“I thought it was just our last name,” Elijah said. "What makes it special?” Isaac chuckled for a moment.
“You mean,” Isaac said, “what makes us special? Because our last name is Vanguard, does that mean we have to be leaders?”
Elijah thought for a moment.
“I, I don’t know,” Elijah said. Isaac stood for a moment, turning to look out the window behind him.
“Eli,” Isaac said, “what do you know about the collapse?” His voice was somber.
“Not a lot,” Elijah said, “some kind of war or something no one talks about. I think it makes people sad.” Isaac nodded slowly while still looking outward.
“It does make people sad,” Isaac said as he turned around, placing his hands on the desk. “They’re sad because they can’t remember. No one can.” Elijah sat up, surprised.
“Twelve years ago,” Isaac said, “five million people woke up in the streets and buildings of Dirge. None of us can remember how we got here, or where we came from.” He paused for a moment, allowing it to sink it.
“No one remembered anything?” Elijah said.
“Well,” Isaac said, “we remembered pieces of things. We could remember how to operate machinery. How to talk, and function. After a few days, all my medical knowledge came back to me. I can remember my wife, your mother’s face. I can’t remember her name. In all my searching, I haven’t been able to find her. I don’t believe she’s still alive. I couldn’t do much though. The army had already been built.”
“Civic Protection?” Elijah said. He felt emotion inside him swirling at the mention of his mother, whom he’d never met. His father had never talked about her before.
“Yes,” Isaac said, “Civic Protection already existed. I feel like they were once people like us, and they were taken and stripped of their humanity, of their wills. Those were dark days, when we all first woke up. Civic Protection controlled the order, led by a figure that goes by Father. No one knows what he looks like, or where he came from. He controls Civic Protection, and the city. He always has.”
“Why haven’t I heard anything about this on the vids?” Elijah asked. "Or at school? None of my friends have even talked about it.”
“None of them knows,” Isaac said, “in the beginning, when we were all being processed by Civic Protection, we were given strict orders to never talk about our past. Our history. Never discuss the collapse. Anyone who argued was executed. It’s not uncommon for people to just disappear in the night. They’re watching, more often than you think. This city doesn’t have cameras everywhere, but it has word of mouth. They’ve built a network of spies within the population. The vids sell their fear, and the fear is what controls the people of Dirge.” Elijah felt fear with his awareness. His palms were sweating, and he was gripping the chair armrests so tight that his knuckles were white.
“You asked if what our name means makes us special,” Isaac said, “but the fact that we’re Vanguards doesn’t make us soldiers. We will be soldiers because we’re Vanguards. We will be the first to lead a resistance. I’ve slowly been building contacts. It will take years before we can have the support and resources we need, but we need to find a way to stop Father and the High Council.”
Elijah thought about Civic Protection, and how often he’d seen their oppressive grip. Their presence. He would see them everywhere he would look when he was out in the city. He knew they had an army of thousands, if not more. Fear gripped him, making his stomach queasy.
“Dad,” Elijah said, “why does it have to be us? Why do we have to be the Vanguards in this war?” Isaac walked slowly over to him, kneeling down next to him. He put one hand on Elijah’s arm.
“Because, son,” Isaac said, “there is no one else.”
18
Elijah Vanguard looked out the window of a shabby apartment building in Lower District forty years older and much more experienced than when he first had that conversation with his father about the city. His thoughts then turned to James. He’d better be all right. Everyone knew about what happened in Capitol District last night. There were some deaths that had occurred in some of the nearby buildings as Civic Protection recklessly tried to take him down. That whole block sustained quite a bit of damage. Once again the vid networks didn’t even mention it, and Elijah had to learn of it through one of his sources.
Apparently, James had somehow evaded the long arm of Civic Protection and the Council. Elijah wondered who the council was, after all these years. He wished he could have been there to see their reactions after James had escaped. He knew a couple of their names: Dante and Ares. He wondered who they really were, and what their relation to Father really was. Did he control them like he did the rest of the city? Did they survive the collapse, or were they responsible for it?
He glanced out the window. There were a few people out, and cars passing by slowly. It was quiet. His thoughts moved back to James, wondering if he was alright.
A CP patrol car drove slowly by. He moved away from the window quickly. He knew they hadn’t seen him, but he needed to be careful. It was almost one in the afternoon, and the sky was as dim as evening. Elijah wished his father had learned something about why the sky was so dark before he’d died. He wondered what could have caused the sky to behave like that during the day. There weren’t any clouds yet, and even the sun looked faded.
The window was cracked open, and he felt a cool breeze. Summer was coming, although the weather was always unpredictable in Dirge. He turned from the window. He was on the second floor of a small apartment building. The walls were a faded green, with painted on leaves and trees. There was a small bed in the corner and a cot on the floor next to it. His daughter, Alicia, sat on the bed drawing on a data screen with a stylus. She was quietly engrossed in her picture.
He started to leave the room and she spoke. “He'll find us, daddy. You don’t need to worry.” Elijah walked over to her and sat down on the bed next to her.
“What do you mean, Alicia? Who will find us?”
“The hunter,” she said, “the one with the metal monster.”
