Dark Fall II

Part I - The Vanished

Chapter 9: Watched

(1)

Two weeks had passed. Zack was trying to throw himself into his work. He was working harder than ever. It was all he could do, he felt. It wasn't that he was trying to make it all disappear and go away, he just genuinely had no other direction he felt he could go at this point.

He still had to come home to his empty house and bed every night, which he hated.

He thought back to Fetch Rock every day. For reasons he had no clue of, the nightmares had stopped. In fact, he was beginning to question whether or not Cody and Archimedes may have in fact been right.

(2)

Zack was at his nightclub in L.A. this particular evening on his day off. This place, his main nightclub located in downtown LA, was one of his crowning achievements. The theme of it was that it was designed like a bunch of movie sets all combined into one, a type of tribute to Hollywood. The building itself was designed in a semi-circle. From the entrance, there were six giant areas all decked out with different themes and all connected to each other.

The first one, starting from the right, was the Star Wars theme. Zack had done a very bizarre and controversial hybrid of the Millennium Falcon and the Mos Eisley Cantina. Zack hadn't been able to decide on just one particular location, so he'd decided to have them combined. The head foreman had looked at him like he was crazy. "Those hardcore fans, they'll skin you alive! Trust me!"

Zack didn't see why. He'd gone ahead with it anyways. It worked, he felt. He felt like he had blended them well quite artistically. But the hardcore Star Wars fans had wanted to skin him alive. Zack didn't understand it. But they couldn't see the art in combining two completely different locations from the universe they so devoutly cherished into one. It completely baffled and offended.

After enduring countless long (very long) lectures from costume-clad Star Wars fans during the first two opening weeks, Zack had decided to mess with them even more. The bar area was given a huge, neon sign right above it that read: 'Greedo Shot First!' The fans did not appreciate the humor in that either, sadly.

To add even more fuel to an already growing fire, Zack had done some hardcore tracking down and had managed to procure a VHS of the extremely rare Star Wars Holiday Special and installed TVs all over the room to play it 24/7.

The Star Wars Holiday special was a special that had aired on November 17th, 1978, and not once more ever again. To say it was horrendously terrible was to be rather lenient on it. Reportedly, George Lucas was so embarrassed of the existence of this abomination that he had resolved to do everything in his power to hunt down every existing copy and smash it with a hammer.

Zack had met George Lucas, though, and Lucas had found his place amusing, although Zack could have sworn that more than once he saw Lucas taking careful glances around just in case he might spot the source of where the unholy tape was playing at all hours of operation so that he might secretly make off with it and perform the necessary ritual of purification. But Zack had all the TV's wired to his office where a locked cabinet housed the DVD player the movie had been burned onto and now ran on permanent loop. Heck, Zack had ten other burned copies of the movie. Lucas could have HAD the VHS for all he cared. But it was much more amusing to Zack to deprive Lucas of an illusion of possible victory.

For all the criticism this particular section got, though, it was still fairly popular. There were plenty of people who got the humor of it. Even the hardcore fans didn't necessarily stay away from it. He saw more than one of the fans who had lectured him there on a semi-regular basis.

Next to the Star Wars abomination hybrid was an Indiana Jones room done all out like the Temple of Doom. It was another odd semi-hybrid, though, where an opening towards the right held the eponymous giant boulder that had chased Indiana in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It couldn't be an Indiana Jones theme, Zack had thought, without the giant boulder. This particular room, however, had another function other than just getting down, dancing, and getting drunk. It also functioned as a bizarre type of wedding hall.

Yes, a wedding hall.

Zack had thought it would be hilarious if people could actually opt to get married in the Temple of Doom. He found an employee who could be made to look very close to the high priest from the movie, got him ordained, and proceeded to perform some of the most bizarre wedding ceremonies known to man. The groom would actually be chained up like in the movie, and the priest would pretend to pull the groom's heart out, which was actually just a realistic looking prop that had a ring inside, and the groom would make a declaration of 'giving his heart' to his bride for all eternity. Believe it or not, the very first wedding performed on this spot was of Zack and Maya. It was definitely one of the more memorable moments in his life. This particular room was just one of the most shining examples of just how much of a bizarre and creative mind Zack possessed. (He still couldn't fathom that Maya had actually agreed to get married this way.)

