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We have plenty of time, Carson said, with that crocodile smile, as he pulled me through the door of his hotel suite and into his tight sandalwood and brylcreem embrace. His lecture notes, the printed slide deck and my first chapter which he'd promised to read, spilled from the manila folder I was carrying and scattered over the deep-pile carpet.
Leave it, he urged, hurrying me onto the bed with its pristine gleam of sharply cornered sheets and festoon of puffed-up pillows and velvet throws. After, I pulled the tangled sheet around me and observed him, lying on his side, one arm thrown over his face, the gentle hiss of his breath through his open mouth. The early morning sun, pouring through the gauze curtain, highlighted the drooping chin, the slackness of his skin and the sparse sprigs of white chest-hair. He was twenty-two years older than me and had a wife called Barb though she rarely came up in conversation. Was it love? Would we make it? He made me laugh and maybe that was enough.
Downstairs, the reception room was already thronged. Carson smiled and sucked in his gut as ladies of a certain age, click-clacked in high heels across the shiny marble foyer arms outstretched to pay proper homage to him, the man who wrote those books. Carson Kelly, they exclaimed, grabbing his arm and fluttering around him, eyes never leaving his. The occasional folded up note was entrusted to him too with some final whispered words. A love letter maybe or a phone number, I mused, from my position at the back of the room.
Carson read from his newly-released memoir sipping occasionally from the amber whisky in the crystal glass. It was an extract from his early life and he slowed the pace right down, his voice, thick as molasses, and the guests, perched on the gilted foyer chairs sighed softly at his recital. There was the buzz and click of photographs, the scratch of his pen inscribing his name on new books until finally he moved through the foyer, smiling and blowing kisses as he went. I followed discreetly, lugging a box of unsold books, the manila folder and his half-drunk bottle of water.
We pulled out from the underground hotel car park for the last leg of the book tour into an afternoon snarl of traffic. Around us, red-faced drivers honked their horns and the dirty sky lay low and flat as a saucepan lid over the city. Cocooned in the car, we laughed at the soft burr of the Sat Nav presenter. I told Carson it sounded just like my Irish Grandmother when she got mad at us for some childhood transgression. Lying by omission was the ultimate sin.
Want me to drive, if you're tired? I asked.
His hand squeezed my knee. Why don't you catch up on your beauty sleep? he said, winking at me.
When I woke we were deep in the countryside and the car was stalled in a narrow road, its light mere pinpricks against the thick and silent dark. Beside me, Carson hunched over the wheel, sipping from his hip flask.
I hit something, he said, staring at me wild-eyed.
Maybe it's a deer?
He looked at me again and shook his head. We both opened our doors and stepped out into the dark.
Now
There had been another newspaper article. They'd used the same photo from ten years ago. It showed a dark haired young man with laughing eyes, holding the hand of a little blonde girl who's wearing fairy wings and smiling up at him. She'd just turned eighteen, the article noted, and agreed to be interviewed.
Somebody must know something, she said. Please come forward. I have to know what happened to my Dad.
It was a sad story. He'd been a student at the university where I now teach creative writing. People often ask me if I'd met him. Of course I answer no, he was before my time teaching there.
I was skimming through the edits of my latest novel. It was my first standalone after the series and I wanted it to be just as successful.
When the phone rang I knew it would be Carson.
Did you read it? He asked. No preamble.
Yes, I said. You obviously did too?
There's an intake of breath. Yip he said and the slow deliberate drawl is slurred. I could hear, too, the insistent tell-tale quiver in his voice, a sure sign he wanted to spill, to salve his conscience.
You know what we agreed! It came out harsher than I intended. He sighed in response.
Let's meet, talk in person, I said. The usual place, 8:30?
Ok, he was silent for a moment, I have to?
I know, we'll talk tomorrow.
I returned to my edits, biro in hand and made a few cursory corrections. Finally, I bookmarked the page, and placed it back on the shelf. This needs to be done, once and for all, I thought to myself. I didn't mean the edits.
Carson was already sitting on the cliff walk bench when I arrived. He raised a hand in greeting. He'd lost weight, his coat was hanging off him, his cheekbones sharply angled. It almost made me feel sorry for him.
Let's walk I said. We trailed down the narrow path, keeping close to the rock face. It had lashed rain all night and the sea below was white-foam flecked and rollicking against the sharp-edged rocks. The damp mist made me shiver through my many layers.
Carson turned to me. I have to do it. I have to let them know?. He raised his voice to be heard over the roar of the waves. We should never have done it.
