The Azrael (Book 4): Tricon

by Gagnon, Jesse

His body travelled through the room on its own desires. His mind was too confused to control it effectively. Where was he? As his body pushed the door open, a temporary blindness brought his left arm up in response to block out the sun’s rays. Once his vision stabilized, he recognized his location a block away from the place he was the night before. It was still in flames. A cloud plume above it was carried away by the swift breeze. As he scanned the area for reasons of his current location, he noticed camouflaged bodies scattered throughout the yard surrounding the structure he was just in. Bullet holes and crumbled concrete was all that was left of a wall that once blocked the front of the building. He counted twenty-five corpses of men and women torn in several pieces clothed in military grade body armor. Their weapons had already been scavenged either by local survivors in the area or by an ally that chose to flee instead of fighting the Azrael.

  Several small herds of Azrael patrolled near the burning building drawn to the movement of the flames and smell of the flesh in the air. He desired their numbers and before he could act on it, his body grunted loudly towards them. After a few minutes, all of the small herds in the area were now serving under the same banner. He noticed that some of the Azrael had similar burn marks in their clothes and patches of hair had been burned off. However, he was the only one among the group that was completely nude. For reasons unknown to David, it bothered his mind. His body didn’t give a shit. With each step, his eyes were drawn down below. He was hairless everywhere! His body moved forward like a gorilla travelling the concrete jungle completely comfortable in its skin.

  David was not like the others. He was better than they were. His lack of cover revealed a weakness in his defenses, a weakness his enemies could exploit. Without thinking, his body scavenged through the corpses for a pair of pants that could fit his massive size. A man probably 6’5” lay under a pile of arms and a woman’s half-naked torso. His head was missing and his side had been torn midway but his pants were intact. The body struggled with the cadaver, dragging it around by the feet and yanking on the pants. After a bit, the camo trousers were torn off but most of the fabric was still together. It squeezed the pants on, stressing and tearing them as it pulled them up. The pants stopped just below the knee but did the job.

  Satisfied with his day so far, David led his new herd towards the Chicago skyline. While hunting, he had heard the humans talk the place up quite a bit. A barcode tattoo just above his right hip drew his attention as his body travelled towards the city. Where did that come from? Had he always had it? Did he have it in life, before the Azrael? His mind wandered about other things like the fire, the men, and the dream while his body kept moving along.

  Chapter 17

  Agent 133 Update

  The large Alpha Azrael that was confined to a building across a parking lot from Janice and Stan finally made its way out an hour ago. Stan was sleeping when it left and Janice was reviewing the footage on a smart phone that had been locked in a safe in the master bedroom along with the frequency chart. She was glad that she had time to charge it for an hour and a half before she lost power due to the battle that involved the Azrael and the soldiers. They must have shot the power lines severing their connection to the power grid. Fortunately, it was enough charge to capture the Alpha leave the house. Its body was badly burned in a fire and emerged without injury, fully nude and without hair. His movements appeared more calculated than it was when it killed all of those soldiers that littered the ground outside the building. Yet, its actions that followed troubled Janice. It did not just trouble her; it scared the shit out of her. It tore the pants off a dead body and put them on. That is not something Azrael do. What the fuck was it? She played it repeatedly until an indicator flashed signifying that it had only a 10% charge left.

  “Shit, I need to save the rest of the battery.” She spoke to herself softly.

  “What battery?” Stan asked as he entered the room rubbing his eyes.

  “Oh, nothing...just this phone. I was playing this card game on it. I was bored.” Janice didn’t want to trouble Stan about that Azrael.

  “That thing had a charge when you found it?” He asked gesturing to the phone in her hand.

  “Uh huh, crazy right? Maybe someone was here not long ago and forgot it.” She lied again.

  Stan walked over to the blinds and carefully bent them to see the building across the street. The bodies outside caused his breathing to speed up.

