by Andre Pisco
"James, James, is that you, my boy?" Someone around the corner asked.
I looked away and saw old Nick from the little grocery store where I used to buy candy after school. It was there where I bought my first single cigarettes too, I was still 16. I only smoked for two years. As soon as I got the news that I had been accepted into the academy, I smoked my last cigarette. I remember smoking it at my bedroom window on the second floor and prolonging it for half the afternoon. After that, I never had the slightest desire to smoke again. I didn't even like the taste or the irritation it left on my throat. I only smoked for the peace I felt after inhaling and after expelling the smoke out, the chest resting.
"It's me, yeah. What are you doing here? I thought you'd left town." I told him, and I signaled the girls to wait outside the house.
"For a while, boy. But, you know, there's no place like home. I missed the walks in the park, the sun bursting brightly on the green leaves and the light brown trunks. Even the barking dogs that used to piss me off. One of those things where you don't appreciate something until you lose it, you know?" He told me and fixed the bottle bottom glasses before licking his thin lips and continuing, "You're a Hunter now, aren't you? Like your father? I always knew you'd make it."
"Thank you! Luckily, I did." I answered him and smiled.
"It wasn't luck, boy. You don't think I'd see you running in the park every night before you went to class? Or at night, even when it was raining torrentially? If you got where you are, it's because you worked so hard. I hope you know we're all proud of you. Apart from you and your father, may he rest in peace, we only have 4 or 5 more people who have turned out to be Hunters. Not counting your brother, of course. But he's always been a little less hard-working than you." Nick said, leaning against an electricity pole, already panting, holding his cane with his trembling hand, "I'm beginning to feel the burden of aging on my body," he said and laughed with the few teeth he still had.
I had no idea he had seen me. I had never even noticed or thought about it. I would run twice a day, three times if I didn't have afternoon classes, focusing only on the goal of becoming a Hunter. Friends of mine used to say that I was crazy, that only 30 to 50 people were accepted every year, from all over the continent, that many spots were automatically occupied by legacies or through connections, but I never gave up. I didn't want to be accepted or rejected by my name, but by what I had done to get there. I thanked him and agreed with his last sentence. He said he had to go home and said goodbye. He continued straight ahead, in what for me was a left turn, and vanished. I still heard his cane trampling on the floor for a few minutes until the sound also dissipated.
"Can we go in now?" Elisa asked, leaning against a wall, with one of her boots on the floor and the other raised against the wall.
"Let's go," I answered her.
The once-black door had been replaced by a stripe-type door in different shades of brown. I knocked three times and waited until I heard my mother's voice say she was going. She opened the door and gave me one of those hugs that nearly shatters our bones. Her eyes were still damp and swollen and she had a pit underneath them. She looked like she hadn’t slept for days.
"Your brother?" She asked me after peeking up behind me.
"He said he had to go somewhere first."
"Oh, he must have gone to see his girlfriend. Don't tell him I know. The boy really thinks he's good at hiding her love letters or that I wouldn't be surprised when he started listening to love songs other than the screaming ones he always hears. Every weekend he visits me he has a new collection of songs to listen to." She told me while her eyes were leaping from girl to girl.
"Does Keno have a girlfriend? He listens to love songs? I've lost a whole lot then."
"Yes, I miss you, son. I know you're a Hunter now and you're busy. Maybe you already have your own house, but you could have at least said something or invited me there." She said, "Will you introduce me to your... friends?"
"Oh, yes, Mother. I'm sorry. They're my partners. As you could see, we're great at working together." I said, trying to avoid telling her that we were more than just co-workers, "it's Elisa, Maggie and you already know Victoria."
"Hey, Vic, I haven't seen you in a while either. You can come in, of course, but leave the guns on the couch in the living room, please. There's no need to drag them around. Everybody likes vanilla cookies and chocolate pancakes, right?" My mother asked, often smiling at us despite the fact that I knew that inside her heart was chained by the sight of so many guns and blood that she could do nothing about it, "Do you need bandages or alcohol to disinfect the wounds?
The girls nodded. Then they thanked her but refused. Elisa, speaking for all of them, said that they were fine and that as soon as they left, they would take care of it. My mother disappeared down the long corridor leading to the kitchen, leaving the door open for us to get in.
"Do as she say. Leave your weapons in the room." I ordered it, "Elisa, don't mess up."
"Don't worry. I know how to behave, okay?" She told me, puffing and stepping into my house. She removed her glove and as soon as she reached mid-way down the hall, she looked at me again, "where is the room anyway?"
"That door right next to you. The one with the glass square door." I told her, "Go ahead. I need a few minutes alone."
