In an attempt to revamp my motivations to close out my novel I thought I would share another chapter from it!
Keep in mind this is a rough draft and also a few chapters into the story but I would very much appreciate any feedback on it!
Chapter: Party Planning with a Side of Death
“We're just waiting on Lincoln to come with supplies from the woods. He should be here by sun down. I took care of Route A, so he shouldn't run into any problems.”
“Perfect.” Greyson pulls his chair up to the table. He rests his elbows on the tabletop, tilting his head at Ghost and waiting for more.
Ghost reaches for the vision board on the table.
“I've mapped out all the sweep schedules within the eastern most portion of the Quadrant.” Fiddling with the solar bulb he links it to the board. A map appears suspended mid-air beside the table.
Complicated and busy, I take one glance at it and redirect my attention to Ghost. I raise my eyebrows at him; my signal for I'm lost, to which he immediately responds.
“Route A is clear until at least 21 hundred. Plenty of time for Lincoln to creep through.” He isolates the route he's talking about in neon green to eliminate my confusion.
“I did the standard hacks, all masking programs are operational thanks to Arden, and last time I checked, at eleven-thirty, there were no traces of detection. The regulated sweeps are running in all other sections.” Pointing to the red highlighted streaks surrounding our location.
“Perfect.” Greyson repeats, running his hands through his hair, quiet. “How's the surveillance coming? Any concrete idea of when this plan may be put into action, Ghost?”
Something is off. It feels like change is approaching but how it will to happen is beyond my knowledge. I want to believe this irksome feeling is excitement. I want that excitement to burn into courage, fueled by my faith in the rebellion, however something deep in my soul feels apprehensive. If I don't play this right they will see right through my reaction and know I had prior knowledge of these sweeps. It will be impossible to explain that I am not a spy – they will crucify me.
Raising one eyebrow, Ghost responds with a smirk. “We've managed to disable an area. Now I'm workin' on the code to feed the sweepers. Once that's finished, we chose our victim, release the virus on the surrounding bots and Bam!, we've got it.”
”So basically, you two have only completed step one in this Plan.” He half laughs through his crooked smile.
“In Ghost's defense, it is still the most proactive plan we've got.” I smile over-sweetly, really digging in. I love to interject and defend Ghost during these banter sessions, it throws Greyson off balance - which is something he rarely experiences.
“Well we do seem to be stuck in the dark here. We need to find out why these street sweepers are chipping unwilling people.” Greyson lays his hands on the table.
“Which is exactly why my plan is the best option. Our safest bet is to hack into a single machine. It's too risky to maneuver through the entire Network. Those programs are run directly by SmarTex Net Security... even I'm not that brilliant. We will release the virus from our designated safe spot. Once the neighboring bots are infected I will hack into the target machine and shut it down. From there, Arden will descend, strip it and recover the hardware. After that, it's home sweet home.”
Bouncing on his toes he looks from me to Greyson. I feel like I'm watching my little brother beg our dad's for approval. I can't fight the smile, it spreads up into my eyes as I turn and stare too, waiting for his answer.
Greyson clasps his hands together. “Alright then, lets do this. But I need full precautions, for BOTH of you. I want the area locked down, anti-recog gear and a closed circuit walkie on you”. Glaring down his nose at Ghost, he is not waiting for confirmation. Its more like he's daring Ghost to disagree. He's taken on such a stern disposition lately, just another indication of some approaching shift.
A quick knock at the door postpones their argument over the precautions.
Arden pokes his head in. He looks so young, just a head and shoulders suspended in the crack of the door.
“We've got a tiny situation out here..”
Ghost shuts down the power to the vision board as I make my way to the door.
“What kind of situation?” Greyson inquires as he opens the door for me. Arden leads us across the great room to a pile of blankets in one of the chairs. Arden looks back at me, tears brimming in his dark eyes.
“I found her on the roof in the usual spot but she's sick or hurt or something.” His voice trails off as he pulls the blanket back.
The poor bird does look terrible. It's barely breathing with its eyes closed, lethargic and unresponsive. Arden looks at the pigeon and then back at me. “Can you fix her?”
“I'm not a bird doctor.. I don't know.” I lean in to examine the bird.
Ghost reaches right over me and unwraps the scroll tied around its leg.
“Well, it came back with the message at least. Good thing it didn't die on the way.” He never liked the idea of courier pigeons. He always argues that they're a waste of time and dirty to keep around.
The bird gives no resistance and Arden sighs behind me.
“Okay. Give me some room so I can examine it. Go check out the message.”
With the guys cleared out I can actually think. I really don't know much about birds. I'm not even a primary physician; I'm certainly not qualified to do half the procedures I've found myself performing lately. I can't locate any wounds and it's limb seem to be intact. Lifting its head like a dead weight I check its tiny neck and chest but there is no sign of injury.
Needless to say, I'm unable to do anything for the bird. It will most likely die soon. I trudge back to the meeting room, more concerned with how Arden will react than with the news in Ghost's letter. I find Ghost and Greyson sitting back at the long table looking slumped and tired.
“Where did Arden go?”
Greyson looks up at me through his thick eyebrows. His eyes shine as if tears are trapped behind the outer layer. “Will our pigeon-friend survive?”
“No, I doubt it..” I pull out a chair from the table and collapse into it. My mind escapes, planning how to break the news to Arden. My ears recognize they are discussing how to send a reply back to Astrid from the North West quadrant but I can't absorb their conversation, I'm engulfed in my thoughts of Arden. I know he's older than he appears and more mature than he should be at 19 but I also understand how sensitive he is to death and how much he loves those birds.
"Arden is in the gear room." Ghost says without looking up.
The gear room is dark except for the dim glow illuminating the back corner. A heavy heart weighs down my steps as I make my way to Arden's corner. I'm blinded for a second as he looks towards me.
"Sorry." He immediately clicks the head lamp off but a blob of green takes over my vision anyway.
He's an outlined shadow in the basement room. I can feel his grief and I'm sure he can tell by my body language that I've come bearing bad news.
"I can't save the pigeon. I'm sorry, Arden. I'm not even sure what's wrong with her. Maybe she ate something bad or caught some kind of disease. I don't know." I want to tell him it's just a bird, that we have at least a dozen more just like it but I know this means more to him. These types of situations always make me uncomfortable; I don't know whether I should say more or pat him on the shoulder or try to hug him.
My heartbeat measures out the silence of long seconds. Is he crying in the dark, feeling sheltered by the shadows covering his face?
As I reach out to touch his shoulder, a long sigh breaks through and he stands up.
"I guess I'll bury her next to Otis. I'm going to sit with her until she's gone."
He walks away leaving me in the darkness. I breathe in the grief, let it fill my soul and then release it with a long sigh.
One more time.
In and out.
“You must release the grief to make room for love. Love is all we have and the sooner you accept it the better you'll feel.” Greyson may have some loony ideas but this technique always helps me to keep pushing on.
If you're interested in reading the following chapter you can check it out here.
Constructional criticism, comments and/or suggestions are more than welcome!
Thanks for reading,
