The time had come for Samuel Caine to go on the run again. He had lain low in Reddon City for ten moths before one unfortunate post by one of those incessant internet addicts got his face online. They had found him so he had to pack up and leave ...… again.
Sam was rummaging through a drawer in the bedroom cupboard. A roughly packed suitcase sat open on the bed.
#Forget the tie, Samuel!# barked the sharp baritone voice in the man's head. The voice belonged to his demon, Azuri.
"But that's my lucky tie," the man complained. He was a lanky man, thirty-seven years old with gray eyes, full dark hair and a tired countenance.
#Do you hear yourself, Samuel?!# Azuri sounded astounded.
"Found it!" Samuel stood upright, holding up a dark red tie with small white stick men designs on it.
#You must be very proud of yourself.# The demon sounded sarcastic and unimpressed.
Samuel threw the tie in the suitcase and shut it fast. He grabbed it and rushed out of the room. The hallway was clear. He knew not to use the elevator at emergency times like this. The stairs could not be hijacked.
#The car is out back.#
"I know, Azuri. I parked it there."
When Samuel emerged from the backdoor of the apartment building, there was a small parking lot with a wire fence around it. His black sedan was under a tarpaulin sheet which he quickly pulled off. He threw his suitcase on the back seat and got in behind the wheel. He put the key in the ignition and with a single turn, the engine roared to life. It was a petrol engine; couldn't be hacked like the modern electric vehicles everywhere.
Sam started the engine and slid out of the lot. He went through an alleyway on the side of the building, and kept to alleyways until he had to come out onto the main road.
Reddon was a modern municipality. The roads were wide, well paved and busy, though there was no jams. The traffic system was near flawless. It was a sure zero-pause ride to wherever one was going.
"Tommy said there would be a boat, but for the life of me, I can't recall where he said it would be."
#The abandoned Turana Boatyard.#
"What would I do without you, Azuri?"
#Wind up dead in a ditch somewhere,# the demon grumbled.
"I'd smack you if I could."
A car suddenly slammed into Sam's from behind. He looked in the rearview mirror and there was a big black SUV with tinted windows behind them.
"They found us!"
#Lose them, Sam. We need to make it to that boatyard!#
Despite the playful tone between the Azuri and his tethered, this was no joking matter. The two cars sped along the road; one desperate to flee and the other desperate to catch up.
****
Lincoln Magnus sat cross-legged in front of his computer. His eyes were glued to the screen and the look on his face didn't show happiness. He was watching his last video upload on the YipYip video and streaming platform. It was a video he made of the old Sengnoy Estate; it had been abandoned for long and now the state was looking to transform it into a resort. Link wanted to capture the beauty of the place before it was gone forever.
The bedroom door was pushed open and Bosco burst in brimming with energy.
"Seventy views, Link!" Bosco roared with excitement.
Link spun his chair to face his best friend. He did not look happy, but Bosco was super-hyped.
At 6ft 1', Bosco was a big dude, shoulder-length blonde with the most beautiful blue eyes. He was always excited and outgoing and positive. Link on the other hand, was a bit more reserved. He was the reason they were making "boring" location-history content. Bosco just did it because it made Link happy.
"We got seventy views in forty-eight hours, Bosco. Those aren't good numbers. Matter of fact. Those are horrible numbers." Link was always the serious one.
"But seventy is the highest views we've ever gotten in that time frame, man. That's phenomenal." Bosco kept looking at the good side. Though in this case, there didn't really seem to be one.
Link got to his feet now. He was 3 inches shorter than his friend. His brown hair bounced as he moved with anxiety.
"SoloKid got seventy thousand views in less than twelve hours, Bosco; those are phenomenal numbers."
"Just take the win, Link. We celebrate each victory no matter how little, until we get to the top.
Link opened his mouth to argue then shut it. He looked back at the computer.
"It is an achievement isn't it?" he mumbled.
"That's the spirit!" Bosco roared, grabbing his friend in a bear hug and whooping with glee.
"Link?!" roared a voice from the door.
The two friends quickly turned to look at the speaker. Standing in the doorway was Patty, Link's big sister. She was twenty-five and the owner of the apartment where she accommodated her brother and his best friend.
"Look at this room, you jobless oafs! Your filming crap is scattered everywhere!"
The room was a bit of a mess. The two single beds were not dressed, there were clothes on the two-seater sofa and filming equipment covered the long table. The only pristine place was the computer desk where Link had been watching his video.
"We are gonna clean it, big sis, just chill." Bosco was all happy and jumpy again. He tried to get Patty in a one-armed hug, but she shrugged him off.
"I'm not your sister, Bosco! Link is my air-headed brother and you are just his pest of a friend."
"Ouch, big sis. That hurts." Bosco put a hand over his chest.
"I'm sorry if the room's a little messy, sis, but we are trying to create great content here." Link was defending this time.
Patty crossed her arms and her face told of her amusement. "Your best video ever got four hundred views, Link. Four hundred in over three months. You are not becoming the next big Yipper making videos about abandoned places people intentionally forgot hence the adjective abandoned."
"A lot of those abandoned places have stories worth telling and I will tell them because some day it'll be the kind of content people wanna see," Link defended.
"We are creating content for the future, big sis." Bosco was chill as he said the words.
Patty's eyes went full black and her long hair stood on end as her demon broke the surface. Electricity streaked across her body and a male voice spoke through her; "SHE SAID SHE'S NOT YOUR SISTER!"
Both Link and Bosco shrank back a little at the outburst.
"Hello to you too, Jazura," Bosco murmured.
The demon receded and Patty was back to her normal self. "Thank you, Jazura," she told her demon. "Now, you two, clean up this place and please while I house you, try to make yourselves useful. Leave these silly YipYip dreams."
Patty turned around and walked towards the exit.
"Later, Big sis," Bosco said with a big smile.
The lady pointed a finger at him without looking back and a streak of electricity flew from her finger tip.
Bosco received a small shock when the electricity struck him.
"Just focus on your jobs at the mall and clean that bedroom!" Patty said as she crossed the doorpost.
Link watched his sister leave.
He felt bad, felt useless, but hopeful.
Bosco laughed as his body twitched once more from the hit of electricity. The two friends were untethered, but Patty was a tethered. The untethered were looked down by most tethered. There was nothing phenomenal about being ordinary. Patty never held that over her brother or their guest though. She loved them, just hated seeing them pursue what she believed were unachievable dreams.
"We are gonna make that video at the Turana Boatyard, Bosco," Link said defiantly. "I got a feeling this one's gonna be special."
"This will be the one, right?" Bosco asked, getting hyped.
"You bet it is."
"YipYip! YipYip! YipYip!" They began chanting.
"ARE YOU CLEANING THAT ROOM?!" came Jazura's voice and all the lights in the house flickered on and off.
"YES!" they quickly replied in unison.