I've decided to post the first few chapters for Split Subject that I finished for the writing project. Let me just make a quick disclaimer in the fact that some of the details of this story will be changed because as I've written further and thought more some of these chapters will change and perhaps whole scenes may be switched. A major changes will be a total revamping of the sniper scene at the end. I'm going to get rid of the gangs and make it a battle strictly between the protagonists and the sniper and completely eliminate the gangs and civilians that are mentioned. There is almost too much going on in this chapter and I will probably change it later when I have the time. But if you see any other problems I would appreciate the advice.
Split Subject
By Donald W. Sands
“Oh, wretched ephemeral race, children of chance and misery, why do you compel me to tell you what it would be most expedient for you not to hear? What is best of all is utterly beyond your reach: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best for you is – to die soon.”
- The Wise Silenus, Companion of Dionysius
I. The Dysfunctional Heroes
The last time I saw Jack cry was when our best friend Francis had his head beaten into the pavement on
“I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t cry.” Francis trembled on the bone shredding pavement as the cold precipitation seemed to dig into my skin. Jack was gritting his teeth as he turned his eyes towards mine as if to warn me that he was about to do something stupid. Before I could shake my head the hood behind me dug his gun into my scalp even more.
“I don’t even wanna see your skin crawling. I wanna see the rain pound into your skulls till you pass out,” the man behind me croaked.
The thug behind Jack was almost two times the bulk of a regular grown man so even larger in comparison to the size of my skin and bones friend. He loomed over Jack like a Frankenstein monster as the rain trickled down his concave forehead. His maniacal grin betrayed his crystalline blue eyes. Jack’s eyes remained fixed on mine. The more he retained his gaze, the more I knew he would act soon, even if he was killed while doing it.
Jack jolted his head upward into the atoms apple of his monstrous captor. The thug held his throat and grunted. Jack leapt from his creeping position. His equilibrium was shattered as his captor grabbed Jack’s legs with both arms and threw him violently against the pavement. Jack’s body skidded to a halt in front of Francis who by instinct tried to crawl towards his friend. The thug behind him took the pointed baton he held and thrust it into Francis’ backside. Francis howled with pain and curled up into a ball. Jack’s captor lumbered towards his victim and picked him up, putting him back into a kneeling position. He grabbed Jack’s arms with his powerful hands and held him in place. He wouldn’t get away again.
“Kids like you can’t wait to die, huh?” the thug attending to Francis sneered grabbing Francis’ hair with his hand and holding it down to the pavement. His long white coat was drenched with rain. He began to grind Francis’ face into the pavement his cold brown eyed gaze almost seemed to pierce into the back of Francis’ head. I cringed as tears began to form in my eyes. I wanted so badly to be tough, the three of us promised each other we wouldn’t cry one bit. But I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The rain on my face welcomed the salty tears. My body heaved.
“Please stop. We’re sorry, we’re really sorry for everything. Please just let us go home,” I cried. My vision blurred as the tears and rain teamed together to stifle my eyesight.
“Wow, I was beginning to think you guys were tough kids,” one of the thugs mocked.
“Shut up Conroy! Don’t cry! Don’t you dare beg!” Jack sputtered. His captor gripped Jack’s shoulders tighter. Jack growled under the pressure.
The thug behind Francis kicked Francis’ head lightly, further grinding it into the pavement. Francis didn’t scream or even cry, it seemed like he might be the only one to keep our promise, even as his blood mixed with the cement. His body rumbled on the ground as he closed his eyes tightly and grunted, keeping his resolve. His captor moved his attention to Jack putting his hand gently on Jack’s spiky hair, patting it.
“You won’t shed one tear will you kid. You’re just so damn tough.” He pointed to Francis without taking his gaze off of Jack. “This one can’t act tough. He cried already. When Fathom cut his mother’s guts out and blew his daddy’s brains all over the wall. Two bad most people only die once huh? Cuz we’d do it again and again. I wonder if he’d be tougher the next time? Would he eventually stop crying? Maybe even smile and laugh with the rest of us? Like you Jacky boy. Always so tough. Well, we’re going to give you a little lesson in crying today.” His mock gentility finished as he gripped Jack’s hair in his talons pulling Jack’s face closer.
“We’re just kids man,” I whimpered. “Why are you guys doing this?”
