I had to get moving. I made my way along the duct to the exit point and smashed through the grating in the ceiling. I jumped down into the storeroom, made my way to the door, opened it and peeked out. The hallway was empty. I checked my HUD — there were no cameras immediately in front of me, but there were a couple near an intersection farther down. I took off. It was just like old times — I was Cam-surfing.
I followed the Rebels’ map, dodging cameras as I went. I felt bad for the people I was deceiving and leaving behind — especially Laura. I stopped for a second and clamped my eyes shut as I thought about her. I’d already abandoned her once. Now I was going to do it again. For good this time. I checked the countdown — ten minutes. It was slower going, Cam-surfing — I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. And if I didn’t? Maybe it would be just as well.
As bland as the building had looked from the outside, inside it was ultra-modern, jammed with labs and high-tech equipment. I spotted a couple of workers and guards as I moved, but managed to dodge behind a corner or into an alcove before they saw me. There weren’t many people around. I guess everybody was off fighting the Rebels or something.
As I moved, Bailey’s, and then Laura’s, voices pleaded over my HUD with ever-increasing desperation.
I made it to the final hallway. I could see an exit door at the end. Two minutes. At some point I’d have to activate the ‘death’ hack, but I couldn’t do it too early…
I rushed toward the outside door.
Laura screamed into my HUD, “Alex! For God’s sake! Get out of there!”
I was halfway there when a guard stepped out right in front of me from an office door. We both jumped. He was as surprised as I was. It took a few seconds for him to figure out that I didn’t belong there. By that time I had my gun out. I glanced at my HUD display — one minute.
He jumped at me just as I raised the gun to shoot. He was a big guy; there was no way I was going to take him in a fight. I tried to fire but he grabbed my gun wrist and twisted it backwards, driving me to my knees. Thirty seconds. He fumbled for his own gun in the holster on his belt. I pulled the trigger of mine. The bullet missed him, but the blast startled him and made him hesitate. Fifteen Seconds. He grabbed again for his weapon. Ten seconds. I braced myself.
He was drawing the weapon from his holster when the whole building lit up. The shock wave knocked us both off our feet. The guard fell back and let go of my wrist. I fell on my ass. My gun went off, which reminded me that I was still holding it. I staggered to my knees and held it in both hands.
The guard was stunned, but he recovered and pushed himself up from the floor. He fumbled again for his weapon. The whole building was shaking. The walls were swaying around us. I could barely hold on to my gun as I pointed it at his chest and pulled the trigger. With the deafening bomb blast, I didn’t even hear the shot. A patch of red bloomed on the guard’s chest and he dropped to the ground.
The walls started to give way as I took off, racing for the door. I got there, turned the door handle and pushed. It wouldn’t budge. The building’s frame had buckled and jammed it in place. I took a flying leap and slammed my shoulder against it. Nothing.
The hallway itself started to collapse around me. I was screwed. For a few seconds I stood there, waiting to die. The ceiling started to cave in. The door frame twisted sideways. The door popped out from the pressure, but the gap was too small to fit through. I took another run at it with my shoulder. It scraped open just enough to squeeze through.
I was out, standing in an alley next to the building. The whole structure was swaying back and forth, and the sky was lit up with flames from the roof. The place was going to collapse. I flew across the alley and behind a nearby building.
When I was sure I was out of danger, I paused, turned off the crypted phone, and activated Gene’s death hack.
“Alex!” Laura was screaming into my HUD as I took off like a bullet.
CHAPTER 42
Dead Again
A month had passed since my ‘death’ at the factory. In a building so deep in the Dregs that if you climbed to the top floor, you could actually see wilderness, I’d set up what was to be my new home. The good thing about the location was that I could forage for stuff to eat in the forest (as long as I carried a gun). In my explorations of the surrounding abandoned buildings, I’d come across some tossed-out books on seeds and plants. Someday I might even be able to set up some kind of garden.
Gene’s ‘death’ hack was still in place. I hadn’t dared to contact anybody, but I could monitor what was going on. Since Wickham’s death, the CCE had been crippled, and the elected government had been shown up for the fantasy it was. Most importantly, without Wickham, Vita Aeterna was crushed. The Elite were still entrenched, but the belief in them as god-like masters had been broken.
The factory had been completely destroyed, though, of course, they could always build another one. Connor’s group had succeeded in capturing the InfoCorp communications center. It had taken a week for SecureCorp to take it back, and for all that time, the Rebels were able to broadcast the truth.
