by Daniel Evora
“We’re here, guys,” Sam said, while stopping his motorcycle.
Three of us stepped off as Sam approached the right side of the gate, and tapped on a screen built inside the concrete block. Suddenly, a male AI voice spoke to Sam.
“Password?” the AI asked. It carried a British accent.
“Deidamia,” Sam replied.
“Password accepted,” the AI answered with a light, happy tone. “Welcome back home, Samuel. My security system has detected zero anomalies since you last left.”
The lock on the gate shifted outwards allowing the gate to automatically slide open.
“You guys are gonna love this,” Sam told us, as he smiled
We walked through the front yard following the stoned path up to the solid door with a window and zero hinges. Not like a regular door that just swings open when unlocked like at the orphanage.
Sam reached in his pockets and checked the front and back until he found a singular key etched with his home ID number. He slotted it into the keyhole and turned it which switched on a button, as its light turned red until Sam pressed it and the entrance door slid open on its own just like the gate.
“Welcome to my place,” Sam explained to the two of us, as we strolled in looking throughout.
“This place is awesome,” Adrana assured Sam. “Is this how all of you live?”
“Well, no, but look, we're gonna have to set some ground rules. It’s my place, and I’m twenty two, so I’m older than you guys,” Sam informed us.
“We’re not little kids Sam,” I said.
“Well, yes, but you’re still like, fifteen---”
“Sixteen,” I corrected him. “Both of us.”
“Okay, but it’s still not over eighteen,” Sam responded, as he smiled. “C’mon I’ll show both of you to your rooms.”
We began to walk up the huge staircase.
“Who cleans up around here?” Adrana asked, staring at all the nice and tidy furniture. “Do you have a butler?”
“My parents…” Sam paused. “They had one but he passed away before I was born. Nowadays, Lance does a majority of the work around here.”
“Lance?” She responded.
“My AI.”
“Oh.”
Sam escorted us to a large hallway on the second floor filled with many different paintings, some were paintings of history, others were imitations. He stopped at the end of the hallway pointed in hand to right.
“Nate, that’s your room; used to be mine, and you can set it up however you’d like. Sorry, in advance, it’s not completely cleaned out. I was in a rush,” Sam explained. “Adrana, I'll have to have you sleep in Nate’s room for now. This one on the left is basically empty. Don’t worry I’ll set one up for you in the morning.”
“What?!” I shouted confused.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to bring her along for the trip!”
“No way! Uh-uh!” Adrana shouted with her jaw dropped to the floor.
“Woah! Not like that!” Sam replied, trying not to chuckle. “Look, there’s another bed on the other side of the room. It’s not out right now, actually...speaking of that.”
“Hey Lance!” Sam shouted.
“Yes, Samuel?” the AI voice asked.
“Setup another bed in Room 2C, please,” Sam ordered.
“On it, sir,” Lance replied, with a happy attitude.
I looked into the bedroom and watched the back wall on the left unfold and slide open. There were four white shelves that slid all the way open as they snapped in place like a lock on a gate. Sudden;ly, a robot arm came out from the right side of the bed, and moved to the center and rolled out the sheet that was already placed carefully and folded near the top end of the mattress. Finally, the bed dropped a bit on the floor and the wall closed up as if nothing ever happened in the first place.
“Wow, that was fast,” I said, with my jaw dropped.
“Well, I guess that’s one of the perks of being rich this day in age,” Sam bragged. “Alright, I’ll leave you both to your room for now. I’ll be going to my room. Nate, if you need me. Down here on the left hand side. First room is mine. Adrana, pleasure--again, to meet you.”
They shook hands. Sam smiled at the two of us, as he walked off back towards the stairway. Each step had an impact on the floor, as Adrana stared at Sam until he turned the corner.
“He’s...interesting,” Adrana explained to me.
“You'll get used to him,” I assured her, as I walked into the room. She followed me in.
As awkward as it was, we were still just friends. Addie and I both went our separate ways towards each side of the room. there wasn't too much furniture around; only a few desks and cabinets to use. I'm guessing that Sam did not have enough time on his hands to deal with our commodities all at once due to his “busy schedule” he keeps telling me about. I looked over to Adrana, as she sat on the bed and tried stuffing it to test its rigidity. Out of pure instinct I decided to get up on my feet and walk over to her to see how she was doing.
“So, um, I guess you’ll be in here for now,” I said to her. “This...is...awkward.”
“Don’t remind me,” Adrana responded with a smile on her face, rolling her eyes. “I’d rather not remember a day like this.”
“I won’t,” I answered, while walking back towards my bed.
“What are the chances that we get to end up here? A mansion? In the North District of Kalo City?” Adrana asked Nate.
“Well, you can thank me.”
“For what?”
“For being good friends with someone this rich,” I explained, while scouting around the room, as I stared at different pieces of modern furniture. The both of us laughed a little at my remark.
While looking around the room, near the window side of the room, in the corner on a white table top contained a picture frame. I approached the picture and slowly picked it up. Adrana caught me staring at the image. She stood up and walked up behind me.