  “I can’t believe it killed all of those people. It’s probably dead inside by now though. It got shot up pretty good by the last guy. I still can’t believe that it got to him after all of that. Why is it so big?” Stan rambled on.

  “I don’t know Stan.” Janice replied as she sat down in a chair near the CB radio. It had its power cord connected to a quiet generator that she started.

  “Did you see it leave?” Stan asked.

  “Leave? No, no I didn’t. You’re right, it’s probably dead.” Janice lied again. She is not used to lying. That was one thing her mother beat into her when she was growing up. She said if you are caught in a lie once, you would always be known as a liar. No one trusts a liar. She studied Stan’s face as he troubled himself studying the dead bodies outside with a worried look.

  “Stan, come over here. I want you to give this message to the Highwaymen Station.” Janice beckoned him over.

  “Coming.” Stan scanned outside for a few more seconds and let go of the blinds. They returned to the position they were in before he touched them. He walked over to her with a saddened gaze.

  “Listen Stan, there was nothing we could have done to save those people outside. They were armed with automatic weapons, grenades and wore body armor.”

  “What’s the point?” He asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why wear body armor. They aren’t shooting at us. It only slows you down.”

  He had a point. However, after what Janice just witnessed, that might not be true anymore. Her eyes were stuck on the wall behind Stan. Her thoughts of the Azrael across the street and the one that was in her room at the Paul Simon facility merged. Was it the same one?

  “What’s wrong?” Stan turned around and tried to find something on the wall behind him that would warrant her attention. He found nothing and turned back around.

  “Janice, what’s wrong?” His voice amplified and yanked her from the trance.

  “Nothing...nothing, I was just thinking about something, that’s all.”

  “Care to clue me in?”

  “It’s nothing. Seriously, I just blanked for a minute. It’s been a long night.”

  “No kidding. So, what do you want me to say?”

  “Say? Oh yeah, the message to the Highwaymen Station. Let me write it down for you. She frantically searched for a pen and paper. Her wits were not with her at that moment.

  “Are you okay Janice? Did you sleep any last night? Maybe you should rest and we can contact them later. I want to keep an eye out for that Azrael anyway. I have this feeling that it’s still alive.” Stan admitted.

  “Well, let’s deliver this message first and then I’ll take a nap. Are you okay to stay up? You only slept for a few hours.” She asked.

  “I’m fine. I can’t sleep anymore anyway.” Stan said. Janice found a pen and paper and wrote up the message for him. She handed it to Stan.

  “Here, just say this. I’ll get the frequency right. What time you got?”

  “6:32, why?”

  “So, 6:32 got it.” Janice adjusted the frequency of the radio. “The channel, that the Highwaymen Station monitors, changes every half hour.” She studied a chart below the radio and confirmed her channel selection.

  “Okay.” He responded. She made a few more slight adjustments.

  “There you go, just read it.” She urged.

  Stan pressed the button activating the microphone.

  “Highwaymen Station this is Agent 133 with another urgent message, over.”

  After fifteen seconds of static, he turned
to Janice. She shrugged.

  “Try again.”

  “Highwaymen Station this is Agent 133 with another urgent message, over.”

  “Agent 133, this is the Highwaymen Station. You’re coming in clear. Standing by for your message, over.”

  “You want me to read this?” He whispered to Janice. She nodded. He activated the button again. “Support provided KIA. Agent 133 with one soul, requesting immediate Evac. Target still active, over.”

  “Support provided KIA. Agent 133 with one soul. Requesting immediate evacuation. Target still active, copy. Hang in there Agent 133. Evacuation will arrive in two hours. Roger out.”

  “You did well.”

  “What’s the target?” He asked.

  “The Azrael across the street.”

  “You had me say that it was active. Do you think it’s still alive?”

  “Better safe than sorry. We’re not 100% sure it’s dead. I’m not going in there to find out either. You want to go verify?”

  “No, I’m not crazy.”

