Sustained Stories

“You just killed that man. He meant no harm to you and you killed him as he looked up at you.”

“He was a natural.”

“How are you so sure?” Gabriel protested.

“You’re welcome to go check inside his messenger bag and see for yourself. His sole intention was to detonate his bag and take as many lives with his own as he could. If you’re smart, you won’t waste you’re time. If you’re smart, you will stick with me. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that war is all around us.”

Gabriel was beginning to see the new method of warfare first hand. Just under twenty years ago America emerged as the sole superpower and began the mission codenamed “Freedom for All”, under the second Bush administration. Bush felt that the answer to world security was to provide all humans with their ‘god-given’ freedoms.

Dictators, communist governments, terrorist organizations, and religious extremists were vulnerable by the “Freedom for All” campaign. These groups knew they would either have their turn with war against America, or they would be overthrown by their own people, which demanded the freedoms. This caused enemy nations to begin to threaten America and allied nations with pressures of nuclear war. Trouble worsened when enemy nations united to confront America for being the sole superpower.

America took on many fundamentals from the Reagon administration to combat these nuclear threats, and when the first long range nuclear missiles were fired from within China towards Washington DC, the United States successfully intercepted them. The missiles were shot out of the air over the Atlantic, as predicted by Reagon himself. This marked the beginning of the third World War and a mass increase in undercover war tactics; the onslaught throughout the world of naturals. War was no longer fought by pushing buttons, but went back to the more personal form of war, ground soldiers, and naturals fighting for their cause. America remained resolute, freedom for all.

Alek glanced at Gabriel as she passed. “We have to leave.”

Alek opened the front door and peeked down the hall with a hand on her weapon. She put her bio-mask on as she looked back to Gabriel. After a short pause, Gabriel looked again to the street, it was empty. He looked to his bedroom as if he were to ignore everything that was happening and shut down for rest he long awaited. Instead, he engaged his bio-weapon mask and headed for the front door, giving way to Alek’s advice.

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Gabriel felt he was hallucinating when the door opened and a fine-looking woman stood before him. There was a brilliant glow surrounding the woman which attracted Gabriel and made him feel at ease. The glow was not natural. It was new and mystical to Gabriel’s eyes.

The woman wore tight hip hugging jeans, with a dual wielding pistol holster that sat above her waist on her right hand side and sunk to the level of her jeans pocket on the left. Her heeled boots encouraged her stature; she stood close to Gabriel’s height. Her tank top was black and worn tight to her body. She wore slight signs of makeup, but it was clear to Gabriel that wasn’t necessary. She was exceptionally fit and appeared to be trained as a soldier.

The woman smirked quietly at Gabriel and placed her hand over his hand that cradled his weapon. She spoke with composure “You won’t want to use this against me. I assure you are safe.”

She stepped into the room around Gabriel and eyed him as she passed. “It’s as the librarian said, you are ready.”

Gabriel stood staring at the woman, not out of lust, but with confusion and intent on getting more information about her, about the librarian, about what it was they wanted of him. He felt at ease with the woman, more so than his previous encounter with the librarian. He had many questions and he was expecting to get answers from the woman.

“My name is Aleksandra, call me Alek.” She paused as if waiting for a reply. There was none. “Come to the window.” She said as she tucked herself to the side of the living room window, peeking out over the street.

Gabriel moved to the other side of the window to look over the street below. About a dozen people were in the street. The people were brave as they traveled in the day light. They moved quickly and did not look around. From around the street corner another person appeared, different from the rest. It was a man in his twenties. He wore cargo shorts, a black t-shirt with a silver emblem on the front, and black sun glasses. He carried a messenger bag under his right arm. It was not his clothing that made him stick out. In fact, none of the other patrons were alarmed of him. He stuck out to Gabriel as he illuminated the same way Alek did, however, this man glowed in a shade of red.

“Gabriel, you now have the ability to see. The red glow is dangerous. Anything glowing red is a product of our enemies. He is a natural.” Alek spoke without taking her eyes off the glowing man. “They do not know you have the ability to see them. This is only one product of the librarian. We are hoping it will turn the tide of the war, and set our country and other countries free from harm.”

When Alek opened the window everything slowed to Gabriel. He saw the man in the street look up at the window being opened. Gabriel’s heart stopped, and his stomach tightened. He looked up at Alek just in time to see a shell flying at him from the flash of Alek’s pistol. An extremely loud bang rang in his ear and all noises became blurred. He looked to the street and saw the young man now sprawled on the ground with a steaming hole between the dead stare of his two eyes, splitting the black sunglasses in half.

