WARRIORS HIGH
ISLAND OF THE LOST
CHAPTER NINETEEN
FIR
"Good morning. Today is December 22. Here is the news from around the island today."
The news played in the background as Jane took the ramp down to the interstate. There wasn't much traffic on the roads, which was good. She would have time to get prepped for her meeting she had this morning.
She worked in a small group of market advisors just outside of Excelsio. It wasn't the best job and her office wasn't the biggest, but she at least had a nice view of the city and her paychecks were enough to pay the bills and keep food in the fridge. If someone were to ask her if she was content, she probably would have said no, but she would have agreed that she did feel an acceptable amount of fulfillment, even if her day was filled with a routine some would call tedious.
Wake up at six in the morning, eat some eggs on toast for breakfast and drive to work.
But while she was usually relaxed as she drove to work, today, her hands gripped the steering wheel a bit harder than usual. She had a big call today with a company down in Florida looking for their services. If she could land a contract with them, the company's profits would soar. Everyone would be able to get a raise.
Today, she couldn't mess up. Everything had to go perfectly. Her job probably wasn't at risk, but if the talks fell through, the company would definitely be losing a huge opportunity.
She sighed, turning up the radio to drown out her nervous thoughts.
"Today, an exclusive interview with various citizens of Forrestlake claiming to have memories from a 'second timeline' where the world came to an end. Our leading experts will let us know if this is truth or myth and why."
"We talk to the friends and families of the victims of the Central High School shooting in Minneapolis and hear their thoughts on why the government's lackluster activeness on gun control failed them."
"And finally, we talk with our source on the White House on why talks with President Pence and King Salman II of Saudi Arabia fell through and what this means for the economy-"
Jane shut off the radio. It was the days like this one that she questioned why she listened to the radio at all. Every source was so biased in some way that it was hard to get a reliable perspective. Almost everyone leaned left and even when she looked on sources of news from the right, they were almost just as ridiculous. It gave her a headache.
It was the same process. The President did something the left didn't like, they attack the President and the right, and the right retaliated by trying to be aggressive and firing back at the left. Impartiality felt like a rare fruit no one looked for at this point.
Well, at least the drama took her mind off of the stress of her job. The stress of her life, even.
When she moved back in with her parents after college, many thought that she had fallen into financial duress. The truth was she hadn't had the best relationship with them before her senior year, when she was accepted into the University of Michigan full ride. She was fantastic at marketing, graduating summa cum laude and getting opportunities all across the world. But all throughout, she felt guilty about the bad terms she had with her parents, who had been in poverty their entire lives. So she swore that before she took a job with a company with a huge name and got rich off of doing what she loved, she would help her parents out of poverty, get them into a nice retiring home and settle them down. She figured she owed it to them for managing to raise the rascal of a kid she was.
She smiled as she shifted into the next lane and prepared to get off the highway.
Suddenly, a Ford F150 soared past her in the lane to her left at full throttle and swerved across three lanes, t-boning a white Honda Odyssey and sending them crashing into the barrier blocking the north and south interstates. Jane gasped, got out of the exit lane and pulled over, turning on her warning lights and crossing the interstate to the crash scene, joined by several other witnesses.
The white van was on its side, and Jane could see the driver, a woman, slumped over, blood pouring out of her busted skull. It didn't take a doctor for her to realize that she had been killed. The airbag seemed to have malfunctioned and not deployed.
Suddenly, she heard a wail.
Then another.
"THERE ARE KIDS IN THE CAR!" she shouted at the other onlookers, who immediately helped her to pry the busted side door open. After about three minutes of pulling, they untangled the door from the frame and open up.
There was a girl, about thirteen or fourteen, who had been flung against the side window. She lay in a crumpled, silent mess, her head in a pool of blood. In the backseat was a boy, about nine, bawling his eyes out and holding a baby, about 18 months, who screamed in terror.
"It's okay!" called a man into the car, "We're here to help!"
After about three minutes of struggling, they got the boy and the baby to safety. The onlookers ran away from the scene to get the baby to safety while Jane was left to comfort the boy.
"M-Mama?" he whimpered, "W-Where's mam-ma?"
