I massaged my forehead a bit. “Why don't you read that damn book. I don't know anything else.”
He smiled again. “I'd rather not overwhelm you yet.” He looked away in thought, then added, “Traveling through a Verge can be pretty stressful for even the most experienced person, and since this is your first time, why don't I show you around?”
I sat up on the bed. “OK, sure. Let's go.”
Bruel pulled a roll from his pocket and opened it to a digital screen. He ran a finger along the surface and said, “First, I need to introduce myself properly.” He extended his hand. “My name is Brenn Havens. I work with Lebabolis Security.”
I shook his hand, and he said, “I'm taking you to Harkson, our leader.”
“What about Charista?” I rubbed my neck.
“She's there too. They'll explain what's happening and how we're going to protect you.” Brenn checked the display on his digital pad.
#
Havens introduced me to Nycole, another soldier from Lebabolis Security. She looked like she spent a lot of time in the gym. Her arms were rippled with muscles that about burst out of her short sleeved shirt. The outfit looked like fatigues, with an insignia over the left chest. They weren’t far off from what I saw on Ana, for that matter.
Nycole greeted me with a nod, her outstretched arm angled toward a vehicle. Her steely eyes studied me close, and her taut lips never gave away any sense of surprise at me, a man from over a thousand years ago.
Of course, I supposed time trips or whatever were old hat to these people.
The hot and humid air outside greeted me like a long-lost friend, and I stifled a chuckle. At least the weather’s familiar.
The vehicle we rode around in looked like someone had squished a Hummer flat into a car shape. I rode in front with Havens. Nicole sat right behind me. Whatever area we were in looked like hell. Rotted shells of buildings lined both sides of what I gathered was a street at one point in time.
I leaned back and craned my neck to look out the back and the metal frame of the seat dug into my shoulder blades.
The road we were on was made of some kind of strange material I’d never seen before. It was dark colored, with a few lines and arrows.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Havens replied, “Sector 5. Built over remains of a city long ago destroyed.”
“And this road?”
Havens glanced my way with a smile. “We had to get around somehow. What was here before was mostly underwater.”
I looked around at the desolation and looked back at Nycole for a moment. She too watched the scenery. Our eyes met for a moment, and hers narrowed a bit.
I marveled as we passed a rusted hulk of a building that oozed fire and belched smoke. I caught Nycole's steely but curious expression in the rear view mirror. She watched me like an irritated parent. “She here to beat me if I misbehave?”
Havens chuckled. “For your protection, Nelson, nothing more.”
I looked at the surrounding decay, but none of it seemed real. Was this what I had created? And why this story? Why not anything nicer that came true?
Our vehicle stopped near a collection of large buildings. Havens patted my leg, his brow creased. “Nelson, what I'm about to show you might be tough for you to see. I just wanted to warn you.”
I shifted a bit in my seat. “Alright, is this someplace I would know?”
Havens looked back at Nycole a moment, then to me. “Nelson, where we are, now, is what you know of as New Orleans.”
I guffawed from sheer reflex. “It's 3192 and this place isn't underwater yet?” I took another look around. Sure enough, the buildings were extremely worn down, but a few looked a slight bit familiar. Kind of like when you see really old photos of your great great great grandwhatever from eighty years ago.
“Unreal,” I said. “I figured this would all be at the bottom of the gulf by now.”
“The gulf?” Brenn asked.
I glanced at him. “Yeah, large body of water, connects to an ocean?”
He chuckled softly. “Ahh yes, water. Well, you're going to find pretty quick that water is in short supply, among other things.”
I gazed at the sad looking building that looked almost like it begged for demolition and an end to its misery. “My city... no more.”
“Not completely; we were able to salvage a bit of it.”
“Why bother?”
“You'll see.”
I watched the surrounding ruins of buildings, their bottoms partially submerged in a murky stew. I thought of all the things I knew, loved, and cared for in this city, gone. No one around. The desolation and emptiness, I’d seen before. It was like Katrina times a million.
Everyone I ever knew, loved, hated, never met but existed when I did, gone.
I realized at that moment that even if Travis was around I would’ve felt better. Loneliness gripped me as the full weight of what I saw pressed on me. My eyes welled up.
Had I caused this?
We drove on past the huge collection of buildings and a large open field with a sizable hill on it. It was unidentifiable, from centuries before, like a stone almost polished smooth after being in a running stream too long. Even though I knew where I was, I had little idea in what part of town we were. There was no way I’d have known this place in a million years, or even a little over a thousand.
I jumped a little as Nycole spoke. “Sector 5 handles a lot of manufacturing. Tech equipment. You'll be seeing our facilities pretty soon, they're right past the next few buildings.”
She talked about a meteor for a few seconds, but Havens stopped her short.
We drove past the open field, which held a few trees, their sparse branches reached high into the air as if they pleaded for rain from the sky that wasn’t common from the look of it. Then, amid the sea of decay and dying city, a gleam attracted my eye. Several buildings jut out of the rubble ahead. They stood out almost too well. It was like they were dropped by some giant.
“Sector 5 Admin. We're almost there,” Havens said as he weaved our vehicle around some rubble. As we neared the buildings, the rubble and destroyed road gave way to smoother, neater streets.