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It was 12:42pm when Gabriel woke up. He woke to senses that were becoming natural to him, like robins chirping the morning air, sunlight beaming through a curtain, the scent of fresh outdoor air. However the senses he was becoming used to, were much different; the sounds of gun fire in the distance, the smell of mechanical metal and armed vehicle exhaust patrolling the streets, and sunlight that was too bright to turn a smiling face towards.

Gabriel looked around. He found himself on his lounge chair in his living room. His apartment door had been shut and locked. The locks were only able to be locked from within his apartment, but he knew he was left alone. Gabriel’s weapon and bio-weapon mask were left on the table to his side, along with a note.

He grabbed his weapon and bio-mask when his cell rang.

“Gabriel, have you been on the internet?”

It was Gabriel’s friend Eli. Eli and Gabriel worked together for many years pursuing online business ventures, some legal, some not so legal, but authority was not likely to monitor their actions with the war in full fledge. Eli had an ongoing predicament with falling prey to the mainstream media, which always did its best to stay balanced by not taking sides in the war, despite the apparent enemies and allies.

“Another unauthorized plane landed in an airport, east of Boston. They suspect there were at least one hundred fifty naturals on the plane.” Eli put out in fast tempo. “The plane is from Iran, if that means anything. A lockdown is in place again and they strongly advise against leaving home. Hope you weren’t planning on going anywhere.”

With that, the doorbell rang. “Eli, I have to go. I will call you later.” Gabriel hung up his cell without hesitation. It was the only way to stop conversation with Eli.

Gabriel stood to answer the door and fell back to his chair with a throb from his ankle. His leg was swollen and sore. He stood slower and was able to make his way to the door. He peered through the door peep, but as usual it was covered. With his right hand he went for his burst-shot pistol. Each lock on the door unlocked without intervention. The locks all sprang open as if by magic but keyed by a director. The door swung open, revealing the woman sent for him to meet.

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After waiting tensely for nearly twenty minutes, Gabriel could wait no longer. His first fear was to cross the street. He knew that if there was someone in his apartment, he would be seen crossing the street and approaching his home. He once more checked the door that he knelt below; still locked. Gabriel removed his mask, concealed his weapon beneath his coat, and took to the street with a shot confidence, but an act that showed no alarm. One, two, three, he counted his footsteps wondering if they were shorter or longer, slower or faster paced than his usual rate.

Gabriel made it across the street and stepped into his foyer, again engaging his mask and grasping his weapon. He entered his four digit pass code and the door popped open with a jolting click. He snuck inside and made his way to the stairs, weapon drawn and aimed to each passing corner, his mask giving way to each hushed but hurried exhale.

Gabriel’s finger lay idle beside the trigger. Gabriel rounded the corner as he came upon his floor. In turning the corner, he nearly let off a burst into his neighbor Anne, as she let out a gasp and flew into her apartment from the hallway.

“Anne” He whispered quickly.

It was too late, Anne’s fear lead her into her apartment quicker that Gabriel could call to stop her. He heard bolt after bolt push locked within her apartment as he passed.

Gabriel stood in front of his slightly ajar door, finger over the door peep; he popped the safety off on his weapon. He pushed the door open and slid into his dark living room, entering low and quickly. In the same motion, he was disarmed and found himself held back by two people, both extraordinarily strong.

They sat Gabriel into his lounge chair and each came to his front side with their weapons aimed to his temple. They wore all black, dull rugged clothing and bio-weapon masks under their black sunglasses and over black ski masks.

“Shit” Muffled Gabriel through his bio-weapon mask.

Gabriel’s focus shifted to his bedroom entrance as movement showed a figure coming into center.

“Welcome home, Gabriel.” The librarian grinned as he came out of the bedroom and knelt before him. “I’ve changed my mind about letting you make a decision that is too important. This will only hurt for a moment.”

Gabriel felt a stinging prick at his ankle and his vision blurred in seconds. He blinked and saw the librarian gently shaking the injection needle in the air just inches from his large steady grin. It was the same grin that accompanied the librarian’s bible earlier in the evening. It was the last vision that put Gabriel to sleep.