The white coated thug sighed in response to my question. “I’m showing you what the world is like,” he sneered. “No matter how much we all try to be sane and in control, everyone breaks down. Everyone is bare and naked. You kids just get to learn your lesson early.” He turned his cold glance to me and I could see he was just as shaken as we were which even now I never understood. He turned away from me and trudged over the pavement with his head lower than usual. He overshadowed Francis once again. He knelt down and picked up Francis’ head up from the ground with his hair. Francis’ bloody streamed face still remained resolute and he glared at his older enemy. A glob of spit and blood was launched from Francis’ mouth into the face of the thug. The white coated man grabbed Francis by the neck impulsively and thrust him into the brick wall, holding him up. “Watch kids. Jackie, you won’t forget this. The image of your friends shattered body will scramble through your nightmares until you’re buried.” His fist hammered, hammered, and hammered into our friend’s head.
My heart felt as though it had exploded as I screamed and flailed my arms, unable to move as the man behind me clutched my head between both his hands, overpowering me, forcing me to witness the life of my friend scrape away. The grip of my enemy slipped away and I collapsed on the ground. Even the hulk that held down Jack had released his captive. His eyes softened and he was no longer grinning. It seemed like he was trusting in the fact that Jack and I had finally realized how helpless we were. Or maybe they were capable of some sort of respect for a dead twelve year old boy. I’m not sure what it was, but they didn’t say another word. They just walked away with their backs defiantly to us, leaving us there in the rain. It wasn’t till they were completely out of sight that tears exploded out of Jack’s eyes, and a wail that seemed to come from the deepest corners of his heart burst out. I just lay on the ground looking blankly at the vacant expression on my dead friend’s face. Jack crawled up to Francis and fell on his limp body, sobbing for the very last time.
*****
It was the turbulence of the helicopter that shook me out of the half awake state I was growing used to. My neck was sore from nodding off and the jerking of the flow of air from the outside. As I slouched, I shoved a lazy hand into one of my universal camouflage combat jacket pockets, pulling out a near empty circular pill container. I emptied the pills into a tiny glass in a side compartment and blinked heavily as I watched the pills twirl down to the bottom. Everything slows down when you haven’t slept for days. Things that were normal to you become terrifying, while that which is odd becomes strangely welcome and inviting. It was also hard to know when I was remembering or just dreaming, so my mind starting playing tricks on me, slipping little lies into my past, replacing random memories whenever he saw fit. Sorry, I’m not really a philosophical person, and no, I’m not a drug addict, I just haven’t slept for a long, long time. My comrades were as pensive as usual. Our ‘old man’ on the battlefield, Agent Bonaventure juggled a coin between his fingers as he watched the dust through his circular glasses. Agent Theron stared blankly out into the golden sky with cold eyes reminiscent of a frozen sea; her long blond hair reflecting the suns rays shining in from the window. Jack sat with perfect posture opposite of me, observing me, his dirty blond hair standing lifelessly in the air as his newly applied gel hardened. He was looking straight at me as though he was reading my thoughts. A toothpick rested between his teeth at his mercy.
“Conroy, you looked like you were dreaming.” Jack grinned with the right of his lip, which had become a trademark of his.
“Nah, just shoving around in the past,” I said as I touched my neck lightly as if it would somehow clear up the aching.
“You’re going to want to be awake for this. You need to look out the window when we get there.”
I shrugged. “It’s always different when you go back.” Unlike Jack, I was not overly excited about going to a place I used to call home. Most of the life I spent there I didn’t remember. My busy new life had overlapped my old memories.
Simply put, we are a bonded team of three. Bonaventure is our guardian. And Jacques Spectre is our benefactor. Sometimes we are a government sponsored agency. Sometimes we act on our own interests or against the interests of others. Most people don’t know we exist, including the most of the United World Government. As it was taught in my history class, Sixty-Years ago, there was another World War. They didn’t call it World War III because it got to the place where war didn’t ever stop. They called it the Terror Wars, because it wasn’t like how war used to be. The Terror War was even dirtier, and it was hard to tell that it was even a war. People committed mass suicide bombings, jacked airplanes and flew them into buildings, and pressed buttons to watch an explosion on a screen. Kids from both sides were forced to fight the enemies of their wise elders. Soldiers cloaked themselves in man sized mechanical suits which led to bio metal engineering the iron into their bodies changing the way we all view warfare. Well, anyways, it got to the place where the war just ended somehow, and a bunch of countries got together to become one country and force all the other nations to join them. Everyone was so tired of war, so most of them when along with it. Thus, the United World Government was created. Spectre says our team was formed to balance or tip the scales of everything.
