Suture (The Bleeding Worlds)

by Stone, Justus R.

  Cain… Were you really able to hear Gwynn's song in this mess? Are you still here?

  The first buildings of the city rose around them. Marie leaned forward, looking both ways, even craning her neck forward to look above them.

  "Guys, what time is it?" she asked.

  "Six-thirty am," Caelum answered.

  Marie continued to scan ahead. "So then do you think everyone is staying in because of the blockade? I mean, there has to be someone who gets up early here, right?"

  They were all at the windows, shifting and pressing, trying to take in every angle. If they hadn't been here just the day before, surrounded by people, it would've been easy to believe the city had been deserted.

  "There's people here," Jackson said. "But I can't describe what they're feeling. The closest I could say is…calm. That's still not right."

  "How can an entire city full of people all be feeling the same thing?" Natalie asked.

  Jackson shrugged. "I can't explain it, I'm just telling you what I'm getting."

  Brandt shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

  "This place is giving me the freakin' creeps. I'd feel better if we had our armour on."

  "We couldn't wear armour during a recon mission surrounded by civilians," Wade said.

  "Didn't say I don't understand why, just said I wish I had it."

  Alice didn't have the empathic abilities of Jackson, but she could feel the fabric of the Veil. She reached out, stroked the psychic image of her fingers across its surface, creating ripples like the surface of water. Someone nearby was drawing on considerable resources, and through the Veil touched each of the souls within the city. Jackson had described a sense of the people being controlled during Gwynn and Jason's abduction. Perhaps this was how they had done it. She tried to trace it back to the source, but found her self moving in circles. Alice's breath caught in her throat. Someone capable of turning the Veil into a labyrinth, preventing themselves from being detected. Either they were dealing with someone more powerful than herself or Cain, which, besides one other, was impossible—and that other had yet to realize even a fraction of their ability—or someone was having their abilities boosted by some other means.

  "We shouldn't be here," she said.

  "What do you mean?" Caelum asked.

  "I think we're walking into a trap."

  "Do you mean the Bogeyman?" Wade's voice broke on the name.

  Brandt chuckled. "Geezus, Wade, are you going to wet yourself? How do you stay assigned to this unit?"

  "Shut up, Brandt."

  Wade twisted in his seat, trying to land a swung fist on Brandt. The Mountainous boy just swatted it aside like a mosquito.

  "In his defence," Jackson said, "the thought of meeting that man again kinda scares the crap out of me too."

  She couldn't blame them for feeling intimidated. Even when Cain was calm, he radiated the malevolent power he'd amassed like a storm cloud. No one near him could escape the sense they were about to be caught in a tornado. The desire to assure them, to reveal her true self, that she was capable of protecting them, grew within her. But she couldn't, not yet. Besides, was she sure of being able to defeat Cain? No doubt she would be at a disadvantage, having everything to lose while he had none.

  "Everyone, be quiet." Caelum didn't raise his voice, but the deadly intensity of it put everyone into silence. "What did you mean, Alice?"

  She took a moment to find the right words. She needed to tell them, but didn't want to tip her hand quite yet.

  "Jackson, you said when you came searching for Gwynn and Jason you felt like people had been controlled, right?" she said.

  "That's right."

  "Now you feel like everyone in town is having the same mood. Doesn't it make sense if someone manipulated people before, they could be doing it now? If they did it last time to take Gwynn and Jason, why else would they be doing it now other than to trap us?"

  Brandt cursed. "I hate to say it, but the girl makes sense. What do you think Caelum?"

  She found it interesting of all the people in the car, they seemed to turn to Caelum. There was no doubt when Jason was present, he was the leader of the team. In his absence, Caelum had become the default decision maker. There was nothing official she could see indicating this to be the case, it just seemed to happen organically. It made sense to her, Caelum seemed the coolest head amongst them. She found it interesting the rest of them seemed to know that instinctively as well.

