by Luna, David
Only a vase of artificial Eternity Flowers separates Wade’s apartment from being an exact replica of Neil’s. The Agency is strict in its standard issue housing, modern barracks for Collectors masked as apartments. Each detail is carefully selected for psychological reasons. The white sterile décor is intended to keep morale high, while the virtual fish tanks are aimed to provide the minimal amount of companionship required to properly function since Collectors are deterred from human relationships outside of their direct colleagues. Each apartment is stationed at least ten stories high, most of the time double that – such as Neil’s on the twenty-second floor – and the towering bird’s-eye view of the streets down below serve to reinforce the importance of the Collectors and their status in society. However, unlike all of the others, Wade’s apartment is in complete disarray. Couches shredded, drawers ripped open, trash dumped on the tables and counter. Neil looks to the crushed fake flowers scattered on the coffee table when Slayter appears from the bedroom.
“Unless you were stuck on the shitter, I don’t wanna hear it,” Slayter frowns, just as expected. He motions Neil over. “C’mon, I already covered out here.”
Slayter slices open the mattress in Wade’s bedroom, then shreds the pillows. “Anything from the slums?” he asks.
“No one saw anything,” Neil responds. He grabs a black combat uniform from a dirty pile in the closet, his eyes lingering on Wade’s 1-stripe arm badge.
“I don’t want to have to double check your work, Neil. Tell me you did more than talk to them.”
Neil sifts through the shirts one by one until something in one of the front pockets catches his attention. It’s a torn sliver of paper with the name Paiton written on it. Next to the name is a drawing of a heart.
“That looks promising,” Slayter notes, eyeing the clue while looming over Neil’s shoulder. “You know what it is?”
Neil doesn’t recognize it as he runs a search for “Paiton” through the identity database on his PDA. Within moments a list of eight results populates the screen. “He could be hiding at any one of these.”
Slayter grabs the PDA and reviews the first entry. “Lesson two,” he instructs, talking down as if it is Neil’s first day. “Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.”
BLAM! Slayter kicks down the door to a shack in the slums. An older woman cowers in fear, but there is no sign of Wade.
Neil scrolls to the next entry.
Two teens make out in an old bungalow when the door caves in. The Teen Boy nearly pisses himself at the sight of the Collectors.
Wrong Paiton.
Slayter and Neil storm into a Downtown apartment to find a cute woman at the stove. This could be the Paiton they are after. Neil eyes the bedroom door, but the cute woman blocks their path. Slayter shoves her out of the way and continues in to find two sleeping children – again wrong place and wrong Paiton. Slayter storms out furious.
Neil looks to the next entry on his PDA: Paiton Haas, age twenty-one. He does a double take as Dani’s Diner is listed as her employer. He pulls out the torn sliver of paper with the drawing of the heart and this time recognizes it as the top half of a receipt from the same diner.
Nearly simultaneously a conversation with Wade replays in his mind, Wade’s near confession from before.
“Can I tell you something? Just between me and you?” Wade asks.
“It’d be best if you didn’t,” Neil recalls his cold response.
Suddenly Neil’s eyes grow wide, taken aback by a realization. How could he have missed this? He can spot a citizen breaking a penal code from a mile away, a mere stranger, yet he never saw this coming from his own rookie. “Slayter,” he calls out in disbelief. “We found him.”
Slayter pauses as his seething lingers beneath his breath, waiting for Neil to clarify.
The Agency takes precaution after precaution to prevent a Collector from ever succumbing to this sickness, but somehow Wade fell through the cracks.
Neil announces the revelation, “He’s in love.”
******
Haunted Reactor
There’s an old science scenario about a cat in a box and whether or not it still existed when you weren’t looking (I think it went something like that. I’m not sure, those pages were missing from the book!). Anyway, that’s how I feel about the Old Reactor. I can’t see that far outside the Bay with all the haze, so does the reactor even still exist? It would be cool if something still survives out there!
