Children Of Fate
“Ok…Ok…Yeah,” drill sergeant calmed himself down. “Executive decision, I have to get the disk now.”
“You mean they’re gonna perform like a disk ceremony dance thing.”
“Yes my fearless friend but no dancing.”
“How about flash dancing,” Joel laughed. “Get it flash.”
The others shook their heads at Joel
“I have no idea how they all got here so quick. I have no other choice.” Drill sergeant pulled out a tiny gun from an ankle holster.
Joel laughed again, “what are you going to do? Sneak up behind them all and scare them to death with your cap gun.”
Drill sergeant studied the gun not getting Joel’s sarcasm, “it's not toy it’s real, only got two shots though.”
Drill sergeant’s expression told the others that he knew he was ridiculously outnumbered but he still raised himself up to his full height, nodded a goodbye then disappeared around the corner. He jogged towards the house knowing the likely outcome but did not falter in his steps, it was his choosing as protector, protector of the disk, protector of the innocent people who fall victim to its power like Hiroshima and to protect the world Tony, Nadia and Joel will inherit.
Tony, Nadia and Joel looked at each other not asking what do they do next but how are they going to help.
“He’s going through the front,” Tony said. “It might give us a decent distraction so we could get in close to the disk from the back.”
The three took no hesitation to run together back down the street they came from. They turned left and then searched for the house that sat directly behind Mauritius’s house. They found Mauritius’s two story house rose up behind a very plain tanned brick house. Its two large square eyes shut tight. They stepped over a foot high brick fence and jogged up the drive way.
The distraction started.
A weak muffled bang reached their ears as they reached the small empty backyard where only grass ruled. Movement was seen around Mauritius’s house.
They ran along the shed that ran all the way to the back galvanized fence spotted with rust, then stepped up on the flaking wooden support rail and peered over. Mauritius’s backyard was open and unguarded. Movement on the second story drew their attention. The thick black curtains in the window by the balcony opened, Mauritius’s ashen face peered out then drew back as the curtain was closed. Two men left the room and stepped out onto the balcony, armed and alert.
“Not much time, he’s going to activate it,” Nadia said. She then ran to the right into the corner and lent out as far as she could trying to see down the other side of Mauritius’s house. “Tony, I got an idea,” she pointed out an open window on the side of the house and on the second level. She calculated her path to the window in her mind, down along the fence, up on the next door neighbor’s carport then with a short leap into the open window.
Tony read her mind, “No Nadia you can’t.”
“I can make the jump.”
“I know but you’ll be on your own.”
Nadia smiled at Tony. “I just need you guys to cause a bit of confusion up there to get me through.”
Tony gave into Nadia’s smile and returned the gesture. “Confusion and panic comes easy.” He bent down and picked up a good sized piece of broken brick.
Nadia held Tony’s hand and lifted herself up onto the top wooden support rail that ran down the side of the fence of Mauritius’s house.
Joel scouted the garden and found a collection of rocks and pieces of broken concrete. He hurtled them over the fence into Mauritius back yard.
“You ready guys?” Nadia asked balancing on the fence.
They all took in a few deep breaths.
Joel nodded, “let’s change the world.”
“GO!” Tony called out.
Nadia tightrope walked down the beam and the two boys’ leapt over the fence.
Chapter 27
Alicia and Roy retreated into a narrow side street guarded by two buildings and lined with break-even shops. They melted into an alcove of a closed down store and awaited their ride. Nervous pulses twitched their limbs and fear fueled their hearts. Alicia tucked herself further into the corner of the shut door, her sweat soaked hand clasped tightly around the ancient key.
Roy poked his head in and out of the alcove like a prairie dog watching out for danger.
“Richard Bursik will stop them,” Alicia whispered. “We’re safe, they won’t find us.”
“I’m not too concerned about those chasing us,” Roy said and dropped his eyes to Alicia’s clenched hand. “It’s where we have to take that, that worries me.”
