by Mike Essex
As the words left my mouth a train thundered out of the tunnel, its bright light startling me again. This time as my view became obscured I started to see visions of the other bodies Eli was forcing me to occupy. Knowing any one of them could drag me away from this place I focussed my mind on the snatcher and once again saw through his eyes.
The final carriage of the train left the tunnel and Cleon shouted “Go.”
I revved the bike hard and drove straight into the tunnel.
“It’s a straight line from here to the end,” said Cleon. “There’s a train approaching from behind you so you’ll need to go fast.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. I moved the throttle forward and pushed the bike harder. The sounds of the engine echoed around the tunnel, a cacophony of roars surrounding me.
Suddenly the echo started to take on another sound and replicate. Another bike was approaching and approaching fast. A faint light in the distance appeared and started to grow larger as it raced closer towards me.
“Who is that?” I asked Cleon.
“It’s not one of ours,” he replied. “It could be another person hoping to avoid the city checks. Just keep your wits about you.”
At my current pace I figured I’d have enough time to overtake them if they took one of the paths at the side of the tracks, whilst I remained in the middle. The worst that would happen was one of us would need to slow down and change lanes.
Unfortunately they didn’t seem to have any interest in slowing down. The roars of both our engines started to sound like one. They turned off their light as they drew closer and only the small lights on the tracks illuminated the space. I tensed my body in preparation to make a last minute change of lanes.
When I could just about see the silhouette of the bike and its rider I pulled up sharply on the bike and jumped it over one of the rails. I bounced again to the left until I’d gone over the tracks and on to the other side.
The other rider went past me on my right hand side. I couldn’t see what they looked like, they just appeared to be a leather clad biker with a stark black bike helmet. I turned to the right to try and get a better look at them only to see them jump over the tracks and turn their bike around 180 degrees.
As they landed on my side of the tracks it was clear now that they were very interested in me. They turned their lights on to full beam and I looked away from the brightness. The road ahead was illuminated by their bright light as it snaked around my body.
“Is it the police?” I asked Cleon.
“That doesn’t sound like one of their bikes,” he replied. “There’s about fifteen minutes of tunnel ahead of you so just keep riding, I can help you get away from them when you’re out of the tunnel.”
The light in front of me started to extend even further and I could hear their bike getting closer to me. I increased my speed slightly and the air jets stuttered. Something wasn’t right with them.
Suddenly the blasts of air on the right of the bike stopped, replaced by a large blast of air out of its left side. The jet blasted me to the right and up over the tracks. I steered hard to the left to compensate and the tyres almost lost their grip when I landed in the middle of the two sets of tracks.
Unbeknown to me I’d been driving along with broken air jets on the right hand side of the bike. They must have broken when I’d smashed into the tree earlier.
“How do I shut the jets off?” I shouted, desperately trying to compensate for them.
“You can’t,” replied Cleon. “They’re designed to help make driving easier. If you slow down they’ll stop pushing as hard but that’s not an option. Do not slow down.”
He didn’t need to clarify that last point for me, between the other rider and the train that would soon be right behind us there wasn’t much room for error. I held my body to the left and could feel the jets of air flying towards my face. For now it gave me some element of balance but if the jets on that side gave out I’d smash to the floor.
The light behind me shifted as the rider jumped over the rails in pursuit. I could practically feel the heat of the light on my back as they got ever closer. Their bike was faster than mine, there was no denying it and they didn’t have to counter balance like I did. There was no escaping them.
“Stop the bike,” said a voice in the back of my mind.
“What?” I replied.
“You can’t get away and you can’t keep riding like this,” it was Tobias, he had a plan just like he’d promised.
Suddenly I was very aware of the gun held in the holster against my leg. If I couldn’t outrun them then I had no choice but to stand my ground. I needed to fight.
NINE
I slammed on the brakes and brought my body back up to centre. The air jets stopped and the bike skidded slightly as it came to a complete stop between the two sets of tracks.
The other biker shifted their weight hard to the right sending their bike on to one of the rails as they grinded along it. I reached for my gun and started firing towards them. The snatcher wasn’t an experienced shot and I struggled to keep his arm straight as I fired. The bullets missed their target.
The mystery assailant left their bike on the right side tracks and started walking towards me. Although I could mentally picture how I wanted to shoot this body executed the orders badly. Like riding the bike for the first time, I couldn’t achieve what I wanted with his poor excuse for a vessel.
I’d never had this problem with the bodies Eli had made me occupy. Perhaps it was the snatcher’s dulled senses or maybe it was simply because of Cleon’s hack. Either way the snatcher’s body was not playing along.
I started to doubt whether staying and fighting was the right choice but it was too late for a lack of faith now. Although the biker had a gun in a holster on their leg they didn’t reach for it. From this distance any experienced shooter could have taken me out easily but instead they merely clenched their fists in preparation.
They wanted to make it personal.
