After Tomorrow: A CHBB Anthology

by Samantha Ketteman

  “A little less than four hours,” replied Link.

  PDC was an old lab facility. The building hadn’t seen maintenance in years. Moss had devoured its corners, and littered trash soiled its grounds. She watched as the taxi pulled in. Kira handed him the money and made her way into the building. With every step she took, she could hear the crunching sound of broken glass shattering into tinier fragments. The elevator was still alive. She had no idea how nor did she care to know, but the fifth floor had what she most cared for, and she was growing eager. A man in a black suit with a red tie stood at the glass window with a cigar in hand. He was surrounded by ten more just like him.

  Kira dropped the bag on the table. “Where are the vials?”

  The man blew a cloud of smoke and smiled. “Kira, you are always in a hurry, aren’t you?”

  “Give me the vials Johnson.” The man nodded and an assistant brought over a silver case with five vials in them.

  She quickly grabbed the case and headed out the door.

  “Kira,” yelled Johnson. She stopped. “What did he say?” he asked.

  Kira looked over her shoulder. “He didn’t,” and she walked off.

  She made it out to the parking lot and opened the case. She pulled out a syringe from her bag and placed the small blue vial into it. Barely able to keep herself up, she managed to tighten the syringe until she heard that click. Taking a deep breath, she injected it into her arm and felt a sudden relief. Her eyes shut and she tilted her head up. It was a release of chemicals, and she could feel them charging up her skin, revitalizing her bones, and creating life.

  She felt alive.

  She had just bought herself one more month.

  Chapter Three

  “You have to run Kira!” she warned. “You have to live. You’re special and because of that, they will find you and they will kill you. You need to run and never look back!”

  The woman shoved Kira out the back door. Kira watched the only mother she had ever known abandon her. Something strange ached in her chest—a feeling that pained her in ways she didn’t know. It was almost as if the acid in her stomach leaked into every pore of her body, making her want to scream.

  “But I don’t want to be special! I don’t want to leave you! Please! Let me stay here with you,” she begged. She tried to hold the woman’s lab coat when she was slapped right across the face. Kira was shocked. The scientist held her tears. “Run Kira, and don’t ever tell anyone what you can see...”

  Kira hesitantly stepped back. The woman shoved her once more. “Go! Get out of here! Never look back!”

  

  Kira lightly tapped the olive on the side of her cocktail before slowly biting into the sour yet satisfying taste. The bartender had been eyeing her all night as well as the man across from the bar with an odd tattoo crawling up his neck. She rolled her eyes.

  Alcohol made her think too much, but it didn’t affect her like it did normal people.

  The bartender brought a blue drink over and smiled. “An Angel’s Sin from the gentleman across the bar.”

  An Angel’s Sin…sheesh.

  She pushed the drink back. “Take it back.”

  The bartender smiled. He thought he had a chance. God no. “What you can do is get me a Mojito.”

  His smile turned into a grin. “How about that Mojito’s on me?”

  “Oh really?” she poured on the sarcasm. The poor kid would never pick up on it. “You’re so sweet.” She lightly tapped his hand. That single gesture was all it took.

  Moments passed as the music got louder. The bass got deeper. The lights were brighter. The men were drunk and the women were wasted. Broken heels and vomit was what Kira saw, but the rest of the world saw a good night and a shot at finding love. Kira placed her hand on her bare chest. Love. It was the one concept she never understood, never felt. They said love was only for those who had a soul, which would explain why she had never loved.

  “Red Scorpion from the suit in the corner,” the bartender announced as he placed a drink in front of her.

  “Another one?” she asked rhetorically.

  “You’re just on fire huh?” the bartender winked. She shook her head to herself. Idiot.

  She stood up and headed over to the dark corner where her real business lay. She had to admit; it was surprising getting another call just days after a termination. The dark man beckoned for her to sit with a single hand. He meant business. He had four guards watching him from all corners. That only meant one thing: he had money and lots of it.