He hated this room now, only because of the memories it brought back.

On this particular day, there was a wedding taking place tonight. He couldn't stand to be in there. It reminded him too much of his own wedding day.

Next to that was the 007 room which was based off of Casino Royale. All around were lifelike carved lifelike images of each of the different actors who had been Bond. These all went in an orderly fashion around the room, starting at the left of the entrance with Sean Connery, then going around to George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and further on, ending at the right entrance. The Casino Royale, true to its name, was partially a gambling joint. It was one of the most popular and profitable areas of the club.

Pirates of the Caribbean was the next theme with the room being based off the Black Pearl. There was an area set up where extra paying customers could swashbuckle each other with non-lethal swords. The catch was they had to come in costume and sign a release form stating that Club Zack was not responsible for any eyes poked out, fatally injured testicles, or any other such things that might occur when people were waving around blades at each other, dull or not.

The next room was the zombie room with cemetery decor all around and screens surrounding the area in which every zombie film that Zack could find were rotated and played constantly. This room was mostly a dance floor. At random several times throughout the day, an announcer would announce over the intercom: "THRILLER TIME!", and everybody who wanted to participate hit the dance floor and did their best zombie dance to Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.' Judges watching the dancers closely would pick out the best person on the dance floor and they'd get a free drink.

In the final room was the land of Mordor. The room resembled the underground caverns where monsters had been created in the Lord of the Rings films. Zack had actually gone for a huge, holographic eye of Sauron that hung high above the room on the ceiling, looking down on everyone. A giant realistic representation of Shelob hug off on the left side, posed as if making its way down to feed on the guests. This particular room had a different function than all the others. It was predominately a room for role players and little else. Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, or card games like Magic The Gathering. There were quite a few major tournaments held here from time to time.

A controversial cantina, a twisted wedding chapel, a casino, a swordfighting room, a zombie-themed dance floor, and a Lord Of The Rings gaming room… this was one of those places where Zack had really outdone himself. He'd even pulled a couple million out of his own account to make it happen. People had said he was crazy. But the money that rolled in from this place far surpassed that which he had put in. It worked.

He and Maya had built this club together. Zack had built all the others, striking out on a limb with his business partner Lenny pretty much all by himself. When Maya had returned from the Peace Corps, he had really made something of himself. He had become something more for her. Then they'd built this place together. It was theirs. This became the center of Club Zack. Zack's personal office was located here.

When he had been a teenager, Zack had been a player and an insufferable womanizer. The concepts of long term commitment or soul mates had never quite clicked in his mind. He remembered being 17, for example, and trying to explain to Cody that "women are like socks. You grow tired with the pair you have, you steal someone else's."

He couldn't exactly remember where this warped philosophy had formed in his mind. He just remembered he had never had a relationship that lasted for more than a few weeks. If there was one, he just plain couldn't remember.

When his mother had enrolled him and Cody on the S.S. Tipton's Seven Seas High program for the last several years of high school, where they'd had the chance to study abroad while traveling the entire world, a series of fortunate circumstances had landed Zack with a cabin all to himself. To say he hadn't abused that enthusiastically and extensively was like saying you could stick a hungry fat man in a McDonald's all by himself and trust him to control himself.

But something happened when Maya came onto that ship. Zack, who had never once believed in the myth of love at first sight, had instantaneously found himself with the most bizarre affliction. "There's just something different about this sock..." he could remember saying to Cody, confused and bewildered by the feelings that were running through him. For some reason, from the moment he'd met her, she'd felt like completed him. Somehow. Someway. He could not explain it. It just was. It simply happened.

And when graduation came and he had found out she had been accepted in the Peace Corps and was being sent to freaking AFRICA of all places for an EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME, she had broken up with him because she hadn't felt a long distance relationship would work.

For the first time in his life, Zack was able to experience that feeling he had once looked down upon others for being so silly as giving themselves over to, even having inflicted it upon others many times himself. He got the chance to experience his first broken heart. He was so distraught he almost couldn't be budged to make it to his graduation!

But he had not given up. His love for her, naive and blind though it may have been, refused to let her out of his life for good. He'd tasted the feeling of completion, wholeness, and perfection, something indescribable he knew he would never find in any other girl again for the rest of his life. And he would not give that up. Ever. For any reason.

