No Control
Chapter 2
David leaned against the car for what seemed like forever, it had actually been 3 minutes; as he waited; he scanned the car park, it was almost unoccupied, just three cars sat there. The car park was cold, the tarmac was old and worn, the painted direction sign rubbing off and smeared with tire tracks, several concrete pillars were built in three lines supporting the level above. David felt uneasy, there were several entrance/exit doors around his position by the car, and given he didn’t know what his next test was, it could easily be a survival test; kill the hounds as a test of your abilities; it did rather sound like them, he was seemingly progressing up some form of table, with each test being unique and creepy.
‘Ready?’ her voice made David jump back into the car.
‘Did I scare you David?’ she asked, she seemed to actually care how he was doing; weird, she threatened to kill him ten minutes ago.
‘You made me jump’ David snarled
‘Poor thing’ she patronised him again ‘your next test is more dangerous this time, you may encounter the police’
‘The police’ he interrupted her ‘at this rate I’ll have the…’ David checked his pockets, he had a wallet, he opened it and found several US Dollar notes, Assuming his was in some part of the United States, he continued ‘I’ll have the FBI or DEA after me; Not good’ he exclaimed
‘David, the DEA is corruption and drugs; you are not involved in neither’ he explained
‘So I could still have the FBI after me?’
‘I highly doubt that, you barely exist at all right now’ she stated
‘Excuse me? I don’t exist, what…who am i?’ David growled; in his frustration, he was passing in circles
‘Your name is David, You are 23; other information cannot be disclosed at this time, you must stay below the radar’
The radar? Was he an agent of some kind, can’t be, surely agents don’t have tests where they kill innocent people. Finally after a few moment of endless thought, he picked up the briefcase and walked through the door into the hotel, he instantly felt warmer; the hotel had a reasonable yellow paintjob in the stair well as he climbed it.
‘I’m in the hotel, where am I going?’ he asked impatiently
‘3rd floor, room 34, a man will give you a suit to where for the duration of your tests’ her voice made David wonder, she must be a highly controlled women, she controlled her emotions and only let out anger when she needed to prove her point. David continued up the stairs, he passed a sign saying Lobby and reception and continued toward the 3rd floor. During his accent, he walked past numerous people, businessman, a small family and a group of three teenage girls laughing as they excited the 2nd floor door; he climbed the last few steps and stepped through the door onto the 3rd floor, the nearest door was marked “89”, David knew he’d have t quickly find his way to room 34; despite time not being of the essence, David began to feel paranoid that it he was “too slow”, his arm would go numb again and he’d feel the cold barrel of his Glock against his temple before he had failed his task and the controller pulled the trigger. David passed rooms 81 to 50; he was following the signs on the wall pointing to which numbered rooms were.
Eventually, he stumbled across room 34 and knocked on the door. After several seconds, the door unlocked and opened, a muscular man in a suit stood in front of David, he stared at David before making space and pointing at a chair. David sat on the chair and the man turned around and walking into the bathroom on the left side of the room. As he sat there, he scanned the room; something was wrong, the room and been ‘torn apart’ and this guy seemed oblivious, unless he caused the destruction. The bedding was torn and draped across the bed, the TV was broken and sparking on its side on the floor, the dresser doors had been yanked off and clothes covered the area immediately outside the dresser, the carpet was stained and by the smell the man has urinated several times, there were bottle of various alcohol n the floor, in the bed and in the set of draws which seemed untouched. David became paranoid and on edge, he wasn’t sure whether talking to his controller was a good idea or not.
‘If you are inside the room, look around’ she voice had become some relief for him while in this seemingly hostile situation. Seeing as he had already completed this task, he sat and waited for another instruction; it was hard to remain calm as he waited, he share the hotel room with a guy with some heavy issues, and the room literally “stank of piss”. It then occurred to him that no one appeared to have discovered the room in its condition; he simply assumed that none of the rooms in “voice range” were occupied, or their occupants were not around when this guy went nuts. David sat the brief case on his lap, then looked up and almost had a heart attack; the man was sittings on a chair across the room looking at him, his eyes then shifted to look above David’s head. David looked up and noticed a thin black bag that contained his suit. He stood up and took the bag; he laid it down on the bed and opened it. Due to his current state of paranoia, David used his peripheral to see if his seemingly immobile roommate was still sitting. David unzipped the bag and took off his clothes; only after he had put on most of his suit, only ties and shoes remaining, he realised the man was staring at him, he still had the same blank look on his face.