-Quado
8
Forty-eight hours prior to Neil and Slayter narrowing down Wade’s motivations and Paiton’s whereabouts, Wade just completed returning Jimmy to his home in secret. He remembers Loraine answering the door in tears, heart-broken that her eldest son, only ten, followed in her husband’s footsteps and sacrificed himself for their family. He remembers the look of both relief and confusion on her face as she saw her son standing there, still breathing and alive. Wade couldn’t think of anything meaningful to say to add to the moment except what came from the heart. “Love Jimmy. Love him and never let go,” just as Loraine described to Neil.
It is true that Wade was in love. And love, he felt, shouldn’t be punished by the harsh rules of the Agency. Some volunteer by choice, which he has no issue with. And then there are those that volunteer from desperation; those feeling the pinch from the city’s dire circumstances. It is these people that Wade could no longer stomach to haul away to the processing facility. It is not as if anything he was assigned to do as a Collector surprised him. The Agency doesn’t sugarcoat anything back at the Academy in simulated training, and Neil didn’t sugarcoat anything in field training. If anything, Neil prepared him the best he possibly could. But the field was mentally tougher than Wade expected, especially once he met Paiton, and he was no longer cut out for that type of work. Love changes a man, and in his opinion, it changes one for the better.
Wade rides the SectorLink as these thoughts play out in his head. He doesn’t try to hide in the corner or act overly suspicious. In fact, if it weren’t for his black combat uniform he’d blend in with every other passenger on the tram. Tired. Thirsty. Clinging to a bit of foolish hope. No one would guess that in just a few hours he’d become an enemy to the most powerful entity in the city. But even though he just broke the oath in his contract, Wade doesn’t feel the pressure of getting caught just yet considering he knows Neil is still at the antique shop working with the oddly chipper girl to repair their utility truck. According to his estimate, it won’t be for another few hours when Wade fails to return by nightfall that Neil will realize his absence, become concerned, and then report these details to Adrianne in the dispatch department. It might actually take even longer considering Neil’s reluctance to report the attack on his truck by the misfit kids as he tries to avoid Slayter’s ridicule and mockery. When it is finally reported, it will then take another few hours for Adrianne to notice that Jimmy was never submitted to the transfer tunnels to close out the assignment. Only then when an assignment is reported missing, Wade knows, will Mazer be informed and demand a call for some sort of action. Until then Wade knows he can breathe and enjoy the calm before the storm, though he double checks this on his PDA nonetheless just to be sure. His device is still connected to the network, which means officially he is still a Collector.
What Wade doesn’t know is anything about the extra time the Brigade inadvertently just bought him by attacking Neil and the utility truck. If he only knew he had an extra twenty-four hours before Neil reports in to Headquarters after recovering at Inna’s antique shop, perhaps he would pause to plan more thoroughly, or try to use the attack somehow to his advantage. Instead, Wade continues under his original estimated timeline, his greatest mistake outside of going against the Agency.
Wade hops off the SectorLink line at the second of four exits in the Downtown Sector, just two blocks from his Agency-issued apartment. While he currently has a head start, he knows he will soon need to blend in so he stops t
o change out of his black combat uniform and into a simple shirt and ball cap before leaving his cold living quarters for the final time.
Night settles in as Wade moves through the downtown sidewalk on foot. After again checking that his access to the Agency network is still active on his PDA, he breathes a sigh of relief towards the night sky, and for the first time notices just how black it is. There are no stars as the pollution blocks any from shining through, and now that Wade thinks about it, he is not sure when the last time he ever saw a star outside of the simulated stars decorated on the ceiling of the Observatory located inside the Agency museum on Headquarters’ third floor.
Soon Wade reaches a corner and peers in the window to Dani’s Diner where Paiton Haas finishes the end of her shift – the final name on Neil and Slayter’s list once they start their pursuit the following night. With no knowledge how her life is about to change, Paiton clears the last of the dishes and wipes down the tables for the following morning just as Wade slips through the door.
