Sweat began to journey down the side of my face as I inched closer to the Mexican border. I considered taking off my jacket but then a frosted breeze stung my face, causing me to zip the jacket back up. The sun was scorching in the sky as I headed further south, but the wind felt like it carried little shards of ice within it. I was uncomfortably sweating and freezing at the same time.
Unbelievably, the truck's GPS crapped out a few miles back and so did the weather forecast. I guess it was a good thing that it lasted this long but, now? Of all the times? I took a page out of Noah's book and wrote the directions down, but still, if I jotted anything down wrong, I was out of luck.
There was yellowed white sand for miles out on both sides the narrow road I was driving on. It was barely a two-way road, but as always, I just wedged myself in the center. You could tell this road hasn't been worked on in far more than three years because I would probably have a smoother ride on the dirt next to it. Potholes seemed to come in truckloads. The hydraulics were probably pushed further than it's ever had to go with this road, so I turned back on its inner hovercraft.
Burgundy mountains blurring in the distance sat far off while the sun swam in the blue, but cloudless sky. Random patches of dark green and yellow grass scattered amongst the sand in different sizes. There was, however, one small, lonesome tree that formed a crooked seven in the field a couple yards away. It still had the stub of a branch that has probably fallen off years ago and at the very top of the tree was a thin section of green leaves. Besides that little spectacle, there were no other leaves or branches the whole way down and the little tree was probably just less than ten feet tall.
In a way, I felt like I could relate to that tree. The way it exemplifies the only thing left in a destroyed world, the way it seems to be killed slowly by its surroundings, but despite all odds, it's still standing, not strong, but standing nonetheless. That tree and I were much the same in the sense that we are survivors when all else is lost. Our only difference?
I have a job to finish.
I lost my father and my brother to this world and I will do whatever it takes to free my father and hopefully make some sense of this ruined planet.
After I realized having a heart to heart with a tree wasn't exactly the most sane thing I could be doing for entertainment--or companionship--, I chalked it under 'having no one else to open up to, so why the hell not?'. Sane enough for me.
Watching the mountains fade further into the horizon, I noticed a toll booth approaching me when I turned back around. It was on the edge of the road. I checked to see if someone was inside and saw him sitting comfortable in the sole chair inside.
Except he was just a pile of bones.
Beyond the toll booth was a huge iron gate that was at least thirty feet high and stretched as far down as the fields would take it. There were extensive amounts of circular barbed wire coiling across the entire top of the iron gate and the gate itself was at least three fences thick.
There was a meter length of gap between the booth and the gate and as I pulled up to the booth, stopped slightly past the booth from bad brake timing. I stepped out of the still-floating truck and was about to jog up to the closed gate but got caught in a trance as I stretched my legs for almost ten minutes. I found myself moving on to working the rest of my body. I did take pit stops along the way, but very, very few because I had this sinking feeling that I didn't have time to waste.
Afterwords, I threw my jacket on the hood of the truck despite the freezing winds and simply rolled down the sleeves of my thin black and white laced sweater I picked up from a Walmart I passed by earlier. It was thin, but no wind passed through it and I figured that that was good enough because this heat was a pain in my side.
Once I reached the completely rusted-down gate, I tried to look all the way to the top of it, straining my neck upwards while squinting. I even gave it a little jump, at the moment, thinking that I would be able to see more. Standing right next to it, I could barely see the circling barb wire over twenty feet above me. Tying back my hair into a ponytail, I strolled to the toll booth while looking back at the border.
While other country borders were far more advanced and technological, the government never really put any effort into the southern borders besides a few extra guard soldiers and a new fence border. The fence had three layers so you couldn't possibly get a grip on the very small diamond-shaped holes and if you could, then climbing it thirty feet would be nearly an impossible feat. The fact that there are trained soldiers on both sides ready to shoot anything that moves too quickly is kind of what seals the deal. The actual opening to pass through was probably about fifteen to twenty feet high, but almost as narrow as the road. At most, it could let two cars in and out at the same time. I made my way back to the booth and proceeded with caution.
Not stepping inside, I had my hand on the doorway and stuck my head inside to peer around. All the windows were gone and the door was nowhere to be seen. I moved the rest of my body inside and saw the lone tan-colored foldable chair with the fallen soldier to the right, along with a small table, a stool in the corner and a control panel screen on the wall left of the doorway. The booth was made of some rusting metal and the roof was a simple flat plastic sheet.