He'd begged her. He'd gotten on his knees. He'd made a huge scene of himself in more than one public place. She'd finally reluctantly consented to trying it just for a while to see if it worked out.

Zack had taken that crack in the door and had done his best to keep it shoved wide open. Even she would later admit how shocked she was at his extreme dedication to keep their relationship going. He'd called her every day. He'd texted her constantly. He was concerned about every detail of her day to day life, what she was doing, what was going on with her.

When he'd suddenly become successful, wealthy, and even famous, it had actually scared him a bit. He knew back then what she would be thinking. The reason she had, upon first meeting him, refused to date him, was because of the fact she found out he had dated every single girl on the ship and none of those "relationships" lasted longer than a few weeks, if even that long.

But Zack had been so struck by her, so dedicated, he'd even promised to go for MONTHS just being friends. No kissing. No romantic gestures. Just friends. It had been agonizingly painful, but he had held onto it. He showed no other affections towards any other girl the entire time, which was a world record in Zack Martin's book.

He attained her. But 'attained' wasn't even really the right way of thinking of it. It was more of a feeling of... coming closer to achieving wholeness.

While she was in the Peace Corps and Zack was becoming real successful, of course it was almost a given she would suspect that if he had not just been playing her this whole time and was restraining himself while she was gone, then surely now that he was famous and would certainly have all sorts of women fawning all over him, then SURELY he would not resist giving into the urge to touch them.

Zack knew she would be thinking it, and of course she WAS thinking it, and Zack's biggest inclination was to try and obsessively reassert that she was the only woman in his life. But he'd also figured if he started acting abnormally she might be even more inclined to suspicion and it would hasten the inevitable break up he felt was coming.

It was certain, he felt, she was going to break up with him by this point. He'd known it was coming. She was not there with him at that present time. She would not trust him. She would be suspicious of him constantly. And why should she have to put up with such things?

It broke his heart daily that he knew it was coming. He was torn between the glee of his success and his deep love for Maya and the impending heartbreak. He had rehearsed his panic speech over and over again for that inevitable day he finally got that "Zack, we need to talk" call, running through his mind constantly all the variables of how the conversation might go and all the possible things he would say to try and convince her to NOT break up with him.

She never did make that call. Yes, she had been heavily considering it, she would later admit. But he'd kept his devotion up to her. They were still in constant communication with each other the whole time. She had actually more than once been on the verge of picking up the phone and calling him, with tears in her eyes to say she was going to break it off for good. Surely there was no way in reality she could really be the only girl in Zack Martin's life! Surely she was not nearly as special to him as she'd wanted to believe! She'd known she was probably only setting herself up for severe heartbreak when she finally returned home. She hadn't wanted to allow herself to endure that.

But then he would always call her right before she could call him. His sweet, kind voice telling her that he had been thinking about her and asking how she was doing. She'd strained carefully, listening for anything, even the slightest, remotest, deepest, tell-tale hint of guilt in his voice. But she had been able to detect none. Was he playing her? Was she going to, in the end, end up having her heart broken in the biggest way imaginable? She just could not be certain.

For her, no guy had ever gone so much out of his way to hold onto her the way Zack had, she would later confide in him. It was this feeling of being valued that had been the reason she'd held on, despite the thought that she might one day be brought down to Earth and it might tear her apart.

But that never happened. Zack never touched any of those other women. And when she finally came back, in Zack's world, it was the highest moment of his entire being of existence. Forget his success and his fame! Heck, at the risk of being blasphemous, screw ever getting to an eternal paradise of pearly gates and streets made of gold! THIS was heaven, here, right now, heaven on Earth, just her in his life.

He'd taken her into his arms, kissed her, and cried over her, like she was the most priceless treasure he had lost and had returned to him.

That particular day she'd wanted to believe him, wanted to give into the feelings of being equally reciprocal, but her doubt at that point was at an all-time high. He remembered she had seemed just a little cold towards him, and that had scared him. He'd been resolved to do everything he could to make sure their relationship stayed secure.

