Los Angeles and New York
December 21, 2013
It was past eleven at night and I was at my computer trying to contact Sarah who screen name 'Rose5790' in the chat room where we normally meet. Everyone else that was normally there was there. In the past five years, the Internet chat rooms had evolved quickly. Chat rooms had developed into virtual reality, so that when you are in a chat room, you actually can see a virtual representation of the people you're talking to.
"Emily, have you seen Sarah?" Willow asked me when I first entered the room. I could hear in her voice that she was worried about Sarah, but I didn't know what had happened if anything.
"She said she was gonna be outta touch for a while, but she didn't say why or what was wrong." Kyle said.
"Okay, she lives in New York City, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, she lives in NYC, why are you gonna go check on her?" Cale asked me.
After that I called LAX and bought a plane ticket to New York. The flight wasn't too long. Lucky for me I had all the money I needed, so I bought a portable DVD player which I could use on the plane. The airlines upgraded to digital radios for communication to the towers. It had to be a specially designed system which operates on a special frequency so it wouldn't interrupt the signals to and from the tower and planes.
* * *
I was wearing my Nike sneaks, a black pair of jeans, a black turtleneck shirt, my backpack, a hat, and my Oakleys. I gasped as I looked down from the top of the Empire State Building, amazed at how high I was not because I was scared. No. No I was anything but scared, if anything I felt safer at this height. I looked toward the area of town I knew that Sarah lived in and decided to start heading in that direction. As I walked toward the elevators I felt a strange presence, almost a voice in the back of my mind that told me not to use the elevators, I didn't know what it was I'd never felt it before so I decided to trust it. I changed direction toward the stairs, flicked the power on my MP3, pulled my headphones on, and opened the door. Once inside the stairwell I hopped onto the new spiraling rail and slid all the way to the ground floor.
When I hit the floor at the bottom I went to the street and caught a cab, it was, after all, a long walk to Sarah's. The cabby asked me something but I didn't hear him. Realizing why I pressed the pause on my MP3 and said, "Excuse me, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat that?"
Cheerfully the cabby replied, "Sure sweet, 'where ya from?'"
I puzzled for a moment before saying, "I'm from LA, I'm in town visiting some friends."
As we talked, I noticed that there was a car following us. I said to no one, "Fuck! How did they find me so fast?" then to the driver, "Can we make a detour? There's a car following us. We need to lose them. I don't care what it takes. I'll pay double!"
"Sugah all you gotta do is ask! What does the car look like?" he said.
I stole another glance and said, "It's a Blue NEC Model 1185, government plates number XKZ897."The details of the car chase aren't important so I'll just skip over that part. We lost them and that's really all that matters.
I found Sarah and we got her stuff moved across the river into a cheap apartment. We sold off what she was willing to part with and shipped the rest to my place in Los Angeles. One day, I was on my way home from the mall and I thought someone was following me. As I went home I was careful to detour around the block and through the alley so I could lose any tails I might have acquired along the way. I glanced behind me and down into the alley and found I hadn't acquired any tails. I know I use military terminology quite often, but I suppose you could blame it on all of those movies I saw in the late nineties. As I was saying, I went home and went to bed, falling asleep almost immediately. While I slept I dreamed about someone I knew back in Houston when I was seventeen years old.
When I woke up, Sarah was sitting beside me and said, "Good dreams or what?"
"Just memories of a time long past which I can never return to."
"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
"It's not your fault, it's mine if I'd never started looking for the others I'd have been fine."
"Until they found you."
"Good point." After that discussion we began to get dressed because we were going to a party later. No matter what, we were going to make this party.
* * *
When we arrived at the party, I knew instantly there was someone else there possessing our powers. In that crowd it was near to impossible to sort minds and thoughts out from one another, but we managed. Within ten minutes we had determined that this person was for a fact a guy. Just by reading his thoughts I knew he could see me. I looked around and our eyes met. Now let's get one thing straight right now; I don't believe in love at first sight or any of those things like that. Even so, I felt if we'd known each other for years. We began walking toward each other and the snack bar at the same time.
When we got there, I introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Emily, I'm kinda new here."
"I'm Patrick Sullivan. I've lived here all my life, unfortunately."
"You a boarder?"
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"Just the way you walk. Like you don't feel safe on your own two feet. I'm really into boarding too."
"You wanna see who's better? I brought my board."
"Just one question. Are you a skateboarder or a hoverboarder?"
"Hoverboard all the way!"
"Okay, let's go. Time trials or tricks?"
"How about both!"
