DEATHWISH

Chapter 6

13.2c -- 09:00 am -- March 1st -- 2235 -- Location: New York City 

Anya and Eloise were left disoriented by the sight before them. The car they were in had no driver, no wheels, hovering effortlessly as it sped down the road. To their left, the distant view of the most famous city in the world stretched out—New York. But it was nothing like the countless films and shows Eloise had seen. This was not the New York she knew. Everything felt different, futuristic—maybe, maybe he really was telling the truth. Maybe they really were in a different time. Maybe they really were in the future.

Anya, too, stared in disbelief. She had never been to New York when she was younger, back when her family still lived in America before their endless moves. But even she knew what the city was supposed to look like. And this—this wasn't it. Not even in her wildest dreams or in the most elaborate video games.

New York stretched out beneath the morning sky bruised with the glow of a thousand neon lights, the sun long replaced by the hum of synthetic signs and the pulsing veins of roads weaving above and below like a labyrinth. Elevated highways, tangled in layers, reached across the skyline like metallic arteries, connecting parts of the city's once divided by rivers, now crossed effortlessly by towering bridges that cast shadows over streets forgotten by the sky.

Skyscrapers climbed higher than ever before, towering buildings, no longer just rigid skyscrapers, curved and twisted, their smooth surfaces catching the light and reflecting it in dazzling patterns the electric blues and deep reds, also reflecting the buzz of life far below. The neon-clad streets were full of shadowed alleyways where the forgotten huddled, invisible in the blinding light of the future.

Beneath the towering structures and webs of roads, the lower levels of the city had become a maze countless building and lives. The once-grand avenues were now tunnels of steel and concrete, suffocated by the sheer weight of the city above.

They sat in silence, watching the city roll by for two long hours, the shimmering skyline gradually giving way to streets and roads as they drew nearer. By then, Grayson had put in his earbuds, the faint sound of music barely audible as he leaned back and rested his eyes. It wasn't long before his body went limp, his head slumping against the door, hair tousled in the breeze coming from the open window. He was breathing heavily, lost in sleep, his limbs slack with the deep rest.

Eloise finally tore her gaze from the city and found him like that—completely out of it. She stared at him for a moment, the rise and fall of his chest, the way his body had folded awkwardly in the seat. Her thoughts drifted toward the gun she knew he had hidden somewhere on him. If she really tried, she might be able to snake her hand between the small gap between the seat and his back. The gun had to be there. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it. The close space of the vehicle—if she could even call it that—wouldn't leave her much room to act. The moment he stirred, he'd have the upper hand again. She could picture it too clearly: her hand closing around the handle, and then the snap of his eyes opening.

That was only part of it, though. Most of her mind, 90% of it, was still spinning in disbelief at the fact they might actually be in the year 2235. The enormity of it pressed against her like a weight, making her feel as though she might implode from the inside out. How could any of this be real?

But even with her mind spinning in chaos, something else caught her attention. Grayson's foot shifted slightly, and his jacket, no longer pinned by his weight, shifted as well. In that brief moment, she caught a glimpse—just the tiniest sliver—of something metallic beneath it. The top of a camera. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know why she reacted the way she did, but her hand twitched instinctively, like she needed to cover it again. Maybe Grayson had been right—they were in more danger if they were seen. Or maybe, deep down, she felt like she should keep doing the things she wasn't supposed to.