After the place was recaptured, the new head of the CCE fought desperately to pretend that nothing had changed, but by then the Rebel force had exploded in size. They regularly attacked SecureCorp, and were making progress every day.
And lately other pretty damaging hacks were showing up. Just knowing that stuff like that could be done gave people a feeling of power. I heard that both Richie and Jake had joined the Rebels. I never heard what happened to Spiro. Maybe someday I’d be able to thank Richie for all he’d done. Things were changing for the better, but nobody, including me, knew what the final outcome would be.
I’d spent weeks setting up the security barricades around my new home, hooking up a crude water supply, and working out various ways to get food. I cast my mind ahead, and shuddered as I imagined living in this place for the next almost four hundred years. Best not to think about that. Maybe someday, like Uncle Zack, I’d decide that my life wasn’t worth living. Right now, in spite of all that had happened, and in spite of my circumstances, I wanted to be here.
My long-term hiding place was coming together, but I wasn’t there right now. I was holed up in what was left of an office on the top floor of a building a few blocks from the current hideout for the newly combined Rebel/Dead Shift coalition. I was getting to know the Dregs pretty well by now, and the group were a lot easier to find, since there were now thousands of them.
I’d sent a message to Connor and Bailey over my crypted phone, and convinced them to come and meet me. I wouldn’t tell them who it was they were meeting, just that I was a friend who had valuable news about the movement. I knew they’d be able to identify the phone, and wouldn’t be able to resist finding out who had it. I stipulated that they had to come alone, and that I would take off if I heard they’d told anybody else, or brought anybody else with them.
My hiding place had the twin advantages of an unobstructed view of the Rebel hideout and multiple avenues of escape. The building was huge, and I’d spent a couple of days mapping out getaway routes, just in case. In rummaging through the abandoned buildings near my new home, I’d come across an ancient pair of binoculars. The left lens was smashed, but the right one worked perfectly. I peered through it now at the Rebel hideout.
Connor and Bailey exited the front door and, ten minutes later, scanned warily around them as they approached the entrance to my building — alone, as I’d stipulated. I was ready to run if I found they hadn’t followed my instructions.
They had their guns drawn as they entered the building. I heard their footsteps and whispers as they stalked through the hallways of the top floor, following my instructions. They finally reached the room I was in. Connor just about fainted when he stepped through the open doorway.
“You!” he said, the words catching in his throat. I had to laugh. It reminded me so much of Richie’s reaction when he first realized I was still alive after my Appraisal.
> “But how?” Bailey asked. I was glad to see that he’d finally healed, and his bandages were gone.
I gestured toward two chairs I’d set up for them. They put away their guns and sat down. I explained what had happened at the factory, how I’d activated Gene’s hack, made my way out of the Corp Ring, laid low, and finally set up my own hideout.
“They’re never going to leave me alone as long as they know I’m alive,” I said. I smiled. “So now I’m dead — for the second time.”
They both stared at me like I really was dead. But their expressions told me that both knew I was right. It was the only way.
“But how are you going to live?” Bailey asked.
I shrugged. “It’s probably best if I don’t tell you anything about how or where I’m living. I’ll contact you once in a while and let you know that I’m still alive…”
“Alive,” Bailey said, “but for what purpose?”
“That’s something I’ve got to work out for myself. Maybe there’s some way I can be of help to you guys. Maybe my long life can be of some use to your cause.”
“I’ve got a contact in FoodCorp,” Connor said. “We might be able help you there — leave caches of food at designated points, or something.”
Bailey smiled. “And maybe we can scrape together some money and open a bank account for you. It wouldn’t have to be that much. The interest would eventually be enough to support you. It would take a long time, but…”
“Time is something I’ve got lots of right now,” I said. “But you two are the only ones that can know. If I hear that you’ve told anybody else, you’ll never hear from me again.”
Both their faces fell, as the reality of the situation hit them.
“Wickham’s dead,” Connor argued. “The CCE are mortally wounded. They may not survive. The public are in a surly mood, especially the ones at the bottom, who are the vast majority. Maybe it’s not forever.” But the lines on his face seemed to say he knew otherwise.
“To the world — even to what’s left of Vita Aeterna and the CCE, you’re dead,” Bailey put in. “Nobody’s looking for you. You’ve got time on your side. The highest guy in the CCE is a one point eight but he’s already ancient. He’ll be dead in fifty years. By that time your effective age will be twenty-five.”
