Chasing a Familiar Shadow

by Aman Gupta

  “Combine one, two and three. What do you get?” said Jay.

  “You wanted to see how Victor would react in this situation, to create a plan of action for your interactions henceforth,” said Josh. “I reached a bit, I know.”

  “No, it’s perfect,” said Jay.

  Jay received a text message while he was looking at Sarah’s videos.

  “I’ll be right back,” said Jay.

  “Okay. I’ll practice creating shadow profiles with the variables that I currently know,” said Josh.

  “Okay,” said Jay.

  Jay went downstairs to his office and made a phone call to Sarah.

  “Yeah, just got your message,” said Jay.

  “Yeah, I just wanted to apologize if I appeared too rude in front of my father,” said Sarah.

  “No, you weren’t. I didn’t notice anything different,” said Jay.

  “Well, no, I was trying to be rude. Wait, you think I sound rude all the time?” said Sarah.

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” said Jay.

  “You think I’m rude,” said Sarah.

  “What I meant was when you say anything, all I can feel is your words filled with love and warmth pervade the air that I’m breathing,” said Jay.

  “Aww...isn't that cute? You were rude, too, you know,” said Sarah. “And repulsive.”

  “Good to know,” said Jay.

  He wanted to ask about Jacob but didn’t feel it was important enough to him. He knew no matter what she answered, it wouldn’t change a thing for him. But somewhere, he was hurt that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth, her version of it.

  “Are you okay?” asked Sarah.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” said Jay. “Just a little tied up at work.”

  “Something to do with Josh?” asked Sarah. “I heard the name when I was leaving. Who’s he?”

  “Just someone I’m training,” said Jay.

  “Oh, an intern?” asked Sarah.

  “Not an intern, per se. A new project. I’ll tell you more about it later,” said Jay.

  “Okay. See you later,” said Sarah. “We’re going tomorrow, right? For our family getaway?”

  “Yes, unless you don’t want to,” said Jay.

  “Why would I not?” said Sarah. “It’s my favorite time of the year.”

  “Cool,” said Jay. “See you later.”

  “Bye,” said Sarah, before realizing Jay had already hung up the phone.

  He went back to see Josh. He had realized something.

  “Those marriage photographs of Sarah. When did they get married?” asked Jay. “It isn’t February, is it?”

  “It is. 2nd February. Earlier this week would’ve been their eighth anniversary, in fact,” said Josh.

  “Okay,” said Jay. “Can you check something for me? Did they have a child?”

  Josh took a few seconds to access some records.

  “Sarah Daulton’s daughter was born, shortly after Jacob was checked into the psych facility,” said Josh. “Hospital records suggest that both the mother and father of a Katie Daulton have the same blood group, and so does Katie. It matches Jacob’s blood group. However, the birth certificate doesn’t list a father, and the DNA records are not online.”

  “I see,” said Jay. “Erase all your tracks once you complete the facial recognition.”

  “I will. Meanwhile, what’s next?” asked Josh.

  “Let’s continue,” said Jay. “Lots of work left in this phase.”

  “Your throne awaits you,” said Josh, and smiled. “No shocks. I promise.”

  Jay smiled.

  Jay spent the next six hours working on creating new algorithms to optimize Josh’s performance and reduce the complexities in the current algorithms. He wanted to double the speed while reducing the load on the current infrastructure. He remembered he needed to study Victor’s plan of TS5125i, but decided he would get to them on Monday.

  He could only manage to increase the speed by 50% without any effect on the load. He realized that Josh would run out of processing capacity before phase 2 was completed.

  He was in a dilemma – create a distributed network or expand the current single unit infrastructure of Josh. He only had twenty floors left from 102 to 121, while the rest of them were already housing Josh’s existing setup as well as Verati’s entire network. Verati had not made public its most advanced technology, which helped in creating chips that had several Gigahertz worth of computing power and thousands of terabytes of storage capacity. Yet, a person could fit 4 of them in their fist. Victor Daulton would never share his version of humanity’s first fire, Jay remembered he had heard Gary Odine say one day.

