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Chapter 4 - Atticus

Atticus, 27 works at the Fleet Management system as a senior operations official. He stays alone in his apartment with a few plants that need to be watered every day. The apartment is outside the district. The district is where all the companies are located, every day millions of people who stay outside the district commute to the office and back to their houses and so on forth. Atticus is also one among the millions participating in this ritual. A hundred blocks that go beyond the horizon house the millions. Atticus has been so punctual that he was awarded numerous disciplinary awards so early on in his career. He had a keen sense of detail and knew instinctively how things in the office worked.
One such day
As Atticus dwindles away his time away in a concrete building, he is called upon to inspect a factory in which the fleets are houses. There was an e-mail at 8:00 PM last night intimating a security breach in one of the factories — about 500 miles from the headquarters. So Atticus gets up in the morning and gets in his ride-wagon and speeds to the location. It was more of an away time than a matter of concern, which was well known to Atticus. A security breach happened all the time, well at least once a month. It could be a homeless man who has entered to spend the night or a raccoon in search of food. Nonetheless, it had to be attended to. Atticus, 27 works at the Fleet Management system as a senior Operations official. He stays alone in his apartment with a few plants that need to be watered every day. The apartment is outside the district. The district is where all the companies are located, every day millions of people who stay outside the district commute to the office and back to their houses and so on forth. Atticus is also one among the millions participating in the rituals. A hundred blocks that go beyond the horizon house the millions. Atticus has been so punctual that he was awarded numerous disciplinary awards so early on in his career. He had a keen sense of detail and knew instinctively how things in the office worked.
One such Day
As Atticus dwindles away his time away in a concrete building, he is called upon to inspect a factory in which the fleets are houses. There was an e-mail at 8:00 PM last night intimating a security breach in one of the factories — about 500 miles from the headquarters. So Atticus gets up in the morning and gets in his ride-wagon and speeds to the location. It was more of an away time than a matter of concern, which was well known to Atticus. A security breach happened all the time, well at least once a month. It could be a homeless man who has entered to while away the night or a raccoon in search of food. Nonetheless, it had to be attended to! All he had to do was to punch in the security code, scan for damages and report it to the senior office of the region. Simple protocol usually. It was around noon that he finally reached the factory. He carried his lunch as usual and ate it along the way. But the surprise that awaited him was something he has never encountered. As he parked his vehicle and slowly entered the building, the lights were all off — highly suspicious since this was a Category A — Location — Meaning a theft or damage occurred once in 5 years. As he made his way into the building with his company-given magnum flashlight, he started to notice a number of gaps between the vehicles. Atticus looked back at the door for a good few seconds as he was sure that there must have been damage. He again turned back at the gaps to scan for information. The building must have housed a few hundred vehicles (estimated in the range of 500 vehicles ). And now according to his calculations, at least 50 of them have to be missing. He knew better to call his friend Chris now than to solve the case by himself or report it to the head of security in the headquarters. Any information that was to be given to the headquarters need to be thorough and lately, there has been a bit of negligence in the main building, as there has been talk of corporate change set to happen.
Within half an hour, Chris had arrived at the scene of the crime. "Hello, Chris" welcomed Atticus.
"Hello Atticus," said Chris quickly getting into the thick of things. Sensing things were a little heated up.
"Chris, look at this. There is at least a fleet of 50 vehicles missing" said Atticus.
"Ok I will have a look at the scene, see if I can get any fingerprints or some ID cards" replied Chris and got his torch light on and went searching for some clues which could be interesting to the case.
Meanwhile, Atticus was looking around to see if he can get any clues. But he limited his perimeter. Let the pro do the big work. Chris was audible for a while, as they caught up on certain things. But soon he became inaudible. The lights were not particularly bright that day. He tried analyzing where Chris ought to be. But soon gave up and was lost in his own trail and thoughts. A few minutes went on and suddenly he felt the presence of something that he deeply remembered. It was an otherworldly presence, a presence he remembered seeing when he was very young
The memory was always a disturbing and inconclusive one. Nothing could be made of it, but just bits and pieces. He could vaguely remember a child being carried away by that presence. The footsteps grew louder and he somehow caught a glimpse of what resembled a security guard.
"Hey" shouted Atticus at the Guard. The guard just continued running and not paying any attention to him. Atticus chased him for a while and suddenly came to a halt. He stood there in disbelief. The guard just passed through a vehicle as if he were a ghost. Atticus was bemused and it surely confirmed his belief it was the same presence he had seen when he was a kid. After a few seconds of disbelief, he continued his chase, going in mazes. Unable to find the guard or his friend, he took a moment's rest to catch his breath. As he made his way back to the entrance now, to his left he was shocked to see his friend unconscious!
He hurriedly went and checked his pulse. Chris was dead!