The panel screen was black and I tapped on it, assuming something would appear, but there was clearly no power reaching it. Coming up with an idea I hoped would work, I hopped back into the truck and pulled up right next to the doorway. I grabbed a couple of jumper cables and hooked them up to the battery below the hood. I dragged the cables to the inside of the booth and dropped them in front of the screen, scratching my head as to how to get the casing open in order attach the cables for power. There were no visible screws and I couldn't figure out what else they would use to put that panel in. Nails were far too tacky and tape was well...they're not going to use tape.
The last thing I could think of was glue because they're not going to use anything more advanced for a southern border like this. Who knows what type of glue or how powerful or even how it was used.
Damn.
Deciding that I wasn't about to spend another second wondering, I sprinted back to the car and grabbed my knife that was right next to the machete in the back seat. Back in the booth, I tried to stick the knife in between the panel and the wall. It took a little wiggle and jiggle, but eventually the razor sharp tip of the hunting knife jabbed into the crease. Determined not to let it fall out, I held it in place and tried to kick it further in. I missed and hit the side of the knife while the rest of my foot fell into my hand and my entire body came tumbling down into the tarmac floor.
Nice one.
The knife fell out and I raced back to the truck to see if I could find something to hammer it down with for next time. Instead of a hammer, I found a small wrench that had a flat side. I tried again with the knife in the same spot and made it in faster. I jabbed the flat side of the wrench inside the tiny gap and took out the knife. Since I didn't have anything to hammer the wrench down with, I repeatedly stabbed the knife into the gap with controlled force. In seconds, the gap became bigger and I wiggled the wrench further inside and tried to pry the panel open.
When it opened as much as the little wrench could push it, I saw that glue was being ripped and stretched in a wide 'u' shaped web. Keeping the opening open with the wrench, I slid the knife down inside of the panel, cutting the glue holding it to the wall. When I finished the right side, I did the left and the rest of the top. I yanked on the wrench on the panel and the top of it swung down. I attached the cables to what seemed to be the CPU battery and started my truck. I had a basic understanding of technology from my dad, but that was from before he got caught up in what he was doing.
I went back into the booth and saw the screen sizzle in and out. Scratchy static blared from the small speakers as I saw a government logo flash in and out and then turn to a padlock of numbers. 1-3 at the top, 4-6 in the middle, 7-9 below that and a large '0' at the very bottom.
I fell back in disgust. "Damn" I moaned out loud. I considered just ramming the gate open with the truck when I saw scratches on the wall in front of the chair. Squinting my eyes, I leaned closer and began to crawl to the scratches. They were jutting out from underneath a shelf and when I looked under it, I saw four digits carved in it.
I choked out a laugh as I raced over to punch the code in. The keypad lit up green and a loud 'boom' thundered outside. I walked out to notice chained links in the gate begin to move and grind against each other. The gate was rising upward as loud crashes crackle as the gate swings and shakes at every click and grind. After one last groan of the old gate, the door began to swing open with an ear-piercing grind against the concrete making up the doorway. Sparks followed the gate on its journey into the air.
When the door let enough room for me to drive though, I started my truck and eased past the border and looked above to see the gate rise slowly above me.
Say good bye to the U.S I thought as I heard the last of the screeching came to a stop behind me. I accelerated, gaping into the distance of the road ahead, never looking back.
****
~ Greyson ~
"We need some sort of miracle, pronto." Nick Vault demanded as if one will fall out of the sky at his command.
"More like a breakthrough." Lance added as he crossed his arms, thinking heavily.
Eric thought about the word 'breakthrough' and what it meant. He kept tossing and turning it in his head like an idea that was on the tip of his tongue. Like there was a second meaning that would save his crew from this disaster.
"Dr. Grayson? You still with us?" Nick questioned, snapping Eric out of his trance.
"Uhh, yeah, of course." he mumbled. They gave him questioning looks, but moved on.
"Without Joana's expertise on molecular fusion and fission, we're kinda stuck at a brick wall." Lance admitted. "I have my knowledge and skills in the earth and geological field and Dr. Vault has his mechanical degree, but Joana makes the magic happen."
