“Josh. Did you make all of this on your own?”
“Not bad, right? I prefer to make my own food rather than have someone else make it for me. That's why I have two hands.”
He adoringly watches her take a small bite of the french toast and says, “Eat all of it. We got a long day of sightseeing ahead of us.”
Alexandria sips on her coffee and says afterwards, “Do you think it's safe? You know, after what happened with David and all? You got hurt that night.”
He raises his bandaged fingers and replies, “What, you mean these paper cuts? They're not enough to keep me locked up inside here.”
She is quite impressed with his bravery and nods in agreement. Why does she have this strange feeling that something is not right? Almost as if she is waiting for the next disaster to happen. She decides to not think so pessimistically and continues eating her breakfast.
Back at North Brunswick on Birchwood Court in New Jersey, Adam enters the kitchen to join his parents at the breakfast table. It does not take that long for his mother to notice his Che Guevarra t-shirt. Her mouth drops open with shock and she asks, “Since when do you support that bastard, Adam?”
While pouring orange juice into his glass, he replies rather frigidly, “America is poisoned, mom. I opened my eyes, that's all.”
As usual, his father is oblivious to the conversation taking place and remains focused on his newspaper while, at the same time, listening to the mp3 collection of oldies on his phone. He was never the sort to provide any kind of supportive advice or even partake in the traditional tossing of the ol' baseball in the backyard. Nor did he even bother to teach him the basics of being a man. It feels sometimes like he's trying to ignore the fact that he has a son...or that maybe his own father is embarrassed by his shortcomings and wants nothing to do with him. Well, he's going to show everyone tonight. Adam's mother gives his father an ice cold glare and asks furiously, “Don't you having anything to say?”
Without even flinching, his father merely licks the tips of his fingers and flips to the next page. She slaps the table with the palm of her hand several times in an attempt to get his attention. His non-reaction makes Adam chuckle and tell his mother as he pours maple syrup on his pancakes, “Leave the man alone, mom. Can't you see he has more important matters to attend to?”
She folds her arms infuriated at the dead weight that is her husband and says, “That's all he does! Puts on those damn headphones and shuts out his own family.”
Adam eats and drinks as fast as possible. He needs to escape this madhouse. Pretty soon, his mother will start venting her frustrations at him and he is just not in the mood today to play the part of the family shrink. His cell phone rings and he sees on the screen that it's Melanie calling. Even though he did get rejected, he sincerely doesn't want to end the friendship so he answers the call. “Hey, what's up?”
“Adam? Are you feeling okay now?”
“Sure, I guess. Why do you ask?”
“You were acting weird yesterday and you didn't answer my call last night. I thought you were mad at me.”
Adam takes his plate to the kitchen sink and, while cleansing it, replies, “I'm not mad, Mel. I have a lot on my mind lately.”
“Yeah, I understand. Wanna hang around later?”
“Um, okay. I have to be somewhere at night, though. Cool?”
“That's fine. Call me when you're ready.”
“Yeah. Later.”
He disconnects the call and makes his way out of the kitchen to head up to his bedroom upstairs. His parents are now arguing at this point. It looks like his mother removed his headphones and now all hell has broken loose. He jogs past them and runs up the stairs while asking himself, “Shit...Why can't I have a normal family?”
On board Indrid's ship, Sajjad slowly opens his eyes and awakens from a comforting sleep. How is this possible without his small tank of Himalayan air and the gas mask? He sits up and before he can even ask Indrid that very same question, she says, “I adjusted the air to the point that it is now similar to what you are accustomed to, Sajjad.”
“Thank you, Indrid. It has been a while since I have slept without that mask of mine. But if you are exposed for a long period of time...”
“Since I am only part human, my lungs are capable of adapting to many environments.”
“I see. You are indeed blessed with many gifts, Indrid Cold.”
