by Sourav Deka
Aaron looked at me. “Ross, we can bring our parents back,” he said. “We just need his product.”
I nodded. “I know, but he isn’t going to just hand it to us. We will have to take it from him.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jensen said.
“If there is going to be a problem, tell me now, Jensen,” I said.
Jensen laughed. “I am not a fortune teller, Ross. I can’t see the future, but I can make assumptions. I can just tell what is happening and what is important.”
“But Michael said you can see the future.”
He chuckled. “All the Savors think that as I provide solutions, but that’s not true. I just make assumptions and provide solutions.
“Then tell us the important stuff,” Aaron said.
“I already told you everything, now it’s on you what you do about it.”
I pressed my lips together. “I just don’t want to screw up everything.”
Jensen chuckled. “We all screw up, guys. It’s part of our life. See, I am even dead because of it.”
Michael came inside the auditorium, putting his cell phone back in the pocket. “Come on! My people found him. We have to go.”
“Thanks, Jensen,” I said.
“Happy to help,” Jensen replied.
Michael had a group of talented hackers and special agents. They found Ambrose in minutes. He prepared his men and we all went to the place where Ambrose was staying. It was in an apartment five miles away from the auditorium. We all surrounded the house, we weren’t going to spare him this time. He will pay for what he has done. Aaron peeked through the keyhole to look inside. Ambrose was having dinner with his dad.
“Oh my god! He really brought him back,” Aaron whispered.
I looked through the keyhole and smiled. “Good, that means we can get mom and dad back.”
Michael and his men were in position to break the door. He gave the signal and we all stormed inside. They pointed their guns at Ambrose and his dad.
Ambrose grinned and put down his spoon. “Ross, you brought your friends?” he said.
“Where is your product?” I asked.
“Product?”
“Your juice which can bring people from dad.”
“Oh that,” he shrugged. “I don’t have it.”
“Where is it?” I shouted.
“Why? So that you can bring back your parents?” he chuckled. “That’s not going to happen, Ross. I made sure of it.”
“What?”
“Yes, they are not coming back even if you use my juice. I used an antidote before I killed them.” He gave a devilish smile. “The juice won’t work on them.”
Aaron’s face turned red, he snatched Michael’s gun and shot Ambrose multiple times. The bullet passed through him and hit the wall. We were all fooled. It was not him, it was a hologram. His dad was also a hologram. The whole scene was a hologram. His dad was quietly sitting on the chair having dinner like nothing happened.
The hologram of Ambrose laughed. “I planned this for a year. What do you think? That you are just going to storm into my house and kill me that easily?” he scoffed. “You can’t stop me, I am going to launch my product tomorrow and there is nothing you can do.”
“But your product can create overpopulation,” Michael said. “Can you imagine what will happen if all the dead people in the world come back? We all will be doomed.”
“Look who is saying?” Ambrose laughed. “You launched a juice which can make humans live forever.”
“That’s different, there will be rules. I talked about this in my launch.”
Ambrose shook his head. “No. People lose their loved ones every day, Michael. I know how that feels. Everyone deserves a chance. Millions of people die every day and there are many people who didn’t deserve it. My product can solve it.”
I looked at Michael. “Find him, the real him. I need to kill him,” I said in a heavy voice.
“You can’t find me no matter how hard you try,” Ambrose said. “I am always one step ahead of you.”
Michael signaled his men to find Ambrose. “Contact our hackers,” he said and left the room with his men.
“I never thought that you would become this,” I said, as my throat clenched. “We were friends.”
“I was your friend. You made me this,” he pointed his finger at me. “Look at you, Ross. You think you are doing good? But at what cost? You are a murderer, just a murderer,” he yelled. “The Ross and Aaron I knew were kind and innocent. Now I see only evil. Because of your deeds your parents died, you both are responsible.”
Aaron picked up the chair in front of him and threw it towards Ambrose’s hologram. The chair went through his hologram and crashed into the wall.
“Save your energy, Aaron,” Ambrose said. “You can’t even touch me.”
Michael came back into the room. “Please Ambrose, think about this,” he said. “I understand that Ross killed your father, and you wanted revenge. But you got back your father. Don’t launch your product, it’s dangerous. Humanity will end. You may get rich by your product but it will destroy your world. Whoever died should stay dead.”
“How about I kill your daughter? Will you say the same thing to me?
Michael’s face reddened. “Ambrose!!!” he yelled
Ambrose chuckled. “You will beg me to bring your daughter back if she dies. No one likes to live without the people they love Michael, no one.”
“I will find you. I am going to stop your launch,” Michael said in a heavy voice.
Ambrose smiled and turned it off instantly. “No you won’t. Bye,” He waved his hand. The hologram of him and his father disappeared from the room.
Michael went outside to make some calls.
“We can’t bring them back,” I said, as a tear ran down my cheek.
Aaron kicked the wall. “Finally we had the life we wanted and now this,” he kept kicking the wall in anger.
I hugged him. “Stop it! Stop!”
