Eight' installment. Wow. I mean I did plan for it to go this far, further even, but to actually physically see it... can't think of a word to describe how I feel. Uh oh. Better brush up my vocabulary. -]
I'm very new to both writing fiction and story developing. So, it'll be nice to hear what you guys think. I'm trying to be excellent in both areas, but I've got a feeling that I had failed miserably in both. All I need now is an expert to evaluate this and give me some pointers. I know I'm asking for a free service, but, anyone?
Otherwise, you could still send me an email to comment on anything at all. If you've sent one before, don't be afraid to send another. I know I haven't replied some emails you had sent, and I'm truly sorry about that - this whole thing is new to me. From now on I'll reply every email - even one-liners. -]
Email: mask4truth@yahoo.com.au
:mt:
The Unveiling Chapter 8
Damned Feristel. I bet my life that it was he who had sent Jase to Point Zero. What was he trying to achieve, sending people I - we - cared over there? I could barely hear anything except for the sound of my own anger. My parents, dear friends, everyone, were already taken by Feristel. Now even Jase was taken. The twelve was down to eleven. Damn him.
"Where are you going?" Jean asked when I opened the apartment door.
Stupid question. "Point Zero."
She grabbed my arm to stop me. "Now? Let us rest first; then we'll come up with some brilliant plan."
I shook her hand off, harsher than I had intended. "Forget it. I'm sick of planning. I'm going to Point Zero 'now' - I'm joining everyone else."
Her face paled. "You're giving up," she stated as if coming into realization.
I snorted. "Not for my life," I assured her. "I just need to see everyone again."
"But," Kevin said suddenly, from the other side of the room. "How would you know you'll see them when you get to Point Zero?"
"Don't you dare suggest that stupid 'incinerator' idea again!" I snapped at him. For some reason, I did not regret it this time. All I felt was... anger. It was unsatisfiable, like a bottomless well thirsting for the sea.
"I never-" Kevin sighed. "Look, I only meant that our family and friends might not be there. I don't think they've even been there."
"Wait," Jean said. "You don't mean, that Point Zero was nothing but a trap?"
That caught my attention. "But Dean hacked into their database."
Jean rubbed her head and looked at Kevin. "That made some sense actually. Maybe that was how we were caught. Really, why would they search abandoned warehouses?"
A trap? That can't be true... can it?
"Their so-called website was a set up to get us there," Kevin added in.
"Impossible," Dean cut in. He was standing by the kitchen door with a scowl on his face. "I would know right away if the information was fake. You have no idea what kind of security I had to hack through."
"Dean has a point," I said after some thought. "When I was captive, they were really sending me there, weren't they? To Point Zero?" I waited for them to nod their heads. "People were really sent there, so it can't be 'just a trap'."
"So maybe," Jean said as she led me back into the apartment. "Point Zero is just a security thing, where people will be sent somewhere else after Point Zero."
Kevin's face lit up in revelation. "So it was not a trap, but it was to cover up where the people were really going."
I felt myself tensing after hearing that. That theory seemed to support what Feristel said about the other world, 'Thrae'.
"Where do you think these guys are from, though?" Jean asked no one in particular. "When I was with them, most of them were speaking this weird accent which I can't recognize."
"Yeah, that soldier as well," Kevin muttered. I knew he was referring to our captive soldier that Jon, he and I interrogated for Jean's whereabouts.
"I mean, it's not like I know every accent in the world, but I do know 'a lot'," Jean continued. "What's stranger, some of them were definitely Aussies."
"There were other prisoners?" Dean asked, confused.
"No, no, I mean some of the soldiers were Aussies."
"Oh."
None of us spoke for a while. "Anyone you recognize?" Kevin asked suddenly.
Jean stared blankly at Kevin. "One," she muttered and looked away.
'One'? There was actually someone that Jean 'knew' who was with 'them', our enemy? And he was an Aussie? My head spun with the possibilities. These soldiers... some of them were our own? Were we being betrayed? I turned to look at Kevin. He was pale, looking as if scandalized. Others were wide-eyed too.