  “Exactly, it’s best that they think it’s still alive just in case. Don’t want to get anyone else killed.” Janice continued to live. It was partially the truth, though. She placed the phone in her right pocket along with the charger in her left.

  “Two hours. I’ll keep an eye on what’s outside. The Azrael may leave the building.”

  “Sure, I’m gonna go crash on the couch. Wake me when they get here.”

  “Or if that Azrael exits the building?”

  “Especially if it leaves the building.” Janice smiled and walked over to the couch. She lay down and pulled a blanket over her that was draped on top of the couch. She closed her eyes.

  Stan walked over to the window and peeled back the blinds again. He continued to study the bodies that decorated the grass outside. He retrieved a set of binoculars from a bag he filled with items that he found in the place and scanned the area through them. His sight settled on a severed head that appeared to look right at him. He recognized the face from Chicago. The man worked at the front gate. The guy seemed pretty tough at the gate, but now...well, now the man’s dead.

  Stan continued to scan the area identifying body parts and tried to match them to other pieces. A wild pack of dogs appeared in the left corner of the building drawn to the blood. After a few minutes of watching the dogs rip into the corpses, he decided just to focus his attention on the door to the building. It was open. Had it always been open? It was closed last night after it fought off the soldiers. Maybe it escaped while he was looking at the bodies. Stupid! He turned to tell Janice, but she was out cold. Should he wake her up? He did not see it leave. Maybe the wind pushed it open. Maybe one of the dogs went in there to eat it attracted to its stench.

  Janice slept peacefully. She was pretty when she was awake but damn, she was even hotter as she slept. That’s why he went with her. He had a crush on her for a long time. He sighed, returned to the window and watched the dogs eat the bodies.

  Chapter 18

  Keeping Secrets

  At a safe house, a mile away from Tricon, Mario, John, Simon, Jane, Justin, and Savanna gathered around a large great table in the dining room. Savanna just returned from a much-needed shower and seemed in better spirits. She sat with her legs crossed as she brushed her hair. The aroma of strawberry scented shampoo in it wafted across the room. She made eye contact with Jane.

  “Thanks for the shampoo. What they had back at Tricon…” She paused and smelled her hair. “…it didn’t smell like this.” She continued to brush her blonde locks.

  “We ladies have to stick together. Don’t want to start smelling like these guys.” Jane stuck her thumb out at John.

  “Hey, I bathe.” John was offended.

  “Where did you get all of the shampoo bottles? You had like a dozen of them.”

  “Been collecting them since I started working with Simon.”

  “She’s been trading rations for them since she arrived. So, did you get a chance to check out any of the files from Tricon?” Simon asked.

  Before they left Tricon Jane hacked into a terminal on the outskirts of the facility and downloaded hundreds of gigabytes of data before a heavily armored security team arrived to secure the perimeter. They managed to escape unseen. That’s when they found Savanna. As they left, they encountered a group of about a dozen Azrael a mile from the facility, which was like the ones they encountered inside. Since their bodies were in a weakened state due to their recent reanimation, the group managed to exterminate them with little trouble. However, in their haste Jane dropped the portable hard drive that contained the Tricon data in a murky puddle. She spent several hours when they arrived that night removing all foreign debris from it. She had to remove the outer plastic casing to get to the sludge that was in between the resistors, capacitors and welded stems. She cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and sat the open hard drive in front of a fan throughout the night. That morning it appeared dry. After a few minutes of inspection, Jane placed the cover back on. She hadn’t had a chance to see if it worked yet. She removed it from her pocket and placed it on the table.

  “You think it’s gonna work?” Mario asked while sipping a cup of hot tea.

  “I’m not sure.” Jane studied the hard drive while turning it with her fingers. “I hope so. The gigabytes of data inside about Tricon could point us in the right direction as to their intentions.” Jane speculated with a troubled face.

  “How did you retrieve that much data in only five minutes?” Justin asked.