“We failed, we deserve to live like this,” Aaron sobbed and sat on the floor. “We shouldn’t have gone for the seeds in the first place.”
I gulped. “But we succeeded in making the world free of diseases.”
“At what cost, Ross?” he sobbed. “Our parents are dead.”
I gulped and sat on the floor. “We can’t let him launch the product,” I clenched my jaw. “Michael is right. If every dead person comes back to life then we all are doomed. Earth won’t have enough resources for so many people. People will die, humanity will end. We have to stop him.”
He wiped his tears. “It depends on Michael now. He has to find him.”
We went outside. Michael was talking to his men on the phone beneath the street light. We waited for his calls to end. He was trying his best. He contacted all of his best people to find him.
“Any luck?” Aaron asked.
Michael shook his head. “My hackers and agents are trying. But they are failing.”
“Tell them to try harder,” I raised my voice.
“They are trying their best, Ross,” he slammed the street light pole in frustration. “They are doing everything they can.”
“He is going to launch the product tomorrow,” I said. “We have very less time.”
“I know, I know,” he rubbed his temples. “I am doing everything I can.”
The whole night passed. We went back to our home. Michael’s men kept trying to find Ambrose but there was no sign of him. They tried their best but couldn’t find anything. It’s like he disappeared from the face of Earth. He was playing us. He planned everything in advance and made sure that we didn't find him.
**************************
The next day I called Michael. We didn’t sleep well, our whole life turned around and now the entire world is in danger. If Ambrose succeeds, it will be catastrophic. He is not seeing the bigger picture and was doing what he thought was right. We needed to stop him, he can’t do this. He may think that he will do a go
od deed by reanimating dead people, but that’s not right. The population will go way out of control.
“Did you find anything?” I asked.
“No, nothing,” Michael said in a low voice.
“Well, he is going to launch the juice today.”
“I know,” he pressed his lips. “I………….I…….. looked up everywhere. We have no idea where he is going to launch it. Keep watching the TV, when he shows up we will know where to go.”
I turned on the TV. After a couple of hours, a news channel began to show Ambrose’s launch.
“Good afternoon everyone,” Ambrose said, coming on the stage. “I know a few days ago a revolutionary product was launched. It has made the doctors and hospitals useless. Today I have something better for you.” He took a deep breath. “You all have lost someone in your life? Didn’t you? What if I tell you that I can help you bring them back from the dead?”
The audience was shocked.
“Yes, you heard that right. I made it possible. I brought my father back. He was dead, killed by one of my friends. But now he is alive and well,” Ambrose’s dad walked up to the stage. He gestured his hand towards his dad. “Look, he is like the way he was before.”
“How can we believe you? Can you show us any proof?” A journalist asked.
“Yes, of course, I will prove it right here on the stage,” Ambrose signaled his men and they brought a coffin with a dead body on the stage. He took out a piece of paper and showed it to the audience. “This is this woman’s dead certificate. She died yesterday of a heart attack,” he signaled his men and they brought some doctors on the stage. “The doctors will check if the woman is dead or not. You can also check the body, anyone from the audience?”
Three people from the audience went on to the stage and checked the pulse of the woman.
“She is dead,” a journalist said. “She has no pulse.”
The doctors also checked the body and confirmed that she is dead.
“Now I will reanimate her with my juice,” Ambrose said. His men brought the red color juice and Ambrose poured it over the woman’s brain. “The brain is the most important organ of our body, that’s where the human consciousness is. If it is healed first then the body will start healing itself, that’s how my juice works.”
“How much time will it take?” a journalist asked.
“A couple of minutes and she will be good as new,” Ambrose replied. “My juice is very powerful. It can quickly heal a dead corpse within minutes.”
The woman healed up. Her entire body was good as new. She woke up and got out of the coffin. “What is this? Where am I?” she looked around.
The crowd was astonished. Everyone in the audience clapped.
Ambrose smiled. “This is how it’s done,” he widened his hands. “I present you the reanimation drink. From now on, no one will lose their loved ones.”
The clapping in the audience continued.
“No, this is wrong,” a journalist said. “If everyone who died comes back, then Earth wouldn't be able to support all those people.”
“A few days ago, Michael launched his immortality drink. You didn’t ask him that question then?”
“I did, but he told us about a solution. A new law will be applied. Whoever becomes immortal can’t have kids. That way the population will stay balanced. But what you are launching, there is no solution for that.”
“We don’t need a solution,” Ambrose clasped his fingers. “More people on this earth will help produce more resources. There won’t be a problem.”
“No Mr. Ambrose, we already have an overpopulation problem and now with this, it will become worse. More people won’t create more resources. There is a limited amount of resources on Earth. If dead people come back, then people will die of hunger.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not going to happen. Everyone deserves to get back their loved ones and I will make this possible. From today my reanimation drink will be available online on reanimationdrink.com. I know people want this and it will sell. I even made it cheap, not like Michael who is charging five hundred dollars. It will be available in just hundred dollars.”