Why would I return to Ghetto 13 though? My old birthplace haunted my dreams for years and now when I finally don’t care anymore. I’m forced to return. I could say I was tricked into coming back. That place I once considered my home. An unprecedented disaster brought us all home. And once we were here there was no way we could leave.
“There it is,” Agent Theron spoke for the first time in hours. Her eyes softened from their icy hold for a split second.
Jack glanced out of his window. “Ghetto 13…”
I tuned into the show as well and rotated my head so I wouldn’t have to move my eyes and stared out the window for the first time in a good while. A grey haze lay below us and out of it stood tall chipped skyscrapers. Higher than all the rest a giant tower sprung from the clouds.
“It’s been years…” Jack mentioned with a look lost in memory.
“It’s not that place anymore,” said Bonaventure failing to even peak out the window.
“Is that Rosehill?” Theron’s voice resonated like the waves of an ocean as if with a small touch of concern.
I looked out the window again. A tower shot into the sky before me. From where I was there could be seen little dots of humanity as men worked on massive scaffolds. The tower rose out of the harsh miasma reaching for the skies above as the sun was dashed against its frame. The sunset, although beautiful, seemed to instill in me a cryptic feeling as if this regular end of the day occurrence was setting the stage for a surprise second coming, something I was definitely not ready for. My body seemed to heat up and I could feel the beginnings of sweat. My feelings were quickly overwhelmed by indifference as I yawned pleasantly at the sight of the dying sun. I expected a totally different reaction from myself at the sight of this lost sector. I feared seeing it again, that maybe I’d be thrown off balance with some long lost emotion. Nope. Nothing. The boy I used to be was being buried along with the rest of this forsaken cityscape.
“So they finally realized they were going to need us?” Bonaventure mused.
“Look at it though,” Jack said as he glanced out the window again. “This whole place was torn to pieces. These are not just some regular unlicensed users who don’t even know how to control The Other. They know what they’re doing.” Jack said.
“It was a bomb though, any idiot can set off a bomb,” I said.
“There’s definitely more to it than that. There’s no mere technology that could do something like that. You saw the message from Spectre.”
“These guys are just messed up.”
“Only the most twisted minds could come up with what happened a month ago. We’re dealing with the scum of the earth.”
“They could just be sending us in to die.” Bonaventure let out a chuckle deep with cynicism.
“It’s a win-win for them,” I said. There were many in the government that would rather we didn’t exist. But they would just have to suffer till our usefulness had ended. As my eyes got heavier and heavier I thought about how strangely comfortable I was going to war. I was truly looking forward to squeezing the life out of my enemies and the prospect of meeting worthy foes only filled me with excitement. Hmm, I wasn’t really sure how much of an opponent I’d make, dozing off all the time. For a while I had been suffering from mild Insomnia… at this point it was an extreme case. I hadn’t slept for weeks. Of course that’s if you didn’t count all the times I’ve fallen asleep at the wheel or drowsed off in training. Yes, my sleeping problems have interfered with my job. I’ve almost died a few times. But meh, I guess my attitude, now mixed with this sleep deprivation, has formed my outlook that I have on life. I’m too damn good of a soldier to send to bed. I was pretty much set on the idea of finishing this mission and then finally getting some sleep. But something told me that I wasn’t going to be resting any time soon.
“Hey Conroy, wake up,” I heard Jack’s voice over the rumble of the helicopter. “We’re here. Do we have everything we need?” Jack asked as he patted the pack over his shoulder.
“Let’s get out of this bird cage,” Bonaventure mused with a blank smile.
After the helicopter touched down on top of the tower we all stepped out onto the chilly surface. The cold felt like it was seeping through into my military boots. The sounds of construction could barely be heard below when a familiar man approached us along with the rest of our grim welcoming committee. An old friend stood tall with dark skin, sporting a black suit and sunglasses. He smiled broadly as he revealed a chorus of teeth.
“Sammy!” Jack shook the hand of our unexpected greeter. “How long did they have to hold you down to get you into the chicken suit?”
“I’m doing fine, how about you,” Sammy let out a laugh that could shake the earth as he embraced Jack.