As we headed to the arena our hoverboards were on autopilot so we could get to know each other a little better on the trip there. We locked our boards together and talked about half the time for most of the rest of the time we made out. After we left the party, Sarah called me to tell me that she too was heading to the hover arena. She asked Patrick to wait for her once we arrived, but I knew it wouldn't be necessary. Sarah has one of the top ten fastest hoverboards in existence and so do I. Unless Patrick had one of the other nine then she would get there long ahead of us. I decided to separate and kicked into high gear to race into the arena the rest of the way. The sidewalk became crowded after about a block, and you're not supposed to operate devices traveling more than ten miles per hour anywhere except the road in New York City, trust me I got stopped going thirty-five on the sidewalk with my hoverboard. I slipped out into the road at the next light, zipping in and out between cars (there is no speed limit for hoverboards, the cops don't know how fast they can go!)
* * *
When we arrived at the arena, Sarah was waiting for us at the front gate. We entered the gates and hopped on our boards. We all powered up, checked with everyone else, and gave the signal to the gate to begin the starting sequence. The light changed to green and we were off the track was a mile long and we'd just paid for ten laps. The track has seven turns, one every one-eighth of a mile. So, for the first two-eighths of a mile the track is perfectly straight. As we barreled for the first turn I knew Sarah wouldn't try to maintain full speed in those curves, I also knew that I could pull off full speed through all of the curves. When we got to the curve, Sarah and Patrick headed down the curve. I headed straight for the wall and pulled my feet up on the wall and pushed the envelope of my speed until my head hurt and I almost went into a spin. When I managed to regain control and come off of the wall, I was six meters ahead of Sarah and eight meters ahead of Patrick.
The rest next seven laps were the same. When we hit eight laps, I noticed four agents from the MEGAT 4 Security Team coming toward the edge of the track. I dropped speed and let Sarah and Patrick catch up. As I told them what was happening, Sarah pulled out the two Hosch and Kepler nine millimeters we'd bought a week earlier. We shot back to the starting gate and I grabbed my coat which had my following weapons: one MP5, two forty-five/thirteen long slides, and one Glock nine millimeter. While I was checking my weapons, I noticed Patrick reach down to his hoverboard and pull out two Glocks. We went to the most hidden spot on the track and powered down while we waited for the agents to arrive. Among the three of us we had about 25 rounds of ammunition.
Moments later we were surprised by some bullets bouncing off my armor. I fell onto the ground and loaded my MP5. When the first of the agents came into view, I squeezed off about three rounds at him; one hit his head, the other two slammed into his chest and him fell off the hoverboard he'd rented. Sarah hit the next one as he shot over us. By the time the second agent hit the ground Sarah only had one clip of ammo left. The next agent that came up did so on foot. When he was thirty-five meters away, Patrick put three bullets into his forehead. Another ran around the turn and again Patrick fired again, emptying the rest of the clip into him. Sarah and I hit the next one, but he just wouldn't fall. We nearly emptied our weapons into him, and finally he went down, dead as a doornail. I knew there was another agent, and there was only one bullet left in my Glock.
As the last agent came to bear on us I pulled out a laser scope and sight of my Glock. I glanced around and put it on, immediately taking my aim on the curve the other Agents had come from. He popped into my view and I fired once and he went down. I could only hope and pray that he didn't have a bulletproof vest on, because we didn't have any more ammunition.
After that we gathered our things headed home as fast as we could safely travel in street clothes. We split up and went to our apartments to get some things. We had to leave New York as soon as possible. We got our stuff and headed for the airport. We caught the soonest flight out of there which went to San Francisco.
* * *
San Francisco
January 30th, 2014
When we arrived in San Francisco, we checked in at the Ritz Carlton. We all got separate rooms, just to keep things halfway normal and friendly among the three of us. Even though we were only staying for two days, I needed to do some shopping. Ten minutes after we checked in, I went straight to the mall on Treasure Island in the bay.
Once at the mall I went to Borders. I was sitting, reading Anne Rice's newest book, and sipping my coffee. I was a few chapters into the book when a girl about my age walked up and said, "Hi. Do you mind if I sit down?"
"Not at all, I've got two friends in this entire city, and I think they're at the hotel."
"I'll be your friend, while you're here. I'm Shelly Summers. My other friends call me Sisco. As in Captain Ben Sisco of the Defiant. Did you ever watch Deep Space Nine?"
"You watch Star Trek?"
"Not really, a lot of my friends used to until it went off the air."
Suddenly, I heard the voice in my head again. Still I had no idea what this voice was, but I intended to trust it. After all, it lead me out of trouble back in New York, and I had no reason not to trust it.
