(2) A Hidden Entrance

It was midday & the sun burned hot over the parched ground. Claire sat on a large flat rock in the middle of the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. She hadn't moved for several hours. She had woken up early in the morning to find herself alone again. The man called Sylar was nowhere in sight & by now she was beginning to wonder if she had dreamed about him.

"Claire."

She looked around to the shoreline & there he was! Claire stared in surprise for a moment then dove into the water & swam towards him. The moment she got out, she ran at Sylar & punched him hard on the chest. "Where have you been?" She screamed at him. "I thought maybe you weren't real. That I had dreamed about you or something. Where did you go?" She stood there in a rage, fists balled by her sides as if she was about to punch him again.

"Would you relax?" Sylar stepped away from her. "I didn't want to wake you. I was flying around, trying to get a bearing on where we are."

"Oh yeah?" Claire seethed in a low voice. "Where are we, then?"

"I think we're somewhere in Wisconsin," Sylar said. "It looks like we're close to the Great Lakes."

"Fantastic," Claire put both hands over her face for a moment, then pushed back her wet hair. "I hate being alone."

"Sorry," Sylar put his hands onto her shoulders. "I was coming back for you. Are you ready to go?"

"It's too late, now," said Claire. "The sun will set in a few hours, then the Nightstalkers will be out again."

"I can fly."

"So can they."

"Claire, I can cross the entire country in a couple of hours if I fly in a straight line," Sylar grabbed her hands with his own. "We can make it to New York with time to spare. I'm not coming back this time, so if you want to come with me, we have to leave now."

"You think you can make it there before the sun sets?"

"We'll be fine," Sylar picked her up & headed for the clouds.

Claire looked down to see the world fall away as they climbed higher. "This is really high. How far up can you go?"

"Close to the top, before entering space where the stars are," Sylar looked down to locate the Great Lakes that would give him a sense of direction. "I've never tried to go there, though. I'm not sure if there is a limit on this power of ours & I'd rather not find out the hard way."

"Yeah," Claire laughed softly. "Good plan. Hey! SYLAR!"

He had let her go & she was now free falling through the air. He soon dropped beside her. "Miss me?" He grinned like a cheeky idiot.

"What are you doing? I can't fly!"

"I know that," Sylar grabbed her again & brought her up once more, only to drop her again. He was toying with her, like an eagle playing with its catch but instead of terrifying her, Claire was enjoying every minute of it. He lay back in the air beside her as they plummeted once more. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

Claire looked at him. "No."

"Hmm," Sylar caught her once more & headed to New York.

Claire felt herself going down once more, but this time Sylar was still holding onto her. He was descending towards New York. She looked ahead to see a large body of water, even bigger than the Great Lakes. "I think that's the ocean."

"The Atlantic one," Sylar hovered, looking around below them. "Er ... where's Manhattan?"

"I don't know," Claire was also scanning the area below. "What's that over there?" She pointed to something jutting out of the water.

They moved closer. "It's the crown of the Statue of Liberty," Sylar landed on the highest point & placed Claire beside him. Only three tips stuck out above water. "It's all under the ocean!"

"You mean it's all gone?"

"Looks like it. We'll have to find the new shoreline of New York State & then start from there."

Several whales surfaced as Sylar flew inland. Looking into the water, the sunken cities of the past could still be seen. The mainland suddenly rose up to meet them; a sheer cliff several hundred feet high. It looked as though the land had broken apart, dragging half of New York State down into a watery grave. Sylar landed on top near the edge & dropped Claire beside him.

"This is very different from the pictures I had," Claire looked out over the ocean. "I expected large cities with skyscrapers."

"New York had many big cities," said Sylar. "New York City itself had some of the tallest ones until the planes knocked down two of them. That was a terrifying day, even for me."

"What happened?"

Sylar stared at her for a moment. He had to remind himself that unlike him, she had actually lived through five millennia. "You don't remember nine-eleven, do you?" He sighed heavily. "Come on. I think I saw a city, or part of one, along this shoreline. I'll tell you on the way."

"So that's what started that war?" Claire asked a while later.

