tried to convince Adrana, but she wouldn’t listen to me, and I promised her that I would just forget about it. Now look at where I am...sometimes I wish I could forget about what Ben told me. To forget and start all over
again. But now, it’s too late. There’s nothing for me here.”
“Don’t say that,” Andrew told me, as he suggested. “You’re alive. Sometimes we can take that for granted in a world like this.”
I nodded my head. I was unsure about it, but I nodded anyway.
Andrew sat down next to me and dropped his weapon. “Look, Nate, I may not be the best person to talk to you about this, but sometimes doing the right thing is the best way to go. Even if it hurts the people you care about the most. Sometimes, all your options have a number of consequences. I wish I’d know that sooner in my life.”
“Sometimes I struggle to see what is.”
“Well, we can continue this tomorrow,” Andrew said, ignoring my previous statement patting me on the back.
The both of us went to our different beds. I looked at the screen on my Interface watch, I took it off and turned off the power to my light. Soon enough I was fast asleep, but, suddenly, I could hear gunshots upstairs followed by screams! One of the employees made their way down to the underground dojo. “Andrew! They’re here.”
“Who’s here?” I asked him.
“The enemy,” the man replied.
The Silent Death hunters had opened up the secret door. Hiding was the best option as Andrew gave me a weapon from his quarters.
“I was afraid this was going to happen,” Andrew told me. “Adam isn’t very fond of me.”
“How are we gonna get out?” I asked Andrew.
“We can distract them with these,” he held out two different grenades. One flashbang and smoke grenade. “After that, we can get outta here with my vehicle, but we have to do this fast, or else this plan’s not gonna end well.”
Andrew threw them towards the group of common soldiers, and used the time to grab weapons to shoot our way out. I took the first few shots as I led the group upstairs to the actual restaurant. It got even worse after that.
“Fifteen.” Andrew counted, quickly looking past the corner of the doorway.
“How did they not hear us shooting back down there?” I asked.
“I made sure these walls could absorb as much sound as possible. I had to be smart when building this place to protect it from, well...them,” he replied. “Got any ideas to get us out of this mess?”
“Got any of those smoke screens left?” I asked, peering at the guards.
“Yeah, two. Here. What’re you thinking of doing?”
“Are there any other exits to this place?”
“Yeah, down the hallway next to the restrooms, but they’ll see us.”
“Say no more, Andrew,” I said, as I threw both grenades towards the entrance. “Come on! Let’s get out while we still can.”
The three of us ran as fast as we could to the hallway. Meanwhile, the guards followed us in with guns blazing. I tried to return fire, but there were too many of them. We got into cover near the entrances of the restrooms on both sides, making our way to the end. The employee was shot and killed, leaving only us two against fifteen.
“There’s too many, Nate!” Andrew shouted. “I don’t think we can keep this up any longer!”
“Just keep shooting,” I told him.
“Dammit! I’m out!”
“Here use mine!” I yelled as I tossed my weapon to him. “We gotta find something to help us get outta here!”
Andrew searched for anything to distract them. He stared at his only grenade left and looked at me.
“Only one of us is getting out of here,” Andrew said, holding the one frag grenade in his right hand. “Here! New coordinates, find an Agent named Thomas Lanm! He can take you all the way to the Resistance. Read the file when you're safe. I’ll draw their fire.”
“C’mon man! Don’t do this! We can still...we can still fight!”
“Nate, you have to go! There’s no time left! I’ve taught you better than this! As your mentor I command you to leave! I’ll buy you some time to get into the vehicle and leave the state!”
I wasn’t going to leave him here to die for me, but I knew what had to be done and found myself conflicted. Andrew was right, either I get out or neither of us will. Like a smart person, I stood down.
“Do what you have to…” I said to him, as I dashed outside the building.
“I’ll cover you!”
Andrew tossed the grenade to try and take out as many people as possible. The frag grenade combusted, but the shots kept on coming.
Not even ten seconds later I hear the ceasing gunfire followed by complete silence. The grenade shards exploded into a dozen pieces killing a couple of the Silent Death troopers trying to make their way into his establishment.
Through the smoke two of the troopers charged at him with the stocks on their rifles and used the blunt, yet sturdy ends to restrain him. Andrew was struggling and trying to escape their grasp, but it was too late for last minute surprises.
As the remaining soldiers holstered their weapons and stood from their cover positions one them shouted to the rest.
“All clear!” he informed them.