In more ways than one Eric thought to himself. Pissed, Joana left a little while ago and wouldn't answer her phone. Sunset was coming in close and the team had no signs of getting any closer to their goal.
They debated back and forth on the next course of action, but between the three of them, they kept circling back to a dead end. Desperate, they began to draw together a plan in hopes to make any type of progress on their surreal dilemma.
In the elevator, they briefly went over everyone's roles and split up when the doors opened. Lance went straight to Stein's office, while Nick and Eric headed to their cars.
Lance knocked on the door and Stein answered nonchalantly before laying eyes upon the him. In his regular business suit, Stein opened and gave him a curious stare as he let him in.
****
~ Eric ~
Eric knocked on a fancy designed cedar wood door that had a glossy finish and Joana opened the door as far as the ball chain would allow, staring at him with a pissed off expression as Eric smiled adorably and held up a pink bouquet.
****
~ Nick ~
Nick made an appearance at the headquarters of Nexus enterprises.
****
~ Eric ~
Eric and Joana sat awkwardly in her living room. Unlike last time, He sat in a separate couch from her. Speaking of last time, Eric thought about the night they spent together and how they were so far past it now.
"Don't get your hopes up," she noted, noticing his distant thinking when he looked down the hall. "This better be strictly platonic."
"Look, I'm sorry about our decision," Eric sighed. "I said I would put it to a vote and I did."
"I find that funny because there was only four of us and I seem to remember you being the final person to think that we shouldn't work with them." she hissed.
"We can't just give away all of our work to them that we spent over several months on." he replied softly.
"Oh but in the process we can sacrifice people's jobs that they've put their lives' work into?" she shouted. "If that's the case then we should let the everyone in the entire building complex vote if they want their jobs to be ripped from underneath in a little over a month."
"I understand that it's not fair but who knows what they will do with this technology once we develop it. They would become the richest company over night if they play their cards right" Eric argued with a little more fire in his voice. "They could become unstoppable."
"Here's a crazy thought: maybe they're not the enterprise from hell and yes, of course their going to profit, but maybe, just maybe, their agenda isn't to destroy the world."
"But is that a chance you're willing to take?" Eric asked argumentatively. "I'm talking total economical domination if they figure ways to sell fixed amounts of it, plus the fact that they would never have to pay an electric bill again along with any other energy-associated finances. That is a power no one company should own completely."
Joana seemed to think on that. Eric admired her compassion for the employees that might have to lose their jobs for the sake of science, but they'll understand that the stakes were just too high. Still, she found a way to counter.
"Then why the hell are we working on it?"
This stumped Eric for a good few seconds before he came out with the only answer his mind was wired to think. "Because new sciences are meant to be discovered no matter what the cost. It's what we scientists are sworn to do"
"Well I don't remember it being so cut-throat" she whimpered. Eric got up from his seat and slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulder as he seated beside her. "Since when was it the evolution of the world against real people's lives? And they don't even get a say in their own fate" She began to tear up and looked at the ground. They have no idea. Eric, there's over a thousand people working here"
"It wasn't an easy choice Joana. We can't give them the keys to the kingdom" Eric affirmed softly. "Besides, if we can get it done before the deadline, we'll have nothing to worry about"
"Yeah, just make a random rock generate an unlimited amount of containable energy, I'll be finished in the morning" she joked weakly with a fading smile. "All those people...in the name of science"
"In the name of science" Eric repeated. "In the name of goddamn science"
****
~ Nick ~
Nickolas Vault stood in front of the center glass double door in the middle of five others that created the main entrance and exits for the Nexus headquarters. They were business workers and important-looking people striding in and out of the many glass door entryways probably with pressing things to take care of.
As one blue-suited man exited through the door Nick was looking inside though, Nick caught the door on its thin steel bar handle and stepped inside. The door's hidden facial recognition camera's picked up his face immediately and promptly scanned through the database for his identity match. Half a second later, it recognized him as Nickolas Sirveal Vault.
A criminal.
Three steps after walking inside, red and white lights flashed rapidly around the room followed by the ear-piercing shrill of a blaring alarm. Nick's face was blown up on every TV screen and computer monitor in the central room and there was was a plethora of TVs twisting and turning from the thirty foot high ceiling.