She spent the day going around asking everyone who knew him for a very detailed report on his social activities. How downright SHOCKED she had been when a number of people had told her, sincerely, how much of a party pooper he had been when it had come to anything resembling any sort of a dating lifestyle! Women had come onto him quite a bit, and he would push them away. Friends had tried to hook him up and he had refused him. All he could ever talk about around anyone else was Maya. A lot of people had been telling him he needed to give up on her, live a little, and not tie himself down so resolutely. But he'd had none of it. He'd never given in, never stopped pining for her, never stopped talking about her, and never stopped having eyes and soul only for her. To realize his steadfast devotion had been utterly real was more of a shock than anything she'd ever have in her life, she would tell him later.

Maya was not like normal girls. Growing up in New York City had made her emotionally tough as nails, street-smart, and a bit sarcastic. Maybe that was what had driven Zack to her so strongly. All those other girls hadn't meant much to him because he had never connected with them so strongly on an emotional level. It had always been more about the physical. Truthfully, he had never been aware nor believed there was more. He'd been reaching out for something that some inner drive in him felt like he needed so he could fulfill some sort of primal urge. But he wasn't able stay with one for too long, because they never really completed him in that way he was seeking but hadn't yet learned how to identify.

But Maya fulfilled that need, he knew it deep down from the very moment he first came into contact with her, and he would never let that go. And so it was, this tough-as-nails city girl, who had just come back from several years in the Peace Corps, realizing just how much she truly was his most valued possession in his world, ran to find him and had broken down completely in his arms.

They had been married by a justice of the peace several weeks later. A "real" wedding ceremony would come later. She was not going to let him get away, so help her God.

Then they built this club, their crowning achievement together, and then had had an official wedding ceremony with all their friends and family together, getting married in the Temple of Doom.

The priest of Kali ripping Zack's heart out from his chest as he pledged to give his physical and emotional heart to her for all eternity was the most beautiful and twisted, romantic and depraved way of showing affection for her he could think of.

They hadn't been married for very long. They were still young. They still had had so many years ahead of them. They should have had children together. There was so much more time they should have spent with each other, so much more they should have done together.

But now Zack was all alone again. It was like a very large piece of his world had been ripped away. He was alone once more, but this time he could not just pick up the phone and call her and find out how she was doing. He would be able to do none of that. If she was alive, he knew not where, and he was not able to reach her.

It was this Friday afternoon when he was walking through his club, drifting, lost in thought, thinking of these things, when the bizarreness he'd left behind in Fetch Rock several weeks ago returned full circle. It had, in fact, followed him home.

(3)

"They're everywhere. I can see them. People think I'm crazy, as if there's something wrong for being paranoid! But it's us paranoid people who live the longest! We survive because we've trained ourselves to be able to survive! And I'm telling you, they're everywhere!"

Every word he spoke sent a breath of alcohol in Zack's face. Mark Jaeger wasn't a bad guy. He was somewhat of a sycophant, a celebrity stalker. Not the 'bad kind' per se, although Zack was also hard pressed to come to a conclusion as to what exactly a 'positive' celebrity stalker might look like.

The 36 year old-ish man hung out at Zack's club on a regular basis. Zack normally enjoyed talking to his patrons. It was one of the best perks of his job, he felt, meeting new people, but he preferred to avoid Mark if he could help it.

It was mostly the sycophant-ish wanting to be his best friend thing that particularly irked him. Mark was like that towards him no doubt because he was very well known around LA and much of the country and had rubbed shoulders with quite a few celebrities at one point or another.

Mark wasn't a bad guy. Zack attributed it to mere loneliness. Mark had never been married. He lived by himself. He seemed to have no particular goal nor drive in life. He was pretty much drifting. Zack knew enough about Mark from things he'd picked up here and there from other patrons as well as because Mark had the tendency to latch onto him and talk his ear off whenever Zack wandered by. Zack would have preferred to avoid it, but what could he do? Hide in his office 24/7? That wouldn't do. He was the owner of this place.

There was also the fact that talking to Mark was also sometimes the equivalent of talking to a Stephen King character. The guy was paranoid as all get out, a real believer in conspiracy theories. He read as much as he could get his hands on from, Zack presumed, the Speculation and New Age sections of the bookstore. Some of Mark's theories on life were really out there. Aliens were probably in control the government, for example. In fact, aliens had probably controlled mankind since the beginning of time. Of course, there was always the possibility everyone was actually living in some version of the Matrix. One couldn't rule that out completely, Mark had said. Also, according to Mark, 2012 was not supposed to have been a literal apocalypse, but a spiritual one, and the actual one might be very well slated for 2032. Something about prophecies of Atlantis and crop circles that showed the alignment of the planets in 2032 yet Earth was missing.

