Zero II (4 page)

There was a beep and then another and
another and another. Alan opened his eyes, saved from a nightmare he couldn’t
remember. He was lying in his bed. To his left a heart rate monitor beeped
along at a steady pace.

At once the events leading up to his
unconsciousness overwhelmed him. He sat straight up in bed immediately
regretting the decision. His face and upper body felt like they had been put through
a meat grinder. Alan grunted and fell back into his pillows as blinding pain
exploded in his head.

The heart rate monitor spiked at
Alan’s actions and the beeping sped up in tempo. Alan closed his eyes trying to
take in deep breaths, hoping that would calm the monitor and pain. It didn’t.

As he was staring at the ceiling, he
heard his door open. Alan craned his neck forward despite the pain. Danielle
walked towards him with a frown. “How are you feeling?”

Anger rose in Alan’s chest. He didn’t
know why, but he blamed Danielle for what happened to him. “How am I feeling? I
feel like some psychotic chef broke into my place and beat the snot out of me
while wearing my slippers.”

Danielle’s eyes widened behind her
glasses, “Okay then, not sure I deserved that one but you’ve been through a
lot. I get it—misdirected anger.”

Alan stared at her already regretting
his snarky remark. “What happened to me? Who was that guy?”

“I got here as soon as I heard the
conversation over the phone, smooth move calling me by the way. From the
muffled voices I guess I was in your pocket?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice. By your description of the man
who did this to you, it was probably Dominic Drencher. Everyone calls him
Drench.”

“Who was he? What did he want with
me?”

“He’s part of our rival
organization—“

Alan couldn’t take all the talk of “organizations”
anymore. Not when Danielle had already told him they were dealing with angels.
“Enough with the organization talk. I can’t believe I’m saying this—we’re
talking about angels and demons, right?”

Half of Alan already knew the answer; the
other half wished that this was all some kind of sick, twisted dream. He wasn’t
so lucky.

“Yes, however there is so much you
don’t yet know.”

“Then tell me!” Alan hadn’t meant to
yell, still his frustration demanded he do so.

Danielle gently began removing the heart
monitor from Alan’s chest. Sticky pads gently released their adhesive grip on
his fair skin. “I’m going to take you to speak with someone who wants to meet
you. He’ll explain everything. I promise. I also want to show you something now
to start preparing you for the conversation you’re going to have.”

Alan looked at her, confusion written across
his face. “I don’t think I’m in any kind of condition to travel anywhere right
now.”

“I would agree,” Danielle said. “You
know how you have the gift of speed?”

Alan nodded wondering if she was going
to say that she had the same gift and was going to carry him somewhere.

“Well, I also have my own set of
gifts. One of them is healing. I wanted you awake for this so you would believe
me. You don’t strike me as the type to take things on faith. Hold still.”

Alan couldn’t believe his ears. He
felt his body flinch as Danielle put her hands on his left bicep.

“Don’t worry this won’t hurt.”

Alan felt far from reassured. Bare
chested, Alan looked down on his torso for the first time. Mean looking bruises
of green and black fought for real estate against his skin. His body was a
canvas of dark splotches and pain.

Goosebumps rose as Danielle closed her
eyes and took in a deep breath. At first Alan felt nothing. His body ached just
like it had since he woke and his head throbbed like someone was beating on it
with a hammer.

Then things started to change. Alan
felt warmth radiating out of Danielle’s hands, spreading from his arm to the
rest of his body. Heat came off her and pushed back the pain that coursed
through his chest and head. It was the same kind of heat that Alan experienced
when he ran.

For the first time in a very long time
Alan felt happy. A safeness that he couldn’t explain was slowly wrapping itself
around him. Alan’s eyes widened as he visibly saw bruises fading.

The ache in his chest was lessening
and the warmth spread to his head. Instead of a throbbing headache, Alan felt
calm and relaxed. A few moments later when Danielle lifter her hands from his
arm, Alan debated asking her for more.

