52
To avoid encountering another of the fallen, James kept himself hidden in every way possible. He traversed the rooftops, being as quick and hidden as possible. When a space between two buildings became too far, he spread his wings and glided to the next roof top. He kept his focus on his surroundings. He wanted to be aware of anything unusual around him.
It was now late morning, probably close to eleven o’clock. There was a cool breeze out, and only a few clouds in the sky. He looked up at the sky, looking into the dim sun. There was no need to squint, even in the middle of the day. It was early summer, although just as cool as it had always been. He wondered why people still bothered with the seasons, since there was no real difference between summer and winter in Dirge.
He could tell he was near Lower District. It was less run down than Old District, with better housing and generally more livable. There was electrical access here too, so people could have lamps and other usable appliances. Most of the buildings in this district were three to eight stories high. Not many skyscrapers. On the outer edge of the district there were dozens of factories and warehouses where most of the processing and manufacturing took place for the various needs of the city.
Most of the people living in Lower District worked in those factories, contributing to the needs of Dirge as a whole. One of the three power plants sat in this area too, near the edge of the city. The majority of the city’s fuel cells were built and charged in this plant, also. The most common use was for the cells vehicles, but there were smaller ones manufactured for small devices such as phones and the tiny cells build into data screens.
A fuel cell lasted for several months in an average car. The city buses ran on four cells each, needing replacements every two weeks. Replacing a fuel cell was simple enough, and old cells could be recycled into new cells indefinitely. The engines that ran on them were very efficient, needing very little work. Generally, the fuel cells were very safe. If a cell was destabilized however, it would either melt down or cause an explosion which was proportionate to the size of the cell and the density of the liquid inside. The liquid crystal inside the cells reacted to compounds in air that caused them to destabilize. All power cells were built with solid casings that withstand a tremendous amount of abuse, as well as a stabilizing agent built into the caps. There were also many safety precautions in vehicles themselves, as well as the factories that constructed them. As was the case with anything else though, the precautions were never enough.
There was always a chance a power cell would ignite. Normally, a car cell would just damage the car if it destabilized. The phone cells were too small to cause any real damage, they would just heat up, which was the same for data screen cells. There were constant accidents
James wondered how many people had inherited their trades and skills from their parents, working in the factories because of their parents. He still marveled at the city’s self-reliance, however. Beyond the power plant was about half a mile of concrete that led to the wall. No one had been outside those walls in over fifty years, or so it seemed. They were high enough that it was impossible for a person to climb. What could be outside this city, James thought, what has become of rest of the world?
James focused his attention on the factories, watching them with his mind’s eye. He finally saw one that piqued his interest. A munitions plant. Apparently they would turn scrap metal and other materials into weapons of various sorts, mainly the common assault rifles and pistols that Civic Protection used, with their matching rounds of ammunition. He moved closer, gliding over rooftops silently. Attacking the plant would be a bad idea, he thought, but attacking the shipments however, that could be done.
He hid himself on a rooftop, and he began memorizing the factory with his mind’s eye. He needed to know when the shipments arrived. It had to be a specific time. He realized he would need help with something like this. He thought about it as he continued to analyze the factory.
It looked like any other large building, very plain on the outside with the obvious signs that construction went on inside it. He could see inside with him mind’s eye however, so he knew everything that was going on. Just like the Civic Protection storage warehouse, there were CP guards posted throughout the plant around all the people who worked there. The more he watched, the more he believed he would have to attack a shipment if they were to gain anything out of this. That and hurt Civic Protection at the same time. I hope I can coordinate something like this, he thought.
He stayed hidden there for nearly an hour. Finally he decided it was time to go, and he moved from his hiding place, heading towards Capital District.
53
Christina sat quietly at her new desk. She still couldn’t believe that James had sabotaged the Network Vids less than a day ago. His message had aired in the early evening, so the vids would still be down for another few hours. The turn-out that day at the office, as well as most other places, had been reduced by nearly half. Many people had just decided to not show up. Due to her credentials and the high amount of people that had quit, she’d been promoted to one of the mayor’s three secretaries. She and the other two women dealt with many high security documents relating to the High Council and Civic Protection. This had worked out even better than she could have hoped.
They worked in a small office with three metal desks with data screens embedded in the surfaces. There were no windows, just a beige wall with gray carpet. The sounds of their fingers tapping on the data screens echoed throughout the room, along with the occasional beep of a digital clock on the wall.
The work was still dull, but it gave her much more of an insight to the mayor’s role in the city. She also had access to much more information, knowledge she knew James would want. Thinking of him, she checked the time. Oh, I have to meet him, she thought as she stood up from the desk. She mentioned out loud to the other two women that she was taking her lunch break. They nodded indifferently at her without even glancing up. What difference does it really make, she thought, none of these people act like they even want to be saved.
