StarGaze

Tunnels

As Thomas was going forward more and more through the portal, the light became tenser and tenser. And then he saw the memory again.

“Yeah yeah, don’t act smart. Look where your smart boss ended up. Sit!” Thomas said and put the gun on the table.

“You hide behind that wall of bitterness because you don’t want anyone to see your insecurities.” The girl said.

“I don’t think I ordered an astrologer. Just give me some information that I can use.” Thomas said, irritated.

“Look, you're not doing me a favor by extracting information. If you want me to listen to you, then you have to listen to me also.”

“How about I slit your throat and solve both our problems?”

“No one in this city is afraid to die.”

“Didn’t exactly look like it when you stepped out of the cupboard.”

“Whatever dude, I won’t explain myself to a drunkard.”

An awkward silence occupies the air for some time. Thomas drinks another two shots and the maid watches him in awe.

“I don’t think this is the proper time to speak to you. I’ll be here in the morning.” The girl finally said and left. Thomas wanted to stop her but he felt too sleepy to say anything.

The doorbell interrupted Thomas’ profound sleep. It took him some time to realize where he was. And when he did, he reached for his gun and slowly walked to the door.

“Who is it?” he asked without opening and instantly changed his position to dodge any sudden gunshots.

“It’s me. I hope you remember me.” the maid replied.

Thomas questioned her for a while to avoid any unpleasant surprises. After he was convinced that it was the maid, he slowly opened the door. He observed her up and down and his gaze stopped at her hips. When he continued to stare for a while, she became uneasy.

“This is not a very nice way to flirt.” She said nervously.

“Take out the gun and put it on the table,” Thomas said, still looking at her ass.

The maid was surprised and impressed at the same time. She took out the gun and went on to drop it at the ordered position.

“Slowly…” Thomas said cautiously.

“My name is Amanda by the way.” She said after completing the task.

“Whatever. Why do you have a gun on you?” Thomas said lightly.

“Everyone in this city has a gun. That’s why they don’t check you at the hotel door.” Amanda said, smiling.

Thomas didn’t reply. He went on to pour some water into a glass and sat down on the couch.

“You have something to tell me?” Thomas asked.

“What do I get in return?” Amanda asked.

“I won’t kill you right now,” Thomas said, c*****g his gun.

“Then I guess you will put me in your ‘time prison’,” Amanda said sarcastically.

“I only kill bad people. So as long as you aren’t one of them, you're safe. Now sit the f**k down because I don’t like to play games.” Thomas said, irritated.

Thomas was feeling these weird voices inside of him as soon as he entered this city. He wasn’t much of a drunkard but he was consuming more and more alcohol every day. Mood swings joined the party and he was a complete mess now. His instincts were screaming that something was wrong. But a major part of his training was a deception; so Amanda didn’t know anything. She even had no idea that Thomas didn’t remember a thing about last night. But he knew that if he invited her, she is probably vital for the mission.

“So, as a part of our deal, you tell me who you are,” Amanda said, sitting on the couch.

“I am not allowed to disclose anything to you,” Thomas said proudly.

“Neither am I,” Amanda replied plainly.

This was followed by silence. Thomas was convinced that Amanda was a very tough nut to c***k. He gave it a thought and realized that he didn’t have much of a choice. Amanda held all the cards, and the only smart way was to speak little and listen more.

“What do you want to know?” Thomas said, clearing his throat.

“Everything,” Amanda said, her eyes shining.

“There isn’t much to tell. Ask me and I’ll answer.” Thomas said.

“Okay, but know this. I can always spot a lie. And if I know that you're lying, there is no chance in hell that you will kill him.”

Thomas didn’t answer. He simply poured vodka into his glass.

“Okay. So where are you from?” Amanda said.

“I don’t know,” Thomas said, sipping the poison in his glass.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Amanda said. This wasn’t exactly the answer she expected.

“They wipe our memory as soon as we sign up.”

“Who do you work for?”

Thomas hesitated but poured down the question with a sip of alcohol. He leaned back and drew a long breath.