“Connie Boy!” Sam surprised me when he slammed his big hands onto my shoulders. I shuddered a bit, and then came to my senses putting my hand in his for a firm shake. Sam lifted his sunglasses so he could look me in the eye. He had a concerned look for a second but brushed it off. “It’s good to see all of you again. We have a lot of catch up on.”
He turned around and moved towards the large double door with a freshly painted new red letter H. At his presence the doors began to pull apart. “Welcome back to Rosehill.” As we followed our welcome party I heard the helicopter behind us descending into the surface below it. We stepped into a beautiful room sized glass elevator.
“Like what you’ve done to the place,” Bonaventure chuckled.
This is where most of us grew up, besides Bonaventure and Sam. Jack, Theron, and I spent many of our years in what was called Rosehill. This place was totally different than we were accustomed to. Rosehill used to be a big mansion on a hill with one of the last forested areas in the country. And now, by the looks of it, they had done some expansion. Rosehill got its own tower. Heh. Of course, it was much more than it seemed many years ago. Below the mansion were countless floors used for many different government sponsored projects. But our fondest memories came from our lives on the surface. This tower was just another way the face of our home had changed. Quite a few faded memories scampered through the tunnels in my mind as I watched the floors rise above us. So many new rooms. Men moving and shaking. Changing everything around. Lots of blues, blacks, and whites. New technology. Giant flying machines ready to release out of multiple hatches like bees out of a hive. I heaved a sigh.
“You guys know why you’re here right?” I sensed Sam’s smile fade. “They’re monsters, they aren’t human at all.”
“Like us?” Theron said as she leaned against the glass.
“No… I feel better now that you’re all here. I bet the commander feels better about it all too. We’ve lost half of our men. We had it real hard back then. We saw a lot we shouldn’t have seen, right? But this is different. These guys want us all scared. They are all about fear. It’s like the world was ripped apart.” Jack raised his hand comfortingly to Sam’s shoulder. “Have you ever seen a man’s spine broken in two in front of you?”
We were all silent.
“We’re here now, Sam. Thing’s are gonna be different,” Jack attempted a reassuring smile. As usual, the rest of us had nothing to say. After a few seconds of silence I could see Sam relax his shoulders and sigh with reprieve.
“It sure is good to see you guys again,” he said as if he had reverted back to his jolly self. Soon, I heard a hydraulic hiss as our vertical transportation halted. “Welcome to your new home.” Sam grinned as the elevator steel slid from side to side. A sprawling command room lay before us. My eyes widened at the familiarity of this place. I could almost see ghosts of our former selves dancing around the room like I had stumbled back into the past.
“We really are home,” Jack said as his eyes shone brightly. He began wandering ahead as if on holy ground. The fog of voices that filled the room before had slowly lifted and our presence was felt by the occupants. My eyes scanned the industrial blue room filled with smudged monitors and clicking keyboards. A large screen spanned the front wall like an immense pool of the clearest water flickering with small pixilated specks that could be seen under the surface creating the image of a large city map. Before this screen stood a commander’s podium where a familiar uniformed man began to turn his head to see what had disturbed the order of his office. He wasn’t fat or anything, but he was a heavy man with broad hulking shoulders. When he turned he revealed a medium bush of hair coming down the side of his face, a perfectly lined sideburn. His harsh blue eyes squinted at the sight of us. His squint was followed by a smirk. He thumped his way over to us.
“Faris. How you’ve grown…” Jack spurned.
Faris looked down slightly on Jack as he smiled diplomatically. “You made it here alive I see.” Faris lit a cigar and began to suck down the filtered clouds. He tilted his body slightly backward enjoying the sweet taste of contamination. “How about you kids make yourselves quite comfortable while we wait for Commander Spectre to return.”
“We’re going to get started right away,” said Jack.
Faris stopped. “No, it’s quite ok.”
“Didn’t you get the memo?” Jack smirked. “You’ve been promoted to spectator, Sergeant.”
“There’s no way I’m putting the lives of my men in the hands of you freaks. You’re nothing more than terrorists to me. Always have been.”
“You can take it up with Spectre.” Jack marched ahead of Faris who was still standing, remaining as calm and arrogant as ever.