Strands of hair from Alicia’s fringe stuck to her forehead. She studied the key for a moment then rolled her head up against the black display window. Her ghostly reflection watched her closely. Her ghost then disappeared and was replaced by a solid image of a girl no more than seven sitting on a small chair in the comfort of her backyard. The girl stroked the hair of a worn out doll she held with admiration. The yellow dress the girl wore; shinning in the bright sunlight suddenly turned a darker shade. The shadow grew and formed a misplaced shape that towered over the girl. The little girl turned, her eyes pulled back in horror and she screamed. The shadow lifted its arm and smashed it down like a hammer. The doll tumbled to the ground then lay on the grass by its motionless carer. Alicia gasped and fractured the horrific image. It vanished and the just reflection returned.
“We have to get to the pickup point. Alicia are you ok?”
Alicia nodded subconsciously.
“We can’t wait here. We have to get to the main street.”
Alicia frightened expression tightened into one of determination. She grit her teeth and marched out of the alcove.
They had not ventured far when they heard a yell from behind them. They turned and saw a stranger with a bloodied face and a twisted limp arm staggering toward them. “There they are.” The man called over his shoulder and he was soon joined by another; one less busted and battered.
Alicia sucked in a big breath and said softly, “run.”
Alicia and Roy took off as fast as their legs could carry them.
The main street approached them fast but the two men chasing gained on them even faster. Alicia and Roy kept running in the hope that the open street ahead would bring them safety. They made it with the pursers less than ten meters behind. The realization dawned upon them that the open populated street would not deter the hunters. So they kept on running, across the four lane road without hesitation and up the continuation of the narrow side street. Unknown to them their ride had just crossed their path as they entered the side street.
There was a roar and the car took off.
Roy was falling behind.
“KEEP RUNNING ROY,” Alicia yelled.
The two men were right over them when the open narrow street up ahead was suddenly filled with a blue metallic car. The passenger side door flew open to welcome them.
Alicia and Roy could almost feel the outstretched hands grappling at their backs. They threw themselves into the car and it instantly took off.
The mustang snaked up the road then vanished amongst the traffic.
Roy and Alicia piled onto Dave. “Why do girls keep throwing themselves at me,” Dave said with a smile.
The two men completely out of breath watched the car escape into the traffic. One pulled out his phone and dialed with a single press of a button. “They got away and they have the key.”
Chapter 28
“What is the commotion?” said the lady jumping out of her chair. “Is it them? The protectors or Guardians or whatever they call themselves?”
Mauritius limped up to the tall lady armed with a reassuring smile, “not to worry Professor Grey. Not to worry my security forces have caught the fool.”
“Only one?” the professor asked.
“As I said, the fool,” his South African accent predominate against the professor’s American.
Mauritius motion
ed for the professor to take her seat and join the others who were all seated in a circle around Mauritius.
General Petain, seated on a bar stool shook his head at the professor as she sat beside him, his solid unnerved expression ridiculed Professor Grey’s uneasiness. Beside him sat Dutch Minister Ruen Ronin, a short bulbous of a man and beside him on a fold out chair was Professor Wild rubbing his hands together in anticipation; a pin on his jacket displaying the Hungarian flag. On a wooden chair sat engineer Maahir Banerjee from India, he was an old man with skin like bark, folded and creased over. Finally Minister Fredrich Hyypla from Denmark; opting to sit on a gym ball bounced up and down in excitement.
“Ooh him getting Goosebumps from all my excitement,” Minister Hyypla said flicking his straight blond hair away from his face.
Maahir rolled his eyes and General Petain shook his head once again.
“Well ladies and gentlemen the time has finally arrived,” Mauritius addressed each one as he spun slowly around. “Today, right now is the birth of all our plans, born from a parent that walked this Earth millions of years ago. The power and knowledge this ancient great civilization possessed shall soon be ours.” Mauritius motioned for one of his security men to step forward. “And this will be the means.” He took a cloth package from the man who then retreated back. Mauritius placed the package on a small table in the centre of the room. He then proceeded to carefully peal back the cloth to reveal the disk. The group shifted in their seats to get a closer look.
“Astonishing,” gasped Maahir.