Another approached Adam with an intimidating, blank stare. Void of emotion. Not even the slightest tilt of the eyebrow. Andrew looked up towards her and slowly began to comply with the two soldiers holding him in an uncomfortable position. His knees were bruised and his nose bleeding from getting hit with the stock. His greying hair in a bundled up mess.
“He’s not here,” Andrew attested to her.
Adrana’s face scrunched up as she became more frustrated. Trying to keep all of it hidden away from him. She then looked up and around to the soldiers.
“Search the area. He couldn’t have gone far,” Adrana ordered.
Then, she turned back to Andrew. That blank stare was gone now, and what had been left was the frustration showing itself on her face.
“As for you…” she continued. But, then stopped and gave the two soldiers a gesture.
The man on Andrew’s left side held up the barrel to his face. Andrew’s face finally relaxed knowing what was about to happen in the next three seconds. He knew he could do nothing at that moment. So, the weapon was fired, the bullet went right through his head, and Andrew was no more.
A splash of blood made its way onto Adrana’s face as she was watching it all happen with her eyes. Flinching, since some of it almost got into her eyes. Finally, wiping it off with her sleeve and continuing to stare at the dropped body. A man she never knew, but had so much hate for.
“The troops have searched the area and the basement, ma’am,” one soldier said as he was paying attention to what was coming off his communications. “The target has fled.”
She exhaled through her nose once she heard the report.
“Awaiting orders,” he said.
“I’ll report to Mr. West,” Adrana answered in her comm. “We move on.”
And like that, everyone else in the building had left as fast as they entered it. Leaving the bodies behind as another example. Typical Silent Death.
The road to Thomas was a lonely trip, followed by mourning and regret. Everything that happened at Andrew’s shop happened so suddenly. I don’t think I even said a word through the entire twelve hundred kilometers. Thomas Hunt Lanm, 30 year old male, and an Agent is all I know about this guy which is typical for an Agent. No one knows their real name for sure, but what really mattered to the Silent Death is where their entire organization resided. I was once told that the Agents were actually an organization built from a council left behind by the old world. That they created a stable branch to rival against the Order. But, were eventually forced into hiding. I don’t know where or when, but for some reason it mattered so much to Adam.
I got out to stretch my legs as I looked around the block. So many faces, people to count, and to think that trying to live as a civilian in this world was better than fighting for a new one. Nobody has it easy out here.
Quickly glancing at my map, I tracked Thomas down to the plaza. It felt like meeting Andrew all over again. I didn’t know what t
o expect from this guy. Making it to the southeast side I saw a man dressed nicely, nice hair, and fit, with a woman to his left side. It was him. Full of relief, I walked towards them awkwardly as they soon glared at me.
“Can I help you, sir?” the man asked me.
“Yes, you don’t happen to be Thomas Lanm, do you?” I asked him back.
“That’s me. Why do you ask? Who are you?”
Next thing I know I’m held at gunpoint by two people. In panic, I swiftly raised my arms. Both of them had me completely surprised because I wasn’t expecting either of them to have weapons. But, then again they were Agents, and they most likely caught sight of my Silent Death emblem on my chest.
“Woah, man! We can talk this out, okay!” I squealed nervously.
“There’s nothing else to talk about. Besides, why should we trust anyone from the Silents?” Cecilia responded.
“Who? Are. You?!” Thomas blurted.
“Nathaniel! Andrew Yoshimo sent me, he said you could help me get to the Rebellion HQ,” I informed Thomas.
“Andrew sent you?”
“You know him?”
“Thomas had some history with him when he was a little boy,” the woman replied. She had a smooth voice which sounded satisfying to the ear.
“ Wait...Nathaniel,” Thomas repeated. “I think I recognize you.”
“You do?”
“Yes, the Battle at Skeopel Point. It was you...who spared my life.”
“I was about a year younger,” I said. “That was you I let go. I was gonna kill you.”
Then, Thomas stood down and put away his weapon.
“Thomas, what do you think you’re doing?!”
“This guy saved my life. We could at least help him get to the Rebels safely. Are you cool with that Lily?” Thomas asked with an authoritative attitude.
“Fine. I’m cool if you’re cool,” she replied, putting away her gun.
“Is there an airport in the city?” I asked both of them.
“Denver International?” Thomas answered. Lily nodded at him. “Yeah, not too far from here. But, I think it’s best that you stay with us. The Order is most likely still after you since you’re still on this side of the country. We should go as soon as possible.”