“Alicia," Elijah said, “I thought you were afraid of him. How did you know we were friends?” She didn’t look up, instead still focusing on her picture she drew on the data screen.
“I was afraid of him when I first saw him,” she said. “He was scary. Now, though, I can see him in my mind. I can see lots of things when I close my eyes. He wasn’t scary, he was lonely, and sad. And lost. You found him, and he found you. You look at him like you look at me, in your heart. He is like me, isn’t he?” What she said was more of a statement than a question. She continued, “I can see him from far away when I close my eyes. He’s trying to find his way out. Mommy is with him though. She’s trying to help him. He doesn’t know it’s her.”
She looked up at Elijah with regret in her eyes. “I was scared of him at first and I told him not to hurt me,” she said, “but he never would have. From as far away as he is, I can see him. I can see his heart. I never said thank you.” Elijah looked at the picture on the data screen she’d been drawing. He picked it up to get a closer look.
It was four people. There was a man, and next to that man was a woman with blond hair. They were holding hands. He was also holding hands with a little girl. On the other side of the woman was another man who wore a dark coat. He stood next to them, but still alone.
“This is you,” she said as she pointed to the man holding the little girl’s hand, “and you’re holding my hand here.”
“Who is the woman,” Elijah said, “and the other man?”
“That’s mommy of course,” Alicia said, “and that’s him. He is my brother.” Elijah was quiet, thinking about what she said.
“Why do you say he’s your brother?” She looked up at him, thinking about the question.
“Well,” she said, “I just know. Just like I can see him when I close my eyes, no matte
r how far away he is.”
“What else do you see in your mind?” There was concern in his voice.
“Daddy,” she said, “I’ve seen lots of things. I dreamed of the men taking me away, and then it happened. Before that, I didn’t believe it. If I’d known, I would have told you, and you could have stopped them. It’s ok though, because the hunter helped me. It wasn’t until he helped me that I started seeing everything, everybody.” Elijah was quiet. He finally spoke up after a long pause.
“His name is James,’” Elijah said.
Elijah put his hand on her shoulder as he started thinking of her mother, Callista. He pushed away the sad thoughts and stood up from the bed. He looked at her and asked, “Will you be ok in here while I go talk to Miss Anna?”
“Yes daddy,” Alicia said with a sarcastic tone while rolling her eyes, “I’ll be fine.”
Elijah sighed and walked out the bedroom door. He walked into the kitchen where his old nanny, Anna Kristoph, sat drinking coffee. She had the small vid on the countertop set to the news, but she didn’t pay it any attention as she viewed a small data screen in her hands. She saw him come in and she got up to get him some coffee. She was in her early eighties, yet she still moved quickly. She had always been petite, but was now even more so as an elderly woman. She wore simple clothes and had gray hair that was once brown pulled back behind her head in a bun. She had strong facial features and thick eyebrows.
As he sat down at the table she sat a mug in front of him.
“It’s almost as if nothing happened to her,” Elijah said, “and she was never kidnapped and then witness to her kidnappers’ violent deaths.”
“Yes,” Anna said, “she is very even tempered and intelligent. Like you and your father. Did she tell you about the dreams?”
“Oh yes, and then some.”
“What do you suppose they mean?” Anna looked out the kitchen window intently as she spoke to Elijah, “the dreams?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Elijah said. "She's smart, and level headed. She is a seven-year-old though, and I’ve never heard her say anything like this. It’s all very...well, weird.” He was quiet for a moment.
“Her mother,” Anna said, “didn’t her mother have dreams?” Elijah was taken aback a little.
“Yes, among other things.”
“You know,” Anna said, “Its strange days we’re in. More and more people are disappearing, and less and less people are afraid. Did you hear that there was a riot in Old District early this morning? That’s the first I’ve ever heard of people fighting back. People are growing tired of the cursed city. What else could be going on that we don’t know about?”
“I’m sure he could tell us, more than anyone,” Elijah said as he took a sip of the hot drink. The smell of coffee wafted through the air, and into his taste. It was strong, and bitter. There was silence for a moment.
“He had a girlfriend,” Anna said. "James did. From what I’ve found out, they were close. Very close. They were on a watch list at the university for some things they’ve said. I’ve already had both of them removed from the University’s records. As soon as I can meet with the girl, I can set her up a new identity.”
“Good,” Elijah said, “I have some things I need to take care of as well. I fear none of us is truly prepared for what it’ll take to break free of Civic Protection.”
“Yes,” Anna said, “but this city is ready.”
“They are ready,” Elijah said, “and I am too.”
“I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that,” Anna said, “a very long time.”
19
James stared out at a labyrinth of caverns. He walked slowly through them. The ground had been covered in metal tiles in most places. There were room and buildings built into the walls. In many places there were metal structures, homes and stores, built from what looked like prefabricated kits. They lined the walls everywhere. The cavern walls were smooth, having been cut with instruments that seemed unheard of to James. The tunnels were well-lit, lamps and fixtures hung everywhere. Many were already lit with a low light, but when James walked past them, they grew brighter.