Hyypla bounced even higher on the gym ball with a wide grin across his face.
Mauritius continued, “This is how it will be done. I will pass the artifact around. As I pass, each of you will then rest your hand on the disk, hold it there tight for a few seconds, release and then I will continue on to the next person.” Mauritius shot up a pointed finger, “but first be sure to clear your minds of worthless clatter then concentrate carefully but intensely on what we have already discussed and allocated for each one of us.” He spun around once again to make sure he had all their undivided attention. “Understood!”
All nodded.
“Ok let’s begin…what is it?” the man who brought in the package returned and interrupted Mauritius with a tap on his shoulder. The man whispered into his ear and Mauritius pulled away with a chuckle, “the key? Not to worry. Their efforts will be in vain. I’m afraid they will be too late. In a few moments it will all be over.” Mauritius laughed louder. He then approached General Petain, who stood up proudly before Mauritius. The disk lay on the red cloth like a newly hatched creature. Mauritius lifted the open cloth up and offered the artifact to General Petain.
A shriek of shattered glass exploded into the room.
**
All of Nadia’s focus was on the upper wooden rail of the fence. She scooted along with surprising speed and reached the next door neighbors carport. The roof of the carport was at head height as she stood on the railing. Nadia hooked her right hand over the gutter and flung her legs up onto the roof. She rolled twice and then lay still and watched the house to see if she had been seen.
All was clear.
Nadia stood then positioned herself opposite the open window. The window was divided in two, the bottom half frosted and the upper half rolled open inwards creating a small gap when looking down from above. She only had a narrow target to hit, she needed height to be able to come down into the gap and she also needed to get her feet spot on.
Nadia tapped her right foot on the edge of the carport looking for a solid launch point. Satisfied Nadia heaved in a few deep breaths, nodded in Tony and Joel’s direction eagerly waiting below with rocks at their feet. Nadia focused then launched herself over the two and a half meter gap towards the window. She glided through the air then at the last minute twisted, clapped her feet together and dropped into the gap. Her knees hit the wooden frame hard but her relief in making the jump overruled the pain. She ducked under the open window and crawled forward into the room.
The carpeted room was all bare apart from a mattress on the floor placed in the corner with ruffled blankets upon it. Straight ahead through the open door Nadia could see a group of people seated in a circle with Mauritius and another in the center of it. Nadia had to look twice as she saw one of them bouncing on a gym ball grinning like a school boy. The other man stepped away and Mauritius lifted a red cloth up to a solid looking man.
That must be the disk. I have to go right now.
Nadia ran forward.
Just as she entered the room glass fragments from the huge glass window exploded inwards. Bodies scattered and threw themselves to the floor. All but one Mauritius Cushly.
Nadia felt something bite at her calf but she did not stop. The disk hit a perfect angle and sparkled gold from the unfiltered light pouring in from the shattered glass window. In one motion Nadia jumped up onto the arm rest of a chair, pushed off and somersaulted over Mauritius’s outstretched hand. As she was upside-down directly over the disk Nadia plucked it off the red cloth. Nadia felt the hot angry breath of Mauritius’s desperate scream on her hand. She landed on her feet and her momentum took her towards the open sliding door on the opposite side of the room that led out onto the balcony. Her passage to freedom was suddenly engulfed in a blinding white veil. Her bearings and balance warped and swirled together into nothing.
Nadia tumbled forward.
Ancestral faces floated out in front of her, Chinese, Egyptian, Roman and Aboriginal. Nadia tried to push them away but they only multiplied. She felt the real feeling of clean cool air on her face and knew that she was on the balcony. Her momentum did not stop. She glimpsed a quick image of a face violently thrown back as a rock hit it clean on the forehead. A dull heavy pain washed into her head, a metal bar whipped at the back of her legs and just before it all faded to black she felt a feeling of falling.
A pulse of consciousness pushed away the black fog and she saw Tony’s face close to hers whispering the words, ‘I told you I’ll never let you fall,’ then it was gone.
Chapter 29
Tony held Nadia in his arms and ran for the back fence.