‘I’m changed, what now?’ David asked her; the man looked at his with a look of both confusion and suspicion. He remained seated however, despite his lack of movement, David remained high paranoid, this man was practically twice his size, he appeared to be under control, perhaps he was a failure from similar test…or simply a drug addict or psychopath placed in the room to test David’s combat abilities. David finished by tossing the suits bag and his old clothes across the room, it came to his attention that this suit fit almost perfectly. But now, he was more concerned with his mysterious yet scary roommate.
‘This test is simple, observe your roommates actions, in 1 minute, you are to sit opposite him, pen the briefcase. This brief case contains a Mac 10 with a suppressor attached, the weapon has a magazine loaded in it already;, the safety catch is off. You have control’ her words were unnerving, it was obvious that he would have to kill this man; he was sure this test was to see how fast he could react if he pulled a gun on a man whose head was filled with darkness. David continued to observe his foe, this man had shown no current hostile intent, but her words made it seem as if this man would kill him is he hesitated; foe seemed the only fitting word at this point. He sat down, the man’s gaze never left him, his eyes were blood shot and dry, his was pale; no seat, no shaking. David looked in his pocket; a wrist watch, he put it on his wrist and looked at the time; 11:24 am. In one minute, he’d pull out the Mac 10 from the briefcase and point it at him; even if this man showed no hostility, David’s paranoia would make him pull the trigger, the suppressor would hide the noise, at most there would be a hum. The minutes passed slowly, he took a quick glance at the time, 20 seconds left, he looked up to see the man place his on his knees, the first actually body movement since his magically sat down without David noticing. The minute was up. David opened the briefcase and pulled out the suppressed Mac 10 and closed the briefcase, he sat the submachine gun on the briefcase; he saw the man look at the weapon. His face turned, David lifted the weapon and stood up holding the briefcase in his left hand. His opponent stood up and slowly approach, David pointed the Mac 10 it his chest and fired, moments later his let go of the trigger. The Drugged up man lay dead on the floor, only 10 bullet holes littered his chest, blood was flooding the carpet, at last, his eyes were closed.
David felt relieved; he simply placed the briefcase on the bed and opened it, in unloaded the Mac 10 and placed it inside the briefcase. He felt like a mercenary, a hired gun; technically he was, no, he wasn’t getting paid for this, he was a nobody; just a name and age, he had no identity. As he left the room, he headed back the same way he came, through the door and down the stairwell and back to the car. He contemplated no saying a thing, he’d get more time to be in control; but, if they found out he’s abused his time, they could make him pay, killing him where ever he was, and if he was driving, innocent people could get hurt.
‘It’s done, he’d dead’ David spoke reluctantly, he rubbed his forehead, he was sweating a little, the stress and paranoia of the room; he made it back the car park, the cold air was a relief this time, he felt his war body cool down. He walked to the car and placed the briefcase back into the boot and got into the car again. The driver’s seat was comfy, soft fabric and a cushion, he put the seatbelt on and waited.
‘Well done David, that was part one of test 3, the second part will test you combat skilled in a “open environment”’ She spoke
‘What the hell does “open environment” mean?’ David scolded
‘There is an abandoned Metro station called Melvin street station, you will park your car outside and give the keys to the man waiting on the bend, welcome him with and handshake so no onlooker is suspicious. Once he has taken the car, walk into the old Metro station, it’s often used as a way to get to a mall and a cinema dealing with traffic so we doubt you will be followed. Two men will meet you inside and guide you to the mall, once there, they will explain, I will fill in any details they miss’ her Instructions precise. David started the engine, he realised he had no idea where the metro station was.
‘Where is the station?’ he asked
‘It’s on the other side of the block, follow the road signs’ she seemed annoyed by his question.
David drove through the garage; and onto the street and stopped at a set of traffic lights. I occurred to him that he had no memory of anything before waking up, as if he’d been lobotomised the day before, and yet he knew how to drive, talk and walk. He quickly glanced into the car eye shield mirror. No apparent scar or visible wounds, it seemed he was not lobotomised. The light turned green and he followed the sign to pointing left, he was unnerved driving amongst normal people on the road, he’d killed five people in the space of four or five hours and no trace of any police presence, David could only guess that his tests were somewhat planned to see what skills he had, for whatever his actually task was. All he really knew was that his task would require gun skills and the ability to kill people. He was annoyed by the amount of unanswered/unanswerable questions he had; but he had little time to have them answered by his controller who seemed intent on causing him pain for his “Impractical” questions, which seemed to her like he was just delaying his tasks.
