James 25 #2
It occurs to me that maybe I shouldn’t be standing here like a target in the middle of the crowded sidewalk, but the sky is losing light by the second; dusk is fast encroaching. With my hat on you’d have to make an effort to see my face clearly, and I’m mostly sticking to the shadows.
The situation can’t be that serious.
No one is trying to tackle me to the floor. No one is trying to throw a baby at me. I feel a hum of trepidation across my skin, but the feeling is new.
Maybe I’m paranoid.
My instincts are buzzing. I sense a low murmur building in the crowd, and it’s making me edgy. But before I make the decision to keep moving, my pager vibrates again.
Oh shit.
You don’t know?
A bolt of alarm drives up my back.
Now I’m uncomfortable. Now I’m creeped out. I hate cryptic messages like this.
Don’t know what? I type back.
Double buzz.
Bro, where have you been all day?
How have you not heard about this?
Irritation flares inside me. I fire off a response.
Just tell me what the hell is happening
or you can fuck off with these vague, half answers
I’ve just hit send when another notification comes through.
This time, it’s from Kenji.
I hold my breath as I scan the message.
You still want your old job back?
I nearly drop the shopping bags to the ground.
Yes, I respond immediately.
Yes, please
For the love of God
I stiffen at the sensation of a hand on my back.
I close my fist around my pager, then lift my head, doing another mental inventory of the weapons strapped to my body.
When I meet the eyes of the stranger violating my personal space, I’m surprised to discover it’s a curious older man.
Bushy brows. Scruffy beard. He’s staring at me so hard he recoils when our gazes lock.
“It really is you,” he says, loud enough for everyone to hear.
I do a reflexive scan of my surroundings, my shoulders tensing, and the murmurs of the crowd intensify, rising like vapor in the cold. People are looking at me; looking at each other; looking at me.
Okay.
This is really fucking weird.
I return my eyes to the older guy and force a smile. “Sorry to disappoint you,” I say, projecting my voice for all the eavesdroppers. “But you’re getting me confused with someone else. I know I look a lot like my older brother, but I’m actually not—”
Someone in the crowd screams.
Jesus.
I almost flinch at the sound, once again resisting the impulse to reach for a weapon. The clamor begins to rise to a fever pitch. I catch wisps of conversation—
“It’s him?”
“—does it mean?”
“—can’t believe—”
“I thought he was a child?”
“Never seen him before—”
“How did you survive?” asks the older guy. His eyes are bright and frantic. “What was it like?”
I don’t know what the hell is going on.
A sinister feeling moves along my skin just as my pager starts buzzing in my hand.
I read quickly through the messages. More from Malick.
People know, man
They know you infiltrated the Ark
And they’re spinning some crazy stories about you
Oh. Fuck.
“Thank you for your service, son.” A different guy cuts in front of me, grabbing my arm tightly. “We’re all so proud. We know the risks—”
I break away, releasing myself from his grip.
What the hell?
“These kids don’t remember,” says another woman, trying to part the crowd. “They don’t remember what it was like before, when The Reestablishment was in power—”
I take an anxious step back.
“I never believed they were dead and gone!” adds another voice. “I always knew the regime wouldn’t die so easily! But you gave them hell!”
“Is it true you went all alone?” someone shouts at me from across the crowd. “Is it true you defied orders?”
My mind is racing.
I glance at my buzzing pager.
You haven’t seen the footage?
Someone found the trike
The one you crash-landed in the northwest
“Is it true that you broke out of prison?” someone else calls out. “That you had to kill everyone in order to escape?”
I take another step back, stunned. How the hell could anyone know about that? “I don’t—”
“Is it true that all their people are half robots now?” a voice pipes in from a distance.
“I’m—Look, I’m sorry,” I say loudly, shaking my head. “I can’t—I can’t talk about this—”
“So it is true!” someone yells from across the street.
We’d hauled the trike back to the airfield
But we’ve been having security issues over there ever since our showdown with your new best friend
She messed up all our systems
“I heard you took out fifty soldiers by yourself!” someone shouts.
“I heard your brother is jealous and didn’t want people to know!”
“I heard he shot you for insubordination!”
“I heard there’s a girl—”
“MOVE,” I say angrily.
I shoulder my way through the masses, keeping my head down as I try to forge a path.
My pager keeps buzzing.
You shouldn’t be on the streets, man
They think it’s some big secret story
Like you stopped a nuclear bomb from going off or someshit but Warner didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want you to get the glory
Fuck fuck fuck
I’m trying to move toward a break in the chaos, but people crowd me as I attempt to leave, putting their hands on me in a way that’s making me uneasy.
My fingers keep twitching toward my gun.
“We’ve all seen the footage,” says a woman, shoving herself forward, red-faced and breathless. “We saw the proof. The foreign tech. The insignias of the regime—”
“The Reestablishment is still alive!”
“Is it real?” Someone grabs me, and I shake them off on instinct.
“Why is it a secret?” asks another. “Why can’t you talk about it?”
My heart is hammering.
I’m propelling myself through this mess like a fucking clown, still clutching these pink shopping bags.
“You were really there, weren’t you?” Another voice, coming out of nowhere. “You were really there and you came back alive!”
“We want the truth!” someone screams too close to my ear.
I nearly lose what’s left of my control.
I finally manage to muscle my way through the worst of the bottleneck, even as shouts and cries continue to chase after me into the fading light.
My pager keeps buzzing in my hand.
I make it far enough away from the insanity to give the notifications a glance. I’m expecting more info from Malick, but this time, it’s Kenji.
Good, he says. Glad to hear it.
My heart is beating out of my chest. I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now. Five minutes ago all I wanted was my old job back, and right now, all I want to do is find my brother.
Warner must be losing his mind.
My pager buzzes.
Kenji: Report to HQ in ten minutes
Welcome back, Captain