  After being done for the day, he left after telling Josh that he would be back on Monday. Josh had promised to be civil, to which Jay laughed.

  When he reached the parking lot, he saw Olivia was standing next to the convertible that was parked in his spot.

  He didn’t say a word to Olivia, rather went towards his car.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” said Olivia.

  Jay didn’t say a word.

  “So, I guess you aren’t talking to me anymore,” said Olivia. “Traitor.”

  “I don’t talk to tattletales,” replied Jay.

  Furious at the accusation, Olivia flounced towards Jay’s car.

  “You got something to say, you say to my face,” said Olivia.

  Jay turned around and pushed her to the pillar behind her and grabbed her by her throat. She was taken aback.

  “You told Victor about Josh,” said Jay.

  “No, I didn’t. Who’s Josh?” asked Olivia.

  “I kept racking my brain all day. Then it came to me. You’re the only one who I ever mentioned Josh’s name to,” said Jay.

  “I didn’t say anything to Victor,” said Olivia.

  “Don’t lie to me,” said Jay. “I want to know why. Tell me why.”

  “Jay, you’re hurting me,” said Olivia.

  “See those tears in your eyes? That’s not pain. That’s guilt. What else did you tell your new friend? Did you tell him about Sarah and me? About my marriage? About our friendship? Just to get your ass to the 75th floor? Huh, friend?” said Jay.

  “No, please, I didn’t tell him anything,” said Olivia. She was crying.

  “I thought you were different. I thought what we had was different than those petty rats we’re surrounded with. But I was wrong about you. About everything. But I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself. I should’ve seen it coming. I would’ve seen it coming. I let my guard down around you, and I almost paid for it. But not anymore. I’m tired of being used and lied to. No wonder people can’t let their guard down these days. It’s not the attack by your enemy that you fear, but the one by someone you trusted to watch your back. Today, I realized no matter how bright the sun is, it still can’t prevent the night. Well, starting this very moment, I’m done being the sun,” said Jay.

  “Jay, I…” sobbed Olivia.

  Jay relaxed his grip.

  “We’re done. You betrayed me. I loved you. I trusted you. But it wasn’t enough. I don’t want to see your face, hear your voice or smell your presence. I could say I hate you, Ms. Anderson, but it’s too strong an emotion to feel for someone you don’t care about. Do yourself a favor. Get lost!” said Jay.

  There were tears in his eyes too. Beneath all the rage and anger, was a heartbroken man who felt he would eventually lose every human he managed to form a connection with.

  “Jay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” said Olivia, tried to grab Jay’s arm as he got in his car. He pushed her away and said, “There’s nothing else left to say.”

  He reversed his car out of the parking spot and sped away.

  “Jay!” yelled Olivia.

  Olivia cried a little as she limped out of there while drops of blood rolled down her left knee. She didn’t want Jay to see the bruises on her thighs and knees through the hands of an unknown intruder last nigh
t at her home, followed by incessant blank calls on her private number since midnight. Early morning, she told Victor about Josh when he came to meet Anthony Arnold, who was unavailable. The calls stopped shortly after. If only Jay cared to ask why she had started wearing trousers underneath the lab coat instead of a sheath dress, she thought.

  Jay had set up a communication interface on Josh, similar to the one that Josh had used earlier. He called Josh and told him to delete the footages of the last fifteen minutes of the parking lot. Josh confirmed a second later.

  He parked his car near a dark alley and slammed his hands on the steering wheel multiple times. He was distraught. After a few minutes, he composed himself and drove towards his home almost forty minutes away. It took him a lot longer than that to reach there, due to massive gridlocks.

  The videos of Sarah and Jacob kept replaying in his head the entire ride. He recalled how Sarah mentioned that Katie’s father left when Sarah got pregnant, and how she hadn’t dated anyone ever since. What else she lied about, Jay thought.