That was the kind of stuff you got when you talked to Mark for very long. Zack had never put stock into any of that kind of stuff.

Oh, and Mark claimed he had been abducted by aliens, too. More than once. He'd been anal probed, of course, and then they had injected his head with some sort of green goo. Mark had forgotten it the next morning until he had awoken and supposedly found the goo seeping out of his ears. His first thought was that he had been possessed by an evil spirit or a Dark Gaia, but self-hypnosis regression had revealed the truth. Forgoing the exorcism he'd planned to give himself, he'd gone to the hospital to try to have and have them remove the goo. They hadn't believed him, of course, and they'd sent him away without any help. They'd thought he was crazy! Imagine that! But for some strange reason, the following day the goo stopped seeping out of his ears. Maybe it had evaporated? Mark was more certain they had simply gotten a hold of his mind and it was only a matter of time.

But he'd become more convinced recently it was a sort of homing beacon. He was completely convinced that aliens were stalking him in his apartment. It only made sense! He'd done too much research. He knew too much about the upcoming prophecies. The aliens were concerned with what he knew. The aliens might be good or evil, he wasn't sure which. Some aliens were good. Some of them only wanted the best for mankind. But others wanted to keep humanity in bondage. They didn't want humanity to have too much knowledge.

The tower of Babel was one such instance, Mark had claimed. Mark took this story literally and attributed it to aliens. Humanity had tried to get too big for its own britches. Mark was a prophet of sorts for these sorts of things. He knew too much. The aliens either feared him or were considering taking him out of the picture for good. Mark knew things.

"Do you know..." he had once told Zack, in a typical drunken stupor. "...that the pyramids are significant to the end of the world? They were not built by humans... but I'm not supposed to speak of these things! Yet I have to speak, someone has to listen! The pyramids are our only hope in the upcoming battle!"

The government had taken notice of him, too, he claimed. The government was now watching him at all times.

"It's inevitable I will disappear one day. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you these things (hic). If you know too much, they might come after you too! But I can't just keep these things to myself! (hic) Most people walking around, they just don't know the truth! They are all living in blindness!"

Zack did his best to amuse Mark. He would nod his head and act like he gave great consideration to Mark's theories. Why not? The guy could be kind of fun. A little irritating in that he was often trying to latch onto Zack when Zack really needed to get work done, but he wasn't a bad person. Zack felt kind of sorry for him. He wondered if it was the inevitable result of loneliness that drove a man to this sort of stuff? Was it all simply for attention?

Zack didn't give Mark much heed this particular day when Mark caught him and started up with another one of his urgent conspiracies. Zack really wasn't in the mood for it today. He was busy trying to be absorbed in his thoughts. As Mark was proceeding to try and talk his ear off, Zack was racking his brain for excuses so he could leave and take his walk elsewhere. Why had he even come here today? It was supposed to have been his day off. Oh, right. Being home all alone sucked.

"I'm telling you! That man is one of them, DON'T LOOK!" Mark was saying excitedly. "Brown hair, blue shirt, tan overcoat, he's always here! For the last several weeks! Him and that blonde guy, white shirt! Blue jeans! They are always here! But sometimes they don't look the same! They change their appearance. I tell you, they're from the government! They're stalking me! But the crazy thing is, I only see them here! Maybe they're stalking you!"

He hiccupped.

"I've told you too much! I'm sorry! It's all my fault. But I just have to warn you! If they get to you, act none the wiser, like you know nothing! I'm so sorry!"

Zack would have tried to have assured Mark it was no big deal and that he would be just fine, but trying to convince Mark against one of his fantasies had been proven time and time again to be a useless thing. Instead Zack sighed and told Mark he would be careful and made up an excuse to get out of there quickly. He could feel Mark's sorrowful eyes on him as he left.

Zack had a headache by this point. Maybe he would stop at a bar somewhere and get a drink. Mark was okay, but this just hadn't been the day to deal with him. Zack was too consumed with thoughts of Maya, of the past, and of Fetch Rock.