“We've managed to put in a few roads over time in the sectors, enough for transport. The rest of the rubble is here to stay, I'm afraid,” Havens said.
Some people walked around in front of the buildings ahead. It looked fake at first, an almost pristine building stuck out from the rest of the construction carnage like an artist sketch of a new building.
But it was real alright. A few other vehicles like the one we were in crossed the path up ahead close to the building. The console of our vehicle came to life with beeps, and a hologram display appeared. An intercom voice spoke. “Landcrawler 109, state name and purpose for security clearance.”
Havens tapped a few controls. “Havens, ID Zero niner, Windshore, ID Echo four. Escorting prisoner.”
Prisoner? “And I thought I was special.”
The console light dimmed, and we continued on the path. “I’m keeping up appearances. Not many people know you're here,” Havens explained.
A huge blast in the front of the vehicle jolted us to a stop. Smoke billowed up from the floor, and soon it was all I saw. An alarm sounded close by outside. Behind me, I heard a loud whine and the shuffling of boots on the ground. Nycole slipped outside the vehicle.
Havens grabbed my arm. He leaned toward me, his face twisted in pain. “Stay close, Nelson, this some-”
Another pop stopped him short. What looked like a beam of light pierced the window and rocketed through his chest. His body rocked with the blow and blood spattered the console. He gritted his teeth and held up a pistol, but it was too late.
I heard more shouts and pops like the one that got Havens. There were at least two voices and yells from others outside the vehicle.
My door flung open and Ana stood outside, her hand outstretched. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“N-No, I'm fine
.”
Another explosion hit near the vehicle. Ana waved the cloud of debris away. “Look, you wanna live, get your ass outta there and follow me!”
#
Ana and I ran back the way I'd come with Havens and Nycole. More blasts hit, and more dust and particles rained about us. We jumped off the main path, and made our way to the second floor of an abandoned building. The windows were busted and random furniture was piled up everywhere.
We leaned up against an overturned desk, out of view of the windows and I told Ana about me and Havens in the Funeral Home.
“He had a job there?” she said as she adjusted her rifle. “How'd he get you over here?”
“He knocked me out,” I said. I grasped my head on the sore spot.
She looked at me and winced. “I shoulda tried that,” she snickered.
“He wanted me to discredit you and something called the Action. Still don't know what to make of this,” I said, my legs stretched out.
Her lips formed into a line. “We’ll figure all that out later. Right now, my number one is keeping yours and my asses alive.” Her eyes darted out the window, and she kept silent for a minute. She acted like an animal that surveyed for other predators. “Look, I'm not here to hurt you, OK? I'm supposed to bring you to Baudricort, and that's it.”
I stared at her. “They told me you're trying to kill me.”
Her eyes warmed, and a faint smile slid over her lips. “They told you a lot, huh? Look, I'm sorry, but I've never lied to you.”
“They were about to bring me to someone named Harkson, said they'd help me get home when you killed them.”
She shook her head. “They said that before or after they put you in restraints and knocked you out?” She pointed back the way we came. “That place they were taking you, the nice looking building? That's their facility for Realignment.”
A chill went through me when I heard the term from my book. This was real.
Her lips formed a grim smile as she caught my recognition. “That's right. Chemical lobotomy. Makes you one nice, happy, drooler, ready to die for their self-righteous bullshit.”
I rested my head in my hands. “Lemme wake up, God.”
She clutched my hand in hers. “Look, I'll be honest. It wasn’t even my idea to bring you here. But now that you are, I'm getting you to somebody who can help. Once that's done, you go home.”
She sounded like Havens, or rather Bruel. “Why should I trust you?”
She shrugged. “You could go it alone, but you think you can find a Verge site?”
“No.”
“OK. Stick with me, I'll get you home.”
A loud rattling tone blared out. It bounced off the buildings. Ana motioned for quiet as she peered around the desk. I heard a hum. It started low but then it loudened. Wind whistled through the air right outside.
“Hell Hawks. Hovercrafts. Sweeping the area for us.” She checked outside again. The loud hum faded a bit. “We're getting the hell away from here. I can get us to the Outlands, but that's a day's walk. From there we can get a ride to the nearest Encampment.”
Chapter 23 (Nelson)
W e walked along broken roads and around chunks of debris. I looked around at faint reminders of the city I once knew, with way more decay and atrophy than I could’ve ever dreamed. Patches of stone and broken concrete littered our way.
The stone we walked over was full of jagged fractures, like the whole place was pounded with a giant hammer. Overgrowth and decay hid a lot of details, but a few things registered.
I stumbled over a thin sheet of metal and gawked when I realized what it was... a street sign for Decatur Street. It was rusted for the most part but the words were still the slightest bit legible. The sight of it made me gasp, but that gasp faded into a light chuckle. My mind went to Harvey, how we got together and talked about how crazy Ana probably was and how her story was ridiculous.
Ha. Right.
I trudged behind Ana. She stepped slow and deliberate over the broken ground and rubble, her rifle poised. She craned her head about; this time her gaze stared through me when she looked my way. She looked like a lioness on a hunt. Her gaze covered the area about her and behind us. Her eyes returned to me again after a few minutes. “You OK?”