Indrid does not reply or even react to his compliment because she honestly does not see her abilities to be a blessing most of the time. From constantly having to prevent herself from reading people's thoughts to having horrific premonitions of ominous catastrophes, they can be quite stressful and excruciating.
Sajjad approaches and notices her sitting position. He dismisses this as being simply be a habit of hers and asks, “Anything out of the ordinary?”
“No. They are safe.”
The front door of the Garrison household opens and Alexandria exits closely followed by Joshua. He closes the door and they both walk toward his blue Silverado which glimmers as a result of the sunlight. He still can't believe how they managed to repair it so quickly and even make it look brand new. He then opens the passenger door and Alexandria enters the vehicle. Joshua jogs toward the driver's side door and opens it. He gives her a warm smile as he sits down and says, “Let's do this.”
The sound of the Silverado's engine turning on is heard throughout the serene neighborhood. It then backs out of the driveway and the gear gets shifted into the drive position. Indrid takes control of the ship and inconspicuously follows them into the city.
Many hours later, an old man is sitting down on a park bench tossing breadcrumbs at a huge flock of pigeons. Rikki Hillman arrives and sits down next to him. She opens her newspaper and proceeds to read the details of the main story. The old man says, “Nicely done. Dr. Frankenstein has ceased his investigation.”
Without looking at him, Rikki replies, “Thank you, sir.”
The old man crumples up the empty paper bag and tells her, “Proceed to the next phase. I'll inform FEMA that all is going according to plan.”
He lifts himself up with the assistance of his cane and walks away. Rikki takes out her cell phone and makes a call. “How is Adam? Okay, good.” She disconnects the call and finds that the old man has vanished from sight.
Meanwhile, in the peaceful township of North Brunswick, Adam and Melanie are walking side by side down the sidewalk. She looks at his t-shirt for a few seconds and asks him, “What's with the shirt, Adam? Are you going conspiracy nut on me?”
“America's become a parody, Melanie. Saturated with mindless TV programming and Hollywood garbage.”
She does not believe the words that are coming out of his mouth and grabs his arm to make him stop walking. “This isn't you, Adam. I get it, okay? It's my fault...I didn't mean to hurt you. The truth is that I...”
Adam forcefully pulls his arm away from her grip and gives her an icy stare. He then says without any kind of emotion, “I have to go now. Don't follow me.”
Melanie sullenly watches him walk away and nervously taps her lips with her fingers. She wants so desperately to blurt out how she really feels about him, but restrains herself out of fear. Why is she scared of him now? Did he become this way because of her? Does he think of her as being the last straw and now hates everyone in general? Should she follow him just in case he becomes suicidal? Yes. She'll just make sure that he doesn't spot her.
In New York City, Joshua and Alexandria enter the Pure Thai Cookhouse restaurant. While waiting to be seated, Joshua asks, “How do you like the tour so far?”
“I'm loving it so much! The art museum was awesome, Josh. Pablo Picasso's work was amazing.”
“You thought that was amazing? Wait until you taste this food.”
The young, beautiful hostess arrives and greets them kindly with a Thai accent, “Welcome. For two?”
Joshua nods his head once and the hostess grabs hold of two menus and makes a gesture to
follow her in order to get seated. After walking for just a few minutes, they are both seated and handed their menus. She then informs them, “Your server will be with you shortly.” and departs from their table.
Alexandria finds herself rather indecisive as she browses through the many selections of delicacies available to her. She looks at Joshua and says, “All of this looks good.”
“I recommend the Wok Ginger Curry with Calamari. Trust me.”
She agrees to his recommendation, closes the menu and places it down in front of her. Shortly afterwards, a waitress arrives and prepares to take their orders.
On the ship, Indrid is resting her chin on her knees. She finds the relationship Alexandria is developing with Joshua to be genuinely sweet but unwillingly thinks about Chad's reaction when she presented him with her true physical form. She hopes that he doesn't break her heart as Chad did with her. Out of nowhere, Indrid receives an unclear vision of an explosion occurring somewhere near the state of New York. A nearby state, yes...but which one? Sajjad becomes aware of her peculiar behavior and before he even has a chance to ask, she raises her finger and utters quietly, “One moment, please.”