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Gabriel moved quickly to get himself home before daylight poured over the city. He needed rest, but knew it would be tough to calm down enough to get needed sleep. His mind wandered over the words the librarian ingrained into him. He made note of his surroundings the entire walk home, doing his best to uncover any possible followers.

Gabriel was deeply involved with the war during the first few years as it was broadly political; should we or should we not be battling such a violent war. He always felt the war was for a just cause and now that the war had evolved there were few left that politicized it, apart from the media. The politics ended when the people realized that world war was inevitable and the only end was a fight for freedom; a fight for victory.

The violent war was being fought throughout the world, including Gabriel’s homeland; there were few places in the world that were considered safe from war. Where there were battles of armies, air and sea, they were extremely hot and deadly. More dangerous however were the battles of militia, soldiers known as the naturals. These were fighters from both alliances that wore civilian clothes, infiltrated society, gathered information, with the sole purpose of killing to advance the war. The naturals were the reason the tides of the war turned hands so often.

If the librarian was not a religious preacher, Gabriel was convinced he was a natural or perhaps a recruiter. Nobody could be trusted, everybody carried a weapon, everybody carried a bio-weapon mask, and nearly everyone slept through the days and worked through the nights.

As Gabriel rounded the final corner to his home he glanced to his upstairs apartment. Gabriel’s living room windows were illuminated by his bedroom light that cast across his apartment. In a flash the light gave way to darkness and Gabriel stopped at the moment. He replayed what he had seen, questioning if it really happened. “I know that light was just on.”

Gabriel knelt into the crevice of a doorway across the street. He quickly engaged his bio-weapon mask and took hold of his fully-automatic, burst shot firearm.

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“How do you know me?” Gabriel started.

“Gabriel, I’m the librarian. There is so much more I know.” The librarian continued. “I know your stance on the war. I know how much you’ve followed the politics behind the war and that you have a desire to help in some way, so long as it would keep you safe.”

The librarian began to speak more quickly to do his best to keep Gabriel in his attention. “This is going to be a lot to grasp, Gabriel, and I don’t expect you to believe me.” The librarian paused, grasped the eyes of Gabriel intently as if to pull him closer. “I can organize history and separate the legend. I can provide you with abundance of knowledge. I can introduce you into the network of truth. For these reasons, I am the librarian. But more importantly, these tools can help you to help us win this war, without the destruction of our world as we know it; as in Revelations.”

The librarian swiped a bible as if from nowhere into both his hands, grinned and extended the book inches from Gabriel’s face. Gabriel could smell the large book that floated before him, held by the black gloved hands of the librarian.

“You don’t know me, and I didn’t come here for your testament or your poor attempt to drag me into your church.” He brushed aside the book along with the librarian and began for the stairs, tossing his empty coffee cup to the trash.

As Gabriel passed the librarian spoke to him. “This war will not be won through the church, Gabriel. The politics won’t allow it. You and I know that. When you’re ready to go in the right direction, then perhaps you’ll send yourself another appointment.”

With this, Gabriel gave one last glance to the librarian over his shoulder, but he was no longer to be seen.

Posted by sgim at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

The library was open at all hours and Gabriel was aware of this upon his visit. Despite his few visits to the library, he always felt he should spend more time there. The library gave Gabriel a feeling of opportunity, similar to how he would feel behind his computer on his couch, but more tangible. Maybe it was the smell of the thousands of books holding information right before his eyes and sometimes into his hands.

Gabriel passed by book after book, each isle a blur as he wondered how long he should be waiting. The library was quiet. He had passed only a few others on his way up the stairs to the fifth floor.

It was in the blur that Gabriel nearly stumbled directly into the man that stood before him.

“May I help you find what it is you’re looking for?”

“Well, I don’t think so.” Gabriel quickly replied, gathering his surroundings; fifth floor, two isles from the front of the building, adjacent to a closing elevator door. Gabriel had a skill for knowing his environment at all times. He thought he was just being watchful, but Gabriel had an uncanny ability to know his every surrounding as if needing to be ready to act. This time however, he was caught completely off guard by the man standing before him.

“My name is Paul, I’m the librarian. If you need to find anything, you may wish to find me first.” Paul said with self-confidence. ”I may not have answers for you, but I’m known for sending people in the right direction.”

“Maybe I’m just looking for myself.” Gabriel thought to himself.

“Gabriel, I can send you in the right direction.” Paul assured.

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