The Girl Who Kept Running

7. The Girl Who Flew to Kalamazoo

Recap (23 September, 2050):

Her breath got hitched. Instinctively, she hid behind the last outdoor display of large plastic items and peeked around.

Her mind was already in overdrive. In a single quantum leap, it had jumped back three years on to the biggest thoroughfare of another city. It was a different part of the country and the venue of her first, scary encounter with another group of these 'Monopoly Men'. 

***

30 March, 2047

The Furin Fray was her favorite music store in Troy, Michigan, at The Big Beaver, the biggest thoroughfare of the city's downtown. She had refused Vijay's offer to drive her there from Utica, preferring to take the bus. She didn't like the unwanted attentions of Vera's brother. At fifteen years of age, she believed it was time for more independence. 

As soon as she entered the music store, she knew something was off. While everybody seemed to be about their business, they were hushed, almost on their toes, as if aliens would come and devour them if they but made a rustle. Curious, she looked about and found them. 

They were huddled around the display of the latest album from the grunge supernova band Obsidian. Their stances framed as if the album was a rare meteor fallen from a far away planet, unwelcome on the surface of the earth. She observed them with amusement like a reporter who watches a group of donkeys painted into zebras in a third world zoo. As soon as they spotted her, though, the positions switched. Now she was the grimly observed target, and the Obsidian band-mates on album covers and posters were the amused bystanders. 

The antennae of her mind stood erect when she noticed them click into their roles with pre-engineered clockwork. One dialed into what must be some sort of an intranet, while the other began keying through some software program prompts. The two immediately drew their heads together in fast, clipped conversation. The last one steadied and stood firm on his legs, locking her in his gaze. 

The only things missing in this scene were earpieces connecting their maneuvers with control room puppeteers. Luckily, a pair of men, their arms locked tight around each other's shoulders, entered just then and passed between the predators and the victim.

It was her cue to dash for the exit.

She raced as far away from the music store as she could. Stretching her legs into the longest strides of her life, she turned the first corner that came up. 

Cars honked behind her. People yelled. She could distinctly hear soft yet fast running shoes, shuffling coats and pants.

And then, like the crackle of a gunshot she heard the yell.

"There she is. Into Helena!"

Everybody was sharply dressed in Troy, the city that had expanded into an unofficial commercial center in Michigan since the Smart Initiative. But those men who had pointed her out to each other were still a cut above. 

As the scrawny teen darted into a store, she turned for one last look at the army of these Men. A few more than the original three had joined the chase, all running into Helena Street, like a fresh batch of newly morphed Stormtroopers. They were only at a hundred feet of distance with her. She flew into the shop.