Artificial Heart
38

The driver weaved through the traffic expertly. Cars zoomed by. Horns honked. Prisha sucked in a breath when a truck slammed on the breaks directly in front of them. The driver yanked the wheel. Tires skidded. They swerved around intact.

Prisha looked behind her. In the distance she saw flashing lights.

‘So, you’re that woman, huh?’ he spoke, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. It was like staring back into Embry’s eyes. He was bald like Embry too. Black. Though he had a moustache.

‘Yeah, I’m that woman. Where are we going?’

‘Anywhere from here.’

The traffic was slowing. It was stopped further ahead.

‘Uh …’

‘Hold on.’ He took a sharp left. Prisha clutched onto the seat.

They straightened. They slowed. Prisha’s heart fell. More traffic. Now they came to a complete stop.

‘What do we do now?’ She looked behind and her heart sank further. Three black sedans were split up amid the traffic behind them. One was only two cars away. ‘We have to move!’

The man’s knuckles had turned pink around the wheel. His dark eyes looked into hers. ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’

‘They’re just going to get out of their cars. They’re going to chase me down!’

‘I’m sorry.’

Prisha’s stomach lurched. A man in black had left his car and was jogging towards her. She threw open the door. She hit the pavement.

It was hot now. Sweat beaded beneath her fringe. She skirted through the parked cars. One she even slid over the bonnet. People were watching her through their windshields as she flew by. Some were poking their heads out. Men in black, not just one now—she could see them. At least six of them, weaving their way between the cars.

‘Leave me alone!’ she shrieked.

She made it to the footpath, just managing to avoid colliding with a cyclist. Ahead was a bunch of old-fashioned office buildings—or maybe a combination of small shops. It was hard to tell what. Everything was so different. There were a lot of windows. Not many trees. Vaguely she saw that it was a beautiful street. For a weird thrilling moment, she suddenly remembered she was far across the world on another continent.

Her shoes pounded the pavement.

‘Get out of the way!’ Prisha screamed.

People leapt back. A few spilled onto the road. She skirted around a pram, the mother screaming in alarm. Traffic whooshed passed. She leapt over a puddle of water and tripped a little, colliding with a man holding his shopping.

‘Sorry!’ Prisha called.

She looked back. There were only four men in black now. And they were falling behind! How fast was she running? Where were the other two? She turned her head with a shout. The man was a blur as he leapt out of a side alley. He almost grabbed her. She felt his fingers slide over her arm. But he missed. He stumbled and crashed to the ground as Prisha breezed past.

Then she heard the siren. She saw the siren. Blue and red. It was up ahead.

Shit.

And then she saw something that confused her. A big figure hurtling in her direction. Not a man in black. Not a police officer. He wore a weird shining cloak that wouldn’t look out of place in a costume store. It had a hood that was pulled over his head. People leapt out of his way. He was running fast. So fast. Faster than even she was.

Prisha ducked into an alleyway to her right. Bad idea. The end was blocked off by a tall unscalable wall. She heard surprised and angry shouting behind her. She saw a bin. A ladder. Fire stairs that led upwards.

Prisha leapt onto the bin and launched herself towards the ladder, grasping onto the bottom rung. With a strength that was astounding, she pulled herself up rung by rung until her feet found purchase and she climbed.

She glanced below at the sound of rushing footsteps. Two of the men in black had entered the alleyway.

‘Leave me alone!’ she screamed.

One raced over. He studied the bin and the ladder, turned towards his partner and cupped his hands. Prisha continued climbing. She was fast and strong, though it wasn’t so easy after all her running, puffed and sweating, her hands slipping around the bars. At least it was cool, the opposite building providing shade. She felt the ladder wobble and looked back down to replace the second man climbing quickly after her.

She reached a platform and began climbing the next set of steep stairs. This time, the stairs wobbled dangerously. She could see that some of the supports had broken free from the building. She looked below again and saw that the man was quickly catching up.

Prisha reached the next level. Two levels later, she’d almost reached the top. Then she heard it—the thud thud thud of helicopter blades.

‘No!’ she gasped.

She clambered onto the rooftop. Her legs were aching now. Her chest was on fire. Her arms hung from her shoulders like noodles. She looked above, squinting against the glare. Light flashed off the helicopter’s windshield as it passed over.

Prisha stumbled as she ran. It was hard to breathe now. It was hard to think. She reached the edge of the roof and stopped. The roof of the next building was slightly lower but the gap between the two was significant. Prisha leaned over and peered down at the alley below. It was so far below it was dizzying.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the man in black had reached the top, red-faced and panting. She looked at him. He looked at her. He realised what she was prepared to do. His eyes widened.

‘Stop!’ He raised his hands.

‘Then stop chasing me!’

Prisha looked up again at the helicopter as it circled the building. It was flying low—and it was so loud! The deep thud of the blades seemed to vibrate in her bones. It turned the rooftop windy, blowing dust and her hair about.

‘We just want to help you!’ shouted the man over the noise.

Prisha glanced again at the alleyway. He took a step towards her.

‘Stay back!’

She looked up again when the helicopter took to hovering directly above. Something was dangling beneath it. A figure. Prisha’s eyes widened. They were lowering a man down towards her.

Fuck!

They couldn’t be this crazy! They surely couldn’t want her this badly.

The first man rushed towards her. Prisha leapt up on the ledge. She thrust out her hand. ‘STOP I will do it. I swear to God!’

He stopped.

She looked up and could see the man more clearly now, his harness, the cable. His sunglasses flashed against the glaring sunlight. Why were they all dressed in black?

Fuck it.

It wasn’t far. She could do it.

Alf was waiting.

Her heart skipped a beat. Her stomach lurched as she raced back several steps, then took off towards the edge. She thought she heard the man behind her shouting. Her ears rang loudly against the noise of the helicopter blades.

Thud thud thud. Much slower than her thrashing heart.

Her feet left the ground and it was like she was flying. It all happened in slow motion. All she could see, all she knew, was the other rooftop, and the air blasting in her face. It all felt very surreal. It felt like she was dreaming.

Then she was falling. And suddenly the slow motion turned to fast forward. She hit the ground with a heavy thud. She staggered. He knees bowed. She almost fell but managed to hold her weight.

And that was it. She’d done it! Everything was real again. Noisy. The thudding of the chopper blades echoed in her eardrums. Her racing heart pounded in her neck. She turned to look behind her. The man in black was staring at her from across the gap, hands braced against his head in disbelief.

The chopper circled away. The second man had landed and was busy unlocking his harness. The two men met each other, spoke, then shielded their faces as they looked over at Prisha.

Prisha spun back around. This building’s roof was much more interesting than the last one. There was a door. A steel cylinder. Pipes and rubber cording that she navigated around.

She tried the door. It opened. She was met by a stairwell.

Prisha slammed the door shut. There was no way. They’d catch her on the way down.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She raced from one side of the building to the other. A crowd of people had gathered down below, watching. There was no way down. She raced to the other side. Fire stairs! She leapt over the rail and onto the first step. Then she was speeding down. She didn’t look properly and didn’t realise until too late that the stairs did not reach the ground.

Fuck.