Indrid places her fingertips on her temples and concentrates deeply in an attempt to get a clearer image of the premonition. She manages to rewind the event in her mind and sees the first part of the name of what looks like a movie theater....Regal. And an abbreviation...NJ.
At Area 51, Dr. Frankenstein and Jerry are running a system diagnostic check on Phoebe. The long needle has already been inserted into her spinal column which, as a result, makes her squirm in discomfort. Just as she is about to reach for it with her hand, Jerry stops her and scolds her by saying, “Phoebe! You need to stay still!”
Her hair turns blue while saying, “Uhhhh! I don't like how it feels!”
Suddenly, Dr. Frankenstein hears his cell phone ringing. He looks at the screen and sees that the ID is unknown. After hesitating for a moment, he answers the call and hears nothing but static. “Hello?”
From the static emerges Indrid's voice as a series of eerie electrical impulses. “Ludwig. Explosion at a movie theater to happen very soon. The name is Regal in New Jersey.”
“Let me perform a quick search on the computer, Indrid.”
To his dismay, the results of the search show four movie theaters beginning with the name Regal located in the state of New Jersey. He wipes the sweat from his mouth with the palm of his hand and asks, “How soon?”
“It is unclear.”
That is the one unfortunate drawback of Indrid's premonitions. She can predict the tragedies but the exact locations become hazy and indeterminable. There is one option. In the past, there were false flag operations where explosive experts performing training exercises were found in close proximity of the actual explosion.
“I will check if any terrorist bombing exercises are currently in progress within New Jersey, Ludwig.”
“You read my mind...again. Hurry and good luck.”
Melanie keeps at least a block away from Adam to avoid detection in an attempt to see where he is going. He's more of a “stay at home” kind of person and when he does go out, it's during the day to buy his books. The fact that he's going out at night without her to keep him company seems so out of character. He's getting close to a bus stop. What now? She has an idea and quickly takes out her cell phone and taps the Uber icon. She then types 1713 Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick and puts the phone into her purse. While anxiously awaiting for her ride to arrive, Melanie pretty much knows where Adam is headed. To their movie theater when they decide to watch something together. But she remembers him saying that there's nothing out now that interests him...how strange.
After about thirty minutes of waiting, the car finally arrives and she rushes to open the back passenger door. As she steps inside, and slams the door shut, she says loudly to the driver, “The Regal Commerce Center Stadium Movie Theater.”
The panic in her voice makes the driver turn his head back and look at her suspiciously. He then warns her by saying, “This better not be some kind of drama, girl. Like a cheating boyfriend. I don't want anything happening to my car.”
“No, no, no...it's nothing like that. He's not even my boyfriend. It's a long story, okay? Can we just go now?”
After a brief silence, the driver nods and shifts the gear into the drive position. While the vehicle slowly drives away towards its destination, Melanie prays that she doesn't arrive too late in case he is thinking about doing something stupid. She knows him well enough to know that he won't take his own life. Why is she worried?
On the ship, Sajjad observes in amazement at the speed in which Indrid is scanning the entire state of New Jersey for any possible military communications regarding bomb drills in progress. She finally picks up some voices on one channel and discovers that there is in fact a drill being conducted a few blocks away from a movie theater. She uses her hand to get a closer look into that area of New Jersey in order to see the name of it. There it is. She looks at Sajjad and says, “Regal.”
He nods and replies, “We must hurry.”
The engines hum and the ship illuminates the night sky like a bright star. It spins completely around and vanishes into the nearby cloud bank.
The Uber driver takes a quick glance at the rear view mirror and sees Melanie biting her fingernail. He has a daughter about her age so he can pick up the signs of trouble very easily. “My name's Tyrone, by the way. I'm used to talking so I'm letting you know.”
