3531

by Black, John

  “And I believe I told you, that if you laid one hand on me, I'd speed up your untimely death.”

  “You're having a hard time just carrying around that sleeping bag. I doubt you could kill me,” he scoffed.

  Angered by his sarcasm, she kicked the calf of his leg, “ouch,” she cried out, surprised by the strength of his leg, it actually hurt her own foot.

  Stopping Donovan looked at her, “why would you do that?”

  Growing a little flustered, Rachel glared at him “its called horseplay.”

  “Horseplay, I never heard of that before?”

  “Its just a form of rough play, like teasing,” she explained.

  Growing in thought, he turned just enough at a angle to her. Kicking her behind the knee, he watched her fall forward a few feet. Lifting his eyebrows in total surprise.

  The sleeping bag absorbed much of her impact. She glared up at him.

  “And this is for fun? Did you enjoy that?” he asked innocently.

  “Oh shut up,” she fired back with injured pride.

  Walking to her, he noted she glared at him suspiciously. He held out his hand to her. Reluctantly she took it. “How did you get so strong?”

  Shrugging his shoulders, “I don't know, am I strong?” he questioned.

  “You overpowered several of those stalkers and hunter-killers by hand, you broke one of those man catchers by hand.” Once lifted up, she still had to look up at him. She soften her gaze, even cracked a smile. She realized if he wanted, he could have had his way with her. Donovan was clearly much stronger then she was. Her trust in him grew. “Will you place the sleeping bag in the backpack?”

  “Of course,” and he set to work. Side by side they set off once again. After several hours of walking, they came upon a hill. He wondered if she would notice the rock formation about the area.

  “the problem with a hill, is you can see a long ways, but you make yourself noticeable,” she implied.

  “Do you see anything unusual?”

  She looked about. “Just a hill, rocks and dirt.”

  Donovan comprehended that Rachel was viewing things has if she was hunted prey. She was a survivalist. “Nothing else?”

  She shook her head no. “I'm tired, thirsty, and well pretty much frighten,” she finally admitted.

  He pulled out the sunglasses and placed them on. She watched on with curiosity. He could see the entrance. Donovan started walking towards the door, he turned back to face her. Rachel had a surprised expression, while she stared in total disbelief of him. She kept her seat on the ground, growing a little unsure of his intentions.

  “Come on,” he encouraged.

  “Where did you get those?” she asked.

  “I'll explain it once we are inside.”

  “Inside what?” she didn't budge.

  He walked back to her. “These are some special glasses my parents gave me, here take a look.”

  Hesitating, she placed on the glasses. “what the,...” she could see the image of a door. Pulling the glasses down, the image vanished.

  “Had enough?” holding out his hand.

  “This is that shelter you told me about?”

  “Yes my parents went to great lengths to ensure of my safety.” he explained.

  “You left this, to go to a destroyed town? You're a idiot.”

  He snatched the glasses, out of her hand. “I saved your ass, didn't I? Now come on.” Walking to the entrance, she followed along this time behind him. “First is a ladder that goes down about thirty feet,” he explained.

  Once inside the room, she looked about in amazement. “You were not lying after all.” She slowly walked the room, ignoring his irritated expression. She stopped in front of the large pod that had a number of hoses, tubes and panels connected to it.

  “I was in that container, when I woke up.”

  She poked her head inside, but didn't like the confinement it presented. The vast amount of technology they had back then, she thought to herself. “I know nothing of this, but it still looks brand new.” She glanced at him, and could understand a little about him now, waking up in such a contraption. “You don't remember anything?” she asked.

  “No, and in one of the chips, they debated on what to reveal to me and they weren't sure how well this pod would work. Some of its programming involved education that was transferred to me mentally, how successful it was is unknown.”

  “So you don't even know how old you were when you were placed inside?”

  “No I don't, I have vague memories of being five or six.”

  Rachel didn't respond, she only gazed at the creation for a few more minutes. “Show me these chips.”

  He shook his head no. “Later, first I want to show you something really nice, we both deserve.”

  She grew attentive, she could trust him more, she reasoned has she observed his actions.

  He placed the energy cell into the slot and turned on the main power.

  “What are you doing?” She grew quite curious.

  “I'm powering up a shower, and while you take a shower, I will use the energy to make more drinking water.

  She stepped closer to the circular room, examining the three shower heads in the wall.

  “You need to take your cloths off,...”

  “I know how to take a shower,” she interrupted.

  He grew flustered. “I'm getting tired of your condescending remarks to me.

  “Donovan, you really need thicker skin.”

  “Your shower is now ready,” came a computerized voice.

  Rachel stepped back shocked at the voice.

  “Make it quick I only have five of those power cells.”

  This time she remained quite. She dropped her tattered clothing and stepped into the shower.

  “Please make a selection before entering the shower,” came the computer voice.

  “What, how?” she said out loud.

