Volume 2 – Chapter 3: The Unseen Path

[April 25 – 10:45 PM]

It was the darkest night there had ever been. As if it was full with the weight of a storm ready to break, or that the atmosphere was just thick with the sweetness of things to come. We strolled the city’s empty streets, our shadows trailing long and strung-out behind us, threatening to swallow us whole. The wind moving through the branches sounded amplified, as if the whole city were holding its breath for something to break loose.

I could feel Rika beside me, solid, constant. With new weight in her gaze, something deeper than the uncertainty that had previously clouded it, her steps were light but purposeful. Now we had an understanding, a silent agreement that no matter what happened, we would get through it together.

But that didn’t make the silence any less deafening. That did not make the unknown any less scary.

“Where are we going, Kaito?” Rika’s voice cut the air, smooth and jagged, tinted with an edge I couldn’t place. Was it fear? Doubt? Or maybe just a symptom of the unbearable tension filled into every breath like the impending stormclouds that await in the distance for the lightning to crack?

“I don’t know,” I half-replied, my own voice nearly swallowed by the dark. “We just need to keep moving. We’ve got to keep going, we can’t be in one place for too long.” Not now.”

Her brow furrowed. “But we don’t even know what we’re fleeing from.”

She spoke through me, and I felt an unconfessed truth steal goose bumps on my skin. She was right, of course. We had no obvious enemy, no defined threat. But it was suffocating, the feeling of being watched, of something or someone circling beyond the line of sight.

“Don’t know,” I said, more quietly this time. But I don’t think we’re alone.”

Blasted, those words paused, floating between us, coruscating between our limbs. It wasn’t just paranoia. I felt it — something watching, something lurking just behind the veil of the night. Every skin cell on me stood up, and for the first time in my life I wanted to be anywhere, anywhere, other than where I was.

We rounded a corner, and, for the beat we paused, the weight of Rika’s gaze settled on me. She didn’t ask anything, but the question was there in her eyes. What now?

I didn’t have an answer. I couldn’t even imagine what was coming, or who was behind it all.” But I did know something: We couldn’t keep running forever. Eventually we had to confront whatever it was that had been pursuing us.

“I think we need to go out toward the edge of town,” I said, my voice low and calm. “Get away from the city proper, where it is a whole lot harder to hide. We can decide what to do next when we’re in a safer place.”

There was a hesitance, in Rika’s face, but she nodded. She was about to speak again, and I could tell, but then, like signaling, a noise came up front the alley. A gentle flutter, then a gentle click. It was a slight distraction — but enough of one to send an adrenaline rush coursing through me.

“Did you hear that?” Now my heart thudded in my ears, as I whispered.

Rika took a moment to respond. Her instincts kicking in, she was already running. Words weren’t needed at the moment is both understood what to do. Desperately we knelt into the shadows, pressed our backs to the cold, damp walls of the buildings that lined the narrow alley.

I listened earsplittingly, holding my breath. In the far distance, there was movement — slow and calculated. It wasn’t just one person. It was a group. Not a big bunch, maybe, but enough to get me riled up.”

“Hunker down,” I said to Rika.

I could sense her shoulders tighten, heard the near imperceptible tremor in her fingers as they gripped the edge of her jacket, our last thin barrier against the unknown.

Down at the far end of the alley, a figure appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. A shadow. The silhouette of yourself against a faint glow of street lights. Then one more, and another, and until there were four figures plodding toward us.

I gasped as the moment’s significance hit me. We were cornered. It was a cul-de-sac, a trap. And if we didn’t escape soon, we’d be stuck.

“What do we do?” “I told you to get out and stay out!” Rika gritted her teeth as she said, her panic-driven eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. But she appeared to contain something in the ambiguity — resolve, determination. She wasn’t going to sit and let whatever was coming get us. She wasn’t going to let me down.”

“Follow me,” I said to him, hardly above a whisper.

I saw the picks, what I had to pick — what I needed — but I still looked around quickly, searching for something, anything, to give us the edge. The alley was narrow, but on the right, a little bit of cover, rejoiced in some, out of habit and nothing more: a small stack of crates we could hide behind, still seconds too late.

“On three,” I said. “One... two... three.”

We ran straight for the crates as quietly as possible. The silhouettes in the alley had noticed us, but not right away. But as we were approaching the crates, one of them turned around and spotted us.

The chase was on.

We didn’t waste any time. Hurrying, I pushed Rika In front of me, pushing her along, the air loudly forcing its way through her mouth as Rika ran back down the thin alleyway. I could hear the figures behind us, their footsteps increasing in haste as they ran.

But something told me it wasn’t just out to get us. There was something deeper going on here. A larger thing than we could possibly comprehend. And I had this nagging feeling that we were just now starting to scratch the surface of whatever this was.

The street at the bottom of the alley, seen only by the dim yellow of the streetlamps. But there was no cover there, either. We had to keep moving. We needed to get ahead of the game.” Because if we did, if we got caught —

I didn’t want to think about that.”

As we rounded another corner, I brought Rika in closer and put my arm around her waist. “Stay close,” I said. “Don’t look back.”

And for the first time in a long time, I felt fear crawl into my bones. Out of terror for what was ahead of us. Fear of the unknown. But fear of what was coming, more than anything.”

We couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not until we knew what was going on — and what or who was manipulating it.