James could still see Christina, as she stood out just as strong as ever. He followed her through the crowd. In a short time he was right behind her. After a few moments of scanning the crowd to make sure no Civic Protection soldiers had noticed them, he spoke to her. “Where are you headed?” His voice startled her, and she stopped and started to turn around. She had a look of elation on her face. He put his arm on her shoulder and stopped her. “Not yet,” he said, “wait till we’re somewhere safer.”
“My apartment isn’t too far,” she said quietly as they continued walking with him behind her. "I was wondering when I’d get to see you again. I’ve missed you.” He smiled, and continued to follow her for another block until they arrived at a mid-sized apartment building. She pulled out her ID and waved it over a panel on the wall next to the doorway. The panel beeped positively and the door unlocked. She opened it and James followed her inside.
The building was modest, with simple hallways painted a light cream color that led to the different apartments. Christina’s apartment was near the top floor, which they took the stairs to. It was a studio, the entire apartment being one room, with exception of the bathroom. They walked into the apartment and James closed the door, locking it. Right after the lock clicked shut, Christina shot at him, embracing him with her whole body. She molded into him.
James just held onto her, not saying anything. Neither one of them spoke while they embraced. When he finally looked down to see her face, he could see tears.
“You remember me,” she said, “you remember us?”
“Of course I do,” James said as he smiled at her. “You're the one that led me back to myself.” He started kissing her, holding her waist and pulling her close to him. She was beautiful, and he’d missed her. He felt her hands on his back, then his shoulders. She moved up to the back of his head, and his neck. He tensed up when he felt her touch the xeno. He pulled away quickly. She was startled, and took a step towards him.
“Was that it,” she said, “is that the xeno?” He hesitated before nodding silently. “Please, show me.”
He took of the jacket, never breaking eye contact with her. His eyes had changed from the joy he’d exhibited moments ago, to the dread of what she was about to see. She stood silently, watching him. As the coat fell to the ground, dark metallic tendrils of the xeno pulled back into his back. He then pulled off the gray shirt he wore underneath the coat.
She stared at him, but he could see tears welling up in her eyes. The xeno itself was still in the small of his back on his spine. His entire body was covered in painful looking scars and pink tissue. He’d never stopped to pay too much attention to his own body since he had the xeno, but now he felt extremely self-conscious. She put her hand over her mouth as she started sobbing at the sight of his scarred body. At that moment he startled her by willing the xeno to cover his torso. She saw the metal scales cover him as an armored suit. Some places it looked like a metal cloth, others it looked like large metal scales or literal armor pads.
He let the xeno cover his face and eyes only for a moment, just so she could see. He then willed it all to go back into the small of his back. He felt ashamed of himself, of his appearance. His physical state. He turned away from her, trying to hold back his own emotions. He heard her approach him quietly. He felt her hands on his bare shoulders. She turned him back around. Staring at his eyes, she put one hand on his chest, on his heart. She could feel his heartbeat. Her other hand she placed on the back of his neck, on top of the xeno.
“I can never be free of this creature,” James said with shame in his voice, “it will always be a part of me.” Christina shook her head at him.
“Don’t you understand,” she said, “you’re alive because of it. It’s because of this creature that I have you back. Not only that, but you’re giving us hope, giving this city hope.” He looked back up at her eyes. There were tears, but she was happy. “I have my James again,” she said. She started kissing him again. He held her back, pulling her back into his arms. She was surprised by how strong he was.
34
She laid next to him, holding him tight. Her eyes were shut, but he knew she was awake. James pulled her closer to him, leaning her head onto his cheek. Her hair was brushing against his nose. He’d missed her smell. One of the many things he’d almost forgotten in the time they’d been apart. Never again, he thought as he held her close. Her body was pressed close to his as they lay in her bed, her naked skin touching his.
She was breathing softly, her breath causing a light humidity on his neck. He smiled, looking up. He glanced down at her, and then outward. He would remember this moment, he needed to.
“James,” she said, “where were you? Those two weeks you were gone, where were you?” Her eyes were closed, and she still rested softly against him. He took her hand that had been resting on his chest, holding it tight.
“I was training myself,” he said, “learning to control my abilities. What have you been told by the Vanguards?” She opened her eyes and sat up slightly, still leaning on him.
“You had an experimental creature attached to you,” she said as she stared into his eyes, “and it made stronger and more powerful than any one man. It also made you more dangerous.” James nodded his head as stared at her, squeezing her hand.
“When the xeno attached itself to me,” James said, “the trauma caused me to lose some memories for a period of time. When I first woke up in the rubble of that fallen building, all I remembered was my name. The creature’s mind exists within my own, which required constant concentration to hold it back. When I first saw you, I started getting memories back. Your memories became tied to my ability to hold it back. I would have come to you sooner, but I needed to make sure you or anyone else wouldn’t be compromised by me or the creature.” She was quiet as she listened, and for a few minutes after he’d finished.
