Predator (5 page)
She glanced through the complicated graphs and spikes that flickered on screen. She surveyed the online activity of the common people where online predators roamed free. That was her job. Li’l Miss Cyber Cop, daughter of a self-obsessed wine-maker, sister of a demented, albeit polished investment banker, was the Goddess of the World Wide Web.
The icy-cold server room, the gloom and absence of fans vaguely reminded her of the cellars her Dad used for wine-making. It was kinda similar. But this was her world where she was Goddess, not Jonathan Jones’s domain. The similarity ended there. This room was full of machines and cyber-robots that monitored online activity of millions of people worldwide.
This was her temple where the servers were her slaves, though each server had its own quirks and idiosyncrasies, just like the online predators who had multiple faces and a multitude of personalities.
Salmonella’s job was to track everyone around the world who was online on social media sites via a PC, laptop, tablet, phone or any other mobile device. Her job was to ensure that the world worked fine and stayed safe, and this was her world. It was dark, cold, dingy – so unlike the blinding glare of the bright world outside.
Her mind wandered to the last time she’d had sex. It had been a month ago when she’d met this really cool disc jockey who called himself ‘Prince’. One drink too many, scintillating music, and she found herself in bed with him. She had liked his deep, dark, mysterious aspect, a quality that she found very attractive.
Prince hadn’t been one of those typical dumb DJs who’d wear loony, tight, pink pants and sway to the beat even if they hated it. He had come across as a genuine person who was working his way through college, and this partying was just another step in his career ladder.
After sex, he’d told her that he was a microbiologist and wanted to be a successful person like her Dad someday. That had put her off him completely. How could he have wanted to become someone like Joe? It was worse than aspiring to become an international terrorist. She felt used.
She lounged in her swivel chair as a stream of childhood memories replayed inside her head – many of which she wanted to forget anyway. As the night wore on, her burning desire to seek a place for herself in the outside world dimmed and flickered out. She touched her scar again. She needed a distraction.
The forthcoming college reunion was just that. It brought a smile to her face because she knew she would get to meet her crush, Derek Demonia, once again. Derek and his band of brothers – Chief Redbull, Goose Goldsmith and Hound Hitchhiker, they were cool in an offbeat sort of way.
She knew they were to arrive the next day as Chris had posted about them on his Facebook wall. So had Grace, her one and only true friend in the whole world.
Florence decided to check the activity on Grace’s Facebook wall. The beautiful, gorgeous Grace was Miss Popular in high school and in college as well. She was perfect in every way with a heart of gold to boot. Salmonella smiled as she remembered the night she left home and had gone straight to Grace’s house.
It had been raining that night and she’d turned up like a train wreck on Grace’s doorstep without notice. She had been way too messed up back then. Grace had welcomed her with open arms and they had been the best of friends ever since. She was the only family Salmonella ever wanted. She knew that her fool of a brother, Chris, liked Grace a lot.
Salmonella’s wall was full of posts and tags from others, friends wanting to know what she was wearing, who she was dating and dumb, stupid photo-tags from dorks who were vying for her attention while Grace’s wall had very minimal activity. Not many people were after Grace the way they craved Salmonella’s attention with ‘Likes’ and ‘Tags’.
Salmonella was happy that Grace was there in her life as a true friend. She smiled as she saw a post on Grace’s wall from Chris that said that he was looking forward to meeting the class of ’99 batch along with his sister Florence.
He had posted a picture of the invitation and had tagged her along with Derek, Chief, Goose and Hound. Prince was tagged as well, for he was to be the DJ on that night. Derek came online and she wondered whether to get chatting with Derek for a lark.
It would surely burn up Prince. Florence wanted Prince to feel jealous of Derek. She smiled as she posted smileys and hearts for Derek on Grace’s wall, said she loved him still. Deep inside her heart, she knew that he was the only one she’d ever loved.
True love happens only once. It had happened to her a long time ago.
An Incident
It had barely been a couple of days when yet another incident had shaken the town out of its deep slumber. Rains lashed the town around midnight as though the angels of doom were descending upon it with the sudden cloudburst. There were very few people on the street. The calmness and serenity of the place, despite the downpour, bothered Chris. As he tossed around on his bed to catch some sleep, the music of the rain on the streets was suddenly disrupted by a wail of sirens.
Chris flung off the blanket, sprang out of bed and rushed to the window to watch an ambulance hurtle by. A police car was leading the ambulance. Chris smiled. ‘Finally, some more action in this stupid town this week!’ said Chris to himself and picked up his phone and punched a few numbers.
Salmonella, busily working in the cold server room, saw her cellphone light up and beep. She picked up the phone and said, ‘What’s up, asshole? Why aren’t you asleep?’
The voice at the other end replied, ‘Cut it out, Sis! There seems to be some more action in this hick of a town. The devil has returned! I just saw a screaming ambulance and a cop car go by. Can you tap into your cyber world and tell me what’s going on? I’m loving this!’
Salmonella felt her throat go dry as she replied, ‘Wait up, let me check, stay online’, as she changed the RSS feed filters to tune into the local news channels and social media bursts. Her dorky brother was right as she saw the news feeds flow in.
