by Elodie Colt
“Hey, Dylan. Where are you going?” Cassie’s annoyingly high-pitched voice filled my ears, and I couldn’t hold back a sigh. How could I have ever had sex with her? Oh, yes, I remember—her body and her willingness. Years of fighting had made her limbs lean and her muscles hard. Thinking of it, I’d always missed the feel of bigger breasts on her, if I recalled correctly.
I eyed the mat where she’d fought only seconds earlier. Two other girls had run over to the brunette to help her up.
“Don’t you want to help the girl you just beat ready for the hospital?” I asked with a dry undertone.
I’d always been a hard trainer and taught my students how to deal with pain, but I didn’t let them bleed out on the ground. As trainers, we were responsible for them, especially as most of them were just teenagers.
Cassie blinked and turned her head back to the brunette, shrugging. “Oh, don’t worry, Sarah can heal her.”
Yeah, how convenient for Cassie to have Sarah. I wondered what she’d do with her students without our Regenerator. Did Jimmy know how Cassie treated them? Doubtful. I should have a chat with him.
“Cassie, I have to go upstairs and sort out some things. What do you want?” I couldn’t hold back the impatience in my voice.
“Oh, great, I wanted to head to my room anyway to get some stuff. I’ll go with you.”
She thrust her breasts outward giving me a full view of the colorful tattoo on her cleavage. As I’d seen her naked often enough, I knew her tattoo well. There had been a time I was turned on by the lines swirling around her breasts.
I circled her slender frame and continued my walk down the hallway. Unfortunately for me, she fell into line beside me brushing the side of her body against mine on purpose. Leave it to Cassie to never miss a chance to touch me.
“Why do you think I want something? I just wanted to talk to you, as a friend,” she replied sweetly. I didn’t miss the sultry undertone she used for the last word, and I rolled my eyes without her noticing. Cassie always had a thing for putting on a show mixing innocence with hidden sexual promises.
“You always want something, so spill it.”
She laughed. “Well, when you put it that way…” She tapped a finger on her lips and gazed at the ceiling pretending to consider something. “I wanted to ask you if you could be my trainer.”
Her voice took on that seductive tone I knew well. She was walking backward now, in line with my steps by my side trying to catch my eyes with her fluttering eyelashes, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction. Wriggling my way through the people coming down the aisle from the other direction, I increased my speed while turning the next corner leading to the upper level in hopes of getting free of the pet attached to my heels.
“Train you in what?” I replied hoping to get this useless conversation finished.
“In hand-to-hand combat, of course,” Cassie informed me seeming surprised by having to explain.
“Why? You don’t need a trainer in fighting. Your winning rate is higher than the average.”
The only reason I hadn’t sealed myself off from her was that she was still an important member of our team. We needed her abilities. And, aside from her questionable personality, she was one hell of a fighter and loyal to Jimmy and the rest of us.
“Yes, I know,” she said, her voice laced with arrogance. “But I want to learn your tactics. You’re the best Fighter down here, the strongest, the fastest…” Her voice trailed off while her eyes wandered suggestively over my body, “… and I think we’d be a great team. You know, a good battle needs two fighters in harmony with each other, and we were in harmony some time ago, especially when our bodies…”
My control snapped, and I stopped short grabbing Cassie by her upper arms. She stared at me with huge eyes, a mixture of shock and excitement shining through.
“Cassie, what we had between us is over. It didn’t work out, so stop following me all the time.” I tried to keep my voice low to avoid making a scene in front of all the people, but the reaction I hoped Cassie would give me failed to appear. Instead, she put her hands on my chest apparently mistaking my touch for a hug.
“Don’t be so angry all the time, Dylan. You need to relax. I’m just talking about training,” she tried to convince me.
You had to hand it to her to be very creative when it came to excuses to be near me. Could I please help her carry some training mats? Could I please go shopping to help her find a sexy dress? Could I please come to her room to repair the showerhead?
I’d let myself get talked into the latter which resulted in a heavy make-out session with her pressed against the shower wall. Common sense had kicked in when her hand got lost in my underwear. If I didn’t end this soon, I’d never get rid of her.
“No, it’s not just training. Not for you. I’m sure you can find yourself another trainer. This compound is full of them, you know.”
I didn’t wait for her reply but pivoted on my heels and blended in with the people milling around, which was easy considering everyone immediately got out of my way. They all knew my status here, and that I wasn’t somebody to mess with. I exhaled in relief for having managed the task of getting rid of the most annoying blonde in this compound. Or rather, the whole state.
