Evacuation
Isfahan - March 28
The crowds streaming out of Isfahan had not thinned in a week. Despite the authorities’ best efforts to organize things, things had quickly spiraled out of control. Wilhelmina should’ve seen that one coming. What did they expect when attempting to evacuate fifteen million people in a week? Thankfully there were no stampedes or mass panic, and they all knew where to go. The Artesh had set up a primary camp outside the town of Kuhpayeh in the east, though those with the means would travel farther to cities like Tehran in the north and Shiraz in the south. It wouldn’t mean much if Isfahan fell, but at least they’d be out of the direct line of fire. Wilhelmina didn’t want their deaths on her conscience. From her balcony, she continued watching the traffic jams—each car stuffed full with valuables, special rugs, and even some light furniture—inch past the palace. Hundreds had abandoned their cars to try their luck on foot, their hands full of luggage, pets, and small children. Buses, taxis, and trucks honked loudly, and where Wilhelmina could see through their windows she saw they were fully packed with more evacuees. Behind her, she heard the attendants running through the hallways with heavy boxes—full of artwork historical artifacts—in their hands. After what happened in Scandinavia, India, Russia, and Livonia, they had to protect Persia’s cultural heritage as much as its people.
She went back inside. “Kids, are you ready to—oh.”
She spotted the two kids cuddling on one of the couches. Friedrich had his head on Ilyana’s shoulder, and the girl had protectively wrapped her arms around him like he was a large plushie. They had dozed off, half-packed suitcases scatterd around them. Wilhelmina cleared her throat, instantly waking them up. Their faces turned as red as beets, and they rocketed away in opposite directions.
“Ew, Ricky!”
“Sorry, Grandma!”
Wilhelmina just laughed. “Looks like you two were very comfortable.”
“Was not!”
“I wasn’t!”
Wilhelmina continued smiling.
Did Franz and I ever do that? I don’t remember. Even if we did, it probably wasn’t as cute. I think he was scared of my mom. And the paparazzi. And those snobby nobles. “There will be plenty of time for that in the future.”
The kids remained completely red. Then they resumed packing with a renewed determination.
“You sure know how to motivate them, huh?” Gunduz said.
Wilhelmina lurched back several inches when she noticed Gunduz leaning on the doorway. “When did you get here?”
“When I heard them shouting from three rooms over.”
“That was almost the whole time!”
Gunduz shrugged. “Guess I was here the whole time, then.”
“Quickly!” Ilyana shoved more clothes into her suitcase and then zipped it up. “We don’t have time, Ricky!”
“…time…” Friedrich said.
“Okay, I’ll help!” Ilyana finished packing Friedrich’s suitcase as well.
“Looks like they’re ready to go,” Wilhelmina said.
“Great, the helicopter’s ready on the roof,” Gunduz said.
“What about you? You ready to go? Izinchi and Julian have already left.”
Gunduz shook her head. “I need ammunition, not a ride. I’m staying behind.”
Wilhelmina’s jaw dropped. “You?! Staying behind?”
“Ha, the look on your face!” Gunduz beamed. “Now it’s my turn to surprise you.”
“Okay, I can understand why we’d agree to me staying behind, but you?” Wilhelmina said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Now you know how I felt, huh? And don’t worry, I can look after myself.”
“What, you’re gonna break out some crazy superpowers I didn’t know about?”
Gunduz shook her head. “I wish. If I had them, I’d have blown up the committee by now.”
“You and me both. We’d be unstoppable.”
Imagine that. “But seriously, what
do you mean?”
Gunduz winked. “I told you before, I’m keeping it a secret. Now let’s get these kids out of the city.”
---
Several floors down, the betharium lab had completely changed over the last week. The main reactor had been dismantled, and the parts had been shipped to a storage facility in Shiraz. The tables were all gone. Researchers were stuffing their notes and journals into suitcases. Anything they couldn’t take, they shredded. If the enemy made it as far as this lab, they wouldn’t find anything useful.