Confused as hell, Nickolas shot glances at every TV in a circle as his face appeared on the screen. The thousands of faces in the building all turn to look at him as they made wide ring around his body, afraid to go anywhere near him. Some people made a hasty exit as others sat still and panicked wildly. Nick twisted back and forth looking desperately for any answer as to what was happening to him right now.
Men in white and black suits, that looked very much like the uniforms Melinda's back up was wearing, pushed violently through the sides of the crowds and busted into the small clearing formed around Nick. In black skinny jeans and teal Converses, running was becoming less and less of an option. With their large weapons pointed at him, the men were already about to tackle him if he made a single move they wouldn't rejoice over. He wasn't feeling his most athletic in his matching dress shirt coated with a thin silver cotton fleece scarf to combat the morning chill.
Swinging their guns to the side, they grabbed him from all sides and shoved him to his knees as he quickly put his hands behind his head, surrendering.
"Okay! Okay!" Nick continually shouted hoping that they see it as a sign of non-retaliation. Instead, it scored him a swat to the back hard enough to send him face-first into the tarmac floor. With a sudden flash, a head-splitting pain made him squeeze his eyes shut as he felt the cold pavement almost dig into his skin with blunt force. From both sides, two men gripped his shoulders, yanking him back to his knees. As he rose, he blinked widely and very rapidly to get the blurry haze muffling his vision to disappear as soon as possible.
His dark hair wildly ruffled and his flushed green eyes darting around the room, he didn't notice someone had walked right up in front of him. He didn't look up when he saw female black boots, but he gave a soft chuckle, now knowing exactly who it was.
He suddenly stopped the little bit of struggle he was giving off and fixed his ruffled posture to something a little more poise and painted it with a sarcastic hue. His hands stayed behind his head and a cocky smile arose as he slowly looked up to meet her face. Even though his bottom lip was spit near the right end, he kept his 'I should have seen this coming' smirk solid on his face.
Everyone stared in horrid captivity as if the world had completely stopped moving and the only way to get it going again was know what the hell was happening five feet from them. Nick spat a little blood to the side as his gaze met hers' again.
"Melinda" Nick affirmed. "How do you do?"
"Nickolas" she replied in a retort-like way. "I told you never to show your face here again"
"But how could I--" Nick coughed twice and cleared his throat. "Resist your beautiful face?"
"Take him" she ordered her men and as the last word left her mouth, Nick was yanked to his feet and all five of them were moving past Melinda at a more than rushed pace. When Nick wouldn't walk properly with the rest of the group, they ended up dragging his ass to a door behind the counter.
As soon as the door opened, Nick got a half-second glimpse at the hall way before a well-trained elbow hit home in his right temple with maximum force sending his field of vision into a spiraling black hole.
****
~ Lance ~
"Why are you here?" Stein asked, clearly shaken, but curious about his visit as he stepped aside to let him though the doorway. "I wasn't expecting you"
"I'm sure you won't be expecting anyone again for a long time" Lance jested as he took a seat in of two chairs in front of Stein's desk and crossed his left leg over the right one. With his fingers now crossed, they eyed each other down as Stein settled down in his black leather and silvery steel chair. Lance glanced around the room with a half-amused face as his eyes glanced over the cheap-framed pictures and diplomas scattered about. After only letting moments pass, he uncrossed his legs and looked deep at Stein.
"Unless you listen closely to exactly what I have to say"
***
~ Skylar ~
Thankfully, the lower North American GPS satellites are still functioning because I was able to get the directions to his mansion. I was nearing the neighborhood and I saw that there was a massive electronic gate. The world seems to be full of those nowadays. This one, however, was made up of vertical glossy gold steel bars about half a foot apart. The top of the gate was rounded and middle section when up as far as about fifteen feet while the two ends probably came down to ten or so. That was just the door, as you could easily tell it was only guarding the people who have millions in their banking account.
The entire neighborhood was encased in the gate's walls and it was by far the fanciest wall I've ever seen. They were all ceramic walls and on them were breath-taking works of sculpted art. In front of the gate was a giant gap in the road.
Well one thing I didn't have was the password and I considered running the gate down but this was the newest model in the "VIA Security" series. What that meant was when you enter the correct password or code, the two halves of the road missing behind the gate will emerge as the gate moves away. I briefly wondered how people leave if the road was missing. Must be another pad somewhere else.
