The Walls of Orion

by T. D. Fox

  “Or what?”

  Jasper looked down at him. He said nothing, just returned the man’s stare for several seconds. With a scoff, the man spat on the ground at Jasper’s feet. He stepped back.

  “Come on, Ed,” he laughed. “This punk’s not worth it.” As his friend joined him, he turned and flashed Courtney an obscene hand gesture. “See you later, sugar.”

  Jasper moved to stand in front of Courtney as they sauntered away. His hand lowered from his gun, fist clenched.

  “Thanks,” Courtney whispered. “That was... lucky you were here.”

  “Lucky,” came the flat reply.

  “How’d you know where I was? Were you close by?”

  “I came to see you at work after you wouldn’t answer my texts. I was worried about you. Looks like I had good reason to be.”

  Shrinking under that fierce blue stare, Courtney stepped around him and nodded toward the street. “Well... I was headed to work, so I wasn’t really checking my phone.”

  He fell into step beside her. “What were you doing walking by yourself?”

  “Heading to work. Like every morning.”

  “After everything that’s happened, I’d have thought you’d be a little smarter.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How am I supposed to do my job if I spend all day worrying about where you are?”

  “You don’t have to. I did just fine before I met you.”

  “You met me because you had a gun pointed at your face.”

  She glanced up at him. “Are you still mad about yesterday?”

  “I’m not mad. It just freaked me out when I had to hear from Oliver that you were at the scene of a crime at eleven o’clock at night.”

  “Don’t know if you realized, but I’m not a ‘sit-tight-I’ll-handle-this’ kind of girlfriend. I hunted down some answers for myself.”

  “You don’t just hunt down answers, Courtney. The OCPD, even with all our resources hasn’t cracked this case in almost a decade.”

  “Maybe because you spend too much time letting the chief tell you where you can and can’t look. A boy was bagged like a wild animal yesterday and you sit back because they said, ‘It’s not your jurisdiction’?”

  “Hey.” Jasper looked down at her, slowing as they reached the end of the alley. “You don’t know everything that’s going on. We have a department working on it.”

  “Which department is that?”

  A muscle jerked in his jaw. “One that specializes in threats like this.”

  “Threats? Do you hear yourself? That was a teenage kid, Jasper. Barely older than my brother!”

  “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do. But it’s out of my hands. And it’s definitely out of yours. You can’t go tromping around the city at night looking for clues that aren’t there. The only thing you’re going to find is trouble.”

  Hands clenched, Courtney quickened her pace to pass him as they exited the alley. “I’m late for my shift.”

  He caught her elbow. “Courtney—”

  His radio bleeped.

  “Wade. Come in. Over.”

  Jasper stopped, looking down with a grimace. He hit a button on the receiver.

  “You should take that.” Courtney pulled away. “I have to go.” Guilt prickling at the pained expression on his face, she added, “We can talk after I get off. Grab dinner or something, maybe?”

  “I’m working late.” His radio fizzled again, and Jasper’s hand moved to his hip. He hesitated. “Just... don’t walk home alone again tonight, okay?”

  Courtney closed the gap between them and stretched up on her toes, planting a quick kiss on his cheek. “I’ll come see you when I get off. See you later.”

  She turned and strode for the café at the end of the block. Behind her, Jasper’s radio crackled, rescuing her from anything more he might have to say. She heard him sigh behind her, and a voice wearier than normal responded, “This is Wade.”

  The bell jangled above her, and Jess looked up from behind the counter as Courtney walked in. Her boss smiled.

  “Your boy was in here a minute ago,” Jess said. “Did he find you?”

  “Yeah,” said Courtney, stowing her purse in the supply closet before joining Jess in the bar.

  “Nice thing to have a cop around here. You heard about that incident last night? Makes me sick. Right across the street, too.”

  “What happened?”

  Jess shook her head. “Poor girl got assaulted in the alley. They still haven’t caught the two bastards.”