  "If Jason and Gwynn weren't missing, I'd say we get out of here." Caelum spoke the words at a slow and deliberate pace. "But if we play this right, maybe it will be our best chance to find out what happened to them." A thin smile crossed his lips. "Maybe we'll forget worrying about who sees us and get our gear on, so Brandt doesn't feel so vulnerable."

  "What are you talking about?" Marie asked. "We left the gear back at the base."

  The smile on Caelum's face broadened.

  "Well, it was supposed to be left behind, but I might have accidentally stashed our stuff in the trunk."

  Brandt turned around, unsnapping the tarp that covered the trunk storage at the back of the van.

  "Hot damn. Caelum, I could kiss you."

  "Please don't."

  "So talk to me," Marie said. "Where am I taking us?"

  Caelum looked at the map, tracing his finger along the roads and the line he'd drawn to mark their assigned quadrant. He directed Marie down a winding series of streets until they reached the main mall. He had her pull behind into a sheltered area for accessing the loading docks.

  "We should have some privacy here. We'll gear up and then get started," Caelum said.

  The boys went on one side of the van, while the girls took the other.

  An audible zap sounded, followed by a series of cries from the team. Alice felt the reason for their distress—the tether on her wrist had shorted out, sending a painful electrical stab up her arm. She yanked the device off and tossed it to the ground. She looked up and met the bewildered stares of Marie and Natalie.

  "Did your tethers just short too?"

  "No, Caelum, we felt left out so we screamed for no reason," Marie snapped. "What the hell is going on?"

  "I don't know. Just get suited up. I think we need to be ready for anything."

  A few minutes later, fully armoured, they met at the rear of the van.

  "Brandt, crack out the shortwave radio and see if you can reach the other teams. I want to know if their tethers shorted too," Caelum said.

  Brandt brought the microphone up and pressed the transmit button. Not even static greeted him.

  "What the…" He fidgeted with the base station, flicking switches and trying to transmit again. "The battery on this thing is dead."

  "That's impossible," Natalie said. "I took the battery from the charger just before we left. It said it was fully charged."

  Wade stepped forward. He tore into the Veil and reached out to the battery compartment of the radio. After two minutes, he let go and nodded to Brandt to try again.

  Brandt gave Wade a slap on the shoulder.

  "I know I give you shit, but you are handy to have around."

  "Thanks."

  Brandt transmitted. No one replied. He tried a variety of channels and received nothing but static.

  Something in the Veil shifted. It hit Alice first, sending her to her knees as though she'd been kicked in the stomach. Most of the others experienced nausea or dizziness. It lasted for several minutes, the pain pushing Alice near to her breaking point. She gnashed her teeth, refusing to scream. She'd lived too long and endured too much to admit weakness now.

  The pain began to dissipate, then disappeared.

  It still took several minutes before they could all catch their breath and stand on their own feet. Brandt had to help Alice up.

  "Ok, what the hell was that?" Natalie exclaimed.

  "We need to go." Jackson had gone very pale. "The whole city is waking up. And…"

  He looked ready to throw up.


  "What?" Caelum placed his hands on Jackson's shoulders to steady him. "What do you feel?"

  "They're all…so angry and in pain. And they're changing."

  "Changing? What do you mean?"

  In the distance a series of screams and howls filled the air.

  "Taints," Alice said. "He means every person in this city is turning."

  "Shit. Brandt, try that damn radio again."

  Brandt tried. And again, got nothing.

  "Let's get in the van and make for camp," Natalie said.

  "In case you didn't notice, our tethers are shot. We cross that barrier, we might not end up in our own world."

  "There's one built into the suit, right?" Wade asked.

  "Which Njord has to activate using the computer he still has at base camp," Marie answered.

  "Fire the flare," Caelum said.

  They drew on the Veil and launched themselves onto the roof of the mall. Brandt had the flare gun. He raised it to fire, and just stopped, staring off at the rest of the city.

