The Plan: Part 1

by J. A. James

  He was still absorbing all of the information. "Yeah. It's going to be my best shot."

  "It might be your only shot, Griesen." He saw her glance furtively at her other screen. “I gotta go soon. The system’s kicking back in.”

  "Okay," he said quietly.

  Good luck, bad luck. Just different sides of the same coin… did this still apply, in this situation?

  Suddenly the enormity of his situation was overwhelming. What if he could never go back? Never see Gretchen again? She was his family. He cared about her. He wanted to say something; but felt this was not the time nor place.

  "Send me the details," he told her quickly. "I'll need to find this man, now."

  She nodded. "I can't transmit to you any other way - so copy it down."

  The Institute would detect any other mode of communication they attempted. She held up a piece of paper as he quickly memorized the details.

  "Okay, Gretch," he said after he had finished. "Thank you for this."

  "Don't thank me yet. Just try to stay alive. Priorities," she chided him with a lopsided smile.

  He let out a little smile at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah. I'll try to remember that."

  He looked at the address. He had to get going, stat. He turned to walk out of the closet and nearly collided into Halva.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed, as she stepped away from him slightly. Her eyes warmed slightly, recognizing him.

  "It was great to run into you," Halva said, her eyes crinkling up. "I still can't believe the coincidence."

  There are no coincidences, Griesen thought. Maybe by the end of your lifetime, you'll know this too. "Likewise," he replied, smiling briefly in return.

  Edith then came in the coat room as well, fetching her jacket. As they all emerged, he saw them. The three Acruvae - standing, unmoving. The one who had tied Halva down stared at Griesen with a deadened expression.

  Halva and Edith took no notice of them as they waved their goodbyes to their colleagues.

  "I need to take my date home now," Halva said, nodding her head briefly to Edith.

  "Of course," Griesen said. He thought quickly. "I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Allow me to accompany you out?"

  Halva nodded. He stuck out the crook of his elbow, and she took it. She was safe for now. He glanced back at the Acruvae and hardened his stare against him as they watched them leave. Inside, though, his heart was hammering in his chest.

  They strode out towards the ballroom doors, where a small crowd had formed, starting their exit as well. Griesen cast a surreptitious glance behind him at the men. They all had begun mingling with the crowd, saying their goodbyes. They wouldn't be able to get away with anything right now.

  Not even murder, he thought grimly.

  He welcomed the swell of people around them, merging and bringing the three of them into the fold.

  CHAPTER 15

  Griesen bid Halva and Edith goodnight, waving briefly as they pulled away in the silver Mercedes in the underground parkade. His skin prickled, suddenly. He knew. They had followed. Of course.

  He didn't turn around. He was prepared for this moment. They didn't scare him; not now.

  "You." The hiss of the voice was icy cold, monotone. It clefted into his ear as an ice pick would have.

  Griesen turned around, slowly, turning around to face a grey-eyed man who stood in a midnight blue suit. He was clean-shaven, with a close-shaved army cut. The other two men weren't far behind him, standing about five feet away, flanking his side.

  "You're on the watchlist. Don't think you aren't." The man’s voice moved away from an American accent to one with Acruvaic overtones as he hissed at him.

  Griesen also allowed his voice to thicken. He stood in front of the man, and placed his feet further apart, taking an aggressive stance. "Don't think about going near her." His eyes darkened. "Don’t touch her." His fists balled together.

  The man sneered at him in response. "You have no idea what you've done."

  "And you?" Griesen retorted. "What kind of warfare do you think you're engaging in, destroying a Lifeline?"

  "Doctor's orders. Especially when you've been written up the way you have been. Criminal misconduct.”

  Of course. He could only guess he was something between a rebel and a criminal, and nothing less.

  "I told you already," he said in a low voice. "Don't touch her again. Understand?"

  The man took a step forward. Griesen stiffened in his stance, looking dead into his foe's eyes which were beginning to burn a dark obsidian blue. The sign of a deadlock ahead.