This underground city is as large as Old District, he thought to himself. He used his mind’s eye to try to see through the cavern’s ceiling of stone to the surface of Dirge. Something blocked his vision through rock. He couldn’t understand it, but for the first time since his abilities had awakened, he felt a limitation. He tried looking through the walls nearby. He couldn’t see through them either. It wasn’t the rocks, he could tell. Something was in the walls. He walked over to one of the rock walls.
It was a dark brown, and chiseled smooth. He ran his hand along the surface. The stone was cool to the touch. He could feel a small mineral in the surface. Tiny pockets of it, almost microscopic. He could see it, and feel it with his enhanced senses. The mineral was some sort of metal. It reacted to his touch. The wall grew warm. He backed his hand away from it, startled. He probed it with his mind’s eye. There was nothing. The mineral was invisible to him. Not knowing what to think, he turned and continued to move through the tunnels.
He wandered for what felt like hours. The deeper he went, the more built up the city was. The higher the walls and ceilings were carved out of the dark brown stone. Larger structures had been built out of metal. The streets had grown larger, with vehicles and machinery seemingly abandoned where they stood. The vehicles resembled cars he’d seen above, but were unlike any model he’d ever seen before. Rust and decay had settled over everything. A smell of earth mixed with mildew and oil filled the air. Following the roads, he finally reached what seemed to be the nexus of the underground city.
It was a magnificent cavern, larger than the stadium sized water plant he’d already seen. He never could have imagined something like this existing beneath Dirge. It was beautiful, rocks and minerals glittering around through the walls. Lights built into the streets and ceiling revealed structures that were built into the cathedral cavern’s large walls. The center was a giant plaza that all the roads from different tunnels in the city met. In front of the plaza was the end.
The roads’ end was at the foot of an intimidating fortress built into the largest wall of the cavern. The walls of the fortress were a metal he’d never seen before. Stronger than any steel he’d seen in the city, he could tell through his probing with his mind’s eye. Bits of scraped vehicles littered the roads and plaza. He had to navigate through as he walked to the fortress. He was drawn to it by some distant memory.
There were old bags, suitcases, and other materials littering the ground as well. It looked to him like an apocalyptic event had occurred, causing everyone to try to feel to the fortress. No one was left though. The bags and scraps and vehicles were the only traces of whatever life existed here so long ago.
His footsteps echoed through the giant cavern as he followed the path laid out by the abandoned vehicles and bags from whoever tried to flee this hidden city. It led him to the doors of the fortress. It towered to the ceiling of the cavern, with layers of walls and small strategically located windows. It was built for a siege, but from whom, he had no idea. There were markings on the sides of the fortress wall, black marks that could have been caused by fire or explosives. It seemed undamaged though.
He suddenly felt lightheaded, and he lost his balance for a moment. He fell to the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees. He starred at the ground for several minutes trying to pull himself together. It felt like his mind was drifting away from him, from his own consciousness. He stood suddenly, only half aware of what was going on. He was seeing the world differently, gliding through the air as a creature.
At each of his sides were other creatures, similar to himself. They were like metal serpents, swimming through the air. He could see people all around him, all being attacked by his own kind. More serpents. The name they called themselves, the serpents, was unfamiliar t
o him. He recognized them by the metal and scales. They were xenos. This was their true form.
They knew their instructions, and they followed them as best as they could. Capture the people, don’t kill them. There was gunfire throughout the plaza as soldiers fired at the metal creatures, but it was in vain. In moments, the xenos grew tendrils that formed insect-like appendages. They then crawled over the ground quickly, grabbing and incapacitating the soldiers. The men looked nothing like Civic Protection, James noticed as he watched them. They wore some armored uniforms that didn’t look like they belonged to Dirge at all.
The xenos incapacitated all the guards quickly, and he led them into the fortress. The doors were easy to force open. The metal groaned, but relented easily as it was overrun by the creatures. James flew with them, he was one of them.
His army of metal serpents followed him, taking down any person that got in their way. His objective was the control room. That was where Father compelled him to go. The fortress was large, and had many hallways. He already knew the way to go. His orders were to capture the Vanguard. The metal walls were smooth and flawless, but he could climb them easily as he grew his own limbs. He was now scurrying on the walls, then the ceiling. All the xenos that had been following him had gone different routes to capture and incapacitate more humans. He was alone, but he wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t feel fear. Even if he could, it wouldn’t matter. He had no choice, those were his orders.
He could feel the excitement of the fight; he knew the control room was right around the corner. He turned down the hallway, and reached a large door. It was metal and strong. He didn’t need to break it. He just needed to get past it. He stretched himself all around the edges of the doorframe, making himself a liquid as he squeezed through the small cracks in the machinery of the door. He could hear people scream in horror as he started to form on the other side.
People shot at him, but it was useless. Bullets didn’t harm him. He was only partially formed, but he shot out a tendril at the nearest person. James recognized him as he attacked him. It was a very young Dr. Shepherd. He looked like he was in his late twenties. James struck at him with a metal tentacle. The force made the doctor fly backwards into a panel. He was unconscious.
City of Twilight: Rise of the Hunter (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 1) Page 10