She put on her warm beige coat as she left the office and headed to the elevator. She reached it, pressing the button as she walked up to it. Finally there was a ding, and then the doors slid open. Mayor Callahan was on it, and was exiting it as she got on. He saw her and stopped for a moment.
“You’re one of my new secretaries,” he said, “aren’t you?”
“Yes sir,” she said, “Christina Ferris.”
“How is everything working out?” he said as he smiled at her.
“It’s all going well,” Christina said, “I like it better than the financial department.” Callahan chuckled at that.
“Yeah,” he said, “Mrs. Dunkum and the others over there are a little quirky. I guess you’d have to be to stare at numbers all day like they do.”
“Maybe staring at numbers all day makes them quirky,” she said. Callahan chuckled again, and stepped back.
“I won’t keep you,” he said, “you’re probably heading for lunch. I’ll see you around.” He turned and headed to his office.
She let the elevator doors close, relieved that everything had gone well so far. He doesn’t seem so bad, she thought, although he may be a little too friendly. The elevator took only about a minute before it opened into the lobby. She walked to the doors and scanned her ID card on the panel. The small panel turned green and the doors opened. There were some soldiers carrying large rifles she had never seen before, standing at the lobby doors on the inside and outside. She left the building walking East down the sidewalk.
She was four blocks away when she stepped into an alley. She leaned against the wall, looking out onto the street occasionally just to watch people passing by. She was waiting. It only took a few minutes, and she heard a voice in her head.
“Christina, this is James. Don’t reply, I’m a block away. I know you can hear me though.” She was startled
, but just continued to stare at the wall in front of her. “Good,” James said, “both Alicia and I can do this, communicate telepathically. Unfortunately only the fallen like us can, so you won’t be able to answer back to me. His referencing himself and Alicia as fallen startled her.
“I’ve found the main weapons plant for Civic Protection. My plan is to set up a raid that will rob them of their next shipment. It probably won’t be for a few days, so you have time. I need you to find out when Civic Protection picks up their shipments. It would be easier to steal them as they’re on route than from the plant itself. If you are compromised, reach out to me. I am monitoring your thought pattern, emotions. I’ll be watching over you, protecting you however I can. Go get something to eat now. No one can suspect anything from you.”
She waited a few more minutes, and let the alley. Walking to a nearby restaurant, she tried to just act normal despite the anxiety that started to climb into her emotions.
54
She was a spy now, but not a very good one. She was nervous enough that she’d lost her appetite. As she sat at the table, she shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. She calmed herself, her mind. She focused her mind on how she could find that information. She would probably need some way to get into the mayor’s office again. He might not even have that information. She knew James wouldn’t be angry at her if she failed. He was relying on her now though, and she was a vital part of their cause. It was something she’d always dreamed of, but the reality now seemed so different. Her fantasies didn’t have the looming threat of Civic Protection and the darkness of failures that she now faced.
James had great physical strength, but he also had alluded to a power he had that was even greater. His mind’s eye. There were others like him, and he now had a name for them, along with himself. The Fallen. The name frightened her. She stood from the table after placed a card with a few credits on it.
She walked back to the capital slowly, motivated by mixed emotions. She waved her ID over the small panel next to the door. It turned green as usual and the guards allowed her to pass as the doors opened automatically. She went up the elevators to her office, squeezing her fists tightly at her sides. Her palms were sweating. She wiped them slowly on her jacket sides. The elevator seemed to take longer than normal. She knew it was the same as always, but with her stress it seemed to move slower. The doors opened, and she stepped out. There was a calm in the air. Many people were still on their lunches. She went to her small office that was shared by the other two women. They were both gone, probably to lunch as well. She placed her coat on the hook on the wall and sat for a moment at her desk, staring blankly at the surface.
All right, she thought, I need a reason to get inside the mayor’s office. Maybe to bring him some document of some sort.
She started to activate the data screen on the desk surface when she noticed something. The top drawer of her desk was slightly opened. She didn’t remember leaving it like that when she’d left. There was a small data screen, the disposable kind, sitting alone in the drawer. She picked it up and tapped the surface. Only one character showed up in the middle of the screen. The letter “V.”
She looked around the room for a moment. Someone knows, she thought. She stared at the data screen for several moments, frozen. She was holding it in her hands, and realized she wasn’t doing anything. She stood and walked over to her coat, placing the small data screen in the inside pocket.
She sat at her desk and focused on her work. It was hard when she knew what she had, but she didn’t need to be the one to open it.
The rest of the day went by quickly enough since she had plenty to do. Before long it was time to leave. Christina had always taken the bus to work, and so she found herself on the bus stop in front of the capitol.