“Sorry, we’re closed,” Paiton says as she hears the door closing, but as soon as she glances up Wade is already moving in, dipping her back and kissing her. Paiton is swept away in the moment, throwing discretion out the window, until she finally breaks away.
“Are you crazy?” She rushes to close the blinds. “What are you doing here?”
“I think they’re going to need this,” Wade says cryptically as he grabs a HELP WANTED sign from behind the counter and tilts it upright against the register, grinning from ear to ear.
Paiton furrows her brow, “You mean…?”
Wade nods to confirm. Paiton nearly knocks him over as she leaps into his arms and bombards him with more kisses – on his cheek, his forehead, his neck. Wade laughs as he spins her around, then sets her down.
“They wanted me to take a kid to the tunnels. I couldn’t do it. This boy…I could be his older brother. I know we wanted to wait. To save. But I just…”
“It’s not your fault,” Paiton consoles him. She strokes the side of his cheek until reality suddenly takes over. “Oh my gosh, they’re going to come after us. We’re not ready. They’ll take us away. I see it out this window every day.” Paiton subconsciously begins to collect every dish she can and stack them in her arms as her mind races a mile-a-minute. “We can’t go to your place. Or mine. They’ll track us like animals.”
“Just calm down,” Wade cuts her off. It’s his turn to console her.
“What are we going to do?” she asks.
Wade takes the dishes from her arms and returns them to the table. “Do you remember the old helicopters?”
Paiton shakes her head no.
“Up above the clouds, like air. Long before the Wall and no fly zones, the military used them,” Wade explains. He grabs her shoulders to reassure her, “If we get our hands on one, we can go where no one can touch us.”
Paiton’s eyes break away, unsure.
“Hey, hey. It’s me and you, love. I’ll get us away from this mess,” Wade says. He touches her chin to turn her forward. “Imagine waking up and watching the sunrise. Actually being able to see it for once. Or the stars. Have you ever seen those?” Paiton’s shoulders begin to loosen as Wade continues, “We can have a porch. And drink coffee from it. We won’t have to sneak around just to look each other in the eyes. Can’t you feel it? We’re so close. Forget assigned partners. Forget the Agency. We can raise a family. That’s the life waiting for us outside the Wall.”
The image of her and Wade’s life together brings an immediate smile. It’s magical. “Just us,” Paiton says as she reaffirms their dream life. “No one around within a mile.” She regains control over her breathing. “How are we going to find one?”
“The reactor was their base, out in the bay,” Wade reveals. “There’s one hidden there.” He notices Paiton still isn’t fully convinced. “The Agency’s old. Archaic. They’re reactionary while we’re one step ahead. We can do this. We just need to lay low while I work things out.”
It takes a long moment, but Paiton nods in agreement. They can do this. She again leaps into Wade’s arms and they celebrate their future. It’s young love at its finest. Giddy. Without care. Reckless.
Fast forward twenty-four hours and their attitudes are much different. While Neil recently learned of Wade’s betrayal and now speaks with Mazer outside on the balcony back at Headquarters, the harsh acid rain has just begun. The dirty droplets pummel the broken asphalt, pooling in potholes before spilling over into the clogged sewers.
Wade shields himself as he rushes to take shelter beneath the stairs of the elevated SectorLink platform in the slums. As he pauses to dry off, his pocket beeps. It’s his PDA notifying him of a new post by Quado on his RSS feed, BETRAYAL WITHIN THE AGENCY. Wade glances over the article, knowing the news leak is about him and his actions, when suddenly his PDA goes out: NETWORK ERROR. UNAUTHORIZED USER.
“That’s it,” Wade thinks to himself. The Agency knows what he’s done. He hopes that doesn’t mean Jimmy was discovered; that maybe Loraine was smart enough to hide him in a location the Collectors would never look. Better yet, he hopes Loraine packed up her family and fled rather than staying in that dainty shack. He’s no fool though and he knows the odds of their survival aren’t very high. At least he bought Jimmy one extra day with his loved ones. That’s all anyone can ask for really – just one extra kiss, one extra embrace, one extra moment to spend with a loved one as we all battle against the ultimate limited resource connecting us: time.