  “The alley right next to us?”

  “Yep, just a block down. Hey, don’t you walk there sometimes on your way here?”

  A chill swept up her neck. “Sometimes.” Every morning, since it was the quickest route.

  “Hm. I’d take the bus from now on, honey. Or ask your man to drive.”

  Now she felt worse. Jasper’s reaction in the alley made more sense. But still...

  The bell jangled. Jess looked up, dropped the bag she was opening and clapped her hands. “Look who’s back!” she crowed. “Good to see you on your feet.”

  Max walked toward them, a sheepish expression on his face. At least, Courtney thought it was sheepish—it was hard to tell through the mess of yellowing purple bruises. A white cotton patch obscured most of his forehead and eyebrow, but when he smiled, she saw a full set of teeth. He lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey, Jess. Court.”

  “How’re you feeling?” Jess asked.

  Max touched the bandage on his forehead. “Head’s healing up fine. Doctors say I should be fully recovered by the end of the week. I think the concussion was the worst of it, but that’s almost gone now.”

  “I see you got your smile back,” said Jess.

  “Oh yeah, they gave me some dental implants. Nice I don’t have to walk around with a hole in my face.” He put his hands in his pockets, shuffling a bit on his feet. “Anyway, uh, Court. I never got a chance to say thanks.”

  She blinked. “For what?”

  “Everything you did back there. Standing up for me, risking your neck like that. I wanted to say thanks.” He hesitated. “And also sorry for getting you mixed up in that mess in the first place.”

  What was she supposed to say to that? “Uh. You’re welcome.”

  Max hovered a moment, mouth twisting, like he wanted to say something else. Finally, he pressed his lips together and nodded. Shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, he ducked his head with a mumbled, “See you around,” and headed back out the door.

  Courtney watched him go. She turned to Jess. “Did you fire him?”

  Jess busied herself with the coffee grounds. “He’s a sweet kid. But his bad decisions brought a gun-toting nutcase into our store. There’s consequences.”

  Courtney nodded. After a moment, Jess heaved a huge sigh. “We’ll miss him around here, though. Poor punk didn’t know what he was messing around with. Got himself in way over his head.”

  “Can I ask exactly what he was messing around with? Amphetamines?”

  “No, some weird new drug that just popped up on Westside. They’re saying it triggers that freak Changer gene, or whatever. It’s all a big hoax, obviously, but some people are willing to kill over it.”

  “Trigger? You mean this drug makes people shape-shift?”

  “Listen to you. You don’t actually believe this stuff?”

  Courtney focused on refilling the espresso machine. “There’s a lot of stuff that can’t be explained away.”

  “The only epidemic in this town is cabin fever. Coop people up long enough, they’ll start to believe anything. See stuff that ain’t there.” Jess sighed, and glanced over. “Doing anything fun for Thanksgiving?”

  “My family wants me to visit,” Courtney said. “I think my Dad’s making a turkey.”

  “Ooh, that’ll be fun!”

  “Yeah...” Courtney slammed the lid on the blenders, maybe a little too hard. “Fun.”

  ⬥◆⬥

  The sky
outside glowed a rare cloudless lavender this late in November, so the dusky evening was plenty bright as she meandered down the sidewalk. Courtney crossed the street well before she passed the alleyway.

  The sun had fallen below the Wall, casting fading beams of orange light between the high rises ahead. A faint wind whispered along the street, unusually empty for five o’clock on a Monday evening. Courtney fiddled with her phone in her pocket. Jasper hadn’t texted her all day, which meant he was probably busier than normal. Besides, it was early. If she dropped by the station now, she’d end up distracting him, or twiddling her thumbs in the front lobby if he was out. Or worse, she might get him in trouble with the chief, which he didn’t need when he was already under the magnifying glass with this case.

  That was it. That was why her feet gradually carried her North, instead of West toward the police station—she was thinking about Jasper. It wasn’t avoidance.

