Ruthless: Path of Conquest

As James thought the situation might be hopeless, a voice sounded from behind him.

“It’s alright, sonny,” the old woman said, her voice loud and reassuring. “I was just telling this nice young man that I would drop him off at his house on my way home.”

Tire-iron-guy visibly relaxed.

“Thank you,” he said, eyes at his feet.

“Are you sure?” James asked, turning to face her. The words were completely pro forma. He was still sweating, and it wasn’t just the heat. He couldn’t help thinking he’d dodged another metaphorical bullet.

The old woman made eye contact with James, and there was no fear in her expression, just quiet acceptance.

“I’m sure.”

She turned and stepped into the driver’s seat of her car, and then James heard the doors to her car unlock.

The man with the tire iron walked around and got into the front passenger seat, and they pulled away. James stood there, half-dazed, for almost a full minute before he realized he’d probably just missed his best chance at a ride home.

No, don’t worry about it, he thought. They just headed in the opposite direction from where I live, and who knows if it’s possible for all three of us to get to our homes before time runs out.

He checked the timer again. [00:49:56]

How the hell am I going to get home, though?! His head pounded as he had the thought, and he wondered if it was possible the pistol-whipping had given him a concussion. He didn’t know what the symptoms were.

He turned and looked back at the other cars that were still there, and he noticed that someone he didn’t recognize was watching him.

The stranger, a slim woman with soft features and mousy brown hair, stood staring at him as if he was a zoo animal.

He turned and waved awkwardly.

“Hi there,” he said.

“Hello! I saw what you did just now,” the woman said.

“Oh,” James said. He didn’t dare to hope, but was karma about to pay him an instant dividend?

“Are you a prosecutor?” she asked. “I feel like I recognize you.”

“I was,” he acknowledged. Where is this going?

“I knew it!” she said. “I recognized your voice.”

Oh god, who is this woman? James wondered. Does she have a grudge? How do I know her? Is she a defendant or a victim? He couldn’t place her face.

“Oh, you don’t remember me,” she said. “I guess you used to see a lot of people in court.”

James felt for a moment as if he ought to be worried.

“Yeah,” he said. He chuckled awkwardly. “You have me at a bit of a disadvantage.”

“Well, thank you for helping me. When I was in court, I might have looked a little different. I was using at the time. I think you saw me on a retail theft charge. Maybe you’d remember my name. Avery Daniels?”

James face-palmed. “Yes, I remember you. And yes, you looked completely different. I don’t want to be rude, but it’s really night and day. Wow! I guess rehab really worked out for you?”

She’s skinny now, but she looked half-starved when I saw her before. I was never entirely sure if I was helping the people who agreed to do rehab, James thought. The only way I knew if they were doing well was whether they showed up in court again.

“Yes,” she said, smiling. “Yes, it really did. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you. You and the Public Defender really helped me out. It’s nice to see you’re still, uh, fighting the good fight.” She gestured in the direction the old woman had driven off in.

“Yeah,” James said, sighing. “Well, you can’t win ‘em all, I guess. I hope that lady will be alright.”

“It sounded like she felt she could handle herself,” Avery said. “Where’s your car?” She looked around as if suddenly realizing James was near the edge of the gas station lot, with no vehicle nearby. “Do you need a ride?”

“Yes, please,” James said, nodding eagerly.

A few minutes later, they were moving down the same route James had driven earlier.

“So he pistol-whipped you?” Avery asked. Her voice drilled into the pain in James’s head, bringing the point home that he had indeed been struck with a small but heavy piece of metal.

“Well, it’s a crazy day for everyone, I guess,” James said. He’d only mentioned the previous incident to put her on her guard. He wasn’t looking for sympathy. He just wanted to prevent any further carjacking incidents from derailing his second ride home.

Lightning wasn’t going to strike twice and give him another friendly stranger, he was fairly certain.