He looked at her with awe and a
newfound respect. She took a careful step back away from the bed and let out a
deep breath. The slightest hint of sweat glistened across her brow.

“Does healing hurt you?”

Danielle opened her eyes and shook her
head. “No, but it’s work. Imagine lifting a heavy weight. The harsher the
injury, the heavier the weight I have to lift. You should be healed now. I hate
having to make you wait for answers. Just trust me, you’ll have them soon. Come
on. Let’s get you ready, Michael is waiting.”

 “He’s in there?”

“All the way at the top. You’ll need
to get access to the roof.”

Alan suddenly felt uncomfortable. “And
you’re not coming up?”

Danielle shook her head. “Sorry, this
is your time for answers. I’ll be here waiting for you when you’re done.”

Alan looked out of the car window at
the tall corporate building. From the outside it seemed as if the structure was
made entirely of steel and glass.  Sunrays beat off the glass windows and
Alan squinted to see the top of the building.

“Don’t be scared, he’s on our side.”

Alan looked back at Danielle with
every intention of lying and telling her he wasn’t scared, instead he asked,
“Is Michael a—a—“ he was still having a hard time bringing himself
to say the word.

“Yes, but it’s not like he looks any
different from you or me.”

Alan nodded, gathered his courage and
opened the door. It was a short walk up the stone steps and into the large
ground floor. A security desk was stationed up front with a long aisle of
elevators on either wall of the wide room.

Alan tensed, the building looked too
much like the building the wind had pushed him off of the first night he
learned he had abilities.

Alan forced his legs forward as people
walked to and from the elevators. Most of the building’s inhabitants wore trendy
suits. All but a few were busy either talking on their phone or looking down at
them.

Alan entered an elevator clogged with suits
and briefcases. There were 107 floors. To Alan’s frustration, it seemed the
elevator was set on making him visit each and every single one. The ride up
gave Alan time to think about what he had just seen and what he was doing.

I can’t believe she healed you like
that. This is so far beyond what I thought was possible. But really what did
you expect? You can run at the speed of sound. If someone came to you and told
you that you were an alien or a mutant, would that make more sense? Would you
accept that?

Alan struggled with these thoughts and
more as the steel box passed floor after floor. After what seemed like an
eternity full of bad elevator music, Alan reached the buildings top story. He
was the only one on the elevator at that point.

The doors dinged open and Alan found
himself walking down a well-kept hallway. No sound, no chatter of voices on
phones or clicks of shoes on the wooden floor, nothing.

Alan walked down the hall passing
empty office after empty office looking for the stairwell that would lead him
to the roof. After peaking in and out of a few doors he found the door he
needed. The door was marked with the figure of a small man walking up a set of
stairs.

Alan opened the door and made his way
up the last two flights of stairs to the rooftop entrance. He placed a hesitant
palm on the long silver latch. He took a deep breath and walked outside.

It was bright; even brighter than
inside the stairwell. Alan blinked to get his eyes used to the sun’s harsh
rays. No wind pressed against him and for that he was thankful. The building
already reminded him enough of the one he had fallen off four years ago. The
last thing he needed was to get tossed around by the wind.

Eyes adjusted, Alan looked around the
roof. It was a forest of air conditioning pipes and vents. Every few feet
another metal outlet or steel topped pipe rose from the ground. Across the long
rooftop Alan spotted what his brain told him couldn’t be possible. He blinked
and squinted against his rational thought process. It was still there, a large
brown desk.

Alan slowly put one foot in front of
the other. He looked down only for the briefest of moments to make sure of his
footing. He was afraid if he took his eyes off the desk it would disappear.

As he got closer, the rough image of
the desk took on more shape. It wasn’t just any desk, it was a large dark brown
wooden desk with gold drawings. The pictures were amazing. Images of clouds,
stars and planets played across the desk as if they were in motion. Behind the
desk, a high-backed chair faced away from Alan.

Alan reached the desk and stared as
the chair slowly turned. A middle-aged man with wavy brown hair and eyes that
spoke of wisdom stood and extended a hand. “Hello, Mr. Price. It is so good to
finally meet you.”

