Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 (24 page)

  Whatever their game plan was, it crumbled from lack of disclosure.  They treated civilians like children that needed to be protected, and somehow forgot that they, themselves, were the parasites feeding on their host and ended up killing them off after sucking too much blood from the citizens.  In the end, it was the protected whom became the prey, and it was those wearing the badges that were the real terrorists instead of the phantom ones they fabricated and pretended to defend everyone from, in effort to justify their inflated presence.  When the Authorities opened the floodgates and sent out their jackboots to quell the fear and unrest, it was all by design to place citizens under their ward and keep them scared into eternal and unwavering compliance.

  Unfortunately, that tactic backfired when the cosmic disaster ended up having a few extra surprises, which popped up in the aftermath.  Here, nearly a decade later, I wondered what could have been done differently that would have made a more constructive or positive difference.  Our world went to shit, but was there a way we could have kept the pile from being so deep?  Some might argue that a measure of transparency would have helped alleviate much of the unnecessary turmoil and grief.  Countless lives could have been saved if we had only been fed the truth, rather than erroneous propaganda.

  I spent many long nights playing the 'what if' game in my head.  Thinking about it made my head hurt; but I was still confused as to why these hidden bunkers were kept such a secret or why more weren't constructed or why any form of warning wasn't issued to the public.  There had been so much death to endure these past years.  One could imagine the seething contempt seen within the bloodshot eyes of these poor victims infected with the MN4 pathogen.  It was almost as if you could even envision that all the primal fury and rage of the deranged Weeper's was an expression of their hatred for what the world had become, having been left abandoned by everyone and the world they had once known.

  Thorn and Haiti were especially concerned for their crewmates we had left behind, and were all too eager to cooperate with a plan that would let them be reunited.  I was on their side, but wary about having to enter the subway system again for justifiable reasons.  For the time being, we agreed to join forces with the three militants as long as it was beneficial to both parties.  In this undertaking, we would get our friends back, and possibly some answers along the way. 

  After another day’s rest, we were fully packed and ready to hit the road.  Even though Kel’s map was a little blind since our route brought us off the edge of its chart, we could still navigate to the wide valley where we could follow the exposed power lines to the hydro station where our friends held up camp.  After locking up the cabins, we made our way out into the mist of the early morning with Ava wearing a custom backpack frame they had jerry-rigged to hold the delicate rock sample.

  We made our way quietly down the hill and past the lake on the far side of the Mill towards a ridgeline along the river.  Kel took the opportunity to educate us on the use of hand signs for silent operations in effort to thwart making unnecessary noise while communicating.  It was clear that these girls knew what they were doing.  They provided us with real firearms to replace the paltry shock pistols we had, which were nearly useless against a diseased animal or person.  With mild affirmation, we did not allow Betty to carry one, since we still held a measure of distrust over her conduct.  She appeared content with that decision and chose not to argue the fact to our new collaborators.   It was good to be wearing clothes fit for the trail again, instead of those demeaning bunker work suits.  Even the old woman accepted a change of attire and donned a camouflage poncho to help us all blend into the scenery. 

  We made it up to the far ridge before nightfall and set up a camp within a rock enclave in effort to hide our campfire light from exposing us to any wary eyes in the valley below.  We were exhausted from the trek since Tasha was adamant about taking the high road instead of the marked trails below at the base of the mountain.  After so many years, even well established trails had pretty much grown over and returned to the wild.  It only served to remind us how Mother Nature was quick to erase evidence of our trespassing as we scarred the land wherever mankind had chose to tread. 

  A hot meal was welcome, and at least the weather was decent for the night.  Under a curtain of broken clouds and stars we let our minds wander, wondering what other giant rocks were out there looming in the blackness of space that might foretell our fate.  The silent stars twinkled as they always did when I was a child, staring up into the heavens and wondering what was out there.  Some might see the irony of getting such a rude and distinct answer from the cosmos.

  "So, how did you get that unique name?" Thorn asked Kel as we settled around a low fire.  Haiti was on first watch to keep guard, but we were high enough on the ridge to be out of the general range of any predators that might be lurking below the rim of the mountain. 

  "It's just short for 'Kelly'," she answered with a weak smirk, breaking a few shingles off her tough exterior. 

  "And Ava?" he inquired again, motioning over to the dark skinned woman who was bedding down for the night across from them as Tasha sat quietly nearby gazing into the fire.

  "It's actually Aleah, but don't call her that.  Ava is her middle name, and she's not very fond of her maiden name," Kel warned. 

  Thorn took her advice to heart.  People were even more particular with their identities these days, for it was either seen as a symbol of individual integrity or a form of escape.  When individuals failed to care either way, they were usually prone to having a suicidal mentality.  Authorities of most nations were infatuated with tracking everyone's identity in the past, it was almost an emotional need to withdraw from those conforming chains that labeled us as to who we were solely by our backgrounds, bank accounts, birth certificates, hospital records or job history and credit score.  All that bullshit didn't matter anymore.

  "And you...?" she inquired back.  Thorn knowing his name was more than a bit odd, but not as corny as some he had heard over the past half decade. 

  "Ah, well..." he seemed a bid embarrassed, "Thorn was my handle in the underground community back in the day when live-stream gaming platforms were the only forum where Governmental Security Agencies couldn't digitally monitor communications.  Due to their voice deciphering programs, their spy technology apparently couldn't sift out the sound of all the sound effects, gunfire, magic spells, or whatnot in online gaming worlds, even if they could trace the routes through the millions of independent servers when anyone logged on or switched identities," Thorn admitted as he held up his arm where he had the small scar from the ID chip implant he had removed, "they could track any given person in public, by your location, your phone calls and digital messages; but those same tracing bots were stonewalled in the gaming world.  The overload of erroneous information blinded them.  It was the only way the public could hack a bit of our own privacy back,"  he smiled.

