Project Azrael

Chapter 4

As the car sped down the path, each one of us sat there in silence as if taking all of it in. The adrenaline rush had drained us out. The first thing I noticed was that it was cold. I believe the bright lights they had made could provide the light almost equivalent to sunlight but not nearly as much heat. This 'world' was quite a replica I must accept.

The way they had made the ground, there was dust and dirt and plants and trees along the road.Guess Mr. Stone wasn't exaggerating when he said it was years of work for world's best scientists. But then if he could get a world made and run it single-handedly ,according to my knowledge, what difference was there between him and God?

I was lost in thought when the seat beside me sunk with weight. I looked up to see Sam smiling at me.

'Hey'
'Hey'
'I know it's a bit of a shock... May even be too much to take in all at once. But stop worrying Conn, I swear I could almost see white hair spouting out that gorgeous head of yours. If I knew surprising you with this was going to make you lose some years of life, I would have told you before.'

' Are you sure about that Sam? I think you should've just started from home. Why did Ray not know about any of this?'

Ray must've caught his name as he meekly looked up at us talking, sadness swirling in his sea blue eyes. He tried to make a bad attempt at sending me a reassuring smile and turned to look at Ty.

' Don't sound so angry. You know how it is between dad and Ray. I tried to talk to daddy but he thought that Ray wasn't mature enough to handle the news let alone keep it a secret. Turns out he was right and i was wrong again. Just look at him Conn, does he look okay to you.'

' I'm not angry at anyone Sam. And I know him, he is anything but weak. As for about now.... We all are trying to take in the mountain load of information we have just been bombarded with, so please give us some space.'

Slowly her red lips drew into a pout as I spoke and then she got up and went back to her place. Ty and Ray were now sitting together talking in low tones. I decided to stay back and let them talk.

By now we had come out of the empty space into a more habitable one. There were houses on the side of the road. It seemed like we had just entered a city. The houses had flowers and plants growing on their walls..... Which surprisingly looked beautiful. The houses were colourful one storey buildings, fit for a whole family.

The city seemed very well planned. There were these family houses in one part and in some other pockets you could see apartments for those who were single. Max tried to explain as much as possible as he drove down the street.

We were approaching the heart of the city where the townhall was. This was the first time after coming down here I had seen normal civilians. This part of town was quite happening. There were about 12-13 people around the place. I don't know what I was expecting but I did not expect to see them dressed just like us. I think I had seen some of them before.

'Alright guys... We're almost there. Sir has specially arranged a bigger house for you all to stay in together. It is right in the heart of the city so you can easily explore as much as you want.

The townhall is very close to your place, check that out if you want or maybe talk to people around. Your wish.' Max went on as we skidded to a stop in front of a two storey house. It was ofcourse nowhere close to the Ray's mansion but it was the most posh house in this place.
'You three go ahead, explore the new house, I'll go drop Samantha off. There is a phone inside, call at 001 of you need any help.'
We three were out of the car walking towards the door as soon as the car had stopped, barely listening to what Max was saying.

The house was as breathtaking  on the inside as it was outside. It was fully done up with all the furniture, snacks, clothes, everything in place. There was even a pool table in the house.
' Wow what a surprise my 'family' has given me.' Ray said bitterly.

' Yo dude seriously...I wish my dad was this rich....or well, alive. You must be so spoilt man.' Ty was looking around with his baby blue eyes wide with wonder.

'Ray, it is not like that. You know Mr. Stone is a very secretive man, being a self made billionaire does that to you. As for what he said.... That was utter bullshit. We know you better than anyone else, you are anything but a disappointment. Your dad is just harsh on you because he wants you to be the best version of yourself. As absolutely twisted and crazy as this all maybe... He has created a new world for your sake.'

'Hmmmm. I would love to believe that Conn. But he is selfish. I'm his son I know him. I know he has been your idol ever since we were children and he has inspired you and a whole generation of youngsters. But I have grown up seeing the shadows behind all that glitter.'

' Guys, can we please go freshen up. I'm dying in here. I need to eat something asap. As far as your dad is concerned.... He hasn't done anything particularly bad except for basically defy and challenge all gods and bring us here by force and downgrade you. If he pulls anymore crap Ray, I'm sorry brother, but I will break his nose.' Tyler piped in.

We couldn't help but laugh. 'Okay okay guess he's right. Let's freshen up and take some rest. Im telling you guys being dragged or knocked out drains a lot of energy.'

This was the first time all of us were laughing in hours. It seemed such a long time ago when we were sitting in the room playing, unaware of all of this. But even after everything, just laughing like this gave me hope that everything was going to be alright. I had my guys. We would be fine till we are together.

After we had lunch....Ray and Tyler just dropped dead in their beds. I tried to catch some sleep as well, but I simply couldn't. My brain was still working too fast to fall asleep. So, three house tours later, I decided to take Max's advice and go out.

I had pulled a black sweatshirt on that I had found in the closet due to the chill. The streets seemed a little less busy now. I could hear the crunching of gravel as I walked. I had just reached the next gate when I bumped into someone coming out of it. ' Oh I'm so sorry.' I looked up to see a pretty blonde guiltily smiling at me. 'Its okay. Even I should've looked where I was going. Its just that we are new here, so I'm still trying to figure out things.'

'You're new huh. Welcome to our city. Wait, are you the president's son. Oh crapppppppp. I just walked face first into the president's son's chest. I'm so embarrassing. Oh my god!' She blabbered, her deep brown eyes growing panicky every passing second.

'Hey hey hey. Stop. I'm not his son. That's Raymond, my best friend. I'm Connor. So I'm assuming you are our new neighbour.'

'Shit. I'm so sorry for assuming stuff. Please don't mind my language right now. I'm such a mess. Let's just do this again.'
She turned around and walked back into the gate and then strutted out again.

' Hey new neighbour. I'm Claire. I have just shifted here three weeks ago with my grandma. I'm actually a very sweet and helping person but I usually get flustered easily and make a mess. But I'm also really good at fixing that mess....as you must be seeing right now.' she ended with a wink and extended her hand.

'Nice to meet you new neighbour.' I replied shaking her hand. Both of us were grinning like fools.