After a short drive, he reached the old station. A middle aged man sat reading a book, he couldn’t see the name, it didn’t have a lavishly designed colourful cover; it was a simple red coloured hardback book. The man looked up and began the stand, David stopped the engine and got out; he brought the briefcase with him and greeted the man with a hand shake as instructed. Afterward, the man got into the car and left, David turned around the see the old station; dark and empty, he walked up the steps and into the entrance; inside the old station it was damp and murky, despite its apparent “regular” use, weeds appeared to be growing near windows and some were dotted around having grown through cracks and break in the tiled floor. Ahead of him was the ticket office for the station, he examined it, a sign attached to a pillar read This stations ticket office and platform are closed until further notice, use of underground passages to the Mall and cinema are still in use, sorry for an inconvenience. Inconvenience, funny, this one time he walked into a metro station and he wasn’t using the train.
‘No inconvenience’ he chuckled tapping the sign with his finger as he walked away. He looked to his left and saw another sign above a rectangular opening, there was a sign above, this one however was meant to be more permanent than the “inconvenience” sign he’d just read; this one was a painted plate screwed to the wall. Lack of maintenance of the station in general had caused the sign to weather; the paint was dull, but readable: Right for The Mall, Go straight for Ellipse Cinema. A cool gust blew through the open entrance and through the broken windows, David heard the sound of paper rustling against the old tiled floor; he turned and looked down upon his right foot, a single $5 note was being blow against his foot, the breeze died. And sun light shone through the station entrance and windows, it was a cliché horror story moment; David picked up the $5 note and stuffed it in his pocket, he would need food at some point and he had a feeling he’d need to pay for it. David headed through the walkway and descended into the underground passageway; the passageway was dirty, grim covered the floor, the walls covered in graffiti and old adverts for various products sold in shops. As David strolled down the passageway, he saw two men carrying a long black bag waiting for him. They wore the same three-piece suits as he did, except theirs were a tinted grey.
‘You’re David right?’ the first man holding out his hand for a greeting
‘Yes’ David replied shaking the man’s hand
‘Good, take this bag and we’ll take the briefcase sir’ the men were formal, David handed over the Briefcase and slung the black bag over his right shoulder. The two men guided David through the passageway till another sign reading The Mall 20 meters ahead came above their heads. The men stopped and looked at David.
‘When you get into the Mall, you will make your way through a hardware store, once in the Main plaza; you will be underneath some scaffolding, climb it and hide in the concealed position’. David nodded, and the two men walked back the way they came. We watched them leave; while watching them, he noticed his arm was tingling and his head was beginning to ache, he assumed that the controlling signal being blocked by the underground passageway was causing his head to fell painful. He knew that as much as he wanted to remain in control, he’d have to enter the Mall for the growing pain to end.
‘Ready?’ her voice made David jump back into the car.
‘Did I scare you David?’ she asked, she seemed to actually care how he was doing; weird, she threatened to kill him ten minutes ago.
‘You made me jump’ David snarled
‘Poor thing’ she patronised him again ‘your next test is more dangerous this time, you may encounter the police’
‘The police’ he interrupted her ‘at this rate I’ll have the…’ David checked his pockets, he had a wallet, he opened it and found several US Dollar notes, Assuming his was in some part of the United States, he continued ‘I’ll have the FBI or DEA after me; Not good’ he exclaimed
‘David, the DEA is corruption and drugs; you are not involved in neither’ he explained
‘So I could still have the FBI after me?’
‘I highly doubt that, you barely exist at all right now’ she stated
‘Excuse me? I don’t exist, what…who am i?’ David growled; in his frustration, he was passing in circles
‘Your name is David, You are 23; other information cannot be disclosed at this time, you must stay below the radar’
The radar? Was he an agent of some kind, can’t be, surely agents don’t have tests where they kill innocent people. Finally after a few moment of endless thought, he picked up the briefcase and walked through the door into the hotel, he instantly felt warmer; the hotel had a reasonable yellow paintjob in the stair well as he climbed it.
‘I’m in the hotel, where am I going?’ he asked impatiently
‘3rd floor, room 34, a man will give you a suit to where for the duration of your tests’ her voice made David wonder, she must be a highly controlled women, she controlled her emotions and only let out anger when she needed to prove her point. David continued up the stairs, he passed a sign saying Lobby and reception and continued toward the 3rd floor. During his accent, he walked past numerous people, businessman, a small family and a group of three teenage girls laughing as they excited the 2nd floor door; he climbed the last few steps and stepped through the door onto the 3rd floor, the nearest door was marked “89”, David knew he’d have t quickly find his way to room 34; despite time not being of the essence, David began to feel paranoid that it he was “too slow”, his arm would go numb again and he’d feel the cold barrel of his Glock against his temple before he had failed his task and the controller pulled the trigger. David passed rooms 81 to 50; he was following the signs on the wall pointing to which numbered rooms were.