“Well it looks like you’ve gotten pretty cozy already.” I heard a familiar rasping voice behind me. A short aged man with a big poof of snow white hair entered the room from one of the many elevators. He inhaled from an auburn pipe tipping out of the right side of his mouth and waited to exhale before he would speak. And everyone would listen.
“Commander Spectre, you had a safe and comfortable trip I hope?” Faris gave a firm salute right after he stumbled to hide his cigar in one of his burly pockets.
“I hate air travel,” Spectre grumbled as he unbuttoned his black fall jacket. We all stood at attention for our mentor. “At ease. We have a job to do ladies and gentlemen. Sam do you have my report ready?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Let’s begin. Come with me, all of you.” The old man paced with heavy steps towards the large map on the large frontal monitor. “I want to bring you all up to speed on what’s going on right now.” As he spoke an expansive photograph of a woman sitting on the beach in a bikini came into full view. It quickly flicked off and Spectre grinned slightly, showing off the wrinkles on his forehead. “Just ignore that.” He coughed and then continued. “It has now been three weeks since the first terrorist attack by the cell ‘Dead Presidents’. The monitor began to show a camera feed of a man walking out of an elevator. Next was a close-up of the man. He had bronze colored hair that needed cutting. Two big bushes cascading out of the right and left of his scalp. He had a yellow trench coat littered with outer pockets. His hands happened to be nestled inside. “Vandal Shapiro. The gangster thought dead long ago was seen walking through the hallways of
“Didn’t we kill Vandal 8 years ago?” Theron asked. “I saw that man die in the worst way.”
“He came back,” said Sam.
“Only to kill himself?” asked Bonaventure.
“Since when did Vandal have a bone to pick with society?” I asked. “He was a ruthless gangster that preyed on the people just as much as any corrupt senator would. Don’t people who blow themselves up usually have a point they’re trying to make?”
“Yes it is strange. This is obviously a different man than the one you met,” said Spectre.
“Well at least we won’t have to kill him a second time right?” I said. “He was beyond scary. He fits right in with these terrorists. Well, if he didn’t blow himself to bits.”
“After this attack, many others took place. Random attacks of terror were strewn all over the sector. Religious riots broke out.” An image of a man of the cloth appeared on the screen. A close-up of his round face and sunglasses came next. “The commercial evangelist Uriah Count led one of the largest riots right out of his glass church. All over the city Count led over five-thousand rabid believers on a destructive rampage throughout Ghetto 13 calling out for the end of the world.”
“Priests with guns.” Bonaventure chuckled.
“Count destroyed the
“What came after was a total upheaval of Ghetto 13.” Clips of wreckage appeared next. Roads were gutted. Automobiles meshed into leaning buildings. “A strange phenomena much like a shockwave of mist and fog covered the whole sector. At this point the President issued the order for the quarantine barrier around the sector to be activated. Next came the message.” A photograph of a pensive man with a black beard and light bronze colored skin appeared.
“Saladin?” Jack’s eyes became wide as he inched closer to the screen.
“Saladin. As you know, was a representative of the United Nations before it was disbanded twelve years ago. A full honors graduate of Philosophy and Medical Science. He won the Nobel Prize for literature and was also a decorated soldier in the Terror Wars twenty years ago. This man relayed a message to the President immediately after the Phenomena taking full responsibility for the attacks. He claimed to be in full control over a powerful weapon capable of devastating life as we know it all over the United World.”
“So what happened to Ghetto 13 will happen to the rest of the world,” said Jack.
“Precisely. Total chaos, everywhere.”
“Saladin has this city under complete control. His terrorist army roams every street and sends endless waves of men to attack us here at our last stronghold in this forsaken city.”
“So how are they stronger than the United World Army? We’re this government’s last resort. Why us?” I asked.
“You are the last resort. There is no other option against these monsters. They have ‘abilities’… but far more advanced than yours. These men have been twisted by the Other to become terrifying monstrosities. Saladin has a dream team of twelve men and women that are extraordinarily powerful. Vandal was one of them, so now he only has eleven, but he sure did his share of damage. Uriah Count is also one of them. The Chikamauga Squad will be our first target.” A picture of a tattered old building appeared on the screen. “This squad of presumably four soldiers has taken control of an abandoned factory on the next street past the commercial district our building is a part of. This factory is the perfect vantage point for them to snipe our men from their location. The four of them are ever present. Day and night. Anyone who has gone into their line of sight has regretted it. We have sent teams over there. Only a few have made it back alive, and none have seen who these soldiers actually look like. They are skilled assassins that only reveal themselves to the dead. They will be your first mission here in Ghetto 13. The rest of Saladin’s men I will brief to you later once you have brought me the heads of the Chikamauga Squad. I want the Chikamauga Squad annihilated indiscriminately. Once you have done that we will send a team to take ground at the abandoned factory where they hide to set up a second base. After you will return here for more orders. Good luck ladies and gentlemen and god speed.”
