Limbo

 

“The usual, Alex?” asked the bartender when a man in his young thirties took a seat at the bar counter.

“No, I think I’ll go a bit off the track tonight, Bill,” said Alex, checking his digital sports watch and gave a slight nod gesturing that he had enough time.

“Oh, what’s the occasion?” inquired Bill, the bartender.

“Nothing much, if you would really like one, I heard President Bush’s announcement today that we are going to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” said Alex, imitating the speech with a slight curve of the eyebrow.

“That actually calls for it, well, what’s in your mind?” asked Bill waving his hand towards a rack full of liquor bottles, rather flaunting it. Bill has always been a fan of his collection. He usually stacks the rare ones for some of his special customers and the rarest for himself.

“Surprise me,” said Alex with a sigh.

“I’m not quite sure you are in the mood for a surprise,” said a tall girl with black hair, wearing a little black dress which tried hard to touch her knees, but failed. She took a seat next to Alex at the counter.

“Well, what makes you think so?” asked Alex, showing some interest in his tone as he turned towards her.

“For one, you are in your work clothes, for two, it’s a Saturday and three…”

“Will you stop listing if I admit?” interrupted Alex with a sly smile.

“Oh, why won’t you let me have some fun? For a guy who works on a weekend, you seem to give up easy,” said the girl, returning the smile looking right at his brown eyes.

“Alex! Just the man I wanted to see, I’ll be getting off in an hour,” came in a voice from a corner interrupting their conversation. “You never called, thought you’d bail on me or something,” continued the voice as it walked towards Alex, and the girl put a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry, uh do I know you?” asked Alex to the girl who just walked in with a tray of glasses, stacked. Her outfit told him that she’s a waitress there and the badge on her shirt read her name, ‘Tressa’.

“Come on Alex, you got my number last night when we met here, and you said you’d call me tonight,” said Tressa, the waitress.

“Sorry, I think you are mistaking me for someone else,” said Alex making an uncomfortable look at the girl who was sitting next to him.

Tressa gave a sharp look at the other girl and back at Alex. “You are such a dick!” she yelled and stormed away to the corner again where she was serving a table.

“You must have a very bad memory, or you are playing your luck with me,” said the girl in black with a playful tone in her voice.

“No, I really don’t know who that was, trust me, it could be a prank for all I know,” said Alex turning to see his table having two drinks in shot glasses.

“Don’t worry, I’m not judging. She’s not your type anyway,” said the girl as she took one of the drinks and gulped it in one shot. “Woah, Bill, I’m really surprised, what was it?”

“Oh, that’s the Bruichladdich x4. Legend has it that three sips of it and you’re blind on the spot, and you’ll have to make do with your ears for the rest of your life,” said Bill.

“Well, I’ll take four of that,” said Alex who was suddenly feeling like he’s going to live forever.

“Oh, look at you Alex, ready to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond!” said the girl in black.

Suddenly, Alex remembered seeing the waitress Tressa in his office and as he jogged down his memory, he remembered that he had seen her at the grocery store earlier as well. It seemed like a familiar face to him at that moment.

Brushing those thoughts aside, Alex’s eyes opened again to see the girl next to him biting a piece of cherry with her front teeth.

“Sorry for failing to do a proper introduction, I’m Alex. I forgot to ask your name,” said Alex extending his hand for a shake.

“Ha ha, very funny,” said the girl sarcastically.

“No, really,” said Alex, now confused.

“I’m Cathy, I live next door? You asked me out today, remember?” said Cathy, the girl in black.

“Yes! Of course, I remember, Cathy. I was just kidding. The drink didn’t do anything to me at all,” lied Alex, still confused as to who Cathy was and why the waitress Tressa was starting at him, giving weird looks all night.

“You suck at your jokes, you know that?” said Cathy, smiling at him.

“Well, I was born this way,” said Alex as they both took another shot of the Bruichladdich x4.

Alex wasn’t quite aware of where he was after the second shot and he could barely stand. He excused himself to the men’s room and reached safely by taking at least five minutes for each step on the way.

He looked at himself in the mirror and with a sudden flash, he found himself on the road, running with a woman who was in her early thirties as well. She had a blonde hair just like his, wavy, but hers was touching her shoulders.

They both were in armored black suits with a gun in their hands. He suddenly turned and pointed the gun at a man in a green armored suit chasing behind them and shot. Instead of bullets, he saw two laser shots which were fired and the man in green dropped dead at once. Somehow, he exactly knew what he was doing. His adrenaline was on fire as he caught the girl by her hand and turned into another street to the right and he spotted a bunch of men in green and they started shooting right at them.