"Shelly, this might seem weird, but I need you to come with me right away. It's urgent."
"What's this about? Are you some kinda weirdo?"
"Look, all I know is that I hear a voice in my head whenever trouble is near. That voice tells me that we are both are in danger now. So do you want to argue about it or can you trust me?" As she sat thinking, I noticed three seriously pumped up individuals in trench coats come through the nearest door.
"Shelly, come on we gotta go." I said. She jumped up and we started toward the other door as fast as possible. I knew they wouldn't fire in the crowds, so we just had to lose them in the crowds.
If we couldn't figure out how the agency kept finding me we'd be finished within the month. I never had any problems before I found Sarah and Patrick. Even now I'd found Shelly, and they had found me yet again. We escaped from the mall and the agency scouts. After we got back to the hotel we called Sarah and Patrick. They told me earlier in the day that they would be spending the day together. I grabbed my cellular phone and dialed five-five-five-zero-seven-nine-one.
The phone rang twice before Sarah picked up breathing heavily and moaning, "What?!?" she almost screamed at me. I didn't bother to ask what I was interrupting, I already knew, there was no need to ask because it was grounding out night for them.
"Sarah. You and Patrick need to meet me at the airport A.S.A.P." I told her. She paused and Patrick stopped what he was doing.
She said, "What happened? Are you and Shelly okay?"
"How did you know I was with Shelly?" I queried.
"Did you get away from them without any snags?" she said.
"Sarah how the fuck do you know about these things? Never mind, not important. Be at the airport, and I'll be there with your bags. Just be there, and we're going to L.A."
* * *
When we got to the airport, they'd already picked up the tickets I'd bought over the Vid-phone. It took Shelly and me ten minutes to find them. They were at the café. We gave them their bags in exchange for our tickets.
We started to board the plane and Shelly said, "Wait, what's the hurry?"
I replied, "I'll explain it to you on the plane, okay?"
"Yeah, whatever." After that exchange, we boarded the plane. We all had first class seats. As we prepared for takeoff I began to explain.
"Shelly, listen very carefully. About thirty-five years ago the military began a project to genetically engineer the "perfect" soldier. The project originally produced about six subjects. They were all supposed to have been destroyed. They weren't what the Chief of Operations wanted. The next group produced much better results. There were twelve in that group. They only got one of them even close to right: Me. I found out about this when I was fourteen. My adoptive parents were erased by the agency when I was sixteen. Ever since, I've been searching for the others who were subjects in this project. About six months ago, I met Sarah on the Internet. A short time ago I fell out of contact with her, and flew to New York to find her. I found her and Patrick in that same month. We also had a run-in with five agency security agents. We survived, just barely. Then we flew here and I found you . I think you are one of us. That's why we've brought you with us."
"No way! That's what all this is about? A top secret military project?" she said.
"Unfortunately, yes. That's why we do what we do. I mean, we have normal lives but we have to live out of suit cases because we never know when we might need to make a run for it again. They have found us the last two times we've been in one place for more than twenty-four hours. We haven't been able to figure it out. They must have some kind of tracking devices implanted in us is all I can figure."
"Tracking device? Would they put something like that in your hand, say?"
"Why? Did you find something in your hand when you were younger?" I asked.
She said after a short pause, "Yeah, when I was fourteen I broke my right arm. My doctor took some X-rays and found something strange in my hand. He was afraid it might have been cancerous so he had me get it removed."
"You said it showed up on an X-ray? Did it show up on MRI or CTMSK scans?"
"No, just my X-rays. Why?"
"Well, normally I wear my kevlar body armor."
"So? What's the point?"
"I wasn't wearing it today when they found us. The armor may have been muffling the signal. But, if we could remove the device they'd never be able to find us."
"Oh. That's great. Do you have like a secret lair in LA?"
"Nope, just my house."
"What no lair?" After that last comment we both nearly rolled out of our seats laughing.
En Route to Los Angeles
TAAS Flight 5943
January 30th, 2014
My house was about thirty minutes away from the airport, and too far to try to hoverboard with our suitcases. I used my cell phone to call my home mainframe from the plane about thirty minutes before we landed. I pressed autodial and said to the phone "Home." It began dialing, and my mainframe picked up.
"Greetings, Emily. How may I be of service to you?"
"Computer, cross-reference vehicle travel time and traffic to determine an ETA for LAX."
"Analysis complete. ETA to LAX is thirty-five minutes seven seconds. Changes in ETA will be reported to you immediately."
"Initiate vehicle launch immediately. Quickest route to LAX. Thank you computer. End transmission." After those words my phone disconnected the satellite uplink.