  Chapter 11: Trespassing

  Vik spent the entire day setting up over 50 wireless cameras all over Morrow. The signals were weak, so he was forced to use a connection booster every few miles. He had bought a stockpile of it from a black market trader that used to frequent the town on Vik’s request. Vik used to pay him in food supplies that the county had in abundance. Some other parts of the country and the world were less fortunate after 1/1.

  He reached the precinct in the evening and found out from the officers that Karen’s team had left for Orange Town early morning.

  He plugged together four old computer screens to a workstation and put them in a small room next to the interrogation room.

  He called two of the uniforms, who were sitting at their desks, looking bored.

  “What are your names, again?” asked Vik as they entered the small room.

  “Tyson and Fred, sir,” said the officers.

  “How old are you?” asked Vik.

  “I’m 20, he’s 19,” said Tyson.

  “See this?” asked Vik, pointing to the screens which were showing live footage of the security cameras.

  “Yeah, it’s the town,” said Tyson.

  “Yes. You ever use a computer?” asked Vik.

  “I have,” said Fred.

  “Great,” said Vik. “Both of you grab a chair.”

  They got themselves a couple of chairs and sat next to Vik.

  “From today, you’ll be a part of the town’s immediate response team,” said Vik.

  “I don’t think there’s such a team, sir,” said Fred.

  “There is one now. It’s headed by me,” said Vik.

  “What do we have to do?” asked Tyson.

  “Look at the monitors. They are four screens, but over 50 camera angles. Press the spacebar to switch the cameras, four at a time. How long have you both lived here?” asked Vik.

  “All our lives,” said both of them.

  “Great. Then you know the town. Every inch of it, don’t you?” asked Vik.

  They both nodded.

  “You see anything that’s not supposed to be there, place, person, vehicle or even a trash can, you let me know. Anything out of the ordinary, okay? If I’m not available, report to one of your senior officers. Our ones. Not those stupid US Marshal Bill,” said Vik.

  They smiled.

  “By the way, I liked what you did, sir. You stood up to him when he tried to bully Detective Walker,” said Tyson.

  “Well, keep it to yourself,” said Vik. “She’s a hugger.”

  They laughed. Vik smiled.

  “As I said, if you can’t reach me, report to your seniors and investigate the issue. Take someone else. One of you must always be here, as long as you’re on duty. The cameras don’t record. We don’t have the equipment for that kind of storage, so your eyes are all that matter. Okay? If you need to pause Screen 1, press Ctrl Key and 1 at the same time. Similarly, for others. That screen would freeze. To unfreeze, press Esc key,” explained Vik as he showed them.

  They nodded.

  “Well, carry on. If you face any issue, I’ll be in my office,” said Vik. “Don’t forget to rotate the screens.”

  Vik left the room.

  “You take the two on the left. I’ll take the two on the right,” said Tyson, and bumped fists with Fred.

  “Let’s go,” said Fred.

  The third uniform arrived a few minutes later.

  “What’s this?” asked the uniform.

  “Out of this room, Willy. We got this,” said Tyson.

  “I want to be a part of this, too,” said Willy.

  “Sure, you can tag along with one of us when we go to investigate,” said Fred.

  “Okay,” said Willy.

  “But for now, return to your position. Otherwise, the whole precinct would look abandoned,” said Tyson.

  Willy left them alone and returned to his desk in the main hall.

  Vik decided to leave for Orange Town. He felt compelled to go there, though he couldn’t wonder why when he was sitting in his car. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Olivia said about the Emulations after Karen had hinted the role of these biological creatures in the events that transpired in Orange Town.

  He stopped by West Gate to find any clues left for him by people who had Katie. After searching endlessly for a couple of hours in his West Gate cottage, he couldn’t find anything that wasn’t supposed to be there. He had hoped to find something on Katie after he had gotten a response from the anonymous group.

  “I don’t know if you can hear me. I got your message by the bridge, but I can’t seem to find a way to contact you. I know you said you’re waiting for me. Send me a sign so that I could end your wait,” said Vik, sitting on the couch in his home.