We? I scream back at him. I begged you, I literally begged you to bring him to the hospital, to get a doctor, anything.
You know why I couldn't. I'd been drinking. It would have ruined everything.
So now you want to own up and ruin my career too? I was so angry I was trembling. I helped you. You've never once thought about what that meant for me.
Carson stopped and stared at me. For one pure moment, I thought he understood.
I got you that job. Your career is because of me.
I turned and gazed at the waves battering down on the jagged rocks below. The wind whipped up again and I picked my way carefully up the path staying close to the rock face all the way. At the bench, I pulled out the pre-paid phone and called the Guards to let them know I'd just seen a man fall of the cliff walk.
In the warm fug of the car, I silently incanted: Goodbye Carson. We were never going to make it.
?Don't you dare die on me you dumb boy? I yell frantically at my brother Max as he is bleeding from his side. The knife had impaled him and being the dumb kid he is, took it out. Rule number one if somehow you get stabbed DON'T pull out the knife, it will make you bleed way more. Right now my brother, Johnny, and I are in the middle of an information-gathering mission on the Red Shirts that has gone wrong. Enough of that, for now, I suppose you should get a bit of background on who and what is happening.
Hi, my name is Lynn and I am the leader of the Red Shirt Dismantilation group. We are a group based in Japan and our job is to figure out who and why the Red Shirts came to earth.
To explain a bit of the background information for you, 6 years ago the world fell into chaos when the Red Shirts attacked. We do not know where they came from but they all for some reason were all wearing red t-shirts. The red shirt-wearing beings were standing still inside of houses, in the middle of the road, and mostly in inconvenient places. Everyone was curious as to what these things could be and that's when the chaos started. Once the Red Shirts, (R.S. for short) started killing people without even touching them; we lost about 70% of the population. It took only a year for Absolute Areas to become a thing, these spaces were created by advanced laser technology so that the red shirts couldn't get into them. This was when the real battle started. The R.S. became more dangerous to those living outside of these areas and soon the separate Absolute Areas started to join up to figure out how to defend and stop those monsters.
At present I am running away with my injured brother in my arms, this makes for an interesting sight, a blood trail in our wake, I press on forward to safety, Max weighing me down but I can't stop because he is all I have left. We finally reached the truck that three of us had taken to get to the R.S. base, but we were just missing Johnny. I paged him again, ?Johnny, truck leaving, hurry up.? A couple of seconds after I got Max laid down in the back seat I scrambled into the driver's seat. I then saw Johnny running full speed towards me ?start the truck, Lynn we need to go now, go go go? he frantically yells at me. I look in the direction he came from and I see a horde of R.S. coming our way, Jonny wrenches the door open and hops in. I put the truck into reverse and pressed down hard on the clutch and then the gas. The car was revving very loudly as I was gunning it down the path in reverse, with no time to spare I quickly threw the car into first gear and then did a big U-turn and high-tailed it right out of there. I look in the back mirror and I see the horde getting smaller and smaller as we drive away. ?Johnny, check on Max, is he still breathing?? I am deeply worried about his safety. ?Don't worry Lynn, he has a pulse although it is a little weak,? he responds and I take a big breath in and out.
I lived in Japan when they hit, my brother and I were about to turn 12. My brother Max and I were inseparable and we both looked like the other, there was no mistaking it, we were twins. Like any pair of siblings, we had our little fights but once the R.S. came we depend on each other like there was no tomorrow. My parents tried their best to figure out a way to survive but soon they were overrun and killed. With our parents dead right in front of us and no way to survive on our own, Max and I had panicked, screaming and attracting the R.S. towards us when they suddenly kept 6 feet away without moving closer. Then the realization hit me, we were immune to the attacks from the R.S.as they didn't immediately run up to me and blow me up. My brother soon came to figure this out as well. In the midst of the whole ideal, we were both taken in by a group and brought to one of the Absolute Areas. The ?government? of the Absolute Areas had found that about one-quarter of the population was immune to the R.S. They quickly got to work and divided us all into groups of six.
Let's introduce the group, we have me, Lynn and my twin brother Max, Johnny, Ash, Skipper, and Lily. Our group has two parts both with a leader and two associates. The groups would switch out every mission in hope that if one group was caught then there would be another group to continue the hunt for information. The groups were divided by ages, Johnny, Max, and I were group one and Lily, Ash, and Skipper were group two.
We trained relentlessly as we were taught how to defend ourselves and wield knives, guns, and crossbows and many other types of weapons. We were also taught how to analyze situations and how to hack different servers. It was quite the ordeal trying to learn all of those things in a couple of years. We got it down though.