We landed in Los Angeles at noon. Considering I'd called the mainframe at eleven-thirty, I figured my timing was as close to perfect as I could get.
"Okay guys, here's the plan. We're going to crash at my place until we find a reason to leave the city." We got our bags and headed to the main exit, that's where the car would stop. I have it set for safeguard mode. It will wait for five minutes after it arrives, if I'm not in it by that time it goes home without me.
When we got to the parking lot the car had just pulled up. I popped the trunk, put my bag in, and got into the driver side. The others followed the same pattern, with Shelly sitting up front beside me. As I reached for the steering wheel, the computer changed over to manual drive mode. My computer doesn't know my short cuts someday I'll have to program them in when I have time. Using my shortcuts I can get from the airport to my house in about twenty minutes, even in heavy traffic.
* * *
We arrived at my house, and I parked it in the garage as usual. Everyone got out and the door closed in a few seconds, leaving us in the dark. Patrick and Sarah nearly fell over looking for the light switch.
"Computer, lights on." I said calmly. There was instant light and nothing to worry about. We got inside and everyone just put their bags down in the living room.
I asked them, "Does pizza sound okay for lunch?"
"Yeah sure, I'm starved." Sarah said. Patrick nodded as did Shelly. I picked up the house phone and pressed "memory" "one" it dialed the number for my favorite pizza place in town that delivers.
"Mario's Pizza how can I help you." he asked.
I said, "I'd like to speak to Mario if he's in."
"Sure, who's calling?" he asked.
"Emily Beckett."
"Eh! Mario, Emily Beckett's on the phone for you." he yelled to Mario.
"Eh. Emily it's been a long time since I heard from you. Where you been girl?"
"New York and San Francisco. I need to order some pizzas. Probably about three."
"What you having a party or something?"
"Nope, just some friends over."
"Well, I send three of your normal pizzas over."
"Yeah, thanks Mario. How much is that?"
"Twenty-three fifty."
"Thanks Mario, Later!"
* * *
Once the pizza arrived I asked everyone to stay at the house while I was gone. I knew that it wouldn't be a problem for Patrick and Sarah, but Shelly was another story. She was alone in an unfamiliar place. I decided to take her over to Paul's place just in case she got nervous about staying at my house basically by herself. Paul would take care of her until I got home. I hadn't talked to Paul for about eight years, but I was sure he'd help out after all he knows about all that's going on. I know that's going to be dangerous for him, but I had to give him some explanation about why his got shot when we were in college at UCLA. We were dating back then, his friend and I, but we both just drifted apart. We're still friends and all, and I think deep down he still loves me. Josh started talking to an old friend of his from Alabama soon after we broke up, her name was Laura. She's a doctor, or something like that, I don't know if he even knows. I took Shelly over to Paul's house before I went to the mall. I talked to him a few minutes while I was there. As I started to leave his phone rang.
I arched an eyebrow, saying, "Aren't you gonna answer that?"
"No, I'll let the machine get it." he answered me.
The machine picked up and announced, "Hey, it's us, we're not home you know the drill."
The caller said, "Paul, it's Laura, we've got some problems down here, call me later I'll give you all the details. Just in case you forgot, the number's five-five-five-seven-three-three-seven. Later, bye."
"Anyway, I need to go, it's getting dark." I said as I walked out into the warm Los Angeles evening
By this time It was nearly dark, and I didn't have my hover board so I walked. It was, after all, only a few blocks from Paul's house to the mall. As I walked I felt as if I were being watched. I looked around for any signs of anyone else around, but found none. 'Strange, I thought for sure there was someone watching me.' Moments later, I heard the voice in my head yet again, I didn't stop to think I just dropped to the ground as someone hit the ground in front of me. If I hadn't done so when I did, this strange figure standing over me would have hit me square in the back. Unfortunately, I was on the ground anyway. Suddenly his foot pressed down on my shoulders, pinning me to the ground. I couldn't move, suddenly I realized this was the end of me, I was finished. Yet, even with the unbelievable pressure on my back I felt stronger than ever. Suddenly the man released a loud "Ugh!" and fell over with a thud. I didn't know why, I was free and that's what mattered. I rolled over to try to see what had just happened. That's when I realized someone else had hit this musclebound man and knocked him off of me. She was still here and they were beginning to fight. The woman spun into a solid roundhouse and out of nowhere turned it into a jump kick accompanied shortly thereafter by a volley of punches to his chest. As he staggered under her attacks she put a powerful side kick into his face. After that last hit his eyes began to glow like those weird aliens from Stargate SG-1, and then he growled in a manner common to the aliens from the Predator movies. She charged in to deliver another kick, but he anticipated it and caught the powerful kick mid-air. Using one arm, he pulled he off her other foot and delivered a nasty backhand which sent her sprawling against the concrete. Once she was on the ground I noticed that she was pulling out a wooden stake. 'A vampire?' I thought to myself. She was now furious and attacked the man with more speed than I had ever seen a person move. Suddenly, he was on the ground, apparently dead. He screamed and was suddenly silent.