He kicked the trash can in front of him to take cover, crouched and ran as fast they could into a back alley. Just as he thought they were safe, a sniper shot right through his black armored left thigh guard. The bullet must have been stronger than his armor, it penetrated his flesh underneath and ricocheted off the wall. It was just above his knee and he couldn’t move his leg anymore, he swore in agony and closed his eyes for a second, he felt cold water splashed on his face as he saw his reflection again on the mirror in the men’s room.

The laser shots slowly faded into the techno music at the bar which was heavy on his head as he grabbed the sink with both his hands, lost balance and started panting and gasping for breath.

He had no clue what was happening to him. The only logical reason was that he had two shots of the deadly surprise Bruichladdich and he shouldn’t have ordered four. He felt as if he’d had enough and brought himself up to open the door and walk right out. He continued to the bar counter, but he was stopped in the middle by Cathy who pulled him on to the dance floor as people were losing their minds to the music.

He was not showing any interest as he moved his legs a bit totally out of rhythm with the music which was now tearing through his eardrums. Cathy slid her hands inside Alex’s suit feeling his chest while she pulled him closer to her body as she was swaying to the music.

Alex moved closer to her ears and said, “I’m leaving, Cathy.” But she couldn’t hear a word that he said and gave a sign with her hands asking him to come again. “I’m taking a leave,” he shouted in her ears and pointed at his watch, which still said he had a lot of time to spend.

“I’ll come with you,” said Cathy as they were neighbors and she really wanted to be with him.

Alex and Cathy took off the bar and Alex went in search of his car which was a silver Camry. As they were seated in the car, Cathy grabbed Alex’s hand as he placed it on the stick shift. Alex pumped the gas hard and they were on the road in no time. He was not feeling like himself.

“Bill, did you see Alex?” shouted Tressa over the loud music as she came to the bar counter to check on Alex as she lost him among the crowd.

“No, I think they left,” screamed Bill.

“Oh damn,” Tressa swore in a horrified voice, dropping the glass she was holding on the bar counter and ran for the exit.

Alex wasn’t sure where or how fast he was driving as he sped through multiple red lights and into a darker road, along the mountain side, which didn’t properly show up in the maps.

“Alex, I think you are going in the wrong way,” said Cathy in a worried voice, but Alex didn’t respond. He accelerated even more cruising in the deserted road which didn’t have any street lights or vehicles.

“Alex, look at the road, where are you going?” shouted Cathy, as she was scared for her life. “Alex, there’s a turn coming up!”

Alex didn’t bother but hit the pedal harder as his eyes were closing and opening in short intervals. He looked like was having a fit.

“Alex! Alex!” were the screams he heard as he felt a shooting pain just above his left knee and the car hit the divider with its speed and toppled and rolled over like a die on a casino table.

“Will! Wake up, it is time. We have to leave this god forbidden place,” said Bart, a middle-aged man with a crew cut and white hair.

Will woke up in terror and realized that he was safeand sound, at least at that moment. He’s been having this strange feeling that he’s going to die that day, he doesn’t get that feeling often in the field, at least not as soon as he woke up.

His tent was larger than the other camps in the area as it housed a few of the field weaponry, like the M14 battle rifles and the heavy ones like the M240B medium machine gun.

“Bart, what time is it?” asked Will as he started to suit up his armor for the ground troops.

“It is about to be 6AM, I’m not anticipating a strike today, but the general thinks that we should not take any risks at this point,” said Bart.

“Why do you think so?” inquired Will as he was strapping up his helmet.

“They say that a few surveillance drones have been spotted around this area. I don’t think they’ve mapped us yet, otherwise, we’d be dead by now, wouldn’t we?” said Bart with a shrug. “What’s been up with you? You have any trouble sleeping? I know, silly question to ask in the field.”

“Nothing, I’ve been having some crazy dreams lately. This one was extreme today, it felt so real, I died in a car crash and I didn’t have any control, that sharp pain in my knee,” said Will not finding the words to explain how he felt, and he touched his legs to check for any injuries but found none.

“You died in your dream, Will? Funny thing is, in a war field, it is always a possibility, I’m not a fool to deny it. But I’d wish at least the dreams should be different,” said Bart as he picked up his kit and threw the M9 pistol to Will, who checked the shells and locked it in his holster which he kept tied to his waist. “The only thing that matters in a war field, is not food, not love, not family, it is life, survival.”

The crew of the combat deployment in Afghanistan woke up that day to hear the news of a few surveillance drones from the Korean Army who were deployed in the same 10-mile radius. Maj. Gen. Rudy Jenkins was aware of this and ordered the troops to be up on their feet before the sunrise so that they can return to their station, which was half a day’s walk west from where they were monitoring.