“Do you remember everything?” she asked, finally speaking up.
“Mostly,” he said, “but I have memories that aren’t my own. I have fragmented bits of what the xeno could remember. It wasn’t created in that laboratory. It existed long before Dirge.” Her eyes grew wide as she sat up higher.
“The collapse?” she said. He smiled as he looked at her. The same excitement he’d seen when they’d first met.
“I love you,” he said, pulling her close. He kissed her hard, furiously. She was at first tense, wanting the information of their past. Just as she finally melted into him, he pulled away, and sat up.
“What is it?” she said.
“Get dressed,” he said, “I have to show you. I will explain it on the way, but you need to see it for yourself.”
*****
They were walking down a tunnel that was all too familiar to James, but very strange for Christina. Eventually they arrived at the metal tile in the wall with the “x” etched into it. He activated and typed the code into the data screen that came through the tiles. She was quiet, but he could read the awe in her. She jumped slightly when the wall behind them opened to reveal a door. James walked her in, holding her hand.
In a short time they were in the impressive lobby meeting with Elijah and Luke, as well as Luke's two young daughters. Elijah introduced her to Luke, and asked her if she needed to be shown around. Christina thought back to something James had told her while they were moving through the tunnels.
“What I really want to show, no one else knows. It’s not accessible to anyone except me.” He then handed her a small data screen, small enough to fit in a pocket. She’d never seen one that small before. “This data screen contains a memo with a code for a locked room in the hallway we’re going to pass through. When you get a chance I want you to access the room and watch the recording on the main data screen embedded into the main desk. There you will learn something about me, something I had to learn about myself. I want you to see it for yourself rather than my showing you. I know everything I’ve t
old you has been a lot to process, but there’s more, and it’s something crucial.”
She shook her head quietly at Elijah, indicating she would be fine. Her mind was still processing everything James had told her, and she was so curious as to what was in that office with the code.
Not only was there a secret base for them to operate out of, but there was an abandoned city below Dirge built of tunnels and technology they’d never seen before. The xenos, wherever they’d come from, had aided in the collapse. They’d taken everyone to Dirge. Not before all their memories were erased somehow. James had told her that the man the High Council called father was the one responsible for it, and that he alone controlled the xenos.
She talked with them, explaining what she’d learned in the office of the mayor. James and the Vanguards were now high priority targets for Civic Protection.
After she’d spoken, James indicated for all of them to follow him. He walked over to the armory, entering the code into the panel. The door slid open with a quiet whir. He walked in without saying a word. They all followed him. The room looked much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. There were dozens of aisles stocked with different weapons, and several other combat supplies such as explosives and body armor. He stopped near an aisle of pressurized containers that apparently held different explosives.
“These weapons will be used for the resistance,” James said, “and they will all be tools to our ends. There may come a time when we have open combat in the streets, as crazy as that sounds. Until that day though, I want the rifles and other weaponry to stay in here unless otherwise authorized by me. We are at war, and there will be casualties.”
“So you do think this will end in a full scale battle,” Elijah answered, “even if we take down Father and the High Council?”
“Father and the High Council already made that decision,” James said, “when they created Civic Protection. Civic Protection is their brutal force that gives us no other option. We’re not allowed to leave, but if we stay we die. Until I find another way, we’ll have to fight them, but I have to do more than that.
“I hope I can find people that really want to be free, and maybe we can get them to join us. We need to build a force that believes that we can overcome Civic Protection.”
“So we will become terrorists,” Elijah said.
“No,” James said, “to them we already are. I don’t intend to terrorize the people, but rather give them hope. Civic Protection, however, I intend to demoralize and put the fear into them for good.”
“What do you have in mind?” Christina asked.
“Hitting them where it hurts,” James said as he pulled a small data screen from his coat. It was another one that seemed unfamiliar to all of them. He activated it and sat it on a nearby shelf. In moments light streamed from the glass surface, and it projected a large rectangular display above it.
They were in awe as they watched. It was a map of the city made of digital lights, at least for Capitol and East Districts. As James moved his hand over various areas they interacted with him, highlighting and zooming in. He was highlighting specific buildings in the city. "We’ll cut off all communication towers. All the communications through the phones requires the towers. Each of these buildings has a central hub tower that projects to all of the sub towers. The districts rely on those sections for communications, so if we can disable them for a time, it’ll put Civic Protection in chaos for hours.”
“What can we accomplish in a few hours?” Elijah asked, “and what is this? I’ve never seen a data screen or vid screen that can project the image like this.”
