Eleven Graves

by Aman Gupta

  “What if all of this is connected?” asked Eric.

  “But how?” asked Kate.

  “There are lot of missing links. Something is going on that connects everything. We just can’t see the full picture yet,” said Eric.

  Eric and Joey placed the laptops back into the respective houses. With assistance from Rick, Kate, Emma and Vik setup cameras near the houses to track movements. Eric and Joey decided to stay at one of the houses to monitor the situation.

  “Why do I feel it’s going to be a long night?” said Joey.

  “Nights, if you ask me,” said Eric.

  “So, I’ve been meaning to ask. You think Jay had something to do with 1/1?” asked Joey. “Emma told me what you told her about Jay and his connection to Verati.”

  “No, why would you say that?” asked Eric.

  “No, it’s just that he used work at Verati, with Victor Daulton. And the entire world knows whatever happened, Victor and Verati did it,” said Joey. “Thousands of people used to work at Verati. Now, you can’t find a single one. They just ran away after destroying everything.”

  “Did you lose someone?” asked Eric.

  “Yeah, my mother. Funny thing is she was nowhere near human civilization that day. But it didn’t matter,” said Joey. “I couldn’t even go there. You could see the crater from a mile away.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Eric.

  “Me too,” said Joey.

  “To answer your question, I don’t know. Jay never used to talk about his work. Sarah and he fought over it many times. He thought he was protecting them, he really did,” said Eric.

  Joey laughed, “It’s funny. We’re talking about billions of lives like referring to a baseball game.”

  “The way I see it, is we were always heading here. Verati just moved the timeline,” said Eric.

  “The worst part is for a while, they acted like nothing happened, while the bodies were dropping around them. Entire countries made uninhabitable. Perfectly synchronized, like a dance,” said Joey.

  “Soon, they dropped too,” said Eric.

  “Sometimes, I would visit bars and hear stories from people who were travelling. Escaping really. No one could do a census even if they tried. Last one I heard was from three months ago. Another 100,000 died from god knows what. So much’s changed,” said Joey.

  “One thing didn’t change,” said Eric.

  “What’s that?” asked Joey.

  “Vultures telling us what to do,” said Eric.

  Joey smiled. “Good thing we can’t hear them.”

  ◆◆◆

  After dinner, Emma went to her room, while Vik was sitting on the couch. Kate joined him.

  “Sarah used to talk a great deal about you,” said Kate.

  “Yeah?” said Vik, as he was holding a picture of Sarah and Katie.

  “Yeah. How you would notice all the little things that annoyed her and try to stop that from happening, how amazing you were with Katie, and how happy she was,” said Kate.

  “When she died, I wished that I could go back and stop that from happening. After a while, I started wishing that if I could go back, I would stop myself from entering into her life. I felt that my presence led to everything bad that happened to her, and that I was responsible for the pain she must’ve felt in her final moments,” said Vik.

  A tear rolled down Vik’s face. She looked at Vik’s face with teary eyes.

  “I know whatever I did, I can’t take it back even though every second of my life I want to. But from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry,” said Kate.

  “Why did you kill them?” asked Vik.

  “Some very powerful people gave me a choice between her and my own family. I chose mine,” said Kate.

  “They gave me 24 hours, the morning before. I waited all day in my car, near her apartment, hoping that I would get a call that my family was safe and I wouldn’t have to kill my friend’s family. But the call never came,” said Kate. “I couldn’t face them while doing it, so I shot Sarah as she was standing, talking on the phone with her back towards me. Katie came running down the stairs and went to her mom. I’ll never forget how her golden hair turned red as she hugged her mother.”

  “How golden?” said Vik.

  “Like the sun,” recounted Kate.

  “Yeah.. she always had golden hair. She loved them,” said Vik.

  “I wanted to save her, but I ran out of time. Save them both,” said Kate. “They even wanted me to attend the funeral to keep up appearances. But I couldn’t.”