Maggie and Vic looked at each other before following the same path as Elisa. I stayed behind, looking at the photographs my mother had nailed to the wall about a dozen years ago. Most of them were from me or Keno, but among them were some of my father's. One when he started out as Hunter, with the black gun next to his brown pants, and the other when he won a prize for saving an entire city by himself. He wore a red cape over his slender shoulders, had a goatee on his chin with a few white hairs sticking out and a few bald spots amidst frown spots of black hair. My mom used to tell me that he was only 38 years old in that picture even if he looked like he was 50. She used to tell him that he had taken after his father and, like all the men in the family, they began to grow white hair as soon as they reached 30. I was not particularly happy to hear that, but we all have a fate to deal with. I haven't seen his face in too long. There were features that I no longer remembered and that I wanted engraved in my head. I sighed a deep breath before I walked into the room and left the gun on the couch beside Victoria's bow. My mom was in the kitchen talking to the girls. They were giggling frantically, each time louder, as I walked down the pale green walled corridor.
"What's she telling you?" I asked when I got to the kitchen.
"No big deal. Only the time you had to come home with only a towel wrapped around your hip after your friends ran off with your clothes after a physical education class."
"Mom, you haven't had enough of that story yet, have you? Don't I have better ones?"
"You do, but this one reminds me of a time when you were unaware of your actions. You know I had to explain to dozens of neighbors why you were half-naked on the street?" My mother asked as she flipped the pancake to the other side before it burnt.
"Yeah, you've told me that dozens of times." I said, "They probably don't even care about that."
"Actually, we like to know. After all, there's a lot of you we don't know about. You're not one to talk about yourself much." Maggie said.
"She's right. There's a lot about your past that you seem to avoid telling. Great listener, bad storyteller." Elisa said.
Come to think of it, she wasn't far from the truth. They had told stories of when they were younger and I, apart from what I had said about my father, had not shared anything with them. Before I could reply, the toaster alarm replayed. My mother picked the two toasts out of there, melted butter on top, and laid them on top of a plate. The conversation died there. In a few minutes, we had several toasts, vanilla and chocolate biscuits in a bowl and even hot pancakes, steaming, with melted chocolate inside and strawberries around. It was anyone's perdition after a long battle. We were in the middle of our meal; my mother was sharing more stories
of my naive childhood, and, amidst stories of beatings among friends and dates with girls when I couldn't talk to them yet, Keno came in.
"Sorry it took so long, Mom." He said, sat down at the table and grabbed a toast for him. He chose the one with less butter and asked our mother to provide him with one of the chocolate milk that was in the fridge.
The hours went by, some of which were slower than others, until I got a message from Tom.
"Get back here as soon as you can. There's news."
I warned the girls and told them to get ready and go walking while I exchanged a few last words with my mother and brother.
"Are you guys going to be okay?" I asked them, and I waited for the answer while I was chewing one of the toasts.
"Don't worry, son. Get on with it. And you too, Keno. You shouldn't be here."
"A few more minutes won't hurt anyone," he replied, "since when do Hunters get messages being summoned?"
"It doesn't matter. Focus on this year and a half that you have left and maybe you'll find out." I answered him and stood up, "Mom, I missed coming here already. I'll try to stop by more often. I promise."
I kissed her on the cheek, hugged her, and just before I turned my back, stretched out my hand to Keno. It took a few seconds, but he squeezed it. There was a long exchange of glances and, like everything else between us, we competed to see who was the first to look away. Elisa was calling me, but I pretended I didn't hear her. We stood still for minutes until my mother slapped us in the back of the head and told us to stop being idiots.
I waved at them, and once again I walked down the long corridor to the living room and then to the entrance.
"What's going on?" Maggie asked, "As soon as you read the message, your expression changed."
"Message from Tom. Something's happened. We have to go fast."
"Did he say what it was?" Vic asked me as she climbed into the front seat.
"No, I told him we're on our way. We can't really take a day off." I said, sighing, sitting down and cranking the engine.
Chapter XIV
The black motorcycle with the academy symbol was up against the wall. Our seats were still damp, the blood had already clung to the ground and the smell had spread through the car despite the open windows. The sun hit the hood and intensified the horrible odor. I turned on the radio and the air conditioning in the hopes that the trip would become friendlier, but nothing changed. The girls complained about the smell and used the torn sleeves of their T-shirts and sweaters to cover their noses. The clock on the radio read 4:22 pm. This time a thin voice sang over a saxophone and the sound stretched along the quasi-empty highway. Through the rear-view mirror, I could see the buildings fading away, totally overshadowed by the glistening rays of the sun. The white clouds covered the sky, which had opened and made room for a yellow sphere that irradiated an overwhelming light. Driving became a difficult task with the light flashing straight ahead and the wind breeze seeping through what was once the front glass. Now it was just an empty space with the sharp glass that had survived my brother's fall.
"I hope they don't get too upset about what happened to the jeep," Maggie said.
"The blood, the broken glass or the twisted hood?" Victoria answered her.
I laughed, "Well, all that matters are that today we've already defeated two beasts. They should give us a discount for that, huh?"
"I can't believe I've reached the point where I have to justify my actions," Elisa said. She looked out the half-open window, the whirlpools in her hair swirled, some fluttering out of the car and others tumbling down to her forehead.
"Do you miss the old days?" Maggie asked her, "I mean, would you go back if you could?"