The crew was accompanied by five paramedics who took care of the five divisions. “What are you going to do when you go home Bart?” asked Will as they were walking amongst the infantry carrying their weapons and camping essentials.

“If I go home,” corrected Bart. “I’ll first visit my old friend Marshall in the Scholz Garten and gulp a tankard of his best brew for old times’ sake.”

“Ah, you miss your pal. Why don’t you get married, Bart? Time for some kids in life, don’t you think?” asked Will.

“Men like us Will, we don’t fight because we hate what’s in front of us, but because we love what’s behind us. Family will make us think twice in the war field, and that’s confusion I can’t afford,” said Bart. “What about you? Why aren’t you getting married yet?”

“I am, actually. Once I reach home, Margaret will be waiting for me,” said Will as he asked for a bottle of water from Bart. As he handed it over, in a flash, a bullet punctured it, taking a part of his finger along.

“Bart! Get down!” screamed Will as the entire crew were taking sudden hits from a long distance. They were not able to figure out from where they were getting attacked as soldiers were being put down in every direction.

“Take cover!” shouted the General, running to save his troop.

It was raining bullets as soldiers were falling like dominoes, as Bart took another hit on his left shoulder trying to grab a shield.

“Will! Run!” screamed Bart asking Will to run, but he was standing there, with no cover or movement.

“Fio!” screamed the girl in black suit, taking hold of his hand and dragging him to take cover against the wall.

He was cold and managed to look at Nia’s eyes and behind her was another man in green suit with a gun pointed right at them. He knew that they were going to be ashes in few moments. He opened the door next to him and pushed Nia into it and entered the building after her.

“Nia, I can hold them off, run to the terrace and call for help,” said Fio as he placed a tiny device in the door lock and pressed a button. The device started glowing and expanded itself to cover the entire door.

“No, you can’t, Fio. Come with me, you are hurt, we have a better chance defending together,” said Nia as she put his arm around her shoulder and carried him up the stairs.

She carried him to the terrace with great struggle and made him sit against the water tank. She took a palm computer from her pocket and it scanned her eyes. The computer screen cracked with a sniper bullet as soon as she pressed the SOS button to send a distress signal to their rebel group. She threw the device and took cover next to Fio.

The rooftop door banged open as ten green suits entered and rounded them up before they could decide what’s next.

“Nia!” said Will as he looked at Bart.

Bart got hold of the handle, but before he had time to shield himself, another bullet went past him hitting Will on his chest. Bart couldn’t believe his eyes on what just happened. He might have lost his best friend in the field and even though he considered it a possibility and was aware of it, he wasn’t prepared for that. The moment was dreadful, and, in a reflex, he pulled Will aside holding his shoulders, screaming in agony as his own left shoulder was bleeding.

He dragged Will behind a tank and with his shield, he covered them from the front and screamed for help. “Will! Can you hear me? Will! Talk to me,” he said patting Will’s face hard, trying to wake him up but he was unconscious.

“Hey, we need someone here! Medic!” shouted Bart but no one came to the rescue. A paramedic was running by that side and he called for her. “Samantha! Will is hurt, he is unconscious.”

But Samantha didn’t turn up. “Samantha!” screamed Bart. But she hardly gave a glance at him. It was as if she wanted Will to die.

This was an open strike where they had nowhere to take shelter. Bart wanted to take Will, but he knows that he would also be dead soon, if he stayed. He checked Will’s breath and pulse one last time, but he couldn’t feel anything.

“Jerry,” called Professor Edwin as he thought Jerry wasn’t paying attention. “What do you think of time travel based on Einstein’s general relativity theory that we discussed?”

“I think it is possible, Professor, in theory,” said Jerry looking at the Professor even though he didn’t pay attention to a single word that he said.

“Jerry, what do you think we’ll discuss this over a coffee after the class?” said Professor Edwin.

Jerry was a thin, straight haired student in the University of Columbia studying his masters in Astrophysics and he’d not been feeling himself lately. Professor Edwin wasn’t the only person to notice this, especially that day and he wanted to have a conversation with him directly.

“What happened to you Jerry?” asked Professor Edwin as he set his coffee mug on the table and Jerry chose not to have anything except for a glass of water.

“Nothing, Professor, what’s wrong?” asked Jerry.

“Well, until last week you were enthusiastically discussing your model of a time traveling machine which uses curved space time to represent time as a circle instead of a straight line, and lately, you are not even walking in a straight line,” said Professor Edwin. “Anything you would like to talk about?”