“What’s that?” Adrana asked while approaching me.
“An old picture,” I replied, with a melancholy face. I continued to analyze it deeply. “Of Sam...and his parents.”
“What happened to them?” Adrana’s face started to straighten, as she realized I was not happy.
“His mom,” I told her, “Was murdered by the Resistance when he was much younger, two months later his father committed suicide. He probably couldn’t live with her death. That’s all Sam would tell about the incident.”
“What are you doing with that?” Sam asked, while walking up towards us as I held the picture in my hands. “Gimme that!”
Sam looked a bit angry. I could see it in his tired, brown eyes. I could see all the pain and all the vengeance he’s probably been hiding inside for years now. He swiped the frame away from my hands. I almost let him take the picture, as my hands lost grip. Sam stared at the picture, then looked at me, his eyes were back to normal. A tear. Falling down his face. So small yet I could see it so clear. The anger was gone, and the room was filled with a cold energy, almost freezing since I just stood there and was trying to process all of this as well. Sam just stood there like a statue, too. I couldn’t even hear him breathe.
“Sam?”
No response.
“Sam.”
Sam turned around with the picture in his right hand, with even more tears running down his face.
“I-I’m sorry, Nate...I didn’t mean to...ruin the mood,” stuttered Sam. He wiped off the tears and sniffled. “I’ll leave you guys to it.”
Sam strided out back to the hallway until I could no longer hear his footsteps.
“I’m worried about him,” Adrana stated.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at him! He needs help,” Adrana replied.
“I don’t know if I can help him,” I answered her.
I looked out the window. The early morning sky had turned from black to purple to an all familiar dark blue color. The sun rose from the horiz
on, and the light escaped out into the clouds. Dusk had come, and I had nearly closed my eyelids at the sight of a ray of light from the morning sun. Then, I lifted my hand in front of my face to block some of it as it started to shine on my pupils.
I eventually turned my head from the window, and stepped towards my bed as I sat on the very edge. After only a moment, I then stared at the surface of the drawer where Sam took the picture from me. All I could think about was the picture. The picture itself had a sort of greyish background, and light smiles. However, the mother clearly had a stern personality from her lack of a grin in the photo. Each of them were wearing very formal outfits. Sam and his father were wearing expensive suits as far as I can tell, and the mother was wearing a very odd looking, red dress, with her long hair tied back in a ponytail. Looking at it from face value didn’t really mean too much for the normal person, but for some reason I couldn’t get the picture out of my mind. What was it in the photo? I closed my eyes and searched every area of my mind, and then...I found it. I opened my eyes and could only think of one word.
Parents.
As a little boy I always had that question floating around in my head one way or another. But, then I grew older and began to lose that faith. However, there are still some moments where I still imagine what my life would’ve been like growing up as a normal kid with parents. Sometimes I imagine what they would’ve looked like, but it isn’t imagining them that affected me. It was knowing that everytime that I did, I needed to remind myself that there was no way I would ever meet them in a world like this.
I turned to Adrana. She noticed me staring at her.
“I’ll give it a try,” I suggested, she nodded.
Suddenly, I heard a thump, the sound of a hard heel stomping onto the smooth, hard floor. At first I had guessed it was Sam, but he told us he’d be in his room. So, I approached the hallway as the sound of walking became much more distant. Then, once I finally peaked my head around the corner of the doorway. I caught the back of the leg of a mysterious stranger, the leg wrapped in the cloth of a white formal outfit, and black dress shoes. It was definitely not what Sam was wearing when he left us a couple minutes ago. (He had on regular denim jeans; quite a mundane choice of clothing for someone with a lot of money). I quickly noticed how the visitor did not shut the door.
Adrana stood up. “Who is it?”
“Don’t know, couldn’t see their face,” I concluded, cautiously whispering to her. “They went into Sam’s room. Imma go see who.”
“Nate,” she warned me.
I put my finger over my mouth while glaring at her. She rolled her eyes and let me through the hallway.
As I carefully stepped closer towards the open doorway, the man’s voice became much more clear. I hid behind the edge of the doorway on the left and listened to both Sam and the stranger. I couldn’t look into the room for obvious reasons. I crouched and titled my ear towards the conversation the two were having. The stranger’s voice was deep, cold, somewhat dead, yet clear and somewhat satisfying to listen to, a fruity sound. It was an odd voice. Assuming from the deepness of it, they were most likely a man.
“Samuel, with all due respect, I simply cannot put aside my priorities for this,” rebuked the visitor.
“Nonsense? Is that what you call it?” Samuel questioned the man, with a bitter tone. “I’ve gone through Phoenix’s database.”
“You were not authorized to do that,” he was a bit shocked for the moment, but sighed later on. Probably shrugged it off.
“I’ve zoned it to four main suspects,” Sam tried further to convince the man.
He caved; at least I thought he did.
“Well then let me see your suspects.”
I really wanted to look and see for myself. To peek around that door frame. It killed me that I couldn’t see without either Sam or the visitor catching me right in the act. So I waited a bit until the visitor went ahead and spoke once more.
