“There will be a day,” I spoke to them as though they could hear me. “I promise you. One way or another, there will be a day of retribution.”
I tucked the loose photograph back into the photo album and turned off the light. While lying back down in bed, my thoughts drifted to the aftermath of the explosion. My Aunt Tasha had done everything she could think of to make my life as normal as possible and, considering the circumstances, she’d done a wonderful job. Of course, she was nothing like the hawk Carol had been. Under Tasha’s supervision, I’d been allotted way more freedom than any teenager should possess. At times, she’d seemed more interested in playing the role of the big sister to me rather than acting as my maternal role model but, when push came to shove, she managed to step up to the plate, ensuring that my grades were always up to par and that I kept relatively out of trouble. Not that there was a whole heck of a lot of trouble I could have gotten into. After all, there really wasn’t much to do in Iowa outside of outhouse tipping.
Much to Tasha’s chagrin, after graduation I decided to come back home to Maryland. Some would argue that I was a sadist with a glutton for punishment. Regardless, I still felt at home here. On top of that, a part of me needed the closure in seeing the Memorial site that was erected two years after the explosion at The Lakes. In a strange way, seeing the Memorial had given me a sense of peace. It was something tangible. Of course, Lucy had been beyond thrilled with my decision to move back. We’d ended up attending college together; she studying psychology and I, finance.
However, my decision to move home inadvertently became the best decision of my life the day I met Chase Matthews. Shortly after my father’s death, Hope Memorial Hospital created a scholarship in honor of him specifically for those young medical students interested in studying pediatrics. Catching wind of my return, the hospital contacted me requesting that I present the scholarship to that year’s winner. At first, I was a little hesitant. I wasn’t sure how I would react to all the stares and inevitable awkward conversations, but I knew that my father would have wanted me to do it.
Every presentation ceremony started out with a memorial to my father. Dr. Taylor, the pediatric surgeon who’d served as a resident under George, gave the speech every year. From my vantage point on the stage, I could see the admiration in the doctor’s eyes as he spoke about my father. I’d sat on the stage scanning the audience, looking for any familiar faces. That’s when I saw him. He was boyishly cute with shimmering, sky blue eyes and the smirk of a hardcore smart ass. He was resident Chase Matthews. A fan of my father’s work with the pediatric unit, he was as close to perfection as I had seen, and he was staring at me.
A rush of heat poured into my cheeks, alerting me to the fact that I’d probably turned twelve shades of red. As much as I tried to, I couldn’t divert my attention from him. I was so entranced that, when it came to be my turn at the podium, my name had to be called twice to snap me out of it. Two years later, I was still under that same trance.
With memories of my initial encounter with Chase Matthews flashing through my head, I managed to fall peacefully back to sleep.
The sun beamed into my fourth floor apartment, creating a makeshift heating pad on my back. It was yet another fabulous workday morning. Another day of fun and finance awaited me at the First American Bank & Trust. In this age, I felt fortunate to have a job. Unfortunately though, like many careers, it had just grown too mundane for me.
It was a perfect summer day and, if not for the presence of armed soldiers on every block, it would have also seemed like a normal summer day. Their presence was an omnipresent reminder that things were still far from normal here. We were still living in the nightmare of unwavering paranoia with every person, parked car and building being a potential target for lethal destruction. Pure anxiety had reduced a once bustling, crowded city street to just a few brave souls using it to commute warily back and forth to work.
The attack on The Lakes created a fork in the road for more than just those whose lives it’d directly impacted. A Pandora’s Box had been opened in its wake, unleashing a chain of events overseen by the Brooks’ Administration. Military enforcement of Brooks’ new order swept through the nation, generating a false sense of security. The fall of democracy had been met with praise by Congress and the highest approval ratings of any President in history. President Brooks was keeping us safe; President Brooks cared about society. Bullshit. At least, that was my opinion.
After the revocation of the Twenty-Second Amendment allowing Brooks at least one more term in office, suspicion rose amongst us more cynical members of society. The more vocal members of this opposition—radicals they were called—were said to be launching a rebellion against President Brooks as they considered him just as dangerous as The Man in Black. The Man in Black or any other responsible party still hadn’t been apprehended and, although conditions had become markedly calmer over the last couple of years, there were still random attacks occurring.
The decline in instability was due, in part, to the appearance of an inexplicable duo who’d mysteriously appeared on the scene in the last couple of years. Many thought them to be subhuman, robotically engineered by the Department of Defense to counteract The Man in Black; a means to putting an end to the insanity. Robots or not, there was something different about them Their abilities were not of this world. Normal humans simply couldn’t make the graceful yet deadly movements that they could. Normal humans couldn’t leap into the air at the staggering heights nor possess the speed they do. Normal humans couldn’t take on The Man in Black. They were our nation’s very own “superheroes”, sent to destroy The Man in Black and make our world safe again.