For that, Jerry didn’t answer anything, and he showed some disinterest towards that topic. “Well, if you would want to say anything, feel free to visit my office,” said Professor Edwin as he left the table.

“Hey, would you mind if I take a seat?” said a young girl in her early twenties and blonde hair as she didn’t wait for a response and took the now vacant seat in Jerry’s table.

“Hi, Charity,” said Jerry absentmindedly.

“So, you do remember me,” said Charity taking a sip of her coffee.

“Of course, we are in the same class,” said Jerry.

“As long as you know it,” said Charity with a sigh. “I’ve been asking you for a coffee since 1960, and it had to happen this way.”

“Sorry, you’ve only had to wait two years,” said Jerry jokingly still looking at the table.

“No worries. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something lately. Are you free tonight for dinner? I hope you are not doing anything, I can book a table at Russo’s, it is Friday night, but I have a friend who is a waitress there,” said Charity.

“Sorry, Charity, my boyfriend will be waiting for me at home, we are planning to watch a movie tonight,” said Jerry cutting Charity short.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s okay,” said Charity as she finished her coffee in a gulp.

“I’d appreciate if you don’t tell anyone,” said Jerry without lifting his head.

“I won’t,” said Charity.

“I’ve been having these dreams lately, where I don’t feel like myself. I feel like I’ve been living two lives,” said Jerry. He wanted to talk about his feelings to someone for so long but somehow, he felt like talking to Charity about it instead of Professor Edwin.

“Dreams? What do you see in them?” asked Charity. She was strangely interested in this subject.

“It was futuristic, like something out of this world, something from a fantasy novel. Laser guns, people chasing me and a blank,” said Jerry looking at Charity as their eyes met.

“What was the last dream that you had?” asked Charity as her lips and voice trembled.

Jerry narrated the story where he was shot in his left knee and how he was not able to walk. “Finally, there was a rooftop and I’m with a girl and ten people in green suits, we were surrounded by them.”

“What happened after that?” asked Charity.

“I don’t know, that’s when everything goes blank,” said Jerry.

“Jerry, you should try and remember it,” urged Charity.

“I couldn’t, I tried many times,” said Jerry not wanting to try again.

“You should try harder Jerry, trust me, it will answer a lot of things,” said Charity as she touched Jerry’s hand.

Jerry’s body went numb and he fell face down on the table, unconscious. He felt a sharp pain in his face as he took a bloody punch from a guy in green suit. He was on the rooftop again.

“Are you going to tell me where it is, or do you want to say your last words now?” asked the guy in the green suit who had a dark thick skin underneath and a closely shaved head with a large black unruly beard.

“Do you want to tell us or watch your girlfriend die?” said another guy in a green suit who punched Nia so hard that she spit a tooth or two.

“What are we fighting for, you fool?” said Fio addressing the men in green. “Do you understand where we are right now? Do you realize that we have no water? Do you realize that we have no fresh air to breathe? Is this the life that you want for your kids? Is this the world that we are going to leave behind?”

“Yes, birdy, we are fools to be listening to you right now. Final offer, tell me where it is and your girlfriend gets to live,” said the guy in green again.

“This is our only chance to save all the lives in the world, we must go back in time. It is not complete yet, we have just built the prototype,” said Fio as a tear trickled down his eyes knowing that in a few minutes everything would be over and his entire life’s work will be in vain. It was a world filled with some people exercising dominance over the others. It was a cruel world filled with technology used for all the wrong purposes by the wrong people. Fio didn’t want to stay in this world.

“So, you do have it,” said the man in green placing his laser gun on Fio’s forehead, right between his eyes.

“Yes, I’d rather die than give it to you,” said Fio knowing that it’s time.

“Fio! No! Don’t do this,” said Nia as she was prolonging the time to reach for her pocket.

“Nia, I love you. I love you more than this world. Live. Live to fight another day, I’ll see you on the other side,” whispered Fio and he closed his eyes accepting his fate and he saw Nia reaching for her pocket for her laser gun.

Nia took something out of her pocket, but it was not her laser gun, but instead the prototype device that Fio had made to travel back in time. In a fraction of a second just before she heard the laser being shot out of the gun, she pressed the button on the device without setting any date and threw it on Fio and he vanished.

“Jerry! Wake up!” screamed Charity, but he didn’t. He started twitching and started bleeding from his nose.

“I need some help here! Somebody call 911!” shouted Charity on top of her voice and she held Jerry’s head on her lap and tried waking him up but he stopped twitching and his body rested.

“Gerhard, time to deliver the courier,” shouted his boss as Gerhard suddenly froze in the middle of the road.