One table remained, with six chairs set up around it. Tania checked two boxes of EMP bullets—one for sniper rounds and another for pistol ones. Angelica looked over her pistol. Magnus held Alexandra’s hand. Alexandra’s other hand twirled the Impala’s keys. Thea looked over a map of Isfahan. And Alex was lost in thought.
We’ve come so far, and it’s now come to this. It still feels unreal.
“So we’re really doing this?”
“Backing out now?” Angelica said.
“No,” Alex said, “Are we still good to go?”
“My rifle’s ready,” Tania said.
“So’s my pistol,” Angelica said.
“The Impala’s ready,” Alexandra said.
“Have you done enough test drives?”
“Believe me, she has,” Magnus said, “Her skills could use some improvement—ow!”
Alexandra retracted her elbow. “Blame the engine for being too powerful. Need one more adjustment and it should be good to go for the real run.”
“Having second thoughts, Alex?” Thea said. “I understand. It’s Josh, after all.”
“If only I could be like you, Thea,” Alex said, “You have no qualms about Theodor.”
“No, no, no. It’s fine. You don’t have to be like me, Alex.”
“But we need strength.”
We must do what we must. Whatever it takes.
“Not at the cost of who we are.” Thea took his hand. “If we take out Josh and Theodor but lose the man I fell in love with, that wouldn’t be much of a victory. Be yourself, Alex. We can plan around it.”
“And don’t forget, we’re your friends and family,” Alexandra said, “We’re here for you.”
“Actually, I’m just here to make sure you nerds at least have
some backup,” Angelica said, “We’ll deal with him, if you can’t.”
By that, do you mean killing him? But Thea…
“Same here,” Tania said.
“We can do this, Alex,” Thea said, “We’ve planned for this. We know what to do. Stick to the plan, and we’ll make it. Then you’ll no longer need to worry about Josh.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice…”
Empty words. There’s no way you’re going to defeat Josh. You’re going to die, and they’ll just run when they see your dead body. Why don’t you run first?
Thea looked at Alex, expecting a response, but all Alex could do was look back, taking in every feature of her. She had changed out of her lab coat into casual clothes: khaki pants, a black and white collared shirt, and the red shawl hanging over her shoulders as usual. It was a simple outfit anyone in the city could’ve put together on a budget, but she made it so graceful and elegant just by wearing it. Her raven ponytail hung over one shoulder like a dark waterfall. Her cheeks were slightly dry and flaky—they had run out of lotion last week, and with everything happening he didn’t want to buy more—but he would never say that to her face. Her eyes watched him gently, yet they also bore into his soul and made it impossible to hide his feelings. She wasn’t wearing makeup today—like with the lotion, they ran out and hadn’t bought more—but he didn’t mind. He thought she looked cuter when she wasn’t wearing makeup. But again, he wouldn’t say that to her face.
“Alex? You okay?” Thea tilted her head ever so slightly in concern, causing Alex’s heart to flutter again.
Suddenly, his mood shifted. His mind filled with rage. His fists clenched and immediately unclenched when he felt a searing heat surge through them.
Just as I expected, it’s half finished and thus horrible. His mind wandered and came to dwell on a troubling thought: bashing in Thea’s head with a pan until her brains and blood were scattered on the kitchen floor. As he took in the ever so vivid details of that grisly scene, he winced and immediately pushed it away.
No. No. Frak. I would never treat Thea like this. Why do I have these thoughts?
Because… His imagination raced away again. He saw a hand rising and descending onto him, each time inflicting more and more pain. He heard the deafening roar of a shotgun and the squishy squelching of a dog’s head being liquidated.
This is who you are. Alex shook his head again.
No, it’s not. What the hell even are these scenes? They’ve never happened to me. One hand gripped the bottom of his shirt so tightly it almost ripped. One side of his lips twitched.
Please, what the frak am I seeing? More scenes of Thea dead, a familiar dog’s headless body, and his bloodstained hands rushed past his eyes.
Make it stop! It feels like I’ve done this stuff before, but…but…did I? Did I forget? Oh God, what does this mean? Is this really me?!
