Chapter Three: Breaking & Entering
Getting out of the car Trinity craned her neck back to look at the surrounding walls. She had never seen Corinth before let alone being this close to it. The concept that her father was on the other side of the wall felt strange. She wanted him to be standing there waiting for her as soon as they opened the gates.
"Wait a minute!" Derek suddenly grabbed Trinity's arm and pulled her back away from the wall even though she was a good several yards away. She protested and yanked her arm out of his grasp.
"Look." Derek tossed a nearby stone a few feet from where Trinity stood. It hit an invisible barrier and exploded on contact sending fragments in every direction. "There's a special shield up outside the wall. To prevent anyone from getting inside." he said this like it was common knowledge and Trinity was stupid for not knowing.
She glared at him and looked over to Aaron who just whistled as he examined the area. His brows knitted together. "Hey, James." he called as James got off his bike to join them. "Why aren't their any guard towers or security around here?"
James said, "Like Derek said, there is a shield around the entire city, one to prevent anyone from entering. Guards aren't a necessity, not when this place is being monitored."
Trinity and Aaron whipped around and together they cried, "Monitored?"
James blinked confused, "I thought you knew that Dr. K monitors activity around the city."
"She what?" Trinity turned on Derek. He gulped and backed away his hands raised in defense.
"I was going to tell you." Derek said meekly. "It's not a problem though really." he looked at his watch. "I can jam the signal from here."
Aaron sighed. "Are you sure? There aren't any camera's or anything?"
"Oh there are camera's but they are never pulled up on the screen unless someone tries to break in or disrupt the shield." Derek said.
James groaned, "Like you just did?"
The color in Derek's face disappeared. Quickly he reached into the army green messenger bag he was carrying and pulled out a black laptop. He flipped it open and rested it on the hood on Aaron's car. He began clicking icons and frantically typing, Trinity couldn't keep up. After a minute he sighed.
"She's not there." he said. "She must have stepped out for a minute."
"Sheer dumb luck." Aaron murmured with a hard glare at Derek.
"Not to worry though." Derek said as he started talking a mile a minute. "Like I said I can jam the signal. I'll just release a virus to mom's computer that will just freeze everything and shut her equipment down. She won't loose any data so I won't get in a terrible amount of trouble. But she won't be able to see us getting into the city or be able to track who it was that lowered the shields. Though I suspect she'll figure it out seeing as how I think I'm the only other person who knows the codes. It won't last too long though; she'll be able to get the system up and running within a few hours. So we won't have long. But it'll be enough."
The others starred at Derek with baffled expressions as if they hadn't understood a single word he just said.
"You carry a laptop with you everywhere you go?" Aaron asked.
"Don't you?"
"Just hurry Derek before she comes back." Trinity said shrilly. It made him jump; he nodded and frantically began typing again.
"I thought you all had this planned out?" James said looking from the boy genius to the others.
Aaron rolled his eyes at Trinity, "Actually I think we're just making it up as we go."
"Why does that not reassure me." said James with a bit of nervous laughter. He was obviously having second thoughts about coming along with them to Corinth.
They waited in silence, Aaron biting his thumb nail as he watched over Derek's shoulder not really understanding the text and files on the screen. Derek glanced over his shoulder at Aaron in annoyance.
"Done. Her computer is successfully jammed. I am going to be in so much trouble when I get home." he grumbled.
"The shields are down?' Trinity asked skeptically her eyes scanning the perimeter.
"Uh, no. Not yet." Derek replied. He ignored the look from Trinity and continued about his business.
A few minutes later Derek spoke. "Alright, well here's the catch guys."
"Catch?" James repeated raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing comes without a catch." Derek shrugged. "Anyway, once I press enter the shields will lower and the gate will unlock itself. However, it'll take mom only a few hours to get her computer back up and running meaning we'll be detected once we go to leave the city. They'll know it was us."
Trinity didn't seem to bothered by this. She knew that by that time her mother would already know where she had disappeared to.
"Couldn't you block the signal again from inside?" Aaron asked more worried than Trinity and James.
Derek scratched his chin for a second in thought glancing over to the city. "I don't know for sure. I'm not sure I'll have the capability within the city itself, the shield is bound to return after mom gets the system up and running. I don't think I can hack to her computer from there. It might be blocked by the shield. Then again that's just a guess."
"It doesn't matter." Trinity said closing the conversation. They looked at her, she stared back. "I mean we'll make it out with my dad and it won't matter if they know we were here or not."
James didn't feel completely comforted by that. Trinity could see that he still felt uneasy about being here, she prayed that he wouldn't bail at the last chance and sell them out before they could even get into the city. He sighed and nodded.
"Push the button Derek." James sounded defeated, like he just lost a fighting battle. He watched Trinity from the corner of his eye. She just smiled at him and looked back to the shield.