The man paused for a second, “What difference does it make? The first one died on the battlefield. Eight years ago. These two have been M.I.A for who knows how long. There have been no reports. No sightings of even hinting at it. You’d just be hitting a dead end. This is a waste of my time and yours.”
“What about the fourth?” asked Sam. Trying to keep him in the room.
“The fourth?”
“General Perez.”
They paused again.
“I’ll just tell you this from...personal experience. He didn’t do it.”
“How do you know that?”
The man ignored the question and began to walk outside the room to where I was hiding. My heart started racing! Until, however, he came to a stop. But, then he began to walk again.
“I’ll pay you!” Sam desperately blurted, as the man stepped towards the doorway, and saw me!
My eyes wide open as I stared at his face. He had little reaction to seeing me and only glanced for a second. Then, he turned back towards Sam.
“If you think I’m someone who can be bribed with money, you’re mistaken. Like I said before, I cannot and will not put aside my own priorities for...this,” the man explained to him. “I’ll see myself out.”
The visitor simply strolled out down the stairs and back out into the city as he shut the entrance to the house. A satisfying buzzing sound as the thick glass slid shut. Then, I stood up and approached the entrance. I knocked on the doorframe, which gained Sam’s attention when he turned to me. His face warped as soon as he looked upon me. Like he had been caught by his mother or something.
Sam stood like a statue. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Not a lot,” I confessed. “Something about Pete Wilson.”
“Forget about it,” he interjected. “All of it.”
Sam rubbed his forehead, with his other hand resting on his waist.
“Sam, is--”
“Look!” Sam blurted, then repeated once more but with a more gentle approach. “Nate, I’m not in the mood for it, okay?”
I smacked my lips and exhaled. “Fine.”
I jogged back over to the bedroom. Adrana stared at me as soon as she got a look of me through the opening in the doorway. She got closer.
“Well?” Adrana asked, following me to my bed as I took a seat.
“He didn’t even want to talk,” I explained. “I’d never seen that side of him before. He always had a soft spot for me. Guess that’s starting to fade.”
“Sam’s probably just cranky. He’ll come ‘round.”
“I hope he does.”
Chapter 2
Seven Years Later
As long as the Rebellion stays around there will be war. That’s what Sam taught me. That statement has been drifting in my mind for the past year. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was another way.
Others would tell the tale of the twenty-first century. Such as what happened to the last President, Jonathan Mindell, who was assassinated before his first term came to an end. That’s when everything changed. In 2052, a new World Union was created. The changes were gradual, but slow and calculated enough to take its hold onto many, until the tables turned only months later. It turns out that it was just a cover up for the different governments to take advantage of our rights as people. They wanted peace, but order and control over all of us, and of course it started in the Mojave Commonwealth.
I ran through each bit of cover throughout the training course. Peeking over to see four robots shooting fake projectiles. Swiveling to simulate what a rebel soldier would do in the line of combat. Then, I nodded to my partner who was aiding me; my friend Adrana. She nodded, too, reloading her rifle. I peeked again to look for the flag that Adrana and I were trying to capture. It stood tall on a stage a couple of meters from our position. We tried firing blindly at the bots without getting hit, but the sound of bullet fire continued.
“Flank them on the right and I’ll sneak by on the left, so we can reach the flag!” Adrana shouted across to me, as I acknowledged her with a nod.
“Why do I have to do it?!” I replied, shooting above my cover.
“Do you want to flank them?!”
“Why not both?! Spread them thin!”
“No! I’ll do it,” Adrana rejected, she tucked her rifle getting ready to run for it.
“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” I exclaimed, as we both stood up straight and fired on the bots. I rushed to the nearest cover, until I got hit on my left shoulder.
“Dammit!” I yelled, as the robots stopped moving entirely. We failed the course.
“What happened, Nate? You had it and you lost it,” Adrana asked me. She sounded a bit irritated.
“I don’t know,” I lied.
Adrana squinted at me as she asked, “You don’t know after three attempts?”
“It won’t happen again,” I replied.
“Well, we’ll try again next time,” Adrana said, pulling me up. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t tell me you--.”
“What?”
“Nate, we’ve talked about this,” she whispered while pulling me towards her. We both walked out of the training course.
“I know, but the more I think about it, the more discomfort I feel about this place.”
“What are you talking about, Nate? They are to be dealt with...severely. ”
“Yeah, but--.”
“Nate, you need to remember your place. I don’t want you starting trouble that you can’t get out of.”
“Fine. Same time tomorrow?” I asked her.
“Yep.”
“Got it.”
. . .
Spending some time with Sam was getting much more difficult due to his new position as a general. That same morning, all those years ago, he revealed to Adrana and I the identity of those men in the black armor. They were part of a bigger militia group known as the Silent Death, originally named the Federation Syndicate. Quickly the name would cease to exist and become something more threatening. The only reason the name changed so quickly was a result from the people of the Rebellion using it tenfold to the point where the term itself had woven its own knots in society. Sam had been it since he was nineteen. Twenty years of service total. Naturally, we followed in his footsteps.