“About five years ago, the crime was in its golden age. Syndicates like the mafia and yakuza ruled the world. The governments were helpless because the syndicates had the police in their pockets and hence they got the wind before any special agency took them down. Just when the terrorists started to take over countries, a breakthrough discovery was made in the international fraternity of physicists. They found a way to manipulate time and treat it as an object instead of a dimension. They were smart enough to keep it a secret and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The project was taken over by the governments and patriots were recruited to work in a special force. This force aimed to take out terrorist organizations and return power to the people. It took them two years to figure out to use the time to their advantage. After all, time travel is very tricky and it is easy to get lost in the moment. They discovered that time travel is itself a form of teleportation. According to string theory, several parallel universes exist with our own, some of which are ahead of us in time, whereas some are lagging. Time travel is getting teleported to those worlds. The only limitation is that we can only travel to worlds with a time difference of some years and sometimes decades. The agency was named white feather, after the symbol of peace. I work for the white feather, from the time when there were just ten of us in the force to this day when there are a thousand to support us. We cleared the world and took out most of the gangs, except the underground ones. Some time ago, we had the news that a syndicate was forming right under our noses. So we had to look into it. Now that I’m here, I must say this is a very smooth organization, hence very dangerous for the integrity of this country. So I’m going to kill the leader and anyone who comes in my way.” Thomas said.

Amanda’s brain wasn’t able to absorb all this information and refused to respond. She just looked at Thomas, flabbergasted.

“An…and how did you manage to wipe all these gangs in such a short amount of time,” she asked at last.

“Look at it this way- this is like a trade of favors between parallel worlds. We are living in 2023 right now, but one of the parallel earth is living in 2019, 2018, or maybe the 1920s. Similarly, many of them would be living in 2029 or 2030s. Traveling to the earth which is close to our timeline is easy but to the ones which are very ahead or behind us is not possible right now because of the limitations of our pieces of equipment. When one of the agents travels to another earth which is ten years behind him and takes out a gang, this means that some agent on a planet ahead in time will travel and take down a gang in his world. It’s logical because the pieces of equipment of a syndicate in the past are no match for us. They are still using Thompsons and we have carbine rifles. Similarly, the agent coming from the future easily eradicates our gangs because their tech is way too advanced. They can’t just give their tech to us because then it can fall into the wrong hands. It’s all logical. Low risk, high returns. It’s a simple deal with different worlds. This means that with enough agents, we can take out all the gangs in the world in a single day.” Thomas tried to explain in as few words as possible.

“Interesting; how old are you?” Amanda asked.

“One hundred and seventy-five years old. The funny thing is that when you travel to other worlds, your age in the normal world freezes until you get back. So in a way, I have more experience than any man who ever lived.”

“I hope the old man’s still got some fight left in him, huh?” Amanda said.

“You bet,” Thomas said proudly.

“Good, because you're going to need it.” Amanda smiled.

“Come on now, tell me everything about this shithole and the crook who rules it,” Thomas said.

“This place is not safe. The walls have cameras. Walk with me and I’ll tell you.” Amanda said. She realized something and quickly but cautiously unfolded her sleeves to hide the small Swastika sign on her left hand. Thomas was busy lighting a cigar so he didn’t notice her.

Amanda took a sick leave and accompanied Thomas on a road trip across the city. The hotel had provided Thomas with a car to travel. He was very happy but Amanda was angry.

“Are you stupid or what? I told you we can’t trust the hotel. Nevertheless, you brought their car?” she said in sign language.

Thomas was an assassin, not a spy. He didn’t know sign language. So he just went with some random gestures before pulling out the middle finger. Amanda didn’t understand the sarcasm and tried to make something out of his gestures. It was only when Thomas stopped the car in the market when he told her that he didn’t know the sign.

“What?! How could you possibly be good at your job then?” Amanda cried.

“My job is to kill people, not interrogate them.” Thomas made a quick reversal.

“A hundred and seventy-five years of age and you don’t even know sign language. You're a f*****g moron, you know that?” Amanda said in disgust.

