BETA - Project Avatar by Hays A.M.D

Author:Hays, A.M.D. [Hays, A.M.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DIADEMA PRESS LLC
Published: 2013-02-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Dee sat in the back of the tram, curled up in a ball in her wet clothes, and wept quietly for half an hour. The tram was overheated to the point of stuffiness, and she soon stopped shivering and relaxed a bit, soothed by the gentle lurching movement along the narrow tracks.

She woke to the sound of a familiar voice.

“What? What’s that?” She blinked a few times, confused by the bright lights along the ceiling of the tram’s yellow enamel interior. Her brain doggedly resisted waking up.

“Repeat,” Beta said. “Exit the tram at the next stop.”

When she stepped out into the night-lit street, the rain had stopped and the sky was a patchwork of starry darkness and low, swift-moving clouds. She was standing out in some suburb, still half asleep and almost completely disoriented. The Alps seemed closer now, and a waxing moon kept appearing and disappearing over the high peaks as the clouds scudded in front of it. The air was cold, and she began to shiver.

“Cross the street,” Beta advised her. “Advance one block north.”

She did as she was told, dragging her feet a bit. Never had she felt so emptied of free will.

The residents of this quiet neighborhood were apparently all tucked away in their homes, enjoying lingering dinners, reading, watching television, making love. She wondered what John was doing. Was he still waiting for her at the car rental station? Her clothes were still damp, and by the end of the block her teeth were chattering.

“I’m cold,” she told Beta.

Beta ignored her and said, “Turn left and advance fifty meters.”

Trudging slowly along the street, her mind went over the events of the last hour. How did UMBRA know she was meeting Ramsey? Could it possibly have been John that informed them? He was the only other person that knew about the meeting.

“Beta, did John call me?” she asked.

“No, John did not call you.”

She stopped in her tracks. Why hadn’t he called when she failed to turn up for their planned meeting at the rental station? The implications were too painful, so she forced herself to keep walking. It was so cold that just putting one step in front of the other took all her willpower. Following Beta’s instruction took her along a waist-high fence marking the edge of a Renault lot. She was moving away from the suburb’s main commercial strip, away from the streetlights and into the shadows of the large chestnut trees overarching a side street.

Beta said, “Cross the fence into the lot. Approach the nearest car. Try the door.”

Dee’s heart seemed to sag in her chest. “Oh, no, Beta,” she moaned. “I’m exhausted. Please, no more.”

“I don’t understand the command. Would you like to hear a menu?”

Dee felt her eyes begin to tear again. She hadn’t cried this much since breaking up with her college boyfriend. She looked up and down the sidewalk, but it was empty. She couldn’t just stand here in the freezing cold. But she couldn’t turn herself in, either, or call anyone for help.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.