My gun clicked as I ran out of bullets, each pull of the trigger firing nothing but air. They saw the opportunity and dashed towards me. My other clip of ammunition was in my backpack. I slung it down from my shoulders in a desperate effort to find it. I ran my hands over the apple and sandwich knowing they’d be no good. As I looked up I saw the mysterious assailant just a few feet away, punching their left fist into their right hand.
I gripped onto one of the handles of the backpack and threw it towards them. They deflected it easily and it bounced on to the left set of tracks. My gun was useless now. I saw the knife by the side of their leg and was reminded of my own. I quickly grabbed it, swinging it out as they reached me.
They grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. I felt my own knife cut through my clothes and pierce ever so slightly through the skin inches from my spine. Not wanting to do any more damage I dropped the knife. Before it hit the floor they kicked it so it landed on the left set of tracks. I was defenceless now and they knew it.
The gun and knife they possessed sat teasingly on their belt. They could have used them to kill me easily now but they didn’t. With a kick to my right calf they sent my body tumbling over on to the left hand set of tracks. As soon as I landed they were over me grasping at my bike helmet and pulling it free. With the ski-mask also removed the snatcher’s bruised and damaged face was now exposed for them to see.
It was impossible to know exactly how they reacted, their own bike helmet obscuring their face from me. Their body certainly didn’t give off any clues. With my face exposed they reached for their gun with their left hand and aimed it towards me. In the background I could hear the train heading towards us, one that would occupy the same set of tracks I was sitting on.
In my ear I could hear Corinna shouting for me to get up. My death would mean the end of the man she loved and the end of my chance for redemption. The snatcher’s body was the closest I had to a life and I needed to protect it. I started to get up but my assailant shot the ground next
to me.
“Stay down,” I heard their muffled voice through their visor. It sounded like a woman.
They shook their free hand until the leather glove over it started to come lose.
“I want you to see this,” she told me as the glove fell to the floor.
She showed me her hand, it looked as red and damaged as the day I had seen it burned to a crisp. I recognised it instantly.
“Grace?” I asked, relieved that it was a friend and not a foe that stood in front of me.
“Don’t you dare say m…” she shouted back, the sound of the oncoming train cutting off the words.
The train started to blow its horn once the driver saw us in the tunnel. I opened my mouth to try and explain to Grace who I was but the oncoming train was deafening. I looked behind me and saw the lights of the train approaching as it threatened to destroy my body. The knife I’d lost, glistened in the lights and I palmed it with my free hand.
Quickly I turned around and threw the knife towards Grace. I aimed to hit her, knowing that with the snatcher’s terrible aim it would miss the target. The gamble paid off, it was just close enough for her to move out of the way but without it hurting her. I used the opportunity to dive towards Grace just as the front of the train barrelled past us.
I sent her body to the floor as mine landed on top of her. She smashed down on the opposite set of train tracks, her head coming down hard, luckily protected by the helmet. Seeing that she was startled I pulled the helmet from her head and saw her long hair flow out of it. It was Grace alright. I just needed to convince her of who I was.
Before she could get up I tossed her gun over the train and on to the other side of the tracks. She pushed me off her and I raised my body up, narrowly missing the train as I steadied myself.
“It’s me, Emmie!” I shouted out but it was futile, until the train passed us there was no way she’d hear me. I looked back towards the train and watched it fly past for what seemed like an eternity. Grace was up now and ready to fight.
I saw her fist coming towards my face, just in time to move to the side but I didn’t prepare for the secondary blow from her other fist. It hit me hard in the stomach and almost sent me back into the train. I kicked Grace and she moved backwards out of the way, I didn’t want to hurt her but I needed to move away from the train for my own safety.
“You have to kill her,” said Tobias, his voice so embedded in my own mind that even a gigantic train thundering along couldn’t block him out.
I blocked a couple of her punches and she did the same to mine but it was very clear this was a one sided fight in her favour. The one punch I made that hit the target barely grazed her shoulder and did nothing. She was stronger and more determined than I’d ever seen her.
I aimed a kick towards Grace again but she grabbed my leg and twisted it. I’d seen plenty of ways to counter this move from my time in the machine but the snatcher’s body couldn’t execute them, he was far too heavy and out of training. Despite knowing how I wanted to fight I was still sent to the floor between the two sets of tracks.
She reached down and held a hand to my throat. Behind her I could see another train approaching in the opposite direction. She hadn’t seen it, she was so obsessed in stopping me. If I did nothing she’d be cut in two.
Before Tobias could try and convince me otherwise I grabbed Grace and pulled her towards me off of the tracks. She tried to fight it but I held her tightly until the front of the train went past us. I felt the wind from both sets of trains converge in the middle until it engulfed our bodies. Standing up now would be suicide.
She rolled off me and lay on the floor keeping her back pressed to the ground. Her face looked towards me as she tried to figure out what had just happened. I gazed back softly mouthing the words “I’m Emmie” over and over, hoping that she’d be able to read my lips in-between the dirt from the tracks that swirled in front of our faces.