Wade takes solace in knowing that even though the Agency is now onto him, at least Paiton is back at her bungalow in Sector A where she’s safe. To his knowledge, the Agency isn’t even aware of the link between them. They were careful never to be seen together; never to leave a trail connecting one to the other and putting the other in danger. As much as he wanted to share his secret with Neil, a secret he feels should never have to be kept quiet in the first place, Wade bit his tongue. It’s now only him who has to be careful when out in the open like this, thank goodness not Paiton – or so he thinks.
As Wade continues to wait for the acid rain to lighten, he thinks back to all that’s happened over the last twenty-four hours. It’s been a whirlwind. After solidifying their plan to escape to the island in the bay – home to the abandoned reactor as well as the former military base and forgotten helicopters – he and Paiton returned to her bungalow and shared the most passionate night yet in their relationship. Seeing her vulnerable eyes stare up at him while he held her in his arms only strengthened his resolve to succeed. Then, while she stayed back to pack their things and prepare to leave, he rounded up everything worth value – mainly jewelry and trinkets – and headed to the only place he knew that might accept these kinds of illicit items as payment. Even he only just learned of this place’s existence while out on assignment with Neil: Inna’s antique shop. With any luck, not only would the man at the counter not recognize him from when he was there earlier with Neil and Jimmy, but he’d also hopefully have what Wade was after and be willing to trade.
Wade never caught the man’s name at the counter of the antique shop. If he did, he would know it was Damian. All he remembers is Damian favored one side over the other as he walked with a limp, and expressed constant bitterness towards the very notion of life in general. However, just as he hoped, Damian did have what Wade was after and additionally was willing to trade for it.
“This is nice,” Damian commented upon seeing one of the silver pieces of jewelry. “They think keepsakes give us hope. Allow us to hold onto memories. My old partner had one similar to this.”
Wade knew keepsakes were banned, and after hearing Damian reminisce, he understood why the Agency would do such a thing. But he remained silent and allowed Damian to muse out loud as they continued with their trade.
“It hasn’t been used in a decade. It might not hold up,” Damian warned.
“It has to,” Wade responded.
Wade rep
eats these same words to himself as he treks on foot from the SectorLink station towards the West Bank of the polluted bay. “This has to work. This has to work.” He knows with his limited time, he only has one chance at this.
He reaches the edge of the polluted water and scours for his purchase, but there’s nothing but trash, weathered Agency flyers, and dead carp bones littered along the muddy bank. Just then, as he finally spots his purchase from Damian, his shoulders slump as his face falls flat.
What he stares at is a small wooden boat half submerged underwater, his and Paiton’s supposed ticket to the abandoned island. Damian warned the boat might not hold up, not that the boat was already completely destroyed. It’s useless. Not even Inna could repair it without a few weeks worth of work, and Wade doesn’t have more than a few hours.
Wade falls to his knees, devastated, the last bit of hope sucked from his body. His head droops as he takes a moment to regroup. He always knew this was an option should he ever go down this route and break his oath with the Agency, but at the same time, part of his young love convinced him that he would actually have a chance. Staring at the boat – at his sunken dreams – Wade now knows they have no chance at all to escape.
Just then, as he accepts his fate and rises to his feet, a voice calls out, “Looks like that thing has seen better days.” Wade cycles through his memory bank trying to recall the voice. “As do you,” the voice continues.
Wade furrows his brow. It isn’t Neil, not Slayter, nor anyone else from the Agency. It’s not Damian from the antique shop with news that Wade has the wrong boat and that his ship to freedom still exists. He’s actually never heard this voice before. Wade turns around to see that the voice belongs to Leon, head of the Brigade, accompanied by the other group leaders – Chelsea, Jace, and Brock.