Feristel did say that he had members in every country, but it never crossed my mind that even our own would participate in his madness. Suddenly I felt a renewed urge to investigate Point Zero.
"Tony?" Jean asked worriedly. I noticed that some others were looking at me worried as well.
"What?"
"You okay? You look... odd just now. At first you look sick and confused, then suddenly you were angry, and then... determined."
I grinned at everyone. "Never mind that. Anyone in for a second trip to Point Zero?"
"You mean there was another plan?" Dean asked, grinning, which meant 'yes'.
Kevin laughed. "You don't actually think Jase can take care of himself, do you?" Another 'yes'.
"I'm beginning to enjoy playing 'hero'," Simon stated his 'yes'.
"Of course not. I better go along to make sure Simon doesn't do anything stupid," Lil' Lily piped in, and we laughed.
"My girl might still be there - I'm going," Gary said, determined.
"They scared me at first, but not anymore," a 'yes' from Jon.
Jean stood up and smiled. "Seriously, you guys will get caught in ten minutes without me." She gave her 'yes'.
Irene sighed. "The best of us are all going - no way I'm getting left behind."
"Since the girls are going, I'm going," stated Jay with a sly grin.
"Pervert. The girls will need my protection. From you," sighed Terry.
We laughed. I guess we will all be in this again. We will never learn, will we. "Thanks guys." I looked at Jean. "Okay, shall we make some 'brilliant' plans?" I grinned, emphasizing on 'brilliant', as Jean had put it earlier.
"We'll be fine," Jean grinned back. "We are the 'ghosts', after all."
'Ghosts'?
"'Ghosts'? That sounds... familiar," Terry said as he strained his forehead to remember.
"You know - spirits of dead people, that see-through human we see on TV," Jay quipped, which earned him a knock in the head from an annoyed Terry.
"Feristel."
Everybody looked at me. It was then I realized that I muttered 'his' name without realizing it.
"Back then, right before I was captured," I explained. "A man had called us the 'ghosts'." Terry's face immediately lit up as if to say 'that's it!'. I never heard Feristel mention 'ghosts' after that though.
Jean grinned. "Yep. That's what they called us. The invisible rebels. The uncatchable. The 'Ghosts'."
"Shit that's cool," Jay said, as if awed. We laughed at that. I think it was because he was right.
"Jase once called us the 'formidable twelve'," I added. "Maybe we can call ourselves 'The Formidable Ghosts'."
"That's kinda lame," Irene said with surprising honesty. "Try something more artistic, like, 'Ghosts, the Formidable Twelve'."
"Or, 'Ghost Rebels, the Formidable Twelve," Jean suggested excitedly.
I chuckled. It was funny how we were thinking of a name for ourselves in times like this.
"G. R. the F. T.?" Kevin joined in. "I say we go for 'Formidable Ghost Rebels, the Twelve." He grinned at us. "F. G. R. the Twelve."
FGR the Twelve. "I like that," I said. The others grinned in agreement. Kevin stuck his left hand out in the middle of us, then Jean and Jon joined in by putting their left hands on top of his. Soon we were all in a circle with our left hands were on top of each other. Then I put my right hand on top of the heap, so that there were twelve hands. "This hand is for Jase," I stated.
We grinned and nodded at each other. Then, together, as if we were a team in a sports game, we pushed our hands down and cheered.
"FGR the Twelve, we are!" I said as loud as I could.
We, the FGRs made our way to Point Zero the next night. This time we avoided the warehouses and stayed in the apartments instead, even though it was much further; about forty minutes walk from Point Zero. The warehouses was barely five minutes walk. But we were only being cautious this time, since we knew that they do search the warehouses.
At some point, we argued over who should go to watch soldier's routines at Point Zero, which we finally settled on sending Simon(again) and Jean out of practicality. None of us were as stealthy as Simon, and if anyone can conjure a mastermind plan to infiltrate Point Zero, it was Jean.