(4)

It was while Zack was in the bar gulping down his drink, wanting nothing more than to get decently buzzed and continue his walk, that he noticed the brown haired guy sitting several stools away from him. He had taken note of him when Mark was talking about him as well as the other guy, out of amusement more than anything else.

But wasn't it an odd coincidence this guy was here now? But surely that's all it was! No way could what Mark have been saying been serious!

Zack took a casual look around the bar. He could not see the other guy. Zack finished his drink, decided against a second one for now, and turned to leave. As he was headed for the door, the blonde haired guy came in. Zack almost stopped dead in his tracks, but managed to keep his composure and not hesitate in his step. But he hadn't been able to stop the lurch in his gut when the guy had walked in.

'Surely, surely this is just a coincidence!'

But then Zack thought about Fetch Rock. His warning to Cody that he or both of them could already be being watched. Those high connections Archimedes had alluded to. And Mark's warning:

"Maybe they're stalking YOU!"

No, couldn't be! Zack was not going to let himself over to paranoia. But if he wasn't giving himself over to paranoia, then why, as he left the bar and continued his walk, did he suddenly find himself stopping in a gun shop he passed by and purchasing a concealed handgun?

He continued his walk, senses peeled at all times. He did not see the two men anymore. Having the gun on him, though, made him feel slightly safer. He just hoped he didn't have to use it.

(5)

Several more weeks passed by. Zack was certain now that the men were watching him. He'd gotten in the habit of seeing them in too many places he just happened to be. Mark was right. He was being watched. But for what purpose? Had Archimedes put them up to it?

Zack was never once accosted. He half expected it at all times. Once, the paranoia had gotten to him so much, he'd slipped into an alleyway in hopes that they would follow him, his hand clutched inside his coat on his gun. But they didn't follow him at all.

Eventually, as time passed, he stopped seeing them.

Had they given up on him? Or had they realized he'd identified the two of them? Had they swapped those two men out for several others? Of course, there was no telling exactly how many there were. For all he knew, he was being tailed 24/7 and didn't even know it.

He hadn't seen Mark around since Mark had pointed out the two men. Zack wasn't worried about him, though. He attributed it more likely to potential guilt for 'getting Zack involved.' Zack briefly wondered what Mark would have thought of Fetch Rock. Boy, would that place have sent his imagination soaring!

(6)

Zack sat on the foot of his bed, gun in his hands, staring down at it, thinking.

There was still so much more to this mystery, to be sure. Had Maya gotten too close to something? Had he gotten too close to something?

He didn't want to give into paranoia like Mark, but he was more than certain now that there was some conspiracy afoot. Dare he just let it go, and try to live out the rest of his life, not thinking about it ever again? Is that what they wanted? Is that why they were watching him? To see what he would do?

But what if Maya was alive somewhere? If he gave up, would he not be giving up on her, too? But there was no proof. Yet if he pressed further, would he not be taken out eventually as well?

He looked at the handgun he was holding.

He knew he wouldn't be able to give this up. He'd known it the last several weeks as he'd been trying to simply bury himself into his work and forget.

He was probably heading swiftly towards his end. He thought about how Cody would feel if something happened to him. He thought about his mom, dad, and about everyone who cared for him.

His grip tightened on the gun and he closed his eyes. He found himself whispering:

"Sorry, guys."

He knew deep in his gut, if there really was a conspiracy, then he couldn't let it rest. Not until it was blown wide open and justice was served. Or until he met his demise. But he had been the cause of all this, hadn't he? He'd been the cause of Maya leaving. He'd started it. He would have to finish it. For her, if no one else. Since he had been the cause of her storming out the door, he owed it to her to pay the penance for his sins. And perhaps if it all did not end well, maybe he would rejoin her again beyond this life.

He thought back to his name in Drake's journal.

Hallucination? Coincidence?

If, if, for some reason it was not, then it was inevitable he had no choice. The writing in the book had not been there when he and Cody had returned. The cave had not been there. But still...

His grip tightened farther.

Cody...

Bailey...

Mom...

Dad…

Lenny…

I'm sorry, I just can't let this go!

No, he could not just let this go.

He opened his eyes. He had decided on his next course of action. He was going back to that island. Alone.