Derek cracked his knuckles and then his neck. His right index finger danced above the black keyboard like a vulture circling it's pray. "Here we go."
At first nothing happened then there was a buzzing sound that pulsed out from the city. The ground shook for a few seconds and the buzzing stopped. Sounds of metal unlocking followed and with a great clicking thud the front gate to Corinth opened extending a the warmest welcome they would receive to enter the forbidden city.
They all glanced at each other in turn and then turned their main attention to the entrance and the road beyond it. A nervous smile played on Aaron's lips, like a mix between being scared and in awe. James kept a straight stare much like Trinity. However Trinity had a sense of divine fate in her eye, like she knew this was where she was supposed to be. Derek gulped and closed his laptop slipping it back into his bag.
"Who…who first?" Derek asked in a meek voice.
"What about quarantine? They had the city closed off for a reason. What if it's some kind of poison gas leek?" Aaron asked trying not to sound as nervous as he looked.
Trinity licked her lips, "I think if there was a gas it would have escaped by now and we'd be dead. But if you're still nervous just hold your breath."
Aaron didn't like the response he got. "I'm being serious Trinity."
"It's not gas leak." James said out of nowhere. "I don't know the exact reason why it was locked off and evacuated, but I've heard my dad talk and from what I could tell it wasn't because of a gas or a disease."
Derek let out a scoff, "Great, so it's just some unknown thing. That makes the butterflies go right away."
James shot Derek a look before stepping forward. "Are we going in or not? Trinity?"
She blinked as if coming out of a trance. "Right. Let's go. Nothing to be afraid of right? Just a city, let's find my father and leave."
Trinity slowly walked toward the entrance, she didn't hear anyone following her. Swallowing Trinity closed her eyes and stepped over the threshold. When nothing happened and the air smelled completely fine she reopened her eyes. Turning with a smile she beckoned the rest to join her. James was half-way there but Aaron and Derek were still close to the car. The two exchanged a look and nodded for the other to go first. Neither budged insisting the other go.
Trinity sighed, "Will you two get moving, we don't have all day."
Aaron groaned as he expected some kind of trap to be set off just for him as he placed his foot on the other side. Trinity shook her head.
"Don't be such a baby."
"I'm not a baby." Aaron growled.
Trinity took his hand and led him further in. She owed Aaron a lot for coming with her, she was glad to have him along. Derek heaved an over dramatic sigh and wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead. "That was easy."
"Almost too easy." James noted giving a cautious scan of their surroundings.
They were alone though, no signs of life in sight. It was eerie. So many buildings and skyscrapers and not a soul to occupy them. A ghost city, parts of the city crumbled from the neglect and most buildings were swamped with greenery. Mother nature worked hard to reclaim what she had lost, ivy climbed high on buildings. Trinity stretched her neck to gaze up at one of the skyscrapers. For some reason windows were shattered and there was sides of buildings blown to pieces like an explosion had occurred.
"I don't think there is anybody here." Derek said after they had walked about half a mile into the city.
"What happened here?" Aaron asked stepping over a piece of debris.
"What happened during the evacuation?" Trinity looked to James guessing he would be the one best suited to answer. Unfortunately James didn't respond looking just as baffled as the others.
"The weather system still works here." Derek mused. "That's why there is still plant life, growth and all that. So it rains here, I wonder why the system is still in the works?"
"What if there is something living here?" Aaron came to the conclusion, his eyes grew wide.
James paused mid-step paranoid by the idea put in his head by Aaron. Trinity rolled her eyes.
"There is, my father." she said, "Dad!"
James shushed her his finger to his lips. But he went ignored and Trinity continued to shout cupping her hands over her mouth to project her voice. This time James flung his hand cover to mouth.
"Trinity hold on." He said in a hushed voice as she struggled and shoved his hand off.
"He's right Trin. You said your dad said something about needing assistance. Did you ever think that he needed assistance because he was under attack from someone or something?" Aaron made a valid point.
Trinity thought for a moment. "But there is nothing here."
"That we've seen." Derek said running to catch up.
He placed himself between James and Aaron probably thinking they would protect him should anything happen. No bad odds. Aaron and James were both inches taller than Derek. Derek was tall for his age but he was built like any other scrawny 15 year old about to be 16.
"What do you think we should do?" Trinity ask. "Go back?"
And like some cruel joke the ground shook and the same buzzing and pulsing sound they heard outside radiated around them before dissipating leaving everything still and quiet. The gate was closed and locked and the shield had gone back up.
"I guess that answers that question." Derek commented.
James tried to reason with Trinity. He said, "Maybe we should go back anyway and bring reinforcements. I'm sure my dad would--"
"No!" Trinity snapped. "I'm here and I'm not leaving without my dad."