Starting out as strangers the six of us slowly got to know each other as we all sort of fit into a weird group. Johnny was the oldest of us and Max and I were younger than him by a couple of years, then came Lily and Ash and finally the baby of the group Skipper. Don't be fooled because of our ages we are a very dangerous group, who could take you out in seconds. That's what we did to the R.S. in every single one of our information gathering missions.
The Government highly sought us out as we were the best of the Immune, my teams and I have been fighting for humanity. Right now my team has infiltrated one of the enemy's backup bases to see if we could get any information but so far no luck for us.
After checking on Max in the backseat I turned my eyes back to the road, I slowly start to recognize my surroundings. I pull into our base and jump out of the truck. Carrying my brother into the base using Johnny as the other support. We laid him down onto one of the cots and I start to examine the wound, looking for any infection or poison inside of Max's body.
?It looks pretty bad Johnny, we need Lily right now,? I say with urgency, my brother looking paler by the minute. Johnny quickly sends out a message to our comrades on the walkie-talkie as they were currently out looking for food.
?Roger that, I'm on my way.? the radio crackles. About fifteen minutes later Lily runs into the base. ?How is he, how much blood did he lose, what is his pulse like?? She quickly asks to get right down to business. She checks the wound on Max and quickly assesses the situation. The medic then barks out orders to Johnny, asking him to grab all sorts of medical equipment from around the room.
I have no clue what I am supposed to do about my brother, he is my other half. We have gone through everything together, literally everything. Max was the glue that kept the whole group together. He was our rock and foundation and if he doesn't make it I don't know what we will do.
Deep in my thoughts, I don't hear Ash and Skipper yelling at me. ?Lynn?Lynn...LYNN? Ash raised his voice at me, jolting me from my thoughts. ?What the heck happened over there, did you find out anything? What about Max? We need an update!? Skipper this time asking me questions. ?Ah guys your back? I look up at them and I solemnly tell them what happened with the mission.
Skipper and Ash looked at the older boy with worry, wondering if he was going to make it. I was on the verge of tears as the adrenaline in my body was fading out. Exhausted, I plop down onto another cot, head in my hands. Skipper, Ash, and Johnny slowly come to my side to comfort me. Skipper was whispering sweet words into my ear and Ash was slowly rubbing circles on my back in hopes to calm me down. Johnny handed me a water bottle that I took and chugged down greedily. ?Everything will be okay, Max will pull through. He is one of the toughest people I have ever met. He is practically family at this point.? Ash who was now kneeling in front of me softly said tears in his own eyes. Looking around me I could feel the hope and love I got from my little family. Skipper the one who always knew how to put a smile on anyone's faces, Johnny who is like the dad of the group and always knew what someone needed to hear. Lily who always knew how to make any wound, cut, and scrape feel better with her superior medical skills and Ash who told it as it was no holding back and being honest, but not in a mean way.
After I had calmed down a bit more I finished telling the other what went down at the other base, how Max got badly hurt and we never managed to acquire any info on the R.S.
Johnny then piped in ?actually Lynn I did manage to hack into the computers and get the location of their main base.? I jump up, at this point I am surprised. ?Johnny, why did you not tell me when we were on our way back?? I asked, staring into his eyes. ?I was worried about Max, same as you? worry showing in his eyes as he tells me.
?The base is located in the west of Freezerband, ya know that area with that old factory that used to sell the creepy looking life-size dolls? Johnny explains. We are all looking at the map surrounding Freezerband and we see that it is not a small place and we will need more than my group to invade. Lily then rushes into the room with tears in the corner of her eyes.
?I am sorry.?
When those words left her mouth my world crashed down on me, tears streaming down my face uncontrollably. Everyone in the room looked glum, we had just lost one of our own. Aside from me, Skipper looked the most broken as he practically was the closest to Max and looked up to him like the older brother that he never had. Ash and Johnny were hugging each other, tear streaks on their dusty skin. Lily came up to me and hugged me, and I slowly sank down to the floor.
After a couple of hours, we buried my brother and sent him off to a better place. We then decided to pack up our little base and relocate to a base closer to our target and plan our invasion with the other Immune.
Six months of planning later we have our plan and all of the Immune are in on it. We need to end this Godforsaken war.
We are now preparing to invade the main base of the Red Shirts and we need to end this once and for all. All of us have never been more determined as now we have something that will propel us towards victory for humanity.
?We will win this, not just for my brother but for the others we have lost,? I shout at my team and the other Immune. Then we all charged in.
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