  “Data seeding.” Simon answered. Jane agreed with a nod.

  “What’s that?” Justin was confused. John and Savanna shrugged. Mario just continued to sip his tea.

  “It’s a way to quickly consolidate information into something similar to a ZIP file, condensing the size considerably and extracting it to an external hard drive. The NIOX software, that Tricon uses, allows this process to execute more rapidly. It’s something about the code written in the software that manages the data with better structure and stability. It’s a brilliant product designed by the late Dr. Tasha Silverman. I actually attended one of her seminars around five years ago about ultra-microprocessors and their importance to the medical field.” Jane explained in more detail than what he expected.

  “Oh, cool.” Justin responded revealing a complete lack of interest in his expression and body language. Still, to be polite he forced a smile.

  “Let’s fire it up. Hey, John, could you hand me that laptop from the bag next to your feet.” Simon asked.

  “Got it.” John removed the computer from the bag and slid it across the table.

  “…and the power cord please.” Simon continued.

  John searched the bag. He didn’t find anything.

  “Shit’s not in there, sorry.”

  “Damn it, maybe I left it on the desk upstairs.” Simon stood up and left the room. The sound of his steps creaked on the stairs as he ascended them.

  “Does Simon seem a bit off today? Or is it just me?” Savanna asked.

  “He’s probably still concerned about Taliah.” John admitted.

  “What about her? Is she okay?” Savanna asked completely unaware of Taliah’s missing status.

  “She was allegedly taken by Tricon from within Chicago.” Jane answered.

  “What? Are you sure? I hadn’t seen her the entire time I was there. Maybe they kept her somewhere else. Do you think she’s…?”

  “No, no she’s not dead. We searched every room before we hit that data terminal. I scanned the database while I was data seeding and her name wasn’t there.” Jane admitted.

  “Maybe they failed to include it for added secrecy.” Savanna speculated.

  “No reason to hide such knowledge within their own top-secret file structure. Your name came up immediately when I searched. That’s why we were in your wing. There’s a possibility that they brought her to another remote location when I saw names listed within their internal server at other facilities.” Ja
ne explained.

  “Maybe it was an inside job? They could have used Tricon as a scapegoat.” Savanna wondered.

  “That’s why Simon’s off. He knows that there’s a possibility that he’s been betrayed by his own people.” John added.

  Savanna noticed that Mario had been quiet about it this whole time.

  “What do you think about it? You are the closest to Taliah.” Savanna added.

  Mario took another sip of his tea and strategically placed the cup on the table. His face appeared calm but a caged animal was lingering below, eagerly clawing itself out. He felt it and tried hard to keep it contained.

  “I’ve been out of touch with her since before we left for the Paul Simon facility. I figured, of any place in this world, where she was living was the safest. I was wrong. They took the dog too. If I find out who did this, I’m going to kill them.” He paused and casually sipped his tea once more. “…slowly and painfully.” He added.

  “Jesus.” John was terrified for whoever that was.

  “But that’s all I’ve to say about that.” Mario controlled his breathing and maintained the guise of control on his face. Yet, his heart was breaking and he worried about her every minute of the day.

  Footsteps returning to the stairs caused the room to go silent. All eyes watched Simon as he descended them. He noticed all eyes were on him. He raised the power cord in his left hand as if it were a trophy.

  “Found it. I usually return it to the carrying case when I store the laptop. I must be losing it.” Simon admitted and attempted a crooked smile.

  Simon brought the cord to the table and connected it to the laptop. He handed John the other end of the cord and he plugged it into the outlet. There was an awkward silence as he set up the computer.

  “What did I miss?” Simon asked.

  “I just found out Taliah is missing. What is our plan on finding her?” Savanna asked. Her straight forwardness was to be expected.

  “I’m working on a plan as we speak. I contacted some allies while I was upstairs. I have a few leads.” Simon admitted.