A day passed without any remarkable events. Star was over at Careen’s, Jool was busy and Kitty didn’t want to talk to me… It was a long day in other words…
The next day, on the other hand, was quite different. Some time in the evening, M called me. They had Zil in their compound! But in front of every beam of sunlight, there is always a black cloud… Zil had been contaminated to a virus, which was created for military causes. She was in quarantine, but they wouldn’t let me come near the place before they were sure she was properly sealed behind glass. “What really baffled us was that she showed no symptoms to the virus, even though our tests indicate she has been infected,” M told me not to have my hopes too high, cause she had the odds against her… I didn’t care. She was back. That was all that really mattered to me. They said they would call me once they had secured the area. I waited eagerly… The evening stretched out, didn’t seem to end… The entire day after was pretty much the same. I constantly checked that my phone worked. Kitty was still not in the mood to talk…
Finally, next morning, they called… They told me to put on that black suit I had, because it would be safer. I told mom where I was going and zoomed off at full speed. I went through the doors to the compound. “Good morning, Mr. Storm. Please proceed to the elevator, you are awaited on floor… 2,” A friendly female voice flowed out of some speakers. I did as instructed, hit the button for 2nd floor. The first thing I saw on this floor were plants, and lots of them. All behind glass… I walked along a marked hall, and a bit into the place I found P. “Hey there, kid. Just keep following that line and you’ll find your gal…” His pale face smiled at me. He followed me as I wandered further into the greenhouse. At last… Behind a window, in a white T-shirt and sweatpants, she saw me coming. We both pressed up against the glass, she looked extremely happy that I had come to see her. Got to admit that I was quite happy to see her standing at least… The glass was too thick to talk through… But I still could. Upon concentrating, I heard what she wanted to tell me. What we said to each other was irrelevant, I don’t know why, but I guess I was just too dazzled by her presence to even bother to remember anything… Time flew. I sat outside the glass prison, even dozed off a few times. The temperature was very comfortable. “You really like her, don’t ya?” P knelt down beside me. I nodded to him. “I bet she cares just as much about you, but it’s getting late, kid. You should start thinking of going home,” “Can’t I stay here for the night?” “It’s no prob as far as I’m concerned, but I was thinking about your family,” “I’m sure they would understand… Please just let me stay,” “Sure thing, kid… But I won’t allow you to sleep on the floor,” Some small robots rolled in a hospital-bed. “Don’t try any funny stuff, those doors are sealed for a reason,” P started walking away. “Where can I take a piss?” I asked before he was gone. “Pee on the plants or sumthin… Minerals would do ‘em nuttin but good…”
I spent the coming days at the compound… Practiced my telepathy, ate some weird, but tasty stuff and played in the simulator, either alone or with the girls. One morning though, I heard the alluring tunes of a flute or something… Zil was still sleeping. I tried looking out the windows, but all I could see were the bare trees outside. It had been a while since I had been outside, so I thought I could go get some fresh air while looking for the source of the divine music. The morning air was cold and refreshing. The window to Zil’s quarantine was on the other side of the building. The sun was quite low, giving the world a golden glow. Something smelled quite rotten as I got closer to the music. Behind a tree, a strange, black creature sat up against the tree, holding an ocarina in front of him. The music suddenly stopped as the creature saw me. He quickly got on his feet, ready to strike. He seemed to be a bird-man, his skeleton was showing here and there. His black feathers seemed to be in a bad shape, as did his eyes. He suddenly fell to his knees in front of me, averted his eyes to the leaves beneath us. “Falcon,” His voice hissed “Please tell me that my rotting eyes do not deceive me,” “I’m not Falcon…” I replied and remembered something “…but my father went under the name “Falcon” some time ago…” The black being looked up at me again. “His child… Of course… The resemblance…” He mumbled for himself. “Who are you…?” I asked him. “I am no longer certain of that… I used to be Jonah D’Argyl, son of Johan D’Argyl… But now I’m nothing more than a rotting creation of Arkady…” He clenched his fist as he mentioned “Arkady”. “What has happened to you?” He looked me straight in the eyes and held up his hand, there was a strange, red ring on his finger. “Do you see this ring? It has condemned me to live even after the heart stops beating… I am older than the world you live in, and wish every day will be my last!” He had a furious expression on his face. “I have been hunted by your kind the last century, but I have still done what stands in my power to protect those I know have a good heart… All I have left of my days of glory…” Jonah takes off a small satchel and unfolds a piece of cloth he had in it. “… is my goddess’ symbol and this ocarina I was granted by the woods itself…”