  “Red Scorpion,” Kira smirked as she sat down. “Aren’t you cunning?” She placed the drink on the glass table. “Poison on the rim of the glass.”

  She couldn’t make out his face, but even through the dark shadows she could tell he was a stern man who hardly smiled and was never satisfied. He had a beard and a Hugo Boss suit. The aura he had was of an old kind. He knew secrets, many in fact or at least that’s what his demeanor proved.

  “I needed to know if you were as skilled as preached,” his voice was deep and drawn out. He sipped his double scotch.

  “Have you received your answer?”

  He leaned in toward the light. He had loneliness and suffering written in his eyes. He wanted, no, needed vengeance. “I need your specific set of skills used on a particular person.”

  “I don’t care who,” she cut him off. “I care how much. I use my skills for money, not fame and not sympathy.”

  He swirled the dark caramel liquid in his glass. “I know what you want, and I also know you need it to survive.”

  Kira’s heart stopped. He knew more than she bargained. “I do need money to survive. Thank you for noticing.”

  He waved his hand. “There aren’t many left of what you seek, and I have gone out of my way to find and obtain the last batch from the Jefferson’s Lab in what was once Sweden, now known as Russia.” He took another sip. “If you’re what I think you are, do not fear. I care less that your kind is still alive. All I need is your assistance and in turn I shall hand over the last forty Jen vials left in the world.”

  “Prove it.”

  He glanced to no one in particular. A man with one side of his face tattooed to mimic a spider’s web walked up. Handcuffed to his waist was a briefcase. He handed it to the man across from her. He punched in a code and opened the lid, but she didn’t need to see. The blue glow of the vials was enough to let her know that life resided in that case.

  The bartender brought her a fresh Red Scorpion and placed it on the glass table. The man in the suit eyed her carefully, and Kira’s gaze never left his dark shadow. “Do we have a deal?”

  She raised the drink and took a sip.

  He smiled. “Good.”

  Chapter Four

  Max Dawn.

  The name rang over and over in her head. He was the son of Charles Dawn, founder of Dawn Tech Industries. To the world, he was the man who helped create air breathers, weapons, and, most importantly, planetary expeditions into other galaxies. To Kira, he was the man that created Jen One Babies—an experiment she was far too familiar with. She felt the back of her neck. The number one hundred fifty-five was burned into her skin so that her creators would never lose track of them. A sudden rush of anger took over, and she had to remind herself to keep calm.

  “Upload map and molecule analyzer,” she spoke out loud so the COMP system could pick up her voice. She walked out of her bedroom into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of murky water.

  “Do you think it is wise of you to have accepted the offer?” asked Link.

  Kira poured the dirty water into an enhanced filtering system. The timer automatically set for thirty seconds. She sat up against the counter. “You should stop annoying me with these questions.”

  “This man is different. He is not to be trusted.”

  “I’m the one who’s not to be trusted,” she snipped. The water purifier beeped and released a new glass of clear water. “His son could be the answer. Charles was never a bad per
son. He was the only one in the company who believed in us. It’s the company who shut us down.”

  “And now they want Charles’s son killed?” asked Link. “May I…”

  “No,” she cut him off. “Upload the analyzer. Let’s find out where our friend is hiding.”

  She walked over to the study and removed a piece of hair from Max’s comb that she had stolen from his room. A DNA extractor strip popped out of the side of her glass table monitor. She slipped it in and let the technology do the rest. It extracted the DNA substances, rotated the molecules until it liquidized and finally analyzed whose hair it was. She knew, but the system needed to have the information to lock down on his coordinates.

  “Maximus Ryan Dawn,” said the COMP. A holograph appeared of his features. The COMP ran his name through the database Kira had collected over the years. She had never seen him, not back then, not ever.

  “Age twenty, Height five eleven, Weight one hundred and fifty-eight pounds, eye color hazel, hair color black, body fit,” said Link. “He shouldn’t be too hard to spot. Everyone has these features.”