It wasn’t long before she was sitting on the bus, waiting for it to reach her apartment. It was evening now, darker with looming clouds in the sky. It was quiet, and there weren’t many people out now. It was strange. Sitting on the bus, she watched the large vid screens on the sides of buildings as she passed by them. The network was finally up again. The reporters were carrying on like nothing had happened, and were saying that the Hunter was dead; killed by Civic Protection. Of course they were just trying to deter everyone from action in any way they could. She ignored it, turning her head to the interior of the bus.
There were not many other passengers, no more than eight people including her. They were all sitting quietly on the way to their homes. The mood was a little gloomy inside the bus. These were the people who were remaining at their day jobs. People who’ve given up, and didn’t feel the hope of being freed from the tight grip of Dirge. It made her sad for them, sad for all the people she saw on the streets. People who believed they wouldn’t be saved, but that this too would pass just like everything else in this unchanging city.
Before long the bus arrived at her stop. She got off and headed into the apartment building. She walked in her small sparsely decorated apartment a few minutes after that. She didn’t feel too attached since she knew before long she’d be living in the underground facility.
She then heard a noise, a tapping on glass. She walked over to the small window above the sink in the kitchen. It was James, clinging to the side of the wall with his claws upside down, peering into the window. She opened it up to him.
“I have something for you,” she said. He smiled as he crawled inside, squeezing through the narrow window. It surprised her, how easily he did it. He was looking thinner.
“I know,” he said as he approached her and took her hands, “I felt your anxiety today. You calmed and I knew you were alright, but I knew you must have found something out.”
“Yes, I have something for you.” She let go of one of his hands and pulled the small data screen from her coat. He took it from her slowly, as if he were examining it with his extra senses. He tapped the surface and saw the “V” pop up on the screen. There was a brief delay, and then text started scrolling across the screen. It was a message for him.
There was a stack of documents inside with a handwritten letter on the top. James started reading it out loud.
“This is for Alex Vanguard, the surviving son of Elijah and Callista.
I was among the small inner circle of Callista Vanguard’s resistance. I am hidden deep within Civic Protection, and I’ve covered yours and your girlfriend’s identities as best as I can. I can’t guarantee how long it will last since the Council has their own servers that log every citizen’s activities in the city. As soon as they know where to look, they will discover Christina’s identity and yours as well.
For that reason I am giving you a head start. This data screen contains all the hidden bases of Civic Protection. All the locations of their secret weapon caches that aren’t located in Capital District, all of their warehouses. Their Capital District bases contains the majority of their arsenal; tanks, gunships and powerful automatic weapons. The Civic Protection army is larger than you realize, mostly because it’s hidden and spread out. Gather as many supplies as you can and build your resistance as fast as you can.
You need to take out as many CP outposts in Old District and Lower District as possible. You will need to recruit as fast as you can. If your forces are not strong enough when this becomes an actual fight, an actual war, then Civic Protection will raze your resistance to the ground.
Use this information wisely, and be careful. I’ve done what I’ve had to undercover in Civic Protection, things to keep my cover safe. I’ve seen what they’re capable of. Know this though, they are people too, and captives of this city just like everyone else. They’ve just been conditioned to not know that they aren’t wardens, but prisoners.
When this is all over, if I survive, I’d like to meet you.
Sincerely, G”
He paused for a moment after reading the letter. He started tapping through the information on the small data sc
reen quietly. He finally looked up at her.
“Where did you get this, again?”
“It was in my desk,” Christina said, “after I got back from lunch.” She chuckled a little bit. He smirked at her. “Does the information look legit?” She asked quietly.
“You have no idea,” he said as he put the data screen against his coat side. It opened up, swallowing the data screen into it. She could see the outline of the data screen in his coat, not in a pocket but literally inside it.
“I’ve never seen you do that before,” she said.
“Little trick I learned,” he said, “Christina this data will change a lot. We have a bigger chance now with it. I just wish I knew who this person was in Civic Protection that was helping us.” He had a look of relief in his eyes mixed with hope. He was staring off for a minute before he turned back to her. He walked closer to her, and held her cheek in his hand.
“I only wish this could be over already,” he said, “when I think about how much more we have ahead of us, it makes me tired.” She smiled at him, caught in the mixed emotion.
“I guess that’s what being the hero of the story costs,” she said with a crack in her voice. Her eyes began to well up as she looked into his. She felt tired too. She wanted nothing more than to be done with all of this. To no longer fear suffering or death. To have problems she could imagine would be normal. Raising a child, having friends. Seeing James without him trying to hide the looks of anxiety or suffering he tried to hide from her.
No, she had to fear for a future she might never see. She and James might never see tomorrow if things didn’t work out. He watched her with his eyes.
“What are you thinking?” James said.
“I’m thinking I don’t want you to leave, and if you do I might never see you again.” She placed her own hand on his cheek. He smiled at her softly, and put his hand over hers.
City of Twilight Part II: The Fallen (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 2) Page 5