  "But, what did '
Thorn
' stand for," Kel inquired, "was it a name of a special character you liked?" 

  "Ah, nothing of the sort," he admitted, "I was a bit outspoken at times when I got on a rant, to the point I was a thorn in their side whenever I called out a bigot or someone making an idiot of themselves with an invalid argument," he revealed with a guilty smirk.  Thorn related he had been an avid dissident for many years, helping organize protests through the only means of secure communications available to citizens at the time.  In all their untouchable glory, the Authorities did not take kindly to activists even in small measures. 

  "Well, I guess those days are long gone..." Kel replied humbly.

  "Ah, well I might argue it's the same shit hitting a different fan, the way I see it," Thorn grinned as Kel shared his quirky smile.

  The wind was sharp as it howled across the ridge, but gently subsided at the rising light of dawn.  Taking the high road was a considerably harder path to follow, but well worth effort if it decreased the risk of being spotted by a pack of weepers or chancing an encounter with an infected animal.  The hours passed without much comment between the companions as they made their way through the mountain pass until one of them noted a column of white smoke in the distance just before noon.  Its presence acted like a beacon that guided our way, but it wasn't until the following morning that we determined that that the source of the plume was coming directly from the Hydro Station where we had last seen our friends.

  Bridging our way down to the lower ridge, we spotted the power lines that led through the overgrown forest to the structure itself.  A level of dread began to well within us as we drew closer.  Thick gouts of steam were rising from a newly collapsed hole in the rear of the building, which was directly above where the turbines were located.

  The stormy winter skies prompted us to make our way to the building in haste, as lightning strikes were sure to follow.  We advised our new colleagues to stay clear of the fenced electrical grid as we made our way to the second floor balconies by climbing the roof of the trucks at the loading entrance.  Once inside, we began to see the extent of the damage done by the blast of steam that issued relentlessly from the rift in the back of the structure.  Vapors flooded through the lower halls as they clung to the ceiling in drifts of eerie fog.

  It was a measure of sadness we felt when we arrived at the upper floor and found that our old camp had been abandoned; Serena, Felix, Roy and the young boy were gone.  Only a few bits of gear had been left behind, which we interpreted as a sign that they had departed in some degree of urgency.  Haiti was the one who found a rough scribble on the wall from a spare can of spray paint lying below it on the concrete floor. 

  "Aye, look here, they left us a message," he noted.

  The dull red paint showed a circle with several slashes made through the edges; dictating a secret code they used to leave directions for one another in the event any of them had ever gotten separated.  Personally, I thought it was a brilliant idea, but had nary a clue as how to interpret it.

  "Emergency, leave, zero clicks, will wait two weeks," Thorn read aloud.

  "What does that mean, 'zero clicks'?" Tasha inquired.

"It means they are still nearby somewhere," Haiti glinted back with a smile.  However, we were unsure as to exactly how long we had been away, and more importantly, when the turbines might have blown.  They might be long gone by now.

  It was disappointing, but our mission still stood and we needed to get to the service entrance and into the catacombs of the rail system far below.  We would have to make our way down to the ground floor and around the back of the building.  The three mercenary women wanted to scout out the chamber with the hydrogen turbines, but a wall of hot vapor blasted through the door of the parking garage when we opened it; causing us to rethink the necessity of that endeavor. 

  The fog was so thick that it would be impossible to see, let alone the violent hissing from the blown out metal gate made us realize that it might be an unwise decision to investigate further.  Apparently, there had been a catastrophic failure of the magnetic turbines, but water was still being pumped into the system.  There would be no way of telling what caused the generators to reach critical mass until the water source itself was shut off.

  There was little debate as to what to do next.  Our only mission now was to traverse the stairwell down into the subway system where we had first made our way to Fallhaven.  Exhausted as we were from the day’s trek, despite putting up with the noise of the raging steam, we realized that the building itself might not be structurally safe to settle here for the night.  Making our way through the upper floors, we found the spare escape rope flopped over the second floor balcony.  One by one, we made our way to the parking lot as everyone kept cover with weapons drawn in the shadow of the approaching dusk.  Thorn and I were distracted as we kept cover next to an abandoned car while Tasha was making her climb down the rope. 

  Suddenly we heard a low growl from behind us, just as we turned and saw a Weeper perched upon an overturned car only a few feet from us.  It was hard to tell its gender, as the infection was so far advanced that its head was nearly bald and covered with scabs with only traces of grey stringy hair.  Its eyes were entirely blackened, from which streams of dried blood were painted upon its cheeks.  Its teeth were cracked and broken and we could smell the stench of its fetid breath as it hissed at us. 

  As conditioned as we were, we both still froze in fear at the sight of it leering at us so close before we could bring our rifles to bear.  Ava, who still above on the balcony, did not have a clear enough aim at it as the creature sprang in one inhuman leap to pounce upon us both.  A shot rang out of nowhere and the creature flung head over heel backwards to the other side of the vehicle.  We glanced around in utter shock, as did Ava herself, who had not fired her rifle.  Tasha clung anxiously to the rope, ready to climb back up out of reach to the balcony above as Thorn jumped up on top of the hood of the car with his gun in hand.  On the ground, the Weeper lay crumpled in a pool of its own dark blood, having taken a clean shot to the head. 

  On the far side of the collapsed ruin in the adjacent building stood a figure perched high up in the rubble of broken concrete.  Seeing his ragged cowl fluttering in the evening breeze, we recognized Roy as he lifted his goggles.  A wave of relief washed over us, as Ava and Kel to lower their weapons.  Killroy disappeared back into the broken building to emerge on ground level.  We ran to greet him as the others were climbing down to join us.