The woman turned to me and said, "Miss, you really should be more careful. I'm Jennifer Salinger, you're not from around here, are you?"
"Yeah, I live about a mile from here."
"You didn't know about the vampire attacks we've had recently?"
"No, I've been out of town for about two months now. Are you sure they're vampires?"
"Do vampires drink human blood? Do they hide during the day? Yes I'm sure. He was a vampire. Except despite popular belief these aren't true vampires, they don't just hunt at night, these are just genetic freaks that the government screwed up."
"Just be a little more careful. Okay?"
"Yes, that's no problem. So what do you do? I mean, during the day. When they aren't out?"
She turned to me saying, "They're always out. They never quit or stop hunting."
"So they aren't vampires?"
"No. They're genetic mutations who have to consume human blood in order to live due to the mutations they have, I told you that a minute ago. Well, I'm going in here now. Feel free to come by later."
"Yeah, I might. I'm heading to the mall right now. I might come by later."
That time of night I knew the mall would be crowded, but I didn't care. The crowds would just let me walk on auto-pilot that much better. The mall was after all boring, so after about ten minutes I left. Which was just enough time to make one circuit of all three levels. I decided to go pay Jennifer a visit, after all, she had saved my life.
Once I entered the building I was asked to check any weapons I might be carrying. I was of course reluctant to comply. However, I saw logic in the action, but I kept one gun just in case. I walked through the metal detector and it went off. I began to explain about my armor. The attendant nodded and waved me through.
I scanned the crowds for any signs of Jennifer. The next thing I saw was not Jennifer, but rather an extremely large crowd moving toward the doors. A young woman, I'd estimate about twenty-two years old and rather short, was at the front of this crowd, right behind her was Jennifer. She spotted me and waved for me to join the crowd. I did, and it surged outside.
The woman in front stopped and the crowd surrounded her Jennifer explained, "That's Desi. She's my friend, she just picked a fight with two rival gangs who are now going to try to beat her into the ground. Got it?" I simply nodded.
Suddenly Desi spoke, "All right you punks! Let's rumble!"
"Jeez! She's going to get her self splattered!" I screamed.
But Jennifer just stood there smiling and saying, "She does this all the time."
That's when I noticed that one of the gang bangers had a lead pipe in his hand and Desi did not see him. Instinct kicked in, I pulled out a throwing knife and before I could throw it she kicked him in the stomach he went down hard and I could see that he wasn't going to be getting up for a while. The rest of the people in that man's gang seemed to hesitate and then they all ran like someone had just dropped a cupful of Ni-oxium-sulfide-12-M on the ground. The other gang did not make the same mistake. The approached Desi and about seventeen of them surrounded her and began sending flurries of punches and kicks at her. She was unable to block all of it. I knew that they had her, there was no way she could take them all...
It was a moment later that I realized I had underestimated her skills. When she hit the ground I started reaching for my Glock, but then I thought better of it and pulled out a stick of gum instead. Jenn looked at me and shook her head. Then suddenly Desi moved. She moved so fast I could barely see it. By the time she was on her feet again, nine of the guys around her were on the ground. She leaped into the air, and I could hardly believe what I saw, she jumped at least ten feet into a somersault. It was amazing. It was then that I realized who, and what she really was. The remnants of the gangs had left in a big hurry.
* * *
I stood there looking at Desi for a moment before I said, "Guys give me a few minutes and I'll have a car here for us ya'll are welcome to crash at my place. What do you say?"
Jennifer looked at Desi and said, "Ah what the hell. Sure" I pulled out my cell phone and said to it "home dial" it dialed into my mainframe computer just like always. The computerized voice gave the same greeting, and I began giving my orders.
"Use G.P.S. tracker and activate homing beacon on vehicle 1-2-7-3, start vehicle and launch. Give me an ETA."
"ETA to target location is four minutes and seventeen seconds."
"Good comply with orders, Emily out."
"Okay guys the car should be here in four minutes." Just then my phone rang. I answered,
"Hello, this is Emily."
"Emily? Hi, this is Stacy. Stacy Walker, Paul's friend, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Hey Stacy, what's up?" . . . . .