by Aline Riva
“And what about that?” Joy asked him, indicating to the veneer on the side of his head that was so similar to Jekel's, “You'll have to hide it to get into the city.”
“I'll hide in the motor home until we get there, then once we're past the check point I'll put my helmet up,” he replied.
Flynn stepped forward and held out his hand.
“Welcome on board, Mr Silk,” he said and they shook hands over the table.
Kade smiled again.
“Actually,” he replied, “It's only Mr Silk when I'm over at the studio or helping out at the festival – right now I'm Captain Silk again...at least for tonight!”
As the night wore on, Jekel kept to Riley's advice , staying flat on his back on top of the make shift bed as he lay beside Violet and she talked to him about anything and everything to keep his mind off his worries for his worsening power failure.
“So...you used to be a stage magician?” she asked.
Jekel turned his head and smiled as he met her gaze.
“You know a lot about me for someone who got stuck with the ECL...”
“I did a bit of research after I saw your interview...You used to be a celebrity in the old world?”
He chuckled at the memory, looking up at the cracked ceiling and back at Violet as fond memories filled his mind.
“When I was a boy I used to go along and watch some of the shows that were on at the local hall,” he said, “All kinds of acts turned up in summer season... There was this one guy, brilliant illusionist...he called me up on the stage and let me help with an act. That was when I got hooked. I decided when I grew up I was going to be a stage magician like him...So I did it. And I got by okay, doing the odd party here and there, got a slot performing at the old theatre near the seafront...it used to be a music hall in the old days, fantastic old décor and atmosphere in there...then I got a regular place at a holiday camp and then things changed...” he paused for a moment, keeping out the part about how he became a cyborg before the old world ended, “Then later I became very successful and it wasn't the theatre or the holidays camps any more, I was on tour, I had TV show lined up – I was making big money. Then that world ended and everything changed...But during the battle for Sanctuary I was wounded and after I got the wiring and the veneer I was given the chance to be festival host and it just took off. So I got to be a celebrity all over again...I can't complain, I've had a good life...I've got Joy and Travis too...maybe I shouldn't be so bitter about everything ending so soon...it's been a good life in many ways...”
“Don't talk like that, you might be wrong,” Violet said.
Jekel took her words with kindness, but set her straight on the situation, because too much optimism really did seem wasted.
“I fell from a control tower at Sanctuary during battle and severed my main cable. It was reconnected but the cut out had caused part of the micro wires in my brain to fail. I was in a coma for months then the new power boosting wire finally kicked in and I managed to get my life back together. But we always knew it wouldn't last, that wire was always going to fail one day – we just didn't expect it to literally burn out. Riley had me on some cyborg based medication to try and prevent damage on burn out but putting that stuff into my human blood stream didn't work out, so now I'm on basic pain management shots. I'm not wrong, Violet. I don't have long to live – and that time has been cut even shorter by that stun shot your sister gave me.”
“I'm sorry,” she said softly.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Don't be. Like I said, I've had a good life...But... I think it's going to end before help arrives. I'm still weak and that's a warning sign... I just want to be alive and stay that way...I want to feel alive again!”
As a tear ran down his cheek she brushed it away, turning on her side and putting her arms around him. Comforting him closely seemed like the most natural thing to do, and as he held her he looked over to a tailor's dummy in the corner, wearing a dusty but clearly well made suit. The sight of it briefly lifted his spirits.
“I do like those threads over there, shame I'm not in better shape – I could leave here with a whole new wardrobe!”
She laughed.
“You do like your fine clothes...”
“I always have,” he replied as sadness clouded his eyes once more, “It's over...I'll never see Joy or Travis again. I'll never get up on that stage at the festival again...”
He closed his eyes tightly, trying to stop his tears from falling. Then her soft lips on his brought him abruptly out of his sorrow as his eyes snapped open wide and he looked at her in alarm, freezing at her kiss.
“No, no...” he said as she drew back, “Oh Violet... a few years back I would have, yes... but since my wiring was adjusted I've been so different...I've changed a lot...I don't fool around any more. And its not just that, I once almost lost Joy before we married because I cheated on her...I can't do that ever again...”
It was then a frightening thought came to mind.
“But I may never see her again!”
Violet got up and went over to the door and locked it, then she lay beside him once more, turned on her side and as she slid her hands through his hair and her fingertips touched the sensitive veneer at the side of his head, making sensors beneath jump to life, he caught his breath.
“No, we can't...”
“Just let me remind you that you're still alive,” she said softly, “Close your eyes...Pretend I'm Joy.”
He looked at her for a moment, into her sweet gentle eyes, then he thought again that he may not live to see morning – and he made his decision as desire darkened his eyes.
“I know I'm dying but I need to feel alive, yes, I do...very much. And if I don't get to see tomorrow, no regrets!”
As he pulled her closer she caught her breath, then Jekel closed his eyes as he kissed her deeply, wishing she was Joy but thankful to be in the arms of someone and to know tenderness, perhaps for the last time as he blocked out all thoughts of the coming of a dawn he may not live to see...