We reached the place with Michael and his people where Ambrose was launching the product. Ambrose was presenting his product on the stage and two muscular men who looked like his bodyguard were a few feet behind him. Michael’s men began to shoot him. The gunshots made the audience go crazy and they ran in all directions, it was chaos. Ambrose saw us and ran away with his people. We tried to get on the stage but the crowd was too much, we lost him. He already escaped before we could reach the stage.
CHAPTER 5
Ambrose’s reanimation drink sold like crazy. It made him a millionaire in a day. He was all over the news. People crowded in the graveyards to bring their loved ones back. We were with Michael all day. His hackers were trying to take down the website but they failed miserably.
A month passed. Population of Earth was increasing drastically. The houses and the buildings filled with more people. The demand for food, water and other resources increased. Everything’s cost increased, as the demand was more. In some areas riots started as people aren’t getting enough food and water for their family. Still people kept buying the drink. They didn’t care about the consequences. They kept reanimating their loved ones who they lost.
We were at one of the headquarters of Michael’s company. We stayed there for a couple of days trying to help. His hackers were trying their best sitting in front of their big computers to find Ambrose and take his website down. People were walking here and there with their cell phone on their ears.
“Did you take his website down?” I asked.
Michael shook his head. “No, my hackers are useless,” he said.
“People are bringing people from dead all over the world. It will become worse in a month. Do something.”
“What can I do? I am trying okay,” he rubbed his temples. “That bastard! I just need one chance, I will slit his throat.”
“We will focus on him later, first take down his website. The reanimation drink should stop. Why isn't the government taking it down?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they are failing too,” he clenched his fists. “Maybe he planned everything. How the hell a teenager can plan all this?”
“If this keeps going on there will be chaos everywhere. The riots started in some cities.”
“I know, I know. That’s why I am going to talk to the president.”
“What? Will he talk to you?’
“Yes, I know someone who can make that happen, I have a lot of contacts.”
“Let me know if I can do something.”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “There is nothing you can do now, Ross. I will let you know what the president says. Go home and get some rest. You and Aaron have barely slept these days.”
I nodded. “Okay,” Aaron and I went back to our home.
Michael put our parents bodies in coffins and his men brought them to our home. I checked my phone and browsed the internet, the riots were all over the news. The way people were coming back from dead was creating more chaos in the world. I don’t understand how Ambrose couldn’t see what he has done? What’s the point in getting rich if humanity ends? People are already running out of resources, if it isn’t stopped, the situation will get worse. It could start a war, and people will end up killing each other.
We were sitting in the living room staring at the coffins in front of us.
“We should arrange a funeral,” Aaron said.
“We will. Get some sleep,” I said.
He lowered his head. “I don’t want to.”
“We have been through enough, Aaron. We need rest. Get some rest, or else we will start losing our mind. Michael will call us if he needs us.”
“I just can’t stay like this. The reanimation drink will end the world.”
“I know,” I sighed. “But for now we can’t do anything.”
I lay down on the couch and tri
ed to sleep but I couldn’t. Aaron stayed silent for a while and then spoke again. “We are orphans, Ross. We don’t have anyone. We were back to where we were again.”
“We have each other,” I said softly.
“All this money, the house, the car, it doesn’t matter,” he sighed. “Mom and dad are dead. We were finally a family after so many years,” a tear ran down his cheek. “And it’s…………it’s….just gone. Ambrose just took them away from us.”
I sat up and gazed into his eyes. “We will have our revenge, okay. We will make him pay. Worrying about it now won’t solve any problem.”
“What if we beg him to take out the antidote he injected in our parents?”
My forehead creased. “What?”
“Yes, think about it. If he takes out the antidote then we can use his juice and reanimate them.”
“He is not going to listen,” I looked away. “He injected them with the antidote so that we couldn’t reanimate them with his juice. He wanted us to suffer and we are suffering,” I sighed. “He is not the old Ambrose we knew before. I should have killed him along with his father, it was a mistake.”
“Maybe if we beg him…………..”
“I know how badly you want this,” I gulped. “Trust me, I want this too, but Ambrose won’t listen, no matter how much we beg them. He made sure that they stayed dead. We can’t bring them back.”
“At least we should try, maybe we can convince him.”
“He has gone mad in revenge, Aaron. His father’s death changed him. He can’t be convinced.”
“But what’s the harm in trying? We shouldn’t give up.”
I nodded lightly. “I will try if Michael finds him, but deep down you know too he isn’t going to listen.”
Aaron shifted his gaze towards the coffins. “We should at least try one more time.”
I nodded and lay down again. “Get some sleep, we need it.”
We slept on the couch near our parents' coffins. It felt lonely to sleep in a big house. Michael gave it so that I can live there with my family, but now my dreams are shattered. We were back to being orphans like before.
*********************************
The next morning someone rang the bell. Aaron slept on the sofa and I slept on the couch. I woke up, rubbed my eyes and went to open the door. Tanner was standing at the door with a smile on his face. He was wearing a red shirt, jeans and black sunglasses.