I knew there must be another entryway but I have no idea where to look. Coming with a plan, I parked my Jeep at the intersection of the gate and the connecting wall. I stood outside the truck with grenades bouncing from my hand.
At the four corners of the gate were ticking bombs that ticked their final tick before simultaneously detonating into a blue flare. Upright, it slid five feet backwards before falling toward the houses. The back of the gate slammed onto the ground, completely covering the gap in the road with an echoing crash.
I stood before the fallen door and huffed with determination to continue. The gate wasn't solid as it was the wide, thin designs. I had to watch my step as I made my way on top of the gate, terrified of slipping on a bar. I hopped off to the side grass to the far left.
I straightened my jacket and kept moving. I jogged past the unbelievably large houses and made my way to the beach side and stared at the houses as I ran further across the crystal waters. Some of the houses were completely caved in and some looked like they were burned to the ground, but there were also some that looked untouched. I'm sure at least a few still have people trying to survive within their encased walls.
I recognized his sky blue vacation home on the corner of the line of houses. On one side of the corner was the beach and on the other side were the docks that led out to about two small, but different yachts. Jumping up and down in excitement, I sprinted down what was left of those docks and made sure to watch my step as I made my way on the probably unstable boardwalk. The one on the left looked less like it was made for luxury and more for speed, durability and distance so I jumped down into it promptly without a moment's hesitation.
Just because it wasn't as luxurious, didn't mean that it didn't have three flat-screens in each room, several wall screens, and beautiful-but very much worn-couches and chairs along with the most expensive glass tables I've ever seen. I've had a crash course in boating when I was younger and knew the basics to it already and it was a good thing that this was the very lower section of Mexico and Ecuador was only about two thousand and a half or so miles away, therefore, I could just sail straight into the country from the ocean.
I made my way to the front of the boat and revved the engine. It took a little while given the fact that the yacht has been sitting here for three years. Once I finally got it going, I spent no time speeding out into the open waters. I imagined throwing a huge party on this yacht and what fun I would have drinking and laughing the night away with friends and strangers alike.
I focused back on the water ahead and I set auto pilot to the careful cruise speed because I don't want any of the old boat parts to bust under pressure. I sat back in the large sofa and flipped through the multiple channels of black and white static. It was surprisingly entertaining for the first thirty minutes but then I threw the remote in the air out of frustration when I was fighting the recording that seemed to want show up, but then in the end it faded to static again. I found a stash of nonperishable food in a cupboard in the pantry that was a part the kitchenette and dug in without going through the whole cache.
With all these distractions and objectives, I keep forgetting how hungry it ends up making me. Now that I thought about it, I wish I had taken all the food out of the houses and the other boat before I left. I was miles out and there was no way I was going to turn around given this questionable fuel meter.
After spending hours on some much needed sleep in the master bedroom, I awoke to a loud beep coming from the cockpit up front. The beep meant that land was just about a hundred miles out. I looked at the radar and saw the edge of Ecuador and Colombia nearing the red dot that represented the yacht.
The skies were clear and the sun shone brightly in the empty atmosphere above me as the boat approached the distant South Americas. Suddenly, when I fell back asleep in the swivel chair waiting to reach the destination, a crackle of thunder clapped in the distance. I ambled out to the deck and saw that there was a storm far out in the ocean. I was too far out to be worried though.
The yacht finally reached the outer edge of Ecuador and I made sure to be careful about how park next to it. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about docks or land borders because the end I was heading to was a beach. As I made my way closer I saw that the beautiful beach from the ocean inward. And hot. I took out a rubber-band and tied my hair into a ponytail and then took off my jacket along with my gloves seeing as it must not be autumn season down here. That, or radioactivity screwed with the weather patterns.
Water splashed from my boots into my black jeans as my feet landed into the ankle length water. I took long stretches as I walked out of the water onto the shimmering gold sand. Palm trees covered the area like pesky wads of ants on a fallen burrito as seagulls innocently flapped about. Haven't seen birds in a while. Even when I do, it's like one or two together and even that was rare. Selfish to think it wasn't more than just humans who suffered from that explosion. I shoved the elastic cuffs of the gloves though a belt loop and tied them together as I made my way further on shore.
Here I am I thought optimistically.
"One step closer to the truth"
***
A/N: don't forget to vote!