Blindsided

By Ryan Viergutz

In the seaside town of Grove, Julius Sanmar hides from his criminal past, masquerading as a bartender. He receives strange warnings about evolving mutants and maniac robots. When the former converge on the diner, devoted to his death, a driven paramilitary woman named Milia Renoith comes and tells him he is needed. The thief says goodbye to the friends he made and flees with her to her home, Lightning City.

While he reels from the loss of his two best friends, Julius explores Lightning City, built in the last two years, where more rumors spread of war and hostility. Who would want to destroy a city devoted to rebuilding from the War Before? Who would want to relive the brutal days of mass bloodshed? Everyone lays the blame on the Regrowers, a radical cult in the north.

Julius thinks it's more complicated than that. Milia and some of the Lightning Guards join him on a journey to the northwest where they discover bizarre technology that Julius could dismantle or wield for the good of Lightning City. But will any of them survive black holes, a torturer, armies of hybrid demons, and three hundred soldiers, give or take, attacking Lightning City? Even if they do the cost could be too high.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ryan Viergutz
• Release date: Jan 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301552214

Ryan Viergutz

I'm a freelancer, writer, roleplayer and gamer. I don't want to live in the same place any longer than a year for a very long time and I am always yearning for adventure. The first two overlap often enough that they're almost the same thing, though they aren't by anyone's measure. Regardless of the state I'm in, I am always roleplaying and I allow myself to indulge in gaming, usually of a video game variety, sometimes. At any given time I will have a scifi or fantasy book in my hands or in my travel bag.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Rumors of war, hate and terror spread inside the small bar on a busy Tuesday morning. Its people had been sequestered from most of the cruelty and the difficulties of the nation, but not today. Julius Sanmar looked up from the bar, wiping away the wet mess a particularly sloshed person had made, and listened to what people said about it.

Monsters shaped like demons and creatures from ancient mythologies crawled across the nation and, according to the rumors, threatened all of the hundreds of towns inside its borders. Julius snorted at the exaggerations, familiar with such stories from his years as a hacker and thief. None of them had happened to the extent that the people feared, and yet he wondered if this was the time they were real.

Over the last two years, while he had come here to rest and hide, four cities had sprung to life two hundred miles and further to the east. He tried to avoid their names and their existence. He hoped that, at last, he was done with the bloodshed, death and politics that had given rise to the War Before and destroyed what remained of the nation. Thieves, bandits and highwaymen filled the void, and indeed, they had seen the monsters first.

Julius sighed and went to clean off an empty table. No wonder what had happened, whether the bandits hallucinated the sights or someone had come uncorked from its cave, he had no role to play in this farce anymore. He could hide in this town, among these elders with their grey heads of hair, canes and walkers, and escape from his old life. No one would suspect he had come here. No one would imagine Julius Sanmar, mastermind of a thousand grand thefts and fraudulent plans, had stopped his career.

He wasn't the only one to stay here, out of the damage and ruin, and he looked up as his two friends Bancroft Martel and Louis Arras opened the saloon doors loud enough to slam against the opposite wall. Julius waved to them and they took a seat. He checked his watch and ambled over to them. His supervisor wouldn't be happy if he ended his shift before time, so he went through the motions for the next five minutes.

His friends understood, waiting for the time he could talk to them. They chatted to each other, scanned the other people in the room, and Bancroft laughed a few times. Bancroft, a thickly built man with a huge leather jacket and tattoos, always looked off in this town, ready for a fight in a town where nothing of importance ever happened. Louis was skinny, lightly muscled, and had a quick deadpan wit that could send Bancroft or Julius into wild laughter.

Julius patted the shoulder of the guy who took his shift and roamed over to meet his friends. Bancroft moved aside so Julius could sit beside him. His green eyes twinkled but the cast of his face looked serious. Julius scratched his head, confused, and looked over at Louis. Louis smiled, with a similar contrast to Julius, and slid his palm across the table. Julius watched Louis for signs of anything odd.

Go ahead, Louis said, his hand on the table. Go ahead and see what that is.

Julius frowned at Louis and didn't move toward the bait. Is it money?

Bancroft laughed. You're always about the money, Julius. Payment drives your life. Why haven't you moved already?

Julius rolled his eyes. Why do you always ask me that?

You know the reason, Bancroft said. You don't belong here. I could see that from the first day we met. You have bigger things in your future.

So do both of you, Julius said.