Again - while waiting for Simon and Jean to return - Kevin was instructing Terry and Jay the arts of war; I was beginning to wonder if there really was 'that' much to war. Dean, Gary and Irene were both onto creating some sort of gadget with tools they had found in the hardware shop. Lil' Lily 'looked' nervous while fidgeting with the radio, waiting for Simon to communicate with them(although we know that inside she was actually as calm as the lake). Jon and I were sitting uselessly in the kitchen, waiting impatiently for everyone to finish. Some routines never change.
This time however, Jon and I only made small talk, though from the occasional glances I caught him giving, I knew he wanted to talk about something else. Jean, probably. I didn't bring it up, however. I wasn't ready for that kind conversation. I needed to get advice from someone about this - which unfortunately, I usually asked Jean, who was the topic of the issue, or Jase, whose whereabouts were currently a mystery.
I was saved from the overwhelming pressure Jon was giving me when Simon and Jean finally returned. All of us stopped whatever we were doing and went straight them. They were grinning when they saw us.
"I have an idea," she started. "But we're gonna need a few more nights if we were to do it." Then she turned to Kevin. "You're coming with us tomorrow - you're going to teach us how their army march."
"You mean dress up as them?" I looked at Simon questioningly. "I thought we talked about this before."
Simon grinned. These days he has been doing that a lot. "You and I were talking about walking behind an army. Jean however, is talking about walking 'as' an army."
I was amazed at that bold plan. "You mean all of us disguise as an army? You think we can fool them?"
"That's where Kevin steps in. He will learn their salutes and how they march, and then he can teach us how to do it."
"Still, don't you think their armies has a... you know, 'team number' or something?"
Jean grinned even wider than before. "That's why we plan to take out an army which we already know the 'team name', and disguise as them. I know the perfect candidate for that."
Even after triple-checking the trap we had set up, I still felt unsure about the plan. This had to be the most reckless plan Jean had ever came up with. I mean, so many things could go wrong. Like, what if 'none' of the soldiers were knocked out by fire hydrant? Or what if the hydrant weren't as powerful as we thought it would be? Or what if they reacted quicker than we expected and stopped us the moment they hear the pump-engine running?
Anytime now.
I readied my rifle and waited for the army to walk into our trap. I actually preferred a pistol, but Jean had said that the rifle was more 'menacing', which was needed for the plan's sake. Simon and Lil' Lily, the two smallest people in our group were made to watch the entrance and exit of the area where the trap will take place. If anyone other than the army we were expecting were to come near, they will aid us by distracting the visitors away.
Terry was given the responsibility of handling the fire hydrant/hose(from the fire truck). Since none of us had the experience of using a fire hydrant, we let the biggest and heaviest man do it, reasoning that the feedback from the water-cannon may be significant. Jean said that the water pressure from a fire truck will be enough to knock out anyone in a direct hit. I was beginning to believe that Jean could actually use 'anything' as a weapon in any situation. Seriously, who but Jean would have thought a fire station(or the fire trucks in it) could come in handy? Yet, I still feel this plan offers too little flexibility. If anything went unplanned...
They should be here about now.
The army whom we were expecting was called 'Red Fox', their leader known as 'Eagle Daniel'. It was odd to hear someone in their army having an ordinary name. I was just getting used to Dirrek, Pagahar, Feristel, and the sorts. This Eagle Daniel must be from Earth.
'From Earth'? Dammit. Am I actually believing in Thrae now?
It was Kevin's hand on my shoulder that made me realize that 'Red Fox' has already arrived. I took a quick glance around and saw that everyone but me was ready. I couldn't believe I was thinking of other things in the middle of an important mission. Giving Kevin a curt nod, I assumed my position for the trap.
Barely a few seconds after that, I could see Jean - who was outside the fire truck - giving a nod to Terry - who was beside the hose in the truck. Just as he had practiced only an hour ago, he turned on the pump-engine of the fire hydrant. It gave the expected rumble that would doubtlessly alert our enemies. However, Jean had speculated that they'll be surprised for the first few seconds, which will be more than enough for the hydrant to be ready. And she was right.