  Griesen felt a rage inside him build, his own eyes turning the same color. He was only trying to do the right thing. And now his whole world, his people, had turned against him. What exactly did this guard think he was going to do? Extinguish him in front of everyone? They were going to have one hell of a time trying to rebuild the Lifelines of everyone they’d already altered.

  His opponent suddenly unleashed a foot of burning flame in his left hand. The light reflected off of the ground as he prepared to hurl it towards Griesen.

  Suddenly, a crowd of people burst forward from the door. The flame dissipated immediately. Indeed - there was nothing the guards could do to him now. Griesen didn't move, allowing himself to feel the death threat from the Guard through his piercing eyes.

  Strangely, in that moment, a feeling of clarity hit him. He would not allow himself to be threatened by Ithes, or his Guards, any longer.

  "I am not the one who is going against everything that our species has stood for," Griesen hissed to the Guard. The Guard did not respond.

  He didn't expect them to understand. How could they?

  Cars began rolling out of the parkade behind Griesen. With one last look at the Guard, he began walking back to his own car.

  CHAPTER 16

  Griesen knew he was being followed as soon as he exited the parkade. But he already had a plan. Common sense would predict that he would elect to stay in a building close to Halva, and he had already found a suite located in the same building as her’s.

  Well, the truth was, it wasn't a vacant suite. Halva’s neighbors were a couple going on a quick trip to Vegas to relieve their souls from their pressure-filled days of being corporate lawyers. He had seen them in the hallway of the apartment getting ready to leave as they were all waiting by the bank of elevators. Of course, they had been arguing, being they were almost late for their flight.

  Griesen glanced at his rearview mirror. As predicted… he was being tailed. Approximately five cars down. He drummed his fingers onto his steering wheel, his heart rate slowly increasing. The incident back at the fundraiser had bought them time but it hadn’t stopped them from chasing him. He was approaching a main traffic intersection downtown - the pulsing beat of the night was still going strong. The traffic moved at a sinuously slow pace amidst a sea of neon lights and rowdy crowds of drunken men and women on the streets.

  His eyes continued to scan the blocks ahead. He started to perspire. Crikey, he thought. His hands were gripping the wheel tightly.

  One block to go. He checked the rearview mirror again. Yes - they were still five car-lengths behind him. Suddenly, the molasses-like traffic pace ground to a halt. No. There was sudden movement behind him as he heard car doors slamming. Traffic wasn’t moving – and then he realized what it was. There was a huge cement truck that had come out of nowhere and was now blocking the intersection. Griesen could make out the faint lines of the truck – they were sparking; vibrating.

  It was a trap, set for him. They were coming.

  They stopped traffic. They really wanted him - dead more than alive. He had spotted the motorbike just a block ahead on the right. There wasn’t time to wait. He grabbed his bag and sprang out of the car.

  The guards saw him. "Freeze!!" they yelled. People stopped to stare. Griesen ignored them, as he activated the stealth mode on his suit, sprinting towards the bike. As if miraculously, traffic started moving again.

&n
bsp; He heart a ping whizz by him. They were shooting. What were they shooting? The thought briefly crossed his mind. People around him started screaming and fanning away like flies.

  Did Ithes give them permission to kill me?

  He reached the motorcycle just as another rain of bullets started spraying around him. His suit activated, the bullets pinging off of him.

  They're not using Lite Bullets. They're using human ones -

  Griesen kicked punched the engine into high gear. He could hear the hiss of the Guard's voice in his ear, in thick Acruvae verse: We're coming for you…

  The threat reverberated in his ears as he zipped through the traffic, onto sidewalks, disappearing deep into the heart of the city.

  He estimated that he’d lost them after he’d dove into a network of alleys about twenty minutes back. He kept checking; but nobody had followed since then.

  The coordinates. The ones from Gretchen.

