Gohan Blood

Chapter Zero

(James)

Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom. The sound of his heart beating, loud and fast in his ears, mixed with heavy breathing, made him forget the sounds of the world around him. He had been running for a while, trying to get as far as possible from the dead body of his friend. He couldn’t stop, he knew they would be searching for him.

He had been alone with his friend. He knew he hadn’t killed him, but they would never believe in him, and why should they?

James was shifting between walking fast and running. He was trying not to bring too much attention to himself, so he decided to run through the quieter streets, changing to fast walking when people were around. He kept looking back to check if they were following him. His legs were hurting with every step and his feet felt numb. James knew he couldn’t stop now. Almost there, he thought.

James could have stayed to see it through. He had no reasons to kill him; he’d been helping him, so why would he commit this atrocity on his friend? But now, he couldn’t go back; fear made him run, and fleeing the scene made him a suspect. Everything that his friend had been telling him, was true.

The plan failed, that is the only reason someone would kill an architect, he told himself.

There was no way that he could stay, for he knew too much. They might come searching for him and kill him. He wasn’t an agent yet, there was so much more to learn; but now, all was lost, all his plans destroyed. Now there was nothing, only hiding.

Crossing a road, he was almost hit by a taxi; when trying to avoid the taxi, he slipped and fell to the ground, hitting the pavement hard. He tried to stand up, but his knee failed him, hitting the ground again. A sharp pain shot up and down his leg.

“I can’t stop, they must know by now. The killer, he saw me!” he said between breaths. “Can’t stop, come on, James.”

Helped by a stranger, he stood up. Pushing the man away, without even looking back, he carried on, initially limping, then walking faster, then running. It was already painful, but now with his knee pounding it was even worse.

“Almost there,” he muttered to himself. “Just a few more blocks.”

But then what...? Where do I go...? he thought. They must be hunting me... they know I was there and then I ran! Why did I run? I am so stupid. I could explain it wasn’t me... can’t go back, I must disappear... there’s no escape. Is this the end...?

He carried on walking as fast as he could, limping.

*****

The light hurt his eyes, a headache in the back of his head. He had transitioned. There was no way to track where he had travelled. He had a sense of relief, believing he was safe, but that was quickly ruined by the image in his mind of his friend’s dead body lying on the ground.

“If they killed an architect, they could force the shop staff to tell them where he had travelled to. No! He said no one could track this way of travelling!” He closed his eyes as fast as possible, but all he could see was the body lying there, lifeless. Shaking his head, he forced himself to open his eyes again, the light hitting him again. I’ll need to be moving soon, he told himself. I am a sitting duck here. I’ll feel safer once I leave this place behind.

He tried to sift through his memory, remembering how he’d got there, the headache still pounding in his head. Concentrating on his breathing, which gradually became slower and deeper, he could still feel the soreness in his lungs from all of the running. He remembered running from the architect’s room to the shoe store some blocks away. It felt closer to him, but the pain proved differently. His knee hurting caused him to remember falling down, hitting the ground.

“Aargh... grrrrr,” he moaned.

His instinct was to grab his knee, but his body wouldn’t respond. Why did they kill the architect and leave me alive? he wondered. I should have stayed behind, but I ran like a coward. Now they suspect I am the killer. I can’t go back… I need to hide somewhere.

He continued to retrace his steps, falling, pressing on until he arrived at the shop. He tried to walk normally, but the pain in his knee wouldn’t allow it, causing him to limp.

He approached the counter. Customers were looking at him, all dirty and sweaty. He noticed his reflection in the mirror behind the counter, and quickly wiped his face with his sleeve. Eventually, the other customers stopped looking at him and carried on with their shopping. A young lady, with a beautiful smile, soft pale skin and burgundy lips, approached the counter and greeted him with a gentle nod of the head.

“How can we help you today, sir?” she said, smiling at him, as if she wasn’t paying attention to his appearance.

He showed her the key the architect had given him when he had joined him. The girl nodded, looking at the key in his hand. She asked him to follow her. She led him to the fitting area, at the back of the store.

Very posh shoe shop, he thought to himself, noting the carpeted floor and comfortable sofas. There were also plenty of staff around to give a personalised service.

The girl opened a door that led to a short corridor with a few doors and a mirror at the end. She walked towards it, pressed the wall and the mirror moved backwards, revealing a hidden room. This was the transition room. It was more of a cubicle and consisted of a single wooden bench and a shoe rack on one wall, with several pair of shoes. He picked up a pair, sat down on the bench, and put the shoes on. The young lady closed the mirror, leaving him alone in this small cubicle.

He thought what a great idea it was having this transition store disguised as a shoe shop. No one would ever look at it and think that this type of travelling took place here, or even existed. He disappeared.

He started to feel the movement of his muscles, and his vision became much better. He found himself in a very similar room to where he’d just been. The shoe rack was on the opposite wall, which made him feel it had worked and that he was close to safety. He managed to open the cubicle door, still feeling sore and limping. He stepped out of the cubicle and looked back at it, thinking that it was way bigger than it had seemed.

There were customers in this shop, too; they seemed to be everywhere. He felt self-conscious, as everyone was looking at him; being all sweaty didn’t help his case. In his mind he was a fugitive, the others could be here waiting for him. He just wanted to get out of the shop as soon as possible and become one more person in the streets.

One of the employees looked at him and noticed the key in his hand; the young man approached him and guided him quietly and smoothly through the store. James realised this store was in a basement, as he could see light and shadows of legs and shoes of the passers by through a small window, on the back wall. It was not a sunny day, as it looked quite dim and sombre out there, but he wasn’t surprised by that.

With help from the young man, he directed himself up the stairs, holding onto the handrail. With each step, a shooting pain travelled through his body, the effects of the transition affecting his entire body. To make things worse, his knee was very sore.

When he reached the ground floor, he looked out of the shop window. Recognising the street, he smiled, muttering to himself, “Home!”

Trying to shade his eyes from the daylight, the cloud-covered sky was still too bright for his eyes. Stepping out of the shop, breathing in the cooler air, he knew the running was over. Now, he needed to find somewhere safe to hide.

This was the first place that came to mind when he began to question where he should go. It was an easy choice for him, as no one knew him here – apart from the architect, and now he was dead. That gave him a sense of security. Many years had come and gone since he’d last been here, but it was the only place he knew he would be safe.

Looking around, he saw a tall, proud stone monument, a line of trees with a beautiful garden behind them. Its history went back to a time when there was once a lake, but not of fresh water. It looked even more beautiful now. Then, he saw the city skyline, above the top of the trees, the most dramatic and beautiful city in the whole world. Not that he had travelled much in his life, but, for him, no other place could be more beautiful! This city looked sad, strong, dark, scary, safe and magical, all at the same time!

Looking to his right, he saw the castle, on the top of a hill, a place he could spend hours admiring. He’d seen it many times before, but it always felt as if it was the first time his eyes had seen such beauty.

Suddenly, his mind shifted to the body of his dead friend, reminding him that he was not there just for visiting.