  "What?" Caelum asked. He turned to face Brandt's line of sight. In the distance, three other flares had gone up into the sky. Standing between Ansuz and those flares was a sea of Taints.

  15

  Sins of the Fathers

  Fuyuko's hand hurt where Angie maintained a vice-like grip.

  "I'm sorry," Angie said. "You were thrashing and I had to maintain the physical link. I was worried."

  Fuyuko suppressed a shudder at the memory. "You were right, it can get dangerous in someone else's dream."

  "So did you find anything out?"

  Had she? She had more questions than answers. The only thing she learned for certain was her father was not the loyal member of Suture she always thought him to be. His words echoed in her mind, 'Suture cannot be trusted.'

  "I guess I found out some things," she sighed. "Just not the thing I was looking for."

  "Angie…" She thought of her father's tormented dream. "Does anyone else in Suture have abilities similar to yours?"

  "What do you mean?" her voice defensive. "Entering into other people's dreams? Why? Do you think I didn't do a good enough job? Do you think someone else would do better?"

  Fuyuko put her hands gently on Angie's shoulders. "No. Please, Angie, don't think that. What you did for me was brilliant. I always thought your ability sounded amazing, but now that I've experienced it, I think it's even better. No, the reason I'm asking is because my dad seemed to think someone else was controlling his dreams."

  Angie's eyes widened. For a moment, Fuyuko thought she was going to bolt. Instead, she drew a deep breath and shook her hands, trying to rid herself of some bad thought clinging to her skin.

  "I only know one person who can do what I do." Angie's voice held equal parts fear and sorrow. "My…father, Morpheus."

  "But he's a Greek," Fuyuko exclaimed. "If he's your father, shouldn't you be in the Greek branch?"

  Angie shrugged. "I don't know. My mom worked for Suture in the States and I was born there. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, and when my powers awakened, she brought me here." Angie's eyes glazed with tears she fought back. "I haven't seen her since. I get emails from her sometimes—mostly on my birthday and at Christmas."

  "What about your father? Where's he?"

  "I've never met him. My mom just told me that's who he was when my powers awakened. Over the years, I've tried to find out more about him. He's like a ghost—no one seems to know where he is, or what he's doing. I can't imagine why he'd be here or be doing anything to your dad."

  It felt too early to get up, especially when for once there wasn't anyone pressuring them. After the night's events, they both needed to stay quiet while their thoughts ran through their heads.

  At some point, Fuyuko's eyes opened and she realized she'd drifted off to a dreamless sleep. Sunlight streamed in through her window—the shades powerless against its summer strength. Angie was curled into a ball on the inflatable mattress, her breathing deep and steady. Fuyuko felt a twinge of guilt at having forced Angie to help her. Having protected Gwynn's dreams for the past eight months, these few nights without Ansuz were probably the first sleep she'd had to herself.

  Another hour passed before both girls made their way downstairs to seek some breakfast.

  "Good morning, girls," Fuyuko's mother said. "Fuyuko, I'm glad I caught you. I've got to head to the airfield to fly into Toronto on some business, but your father left his terminal access card here. Could you take it to him when you head back to Suture?"

  Fuyuko stared at the card like it a bomb ticking down to its explosive conclusion.

  "Sure. I guess."

  "I swear," her mother said with a laugh, "your father is the most brilliant man I've ever met, but he can be so scattered. Especially these past few months."

  She gave Fuyuko a kiss on the forehead.

  "It was so nice to have you home again, sweetheart. Don't wait so long next time, ok?"

  "Ok, mom. I won't."

  "And it was nice seeing you again, Angie. You know our door is always open to any member of Ansuz."

  "Thank you, Mrs. Takeda," Angie said.

  Fuyuko's mother said her goodbyes, and left, leaving Fuyuko standing in the kitchen, holding the terminal card at arm's length, wondering if its presence was luck, fate, or some sign from her father.

  "In all the years you can remember," Angie said, "has your father ever left his terminal access card behind?"

  Fuyuko couldn't even give shape to the words, she just shook her head, no.