  “Neither could I,” said Vik. “Cops detained me for 48 hours after her death. When I got back, they were already in the casket, waiting to be buried.”

  “I did a terrible thing to you. I’ve spent countless nights wishing that I hadn’t. A week later, my husband and son died in a mugging gone wrong. Police said it was a coincidence. I think it was them trying to tie-up loose ends. The following week, the world changed. And I ran,” said Kate.

  “Here we are. Two terrible human beings whose family paid the price,” said Vik.

  “You weren’t terrible. Every marriage has problems, including mine,” said Kate.

  “Mine had one too. It was me,” said Vik, as he gave a fake smile.

  He continued, “For a while, I didn’t believe they had died. It was too easy to believe. I looked for them everywhere, that maybe they just ran away, after faking their death. One day, I got low, and dug up Sarah’s grave. Her body had decomposed beyond facial recognition, so I thought maybe it’s not her. I couldn’t muster the strength to do it for Katie’s, though. After months of searching, I gave up thinking that if it were true, maybe they would have reached out to me. No matter how things got, Sarah and I always got together when it mattered to Katie.”

  “I’ll go to Atlantis with you,” said Kate. “Emma doesn’t want me to. She fears that she’s going to lose us both.”

  “That’s not why I asked you to come with me to Atlantis,” said Vik. “I think we might find the answers to our questions there, now when we’re on the verge of losing our good memories.”

  “I never asked, what’s in Atlantis?” asked Kate.

  “We’re going to destroy the empire of the man who destroyed both of our families,” said Vik.

  “Anthony Arnold?” said Kate.

  “I never asked. When did you know?” asked Vik.

  “After a year, when things cooled off, I spent most of my time finding about the people who put me in that position. Since Victor Daulton had already died, Anthony Arnold stood out, but I didn’t have much to go on. One day, I got to know that he was last seen in New Frontier. So I came here,” said Kate. “Then I got to know him. He wasn’t as duplicitous as everyone believed. There were moments when I thought, maybe it wasn’t him or maybe he had changed. By that time, I had built a good life at Morrow. It made me want to stay.”

  “The more I worked with him at Nucleus, the clearer it became,” said Vik. “It wasn’t a retirement. It was a paid vacation.”

  “Who paid for it?” asked Kate.

  Vik wiped away his tears, and said, “That’s what we are going to find out.”

  The next morning, Rick rang the doorbell and Vik opened the door.

  “Jay, we need to go,” said Rick.

  “Go where? Are you alright? You look worried,” said Vik.

  “Town hall, now,” said Rick.

  Vik went with him to the town hall. Hundreds of people had already gathered at 6 AM.

  “I have some terrible news,” said Martha.

  “What?” said Vik.

  “Last night, we had 10 patients under the age of 12. This morning, we have 8.”

  “How did that happen?” asked Vik.

  “We don’t know. We have already secured the road out of the town,” said Rick.

  “Who all are missing?” asked a guy.

  “Brittany Gitter. Ginny Lovetti.”

  “Tell us what to do,” said Bob. “Is this what happened to the New Bay girl?”r />
  “Yes, something like this. But in her case, the nearest access to the forest was more than 10 miles away. In your case, it’s less than a mile from the hospital,” said Vik.

  “What are you saying? They use the forests to escape?” asked Bob.

  “Escape or hold the hostages. We are not sure. But if people of this town are ready, we need to search every inch of the forest within a 10 mile radius of the hospital,” said Vik.

  “What else?” asked Rick.

  “Look for evidence. Go in groups of 4. If anyone finds something, don’t engage. Stay there till me and my friends get there,” said Vik.

  “We have the firepower. We don’t need your friends,” said a man in the front.

  “We need the culprits to lead us to the missing girls. If you engage, they’ll never lead us to them,” said Vik.

  “Bob and Rick will coordinate with me. Spread it out. As much ground as one can cover. Anything happens, report it to Bob and Rick,” said Vik, before they all left.

  The mob gathered swiftly, with vainglorious shouts from its leaders.