“I’ve heard that. Anyway, I’m not here to impress you. You better start throwing out some useful words from that mouth or you will need to use signs for the rest of your life in this shithole.” Thomas said cruelly.

Amanda knew that the time of playing games was over. If she didn’t tell him what he needs, he will surely do what he says. After all, no police can catch a time traveler.

Thomas opened his eyes and he was in a dark room. He looked around and suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around in shock and saw Raghav stumble around. His eyes were white and he was visibly into a different world.

Thomas listened on as Raghav mumbled the tale of his first meeting with the only woman he ever loved.

A Molotov prevents the entry of any more assassins inside the gate. The woman continues to close in on me. If I’m going to die, I won’t die without a fight. I slide against the wall and try to stand straight. Another comes to her side but is dropped by an arrow between the eyes and falls dramatically. She pounces on me and I reflexively dodge the attack by sliding my body to the right. But my leg gives up and I kiss the dust again. A small cry of joy is heard almost instantaneously. A moment later, I am being ridden by a seventeen-year-old. My body freezes and my hands become limp as I see two more coming at me.

But what do you know? Miracles happen. The bonies are greeted by a pair of knives. He slits the throat of one while greeting the other with a dropkick. This raises my strength too and I feel my hands recovering. The girl’s face is just four inches from my neck when I block her mouth with my blade. It cuts through the cheeks and separates the upper jaw from the lower one. She hardly notices. I roll over to ride her chest and punch her face until her skull reduces from three dimensions to two dimensions. Didn’t turn out as expected, did it b***h? Rishabh is also finished by this time and closes the gate.

“What would you do without me?” he says while smiling.

“You know I had it under control,” I said, still shaking from the near-death experience. He smiles mysteriously at this, “Of course you did.”

Being a hero always gets you into trouble. Life has always tried to teach me this lesson, but I guess I’m just a good person after all. In this case, I ended up getting my leg broken and three more mouths to feed.

I was mumbling about this when I heard a knock on the classroom door that I called my office. A young, innocent-looking and somewhat beautiful girl emerged from the shadows. She was no more than twenty-five, had clear white skin, blond hair, attractive greenish-blue eyes, and a typical Australian accent. From my experience, I could tell that those eyes had seen things that a normal person cannot possibly imagine.

“What?” I said, somewhat irritated and intimidated by her smile. I hate it when people smile without any absolute reason.

“Hey, I’m Emily.” She said, still smiling.

“So?” I wasn’t in quite the mood for small talk.

“I heard that your leg was broken and thought maybe I could help if you would let me.” She said, hesitantly.

“What are you a doctor or something?” I don’t know why I tried to insult her.

Well, it turned out that she was indeed a doctor and I didn’t have a fracture, after all, only a sprain. I was told to rest for a while and given some painkillers which Rishabh always carried for himself.

“What’s that? Were you bitten?” she asks, pointing at the scars on my chest.

“Of course not, are you dumb or what?” I thought. But keeping in mind her help, I simply nodded.

“How’d you get it then?” The curiosity in her eyes made the greenish color shine like a cat.

“I used to be a street fighter and was pretty good at it. Mostly the opponents were connected to a local gangster. When I beat them in the ring, the score was settled after the match.” I said after letting out a cold sigh.

“Why didn’t you quit?” She asked.

“You wouldn’t get it,” I said, turning away to look out of the window.

We were interrupted by Rishabh who came in with a worried look. He looked at me for a moment and signaled the girl to give us a moment. She nodded and went away whistling. Rishabh closed the door behind her and turned to me.

“How are you?” He finally broke the silence.

“I’ll live,” I said.

He grinned for a moment. Then he turned away to look through the window at the clear sky.

“You know we can’t stay here anymore. There are already more than fifty of them at our gate and increasing. It’s only a matter of time before they get past the gate or over the wall.” His face showed disappointment at the idea of us having to leave the place that provided us with safety for so long. He was having the worst day of his life. Dead brother, injured partner, and compromised safe house were not exactly his idea of a good day.