As they drove, they passed a wreck on the side of the road. Fortunately, the car was completely in a ditch, so it didn’t block traffic, but James got a decent look at it as they passed.

Is that my car? Probably not. Surely he hadn’t been the only Honda Civic on the road that afternoon. But the color was the same. I wish I’d checked the license plate. He hadn’t seen the driver’s face, either, although there was definitely someone still in the car, hidden behind the driver’s side airbag.

It would be ironic if it was Jerry, James thought. Maybe I avoided an accident by getting delayed.

—

Avery’s old Beetle arrived in James’s apartment complex without further incident.

James thanked Avery for the ride, and she smiled and waved him off.

“Give your family my love,” she said.

James said that he would, but he had resolved that he wasn’t going to say anything to his family about what had happened. He didn’t want to worry Mina, not in this emergency situation when every minute counted.

He tried the door knob on the apartment, and to his surprise, it was unlocked. He went in, taking the stairs three at a time, ignoring the pounding in his head, wary of what he might find.

Mina was not at her usual daytime spot in her home office but was instead sitting on the sofa in the living room, wearing a light jacket over a maternity dress, a single pale hand resting on her very round stomach.

“I hope you don’t blame me for not standing,” she said gently in her lightly accented English. “I really am very happy to see you.”

Wordlessly, he rushed into her space and pulled her into his tight embrace. He let out a long breath, and a shaky smile overtook his face.

“Mm,” she sighed. “I love your strong arms holding me.”

Immediately he pulled away against her resistance and became serious again. There simply wasn’t enough time.

“How are you?” he asked. “How’s the baby? Is Yulia here or still at school?” He rested a hand on her pregnant belly as he spoke, his tone urgent.

“I am doing fine, skapi. Please don’t worry about me and the baby right now, we’re okay. As for Yulia, she just got home, and she’s in her room changing. The school had the decency to put the kids on their buses before they dismissed early for the day.”

“Thank goodness,” James said. The school wasn’t far, but he wasn’t eager to try making that distance on foot in the time remaining. He dropped onto the sofa beside her, tension draining from his body.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Me?” James said.

She arched an eyebrow, and James realized he probably looked like a mess.

“I’m fine, I just—” He shook his head and smiled again. “Just finished moving heaven and Earth to make sure I got here in time. Maybe I’ll tell you about it some other day.”

“What do you think all this means?” Mina asked. She had said she was fine too, but James could hear worry in her voice.

“I don’t know,” he said frankly. “I just have theories.”

“What kinds of theories?”

“They’re really dumb and basic. It’s not like I know anything you don’t.”

“Try me. I want to see if your dumb theories are as silly as the ones I came up with.”

“I guess that disclaimer gives me some cover.” He smiled. “It has to be either mass hallucination, a delusion for just me that has my imagination of other people in it, or there’s a real world of magic or science out there so advanced that we can’t understand it. So advanced that it makes no difference if it’s magic or science. I mean, if alchemy had been a real, effective thing back in the Middle Ages, that would be the science now—”

“I think your second theory is a bit insulting, though,” Mina interrupted, cutting him off before he could spiral down a rabbit hole.

“Insulting how?”

She touched the tip of one long, dark red fingernail to his lips.

“Do you really think you could imagine out everything I would be doing and saying in this situation? Let alone everyone else? Because that would have to be true for this all to just be a delusion—just your delusion.”

“I don’t know—I guess not.”

“Well, don’t guess. I know. I’m too complex for you!” Her voice had a teasing edge now. Any hint of annoyance, he knew, had just been her playing. That was a bad habit of hers, so he never knew for sure if she was serious the first time she said something.

The first time she’d suggested they try for a baby, he had taken it as a joke. After a couple of more hints with no reaction, she had taken more initiative, to mutually satisfying results.

“Then I guess we’re both crazy, or this is totally real,” he murmured. He leaned back on the sofa and rested his head. This was already turning out to be a long day.