  Vik returned to his home, and saw Eric and Joey standing next to a person sitting on a chair, their head was covered, and the hands tied behind their back. Vik couldn’t see if they were male or female as he could only see the person from behind.

  Eric was asking the questions while Kate and Emma were going through the bag that belonged to the person.

  “What’s happening?” asked Vik.

  “This woman came for the laptops few hours ago. She tried to escape but we got her,” said Joey.

  “Where were you?” asked Kate.

  “Come here,” said Vik, as he asked all to gather on the front porch.

  “There’s bad news. 2 more girls are missing. This time, from West Gate,” said Vik.

  “Oh no!” said Emma.

  “What are they going to do?” asked Joey.

  “They’ll be searching the forest cover near the hospital. Already blocked off the exit roads,” said Vik.

  “We should help,” said Emma.

  “They have the numbers. Right now, we should focus on the girl from New Bay and the woman inside my home,” said Vik.

  “She knows something. Let’s find out what,” said Eric.

  They went inside to interrogate the woman. She didn’t tell her name or why she was there. Kate and Eric took their turns, but couldn’t get much other than her story of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The woman pleaded ignorance to any involvement in the kidnappings as well.

  “We have been here for hours. I’m telling you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There aren’t any cops here anyways. You have no right to detain me,” said the woman.

  “Fine, we’ll let the people of this town handle it,” said Kate.

  “Wait!” said the woman, as Kate cut the ropes.

  “Fine. They asked me to get these laptops from the house. I don’t even know why they wanted it. I have never even worked on a laptop before, in my life. You have to believe me,” said the woman, sobbing.

  “I don’t know why but I believe her,” whispered Emma to Joey.

  Vik was going through her stuff in the other room.

  Eric uncovered her head, and asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Emily. Emily Miller.”

  “I think you’re lying, Ms. Miller,” said Kate.

  “Lying? About what?” asked the woman.

  “Everything,” said Kate.

  “Who told you that? Your sixth sense?” said the woman.

  “There’s one way to know for sure,” said Eric.

  “What? You going to run lie detector tests now? Fine, bring them!” said the woman.

  “Vik? Would you come here for a second?” said Eric. “See Ms. Miller, our magical friend can tell by looking at one’s face whether they’re hiding something or not.”

  “Ooh, a psychic? How fool proof!” yelled the woman.

  Vik didn’t answer so Eric went to him.

  “I need you to check if she’s lying. She said she didn’t know about the laptop, claimed she has never used one. I don’t know what to think,” said Eric.

  “Okay. But, didn’t I tell you how to spot a lie?” said Vik.

  “I forgot,” said Eric.

  Eric came to the room.

  “Ms. Miller, meet my friend, Vik,” said Eric.

  “Sam?” said Vik.

  “Jay?” said the woman.

  Everyone looked surprised.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Vik.

  “Wait, who’s Sam? She said her name is Emily Miller,” said Kate.

  “Miller?” said Vik.

  “Oh, don’t flatter yourself,” said Sam.

  “How do you two know each other?” asked Eric.

  “We were friends in college,” said Vik.

  “Wait, you mean Sam Sam? As in no new friends Sam?” asked Emma.

  “She’s cute. I see you got yourself a new toy, Jay or is it Vik? I can’t wait to hear about it!” said Sam.

  “Wait, who’s this girl, Jay?” asked Eric.

  “Oh, I’ll tell you. I was Jay’s closest friend, right before he stabbed me in the back and stole a job offer for Verati. That was almost 5 years ago. Good enough, officer?” said Sam.

  “You are friends?” asked Eric.

  “Were. Past tense!” said Sam.

  “What were the laptops for, Sam?” asked Kate.

  “I told you. I know nothing about laptops,” said Sam. “Oh wait, Jay knows that’s a lie. Isn’t it, Jay?”

  “Whose laptops are they, Sam?” asked Vik.

  “After all these years and this is the first thing you say to me. You always were a charmer,” said Sam.

  “And you always were a thief,” said Vik.