Alan’s mouth was dry. Not only was he
talking to someone sitting at a desk on a rooftop, but the man who was clearly not
of this world was extending a hand. Alan forced his right palm forward and
shook the stranger’s hand.

“My name is Michael. Danielle briefly
told me that you are skeptical. That’s to be expected, I know it is a lot to
take in. Please sit.”

Michael’s handshake was firm without
being aggressive. There was the complete opposite feeling coming from him than
Alan felt when meeting Dominic Drencher the night before.

Alan broke the handshake. “Sit? Sit
where?” The question faded almost down to as whisper as Alan looked behind him
to see a chair where there had not been one just moments before. He twisted his
head back towards Michael giving him a wary look.

            Michael
smiled from his eyes to his mouth, “Sorry, too soon? I couldn’t resist. You
should see the look on your face right now. Please sit. I have your answers for
you.”

            Alan
nodded and settled into the comfortable leather chair.

            “I’ll
start at the beginning for you, Alan,” Michael said as he too took a seat. He
leaned forward with both of his elbows on the desk, hands clasped together. A
stare in his green eyes said that he could be trusted. “After that, if you have
any questions I’d love to answer them all. Would you like to hear the story
with affects or without affects?”

            Alan
felt his eyebrows furrow all on their own. “With affects, I think.”

            “A
man after my own heart,” Michael winked. “Here we go.”

            Out
of nowhere the sun’s bright rays faded. In seconds the sky turned black and
everything fell away. All that remained, was Michael, Alan, the desk and the
chairs on which they sat.

            Alan
could feel fear begin to creep slowly down his spin, his heart started beating
faster and faster. He looked at Michael to see the man still smiling and now pointing
to the dark sky.

            As
Michael began to speak, images made out of golden outlines followed events that
he described and performed across the dark sky. Alan’s mouth dropped open, his
eyes fixated on the beautiful scene overhead as Michael started his story.

            “I’m
going to date myself here but a very, very long time ago when the earth was
still young a battle took place in Heaven. The battle was raged for the fate of
both angels and man. One third of all Heaven’s angels sided with a usurper that
staged a coup for the rule of Heaven and earth. He was mad with thoughts of
grandeur and power.

            “The
fighting was beyond bloody, it was horrific. The death toll on both sides would
amount to more than those who would survive the engagement. The war went on for
years. Finally, the power-hungry angel was defeated. He was cast out of heaven
with the rest of his followers to wait their final judgment on earth.

            “To
ensure that a war like this could never happen again, all weapons capable of
killing an angel were destroyed. My brothers and sisters and I now watch over
earth. The Creator has not abandoned mankind to live under the rule of the Fallen.

            “With
inferior numbers and strength, the Fallen on earth will not engage us directly.
In return we are content for them to live out their sentence here on earth until
their day of judgment comes.

            “But
just because they won’t defy us directly doesn’t mean our troubles are finished.
Over the centuries tactics have changed. The Fallen have found their own
followers to do their bidding. They have given certain powers and abilities to
humans whom they use to do their will. It’s a loophole they have found to not
engage us directly while still getting what they want.”

            Michael
paused here as the scenes in the sky faded and the darkness regressed. In
seconds the sun was out again and Alan felt himself breathing a bit easier.
“They thought they were so smart. Little did they know that we are capable of
the exact same thing. So now instead of a full-out war, a kind of shadow game
is being played on earth. The Fallen have their wayward followers and we have
those whom we have chosen to represent us in this cold war.”

            Michael
leaned back in his chair with his arms open. “So there it is, as honest and
plain as I can put it. You have the truth. Now, feel free to ask any questions
I’m sure you have.”

            Alan’s
mind was blown. Dozens of questions were pushing to the front of his mind while
he struggled to accept his new reality. The question that came out first was
the one that he had wondered since the first night he knew he was different. It
was short and simple but one that had haunted him for the past four years. “Why
me?”