  "So he did know you were in his dream. He's left this for you."

  Initially her voice still failed. Finally, she managed to whisper, "But I didn't get the password."

  "Are you sure? Could he have told you somehow without making it obvious? If he did leave the card for you to use, he must have believed he told you the password."

  Fuyuko tried to recall the events from the dream. A password, especially one as important as a Zeta level, would have to be an unguessable combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. There had been nothing like that.

  Angie's right. My father wouldn't have left this for me if he wasn't sure he'd communicated the password to me. But the only thing he said was…

  It was clear. A password was typically made up of random letters, symbols, and numbers. But it could also be an unguessable truth—a thought so unlike the public face of Shinji Takeda that no one would ever guess it lived in his heart.

  Suture cannot be trusted.

  "Angie, I think…"

  Angie nodded with a smile. "Let's go get our things."

  §

  They'd packed and made their way toward the subway stop in silence.

  "Angie, we should split up when we get back to Suture. I don't want to get you dragged any further into this," Fuyuko whispered before they entered the station.

  "No. I've gone this far, I'm going to see it through with you."

  Fuyuko's heart raced. She grasped at Angie's arm, stopping her from going further.

  "Please, Angie," she choked back a sob. "Don't make this harder for me. I already feel awful for dragging you this far."

  Angie turned, her eyes filled with rage, which quickly melted to pity when she saw Fuyuko's expression.

  "I'm scared, Angie. I don't know what I'm going to find. I might not find anything. All I know is I'm even more frightened you'll get into more trouble. If they're hiding something, they might come after me if I find it. I can't risk them doing that to you too. Please, let me do this part alone. I promise, I won't hide it from you. I just don't think you should be with me."

  "Ok," Angie said. "You can do this part on your own." With a pointed finger, she added, "But you better not leave me out of it. I want to know what happens. If there is something, I want to help."

  Fuyuko threw her arms around Angie. "Thank you."

  The rest of the trip went by in silence. Who could trust the people pressed closely against them, or the cameras watching their movemen
ts.

  They parted ways at the living quarters, Fuyuko descending further to the archives.

  She paced the small elevator, her thumb moving along the edge of the terminal card she held in her pocket. Was she wrong about this? It seemed too timely to be a coincidence. She only hoped she was right about the password. If Ethan had told the truth, she would only get one chance at entering the right password.

  The elevator doors opened. The walk down the hall seemed so long—every camera pressed down on her.

  She entered the archive room. When the door slid shut, she fell against it, exhaling the breath she'd held every step of the way down the hall. She searched the walls for any signs of cameras and found none. It had been Suture policy to not have cameras in most rooms where people could be considered to be needing privacy. Since there had been a number of tears shed in this room as videos were reviewed, they'd decided to grant this room the same camera-free privileges as bedrooms and washrooms.

  Fuyuko sat at a terminal that faced away from the door. She swiped her father's access card and waited for the password prompt. When it appeared, she drew in a deep breath and began to type.

  s-u-t-u-r-e-c-a-n-n-o-t-b-e-t-r-u-s-t-e-d

  Her heart leaped into her throat as she watched the hourglass spin.

  It shouldn't take this long. They're coming for me. Somewhere there's alarms sounding.

  The screen flickered and arrived at the home screen. In the top corner, it flashed the message, Welcome Shinji Takeda.

  Fuyuko's fingers moved swiftly, bringing up the date of Katsuro's death. She hesitated on the mouse button, suddenly unsure if knowing the truth was the right thing to do. If there something was being covered up, what did that mean for her future? Could she stay with Suture? How exactly did someone leave an organization like Suture? She shuddered at the macabre thoughts running through her head.

  Didn't she owe it to her brother to know the truth? Hadn't she already gone too far to stop?

  She clicked the button.

  The video began from Katsuro's point of view. She started the video from the point where Paltar, Hodur, and Katsuro broke off from the rest of Ansuz and made toward the tear.