Louis slid his hand around the table, his eyes fixed on Julius behind his wire rimmed glasses.

Julius sighed and put his hand over Louis's. Okay. What do you have for me?

Louis took his hand from the table and Julius looked at a gunmetal grey slice of microchip technology the size of a dime. He leaned forward, saw the transistors and the cables that went with the design. Between the pins he saw etchings and symbols someone had scrawled there. He couldn't read them, if they spelled words and weren't meaningless gibberish. Julius recognized it, though, and turned it over with the edge of his thumbnail.

On the other side, it should have carried the serial number of the security machine and the logo of the maker, one of the last two companies who he had contracted with before he had left. Neither remained in place, though he did see the scratches that remained after someone had torn them out of the chip. Julius leaned back and exhaled slowly.

Do you recognize it? Louis said.

Yes. Where did you find it? Julius said.

Louis shrugged. I found it out in the street. It was just laying there, out and exposed to the air.

Julius guided his friends through the coils and bends in the microchip. Every one of them relayed a message about the operation of the larger device and interacted with the rest of it. Where most microchips acted as part of a whole, this type of technology shifted the environment about it and slipped around like an infiltrator. He used it constantly in his former line of work, and though he didn't tell them that, they realised he did know a lot about it.

Why would it come up here? Bancroft said.

I don't know, Julius said. The security arm of the government used it ten years ago, before the War broke out.

Be careful when you use that word, Louis said. You'll draw their attention to yourself.

Julius grinned over to Louis. You know as well as I do that doesn't take any effort at all. Even though it's dead, it still comes back and haunts us.

You said it was in a machine, Bancroft said. What did it do?

It did a ton of stuff, Julius said. Where do you want to begin, with the creation or the destruction?

Bancroft looked surprised for a moment and then laughed. Start with the destruction. If it played a role in the end of the government, the collapse of the nation or the War Before, all to the good. Did you see it in your conspiracy days? If you did, did it scare you?

Julius jabbed the chip with his fingernail. Yeah, it did scare me. If I'm not mistaken, I think this thing should have another layer to it, it's hiding a level of access.

That? Louis said. So it is something special.

Julius grumbled and tried to flip a switch on the side of the chip. It wouldn't go, so he prodded harder. Everything connected to this thing was.

Should you try and open it here? Bancroft said. Should we go back to your apartment?

No, without its connection it has most of its danger weakened, Julius said. It won't go. I can't tell why. It might be stuck, or damaged somehow. It was on the road, you said?

Right through the main street, Louis said. It glittered in the sun. You have said to tell you about things like that.

Yes, you're right, Julius said. If there was more of it, it could be dangerous.

The switch turned beneath his hand. He drew his hand back quickly and watched the chip grow. Clear gel, a cross between glue and plastic, slipped from the base of the chip and propped it up two inches. All of the transistors in its board glittered with multicolored lights that appeared from holes in the top, imperceptibly until they came to life.

It looks like a party trick, Bancroft said.

Julius pointed at it. It's not. Don't touch it, but smell the lights.

Bancroft looked skeptical but bent over and took a long sniff. He sat back, surprised, and said, It smells like electricity. Like I'd imagine.

Julius grinned, waiting for him to continue.

You know what I'm going to say, don't you? Bancroft said.

Why else would I have asked? Julius said.

It smells like fresh rain and onions. And I have no idea what that means, Bancroft said.

It means it's part of a device that alters the weather, Julius said. It never worked like it intended, but the fact someone tried to make it makes enough difference. You try and sneak your way into a computer system that's built in the bloody clouds.

Bancroft squinted. I bet it's possible.

But it's fucking hard and would take you years to pull it off, Julius said.

Did you? Bancroft said.

Did I what?

Did you pull it off?

Julius looked at the chip, the glue and the lights. You know I can't answer that.

Did you get close? Louis said. Did you see inside it?

I came very close, Julius said.

It leads us to another question... Louis said.

What does it mean? Julius said. Bancroft asked that already.

So? Bancroft said. Can you tell us that?

Julius shivered as a chill rolled through him. It means this town got a mystery in it that I would rather not think about. He flattened his hands on the table. I think it's about time we left for my apartment. Bring the chip, Louis.

Louis looked down at it. Julius flicked the switch and the chip fell back into its original state.

There's nothing to it, Julius said. It's deceptively simple.

