Zero II Read Free Page B

he slid it into place.
There were three holes, two for his eyes and one for his mouth.
                Even
as he reached for the large black duffle bag beside him, even as his digital
clock hit 5:59 PM, Alan’s internal voice begged him to stop. It told him he was
doing the wrong thing. It told him he was meant for so much more. Alan forced the
voice from his mind as he lunged forward.
                The
sounds of everyday life ceased to exist. When Alan ran now, it seemed as though
everything stood still while he moved at a normal pace. His legs pumped beneath
him as he exited the alley and crossed the street.
                Taxis
paused in their afternoon routes, pedestrians looked like mannequins and flags
hesitated in their waving. This was all familiar to Alan. He crossed the street
and ran up the steps to the bank. With each step of his Nikes on the pavement,
Alan rehearsed the plan in his head.
                Straight
to the vault, only large bills, in and out under a second.
                Alan
reached the glass door of the building that boasted the bank name in large
golden lettering Shepherd and Montgomery . He ripped the door open and
ran inside.
                The
interior of the bank was large. Wooden paneling under foot supported matching wooden
counters and a design that allowed teller windows to open in a half circle.
Alan took in his surroundings as he ran forward.
                A
security guard, whom he could probably outrun even without his powers, was
reading a newspaper to his right. There were no customers in line. Only two
patrons were in the process of depositing or withdrawing funds. They both stood
in the middle of conversations with the bank tellers assisting them.
                Alan
ran toward the center row of the half circle teller windows. He unlatched a
small gate that led behind the counter. An army of bank workers stood before
him. All dressed in dark pants with light blue shirts, they held expressions
anywhere from ones that looked at though they had caught a whiff of someone’s
old egg salad sandwich, to ones of relief the day was finally over. One lady in
particular held her hands in the air as though she was raising the roof. Alan
couldn’t help but wonder what she was saying. That thought soon disappeared as
he made his way to the bank vault.
                The
huge circular steel door was open. No one was inside as Alan entered the steel-like
tomb that guarded the bank’s cash. Another set of steel bars almost sent Alan
into a panic. Even as he placed his hand on the cold metal he could see the
door wasn’t closed all the way. An inch of space between the metal gate and the
vault wall saved Alan’s master plan.
                He
reached for the door and swung it open as he entered the first of two rooms.
The bank’s vault was divided into two separate compartments; one for the bank
deposit boxes and the other for cash.
                Alan
stopped mid-step as he made his way into the vault and turned the corner. He
wasn’t the only one in the room designated to housing the bank’s cash. An
elderly overweight gentlemen with a nametag identifying him as the bank manager
leaned over a mountain of cash.
                Alan
paused, forgetting for the moment that he was moving faster now than anyone
could see. Fear once again made its presence known as he hesitated to take
another step.
                Move,
move, move. There’s no time for this!
                Alan
wrenched his body forward, ignoring the fear that told him he would be caught
at any moment and instead went to work. Mountains of cash were pilled on steel-framed
cabinets against the walls. Lucky, for Alan they were stacked in numerical
value.
                The
pile of one hundred dollar bills that Alan was after just happened to be the
pile of cash that the bank manager was leaning