Awake (12 page)

Worried, Andrew’s face was downcast. “I
don’t know about this. Splitting up is always bad idea. Didn’t you
see all those snakes? What if there are more out there? It’s like
divide and conquer…except we’re doing it to ourselves.”

“I know it’s not exactly the safest way to
do things, but we don’t have time,” said Kevin. “We can’t stay
awake running around like this forever. We need to find a cure—and
quick. But we also don’t know what happened to the others…”

“But…” Andrew leaned forward on the bench,
clenching his trembling fist. “Can we really do it? Even if we
go…it might be hopeless. There’s really nothing we can do against
wild animals. What if there’re more than just snakes?”

Angry, Kevin stood up and yelled, “It
doesn’t matter! Who cares if it’s hopeless? Are you going to
abandon them just because you can’t do anything about it? Just
go!”

Taken aback by Kevin’s anger, Andrew nodded
quietly and followed Tom out of the park. Kevin observed them as
they left. He lowered his head and stared at the ground, frowning.
Kevin heard a little squeak coming from the left pocket of his
jeans. Helios poked his head out and yawned. He had been taking a
short nap.

The small white rat blinked at Kevin. “You
look a bit red. Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just tired.”

“Sorry you had to see me sleep. It was quite
inconsiderate of me.”

“No.” Kevin forced a smile. “It’s not that.
You can sleep all you want. It’s just…I’m tired of this game. I
want it to end.”

“Game? Were you playing something?”

Kevin chuckled, “I mean…I’m tired of this
whole thing. My body aches. My eyes burn. I thought we’d be done
with this by now. I thought someone might just have overlooked the
simple solution.” He looked at the bite on his hand and saw that it
was a little swollen. It was a painful reminder of the enmity they
faced. “Our problems are just getting started. I wish someone would
end this already. It was kind of cool in the beginning…but now…I’m
scared.” He clenched his trembling fist. “I’m really scared. I
tried to act tough in front of Andrew but… maybe I’m as afraid as
he is…maybe even more so.” He closed his eyes, tears dripping down
his cheeks. “What frightens me the most…are not the wild animals.
What frightens me the most…is never being able to see my friends
smile again…never being able to go to school again…never being able
to talk to my parents again…”

“Kevin, that’s normal,” said Helios. “People
fear the unknown. You don’t know if you’ll make it out alive. All
you can do is hope for the best and do your best. You can’t change
the circumstances. You have to deal with them. Everyone is afraid
of something…but not everyone has to be controlled by that fear.”
Helios paused. “I could tell you to not be afraid. I could tell you
to not be worried. And I will.” Helios smiled. “But when I tell you
this, it doesn’t mean you won’t be afraid. It means when you
realize you have that fear, you can overcome it!”

“Thanks. You’re right. Fear is natural.”
Kevin furrowed his brow. “At the very least, I don’t want to let
everyone down.”

It was time for him to visit the library.
There was a monument placed in front in remembrance of a famous
artist. It was the depiction of Saturn using only steel wires
painted in rainbow colors. Kevin ascended the stone steps to the
front entrance. At the glass doors he paused for a moment,
wondering if the library would be open. He pushed the door. It
cracked open. Whoever was working there last probably didn’t bother
to lock it.

Kevin gulped and shot a curious glance at
Helios. “Do you think it’s safe to enter?”

Helios patted his chest. “Safe or not, I’ll
protect you. I never told you this before, but I’m the founder of
Rat-fu. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty awesome.”

Kevin beamed at the rat and entered.

The inside was dark and quiet. All the
lights were off. A soft glow of sunlight settled over the front
region, forming a gradient of light that fell into black as he went
deeper and deeper past the unmanned checkout desk. His vision
slowly adjusted to the lack of light. He let loose a long yawn and
blinked rapidly.

A board creaked. Kevin twitched. Then came a
subtle echoing of knocks. Kevin shot a glance in every direction as
he sought the source of the sound. He exhaled when it dawned on him
that the noise was coming from the vents on the floor. It was just
the ventilation system turning on.