Chapter 2

In the two years he had lived here, Julius learned every path and road in the town and the familiarity troubled him. It held no surprises, nothing unusual, most of it stayed the same day after day. The same people went to their jobs on the same route, the lucky people who had any, and faces looked back at him with much the same expressions. He thought of clones or robots, but he had seen them, and turned his back on them for the time being.

For two years and four or five months, he didn't care enough to count it, no one from his past had come up behind him and the chaotic world outside of the town's limits ignored him. The notorious crook, betrayer and fraud had hung up his hat and left his old life alone. These new, quiet streets welcomed him, and for some reason he couldn't determine it felt wrong.

No one had bothered him until today. Julius knew what the chip, a part of a weather machine, meant. Someone had sent him a message, that either he was being watched or he was needed. The latter didn't make sense, as he had cleared all of his tracks down to the fingerprints in his last two apartments. Someone wanted him to know they had him in their sights. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't alone.

Bancroft and Louis stayed quiet on the trip back to his apartment, taking in the late evening light like Julius. He felt more awake in the twilight, where the witches and demons came out to roost, and his friends felt the same way. So why did he feel lonely around them, if they shared many of his curiosities? What was different about this message? They walked through a tree lined sidewalk and then he spotted it.

A person in black leathers on a motorcycle, possibly a similar height to his own, idled the machine half a mile toward the main street. He parked the cycle near a crowd, around a local restaurant, and removed his helmet. He still couldn't distinguish the person's sex, but his skin was black and he had short, crewcut hair. He bent down, consulting a map, buckled his helmet again and sped off to the west.

Bancroft rested a hand on Julius's shoulder. What are you seeing?

The motorcycle zoomed behind a clothing store and out of his view. Julius took off his glasses and wiped his shirt on them. Someone's over there.

Bancroft shook his head. What? Who? He looked at Louis. Did you see anybody?

I think you're paranoid, Louis said.

Maybe I am, Julius said. We're almost to the apartment. You mind if we roam around the block first, draw him off us?

Louis laughed. I don't care. I sat all day, my legs could use the walk.

Julius lured Louis to ramble about his work, an IT support position he found way more entertaining than Julius would. He had gotten busy with one single problem the whole day, a bug hidden deep in the formulas in a massive spreadsheet. While he talked about it, it reminded Julius of the holes he had found in the apparatus of two companies and how he had pitted them against each other. It had taken them two months to find it, but they never found him.

Even in his memories, he had to stay sharp, and he glimpsed the second batch of followers before they could flee from his sight. He pointed straight at the white moving van a few streets away, down in a shady street filled with trees that towered over it. Bancroft made a disagreeable noise in his throat. Julius looked left and right and his friends flanked him on his movement toward it.

They had found visitors maybe a half dozen times, after any of them or all of them, and developed a strategy to deal with them. Bancroft walked along the sidewalk. Louis went toward the trees on the right and hid in the shadows like a pro. For all Julius knew, he was. They had pasts just like he did, and they tended to keep their shadier deals secret. Oddly, it made them closer as friends.

The van pulled away from the curb. Julius saw the driver goggle at the three of them and spin the wheel. It veered in the opposite direction. Bancroft and Louis looked back at Julius and he gave them a thumbs up. All three of them carried a pistol on their person at most times and Julius had the sneaky feeling Louis had come near to drawing his.

Back to my place, Julius said. They won't try this again. We've made them.

And the woman on the motorcycle, Louis said. Let me get my car and chase them around.

What do you think? Pros? Julius said. They can't be.

Louis crossed his arms. They have no subtlety. They're in a hurry. Nah, they're not pros, though they might be better than amateurs. He shrugged. Your call, Sanmar. What do you want to do?

Julius grinned. Go after them, see what they're about. Bring along a mobile, keep in contact with me. I'll head back to my apartment. Bancroft?

No skin off my nose. I'll come with you, Bancroft said.

Louis nodded. See you in maybe an hour, give or take.

Julius went the other way and saw the woman on the motorcycle on the edge of his sight all over again. She turned left at a red light before Bancroft spotted her and it rankled on Julius. Whether or not her companions shared her expertise, she didn't do too bad on her part. She hadn't looked at him straight on this time, and he wondered why she was here. Maybe she did want Bancroft or Louis instead.

Did she want to interrogate, abduct or kill one of them? Why would they have dragged along a whole surveillance van if they wanted answers immediately? The questions kept rising in his mind and he walked faster to stop them before they devoured him. Bancroft matched his pace and actually speeded up in the last half mile to Julius's apartment. Julius gave him an odd look when they returned to the steps outside of his place.