  A prick of guilt needled her. His face rose in her mind. That open sweetness and optimism that first drew her were still there, but those blue eyes felt less open. Since last night, he'd had a wall up. Like he was hiding something. Sure, she knew he had to be professional about this case, and of course there were going to be details she wasn’t privy to as a civilian. But he’d gotten a little overbearing. She was a grown woman; she didn’t need to update him every time she went out on her own. If she wanted to look into this case as a civilian, she wasn’t breaking any laws. What she needed was some slack.

  Courtney really wasn’t sure where she was headed until she saw the naked branches of the trees ahead. A warm, somewhat sharp feeling rose in her chest. Slowing her pace, she drifted toward the old stone bridge. Banbury Park was home to Orion City’s only river. The silver-gray trough meandered between two grassy hills, dotted with ancient oaks drooping under the weight of the decades. One or two park benches broke up the plain green expanse. A narrow footpath, mostly overgrown, circled the trees.

  It wasn’t a glamorous park, or even a well-trafficked spot. But Courtney could plant a memory in almost every square inch of it. She’d climbed the knobby oak over there when it was smaller. Over there, at the bottom of that shallow hill, she’d broken her wrist running down faster than she could stop herself. She’d learned to ride a bike over there, sprained her ankle there, caught her first fish with her dad over there by the stream...

  The smell of cigarette smoke invaded her senses. She wrinkled her nose. Pausing when she reached the bridge, she looked around. A little jolt ran through her when she realized she wasn’t alone.

  W stood at the apex of the bridge, resting an elbow on the old stone wall as he looked out over the river. A trail of blue smoke hung on the air. He removed a cigarette from between his teeth.

  “I don’t bite,” he said.

  Courtney realized she’d stopped at the end of the bridge, hovering there watching him. Flushing, she continued onto the bridge. She stopped close to where he stood and looked out over the water.

  The smoke curled on the air, silver and silent. W seemed to find the rush of water below more interesting than her company. He took another drag from the cigarette.

  “Those things’ll kill you, you know,” Courtney said.

  W blew another cloud of smoke onto the darkening air. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were following me.”

  “I come this way a lot. Who says you’re not following me?”

  “Believe me, I’m not.”

  The edge in his voice stripped any lightheartedness from the tease. Frowning, Courtney fixed her eyes on the water. From the dusky edges of the park, the haunting cry of a loon rang out. She shivered. She'd never understood why Orion City’s only bit of wildlife chose to dwell within a Walled cage, when they had wings to fly away. Perhaps they were as insane as their cackling wails implied.

  The bird’s lonely call echoed again, as if waiting for a response.

  “I saw you yesterday,” she finally said, anxious to fill the quiet. “In Chinatown.”

  “I heard something about Chinatown on the news,” W said. “Sounded pretty chaotic.”

  “Didn’t you see what happened?”

  “I rarely visit Chinatown. Must’ve been someone else.” A lie. She’d seen him there clear as she saw him now. Before she could call him on it, he said, “You were there? I heard it was a riot.”

  “A riot? No, a kid got attacked and dragged off by some White Coats.”

  “Is that how you saw it?”

  “It’s what happened. The news reported it wrong.”

  “Well, that’s the Orion Times for you.”

  He released another stream of smoke, and Courtney fought the urge to cough. Silence dropped between them again. She found herself itching to break it.

  “Haven’t seen you around the café in a while.”

  “Been pretty busy,” he said.

  “Right. Your top-secret science job.”

  That earned her half a grin. “Right.”

  “Must be nice to be self-employed. You can take as much time off for the holidays as you want. Got any plans for Thanksgiving?”

  “Nope.”

  “What about your mom?” She remembered their conversation during the blackout. “You’re not going to visit her?”

  W extinguished the cigarette and tossed it into the river. “Are you going to visit your dad?”

  So he remembered, too. Courtney hesitated. “Actually, yeah. My brother finally talked me into going home.”

  “Well, look at you. Burying the hatchet.”