Elise had switched into android mode as she kept the speed steady, her eyes set on the road ahead and the motor home sped along, swallowing up more miles. At the back of her hybrid mind the human side of her was full of emotion for Felix as she thought of him imprisoned, and how she would be so close yet so far from saving him. But this was not about Felix – not today. This was about Jekel, who may not live to reach Cyborg valley even if they did manage to rescue him...
Joy was beside her, a look of determination in her eyes as she watched the road and the surrounding fields loose their lustre and got darker, as did the skies as in the distance, mist swirled as the lingering pollution of the city beckoned. They had been driving for hours and now the City was finally in sight, looking bright against the night sky compared to the shadowy rubble that surrounded it, all that was left of the old London, here and there buildings standing tall and dark, like relics of a lost civilisation.
“Are we ready?” said Elise, and she kept up speed as she headed for the gates, her sights still set on the city beyond.
“Ready,” replied Flynn, who was sat at the table at the back of the vehicle.
“Me too,” called Kade as he slipped into the bathroom of the refurbished motor home and closed the door and locked it behind him.
As they reached the gates, Elise slid down the window and looked to the guards on duty.
“You know who I am,” she said, “And I have a pass to enter the city issued by the Vice Premier...I just want to try and gain a personal meeting with Felix.”
“Your pass is ready, Ma'am,” replied a guard who handed up papers. Elise looked down at him coldly and wondered if he was pro or anti cyborg.
“Thank you,” she replied, then as the guards respectfully stepped away and opened up the gates fully, she drove through and down a wide road, heading for the heart of Freedom City.
Flynn jumped up and lifted the seat, taking his gun from the storage box and some extra am
mo. Up front, Joy was taking her weapon from behind the curtain in the loving area that Elsie and Felix used to share whilst on the road. Then the bathroom door opened up and Kade Silk stepped out, carrying his gun as he headed for the mid section of the vehicle.
“Keep following the map,” he said to her, “Stop at Bell Street so Flynn and Joy and move out – then take a sharp left into Cannon Road and that's where I get out.”
Elise looked down at the computerised map on the control panel, which now had the communications device attached and as the red light flashed in the middle of Bell Street joy felt a vague sense of relief – at least as long as he was alive, the signal could track him...
Elise drew the vehicle to a stop beside a pile of rubble and the row of shops beyond, where above the first floor of a derelict building was an old street sign that said Bell Street.
“Good luck!” she said.
“Won't need it, but thanks,” Joy replied, then she and Flynn left by the front passenger door. As soon as they were out and the door was closed, Elise drove off, taking a sharp left into Cannon Road. As she saw the buildings looming closer and the helicopters sat on the roof tops, she looked back at Kade.
“Ready?” she asked him.
“I'll get out here,” he told her, as he paused to check his weapon, “Then you drive around the back of the city and come out of the front gates and keep going . Just hit that high road and head back for the Valley. Give it an hour, look up and if you see a large helicopter heading the same way, assume all is well.” Then he pressed a button at the side of the neck of his uniform, and the helmet covered him.
Elise slowed the motor home to a halt, he checked the road was empty, then opened up the door, jumped down, slid the door shut and thumped the side of the vehicle.
“Get to those gates, Elise!” Kade called out, and Elise drove away, heading for the back way that lead back out of the City of Freedom.
Up in the attic room of the old tailor's shop, Jekel laughed softly as he let go of the arms that had held him in his darkest hour, suddenly feeling glad to be alive as her touch and her closeness had brought back a firm reminder that he was still very much in this world. Thoughts of Joy held no room for guilt, only sadness as he guessed at any moment that dying wire inside his head could snap, and this is where he would die – on a dusty old floor in a derelict shop, far from home and those he loved, but at least he was not alone because it seemed that fate had sent him a woman who in his hour of deepest despair, had seemed like an angel as she gave him a final reminder of what it felt like to know he was still alive.
“No regrets?” she asked as the moonlight shone through the window and he got a glimpse of her smooth skin and perfect curves as she hastily got dressed again.
“None,” he replied, “It's a circumstance that never should have come about but at least you made me forget for a little while...” he tugged up his zip then buckled his belt, then started to button his partly open shirt, all the while still lying on his back because he still felt exhausted, “And it was a very short while...sorry about that. I'm weak and tired...I;m surprised I managed it at all!” Jekel straightened his tie, smoothed down his jacket and gave a sigh.
“I did think of her...while we were...you know, while I was with you..I thought of my wife.”
It was a relief to see nothing but understanding in her eyes.
“I know, and when we get out of here – and we will, because you won't die – you will see her again and I'm just a girl who helped you out. I know the score.”
“I'm glad you do, and you're coming with me – I'm not leaving you here with those animals downstairs.”
“As soon as your friends arrive we'll have to get to the tunnel that leads back to the surface...we don't have to go through the old cafe, we can take the side passage,” Violet said.