  After having a last glance inside the garage, he left West Gate for Orange Town.

  Karen and her team had reached Orange Town around 12 PM. They had to travel the last few miles on foot as the skinny road wasn’t wide enough for their cars, guarded by thick, rusty pillars each side. They had tried removing the pillars on each side of the road, but the pillars were too heavy and buried deep in the ground.

  “How did you get here last time?” asked Eric.

  “Came from the other side,” said Karen.

  “Why didn’t we use that road?” asked Emma.

  “It sounded stupid in my head that we go around 30 miles around the mountains when we could take a shorter route. Guess we know why this route looked abandoned,” said Karen.

  “How far is it?” asked Mark. He was breathing heavily.

  “Only a mile left, I think,” said Karen. “Keep up.”

  After walking for another thirty minutes, they reached the main gate of this protected town.

  “It wasn’t a mile, now was it?” said Mark, to Mortan.

  Mortan smiled.

  Karen opened the steel gate whose creaky noise echoed in the foul-smelling atmosphere. They could smell the iron in the air though the bodies had already been transported to a nearby graveyard, for a mass burial. Karen remembered the vultures flying in the sky above when she had first arrived to make sense of the massacre.

  “There’s no network signal on the phone,” said Emma.

  “I’d be surprised if there was,” said Karen, and took out her gun as a sign of precaution.

  “Expecting someone?” asked Eric.

  “Old habits,” said Karen.

  Eric, Emma, and Joey also took out their guns, and turned off the safety.

  Karen asked Mortan and Mark to head east.

  “We’ll cover North and West,” said Karen.

  She took out a flare gun from her bag and gave it to Mark.

  “Use this as a distress signal. There are only two flares. Make them count,” said Karen.

  “What are we looking for?” asked Mortan.

  “Anything you wouldn’t expect to find in a ghost town,” said Eric.

  Mortan nodded. He and Mark went e
ast.

  “Let’s go,” said Karen.

  They went north through the narrow roads. The foul stench in the air made Emma nauseous. Every step they took, they felt they were getting sucked into the abyss. The overcast conditions contributed to the aura of gloom and melancholy.

  “Did they all die?” asked Joey. “Maybe, someone survived.”

  “We checked. If they did, they didn’t stay here much longer,” said Karen.

  “Why would someone do this?” asked Eric.

  “Yeah, and how?” said Emma.

  “Good questions. Let’s hope we find the answers in time. Maybe we missed something last time,” said Karen.

  “You missed one,” said Joey.

  “What?” asked Karen.

  Joey pointed to a pile of debris near a half-burnt house on their left. They could see a small hand sticking out. They ran over to the house and started removing the debris. They saw a body lying face down.

  “A kid!” said Joey.

  Karen turned the body over and closed the boy’s eyes, which were still semi-open. She examined the body for any cuts or marks, but only found bruises caused by the debris.

  “He must’ve seen something terrifying,” said Emma.

  “The last thing he probably saw was his family dying,” said Karen.

  “Just when you think the worst is over, there’s always a sign saying not yet,” said Joey.

  “It’s not a large town. But this doesn’t look like the work of a handful of individuals,” said Eric.

  “Heartless bastards,” said Emma.

  “We should go,” said Karen. “Lots of ground to cover.”

  “What about the kid?” asked Joey.

  “We have to bury him,” said Emma.

  “We’ll bury him where his parents are buried once we’re done here. Leave him here. It’s not like he’s going anywhere,” said Karen, and walked away.

  “What a bitch,” said Emma.

  “She’s not wrong, though,” said Eric.

  “I know. Still a bitch,” said Emma.

  Eric shook his head.

  The blood on the ground had dried. They would see body parts lying around on the red soil. The ashes in the air originating from the burnt homes were telling an untold story. Going wherever the road took them, they finally decided to rest in one of the homes when it was too dark to observe anything.