Eventually, he stumbled across room 34 and knocked on the door. After several seconds, the door unlocked and opened, a muscular man in a suit stood in front of David, he stared at David before making space and pointing at a chair. David sat on the chair and the man turned around and walking into the bathroom on the left side of the room. As he sat there, he scanned the room; something was wrong, the room and been ‘torn apart’ and this guy seemed oblivious, unless he caused the destruction. The bedding was torn and draped across the bed, the TV was broken and sparking on its side on the floor, the dresser doors had been yanked off and clothes covered the area immediately outside the dresser, the carpet was stained and by the smell the man has urinated several times, there were bottle of various alcohol n the floor, in the bed and in the set of draws which seemed untouched. David became paranoid and on edge, he wasn’t sure whether talking to his controller was a good idea or not.
‘If you are inside the room, look around’ she voice had become some relief for him while in this seemingly hostile situation. Seeing as he had already completed this task, he sat and waited for another instruction; it was hard to remain calm as he waited, he share the hotel room with a guy with some heavy issues, and the room literally “stank of piss”. It then occurred to him that no one appeared to have discovered the room in its condition; he simply assumed that none of the rooms in “voice range” were occupied, or their occupants were not around when this guy went nuts. David sat the brief case on his lap, then looked up and almost had a heart attack; the man was sittings on a chair across the room looking at him, his eyes then shifted to look above David’s head. David looked up and noticed a thin black bag that contained his suit. He stood up and took the bag; he laid it down on the bed and opened it. Due to his current state of paranoia, David used his peripheral to see if his seemingly immobile roommate was still sitting. David unzipped the bag and took off his clothes; only after he had put on most of his suit, only ties and shoes remaining, he realised the man was staring at him, he still had the same blank look on his face.
‘I’m changed, what now?’ David asked her; the man looked at his with a look of both confusion and suspicion. He remained seated however, despite his lack of movement, David remained high paranoid, this man was practically twice his size, he appeared to be under control, perhaps he was a failure from similar test…or simply a drug addict or psychopath placed in the room to test David’s combat abilities. David finished by tossing the suits bag and his old clothes across the room, it came to his attention that this suit fit almost perfectly. But now, he was more concerned with his mysterious yet scary roommate.
‘This test is simple, observe your roommates actions, in 1 minute, you are to sit opposite him, pen the briefcase. This brief case contains a Mac 10 with a suppressor attached, the weapon has a magazine loaded in it already;, the safety catch is off. You have control’ her words were unnerving, it was obvious that he would have to kill this man; he was sure this test was to see how fast he could react if he pulled a gun on a man whose head was filled with darkness. David continued to observe his foe, this man had shown no current hostile intent, but her words made it seem as if this man would kill him is he hesitated; foe seemed the only fitting word at this point. He sat down, the man’s gaze never left him, his eyes were blood shot and dry, his was pale; no seat, no shaking. David looked in his pocket; a wrist watch, he put it on his wrist and looked at the time; 11:24 am. In one minute, he’d pull out the Mac 10 from the briefcase and point it at him; even if this man showed no hostility, David’s paranoia would make him pull the trigger, the suppressor would hide the noise, at most there would be a hum. The minutes passed slowly, he took a quick glance at the time, 20 seconds left, he looked up to see the man place his on his knees, the first actually body movement since his magically sat down without David noticing. The minute was up. David opened the briefcase and pulled out the suppressed Mac 10 and closed the briefcase, he sat the submachine gun on the briefcase; he saw the man look at the weapon. His face turned, David lifted the weapon and stood up holding the briefcase in his left hand. His opponent stood up and slowly approach, David pointed the Mac 10 it his chest and fired, moments later his let go of the trigger. The Drugged up man lay dead on the floor, only 10 bullet holes littered his chest, blood was flooding the carpet, at last, his eyes were closed.
David felt relieved; he simply placed the briefcase on the bed and opened it, in unloaded the Mac 10 and placed it inside the briefcase. He felt like a mercenary, a hired gun; technically he was, no, he wasn’t getting paid for this, he was a nobody; just a name and age, he had no identity. As he left the room, he headed back the same way he came, through the door and down the stairwell and back to the car. He contemplated no saying a thing, he’d get more time to be in control; but, if they found out he’s abused his time, they could make him pay, killing him where ever he was, and if he was driving, innocent people could get hurt.