The cloth was torn in the edges, and the golden fox was spotted with dirt. It was clear that Jonah would have cried, if he could. “Maybe the guys inside can help you out… They seem to know everything,” I gave him my hand, and helped him up. It felt as if his skin was barely hanging on… “I am Joon Fredrik Storm by the way,” “I am honored to meet you,” Jonah said and bowed. I lead him around to the entrance. “Is that a corpse you are dragging about?” M’s voice sounded clearly in the lobby. “Bring it to sub-level 6,”
Jonah seemed insecure in the elevator. When we arrived at our destination, a gigantic room with numerous vats or tanks or pools or whatever… P met us just outside the elevator-door and held out his hands. “Would you please hand me any weapons you might be carrying?” Jonah looked down at the finely crafted mechanical hands, then suddenly a blue beam comes out of his hand. “Step away from me, construct!” With a swift move of his hands, the blue beam cuts straight through the mechanical arms of P. Jonah holds the beam ready for another strike as P takes a few steps back and stretches the stubs that are left towards the ceiling. “Hey, whoa! I’m unarmed!” “He’s one of those who might be able to help you,” I told Jonah and he seemed to calm down. The beam vanished. “My apologies, I have little to no trust in machines,” He picked up the severed arms. “No sweat… Just hold them up against where you cut them and…” Jonah holds the arms to the stubs “Voila!” P wriggles his arms. “Now just follow me and we’ll check you up… There might be some radiation involved, so you should leave kid,” I took the hint and went back up to Zil. She was still asleep…
The early hours passed by much like they had done the last days. Zil had been inside her bubble for 8 days now, and I had spent equally many days outside of it… I couldn’t say I felt alone with her close by, but I longed to have her back in my arms again. M came up while I was taking a piss on the plants. He called my name from the hall and I zipped up and went over to him. “I cannot bare to see you two separated like this… I’ll do a final check on her and you are free to take her home if she is clean,” Bless the fluid-distributor that beats within that metal chassis… I had a smile from ear to ear and almost bursted into tears. M passed through the glass as if it didn’t exist. He stuck his finger to her arm a brief moment and looked down at his arm. I saw him talking to Zil, and her suddenly jumping up and down. M pressed a button on his chest and the barrier disintegrated.
A warm feeling flowed through me as I had Zil back in my arms, where she belonged… Neither of us could hold back the tears. I didn’t want to let go of her soft body ever again in that moment… M had his eyes on us, with a big smile on his pale face. It looked as though something black was running from his eyes. M gave Zil a black suit, much like the one I was wearing. “You kids go home and enjoy your life while you still can…” With that said from the choked up metal-man, we were off…
The sun shined brighter than I could remember, the air was so much purer, and the world was more colorful. I drove slowly home. Wanted the feeling to last as long as possible… Damn what a good feeling…
Star was home alone until Zil and I came in. She was quite happy to see me with Zil on my arm and I felt she didn’t know of any words fitting the occasion. Neither did I actually… Zil and I did a whole lot of making out that day, so we didn’t have too much time to talk… Mom and dad were away, on some sort of council-meeting up north, so us kids had the house for ourselves. Star ordered out for pizza in the evening, so that we wouldn’t go hungry. We all watched TV long into the night, Zil clinging to me during the violent scenes… We all went to bed at 4.00 or so.
Zil got out of bed. “I’ve got to go now…” She said. I couldn’t speak, not even make a sound. “I wish I could’ve done this another way… But she is coming for me now,” Star suddenly enters the room and stretches a hand towards Zil. Their hands join, and Star turns around and leads Zil out. Star had wings… “Please… Don’t walk alone. I know you like Kitty, so go for it!” Zil winked at me and vanished along with Star.
I gasped as the dream-bubble popped. Zil was still in bed with me. I looked down at her face. She was smiling… I took her hand. It was cold as ice… I shook her a bit. “Zil?” She didn’t respond… I tried yelling her name, but still nothing. I put two fingers up against her throat to check her pulse… Nothing… I had lost her… Forever… My wishes were of no use. This was no bad dream, no nightmare I would wake up from… Oh, Zil, why?
The smile on her face was little comfort. All I had done to get to her… The world became nothing more but a tone of gray before my very eyes. Only the red fur and blonde hair bore colors…