Chapter 9

CALL FOR HELP 

I appeared in a dark alley, looked around and adjusted my clothes. I walked out of the alley, my vox —the two way radio, Eli thought it was too stressful to call it a two way radio so we decided to use vox. I don't know what's wrong with good ol' walkie talkie— was strapped to my waist and my phone was in my pocket.

I walked out of the alley and joined the crowd on the pavement. As I walked, I couldn't help but think of the fact that I'm two weeks time, probably even sooner than that, eighty percent of those in this street will be dead. Yet no one knew.

I wouldn't mind telling them, but humans are complicated beings. Some won't believe me, some would see this as an outlet for chaos and others will see it as a chance to manipulate people.

I've seen firsthand how greedy humans are, I'm one of the greedier ones after all. Which is why as I walked through the crowd, I tuned them all out, knowing that some of them would probably kill me for something as small as a bottle of water when the time comes.

I walked for a while before arriving at my destination, it was a café; morning bells. I could have appeared closer but I didn't, I wanted to go for a walk. I had to enjoy it as much as I could before the apocalypse.

As for what I was going to do here, at morning bells, I was hoping to get a cup of coffee and a lemon tart. I was also going to meet with my hacker.

I got into the cafe, the familiar jingle of the door bell filled me with nostalgia. I looked around and found an empty seat by the window. A few minutes later, the waitress came and took my order; one iced americano and two lemon tarts.

As I ate, a shadow passed by me and sat in front. I raise my head to see a young man dressed in black suit and holding a briefcase. I chuckled, 

“You don't look like a hacker.” I stated, matter of factly.

“I am more of an office guy, but your offer was too tempting.” The man said. He had black hair and dark eyes, I could see his caution. His beard was neatly trimmed but I could tell he wasn't that much older than me; twenty four, or twenty five at most.

“Before we start negotiating, I'll have you know that if you try to pull any funny business…”

“Honestly, there's nothing you would be able to do. But don't worry, since I now know your face, I'll show you a secret of mine soon too. That way we both have leverage against each other. Are you satisfied?”

“What can you do with just my face?” The young man smirked and I chuckled,

“Right now, nothing. But soon,...” I stopped there, not wanting to disclose too much. But I could see that I already had the desired effect on him.

“What do you need me for?” He asked,

“I'm Johanne, unemployed.” I reached out for a handshake and he shook back, his grip was pretty firm.

“Belamir.” He said.

“Belamir, I need money. I'll be making a huge amount of purchases on the black market and I don't have enough. I need you to make my money multiply itself,” I took a sip of my coffee before looking him in the eyes,

“Either that or you can find a way to get all my orders and all my money will be yours.”

“How much do you have?” He asked. From how he was scrutinizing me, I could tell he was judging. I don't blame him, just not comparing how we were both dressed; he was in an expensive suit that I'm sure costs no less than five thousand dollars and I was in cheap clothes that all together, don't even amount to two hundred. Which was why I was more than satisfied with the look in his face when I said,

“I've spent a lot already, I have only about half left. Roughly about one hundred and fifty, I think.”

“One hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Well, it will take a lot of work, especially since your orders on the black market will be no small issue,...”

“Million.” I added and belamir kept quiet for a moment. His brows furrowed as he asked,

“Your orders on the black market are in millions?”

“One hundred and fifty million dollars.”

***

I appeared in the warehouse once again, in my left hand was a paper bag and in my right was belamir, who's eyes were wide. I don't know if it was because of the shock of our conversation, the retching of his guts or the added shock of being teleported. I wager it's all three.

“You really need to find a way to make transporting humans better. If an adult feels that nauseous, a kid might just collapse.”

I glanced at Eli, he was walking out of the pile of stuff. I couldn't help but wonder how he knew we had arrived. I handed the paper bag to him,

“I got you a milkshake and lemon tart, two slices.”

“Thanks, I was just getting hungry and I was not in the mood for burgers!” Eli smiled as he took the bag.

“Who's he? Our hacker?” Eli asked, gesturing towards Belamir’s direction.

“Yeah, Belamir.”

“He doesn't look like one.”

“I know right?! And he's judgy too. You should have seen his face when I told him I had one hundred and fifty million dollars.” I laughed and Eli giggled.

“You! Who are you?! How did you do that?!” Belamir staggered backwards, his eyes wide as he looked around.

“Relax, if I wanted to harm you, you wouldn't be alive by now, trust me. This is the leverage I was going to give you, pretty nice huh?”

“This… so superpowers exist?” Belamir asked after a moment of silence,

“Not now, but soon. Now let's get to busin—”

[Screech… screech… Mr Johanne? Mr Johanne…. Help! My coordinates are…]

Belamir stared at the vox on my waist, his expression confused,

“What is that?”

“It's happening….once again, it's sooner than I expected. At this rate, the apocalypse will be here in ten days!”