  “Trying.” Courtney hugged herself, leaning forward against the stone wall. “I’ll probably invite Jasper to make it less awkward.”

  “The cop,” W said. “Because that’ll make your father relax.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry, he’s my—wait, you two know each other?”

  “By reputation only.” W smirked. “Your old man sounds like a real piece of work, if you have to invite a cop to keep the peace.”

  “It’s for moral support. We’re kind of...” For some reason, she didn’t want to say it. An unexpected awkwardness tilted her voice. “I’m dating him.”

  “Are you now? That was fast. Didn’t you just meet after that little firestorm at your café?”

  “Well, yeah.” The slant of W’s smirk put her on the defensive. “How did you—? Never mind. It wasn’t that fast. We talked and we clicked, that’s all.”

  “Clicked,” W repeated, popping the final consonant. “Like a nine millimeter and a magazine. What do you see in him?”

  “Sorry?”

  “What draws you to him? You know, the spark. Do you find him admirable? Sophisticated? Interesting?”

  “Well... he’s a good guy.”

  “That’s it? He’s a good guy?”

  “We sort of hit it off. He’s cute.” Courtney couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with W.

  “Cute like one of those zoo animals before it bites you.”

  “Hey.”

  “Just trying to get more specific with words.”

  “Cute as in awkward,” Courtney said. “Kind and unsure of himself. Optimistic and naive.”

  “Ah, yes.” W finally looked at her. “Naiveté can be attractive.”

  Something heated in her veins, and she forced herself to look away. “It’s better than the alternative.”

  “Which is?”

  “The rest of the police force. They’re hardened like stone, to all of it.”

  W hummed low in his throat, turning to look back over the river. “Sometimes you have to be that way. Live in this city long enough, you have to grow a tougher shell if you want to survive. This boy’s from out of town, right? Give him another year. That shiny surface’ll rub off.”

  “I’ve lived in this city,” Courtney retorted. “I’m not like that.”

  W turned to her suddenly. “Which is still a mystery to me.”

  She opened her mouth, ready for a comeback, before she realized he was sincere. He was also much closer t
han she expected. W leaned forward, gray eyes peering down into hers. A slight frown had formed above them, their usual sardonic gleam traded out for something entirely foreign.

  “What?” She hated how breathless her voice emerged.

  “You,” said W. “Are the strangest person I have ever met.”

  “I’m the strangest person you’ve ever met?”

  “Yes. You make absolutely no sense.”

  Courtney couldn’t hold back her laughter. “How do I not make sense?”

  He placed a hand on the stone wall behind her shoulder, and her pulse jumped. She didn’t move.

  “You’re bored. You want something more than life’s handed you, and that hasn’t faded in spite of all the time you’ve spent riding the status quo. You’re drawn to danger like a moth to a flame, yet you have some sort of moral compass that keeps you just off the edge of the cliff. You give the coat off your back to a homeless kid, and yet you seek out someone like me to have a conversation with.”

  Courtney couldn’t focus with him so close. “So what?”

  Without breaking eye contact, he leaned in further. Her stomach flipped. He searched for something in her eyes, his gray ones ticking between hers. Finally, he murmured, “A city like this should have broken someone like you.”

  She stared at him. Her brain couldn’t even process what he said. She was distracted by his scent: the oddest combination of metal and peppermint. He drew back. Courtney realized she hadn’t exhaled until that moment.

  “Where are you off to?” W said, his voice a hundred and eighty degrees different from a moment ago. “It’s getting dark.”

  Courtney blinked to see that the only light illuminating the bridge was the lamp post at the end of the walkway. The park had gone gray around them. Below, the river had lost most of its reflections.

  “I was...” She glanced down at her phone. No texts from Jasper. “I was headed home.”

  “Don’t you usually head the other direction?”

  “Something... happened in the alley on my usual route. I didn’t want to walk back after dark by myself.”

  “Would you feel better if you had company?”