Jane swore she could feel her heart break, giving him a devastated look before holding him tight in a hug.
She only flinched when a red Corvette swerved right past the crash and into the open road. Jane whirled around and saw the car soar down the road, resisting the impulse to flip off the driver.
BOOM!
The car exploded with the force of a block of C4, sending pavement and shrapnel flying high into the air and causing cars in the opposite lane to swerve and crash into each other.
Jane immediately picked up the boy and ran. She needed to get out of here.
She ran back and down the exit lane amid screaming men and women, terrified about what was going on. A glance back told Jane that there were three more car fires amid the heavy traffic that the crash had started. She held the sobbing boy tighter as she ran down the road and towards the transit station, planning to take shelter there until this all calmed down.
That plan changed when a figure, dressed in all black and holding a semi-automatic rifle burst through the door and aimed right at her.
Instinct kicked is as Jane dropped the boy and stood in front of him.
She felt two bullets pierce her shoulder, the bones shattering immediately as she fell to the ground. The boy screamed in terror as she hit the pavement, the world suddenly getting darker and darker.
The last thing she felt was the boy shaking her, pleading for her to get up.
Jane didn't know when she woke up, but when she did, she was alone.
She couldn't move her shoulder, struggling to get to her feet as she looked around. The streets were quiet, save the chorus of ambulance and police sirens all around her.
She stumbled to her feet and into the transit station, down the stairs until she got to the bottom level, sliding to a seat inside the quiet bus stop.
Idly, she counted four bodies around her as she slowly bled out. She thought she could hear the Emergency Action System tone calling for an immediate Shelter in Place.
The world faded around her and she blacked out for what she thought would be the final time.
She woke up again in a large room.
She was on a bed, a bandage wrapped tightly around her shoulder and her arm in an immobilizer. She groaned, her eyes flying over and around her surroundings.
Jane lay in the middle of a large row of beds. From the corners of her eyes, she could see some more bodies. It appeared that she was the only one moving.
Slowly, she got to her feet, wincing at the pain of her shoulder, and looked around. There were hundreds of beds in the warehouse-like environment, most of them empty, and in the corner, there was an office-like section walled off from the rest of the room. She stumbled forward, trying as hard as she could to keep her impaired arm immobile as she approached.
She opened the door to what looked to be a doctor's office. Whitney Houston played in the background was a lady in her late twenties sitting at a desk.
"Oh, hello," she said, adjusting her glasses and looking up at her, "Jane, is it? Come have a seat."
She hesitantly sat down, bewildered beyond her mind.
"I'm glad to let you know," she said, grabbing a packet from a drawer, "that your application has been accepted. All you need to do is sign on the dotted line."
Jane just stared at the paper. "I...I don't remember applying for anything…?"
The secretary blinked for a beat before seemingly remembering something. "Ah...right. Well, your office at your workplace was one of the things that got blown up in the...attacks. So your parents contacted us and applied you to our financial recovery system. Rent, mortgage, room and board, all covered for you to get back on your feet."
Jane blinked at the packet. It seemed legit, but wouldn't they have told her about something like this?
Unless…
"W-What's the date?" she asked quietly.
The secretary hesitated before glancing at her calendar.
"It's January 4th, madam."
Jane gasped.
"I've been out for two weeks?"
The woman nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry if this is a lot for you."
Jane just stared at the papers.
"We want to help you, Jane," said the woman quietly, "We want to help everyone that was affected by this. We will help you, but only if you allow us to."
After a couple minutes of thinking, most thoughts fragmented and incomprehensible, she took in her situation. If the island had truly gone to the hell she barely remembered, then she should at least take the hand that she was offered. It didn't seem like she had any other choice.
She had been suitably backed into a corner. Whoever this lady was and whoever she represented, she was for now offering her a way out.
It probably wasn't the best choice, but for now, it was all she had.
"Got a pen?"
When she had signed the back page, Jane got up to leave.
"One more thing…" said that secretary.
"Yes?"
"This is a...coveted opportunity we're giving you. We can only accept so many people at a time and there have been times where others have stolen your identity to get the financial benefits you're receiving. So you'll need an alias. Nothing too fancy, but something to keep your identity hidden."