With that we all got up and slowly scattered out of the office. I decided not to see the sights and go straight to the lounge to try and take a quick nap. When I reached the lounge Bonaventure was sitting quietly smoking another cigarette and once again was playing with his coin between his fingers. He glanced up at me and didn’t make the effort to speak aloud, “I guess this is a stupid question… but what do you think about this mission? Do you think our streak is in jeopardy? Why after all of these years, after turning our backs on this place, do we finally end up back at the place we used to call home.” His dark and weary eyes shifted up slightly admiring the haze. He further propped up his arm on the neighboring chair and relaxed.
It was rare that Bonaventure asked questions, he usually seemed to know all of the answers. I was also too tired to use my voice so I played his game. “I don’t think about it too much. I just do what we always do. Only think on the battlefield, not off the battlefield.”
“Ah.” Bonaventure just smiled bitterly. “I’ve been doing the forbidden lately.” His eyes remained fixed on the sitting smoke.
“Asking questions?”
“Pretty much.”
“Well cut it out.” I grinned.
I took a second to ponder Bonaventure’s question. He backed off and turned his attention elsewhere refusing to read me anymore. After gazing blankly at my wet cement colored military pants, I slowly edged further and further into my comfortable leather seat allowing my eyelids to close gently. It was strange to actually sit down in a chair and ponder a question when you were always on the move. To tell the complete truth, I really didn’t feel like this place was home anymore. We all changed, and so did this now unfamiliar sector of the city.
After a few minutes Theron entered the lounge and proceeded to sit down in a chair as far away from Bonaventure’s smoke as she could get, sitting up perfectly straight.
“Reading each other off duty I see.” Theron said not a word and winked at both of us.
“It’s hard not to when you get lazy of opening your mouth. We are technically on duty anyways,” Bonaventure thought as he turned his eyes slightly to Theron. “I’m getting too old to have to open my mouth for everything I feel like saying.” He stroked the air with his cigarette.
“That’s true.” Theron thought giving him the same cold glance.
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell if I’m even the one thinking,” I thought to myself, tilting my head back slightly. “I’d rather just stop thinking and let you all do it for me.” As my head suspended, wisps of white and grey floated over my face, tickling my nose. “What do you think about being here again, Theron?” Her gaze seemed to burrow deep into the bricks. Her eyes remained fixed as her thoughts crept into my mind. She turned her eyes towards me as if she were surprised I was looking in.
“I hate being back here.” Her inner voice whispered harshly in my mind’s ear. “I would rip it brick for brick if I could.” Being closed, my eyes caught the flicker of reminiscences that weren’t my own. I was given only glimpses of her pain and anger, through small fiery cookie cutter images and silhouettes. A small ripped giraffe toy. A tiny truck missing its wheels. Red trailing down soft skin. Neither of us really asked each other about the past before we had met. We accepted each other as we were at that moment of friendship conception. The room was full of emotional noise. My head was congested with the traffic of revisited memories.
“You really should get some sleep,” thought Jack as he swaggered into the room. He put his hands in the pockets of his indigo long coat.
“Sleep is for suckers.”
“After a while this whole connection thing makes you feel dirty. Knowing something of someone else’s that isn’t yours to know,” Theron spoke out loud. “I’d turn it off if I could.”
Jack studied the room and then, with his intense gray eyes, he seemed to catch the thoughts floating back and forth between us like fish in a murky tank. “It’s so strange. I still remember jumping the roofs down there. Getting into a fight with anyone I could just to taste my own blood. I know none of us are excited to be here. But there’s just something fascinating about it all. Something about me is dying to rule those streets again.”
“In this wasteland, the streets will only rule you.” Jacques Spectre appeared in the doorway smoking lightly on his pipe.
“Welcome back sir,” Jack said as he saluted.