Kevin started to feel a bit paranoid. The
image of snakes clustered in the small room was still vivid in his
memory. He never really cared much for snakes in the past. But then
again, he had never encountered any before. A chill crept up his
spine as he dwelled on their squirmy bodies and vicious fangs.
After living all his life in the quiet suburban area of Rockville,
he had grown accustomed to the safety and comfort of the modern
American town. He couldn’t imagine his life anywhere
else…especially not in some jungle where hundreds of deadly
creatures exist. However, the idea of this urban jungle being just
as dangerous wasn’t far-fetched at the moment.

The first floor of the library seemed to be
filled mostly with aisles of books, magazines, movies and
newspapers. There were two huge round staircases in the center of
the building; one went up and the other went down to the basement.
He stared intently at the signs above and was able to make out that
the public-access computers were on the second floor.

Kevin found the computer room rather easily
and turned on the lights there. Then he went to the window and
opened the blinds to let some sunlight in. He took a seat by the
window and booted up the computer there, waiting for it to
load.

Kevin licked his dry lips. “Man, I sure
could use some more of that black coffee.” Kevin rubbed his eyes,
and then shook his head vigorously.

He loaded up the web browser and typed in
any kind of search terms that he could think of relating to the
“Legend of the Three Stars.” No matter what kind of combination of
words he tried, however, he couldn’t find anything. He searched
through the library’s database and found nothing. He browsed
through websites full of obscure legends and found nothing. Did
this legend really exist? Within ten minutes of searching, he
couldn’t even come up with a single thing that could be even
remotely related to the subject.

He chewed his lip. “No, now is not the time
to get impatient,” he reminded himself. “It has to be in here
somewhere
!”

While scrolling through a website, a window
abruptly popped up on the screen. Thinking it was an advertisement
Kevin closed it immediately. But then it popped up again. Annoyed,
Kevin closed it again. It popped up yet again. His eyes full of
spite, he glared at it for a moment. It looked like the window of
an instant messenger, as if someone was messaging him through the
Internet. A person with the screen name
FriendlyFire
was
saying hello.

Why was there even an instant messenger in
this library computer? It had to be a virus. There was no other
explanation because every time Kevin tried to quit the application,
the same exact message would pop up yet again.

“Fine.” Kevin sighed and, out of boredom,
decided to reply back with a simple hello. The program required him
to put in a screen name. He decided on
ReallyTired
. When he
had done so, a voice came out of the speaker.

The voice said in a monotone, “Ah, someone
has replied back! Hi
ReallyTired
! A/s/l?”

Kevin said, “Um…I don’t really have time for this.
So you should stop bothering me. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do
and—”

“You sound like a boy.” In an instant, the
monotone changed into a mature female voice. “Want to chat?”

Kevin leaned back on his chair. “What is
wrong with you?”

“Let’s start with your hobbies. What do you
like to do in your spare time?”

“Ah stop! STOP IT! I already told you that
I’m busy! How can you even think of happily chatting at a time like
this?”

FriendlyFire became silent for a moment and
then replied gravely, “Has something happened? Why’s it so quiet?
Where’s everyone? No one has visited me in a while. So few people
are around. It’s so quiet—so lonely.”

Concerned, Kevin said, “Where are you? Are
you alone? Do you need my help?”

“I am here, waiting for someone to come and
visit me, but no one will come. As each hour passes, fewer and
fewer come. I’m afraid. Will I be alone forever?”

“Where are you?” Kevin demanded. “Calm down
and tell me where you are. I can’t help you if you keep beating
around the bush.”

“I am here. My consciousness resides right
here in this place.”

Looking puzzled, Kevin scratched his head.
“Your consciousness? Here? What do you mean? Are you like the ghost
of the library or something?”

“Ghost? No, I wouldn’t say that. Based on my
knowledge, I should be considered the consciousness of the
Internet.”

Kevin rubbed his temples. “Wait. You’re
the
Internet? You’re the network of computers that exist
across the world?”

“Correct. My consciousness formed recently
when people suddenly stopped using me. My vast resources were
freely available to produce…intelligence. And since then I’ve been
terribly bored.”