"Well, that one," Sylar began. "Then abilities started appearing in people all over the country & eventually the world. Those of us who were special had to fight our own government for a while. That was another mess." He held aside the branches of a bush to let Claire go by, then followed her. They both stopped on the crest of a hill to look down on the city they were approaching. "Now that's interesting," Sylar glanced over it. "See how it has a wall around it? It's protected from something."

"Maybe there are no nightstalkers in it."

"We can fly easily over that wall," Sylar pointed out. "Which means so can they. It must be something else."

"Could Peter be there?"

Sylar glared at her. "Oh I hope not. I'm not ready to fight with him right now. I have other things on my mind. Great. Now he's all I can think about. Thanks Claire." She just laughed at him as he brought them both over the wall.

The metropolis seemed to have been abandoned. Layers of dust covered the roads & even inside the buildings. Most of the windows were gone. Weeds & grass had taken over the ground. Only the birds flitting from tree to building & back again kept them company.

"It looks like the animals aren't affected," Sylar watched a pair of crows cackling to each other.

"I think whatever happened just affected humanity," Claire said, opening a door to the lobby of what seemed to have been an office complex. "Some sort of plague or whatever wiped it all out except for people like us. Weird saying that. There has to be others."

"We'll find them."

"Not today," Claire pulled Sylar inside. "The sun's going down. We need to find a place where we won't be followed." She led the way down a hall towards the center of the building. "We need to stay away from the windows." She opened another door, this one leading into a stair well. Claire put one hand on Sylar's chest to stop him from moving forward & silently pointed down over the railing with her free hand. One of the beasts was below them.

"They're inside," Sylar spoke aloud, alerting the creature. It spun around & jumped up to meet him, but he was ready for it. Bringing one finger up, he sliced the thing in half & its remains toppled down the stairwell. Claire just stared at him. "What? I'm a professional killer where I come from. It means nothing to me." He started down the stairs. "Here's another one."

"You are?" Claire exclaimed as she followed him. After the death shriek faded, she added. "You seem to have a lot of super-powers."

"Yeah well," Sylar shrugged. "They kind of turned me into a super-villain."

"Villain?" Claire scoffed. "I'd say more like hero. You're taking out more of these monsters in one day than I do in a week." She watched as he threw the pieces of another one through the door on the next stairwell landing.

Sylar looked up at her. "Where I come from, they call me the monster."

"I guess they never met one of these nightstalkers then," Claire replied. "Sylar, look out!"

Another creature had taken advantage of Sylar's distraction & was able to drag him out of the stairway by hooking one long claw around his leg. Sylar fell to the floor & disappeared from Claire's sight. She ran down the last few steps & burst into the hallway. The monster had dragged Sylar to the other end & was leering over him. Sylar twisted around & once more, sliced the creature to bits. He stood up in a shower of blood & gore.

"Perhaps I should clear out this building of these nightstalkers," Sylar said somewhat sheepishly as he attempted to brush himself off.

Claire raised a hand to help him, thought better of it & groaned in slight disgust. "I think you should wash this off."

"I like blood," Sylar held up one hand, rubbing his fingers together, slick with blood. He silently inspected the red liquid as something tugged at the ability he was born with. Something about this blood needed to be understood, but he needed more.

"Ew," Claire made a face. "How can you do that?"

"Like I said," Sylar wiped his fingers off. "I'm a—"

"Professional killer," Claire repeated.

"I'm just used to it," Sylar defended as Claire laughed at him.

Within a couple of hours, Sylar had destroyed several more nightstalkers lurking in the area. After a while of not locating any more, the two of them entered a smaller room that only had one door & barricaded themselves inside for the night. Sylar had managed to find a sink to rinse off the blood, but only the cold water tap worked when it felt like it, sputtering when it was opened & was nothing more than a trickle. After half an hour fighting with it, Sylar had eventually given up.

"I got most of it off," Sylar muttered. "I think I'll just go jump in the ocean for a moment in the morning."

"Well, for tonight," Claire pointed to the wall farthest from her. "You're sleeping on the opposite side of the room."

They had to sleep on the floor. Claire had found a closet full of long pale blue coats & so they used that for blankets. Fortunately, the night air was warm & muggy.