“It’s good to be working with you all again. Once again the government that despises you needs you to defeat your own. The terrorists are like you, that’s what makes them your enemy.” Our mentor wheezed a piece of melancholy firmament.
“What makes this mission different from all of the others?” I asked.
“I’ve been with you all since the beginning. You are gifted beyond anything that I have ever seen. Yet, always remember what you were trained for. Uncertainty. Chaos. The unpredictable future.” He turned his gaze towards the window looking out into the bronze clouds. “Always remember that.”
“Let’s just get this mission over with please…” I groaned. “I need some sleep. Hey Superman,” I said emphasizing the word ‘superman’ in my usual obnoxious way, “got any more pills?”
“You’re out?” Jack asked lazily.
“Yup. Last two. I’m going to need them if I’m going to have any function whatsoever on the battlefield.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Jack finally sat down opposite of me.
“It’s about time for us to go,” Bonaventure mentioned as he took a long deep breath from contaminated lungs.
“Let’s go,” said Jack . Our mission was about to begin… and I could have really used some pills. But oh well. Spectre saluted us off. We once again met up with Sam as we took the long flight of stairs down into the depths of the tower’s lower floors. All of us were pretty much silent the whole time. But of course, our thoughts were bouncing back and forth constantly. Many times I tried not to read the others and I could feel them trying not to read me, except Jack of course. Jack was always reading everything. He never held back and wanted to be aware of everything, even the thoughts and fears of his team.
As we continued the ringing sound of warfare began to creep into our ears. A familiar and welcome sound. I could feel my pills slowly draining away their ability to keep me fully awake. I had asked a nurse for more pills but they had none at the time. So I was going to go into battle like this. I thought what I always thought since the insomnia started to creep up on me, “If I die, I can sleep.” It was a win win. As my eyes started to droop and my feet mechanically kept the pace there was a sudden boom and crackle. A loud noise and vibration followed. Theron gripped the railings and Jack put his hand on her shoulder. Bonaventure put his back to the wall but remained jaded and alert. I on the other hand began my decent. I tumbled down the steps as I lost my balance. I fell with a smile, like a little boy who just couldn’t play anymore and welcomed his bed with arms wide open. As my head hit the steps for the fourth time I began to come to and realize how much pain I was in. I landed in a strange wrangled position on some floor staring out into Ghetto 13. There was a huge hole in the wall and I could see a large building through it. And thus, Ghetto 13 and I had finally met again. My old friend pulled me up and out of the way. The stinging sensation on my ear must have been where the bullet had skimmed it.
“What happened?” Sam said as he pulled me to safety.
“Thanks man,” I chuckled. “I’m really awake now.”
“Somehow a shell must have made a hole in the infrastructure. This is recent. How are we going to get down there?” Sam began to sweat profusely.
“Why can’t we just run by?” I suggested rubbing my twanging ear.
“They are always alert. That is why all the windows are sealed on this side. They are always watching… always waiting.”
“They’ve got one hell of a patience margin,” said Jack.
“They have been there for a week… not once have we been able to go into the open without suffering major consequences. You are the first one who has survived in a long time. Or was it you’re doing at all?” They all turned to Bonaventure who was tumbling a set of dice in his left hand. The agent smiled for a second but said nothing.
For some weird reason I burst out laughing but stopped myself. Sometimes my thoughts, or at least what I thought were my thoughts, were too good to pass up for a mere inward chuckle.
Jack turned a glance to Bonaventure as if he were asking him a question and awaiting an answer. Bonaventure rolled the dice in his hands and closed his eyes for a moment. “The odds for the survival of one at this point are high, but I can only guarantee one.”
“Very well… I guess our mission starts a little early,” Jack mentioned.
“If we throw a smoke bomb they might just end up shooting randomly forever, and who knows how much ammo they have stocked up,” Bonaventure analyzed.
“And I can’t shoot them from here because they’re position is already set,” Theron added. “And there would have to be five of them for them to have this kind of accuracy and full alertness. I could kill about three but the last two would most definitely take off my head.”
“I guess we’ll have to break them out early,” I chuckled pointing down at a button on a device attached to my belt.
“I guess so. Activate,” Jack ordered and soon each of our physical images faded into our surroundings. Short term invisibility. “Alright, we don’t have much time. Go!” They began to run down the steps and Sam stayed where he was.
“Good luck!” he shouted.