Once the first train passed it was safe for us to stand and Grace did so first. It was still too loud for us to hear each other but I held my hand up to indicate for her to wait. She held one hand in a fist, not yet trusting me. I walked slowly down the tunnel, fighting the wind from the train, towards my bike.
I hoped that it was still there.
When I got to the bike I stood behind it so Grace could see what I was doing. I reached for a latch on the seat and saw Grace twitch, ready to attack. She must have assumed I was going for a weapon. I removed the latch from the other side and flipped the seat over to reveal the bike’s battery.
I took my eyes off Grace and trusted that she wouldn’t use the opportunity to her advantage. By the side of the battery I found what I’d been looking for and pulled it out to show Grace.
Her eyes softened as she saw the grey box in my hands. I made sure she saw me enter the combination as I opened the box. As I showed her the contents inside I knew it would be enough. The last carriage of the train thundered past and I could finally hear myself speak.
It was Grace who spoke first and the only word she needed to say was “Emmie?”
TEN
Before leaving the tunnel I grabbed my backpack and stored the grey box inside of it. With my bike now somewhat of a liability I left it in the tunnel and got onto the back of Grace’s bike. She wasn’t comfortable with the snatcher holding onto her, even if it was my mind inside of him, so I held onto a bar at the back of the bike instead.
We left the tunnel from the direction I’d entered, Cleon assuring me there would be a long enough gap between trains for us to go that way. As we made our way into daylight I felt like I could breathe again. Grace rode her bike across the field until we reached Revis East and we set up inside what had once been a small hotel.
We pulled two wooden chairs around a table and I laid the grey box on top of it.
“Speak,” said Grace and I knew I had a lot of explaining to do.
I spilled the contents of the box onto the table and Grace pointed to them one by one to quiz me to ensure that I was who I said I was. She held up a record and asked me what it was.
“That’s ‘Defying Turrets’ by ‘The Yellow Bazookas’,” I replied.
“You’ll have to give me more than that,” she said, no doubt aware that’s what the record said on it.
“They’re an old punk bank that found themselves in Smyth West after their career bombed and they spent all of their royalties on drugs and ‘living it large’ as they used to say.”
“And…”
“And one summer we went on a raid to try and find them a guitar. It took us two weeks to find a guitar that was good enough as well as new strings for them to use. Rex thought I was crazy for spending so much time on it but he changed his tune when he heard them play.”
Grace smiled as I reminded her of the story. She’d been the one who found the guitar strings and it felt even better than finding a stash of food when she did.
She pointed to an empty packet of marshmallows. “Why did you keep these?” she asked.
“You know why,” I replied.
“I want you to tell me.”
“Ok if you’re sure. We found this bag full of marshmallows in the army bunker on the outskirts of Smyth West, the one we used to always go to with R&R. The best before date on the bag had faded away and we were egging each other on to see who would try them first. Surprise, surprise you were the one who volunteered.”
“And what did I say?”
“I don’t remember exactly but I do know none of us had ever tried marshmallows before and you said something about trying anything once.”
She nodded, although that was something she’d said many times so it would have been an easy guess.
“So you tried the marshmallows and it was not a good idea to try anything once. At first you seemed fine, eating six or maybe it was seven of them and remarking about how you’d never tried anything as sweet as them. About five seconds later you dashed into the labyrinth of tunnels and all we could hear was the sound of you throwin
g up echoing around us.”
She smiled a little.
“We burned the rest of them on the fire but you made me keep the bag and promised that I’d show it to you again if you were ever tempted to try another marshmallow.”
I ran through some of the other items, mostly polaroid photos we’d taken on some dusty old camera we found. They weren’t as detailed as a dualcam video would be but they carried a lot of emotion all the same.
I’m not sure at what point it happened but we had thankfully shifted from Grace’s initial accusatory tones to laughing and reminiscing about good times. She was on my side again.
“Of all the bodies in the world, why did you have to pick his?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” I explained and I told Grace all about Corinna and Cleon and all that they’d done for me. I told Grace they were listening now with the implication that she may want to be careful about what she said. Then I remembered I’d just discussed some of my most embarrassing stories out loud and that was probably more than I’d wanted to share with two strangers.
“How did you find the snatcher anyway?” I asked.
“I know you told me to leave him alone but I couldn’t,” said Grace. “I couldn’t forgive him for what he’d done to me and to all those other innocent people. So I kept track of him, wherever he went and whatever he did.”
“How?”
“Do you remember the drink I gave you before you went to TethTech? The one that helped me track you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well Jacobi’s team developed a new version that is self-replicating so it never leaves someone’s system once they drink it. I slipped it into the snatcher’s drink a few weeks after you disappeared because I suspected he had taken you. I tracked everywhere he went for months but he never hurt anyone else or left any clues as to where you were.”
“Did he ever catch you?”
“A few months after you had gone I met up with him. He was terrified to see me and promised that he’d changed his ways. He said he just wanted a quiet life and some nonsense about finding religion and a purpose again.”