After a minute or two of quiet, there was a sound of movement in a corner of the apartment, and James opened his eyes. He would have to find his second wind sooner rather than later. The three of them needed a plan now, before they were yanked into Orientation.

The door to Yulia’s room creaked open, and as he looked over, James saw she was joining them. Sometimes she seemed reluctant to bother them when James and Mina were in the middle of talking, but this time, she had only waited for a lull in the conversation before she stepped out. A sign that she understood the situation was urgent.

“It’s good that you’re here,” he said. “It’s time for a family meeting.”

Yulia was Mina’s fifteen-year-old youngest sister, and James and Mina had adopted her after Mina and Yulia’s mother died, so technically she was James’s oldest child–and would be the new baby’s big sister as well as its aunt once the child came in two months or so. Yulia was similar to her older sister in appearance, almost a smaller version of the pale, long-haired brunette.

Yulia looked a little nervous at the prospect of a sudden meeting–the last one had been about setting down ground rules for hanging out with boys–but she quietly settled into a chair across from James and Mina.

As he thought about what to say, James felt anxious himself. Yulia was all of five foot two inches and ninety pounds soaking wet, and while Mina would ordinarily be somewhat more imposing at five foot six inches, she was now heavily pregnant. The advent of the System had not found them at a good place in terms of readiness to face physical danger.

“Has either of you done anything to prepare for the Orientation that the System mentioned in its messages?” he began.

“The System is the voice that talks in our minds, sis?” Yulia asked. Her English was imperfect, as both she and Mina were Bulgarian by birth. Mina had spent much longer learning English and had always been the smartest of the four sisters that made up their family, as well as the firstborn. Mina spoke English like a native already, while Yulia was much less secure in her proficiency.

Mina nodded. “That’s right, Yulia.” Turning to her husband: “We haven’t done much, James. I didn’t know if there was much to do. I grabbed our emergency bags–” she pointed to three backpacks sitting in the corner of the room–“and I’m packing heat.” She patted her left shoulder, indicating that there, under her jacket, was where her gun was holstered.

“Well, I guess that’s just about the best we can do,” he said. “We have no idea what to expect, except that it’s dangerous. Where’s my gun, by the way?”

“Packed it in your bag, don’t worry.” Mina smiled. This was a role she knew well and enjoyed–making sure the family was prepared. She had always been more of a planner than James, and it had been her idea for James to buy, and the family to practice with, the two firearms. The pleasure of being well prepared almost managed to wash out the fact that it wasn’t a picnic they were getting ready for, but a delve into the great unknown of the universe.

James dove into his bag, retrieved his gun, and handed it to Yulia.

Mina frowned. “Are you sure about that, James? Yulia hasn’t practiced with them nearly as much as we have. You’ll be defenseless, and she might not be able to use it under pressure.”

“It’s just for now,” he said. “I’m giving it to her in case something happens when the countdown finishes, and we get separated. We should put more food in the bags than we typically have, too. And some of our silver coins. We have no way of knowing if whatever is happening will take away what we have on us, and we’ll show up somewhere naked, but we might as well be as prepared as possible for as many different possibilities as possible.”

“Well, the silver is packed,” Mina said. “I figured that should be in the emergency bags months ago, so it’s been there.”

After she said this, James grabbed a folding knife for himself and put it in his pocket, then gave his other folding knife to Mina. He also distributed three sharp kitchen knives to keep in their bags as backup weapons in case something disarmed them.

“How about food?” Mina asked.

James first grabbed a half dozen cans of tuna from the pantry, then looked inside the refrigerator and noticed it wasn’t cool. He turned to look at the stovetop clock, which was blank. The power’s out. He wondered how long the electricity had been gone.

When he asked, Yulia confirmed that by the time her bus left school, around fifteen minutes before he got home, the power had been out there too. The power is probably out at the firm now, too. Not that it mattered at this point. James’s coworkers were on their own.

As he had that thought, the ground began to shake.

[Ten of your minutes remain!]