"Good question. I don't think so. Even with all the advantages, and they are many, I missed having a team." She said, "But that doesn't matter now. What do you think Tom wants?"
"Maybe something with Shimmer?" I answered.
"I hope they caught my father," Maggie said. She had the glove on her knees and held it so it wouldn't fall off due to the slopes on the ground marking the end of the highway and that different small roads would appear only a few meters away.
"I bet it's no big deal. It must be just an exaggeration, otherwise, he would have called." Vic said.
We all had different opinions about what was going to happen. Vic was right about one thing. If it was a very serious emergency, he'd most likely have called. Still, the message repeated the urgent word twice. We were about to arrive at the ghost town that was used as a decoy for our secret base. I mean, the city was populated but not in that area, not in all the streets surrounding the old building that was used as the entrance. I made the last turn, closed my hands tightly on the steering wheel and felt my heart go up to my mouth when we hit the last hump.
"Don't talk about my brother or how we visited my mother." I told them, "They don't need to know."
"I didn't think to tell them either. Just because we have goals in common doesn't mean I already trust them. Ashen taught me that." Elisa said and put on the glove.
"Another week or two and he'll be as good as new," I said, believing also that yes, that he would go back to what he was, a Hunter level S respected by everyone.
I parked in the garage. Each vehicle had its own place, and everyone seemed to take the rules seriously. They were organized by size and then by colors. I had never noticed before how organized the place was. It was like I unlocked a new superpower. For the first time, I noticed how next to the black coffee machine was a pink box with sugar cakes, how the corners of the walls would blend with the roof, hiding each other's boundaries in a gradient mixture. Even the tables matched the walls colors and the computers had the same tone.
"Finally." Tom said, emerging from among a crowd of boys around the age of 20, all dressed in a chess patterned sweater, that was crammed in front of his door, "we were all waiting for you."
"All of them? Who else?" I asked him.
"She." He said and pointed to the right...
"You missed me already, didn't you?" Kendra said, seated on a chair and with her feet stretched out on a table.
"Kendra!" Maggie said and ran over to her, "How are you? Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'm fine already. I don't know what they gave me, but my leg is as good as new." She said and put it down on the floor, swinging it and pretending to kick the air.
She got up and walked to me. She leaned over, her tits rubbing against my chest and whispered in my ear, "We have to fuck. I spent the last week lying in a bed. I'm tired of being still."
I gulped and laughed, struggling to hide how much I had enjoyed it. My dick was brushing against my boxers and my body heated up as my heart seemed about to implode as well. She had black shredded pants and a black top over her red bra. Her hair was already by her shoulders and the green shades disappeared through the thick black strands that kept growing.
"Hello," Vic said to her, "I'm the new girl in the group."
"Replacing me already?" Kendra asked me, raising her eyebrow.
"Not at all. Vic's a former colleague of mine. You're part of this group, Kendra." I said, "We need to talk to your sister."
"With my sister? Why is that?"
"Yes, I'd also like to know why you need to talk to a known criminal," Tom said, intruding and standing beside me.
"We need acix bullets and, by the way, arrows too."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Kendra said. She had sat on the table and attracted the attention of most of the boys there.
"And a whip too. She's the only person we know who can find that kind of thing."
"And you were going to do it behind my back? Ashen warned me you could be unpredictable and get off the record." Tom said. He tapped his finger on his lips and looked thoughtful, sometimes frowning, "on the other hand you are right. I can't get you that kind of metal and she can. Do you really trust her? We cannot risk someone finding out where we are, how many we are, anything that puts us in danger. I'm putting my neck in t
he line for you."
"It's my sister. She won't betray us. She didn't do it before, and she won't do it now." Kendra said and pulled the top up.
"I trust her. We're allowed to contact her, right?" I asked.
"Yes. But don't tell anyone else. Let's keep this a secret for now. Use the rest of the day to rest and, beyond doubt, take a bath. Anyone else needs anything?"
"I have something to talk to you about." I told him and put my hand in my pocket to confirm that I still had the paper that I had picked up in his room a few days ago, "you can go ahead. This is going to be quick." I said to the girls.
Kendra walked up to me again and murmured in my ear that she would be waiting for me in the room. She didn't even give me time to answer before she joined the other girls.
"A good life, isn't it? I miss those days. Girls, boys, whatever came into the net was fish." Tom said, "But what do you have to talk with me about?"
I took the crumpled paper out of my pocket and put it in his hand. His eyes rolled from one end of the paper to the other and then he looked at me again.
"Where did you get this?" He asked me and saved the paper in his pocket.
"It was on the floor of your living room. The girls don't know about this. What happened?"
"None of you were supposed to find out. This can't get out of here, James. Are we clear?" Tom said, and I agreed, "We had a team following Maggie's father. They were transmitting new information to us at least once every hour. Suddenly, they stopped reporting it. We tried calling several times, but nothing either. We found them two days later floating in the river. Their bodies were sent to the normal police and we had to use the little influence we have to collect them before more people knew and the news spread."