The Hunters

Chapter Three: The Accessories

James Wayne lived an interesting life. He was thirty-six, unmarried, no children, and worked for the Pacifica Central News; or PCN. He was charming, personable, and intelligent, and the kind of man who waved and said "hello" to people on the trolley or sidewalk. His warming smile was undeniable, and he had an uncanny ability to defuse any situation, as reporters often had to do.

He also didn't exist.

The man existed, as many people had met him, but everything else was a lie. If one were to verify his employment through PCN, they would tell you that no person by that name had ever worked there. His given address was an empty alley between a dry-cleaners and a hair salon, and his backstory was complex and believable, yet just as empty.

Living in Pacifica in 2091 without an ID chip was difficult, but not impossible. The chip did many things, from acting as an undisputable ID to giving the user instant access to their personal bank accounts. Since paper money had been abolished, you had only to wave your palm over the chip-scanner at any restaurant or merchant to pay for goods and services, and then you were on your way. James had learned to thwart the system, and although it wasn't easy... he got by. Entering a trolley with a group of people, he had only to make small talk with a few folks until he found someone who happened to be heading in his general direction, and then board behind them. People often boarded several at once, and it wasn't uncommon for groups to have one person scan while the rest followed. Buying items was a different story, however. But the resourceful foreigner had found that if you ordered what you needed before the person in front of you had finished ordering theirs, the confused cashier would bill everything on a single account, and James had only to distract the buyer while the items: food, clothing, toiletries... were covertly removed; sleight-of-hand performed by a modern-day pickpocket.

He lived in the back of a warehouse that had access to a shower and toilet, and he had altered the building's rear door to appear locked when tested, but could be opened with a simple tug on a hidden cord. The alarm-reader had been similarly bypassed, and he simply slept after the building closed, and was showered and long-gone before the workers arrived. But since most warehousing was largely automated, accidently bumping into an actual human being was still highly unlikely.

James Wayne was born in a foreign county, it doesn't matter which one, and had dreams of becoming an engineer. But, while participating in his country's mandatory military service, his test scores alerted his superiors to an entirely different field: espionage. He was resistant at first, but he began to understand that his abilities might expand his country's global influence, and he finally accepted. He trained for years, learning English, hiding his accent, all while discovering how to lie to a man's face with a twinkle in his eye. Ten years of his life were spent preparing him for a two-year operation, which had been going on for five. He was now, for all practical intents and purposes, an American... although his heart lay in a different hemisphere.

His mission was to seek out technological secrets, inform his superiors, and wait for word on which tech interested them the most. But one day while playing 'The Reporter' he blundered on an engineer who was married to a biologist, and had mentioned something about turning the infected into obedient servants. They both laughed at the impossibility of it all, but James completely disregarded the fuel-distribution system that the engineer had developed and instead contacted his superiors about the possible existence of an unlimited supply of submissive soldiers. Six months into his two-year cover, he was instructed to buckle-down for the long-game.

Four and a half years later, he had sent four scientists out into the wilds, only to have two killed and one returned by the city's legendary Hunters. The fourth had left just two nights previous, and since there had been no word, good or bad, he was beginning to believe that his subject had actually made contact with the extraction team, and he anxiously awaited confirmation.