Her heart was pounding as she said, ‘Chris? Yes, I’m seeing it too. They’re saying that this is the fifth reported incident in the past one week. They have found the body of a 25-year old woman very close to the graveyard behind our vineyard. She was found naked and signs of extreme violence and sexual assault are visible all over her. Feeds say that the body looks completely drained of blood. They also say that she was tortured for many days and recently dead for the body is not yet fully decomposed … ’
‘Wow! That sounds so cool! Isn’t this déjà vu? Tell me, was the body partially eaten by scavenging animals or was she found in one piece like the last one? Did they find the same markings on her body as well?’ asked Chris excitedly like a gleeful 10-year old.
‘Show some respect for the dead, asshole! Yes, they have. However, the details are not yet being streamed online. Some feeds say she’s got similar cuts and wound marks. Also, since the naked body of the victim was found at the same graveyard, it is similar to the past … ’, said Salmonella, punching alphabets and numbers on the keyboard furiously with one hand, phone in the other.
‘Wow! I can bet my life on it that the town folk must be wondering if the devil has returned. The urban legend rocks! Remember, when a nude, blood-drained body of a 21-year-old was found in exactly the same place? They said she’d disappeared six days ago! Are these guys going after the devil now?’ said Chris, as he tried to jog Salmonella’s memory.
‘Yes. Wow! It was such a gruesome sight! How could I forget? Dad had warned us about Inspector Khan and asked us to stay away from him!’ said Salmonella, noting that the flickers on the screen indicated that Inspector Khan was being quoted already.
‘Cool! Let me switch on the TV and see what’s going on. Thank you so much, sis, this makes my day! Goodnight, hack around. It was nice talking to you,’ said Chris and hung up without even giving Salmonella a chance to close the call.
Joe was with Inspector Khan at the Police Station already for the body was found by one of the helpers at the vineyard. As Joe and Inspector Khan stood silently watching the paramedics pull the stretcher out of the ambulance, Inspector Khan whispered, ‘Monica. That’s the name of the victim. She was reported missing exactly six days ago. I’m sure you knew her!’
Nursery rhymes and fluffy dreams, they fill me with disgust
,
Nothing lasts, nothing’s true, they just turn to dust
You didn’t control your libido online, my sweet little whore
,
You know the Predator is out there, yet you asked for more?
Twinkle, twinkle, little bud, do me a favour before you die
,
Fill my cup with your blood, let’s make the angels sigh
;
Get away, your immorality shall take its toll
,
Burn in hell and let the demons ravage your soul!
—The Predator
Grace’s Folly
Grace was comfortably ensconced in the cushions on the wide window seat, which overlooked the large backyard, her favourite spot. The airy and elegant two-storey house she shared with her best friend, did have a perfectly handy garage of its own, but Salmonella preferred to park her Jeep in the backyard. Salmonella and her wild conspiracy theories, Grace smiled. Salmonella considered the window seat a convenient escape route because one could quite easily climb out into their rear garden from here, although neither had ever really put this to the test.
Florence and Grace had been best friends since childhood, now they were inseparable.
The rain had bucketed down all evening. The small velvet green garden in front of her house had turned into a pond and a frog concert had started an impromptu performance in the pond-sized puddle. The large, scented candle placed by the window flickered, but bravely continued to fill the room with fragrance.
Grace didn’t feel cheerful, though. It was past midnight and she was worried about Florence. Holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate in one hand, Grace checked her phone for messages from Florence that told her she was almost home.
Grace never quite liked the graveyard shifts that Florence seemed to thrive on. Although to the rest of world she was
‘Salmonella’
, the Warrior Princess of the cyber world, who spent her time battling computer contagions, she was still Florence to her. She remembered when she’d told Grace that Florence had died with her mother, and she’d never forgive Joe, ever.
But Salmonella loved Chris more than Florence did. Florence was just a little girl who loved her Barbie doll more than she did her own brother, but Salmonella was a lone ranger who would never abandon Chris and leave him alone in this world. Florence loved being Salmonella.
She’d told Grace that the outside world was dangerous. Especially after nightfall, there were predators both online and off, all looking for a quick and dirty love. Night time seemed to bring out the worst in weirdos.
It was past midnight and there were no messages from Florence yet. Grace let out a sigh of relief as she saw a notification pop up on the phone.
Salmonella had just commented on the invitation picture posted by Chris on her wall. She felt relieved that her friend was safe – silly Sal was still at work, but she was kicking ass.
Grace put her phone aside and gripped the warm mug. It warmed her both within and without. Now reassured that Florence was alright, she decided it was time to relocate to her bedroom with the cocoa.
She snuggled into her blanket, and, although the rain continued to bucket down, it felt safe in her warm comfy bed. She switched off the bedside lamp and turned on the radio on her cell phone. Florence had hooked it up to the hi-fi using her IT know-how.
Evanescence
serenaded her. Grace looked out of the window and watched the raindrops fall. She remembered the time she and Salmonella got drenched in the rain years ago. It had been the eve of her twenty-third birthday, and getting close to midnight. It was pouring cats and dogs when Salmonella had dragged Grace out of her cosy bed to go for a walk in the deluge.
The rain had seemed like slivers of liquid moonshine.