“I don’t think so.” Alex heard a voice behind him.
No way. You now? “Herr Oskar?”
His old teacher gave off his usual gentle smile, the one everyone remembered from middle school. “Hello.”
“I didn’t expect to find you here, of all places.”
“Well, what a coincidence, then. I’m here to make my voice heard.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Something felt off about this exchange. Not that Oskar was here—Alex definitely knew he wasn’t. “Especially after what happened?”
Oskar shrugged. “That was long ago. We’ve all moved on. We’ve all grown as individuals, I hope.”
“I sure hope I did.” It was as if he was recalling an old memory. But it didn’t match up.
“Believe in yourself. Knowing your mistakes is the first step towards resolving them.”
“But what if I forget who I started out as?” After leaving middle school, the next time Alex saw Oskar was…when his body was swinging from a crane in Kyparades Park. “What if I lose myself?”
Oskar shook his head. “As long as you remember who you are and what you stand for, you won’t lose yourself. Stay true to your convictions and do the right thing.”
Alex came to a dark realization. These weren’t his memories. “But how do I do that? Everything’s gone to hell. This world is so brutal and I feel like I have to change who I am to survive.”
“You don’t need to change to survive.”
They were Josh’s. “How can you say that?”
“Because I’m speaking from experience. You know, I see a little of myself in you. Rough around the edges at your age, yet brimming with potential.”
He likely got these memeories as a result of the remote viewing test from last month. “Potential? How can you say that about me?”
Was this what Josh was thinking? “After what I’ve done?”
He must’ve met Oskar at some point before that went down. And…was that what Oskar really said? How could he say that, after everything Josh did?
“Being your teacher, I tend to notice things. You’re still young. You’ve got the rest of your life ahead of you. I can see—no, I actually know—you’ll go on to do great things.” He put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You just need to make the right choice. You need to be yourself.”
“It’s just that…I’m scared.” This was all Alex now. He was now taking control of the memory. There wasn’t much else Josh had said, but Alex didn’t want it to end yet. He wanted more time to speak with Oskar. Time he would never have for real. It sucked that he had to go through Josh and experimental technology just to have some way of “talking” to his old teacher. “I’m scared I’ll lose myself. The world’s out to get me. Everything’s turned upside down. The bad are being rewarded and the good are being punished. They evil get everything handed to them, while even if we work our butts off for a glimmer of hope, it can easily be snatched away and snuffed out. If I stand up and try to do the right thing, won’t I just get stomped back down into the dirt?”
“That’s no excuse not to do the right thing,” Oskar said, “Staying in place and ignoring everything going on to save yourself won’t change anything. You’ll only do that forever, while the rest of the world moves on and eventually comes for you. Better to take a stand now than sit and wait for your demise.”
I never remembered Oskar being this direct. “Are you just saying what I want to hear?”
Oskar shook his head. “Why would I ever do that? All I do is offer you the same thing I offered Josh: a choice. It is up to you to decide what you want to do. I can’t decide what kind of person you want to be. That is up to you.”
“And what if I choose the wrong path?” Alex said. “Like Josh did?”
Oskar smiled. “Don’t worry. When it comes down to it, I believe you’ll do the right thing. I believe in you, Alex.”
“Alex?” Thea waved her hand in front of Alex’s face. “Hello? Earth to Alex?”
Alex blinked, and Oskar was gone. “What?”
“You zoned out for a couple seconds,” Alexandra said, “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just needed some time to think.”
“You don’t have to hide it,” Angelica said, “I’ve zoned out like that before. I see the faces of my dead comrades. It happens to all of us.”
Only thing is I didn’t see any dead comrades. “Sure, we’ll go with that.”
Angelica got the hint and moved on. “Okay. So you’re still onboard?”
Alex gingerly took Thea’s hand. His stormy thoughts were quickly put at ease with the warm and soft feeling of her hand. His face relaxed. His cheeks flushed, and his lips loosened into a smile. “As long as I’m with you all, I won’t lose my way.”