“I know. The good news is that my leg’s not broken and the bad news is that I need rest.” I said as I closely watched his emotions changing. He looked at me with delight.

“Would that be a problem?” he asked, smiling.

“Not at all.” I smiled back.

He nodded and signaled me to come with him.

I was greeted with a cheer, only by the tourist party. For my group, there was nothing courageous in fighting forty dead bodies alone and still win. They were even angry at me for getting injured.

“We owe you our life mate, you are a real hero.” The old man said.

“Yeah, must have taken a lot of courage to get that leg broken.” Himanshu taunted.

His sarcasm is always aimed to hurt me, but I end up laughing. This burns him up even more than a reversal. But I didn’t laugh this time. And this made him serious.

“When?” He asks.

“Tonight might be the best shot we have in getting out,” Rishabh says, looking at my leg, thinking about my chances of being eaten in the first twenty steps.

“But he can’t even walk properly, how will he run?” Said the younger girl named Hope.

“Then I guess we’ll need a plan,” Rishabh said, still staring at my leg, waiting for a miracle to happen.

“Get some rest and gather back here at four o’clock sharp,” I announce.

Twenty minutes later, I’m on the roof with Rishabh, watching the city I once called home.

“Will this ever end?” I say to myself but an answer comes from Rishabh.

“I don’t know, but I have to admit that I like this freedom. I mean I could kill you right now and have nobody to answer to. No police, no courts, and of course, no LAW.” He says with a smile.

I can’t say that I don’t agree. In fact, I couldn’t agree less. If none of this had happened, I would still be beating up goons and ending up beaten myself. This pandemic has given my fury a purpose and given me a purpose to live. Most of all, it has given me friends I can trust with my life.

Suddenly, I hear a crackle on the radio. I and Rishabh look at each other with astonishment as the prime minister’s voice pours through our ears into our souls, accompanied by periodic distortions.

“This message is to all the survivors of the pandemic. We know that you are scared and worried about the future. All attempts for a vaccine have been unsuccessful. We now have no choice but to construct temporary relief camps in all major cities and a permanent camp in Ladakh. The army and government are doing everything that can be done to ensure your safety. May God helps you.” This was followed by a list of relief camps across the country. Ajmer was the closest city with a temporary relief camp.

Now was the time for a plan. We decided that three of us will be carriers for food and water, three will be killers and I will be useless. We observed the situation of the streets from the roof. We both agreed that the east side looked pretty clear. But there was absolutely possible that we would be seen getting off the east wall by the degenerates on the north side.

“So the girls and Mandeep will be carriers. Himanshu and I will be killers. You will be the central backup, just in case.” He says with a bit of uncertainty.

“What about the old man?” I inquire,” You think he can fight?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve seen a lot of fighters and he is not one of them.” He says proudly.

“All right, it’s time,” I say and start walking down the stairs. Rishabh follows, somewhat offended for me not noticing his expert judgment.

Everyone is already there when we reach the discussion room. I’m starting to notice the way Emily looks at me and it makes me feel uneasy and unfocused, the only two things I hate more than bonies.

So the grand plan is that we take the highway and search for a working car in the way, stay low during the day and start at night. Everybody had been given their roles except the old man. I must say that he didn’t look much of a fighter to me either. Fat body, scared-looking face, and a fast, unbalanced pace. His eyes did have a strange thrill, like that of a predator. So I was equally surprised when he asked if we had a pair of knives.

“Not much of a fighter huh?” I smiled at Rishabh. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"AahSSSSSS!!" Raghav screamed as he fell, stopped in the way by Thomas.

"You are all right, this was all just a nightmare," Thomas said and hugged the partner of his body.

After all the tears subsided which were shed in memory of the first meeting with the lovers, the dual Berettas were ready to step out of the portal and face whatever reality awaited them.

"Bruh, what just happened?" Raghav asked, wiping his face.

"I don't know, but the mind is a f****d up place," Thomas said, contemplating what just happened.

It was just a side effect of them staying inside their brain too long and surfing through memories. After a while, the body takes over and shows you uncontrollable railroads leading to depression. Anyway...