Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Twenty

Alex and Aris knew they could no longer stay at Yuri’s house. Not only had their trust been violated, but the place had undergone a recent burglary and may not be safe for them. They changed their clothes and packed up the rest of their belongings.

“We need to figure out what happened to Yuri and the others. Their lives could be in danger,” Alex said.

“See, that’s what I like about you, Alex. Even when scorned, you still have compassion in your heart. You’re one of the good ones, you know.”

“Whoever’s after the grinders may be looking for us too. I say we head into the city and try to blend in.”

“Where are we going to stay?”

“That part’s easy, we can stay at a hotel for as long as we need.”

“You’re paying, right?” Aris asked.

“Is there ever a time when I don’t?”

“Good point.”

The two walked back to the subway and waited on the platform until the next train arrived. Not much was spoken between them as they were mostly in their own heads, trying to make sense of the situation. As the train pulled up, they kept their heads down and boarded. There were several hundred people waiting on the platform with them, and probably another thousand or so on the train; however, they were the only ones to board, and no one from the train exited.

“You notice something odd?” Alex asked, looking around.

Everyone was frozen in time, but it had only occurred to Alex shortly after the train started moving. Aris scanned the expressionless faces on the fellow passengers and said, “No, everything looks normal to me.”

“Look closer, no one is talking.”

“Oh yeah,” Aris said, relooking with a new perspective. “I was wondering why it was so quiet.”

“Hey!” Alex shouted.

“What are you doing?” Aris said, looking at Alex like she had lost her mind.

“Testing a hypothesis. As I expected, no one moved a muscle.”

“What do you think is going on?”

“I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it’s giving me the creeps.”

The train pulled up at the next stop, and again no one got on or off. Like mindless zombies, people remained in suspended animation.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen something like this before — it’s called a flash mob, where a large group of people get together to perform some pointless act just to mess with people.”

“But, it’s everyone… even the people at the station.”

“What do you want to do?” Aris asked.

“Let’s get off here and try to find out what’s going on.”

When Alex and Aris reached the street level, they were shocked at what they saw. The same bizarre, frozen state that was affecting the people in the subway was rampant in the streets of Tokyo as well. The atmosphere was eerie. The only sounds were coming from the whistling wind moving through the tall buildings.

The muggy air instantly made them sweat as they walked tentatively through the herds of people. They attempted to snap people out of their haze by waving their hands in front of their faces, and even shaking them, but nothing worked. Other than some birds in the sky, they were the only two things moving. It was certainly strange for such a large city like Tokyo to suddenly stop.