“Hurry their coming!” Joel shouted. He stood beside a hole in the fence he created by peeling away a loose galvanized fence sheeting.
Nadia’s limp body juggled in Tony’s arms as he ran but Nadia’s fingers on her right hand still locked around the golden bronze disk. Joel held back the iron sheet as Tony went through then let it spring back shut as he followed.
“Nadia can you hear me?” Tony panicked as he ran through the grassy backyard. There was no reply from Nadia. Tony continued to run down the driveway and onto the street on the opposite side. “Joel something is wrong with her.”
“We’ll deal with it when we are out of danger.”
An orchestra of footsteps rumbled close behind.
The extra weight Tony carried started to take effect, his arms strained and his legs grew heavy. Not knowing where to go he shifted all his effort into carrying Nadia and surrendered his trust to Joel to lead them to safety.
Joel’s face contorted into desperation as he realized they could not outrun the danger charging down at them like an avalanche. Joel staggered his run across the street and ran up the driveway of the most feral looking house he could find. Tony followed as fast as he could, his shirt soaked through with sweat. Two old cars sat on the front lawn of the house. The brickwork coated with neglect and a window was boarded up.
“We’ll be trapped,” Tony called.
“House like this is bound two have a mound full of crap to hide behind,” answered Joel then disappeared into the backyard.
Tony rounded the corner into the backyard. Mounds full indeed. Car bodies lay strewn here and there; some upturned balancing on their roofs. No green grass but useless, rusted bizarre objects littered the dusty yard. Objects like a legless coffee table, an old BMX, a sink, shopping trolleys, rubbish and even an old cardboard pollin
g booth stood upright by the back door with a toy phone stuck to it. An old wooden aviary leaned askew in the far corner overflowing with empty cans and bottles. In the other corner facing the rear of the rusted red shed was a pile of firewood with an artistic element by the owner, the woodpile was stacked in a way that it resembled a small house like a kennel.
Joel pointed at it and ran.
Tony followed Joel into the woodpile. It was a meter and a half high, three wide and two deep. The three of them shrunk themselves into the shadow of the wooden hut. Tony stroke Nadia’s cheek and willed her to awaken but her body still lay limp and motionless apart from the twitching of her closed eyelids.
Tony and Joel slowed their breathing and strained their ears.
The hut was hot and the air thick. The smell reminded Tony of damp rocks.
There was a scurrying noise outside.
Tony and Joel looked at each other and waited in pure silence. The noise grew louder and frantic. A silhouette sprung from nowhere and filled the entrance. The two boys gasped in freight. They then relaxed when they realized the silhouette didn’t fit the shape of a human. Their muscles tensed once again when they made out the shape to be that of a dog. It was a kennel.
“Ahh, crap!” Joel cried.
The dog lunged inside. Joel shut his eyes and waited for the foul smelling teeth to pierce his soft skin. Instead he felt a slimy rubbery strap softly scrape his cheek.
Joel opened his eyes to a German Sheppard coating his face in saliva and playfully wagging his tail.
Tony let out a laugh full of relief, “that was close. I think I just baked chocolate muffins in my…”
Angry voices suddenly filled the outside. Joel snatched up the dog into his arms and retreated as far back into the kennel as he could. There crouched Tony with Nadia in his arms and a dog in Joel’s.
The voices outside yelled directions, orders and suggestions at each other. The back fence creaked and the voices thinned out and then faded.
Tony and Joel sat motionless. A breath not even breathed, the neglected dog content to enjoy the comfort of Joel’s arms. A shadow slowly grew across the dirt in front of the entrance. The shadow stopped and a puff of dirt floated into the kennel as the threat turned on his heels. The shadow swayed then shrunk away. Tony and Joel breathed once again. As harm retreated further away their rock solid muscles relaxed. Suddenly the theme tune to the Simpsons erupted and echoed inside the kennel. There was a moment of shear panic and incomprehension as Tony and Joel wondered where the bizarre sound could be coming from. Their incomprehension past but panic remained as they found the source. Nadia’s replacement phone buzzed in her pocket.