While staring outside of the window, she replies, “Melanie.”
“You're worried about someone. Right, Melanie?”
“It's my fault.”
“What is?”
She rests her head on the window and closes her eyes. While remembering Adam's humiliation at the hands of that bully, she says, “We were kids. I saw him get bullied...and I didn't help him.”
“And he stayed friends with you?”
“Yeah.”
“That means he knew you were afraid so don't sweat it. The past is done. No such thing as do-overs. What's important is what you do from now on.”
Melanie looks straight ahead and sees that they are two blocks away from the movie theater. She leans forward and says, “You can drop me off here. Thanks for the advice, Tyrone.”
He waves his hand and tells her emphatically, “Just don't fuck it up this time. Deal?”
After grinning and nodding in agreement, Melanie opens the passenger door and steps outside. The car drives off as soon as the door closes and she begins scanning the area in search of Adam. She begins jogging past the people in front of her until the movie theater is directly across the street. Looking past the crowd of pedestrians and traffic, she finally spots him exiting the movie theater and walking across the street. As Adam walks down the sidewalk, he takes out his cell phone and unlocks the screen. He becomes startled at a familiar female voice shouting, “Adam?”
He stops walking and turns around to look at Melanie approaching him. He asks her in an angry tone, “What are you doing here?”
“I'm worried about you. You're acting weird. Where's your backpack?”
Adam takes a moment to think about what she just got finished asking him. He's here to complete his mission, of course. But something doesn't feel right. Is he here...to kill people? He's never killed anyone before. At this point, he starts to experience a splitting headache and his vision becomes blurred.
Inside of a nearby black van, one of the agents inside observing a monitor informs Rikki, “Uh, Agent Hillman. We have a problem here. Adam's waking up.”
She kneels slightly down to look at the screen and discovers Melanie speaking with Adam. This was not very likely to happen but it now seems there is no other choice at the moment. She says, “Plan B, fellas. Chris, take control of his phone and detonate the bomb. We can make her an accomplice to the crime. Move it!”
Melanie sees that Adam is about to lose his balance and holds his arm tightly to pre
vent him from falling. She then notices that his phone is accessing an application on its own and entering a password of some kind. She asks him, “Adam? What's going on with your phone? It's doing stuff by itself.”
His headache subsides and he observes on his phone screen, in confusion, a password being entered without any kind of interaction on his part. As if it were somehow possessed by a ghost. Fragments of his memories come together, like a jigsaw puzzle, and he now knows what is about to happen next. Adam grabs Melanie and drags her with him down to the pavement while yelling, “Melanie! It's a bomb!”
The surrounding area shakes violently giving the impression to people that they are experiencing an earthquake. Then, the sound of a massive explosion is heard coming from inside of the movie theater followed by the destruction of its entrance. Chunks of the theater collides with several innocent bystanders resulting in spontaneous dismemberment while others are consumed with flames. Nearby windows of cars and buildings shatter into thousands of pieces. Melanie screams as the resulting force of the blast causes her, and Adam, to get pushed against the wall behind them. Instinctively, Adam throws his body over Melanie's to protect her from the fragments of debris and falling shards of glass.
He adjusts his glasses and becomes disgusted at the sight of an arm on the sidewalk next to him with its bloody fingers twitching back and forth. His ears are still ringing as a result of the explosion and he can only faintly hear the people around him screaming in agony.
Indrid is taken aback by what has just happened and gasps in disbelief. The tragedy still occurred...but how is that possible? They are precisely where the bomb drills are taking place. A block away from the Regal Hadley Theatre Stadium. Unless....she takes the controls and tells Sajjad, ”We've been tricked.”
“The bombing happened elsewhere?”
“Yes. At the Regal Commerce Center Stadium in North Brunswick. I need to inform Ludwig.”
Rise of the Fallen: Ascensionis Page 15