“There are a lot of remnants of technology I was able to salvage from the fortress down below us,” James said, “and I haven’t even started searching the city yet.” James smiled and then turned to Luke.
“With your help,” James said, “I can get a message across the entire city through the network vids. We’ll use their own system against them.”
“Won’t knocking out all the towers disable the vid signals as well?” Christina asked.
“No,” Luke said, “it won’t. They run on an entirely different line. It runs one large digital signal from the central station. It actually would be easy if you can get into the terminal, which would be the hard part.”
“Why would the landline phones and the portable phones all be in the same signal?” Christina said, still trying to work everything out in her mind.
“Apparently,” Elijah said, “it was designed with simplicity in mind. Any phone connected to a data screen runs through that signal. It runs the city’s internet as well. The digital signal that the vid networks run on is a different type of signal, one that is much simpler.”
“How will you disable all of the towers?” Luke asked. James motioned to the shelves in front of them.
“There are plenty of explosives here,” James said, “as well as timers and activation switches. I can connect each explosive to a timer and they’ll all go off at the same time. I’ll time my actions and be at the network tower when they go off. It shouldn’t be too difficult for me. We can work on the details and the message to send when we have the equipment to produce it all. I can put the message on a data screen and load it into the network. What equipment would we need to produce that?” James looked at Luke as he asked the question.
“Well,” Luke said, “you’ll need a camera and some basic audio equipment. How complicated are you wanting to make this?”
“Not very,” James said as he crossed his arms.
“Just find one of their vans and take a camera and audio pack,” Luke said, “which has all the necessary cables. Maybe you should get a light as well; we may need one of those.” He thought to himself, trying to come up with anything else they might need. “Just in case, you might want to get one of the data screens they use for editing vids. It looks just like a normal data screen except it should have a small code etched in the side. We want to make it look at least a little professional.”
“Is there anything else?” James replied, “or do I need to grow an extra arm? I can do that, you know.” He smirked slightly.
“Oh ha ha,” Luke said, “all that stuff is fairly portable. You shouldn’t have any problems with any of it. Being as strong as you are. You are the Hunter, aren’t you?”
James smiled, glancing at Christina with his arms crossed.
“You really haven’t changed,” Christina said as she shook her head. She smiled at James. Her face turned serious as she spoke again, “There's something else I have to ask you before you start this, though.” She approached him and looked into his eyes with a somber face as she put one hand on the side of his face. “Does this have to be you? Why do you have to be the one to risk your life again, after all you’ve already gone through?"
James smiled at her and took her hands in his own.
“Because,” he said, “there is no one else.”
*****
They’d been gone for only a few minutes, James to get the equipment and Elijah to bring his daughter, Alicia, to the underground facility. Luke had taken his two daughters to one of the bunk areas to put them to sleep. It was strange for Christina to be alone in this unfamiliar place after being reunited with James, even with their new allies.
She stood in the hallway entrance of the facility for a few moments, hesitating. There were several doors, each with its own security panel. She pulled from her pocket the small data screen that James had given her earlier. There was only one memo on it with a seven digit number. I guess this is my chance, she thought. She walked to the nearest door, examining the small panel next to it. It was a small data screen with digital numbers. She tried the code. The panel turned red, and a small negative sound came from it. She moved over to the next door.
It took a few more doors, but she finally reached the right one. When she entered the code a positive beep rang from it as the panel turned gree
n. An electronic whirring sound came from the door, and it slid open in an instant. It was dark inside the room, and she couldn’t see any lights. She turned back to the lobby and approached the main desk, where she’d seen a small cylinder flashlight sitting earlier.
She walked quickly back to the main hallway with the flashlight in hand. The door to the dark room was still open, and she held up the small metal flashlight. The stream of light cut through the darkness of the room. There was a layer of dust on the floor, although she could see footsteps through it. James had already been here, she could tell from his tracks in the dust. That made her a little more comfortable, a little less timid. She was still a little bit apprehensive towards what she was supposed to find out.
The room was actually just the entrance to another wing of the facility, mostly dark. The power didn’t seem to work as well in this area. A few lights flickered on, but most were out. Several flickered on and off several times. That first room seemed to be a smaller lobby, with some furniture and chairs lining the walls. The walls were white, with the exception of dirt and age. Whatever automated systems maintained the other areas of the facility didn’t seem to work over here either. She walked through it to the next hallway.
There were several rooms attached to this hallway. The first few seemed to be just small rooms with not much more than a bed in each. She reached one room that seemed to interest her, though. It was decorated like a child’s bedroom. It had a bed in it, and it looked like someone had intended for a small child to live there. The nature of the decorations made her think it was probably a boy. One of the walls was a two-way mirror; she could tell by looking at it. She found the room next to it and went inside it.
City of Twilight: Rise of the Hunter (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 1) Page 16