I stayed in the shadows. Even sitting across from the two human beings who’d done the most to keep me alive and free, I felt the need to be hidden. The scary part was that I was getting used to hiding and being on the run. And I was going to get a lot more used to it.
“Nobody but you two,” I repeated. “Nobody.”
“Not even her?” Bailey asked. He gestured outside with his head. “She’s right down there. I haven’t told her anything.”
I clenched my fists. “Especially not her.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, finally acknowledging what we all knew. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.”
“Hey,” I smiled. “Like you said, maybe it’s not forever.”
We talked for an hour or so about the movement, their lives, and how I would stay in touch. Then they said their goodbyes and left me alone. I snuck to the window, pulled down a slat of the hanging remnants of a Venetian blind, and peered down the block with my makeshift telescope. My chest tightened as Laura wandered out of the entrance of the Rebel building, staring ahead, as if she was searching for something.
A few minutes later Connor and Bailey appeared beside her, and the three spoke for a few seconds. Connor put a hand on her elbow. She hung her head as he led her inside.
I imagined her future. She’d hook up with some Rebel guy with about the same Appraisal. With luck, they’d both live long enough to get married and have children. Her children would grow. I dared to hope that the movement we’d started would allow them to live happy and healthy lives.
She and her compatible husband would age, slowly — for them. Their children would grow to adults, and have children of their own. In a hundred and twenty years or so, if Laura and her mate survived everything else life throws at you, they would die of old age. If her children were blessed with similar Appraisals, they’d die about forty years later.
By that time, I would be… I did the mental calculations. I closed my eyes and hung my head — I’d have an effective age of about — forty-five.
I dropped the blind slat and turned from the window. I’d seen enough.
It was time to get going. I had a life to live.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Vita Aeterna!
I know there are millions of books out there for you to choose from, and I’m honoured that you chose mine. It’s a challenge for relatively unknown authors like myself to reach new readers, and this is where you can help.
If you enjoyed this book and think it would be of interest to other readers, please visit and write a customer review on Amazon.com. Positive reviews are the best way to attract new readers, and I’m grateful for each and every one I receive.
About the Author
Jay Allan Storey has traveled the world, passing through many places in the news today, including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Swat valley in Pakistan. He has worked at an amazing variety of jobs, from cab driver to land surveyor to accordion salesman to software developer.
Jay is the author of four novels, THE ARX, THE BLACK HEART OF THE STATION, ELDORADO, and VITA AETERNA, and a number of short stories. A new novel is currently in the works. His stories always skirt close to the edge of believability (but hopefully never cross over). He is attracted to characters who are able to break out of their stereotypes and transform themselves.
He loves both reading and writing, both listening to and playing music, and working with animals. He's crazy for any activity relating to the water, including swimming, surfing, wind-surfing, sailing, snorkeling, and scuba diving.
Jay is married and lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Contact Jay at:
Website: www.jayallanstorey.com
Email: [email protected]
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Also From Jay Allan Storey
THE ARX
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"…Great mix of thriller with a little sci-fi" — Ed E. Morawski
ELDORADO
In an energy-starved future, Richard Hampton's world is blown apart when his younger brother Danny disappears and the police are too busy trying to keep a lid on a hungry, overcrowded city to search for him. Richard has to make the transformation from bookish nerd to street-smart warrior to survive when he jumps the 'Food Train' for the disintegrating suburbs in a desperate search for Danny and his dog, Zonk.
Branded a criminal by a community of outcasts and condemned to death, Richard is rescued by streetwise Carrie, who joins in his search. As they trek across the remnants of the suburbia, facing criminal gangs, renegade militias, and the hardships of the road, their friendship evolves into something more.
The trail finally unwinds at a deserted complex in the remotest corner of the sprawling suburbs. The incredible secret they uncover there will alter their lives and their world forever.
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was hooked right from the get go, on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing, and I couldn't put it down." — Tahnee Justus
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THE BLACK HEART OF THE STATION
How did we get here? Where are we going? Those are the questions Josh Driscoll, a teenager living in The Station, a city built one kilometer beneath the surface of a frozen, lifeless earth, is determined to answer. Josh comes to believe that the Black Heart, a computer complex buried in a sector critically damaged in a massive asteroid strike centuries ago, holds the answers to all his questions, and is vital to their future survival.
“…The story kept me reading to the end.” — Carrol Wolverton
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Vita Aeterna Page 24
