Outcast (Camp NaNo 2015)

Chapter 4

I woke with a start as yet another in a long series of night mares ended. The van had stopped at a convenience store and I was left in the locked van with no keys. I half considered getting out but I had a feeling that I wouldn't get another ride without a bunch of unwanted questions.

So I waited impatiently in the van for the drivers to return. I looked around for any landmarks but, just as I expected, they were few and far between. Unfortunately all that I saw was just plain buildings; houses, office complexes, stores... the works. Nothing brand spanking new, but also nothing so old that it stood out. The only thing that stood out was the lack of people on the streets. Everybody seemed to be inside a building or driving as fast as their electric car would take them. There were no speed limits now and people considered that safer. The Autobahn had finally set a good example back in 2125.

When the driver's door opened I nearly cheered. But it was only the nameless driver, not the also-nameless passenger.

"Where are you heading?" the driver asked. It had taken so long for that question that I should have had an answer, but I faltered when I realized that I didn't.

"Umm... long story?" I blurted. I wanted to take those three words back as I was saying them. Now I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable questions to flood out into the open air as the gates of inquiry opened.

"We have lots of time. Why don't you start at the beginning?" the man suggested. I nearly snorted with laughter at his comment. I really didn't think that he had time enough for me to tell him my over five hundred years of life. I don't think he wanted to know my over five hundred years of stories and, frankly, I wasn't about to tell him even if he had a gun to my head. And I probably wouldn't even tell him then, because I've survived a lot worse.

I was saved for a few moments when another car door opened and the nameless passenger woman climbed in. A few quick words were exchanged between the duo before both turned expectantly to me.

"I don't know where I'm going. Basically I need to find a place that looks like this." I grabbed a napkin from the seat beside me and a pen from the floor and drew them a quick, simple sketch of the room I saw in the holo-pic. They looked at each other, the female looking as though she knew where I was talking about even though my sketch could easily have been drawn in crayon by a 10 year old.

"I think I know where you're talking about. It'll take a few hours but we can get there." the man told me. I was shocked. This was much too simple. Much too easy. I wasn't about to leap out of the car and find someone else to drive me, but it seemed almost set up. It seemed like this was meant to happen and not in a good way. But I didn't really care. Not right now, anyways. Later might be a different story, but right now I just needed to help the woman in the live stream.

I watched the scenery move past me once again as I thought about the girl I had scene in the holo-pic. The picture had been in grey scale, so I hadn't been able to see hair colour or anything distinguishing like that. Instead I had to rely on my imagination and knowledge of grey scale to colour, which wasn't much.

The hair was dark, so probably anything other than blonde. That didn't narrow down a lot of the population, because holo-pics like that would have showed at least the root colour if her hair had been dyed. It was neat but kind of creepy if privacy-invasive technology.

I didn't get a good look at her face, as the room-or rather the picture-was a bit dark there. The more I thought about it, the more I had a feeling that this was deliberate; that the government knew that I would go after this girl. But that didn't mean that I would give up. As long as I wasn't caught-and so far the chances of that happening were slim, even if it was planned-I would be able to help her.

I didn't see much more of her than her head because of the angle of the camera and the poor lighting of the room.

***

I still couldn't believe that they knew where I was going! It was such an insane stroke of luck hat I didn't think it could be real. And as we traveled down deserted gravel roads it was clear that either they knew where they were going or they were isolating me. I had my hopes on the first option, but the second option wouldn't get out of my head.

     I didn't want to speak up, though. Instead I listened once more to the news, praying to whoever was out there that my name didn't show up. Apparently I didn't have a good relationship with the man upstairs, because my name blared out over the speakers loud and clear anyways. 

      "I just got a report in that a woman named Tytiana Fellows is armed and considered dangerous. Midtwenties, black hair, blue eyes and average height. Anyone who sees her is to make no contact with the suspect and call the police immediately. In other news, the Pope was called to..." I stopped listening after that. I was finally considered armed and dangerous. Armed with my mind. I didn't need anything else.

     I was not surprised that the government didn't reveal my off-worldliness to the rest of the Earth. They would panic. They hadn't had real aliens, I mean, hell, even the moon landing was faked! And I wasn't about to be the initiator of that panic. Instead I  would just go back on the run after I helped that woman.

     I looked out to see a smattering of buildings now that signaled the approach of city limits. That probably meant we were approaching my destination and I didn't know how to feel about that. I was excited and frightened at the same time. I wanted to face the problem and get it over with but I was scared about what I might see. About who might bring back the bad memories.

     We pulled up to a white stuccoed building and parked. I tensed, nervousness taking over my senses rather than excitement.   I thanked the couple extensively before and after exiting the vehicle. They drove away, waving to me as if they had known me all of their lives. I waved back almost awkwardly. 

     I walked up to the building, unsure if I should be sneaking past guards or walk in casually as though I owned the place. I went with option number two in the end and it seemed to work... until I got inside. Then it just seemed to be a labyrinth of doors. 

     What am I supposed to do? I thought, Ask someone where the screaming girl in the corner is located? 

     I walked around, lost for the next 20 or so minutes before deciding to follow a group of important looking people dressed in black suits and looking like the people off of Men In Black.  They stepped into an elevator and I panicked for a second before sneaking in with them although I had a perfectly good reason to be there. Well, I kind of did have a good reason for being there, in my opinion. I just didn't quite think that they shared that opinion. 

    They got out on the fourth floor but my gut said not to follow them and to continue to the seventh floor—one away from the top. I went with my gut this time, waiting the few seconds for the doors to close. The interior of the elevator was silver, much reminiscent of the old elevators that were common back in the early 2000s. I watched the blue numbers change as I ascended to the the seventh floor. I swore that my stomach was tying knots using it's own lining, I was so nervous about what would happen when those doors open. Would it all be a trap? What would I find when I stepped out of the safety of this 5x5 foot space? 

      The elevator dinged and the doors opened. It was time to find out what lay beyond but a part of me really didn't want to find out. The other, more caring part of me forced my feet to move forward, one step after the other, my body somehow guiding me to a dark wooden door with a golden handle. I saw my hand reach out and felt the cold metal on my skin as I turned the knob to open the door. What I saw inside was almost complete blackness, like the other room had been in. The only light came from the door that I was standing in but with that light I could see that I had come to the right place. And that scared the hell out of me.