In some ways, I loathed the necessity for their existence, but mostly I longed to have the abilities they mastered. To be able to deliver the fatal blow and watch the life leave the eyes of the person responsible for the attack on The Lakes just as they must have watched my family die would be the best form of justice.
I was a block away from the bank when I heard a commotion coming from the corner of the block behind me. The newspaper had just hit the newsstands and, from the sounds of it, it appeared as though there had been another attack. Curious, I did an about-face, heading back in the direction of the commotion.
“Can you believe it?” a red-headed, freckled woman cried out. “It’s terrible, just
terrible.”
Another woman chimed in, “It just proves this madness will never end.”
I stood up on my tip toes to peer over the crowd in order to catch a glimpse of the headline: Hero killed after confrontation with The Man in Black
A wave of nauseated shock ran over me. How could this be? These super humans… they were mortal? I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. The duo had to have been at least partly human, and there wasn’t exactly anything man-made out there that wasn’t entirely indestructible. Nonetheless, it was shocking to me, and I had grown almost immune to shocking over the last ten years. In disbelief, I headed back down the sidewalk.
The mayhem didn’t recede when I entered the usually quiet, mundane atmosphere of the bank. Everyone was abuzz with the news of our hero’s demise.
“How could this have happened?” Travis, one of the other loan officers and a constant thorn in my side with his by-the-book attitude, enquired.
Veronica, a teller and my closest friend outside of Lucy, piped in, “Geez, Travis, nothing is impossible, nor is there anything that’s indestructible. Besides, this would be a great career opportunity for you now that there’s an opening.”
“Oh, really, how do you figure?”
“With that hard head and that thick hide of yours, it would be almost impossible for a bullet to wound you.” A snicker erupted through the crowd. Travis was not exactly a favorite amongst our usually tight-knit group.
“Hi, Celaine,” Veronica greeted me with her all-too-cheery-for-this-time-in-the-morning voice.
“Hey,” I replied. “I see we’re starting in early on Travis
this morning.”
Travis let out a disgusted groan as he headed back to his office. Veronica was one of the first people I met when I moved back to Maryland. At first, it seemed as though we had nothing in common, but after learning that we shared nearly the same unfortunate story, we instantly bonded. Having both had family members killed in an attack by The Man in Black, we began leaning on each other in hard times like an emotional crutch.
Veronica flipped back her long raven hair, the envy of every woman at the bank, and followed me into my office. “So, do you have any big plans tonight?” she asked.
“Actually, yeah, Chase is coming over tonight, and we plan on going out to dinner. Last night was another bad one, and I think he feels sorry for me,” I replied with a stifled laugh.
Veronica looked at me with concern growing in her eyes. “You had another nightmare? Celaine, this is really getting ridiculous…maybe you should get some help.”
“Are you implying that I’m not quite right in the head?”
“No, of course not. That was something I already knew.” She shot me a smirk as she adjusted some paperwork on my desk. “That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“Thanks.”
“What I mean is that maybe there’s something more behind your dreams. You know, like… like psychological or something. Maybe you need to work your inner demons out with a licensed professional. Doesn’t one of your friends work in that field?”
“Lucy, yeah. Believe me, she’s given me more than my fair share of free counseling throughout the years. Actually, I’m pretty sure she uses me as an exemplar for the mentally ill when she’s in session with her patients.”
Veronica laughed. “I just worry about you, Celaine.”
“I really appreciate it, Veronica, but Chase takes great care of me.”
“I’m sure the boy wonder does,” she said with a wink. “I just don’t know how, for the life of me, you can be around that human encyclopedia all day. He would give my brain a knowledge overload.”
“What can I say? I like ‘em’ nerdy.”
“That you do… that you do.” With that, she leapt from her perch atop my desk, nearly spilling my coffee in my lap in the process. As she proceeded to her booth in the front of the building, she offered up another jab in Travis’ direction for good measure. A quick retort of ‘Bite me’ rang from his office to which she replied, “Is that all you got? I’m sorely disappointed, Weiner.”
“It’s pronounced Wine-ner.”
“That’s not how it’s spelled, Weiner.”
Besides the obvious monetary gain, there were definite advantages to coming to work.
Chapter Seven
The Shadows
“You look absolutely amazing tonight,” Chase said, admiring me from across the small, entirely-too-cramped, wooden table.
I could feel my face turning redder than the merlot I was sipping. No matter how much time passed, I still felt the butterflies in my stomach whenever I was around him. He was like kryptonite to me; my one weakness. It was a profound feeling that was riddled with contradiction being both frightening and exhilarating at the same time, but I basked in it with the knowledge that some of the best things in life made absolutely no sense.
We were at our favorite hole-in-the-wall pub just a block from my apartment. Chase and I were not much for appearances, preferring the rugged, manly atmosphere that our pub offered. We’d spent many a date night here without it ever having grown old, even as the atmosphere around us grew more unsavory. It was unusually quiet tonight with only one other couple seated a few feet away from our table, and a couple of men playing pool in the corner. I liked the quiet, but this was a tad unusual, even for this place.