  “GPS coordinate system lock down,” she said. A red display appeared, unknown.

  “It appears the system cannot locate him,” confirmed Link.

  “Well, here’s something the database can’t tell us: he’s smart. Run through the cameras of any local stores and electric stations in the past two weeks in a one hundred-mile radius.” He shouldn’t be too far, she thought.

  After a few moments, the computer monitor flashed up a holographic world map. It then began zooming in on the Americas, then Northern America, then got close to the left wing, and finally centered in on the beach cities.

  “What are you doing all the way over there,” she mumbled under her breath. “Did you set it to a five hundred mile radius?”

  “Why would I do such a thing?” replied Link.

  She rolled her eyes. “He’s still in Briar, but it seems his previous location was California a few weeks ago. That’s odd.” No one lived outside of the three main cities: Briar, Polton, and Iris.

  “You mean Rockton?” corrected Link. She navigated the map and centered in on Briar: the largest city of the three.

  “I mean California. How did he manage to get in and out of the city without getting caught?” She knew she had the technology to do it as well as the skills but no one else did, not that she knew of and she knew the city pretty well.

  She ran back into her room and pulled out a suitcase from underneath her bed. Slipping out of her night tee, she paced her wardrobe until she found what she wanted. The black tight pants and black tank fit her well. She strapped on her boots and wrapped her leather jacket around her.

  She grabbed her keys to the sports car parked below and input Link’s chip into her helmet ear piece.

  “Let’s go hunting.”

  Chapter Five

  The land was barren and there was nothing healthy about the world anymore. Running streams ceased to exist. Tall, strong trees were only in textbooks. Birds gliding through the air were simply dreams. Farms were run down and food was always a problem. Always. No matter how much technology humans seemed to come up with, it couldn’t fix the planet.

  Certain countries were no longer accessible due to radiation leaks from the third war. People questioned what would be of Earth if Russia, the United States, and ISIS ended up in a full blown nuclear war.

  Dawn Tech Industries was built from the ashes to try and fix the world by finding a new one to inhabit. Mars was a failed attempt, and the people that were sent there had never been heard from again. Their only hope was through sending Jen One Prototypes to Jupiter’s moon, the only other planet similar to Earth, but that too had failed before it could ever be launched. The Company shut the project down and killed every last Jen One. Rumors were spread of other Jen creations, but those weren’t spared either.

  Kira walked down the streets of Briar with an air breather on even though she didn’t medically need it, but it did help her blend in and the last thing she wanted was to attract unwanted attention.

  “How do you know the man wasn’t lying?” asked Link from her earpiece.

  “He’s a log worker,” she explained, taking a detour. “If he hears of a conspiracy, a way out of his shit hole, he’ll take it.”

  “The tunnels are not on the map.”

  “Exactly.” They were uptown near the oil ridges. She saw a few men with an S insignia: the Suppressed.

  “I’m here for the speech,” she told the burly men. They sized her up and smiled.

  One spoke up. “Whose speech?” His breath smelled of a dead raccoon.

  “Please, I don’t have all day. My two daughters are sick with pneumonia at home,” she lied. “I came out all this way from midtown because I heard of a man who can help us, a man who claims there’s a truth us common folk don’t know.”

  The men exchanged looks of sympathy and immediately nodded. “We just got to make sure the Company don’t know.”

  Kira smiled. “They won’t.”

  Chapter Six

  The crowd was larger than she expected. She knew he had supporters, those who believed in the Company’s conspiracies, but she had no idea his theories spread so far so fast. He was dangerous for big men with big bucks. No wonder they hired her sooner rather than later. Too bad she didn’t care. All that mattered to her were those vials. She needed them, and she needed Max Dawn’s head to get them.