Spinning on the balls of her Trinity marched off her blonde hair bouncing behind her. Aaron let out a frustrated groan and followed. He gave a helpless look to James that seemed to read as if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em. Derek played with the strap of his bag before jogging after them.
"Great." James muttered. "You got yourself into this James."
******
They walked for what seemed like hours but was really only about 40 minutes. Everything was the same though. No signs of life other than plant. There was destruction scattered as they went along. Trinity wasn't sure if it was from the evacuation or what Aaron had pondered, something dangerous lived here. She tried not to think of the negative only the positive of finding her father.
Another 20 minutes passed by with no luck. They hadn't even covered all of the city. Trinity found it fit to search practically every building they came upon. After the 15th one Aaron suggested heading for the radio station where Dillon was more likely to broadcast his message from. Trouble was none of them knew the city. Derek realized after they wandered aimlessly he might be able to pull up a file map of the city. Annoying as the kid was Trinity knew he was useful to have around.
"We need to head in that direction for about a mile and a half and we'll be there." he said.
That was the direction they headed.
Derek began spouting off meaningless information to them as they walked. He went on about how everything was still very much working in the city. He said it was a wonder that the electricity would still be up and going since no one lived here anymore. Derek used a bunch of technical and boring terms that made the others tune out about half a minute into the conversation.
"Huh, that's weird." Derek said tilting his head. "This is showing a life form other than us."
"That's amazing Derek." Aaron said with dull enthusiasm. Then he thought about what Derek had actually said and did a double take, "Wait, what did you say?"
He had everyone's attention now. Derek pointed to the computer screen. "You see those red dots right there? Well that's us. This red dot over here to the south just a half mile behind us, well that's not us."
James studied the screen watching the other dot move gradually. "What is it?"
Derek shook his head. "Can't say for sure. It's giving off heat though, that's why it shows up. See I programmed this like something I've been working on back home for Triyon. The computer sends out a signal and bounces back when it hits human body heat. Took me forever to try and do, mom helped a little."
"Does that mean--" Trinity didn't even finish her thought aloud. Instead she skipped off and ran in the opposite direction.
"Trinity!" Aaron charged after her.
"James hold on." Derek said grabbing his shirt sleeve. "I don't know if this is Dillon or not. It could be someone else."
"Derek you said it picked up only human body heat correct?" James asked in a hurry.
Derek nodded slowly, "Yeah, but the program could be messed up. I'm prone to mistakes. What if it's an animal or something worse?"
They shared a moment of heavy realization James swallowed and slapped Derek on the back.
"Then let's not stand here while they run toward whatever it is."
Gripping his laptop tight Derek bolted behind James silently praying it would be Dillon.
Trinity stopped to catch her breath while the other caught up. She took a breath and looked to Derek as he arrived.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a program like that?" she asked through gritted teeth. "Instead of sending us in the wrong direction? We probably could have found him right when we got here. Instead we wasted time!"
Trinity looked as if she would kill Derek had she had her breath back. He sulked and flushed a shade of bright red. "I forgot?"
"Forget it for now." Aaron gasped, 'Just where do we go next?"
"That's the thing, I'm not sure if we--"
"Where?" Trinity barked.
James gave her a cross look for being so bossy and mean to Derek. She caught the feeling of disapproval form James but trinity did her best to ignore not letting the guilt get to her.
"It's on the move." Derek panted. "A few blocks east it looks like. About four."
Trinity nodded and was off once more. Aaron cursed and as they ran in pursuit of the glowing red dot on Derek's computer screen.
Upon reaching their destination the four of them found they were standing in a garage. The walls were bare but there was an odd sense of familiarity to Trinity. She tried to picture the place full of parts and gear. There was a beat up looking pool table, the green cloth aged and partially moldy from the humidity probably. She ran her hand on the wooden edges. Then it clicked. There was a picture sitting in her living room up on the fireplace mantle, a group of people posing for a picture around the pool table; this pool table.
"Guys I think you should see this." Derek called.
Trinity took her attention away from the table and over to Derek. The other joined. They stood in the doorway of the next room. It opened into what had to be an old command center of sorts. There were broken computers along the walls, and a set of working one sin the middle. On the opposite wall were five different colored suits locked away perfectly preserved in class cases.
They stood in front of the cases and stared at them looking them over, every single detail. Each of them remained silent. The shot of gun broke through the perfect silence.
Trinity ducked covering her head even though she was sure the shot was not aimed at them. They all turned to see a person standing in the doorway. At first Trinity thought it was her father, for he looked much like him. The facial structure was similar to what Trinity had seen in pictures but there were a few things that didn't match, features that belonged to someone else. It wasn't Dillon though.
The man took aim his finger on the trigger of his odd tricked out gun. He sneered at them a cold deadly look upon his face. "State your name and purpose before I shoot. Believe me I will not hesitate if I think you are lying."