Chase took a sip of his water, swishing it in his mouth as he rolled the glass around in his hand. “Tap water, vintage 2009,” he announced discerningly.
I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into laughter, revealing the dreaded snort that came whenever I was thoroughly amused by something. The other couple near our table looked up in surprised amusement, causing my face to flush in response.
“Absolutely adorable,” he proclaimed, happy with himself.
“I bet you won’t think that in twenty years,” I said.
“Twenty years? I was going to trade you in for a new model after ten.”
“Ha, ha.”
“Celaine, I love you with every fiber of my being. Until my dying day, my heart will be yours. Unless, of course, you become sick of me.”
“Chase Matthews, the day I get sick of you is the day that pigs sprout wings and take to the sky.”
“You know that isn’t entirely impossible…” He began breaking into what I affectionately referred to as his “nerd lingo”, which usually involved talk of DNA, chromosomes, surgical procedures and pretty much anything else remotely related to the human body and how it worked.
“I’m sorry,” he stopped. “I think I’m boring you.”
“No, not at all,” I lied.
“Really? Your eyes were starting to glaze over.”
“I just like it when you go all nerdy on me.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Chase glanced up at the television on the wall to check the final score of the baseball game taped earlier that afternoon. Since the curfew, many professional games were taped as opposed to being aired live, allowing the public an opportunity to actually attend the games. The taped games were then broadcast at their normal times for the rest of the country to view within the safety of their homes. Taping not only abided the curfew laws but also served as a deterrent for The Man in Black. The shock value of an attack on a taped game was significantly less catastrophic than if the attack were to take place during a live broadcast.
Watching Chase, I looked up at the screen just in time to see a recap of the day’s news scrolling across the bottom of it. “What do you think of the death of one of our supposed superheroes?” I asked.
“It’s weird,” he replied. “I can’t say that it surprises me, but it surprises me.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“There’s nothing out there that is impervious to everything. Whatever this psychopath is, he can and he will be stopped. It’s only a matter of time. What makes me wonder is what will take his place...if something hasn’t already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Doesn’t this all seem a little odd to you, Celaine? We voted to basically give up some of the basic principles of democracy by being fed the explanation that it was for our own safety. How does that even happen? Do you think the public would have been so quick to give up any freedom, no matter how small, if The Man in Black didn’t exist…if there were nothing to fear? Do you think that President Brooks would now be serving in his third term? There’s just something fishy about this whole thing. Yet the people approve of this madness. They think just because the attacks have decreased by a couple of percentage points over the last few years that what he’s doing is working and we’re going to win this battle when, if you ask me, we’ve already lost.”
“I think that’s one hundred percent plausible but not probable,” I said in a tired, half-hearted attempt at sounding half as eloquent as him.
He smiled his crooked smile. “Well, Ms. Stevens, I do believe we need to start heading back, as Big Brother will sick the Feds on us if we break curfew.”
“Hey, you have a hospital badge,” I said with a sly, I’m-trying-to-live-on-the-edge smile. “You know the curfew doesn’t technically apply to you.”
“That may be true when I’m actually on duty, but right now I’m just a humble civilian. Nice try, though.”
“Can you blame me for trying to live dangerously for once?”
“Yeah, you’re a real rebel.” He rolled his eyes at me from across the table.
I took Chase’s hand as we walked out of the pub back onto the street towards my apartment. It was a spectacular night, perfect for a solitary romantic walk under the stars, and I couldn’t help but t
hink that it was too bad we couldn’t be on the streets past ten o‘clock. One thing I’ve never been able to get used to is walking through a city completely devoid of people at a time when logic says it should be teaming with activity. Perhaps there was some truth to Chase’s theory. In moments like this, it made perfect sense.
Despite the absolute perfection of our moment together, however, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something didn’t feel quite right. Upon turning down the alleyway leading to my apartment building, it seemed like there was someone watching us, calculating our every move. My body tensed, my stomach shifted from euphoric butterflies to a sudden sickness as though something terrible were about to happen. In a flash, I whirled around to face the dark, empty street stalking our footsteps.
“What are you doing?” Chase asked with uneasiness in his voice.
“I don’t know what it is, but I suddenly have this strange feeling that someone is watching us.”
“Oh, man, I knew this would happen someday. The fresh air has made you delusional,” he laughed. “That’s it; I’m never letting you out of the house again.”
“You may want to check your faucet; your sarcasm’s leaking,” I said in annoyance. “I’m serious, Chase. I feel someone watching us. We’re not alone. I mean…we are alone, but we’re not…it’s just…oh…you know what I mean.”
Chase placed his hand on my shoulder. “Celaine, there’s no one there. If there were, we would’ve noticed it. There are only so many places a person can hide on this empty street.” He was right, although I would never have admitted it. Behind us, there was nothing but dark, deserted alleyway; ahead of us, more of the same.
Enigma Black Page 5