  Sam stopped smiling.

  “There it is. Now everyone can see it. It’s not hidden behind the smile anymore,” said Vik.

  “See what?” said Sam.

  “The pain. The vulnerability,” said Vik.

  “Pain? For what? You betrayed me, left me alone to fend for myself without any apology and you want me to help me. Fuck you,” said Sam.

  “Can I have the room please?” said Vik.

  “Why?” asked Eric.

  “So that I can get some answers,” said Vik.

  They went outside, leaving Sam and Vik alone.

  “How could you do that to me?” said Sam.

  “I got you the internship. The one you always said you wanted,” said Vik.

  “Got me? Oh please, I got that by myself,” said Sam.

  “Let’s not go there,” said Vik.

  “No, let’s. Let’s!” said Sam.

  “I hacked their server and switched your answers. There, that’s how you got your internship,” said Vik.

  “No, you didn’t. You’re lying,” said Sam.

  “No, I’m not,” said Vik.

  “Okay. So what? That’s supposed to make it all good? We were friends and you betrayed my trust when you outed me to Verati since they wanted me more than you!” said Sam.

  “Fine, I did it. What now?” said Vik.

  “So you admit it. Over the years, I thought I was wrong when I accused you of that. But now I realize I was right. You use people. You used me. You used Brianca. You used Hattie. Where are they now, Jay? Huh? Where are they now? Face it, you’re a poison, Jay. Everything you touch, dies,” said Sam. “Unfortunately for Verati, you chose them. Now they’re gone!”

  “I did it to help you,” said Vik.

  “Help me? How does screwing me out of the best thing that ever happened to me, was helping me?” asked Sam.

  “I didn’t screw you out of anything,” said Vik.

  “You told them about my record,” said Sam.

  “Because you had one!” yelled Vik. “If they wanted you so bad, they would’ve taken you anyway. You were a pawn then, just like you’re one right now. I could apologize for whatever happened in your life that led you here, but that wo
uld be a waste of an apology. Because face it, Sam. It’s always been where you were heading. Initially, I covered for you, because I wanted us to be friends or maybe you manipulated me into believing that you could be better. Then one time I didn’t, because we were friends.”

  “Officer! Officer!” yelled Sam.

  Eric and the rest came inside.

  “I’ll tell you everything you need to know. Just get him out of my sight,” said Sam.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Kids are missing, and I can’t let you weasel out of this one. You will tell us who you are working for. You will tell us everything about the kidnappings,” said Vik.

  “Or what?” said Sam. “I’m not doing anything you say.”

  “Fine,” said Vik and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?” asked Eric.

  “To tell the people of this town that we found the person behind the kidnappings,” said Vik.

  “Jay! Jay!” shouted Eric, as Vik went out.

  “Stop him!” said Emma. “They’ll kill her.”

  “He knows that. He doesn’t care, I think,” said Eric.

  “Fine. Fine! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you. Stop him!” said Sam.

  “It’s too late to stop him. But tell us what you know, then maybe we can stop them,” said Kate.

  Emma ran out to follow Vik but couldn’t see him. As she turned around, she saw him sitting on the porch swing.

  “Shhh…” mimed Vik.

  Emma came over to him.

  “What was that?” whispered Emma.

  “Relax, just a bluff. She’s terrible at reading them,” whispered Vik.

  Emma smiled and went back inside.

  “He’s gone,” said Emma.

  Kate smiled looking at Emma. Emma pretended to not see that.

  Sam said, “I deliver my services to people who are looking for them. I worked for this guy who wanted me to break into some laptops. That’s why I went there.”

  “What guy?” asked Eric.

  “I don’t know his name. We only talked via digital drops. He would leave a message, I would leave mine,” said Sam.

  “How did you know he was a guy then?” asked Kate.

  “This isn’t the first job I am doing for him. After the last job, his enforcer paid me in cash. And said that his boss is a man of his word and would have a new job for me,” said Sam.

  “Why did he want you to break into these ones?” asked Eric.