“Oh, great. Never better. Nothing like knowing everyone I ever knew is dead and my hometown is rubble along with the rest of the world.” I kicked a rock.
She stopped short and faced me. “Not all of it.” Her lips drew taut. “I'm sure you're thinking a lot right now. And you don't even know what to ask or even how to feel about this.”
Her eyes softened, but she held her weapon up as a guardian over us. Over me. Even if I had never believed what she said before, she hadn't fed me any other stories or faked who she was like Bruel did. She also never cuffed me or knocked me out. Knocked me for a loop maybe, but I’d worry about that later.
“I'm gonna trust you,” I said.
She nodded and smiled for a moment. Then, in an instant, her gaze hardened and darted behind me. A scowl popped onto her face and she murmured, “Behind me, now.”
I staggered back as I heard a mechanical whine that came from her weapon. She aimed it in the dark. Her face fixed in a scowl, like a hunter focused on her kill for the day. Her legs spread into a stance and she lowered herself, the rifle rock steady and poised in her grasp.
“Who's there?” she barked.
A weak voice in the darkness replied, “Deviant.”
Ana took a step forward. Her weapon made a beep sound and cast a cone of bluish light in front of us for about twenty feet. “Step out slowly.”
Ana was fixed in place; her weapon never wavered or even shook. A frail looking man shuffled into the light. His tattered clothes barely clung to his body. He wheezed, and his hand partly covered a wound that oozed on his head.
“How'd you escape?”
His voice shook as he replied, "Jumped off a transport heading to Realignment."
“And your wound?”
"T-torture, Realignment camp."
Ana studied him a bit more. Then she said, “You know what I need to hear.”
The man wheezed a bit, puzzled for a moment at her statement. He stood up straight, and said, "One-"
“-or None,” Ana finished the phrase. She lowered her weapon, and the light disappeared. She walked to the man, her hand extended. “Ana.”
He smiled as he took her hand. "Deke."
Ana nodded. “This is Nelson.”
“Hello,” I said. He nodded in reply.
We continued walking, Ana in the lead. She eyed Deke and asked, “So where about were you when you escaped?”
Deke coughed a bit. His eyes went back and forth between glassy and alert several times. After a little of this, he said, "Sector 4."
“Ahh,” Ana replied. “Lotta tech out that way.”
"Mmmhm."
“Why'd they mark you, stealing equipment?” As Ana asked the question, she glanced toward me with a perplexed look. I guessed she hadn’t vetted him to her preference yet.
"Theft, yeah. Food, extra clothing."
Ana shook her head. She looked forward again while continued our trek. “See, Nelson. This happens a lot. Everyone gets a food ration depending on your age and the size of your family. Sounds fair, right?”
“I guess so,” I replied.
“Only the rations are also tied to production of your Sector. And I don't mean what you do as a person. I mean the total output. They expect so much every period or you lose rations and privileges until things pick up.”
“What output? What are you supposed to be making?”
“Depends on the Sector. Four and Five handle a lot of technology. Scanners, tether bracelets like the one you're wearing.”
I looked at Deke as we walked. “You have family back there?”
He nodded, his eyes cast downward.
“How many?”
“Wife, two kids,” he said.
“How long since you saw ‘em?�
�� Ana asked.
“Few weeks.”
Deke’s words about his family jolted me. What about my family? I had a dad left back home. And now I’m here in this world I created. Were these people my family too? A dull ache spread over my head when I thought about all of this, the responsibility. This is crazy, this isn’t real. It just isn’t.
Ana’s cough snapped me back into their conversation. “They probably prepped him for Realignment until whatever batch they brought together was ready. You heard any other talk in your group? About Deviants, the Action?”
“Little bit. Been hearing about Xander, too. Some kinda way he's coming here.”
Ana stopped and looked at me. “That's the rumor alright.” She turned to Deke. “So no one else got out with you?”
He shook his head.
Ana looked back the way we came. The moon peeked out and cast a little light, but not too much. Her skin glowed like porcelain. Her brow furrowed. She checked her rifle again and looked at Deke. “OK. Well, the Action's sending people out to help the escapees. Glad you ran into us.” She grabbed a small digital pad and tapped a few times on it. “We're far enough from any kind of monitor grid. I'll let the Action know our location; we’ll be catching a ride pretty soon.”
Chapter 24 (Ana)
A fter a few more hours on foot, we caught a ride on one of the Hell Hawks the Action had stolen and flew over to Encampment 7. I watched out the side of the cockpit at the wings, swept up high in graceful arches. I braced myself against the seat while the ship rocked through the air. I wasn’t crazy about riding in these things, but it beat another day or so walking through the Outlands with two people and only one gun.
As the medics and nurses tended to Nelson, I waited outside the operating room with Treg, our eyes on the door and the techs who worked feverishly on Nelson.
“What the hell happened at the Verge site?” he asked.
“OK, Baudricort and Otto picked a great spot. So great that Lebabolis had the same idea. They sent a jumper through while we were there.”
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