  Half an hour later, he stepped down from his motorbike in front of a rundown two-story apartment building. It was dark, and bitingly cold. It would likely dip below zero tonight. He had already abandoned his suit, sending it down a manhole in central downtown, and replaced it with a few regular human pieces of clothing that seemed sufficient for the daytime. But the chill had cut through his bones on the ride. He would have to remember to get a few more layers in…

  The reality of his situation sank in. He was no longer entirely impervious to the realities of Earth, or to human behavior. Vulnerable. To Human bullets and to hunger. Susceptible, much like the humans to everything in their environment…

  It was cold. He was surprised by how much it affected him. If he thought his limbs were sluggish before, he was completely ice cold now, having endured the wind-whipped pursuit.

  Anti-Acruvae settlers on Earth, he muttered under his breath. It had been one of those wild tales that had always existed, gotten recycled through Friels and eventually it was hard to discern the origin of the tale from the wilder inventions woven on top from others. Yet this was the hope he was clinging to now. He felt a heavy weight form in his chest. I’ve been betrayed by the Institute. I've been drinking the Koolaid for so long, he thought. What lay ahead of him now… he had no idea.

  He had arrived. He eyed the front of the building, which was heavily rusted with long strips of exposed metal running from the ground to the rooftops. He cautiously approached the doorstep. Was he supposed to knock? Introduce himself? Hello, I need your help. Word on the street is that you're part of the anti-Acruvae cell living here on Gaia…

  He shook his head slightly. He didn't know. As he raised his hand to the door to knock, it swung open automatically. The hairs on the back of his neck - that he didn't even know he had - stood on end.

  He took two steps in, calling out warily. "Is anyone here?" His voice echoed through the large empty warehouse. If he did find these people, could they be any worse than how the Acruvae were treating him now?

  After the echo faded, an eerie blackness seemed to engulf the warehouse, and he realized that it had become soundless. He strained to hear anything at all, and silently cursed his Human hearing. He fought the urge to run. I have to know, he thought, fighting a rising fear back in his throat. I have to find this man. If he should exist at all.

  The warehouse was empty. There was nothing around the two thousand foot space except dark shadows which submerged with the darkness provided by the night sky.

  And then, a flash - a man's face, long, bearded, with dark hair - and eyes with a fire of intensity - seemed to flash by him. Griesen froze, his mouth dry . Like an apparition. Humans could not move that fast -

  Something blew past him, like a sudden gust wind in a forest. He whipped himself around, trying to catch what he had seen; gasping in the process.

  Moments later, there was nothing.

  “Who’s there?” he said. “I’m looking for Nicholai.”

  Dead silence. Griesen continued onwards in the darkness, not even able to use his senses to move forward. The blackness was thick in its blanket, and suffocatingly so.

  “Nicholai?” a voice reverberated in the darkness, and Griesen suddenly another flash of eyes. “Who dares to seek him?”

  The touch was slight; hardly on his skin; cold; and suddenly visceral. A searing pain shot up his left arm, numbing it.

  Before he could scream, something hit him from behind - and then his vision went black.

  CHAPTER 17

  Griesen woke with a blinding pain shooting through his body. His vision was blurry as he saw a hazy vision of double in front of him.

  He couldn’t move - his arms, legs and torso were tied down. He blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision. To a certain degree, the Acruvae's body was self-healing. He was unused to the deep pain pouring through his body.

  Especially now - since he was human.

  "Well, well. He's awake." A deep voice came from the darkness surrounding Griesen. It dripped with a cold, leering menace. "Let's see what kind of person would dare come knocking into our lair, shall we, boys?"

  And then a cackle of laughter seemed to arise from all around. Once again, the hairs on the back of his neck arose. He struggled to get up to at least see his captors.

  Heavy footsteps began walking towards him. "Don't bother with your struggle. You're tied down with Sappharin rope. It is virtually indestructible… if you're any form of Acruvae, you ought to know." There was a sneering derision to his voice.