Jane thought a moment.
"How about Fir?"
TWO YEARS LATER...
"This seat taken?"
Fir just shrugged, going back to her sandwich. As long as he didn't take up all of her lunch break, she didn't mind.
"Sorry," said the man, quite obviously flustered, "I'm...new around here and don't know many people."
"Better fix that fast," she smirked.
But a glance up at the awkward, anxious lip bite from the man that was caused from that almost made her regret saying that.
"So," she said, deciding after a few minutes of silence to make some conversation, "What's your story?"
"Hm?"
"What made you come running to ARS?"
"Well," he said, almost embarrassed, "I've been on the streets of Kansas City since I graduated from high school. Couldn't afford to go to college and had no friends to bunk with. My parents were looking around for jobs I could find to get some money, but all the job interviews would fall through. And then, after Forrestlake got bombed, they found this financial agency that was offering me a really nice paycheck and benefits. Of course, I thought it was too good to be true, so I went back to my minimum wage as a Walmart cashier until my dad died from cancer. So my mom pleaded me to try and get some money since we got scammed out of our life support and...here I am. The only reason I'm here is-"
"-because you got nowhere else to go," finished Fir, taking another bite out of her sandwich, "I get that. That's why a lot of people come around here."
"So what's your story?"
"Hm?" said Fir, glancing up.
"I mean, you look to have been here a long time. You look like you're used to the masks and all, so…"
"How perceptive of you," she smirked, making the man flinch and blush, "Well, I've been around for two years."
"How's you come here?"
Fir hesitated, the sandwich resting on the bridge of her mouth.
"To be honest, I think I was tricked," she said quietly, "I was in the bombings at Forrestlake, and when I woke up, ARS was right there to pitch me their offer. I mean, the money's great. I don't regret the finances since I never have to worry about money again, but…"
"You feel like there was a catch you didn't get?"
Fir looked up, eyes wide. "That's exactly what I was going to say!"
The man chuckled almost inadvertently.
"I mean," said Fir, "All I've done is work marketing for one of their sectors, but...it feels too easy. Like I'm losing something that I've forgotten I've had."
"Yeah," said the man, "Sucks, doesn't it?"
She finished her sandwich in silence just as her watch beeped, ending her lunch break.
"I gotta go," she said, slipping her mask on, "Nice talking to you."
"Thanks," he said, grinning before stopping her.
"Uh...what should I call you?"
It took a second for Fir to realize that she was glad he asked.
"Fir."
"I'm Crow," he said after a moment, shaking her hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, Crow."
And for some reason, the name wouldn't leave her head for the rest of the day. Even as she finished work for the day and got ready to drive to her apartment, he wouldn't leave her brain.
They clicked. That hadn't happened between her and another person in a long, long time.
Suddenly, as she entered the parking garage, she heard a beep in her earpiece.
"Fir, please report to Sky's office."
She went cold.
Oh God, no.
Sky's office was where jobs and people went to die. If the rumors were correct.
She almost lied and said that she had a business call, but wisely decided against it and walked back into the building and to her office.
"Hello, Fir," said the masked woman at her desk.
Even without a visible face, she looked terrifying. She nodded respectfully, taking a seat with her back straight with nervousness.
"No need to freak out," Sky said silkily, "After some consideration, we''ve decided to relocate you to the combat sector."
Fir gasped. "Me?"
Sky nodded. "Your former superiors have been informed. Now, you answer to me. Prepare for instructions on your new planning job in the morning."
Fir got up, still processing the information she had received.
"Good luck," she said, a smirk in her tone, "We trust that your work will benefit ARS greatly."
Bonus chapter time!
This is a small insight on how Fir got to where she is now, as well as a glimpse into the complicated infrastructure that ARS is held by. I also hinted at ARS' master plan. Specifically in Chapter Fifteen for the perceptive ones.
(*cough* Jay *cough*)
Hope you enjoyed this bonus chapter! Jay is still responsible for the final chapter of the arc, so keep an eye out for an update from him soon!
Best,
~Res