I was the first to go and the least reluctant one to get the hell out of that enclosed space. Bonaventure and Jack followed right behind. Theron held the back and stealthily followed keeping aware. A zing could be heard above me as I saw a bit of blood squirt over my head and onto the wall in front of me. I glanced up to see Theron running boldly as she slightly clasped her shoulder. A surge of electricity sparked around her as she held her wound. “Keep going!” She yelled as we sped down the stairs together. She had been shot somehow and her stealth technology had totally malfunctioned. We began hearing the hustle and bustle of soldiers below shouting orders and commands. When they finally reached the bottom they came into a room filled with soldiers sitting behind huge metal walls built into the entrance lobby area of the tower, which had become a battle ground. One of the soldiers approached us as our stealth technology was deactivated.
“We’ve got orders from headquarters. We are now under your command sir,” said the soldier as he saluted rigidly to Jack.
“Guard this spot and we’ll advance through the bazaar.”
“I don’t know what you have planned, but if you can get through there alive, I salute you commander.”
I turned to Theron who winced in pain. Bonaventure seemed to be taking in the gravity of the situation. If it wasn’t for his luck she would be dead right now and our team as good as disbanded. “They saw right through it… they must have,” Bonaventure thought as he glanced at me waiting for my response to what I had read.
“Maybe we shouldn’t count on stealth anymore?” I asked Jack.
“You’re probably right…somehow they figured it out. In that short of time,” Jack said. “We’ve handled worse before, so we can do it. Where did the bullets come from Conroy?”
“From the dust shoot on the roof,” I mentioned with the knowledge that came to me in the strangest of situations. “I think I saw one of them actually… for a split moment he and I exchanged glances,” I explained as images of a child like face shot through my mind. Was one of them a kid? I thought. Jack helped himself to the images in my head.
“Could it be an illusion?” Bonaventure asked.
“It’s possible. There’s no other way we can do this. Now that I possibly know where one of the shooters is I think we can do it. Now Bonaventure, I’m going to need you to tell me when it is most providential for us to run. And of course there’s the battle going on out there, which could work for our advantage or be our downfall.”
Bonaventure thought for a second and then threw the dice on the ground. Every moment he thought seemed as though an hour had past. We all felt it. He opened his eyes and shouted, “Run!” We all darted for the metal doors.
Jack shouted orders “Open the gates now! Go go go! Stay alert Conroy… I need your mind open. Stay alert, all of you!” We all rushed into the hell of battle. It was just then that my pills stopped working and the world seemed to completely slow down. I tried to juggle the long lonely rifle into a useful position after I had clumsily retrieved it from my back pack. I swayed back and forth on the street almost stumbling on a few pieces of rubble and dilapidated concrete. The first shot was heard. As my eyes closed I saw exactly where the bullet was coming from. Bonaventure smiled as he closed his eyes and I knew he read my mind. He moved at the perfect time and the bullet slammed into the wreckage below him.
“Lucky…” To the side I could see a few rough looking gang members frantically trying to make sense out of the situation. One saw us and aimed his rifle, before I could even think I pierced his head with a bullet.
The next bullet rang.
I closed my eyes and Agent Theron fell to the ground to have a civilian fly over her and take the bullet. “Thanks,” she thought to me.
Jack leapt in front of a rolling tank and just dodged being crushed by its mighty frame, giving him just enough time to avoid the sight of the greater enemy. He made it to shelter and than sat down and closed his eyes. “Where is he Conroy?”
“I’m not sure… he’s moving…”
“You should have figured it out by the last shot…”
“My pills are wearing off…”
“Does your life depend on pills?”
“It depends on a lot of things… uh… whoa. I think that’s it. It’s coming straight for me,” I thought as I took my attention away from Jack to the flash catching my eye from one of the windows.
The third bullet flew.
“Good job.” Jack smiled and un-holstered one of his magnum pistols. He closed his eyes and felt the air, then fired one solitary shot with his left weapon.
I closed my eyes and held my head as I studied the wind. There was a flash and I could see two bullets intercepting. I made one last hurdle and flew into a garbage can and then rolled into the wall of a corner store. I’m not sure when I opened my eyes but I found myself stumbling into one of the bazaar stores. We made it to one of the alleys and all stopped for a moment to catch our breath. A familiar smell rolled into my nostrils. I had not been home for such a long time.
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