  Donovan walked over to the panel. He ignored Rachel's reaction of covering herself with her arms. Pressing some control buttons. “I programmed a ten minute shower for you.” He walked back to the HO-2 and started filling water bottles. The main power reduced the amount of time it took for a bottle to be filled with water. Pausing his work, he glanced at her.

  Her body was not has tan, has he thought. She was quite thin, but still very attractive.

  She looked back at him, both neither one said anything. He returned to his task of filling the bottles.

  Ok so he saw her nude, it didn't really bother her, in fact he had not made any real advances on her. The shower made her feel so good, the first time in a very long while. When the shower ended, she started a search for a towel, looking about, she noticed several drawers, opening one, was washcloths, a few bottles of shampoo, soap, and some fresh clothing. “Why didn't you tell me you had all this?”

  “Had all of what?” he asked, looking up from his work.

  She gestured to the open drawers of items, she discovered.

  “I didn't know they were there.” He walked over and saw towels, and other common items that were now priceless.

  “What is wrong with you?” she questioned. “You don't even know whats in your own shelter?”

  He started to protest her mocking comments, but instead walked over to a chair and sat down, feeling a bit down trodden.

  She looked through the clothing and found a pair of pants that looked very durable but soft. “Can I have these?” she asked, not waiting for a answer, she tried them on, and were a bit baggy, but she was able to adjust them. She then pulled a shirt over herself, and adjusted it. She looked at Donovan. Now what's wrong with him, she wondered. “You have the means to live like a king here!”

  “To live for what purpose?”

  “Obviously your parents or someone went to great length to see to it, you live and survive, to restart fresh and new.”

  He looked at her, gazing at her new clothing, he saw her face in new light. Her cheek bones were high, giving her a pleasant lo
oking smile. “Maybe you're right. I just wonder about things.”

  “Like what?” she sat down next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder rubbing it.

  “Like why didn't they come with me, why did they leave me in the dark about things?”

  “Well you said they worked for the Alliance?”

  “More or less, I think they worked for a company that had ties with the Alliance. I know at one point they, we were hauled away to a more secure area. They were vague and somewhat reluctant to give me details.”

  “I'm sure they had their reasons.” She looked about the room. “This place is really south of where they most likely worked.” She inspected the ceiling a moment. Turning her attention back to him, she couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek.

  Donovan lifted his eyebrows in total surprise at her action. “What was that for?”

  “A thank you for saving me, and bringing me here.” She gently pushed him playfully, while giving him a encouraging smile.

  “You're welcome.” He rose up and went to the panel and programmed another shower.

  Rachel explored the room a bit more, noting nothing interesting that she hadn't seen before, she begin gazing at Donovan. She watched the suds cascade down his body. His build seem almost to perfect, making her grow a bit suspicious, but why? Was it possible he was created from a laboratory and not a product of two parents? Could that be why they never told him? At this point did it matter? Would they have gone to all this trouble for some robot? Now she was doing it, having questions fly through her mind. She pushed out of her mind the thoughts and questions of it all.

  Donovan dried himself, then after dressing he removing the power cell, he unfolded a bed, then gingerly climbed into it.

  Rachel watched the lights go dim. “What did you do?” she asked.

  “We only have five power cells, each last about seven days.”

  “Where are those blue lights along the wall getting their energy from?”

  He looked at the faint blue lights, some were flickering. “They are hooked up to some form of solar energy, but they do not function very well.”

  Rachel nodded in understanding. Looking at the backpack she remembering the sleeping bag, however without thought, she climbed into the edge of the bed. “You don't mind do you?”

  He couldn't resist her cute expression.

  “So what are we going to do tomorrow?” she whispered. Hearing no reply she turned her head, and saw he was already fast asleep.

  Chapter 8

  Rachel began stirring from her sleep. While the bed was very comfortable, it was only made for one person. She decided to lay there a minute more, due to the fact she enjoy his hand draping over her. Was it safe to enjoy something for a moment? This life doesn't leave room for much pleasure with surviving being a constant task. Maybe her dad was still alive, but doubtful. She wanted him to be proud of her, that his daughter was still alive full of fight. She rubbed her eyes to quell any tears trying to form.

  The moment was over, she removed his hand from around her waist. Gently getting out of bed, she stretched. She walked to the VR machine, sitting in the chair. She watched the dome lift up, giving a smile at the antique machine, but when people first used it, this was a marvelous piece of technology. She was tempted to start looking at the chips, but instead wanted to explore the logs history. She touched the projections menu screen. Pulling up its history, the files came up empty. “Hmm, someone covered their tracks.” She then attempted to bring up the direct executive menu.

  Suddenly a face appeared. “You don't have permission to this menu without proper access codes.”

  “By whose authority?” Rachel replied.

  “By order of Doctor Benjamin Fitzgerald.”

  Rachel was shocked by the tight security. She turned to look at Donovan, who was still sleeping. His parents did work for the Alliance or so it seemed, if they were his true parents.