  “Thank you so much for coming today,” said a voice. The underground tunneling system echoed. Kira was impressed. She had no idea there was a tunnel underneath the city. How does he get in and out of the city without getting caught? Her eyes widened with epiphany. That’s how. “I know why you are here,” he continued in the very front with a megaphone. Being trapped in the back had its disadvantages, but it allowed her to scan her surroundings. All sorts of commoners were there. “You’re here to take back what is rightfully yours.” It was difficult to see the speaker, but Kira’s sight was well enhanced, and she knew it had to be Max. “You’re here to take back your freedom!”

  The people went crazy. Screaming. Shouting. Whistling. Kira had never heard such uproar. She decided it was best to take him out long after the speech, maybe when he was in his living room back in The Edge.

  “Why do I use the word freedom though?” he went on. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you the truth. The corporations, the companies that we trusted to help us build our nations again, to help us rise from the awful events that destroyed this world, to help us salvage what we have left have been brainwashing us into enslavement.”

  Kira sat up against the wall and zoomed in her HUD, centering in on Max. She could see his hazel eyes moving from right to left to right. She could see his arms pointing at random commoners, raising them sporadically, and holding his fist out of anger. He was so passionate about what he preached.

  “Who produces and sells food to us?” he asked. People went quiet. Whispers here and there told Kira that no one knew the answer. “The Big Six corporations, and together they are known as the Company. The Company makes our food, your food, and enhances it right before selling it. The sweat and blood you spend to earn your credits get put into different Wholemarts to provide for you and your family. When you think you’re eating a healthy chicken breast and legume dinner what you’re really consuming is a handful of microbots.” The whispers stopped. People were curious. So was Kira. “These microbots have been injected into the poultry, crops, and fresh produce we eat every day. What are microbots? I’ll tell you. They are scientifically engineered bacteria that attack your pancreas. This stops your metabolic enzymes from being created and circling the body. This then causes your body to degenerate. Without these enzymes, new cells cannot grow, energy cannot be produced, toxins cannot be excreted, and your other organs cannot properly function!”

  A gasp shook the entire premise. Kira could see panic written in peoples’ eyes. A man holding a chicken sandwich let it drop to the floor.r />
  “Then how are we alive?” yelled someone from the audience.

  Max looked in the general direction. “Simple. These same companies that implant these microbots into our daily diet are also the only ones that have created an antidote. They have placed us into a never-ending cycle. We are always sick and in need of their medicine. However, their medicine not only kills the microbots but also slows down your brain activity. This is what I meant by your freedom. We have no free will. We have no choice but to live in this cruel, vicious cycle!” Everyone was furious. Even Kira found herself slightly frustrated. She didn’t require food like other people to survive, but she still found it baffling to believe humans were literally killing each other to profit.

  “So what do we do?” screamed a woman from the crowd.

  Max smiled. “We fight! We rise and take back our lives! No more enslavement. No more wasting our credits on food that makes us sick and then medicine that makes us mindless! I am here to offer you a chance to stand up and fight with me! Let’s take back our freedom! We aren’t some toy they can play with! We aren’t slaves they can use! And this isn’t just their world. It’s ours! We do all the manual labor to keep Briar, Polton, and Iris running! We deserve freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

  The crowd went wild. Cheers and screams of joy rang in the room. Every person was singing the word freedom as if it were there last.

  Kira looked around and wondered how they felt. One person shook hundreds. She looked back at Max.

  He was already looking at her.

  Chapter Seven

  The Edge. It was a place far south of Briar, outside the gates. No one lived there. No one went there. The surveillance cams didn’t fly past the gates. Guards never glanced in that direction. It was a desolate land and that was not needed.

  That was where Max lived.

  Kira walked down his hallway carefully and approached a large glass window. It practically took up the entire back wall of the living room. His home was built into a mountain and the view was breathtaking. It was quaint and quiet just the way Kira liked it. There were no aesthetic elements, rather truth. People hid from the truth. Max pursued it. He was a seeker.