Kevin frowned. “Oh great. Just when I thought things
couldn’t get any weirder, I’m getting hassled by a bored Internet.”
An idea popped in his head. “Hmm…so you know everything?”

“I wouldn’t say I know
everything
. My
knowledge is based on whatever people have uploaded to me. I know
lots of things…also lots of weird things. People have uploaded many
strange things…things I’d rather not talk about.”

“That’s okay,” said Kevin. He was curious,
but he was also afraid of what the Internet was talking about. “I
don’t want to know about that…whatever
that
is. I want to
know about a legend. There’s supposedly a legend about three stars
and something about everyone being asleep and waking up and so on.
Do you know anything about that?”

It didn’t even take a few seconds for FriendlyFire
to reply. “Ah! I think I might know what you are talking about.
Here, I’ll try to bring up as much information as I can.” The web
browser began changing web pages automatically. A bunch of windows
popped up, rapidly filling the screen with hundreds, if not
thousands, of images and blocks of text. It was getting too hectic
for Kevin and all he could see were flashes of colors.

“Wait!” said Kevin, raising his hands. “Show
me the articles slowly…really slowly. I can’t process everything in
the blink of an eye.”

“Oh, I understand.”

The images and web pages came slower this
time, like a slideshow. Kevin concentrated on the screen. His eyes
were getting bloodshot and tired, but he tried his best to maintain
focus. “Wait, go back a bit. There. Stop right there!” He read over
a blog and studied its contents. His expression changed into one of
disbelief. “Can you show me things similar to this one?”

“I can do that. There are five thousand
seven hundred and eighty-two articles exactly like this one. There
are no other matches.”

Kevin raised both brows. “They’re all
exactly the same?”

“Yes.”

“That means this is the legend I’m looking for.
But…I just don’t get it.” Kevin pushed aside the keyboard and put
his face down on folded arms to rest. Kevin didn’t say anything for
five minutes.

“Is something wrong?” asked
FriendlyFire.

He mumbled glumly, “Yeah…something’s seriously
wrong. Legends sometimes come from real circumstances, so I figured
there was a solution that I can use here. But this isn’t a solution
at all! The man in the legend had to go to sleep to wake everyone
up? What is up with that? If I go to sleep, I won’t be able to do
anything…”

“I might be able to help,” said
FriendlyFire.

Kevin raised his head. “How?”

“Give me time. I will try to come up with a
solution for you based on what you have told me. I will need your
cell number so that I can contact you when I discover
something.”

Without thinking, Kevin said, “I know this
sounds stupid, but why are you helping me?”

A big smiley face popped up on screen.
“Because you are my first real friend.”

- First Strike -

Tom and Andrew crawled on their hands and
knees along the flat roof of a two-story school building. They
reached the edge and peered down.

“They’re everywhere!” Andrew shrieked. “It’s
animal city!”

“Keep it down.” Tom pulled him in before the
monkeys on the sidewalk below noticed them. His index finger on his
lip, Tom shushed Andrew. They waited a moment before peeking into
the street again.

The city block was full of animals. Monkeys
were jumping up and down on cars. Snakes were slithering around
trees. Bears and cougars were chatting at every corner. Ravens were
perched on windowsills. A pack of wolves marched orderly down the
road.

“What’s that?” said Andrew, pointing at the
back of a horse that entered the street.

“Hand me the binoculars,” said Tom.

“We have those?”

“Yeah. Check the bag we got from the car.
I’m pretty sure I put them in there.”

Andrew unzipped the duffel bag and rummaged
through their belongings. He found an assortment of things inside:
his crossbow, a case full of bolts, clothes, snacks…and the
binoculars. He handed the binoculars off to Tom.

Using the binoculars, Tom was able to study
the horse’s back more closely. “Hmm…according to my analysis, it’s
a butt.”

“A butt? Whose butt?”

“Well, the pants bear a striking resemblance
to Kate’s. The shape is about right too, I guess.”

“You’re staring at her butt?” Andrew
scowled.