            Michael
nodded as though he were aware that was going to be the question. “You need us,
Alan. You needed us as much as we need you. We saw an opportunity to help each
other.”

            Alan
slowly shook his head. “But my depression, the anger I feel, the—“

            “All
reasons that we chose you.” Alan’s confusion must have shown because Michael
continued. “Think about it, Alan. You battle with depression; loneliness. You
were bullied, beat up and abandoned and here you stand. Here you are still
living and breathing as strong as ever. What you have thought of as your
weaknesses your entire life have made you stronger, Alan. The battles that you
fight day in and day out have forged your will into something few people possess.”

            Alan
laughed to himself, “It doesn’t feel like a blessing.”

            “Regardless,
it has made you stronger than the people beside you that don’t battle with
these issues.”

            Alan
slowly nodded letting the new information sink in before he asked his second
question. “Are there others like myself and Danielle?”

            It
was Michael’s turn to nod. “Yes, a very select few spread across the globe. It
is an honor to be chosen. Very few are or will be. We select those where the need
is the greatest, where the Fallen have chosen to actively recruit.”

            “What
do you want me to do?”

            “For
now we need you to learn and train. Speed is just the first of the many gifts
you have at your disposal.”

            Alan
remembered the beating he endured at the hands of Dominic Drencher. “Strength
is another one and—“ Alan was reminded of the first night he found out he
was different. “Flight?”

            Michael
shook his head. “No, unfortunately not flight—I mean to say that it is
very unlikely for a human with our powers to be able to fly. No human has been
able to do it before.”

            “Then
how did I…” Alan realized the answer to his question even as he asked. He
looked at Michael with new found respect. “It was you, wasn’t it? You saved me
that first night.”

            Michael
shrugged. “Everyone needs a helping hand. Besides, you didn’t jump. The wind
pushed you. Even then whether you knew it or not, you were fighting to survive.
You are a survivor, Alan.” A sly smile spread across Michael’s lips showing
perfectly white teeth underneath. “I’m proud of you despite the items you chose
to
borrow
from; banks, grocery stores, clothing departments, malls,
outlets, car dealerships, amusement parks, gas stations and zoos. Really? Alan,
a zoo?”

            Color
rushed to Alan’s face and he felt his palms begin to sweat as if on cue. “Oh, I
uh. I—“ He felt as though he had been called into the principal’s office
on a celestial level.

            “It’s
okay,” Michael said. “I wished you would have found your way on your own but
nobody’s perfect. Just reassure me that your thieving days are over.”

            Alan
swallowed and nodded. “And for what it’s worth I returned that monkey back to
the zoo.”

            Michael
started to laugh. “Yes, I know you did. I’ve been keeping my eye on you.”

            A
comfortable silence followed as Alan worked through this new revelation on his
own.

“That’s it?” Michael asked. “No more
questions?”

“Besides training, what do you want
from me? What am I training for?”

The smile slowly disappeared from
Michael’s lips. “I wish I knew, Alan. Something is happening. The Fallen have
increased their activity and their followers’ numbers are swelling. Something
is coming down the pipeline. Rumors are spreading and talk of some kind of
uprising on earth is making its way to our ears. Whatever it is we would like
you and Danielle to be ready for it when it comes.”

“And the Fallen? What if—“

“No, you don’t have to fear them. They
haven’t engaged us or one of our chosen since the war in Heaven.  They
know they don’t have a chance. You only have to worry about those they have
corrupted, like Dominic Drencher. Danielle will have more information for you
and certain tools you will be able to use to keep you safe. Trust me, once you
tap into your full potential people like Drencher won’t be bothering you.”

Alan sat quiet. Everything—all
of the questions he had wondered for the past four years were slowly being
answered. Far from the answers he expected but still answers.

“You are not alone, Alan. You never
were. Take some time to adjust to the truth. Danielle is assigned as your
support. She can answer any other questions you have.  And I am always
available to you as well.”

Alan stood sensing an end to their
meeting. He felt numb from the crown of his head to the bottom of his feet, still
trying to process his new reality and draw connections to how his life would
continue.