  Sappharin rope. Yes… Gretchen's instructions had gotten him to the right place. He couldn’t believe his luck. Only now he didn't know whether to be relieved or more petrified than ever.

  Griesen gulped. He realized there was little he could do at this point, much less lie to them. "Yes. I am. Acruvae, that is."

  A burning sound and the smell of sulfur dioxide filled the air. A fiery glow illuminated a torch, held two feet from Griesen.

  "So you've come hunting for us, have you?" And the question ended in a raging shriek. The torch illuminated the voice - the voice to the man he had seen so quickly. The man's face was handsome but haggard. His eyes told another story – they were deadened and furious. His eyes reflected a red ring around his irises that darted furtively at Griesen.

  There was a raging, sorrowful wail of screams that drowned out the question.

  Gretchen…oh, how he wished she was here at the moment. She would know what to do.

  "No! Griesen yelled amidst the wails. "I've come for your help! Please …!"

  The screams eventually died down. The torch began to glow, and then shortly after, torches began to light up all around the room. In the dimmed warehouse, he saw… a legion of men. They were everywhere. At least fifty? No… a hundred men in here. And the leader.

  He smiled at Griesen, a leering smile. "Speak, then, traitor."

  He walked in a slow, domineering circle around Griesen's inert form. "I like to hear all the fictional tales the weaklings dream up. It's been a long, long time since anybody's come this way…Hasn't it, men!" he roared.

  The circle around Griesen erupted again, into a deafening embargo of noise. The shrieks rose to a sea wave of sound, a sickening anvil of animal wails that began sinking deeper and deeper into his chest.

  What is happening? The noise was nearly unbearable. The sounds he was hearing were not human…or Acruvae. Only the Acruvae had the ability to hurt other Acruvae… the atonal noises he was hearing, though, were beyond his ability to stomach.

  Acruvae do not make these noises. They were guttural; feral. He didn't recognize the sounds coming from any of them - they were strange, poisonous even, to his ears.

  The ropes tying him down were strong. There was little to no chance that he would be able to escape.

  "Well," the leader's voice hissed through to him. "Tell me. We're waiting for your stooooory." The words were mocking; lifeless.

  A few limpid cackles emanated around the room at the sound of his words.

  Griesen finally spoke. "You were not mistake
n,” he said. I am Acruvae. I came here in search of you. I was told I could find you here… and I did."

  There was silence meeting his words. He took it as a sign of encouragement. He had little to lose at this point, except to tell the truth.

  "I'm being hunted here by those above. I can't go back…I’ve made certain choices that have compelled the Institute to get rid of me. This was my last option. To seek help." He gulped then, surprised by the sudden emotion in his voice. The Institute had been his home for… his entire existence. And how, despite everything, he still felt as though he was the one betraying them with what he was sharing now.

  "I came down to Gaia for my Case. She was close to bridging, and I was on the verge of success… but I found that I was being sabotaged - my every move - at the Institute. I had to flee. The situation was much worse than I thought - Ithes' henchmen have been after me since I got here."

  He heard a visible exhale of breath from the Leader. He had been listening to every word, acutely. His eyes narrowed, looking at Griesen. "Interesting story, my friend," he said in a low, hissing voice. "I'll confess that I haven't heard this one yet. Now… just one thing."

  The Leader stepped towards Griesen. He leaned in close to Griesen's face. Griesen saw the lines on his visage. Many of them were knife wounds partially concealed under the straggly beard. "How do I know that you aren't lying to me? That you aren't one of them out to destroy us?"

  “Do you really think if I was here to destroy you that I would come unarmed, by myself?” Griesen retorted. It was ludicrous even thinking it. “Against your army - look at how I came,” he said angrily.

  He had come in with nothing, and perhaps he would leave with nothing as well. That is, if these people would so willingly let him go. Somehow - he doubted that would happen…

  He saw the Leader nod his head to someone behind him; he was suddenly shoved from behind. He stumbled. He felt the rough tug of something being shoved over his head.