‘It’s done, he’d dead’ David spoke reluctantly, he rubbed his forehead, he was sweating a little, the stress and paranoia of the room; he made it back the car park, the cold air was a relief this time, he felt his war body cool down. He walked to the car and placed the briefcase back into the boot and got into the car again. The driver’s seat was comfy, soft fabric and a cushion, he put the seatbelt on and waited.
‘Well done David, that was part one of test 3, the second part will test you combat skilled in a “open environment”’ She spoke
‘What the hell does “open environment” mean?’ David scolded
‘There is an abandoned Metro station called Melvin street station, you will park your car outside and give the keys to the man waiting on the bend, welcome him with and handshake so no onlooker is suspicious. Once he has taken the car, walk into the old Metro station, it’s often used as a way to get to a mall and a cinema dealing with traffic so we doubt you will be followed. Two men will meet you inside and guide you to the mall, once there, they will explain, I will fill in any details they miss’ her Instructions precise. David started the engine, he realised he had no idea where the metro station was.
‘Where is the station?’ he asked
‘It’s on the other side of the block, follow the road signs’ she seemed annoyed by his question.
David drove through the garage; and onto the street and stopped at a set of traffic lights. I occurred to him that he had no memory of anything before waking up, as if he’d been lobotomised the day before, and yet he knew how to drive, talk and walk. He quickly glanced into the car eye shield mirror. No apparent scar or visible wounds, it seemed he was not lobotomised. The light turned green and he followed the sign to pointing left, he was unnerved driving amongst normal people on the road, he’d killed five people in the space of four or five hours and no trace of any police presence, David could only guess that his tests were somewhat planned to see what skills he had, for whatever his actually task was. All he really knew was that his task would require gun skills and the ability to kill people. He was annoyed by the amount of unanswered/unanswerable questions he had; but he had little time to have them answered by his controller who seemed intent on causing him pain for his “Impractical” questions, which seemed to her like he was just delaying his tasks.
After a short drive, he reached the old station. A middle aged man sat reading a book, he couldn’t see the name, it didn’t have a lavishly designed colourful cover; it was a simple red coloured hardback book. The man looked up and began the stand, David stopped the engine and got out; he brought the briefcase with him and greeted the man with a hand shake as instructed. Afterward, the man got into the car and left, David turned around the see the old station; dark and empty, he walked up the steps and into the entrance; inside the old station it was damp and murky, despite its apparent “regular” use, weeds appeared to be growing near windows and some were dotted around having grown through cracks and break in the tiled floor. Ahead of him was the ticket office for the station, he examined it, a sign attached to a pillar read This stations ticket office and platform are closed until further notice, use of underground passages to the Mall and cinema are still in use, sorry for an inconvenience. Inconvenience, funny, this one time he walked into a metro station and he wasn’t using the train.
‘No inconvenience’ he chuckled tapping the sign with his finger as he walked away. He looked to his left and saw another sign above a rectangular opening, there was a sign above, this one however was meant to be more permanent than the “inconvenience” sign he’d just read; this one was a painted plate screwed to the wall. Lack of maintenance of the station in general had caused the sign to weather; the paint was dull, but readable: Right for The Mall, Go straight for Ellipse Cinema. A cool gust blew through the open entrance and through the broken windows, David heard the sound of paper rustling against the old tiled floor; he turned and looked down upon his right foot, a single $5 note was being blow against his foot, the breeze died. And sun light shone through the station entrance and windows, it was a cliché horror story moment; David picked up the $5 note and stuffed it in his pocket, he would need food at some point and he had a feeling he’d need to pay for it. David headed through the walkway and descended into the underground passageway; the passageway was dirty, grim covered the floor, the walls covered in graffiti and old adverts for various products sold in shops. As David strolled down the passageway, he saw two men carrying a long black bag waiting for him. They wore the same three-piece suits as he did, except theirs were a tinted grey.
‘You’re David right?’ the first man holding out his hand for a greeting
‘Yes’ David replied shaking the man’s hand
‘Good, take this bag and we’ll take the briefcase sir’ the men were formal, David handed over the Briefcase and slung the black bag over his right shoulder. The two men guided David through the passageway till another sign reading The Mall 20 meters ahead came above their heads. The men stopped and looked at David.
‘When you get into the Mall, you will make your way through a hardware store, once in the Main plaza; you will be underneath some scaffolding, climb it and hide in the concealed position’. David nodded, and the two men walked back the way they came. We watched them leave; while watching them, he noticed his arm was tingling and his head was beginning to ache, he assumed that the controlling signal being blocked by the underground passageway was causing his head to fell painful. He knew that as much as he wanted to remain in control, he’d have to enter the Mall for the growing pain to end.