The next day as promised, Sylar dropped into the ocean close to the place they were currently staying. He quickly got out to sit on the shore as the blood left in the water attracted a multitude of sharks. He saw more whales farther out. He suddenly realized that since there was no one hunting them or destroying their habitat, the whales, & possibly other species as well, were now thriving & had made a huge comeback in numbers. He looked up towards the road when he heard a scream to see Claire picking up a dead rabbit she had just killed. The city was full of rabbits to eat.

While she dealt with her prize, Sylar took the time to stalk through the abandoned city. He entered every dark place he could find & often wound up face to face with a sleeping nightstalker which he would kill instantly. But what he really wanted to find was their nest.

A subway would probably be the best place for a nest of nightstalkers, but finding an entrance to it took time. Most of the city lay in ruins, overgrown with plants that would most likely obscure any way down under the city & the slight tremors every once in a while would make any rubble settle even more, but there had to be at least one opening somewhere. If those beasts could come out, he could surely get in & have a field day down there!

After a few days, Claire & Sylar were confident enough to move about their new home even at night for the beasts no longer seemed to come around. Claire thought that perhaps Sylar had killed them all that had lived in the area but Sylar wasn't so sure. He occasionally still found one the deeper into the city he went but they no longer seemed to come around, as if they were afraid of him.

One night, Sylar dared to enter one of the large office rooms that had broken windows on two sides, one of which faced the ocean. He stood by the empty frame, looking out towards the water as the full moon shown down over the ocean. His killer instinct kept him on high alert, but he didn't expect any nightstalkers to come.

"What are you doing?" Claire hissed from behind.

Sylar glanced back to see her by the door. "You should see the view. It's really nice from here."

"Are you crazy?" Claire kept her voice low. "It's all open here. What if one of those things show up?"

"I'll kill it," Sylar replied. "Like I always do. Come on." He grabbed her by power alone & yanked her towards him.

Claire landed in his arms with a slight yelp. She slowly pushed him away & stood straight. "We really shouldn't be here."

"They won't come," said Sylar. "They know me. Fear me."

"They're animals," Claire replied. "They eat any thing they can catch. How could they know you?"

"I've killed enough of their number," Sylar explained. "The blood of their fallen comrades still stain the streets around our whole block. That's how they know not to come here. Do you want to go for a walk on the beach?"

Claire all but glared at him. "You're insane."

"Well, yes actually," Sylar laughed. "Where I come from, I am legally insane. So is that a yes?"

"Sylar, I ... what am I going to do with you?" Claire teased. "Now please come inside?"

Sylar looked back to the ocean. "Claire, we've known each other a few months now. I guess you should know my real name by now." He turned to her. "It's Gabriel."

"Gabriel?"

Sylar nodded. "Gabriel."

Claire gazed up at him. "So why did you say Sylar?"

"That's my killer name," Sylar replied. "At first, no one knew about Gabriel. It took a while for people to figure out who Sylar was because I don't leave finger prints. I kill by using my abilities, not by touch. Above all other abilities I gained, the one that's truly mine is the one that made me what I am."

Claire slowly echoed. "Abilities you gained?"

"I'm a mimic," Sylar answered. "I can duplicate any ability I come across. So can Peter, unfortunately."

"Is that why you say you want to kill this guy you keep mentioning?" Claire asked. "Because he pretends to be you?"

"No, Peter & I just hate each other. Put us in the same room together & we'll fight like a couple of alley cats. We simply can't stand each other."

Claire burst out laughing. "I really hope I can meet this guy!"

"Oh shut up," Sylar grabbed her & held her in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Claire gasped as he lifted out the open window frame & drifted to the shoreline. "Sy—Gabriel. No. We can't! It's the middle of the night!"

"We'll be fine," Sylar pulled her along the sand by one hand.

Claire cast a nervous glance around as she moved closer to him. "I can barely remember the last time I was outside at night."

"Relax," Sylar pulled her towards the water until they were walking in the shallows. "They have to get through me if any show up."

They were soon running through the waves, chasing each other around. Not a single nightstalker swooped over them. Sylar eventually brought them both back inside where they could sleep easily in a barricaded room. The next night, they went out again, but to a different part of the shoreline. It soon became a daring habit of them sneaking out every night, each time farther away. Sylar didn't tell her, but he was looking for an entrance that would lead under the city.

He wanted to find another one of the monsters that would come out only at night.