  She tried a few other avenues of approach only to be denied access. Then she came to a realization, maybe it was blocked to keep alliance from tracing the location. With that thought in mind she backed out of the menu. “How careless can I be? Would they still have that much power and technology? Doubtful after a nuclear war. The entire world had been thrown back thousands of years. There was some kind of organization left in the alliance, clearly they were sending out those stalkers, and hunter-killers.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Donovan asked. Quietly he had walked upon her.

  “I was just trying to bring up the history on this VR.”

  He grasped the backrest of the chair, leaning a little to get a better view. “Why are you trying to do that?”

  She turned to look at him. “To learn, and understand whats going on.”

  “But all that was taking place in 2539, its now 3531.”

  Rachel heard the coldness of his tone, a hint of sadness has well. “You don't recall anything?” she asked.

  “Waking up in that pod is the extent of my life including a few dreams of my childhood.”

  She tighten her lips, with some understanding of his frustration. “I'm sorry Donovan.” Her sympathetic comment only got a nonchalant wave of his hand. He sat on several boxes near the desk.

  She got up, and slowly walked to him, wrapping her arm around his neck giving him a soft hug. “How many of those chips have you looked at?”

  He did love her softer voice when she spoke, it was soothing to him. “Only the first three.”

  She listened to his brief account of what was on them. “You don't mind if I watch a few do you?”

  “I think its pointless, what information or help could they give when they were so uncertain of things back then? They even argued about what to reveal to me. I even thought it was some sort of sick joke.”

  “We have to try Donovan,” she reasoned.

  “Well we have all the time we need, help yourself.” He watched her walk to the machine and place in one of the chips. With time not a factor, she didn't know how long she watched. Both doctors gave instructions on first aid, and even a few instructions on more severe injuries. Once past the medical lessons, the topic was moved to the alliance, which grabbed her attention.

  “The alliance central command fear, that there are intruders, and spies everywhere. They took in your father for detailed questioning. This is one of the reasons we have decided not to try and escape with you. Tomorrow they are executing four people. They have grown more earnest in their fears of such civil unrest and sadly its their own doing.” Mercedes paused for a moment. “For the first time I feel what I have done might be wrong. My work has helped countless people live a more normal life, however the alliance has taken my work to destroy so many people. I also wanted our soldiers to have a better chance at surviving on the battlefield. Son, there are a few things...”

  Rachel felt her stomach knot up sensing and feeling the doctors turmoil on revealing something, but what?

  The ground began shaking and dust floated loosen from the ceiling. The couple both rose up looking about in fear.

  Donovan headed for the door. “Turn off the machine,”

  She watched him enter into the tunnel, she was quick at turning off the VR and followed him. Climbing the ladder he peeked through a crafty made looking device that allowed him to see 360 degrees

  “What do you see?” she asked.

  “There is some sort of vehicle, and some people in uniform are looking about.”

  “Let me look.” He made room for her to climb up the ladder and peek.

  “That is an alliance armored vehicle, and soldiers.” she revealed.

  “Ok who are you?” he asked growing suspicious.

  “I'm a nobody, but strange that's a sector eight transport.”

  “meaning what?” he asked.

  She watched the soldiers now turn their attention to their own transportation for it was now smoking. “Sector eight is farther north and east of sector seven. I had heard they formed a collation with seven. From my know
ledge on the streets, not many people can kill one stalker, and well we have managed to kill seven of them including hunter-killers.”

  “It would appear they are better organized then I previously thought. Do you know if they focus on who is killing their stalkers?”

  “I don't know much more then what I've already told you.”

  They watched in silence has two soldiers continued to work on the broken down vehicle. A third soldier in a more distinguished uniform, seem to order the remaining four to fan out and search. One was getting dangerously close to their hidden entrance way. He was within several feet of running into it, however to avoid a few rocks he stepped to the left narrowly missing bumping into the door.

  Silently the two controlled their breathing, fearful they could be heard. Donovan leaned into Rachel, “I'm going to get packed, we are leaving first chance we get.”

  Her eyes widen, “We can't outrun them.”

  “We can't stay here neither, they are going to eventually find us. Some how they are able to track us.”

  She felt panic starting to set in. She followed him back down the tunnel.

  Opening the backpack, he packed away everything that would aid them on their journey. His mother was right, travel south, always south. He patted his side, feeling the .45 in its holster.

  Rachel found a tote bag and filled it with the shampoo and soap containers. She then packed away the chips from the VR machine.

  Working their way back to the entrance he gazed out the tiny slots that provided some visibility. Tracks in the dirt revealed that the scouts had returned to their vehicle. They were now on the far side of the transportation for it provided some shade from the merciless sun. One was now on his back laying partly under the transport obviously still working on it.

  Looking to the south, about four hundred yards or so away was the sight of rocky ridges and hills. He looked at Rachel, and noticed the fear in her eyes and face. “We have a chance if we reach those rocks.”

  She shook her head no, total fear and panic was setting in. “This place is safe.”

  “Don't you see, they have managed to track us, by shear luck their transportation broke down! They might even be waiting on help.”