Bancroft grinned, stomped up the steps and waited at the door. I'm not as slow as you think I am.

When did I say you were slow? Julius said. I'm just faster, that's the thing.

You're distracted. This woman is gnawing on you, Bancroft said.

We haven't had anyone follow us in three months, not since that bounty hunter tried to drag Louis off to some prison in the south. This woman reminds me of her. I don't know why. Julius snarled, frustrated, unlocked the door and marched up to his room.

Take it easy, Bancroft said. We barely caught her. This chick isn't keeping herself subtle and hidden, at least the rest of her team isn't.

That means something, Julius said.

Well, I'll be damned if I know what, Bancroft said.

Julius opened the door to his apartment so hard it slammed against the opposite wall. He heard the sound echo, quiet behind the surprise his apartment gave him. Gouges scratched the back of his heavy wooden door, the carpet had stains that looked like blood, and someone had torn up the couch cushions and tossed the innards all over the floor. It looked like a tiger or a lion had rampaged through it and ruined every surface it could find.

Julius stepped around his room carefully, Bancroft following at his heels, and took a deep breath. He looked inside his bedroom and saw his computer monitors, terminals, keyboards, printers, smashed to pieces and left open to the air. He wanted to fall to his knees at the shock, two dozen computers ripped to shreds, and punched the wall.

Bancroft had his mouth in a tight line. He bent his head and put his hands on his knees.

Who did this? Bancroft said.

Them, Julius said. There's no other culprits. No one else after us.

They're watching you, Bancroft said. My God. Is that their style?

I know, believe me, it doesn't make sense, Julius said.

So we're wrong. There's another person out there. And they know where you live, Bancroft said.

Julius walked into the wreckage of his room and looked at the ruins of his computers. He held one to the twilight that came in through the windows. This one is still okay.

You'll have to come back to my place until we get this figured out, Bancroft said. I don't know who did this to you, but you aren't safe here.

Half a dozen whackos come and try to take me, and someone just sneaks in one day. That doesn't make sense. That's not how the world functions, man. Something is seriously wrong here, Julius said.

Bancroft looked into Julius's main room and put a fist to the wall. Maybe we can find a clue in here, a trace of who did it. I have computers, too, we could run an analysis...

I'm a refugee now, Julius said, his mouth twisting. Like the hundreds of thousands out there without a place to go, without anything to act on.

Julius, you have me and Louis, Bancroft said.

I fought to rebuild those machines, Julius said. I planned to resell them, fix them, maybe turn the hobby into a small business.

Bancroft held Julius by the shoulders. Man. Snap out of it. You need to be here, right now, especially after this has happened. Don't break now.

Julius latched onto Bancroft's green eyes. Bancroft lived through at least a few disasters in his life, as large as this, and he showed them to Julius in his gaze. Julius looked away from his eyes and pulled his hands into fists. If the woman and her people had done this, he could find them. Louis had them tailed and could find them. He could find out why and do something in return. He had no idea what yet.

Louis, Julius said.

Bancroft pulled a phone from his pocket. Julius grabbed it with shaking hands and rang for Louis. It rang three times before he picked up.

I'm busy! Louis said. They aren't the only ones coming after us.

Julius concentrated on his voice. What? What's going on?

Get to the cave, Louis said.

Julius squinted at Bancroft. Louis, what's going on?

You remember the rumors at the bar? The wars, the demons? Louis said.

Yeah, Julius said.

They're real, and the demons are coming after us, Louis said. They're heading toward the town. Get to the cave. I'll meet you in it!

Julius frowned down. Louis, where are you?

I'm a mile from town, and I'm coming in fast, Louis said. No idea what Motorcycle and Van want. I'll explain later. Louis out.

Louis clicked the phone off. Bancroft gestured Julius to explain. Julius felt his eyes widen. No matter if they had come for him or one of his friends, it had escalated further than it ever had in his time in his town. They had never had to go to the cave before, their last ditch in case of an emergency. Julius stared at the phone he held in his hands and breathed deeply.

He says to go to the cave, Julius said.

I'm parked on the other side of town, at my apartment, Bancroft said.

We'll have to drive mine, even if it does suck, Julius said. He says demons are coming after him.

Either you're both on hallucinogens... Bancroft said.

Either the world is insane, or he's completely serious, Julius said. Here. He held