They sounded confused(since I couldn't see them from inside the fire station), and when Terry finally stepped out of the truck and released the water-jet from the hose, we stepped out of our hiding places, yielding our weapons in the most threatening manner possible. Kevin the fierce, Jean the witty, Jay the laidback, and me surrounded our enemies on their level, trying act coordinated and violent at the same time. High up behind the windows on buildings around the area was Jon the sharpshooter, Dean the genius, Gary the technician and Irene the cautious, all playing the role as backups via sniping. According to Jean this arrangement will make us look large, well-planned, and effectively menacing - which was again, intended for our objectives.
We could hear some of the soldiers screaming from the water-jets. When Terry finally run out of water, we closed in on them with our rifles to subdue the still conscious. Fortunately for us, almost half their forces were rendered unconscious, and most of their weapons were washed away anyway.
"One move and you're dead," Kevin threatened with his coldest voice. After seeing that the soldiers weren't fighting back(probably still dazed from the water-jets), Kevin spoke again, though he barely suppressed his delight this time. "Out of your clothes, all of you."
It was strangely like revenge, using their own tactics against them.
After acquiring all their uniforms, we left the soldiers naked and tied up in the fire station. Irene took one look at the uniforms and worriedly muttered her concern of whether or not the uniforms were machine-washable. When got back to our apartments, Irene and Lil' Lily lay out the uniforms on the balcony, hoping that they would dry up by the next day.
"I guess tomorrow will be the big thing," said Jon as we watched Lil' Lily and Irene trying to squeeze out water from the uniforms.
I nodded. "And there'll be no turning back either."
"I wouldn't think of it," stated Jon blankly. "You sure leaving the Red Fox tied up like that would be enough? If they managed to escape, our plan will fail."
"It's just one day, Jon. Besides, those were Kevin's knots - it's impossible for them to escape."
""They could be rescued, you know."
I couldn't think of anything to say at first. "Sorry, Jon," I said finally. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't shoot them."
Jean had left out this part of the plan for me to decide, once we had subdued all the soldiers and got them out of their uniforms. I guess I should have killed them all then(we couldn't right away because we may get blood stains on their uniforms), but I didn't. Instead, I had them tied up and left alone in the fire station, just like the other soldier we had interrogated a few days ago.
"Sorry," I said again.
"I'm not accusing you or anything," Jon said, a little annoyed. "Anyway, get some sleep, Tony. I heard that you have trouble sleeping whenever you have a reason to worry." Jon took me by my arm and guided me to the bedroom. "Good night," he wished and shut the door so that I was alone.
Purple. Or was it violet? Doesn't matter, because it's beautiful. The deep violet ocean was visible from here. It reflected the starry skies like a translucent canvas for a star-bed. Too bad the moon was on the other side. It would've been breathtaking. I watched, and watched, until the stars faded and sun rose.
When I opened my eyes, the gloomy apartment bedroom was back, and the beautiful dream had ended. I let out a long sigh before stepping out of my bed and leaving the room. It was only seven o'clock in the night, I noted when I saw the wall-clock next to the kitchen. Only a few of us were awake: Jon in the kitchen, Simon and Irene in the livingroom, sipping their coffees peacefully. Neither of them looked nervous, strangely. Seeing that Jon was alone, I joined him.
"Feeling better?" Jon asked when he saw me approaching.
"Heaps. Thanks," I replied and took a seat opposite him.
"Sorry 'bout yesterday. I think you did the right thing, leaving them like that."
"How so?"
"One point you already stated, is that we only needed the disguise for one day. The other is, I don't think it's right to let go of our humanity for the sake of... ourselves." Jon looked up at me and smiled. "Thanks for making the right choices for us."
"And thanks for setting me straight," I returned his smile. "By the way, why are you always in the kitchen?"
"It's..."
"Guys?" Jean suddenly interrupted us from the hallway. She was already in her soldier disguise. "Give me a hand and wake these guys up, please?" she thumbed the bedrooms behind her.
"Now? It's only seven," I asked.
"Yes. We're going to do this early. Now go!"
Jon and I chuckled as we stood up from our chairs and walked towards the bedrooms. While we were waking up the others, I found myself thinking about Jon's reaction when I asked him about his kinship with kitchens. He seemed... truly happy, as if I've never seen him happy in my life. I felt a little worried. Was he ever 'truly' happy with us?