Jekel sat up, feeling a flicker of alarm at the weakness that hit him all over again.
“I'm not sure I can even make it down the stairs.”
“You will,” she promised him as she checked her loaded gun and holstered it, “I'll help you.”
Joy and Flynn had made their way through the opening of the tunnel, and had hurried down into the darkness clutching their weapons as they looked ahead to where a wall was broken, and beyond it, a light shone dimly, throwing shadow up a cracked wall that led into the old shop beyond.
“Ready?” said Flynn.
Joy nodded.
Then they cleared the broken wall, and as a gunman on watch stepped out of the shadows, shots rang out, the gunman's own weapon fired a single stray shot into the air as his body convulsed with the bullets that peppered his flesh, then he slumped to the ground.
“Now we're in the shit!”Flynn exclaimed, “Plan B, Joy?”
“Plan B and pray we don't bring the whole block down!”she said.
Then shouts and the sounds of weapons being loaded came somewhere beyond the store that led to the cafe.
They moved fast, heading into the room that was littered with burnt and broken furniture, as through the hole in the wall, weapons were being checked and already the first of many shooters were coming at them. As bullets hit the wall joy dropped and rolled, fired back and glanced to Flynn, who had stepped into shadow thanks to the cover of a night that was not yet over. She saw him give a nod, and Joy drew a grenade from her pocket, ripped out the pin and pitched it through to the cafe. The shooters who were firing had not seen it, still firing at Joy as she rolled again, returned fire and Flynn fired from the shadows.
The explosion that happened next with a boom that shook the floors and made the old walls shed dust and plaster launched bodies and body parts out of the opening, whilst inside the cries of the injured sounded as plaster rained down and bricks flew about the place, causing Joy to roll and Flynn to duck as the brick work rained outwards from the force of the blast.
Then as more fighters assembled, checking weapons and shouting orders in the smoke and brick dust and confusion, Flynn launched his own grenade into the hole, sending a second boom shuddering the ancient building as more of the enemy were taken out. Then Joy jumped to her feet and ran to the shadows, as together, she and Flynn inched closer to the broken wall that led to the hide out of End Cyborg Life.
As a wall caved in and a ceiling began to collapse she heard screams from the rooms beyond, and felt no pity for the bastards who had taken her husband. Flynn's thoughts were on survivors as he kept his weapon ready and kicked aside shattered brick work and bloodied rubble, and went first into the former head quarters of the ECL.
As the second explosion had made the whole building shake, Violet had jumped to her feet and helped Jekel to stand.
“This is it,” she said as he leant against her as weakness got the better of him, “Come on, we have to get out of here!”
“Maybe we should wait for rescue,” he said, but she just tightened her grip around his waist and helped him towards the door.
“We just heard two explosions – we're on the top floor, the whole place could come down and take us with it!We have to get out!”
She unbolted the door, checked the stairway was clear and then as shots sounded in the distance, she and Jekel made their way down the narrow staircase. As he leant heavily on the rail and paused for breath, the view of the floor at the bottom seemed to swim as dizziness washed over him, then as more shots sounded and louder this time, Violet urged him to keep going, and he blinked several times, his head cleared and they made it to the bottom of the stairs.
“I don't think I can go much further,” he said as the weakness that had kept him feeling shattered seemed to increase tenfold.
One look at him told Violet he was most likely right, but she had made him a promise and intended to keep it.
“We just need to make it to the tunnel,” she told him as he leant heavily against her and she looked down the dark, narrow passageway that avoided the cafe and the broken wall and the rubble.
“I don't think I can,” Jekel replied weakly as he loo
ked into the gloom, “It seems so far away...and my head hurts again...”
Up the other end of the tunnel she saw ECL fighters dash past, heading the other way as they fired shots into what was left of the former cafe and a volley of shots was fired in return.
“We have to make it to the main tunnel!” she said, and tightened her grip about Jekel's waist and pulled him onwards, into the gloom and away from the gunfire.
“I can barely see in here...” Jekel's voice echoed in the hollow space as they headed for the back exit that lead to the surface.
“It's not too bad, I can see the end...Let's get you away from the gun fire...” she replied, looking ahead and seeing a distant wall where the main tunnel began.
Jekel blinked as he looked into the darkness, stumbling as he let her lead him, and as they reached the end of the corridor and the main tunnel opened up, as a white flash blinded him, Jekel's legs buckled and he fell to his knees as Violet grabbed at him, pulling him closer to a shadowy corner as she knelt beside him.
“Ash!” she said in alarm, “Wake up!”
His eyes slowly opened. Jekel looked up and realised Violet was cradling his head in her lap and saw that she looked tearful. Her touch felt reassuring as a pain flickered at the back of his head then faded out.
“Was that a bomb? Are you okay?”
“What bomb?” she said in confusion.
His vision was clearing now. He looked up at her with fear shining in his eyes as he gave a gasp.
“That white flash...you saw it!”