Angry shouts rang through the hallway when I reached the top of the staircase. Stopping for a few seconds in front of the control room to gather some mental strength, I threw the door open. It banged loudly against the wall, and two idiots welcomed me with red faces standing on opposite sides while shouting at each other.
“Okay, what the hell is going on here?” I demanded, but my question fell on deaf ears, the two brawlers too caught up in their argument to take any notice of me.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You were napping when I came back and could have wakened the whole compound with your snoring!” Ricky shouted pointing one finger in the direction of a desk where Phil had apparently committed the crime Ricky was blaming him for.
“Bullshit! I was out for barely a minute. You told me to wait for you, which I did, but you were gone for over an hour texting with your little bitch again,” Phil cursed causing Ricky to step forward in an attempt to threaten him.
“Don’t you dare call Shelly that again or I swear, I’ll break all the cartilage in your nose,” Ricky threatened, but Phil just laughed.
“Ha, we all know you fight like a girl, Ricky boy. You couldn’t even give me a bruise with your punches!”
That remark made Ricky lose it completely, but I interfered in time and hooked my arms under his to stop him from running berserk.
“Stop it now, both of you!” Ricky stopped struggling, knowing he wouldn’t get out of my steel grip. “You’re acting like teenagers, and I’m so fucking tired of your bitching all the time. You’ll both calm down now, and then you’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on.”
I shot them a look to assess their rage and waited for them to nod in surrender before I released Ricky who rolled his shoulders to get his jacket back into place. I set down my training bag strolling over to the office chair in front of a huge monitor setup currently flashing with images from the camera recordings around the compound.
I waited for them to tell me their story, but their gazes were glued to the floor.
“What, now that you’re supposed to talk, you’re keeping your mouths shut? What happened? Spit it out. I don’t have time for this bullshit,” I demanded with a raised voice which finally got Ricky to open his mouth.
“The cameras captured one,” he mumbled, clearly feeling uncomfortable in his skin.
“A Roe? Where?” I asked in excitement, ready to jump out of my chair to get my weapons and jump into action. Hell yes. I hoped it was one of the Hunters. I was dying to kick some ass.
“We don’t know,” Phil confessed, and I turned to him with narrowed eyes.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“He was in a twenty-mile radius yesterday.”
My brow furrowed in con
fusion. “Yesterday?”
Phil shot Ricky a desperate look—now he seemed to be good enough to combine forces. Go figure.
“The camera captured an unregistered Roe last night, but we didn’t notice the signal,” Ricky confessed in a low voice.
“You didn’t notice the signal?” I repeated in astonishment. “All monitors are blinking red when the cameras spot one. How the hell can someone miss that?”
“I asked Phil to replace me for a few minutes, so I could call Shelly, and when I came back, Phil was asleep.”
“It was more than an hour you were gone, not damn five minutes, you moron!” Phil lost it again.
This time, I didn’t let it come to the argument that had probably been chewed over for the hundredth time now.
“Stop it! Dammit, could you just once pretend to be adults?” Phil shot me an angry glare, and I countered with one of mine. “Phil, you’re testing my patience. Shut that stupid mouth of yours, or I swear I’ll put you in shape like my last punching bag now lying ruined on the floor of the training hall.” My threat did wonders to Phil’s attitude, and he hung his head in shame.
The door opened, and Jimmy came in covered in dirt from head to toe.
“What’s going on here? Chris told me there’s a happy reunion again,” Jimmy added with a growl.
“What happened to you? You look awful,” Ricky commented instead eyeing the puddle of mud forming under Jimmy’s shoes. He was well camouflaged with dirt, although his black skin was enough camouflage already. He didn’t need hoodies when hiding in the shadows.
“I was in the tunnels repairing a gas leak. Wasn’t a problem, though, everything’s working fine again.” He stepped out of his muddy boots and tossed them in a corner. “But don’t worry, you two, next time you’ll come with me. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it down there.” That got them both silent again.
Going down to the maze of tunnels wasn’t a job anyone would volunteer to do. It was dark, cold, moist, dirty, ugly, and difficult to find one’s way back. I tended to make myself scarce whenever Jimmy was looking for help.
“So,” Jimmy continued while taking off his dirty safety helmet. “Where’s the fire?”
I answered before Ricky could open his mouth. “The cameras captured an unregistered Roe yesterday, but those two were busy with something else and didn’t notice the signal right away, so they slipped through our fingers.”
Jimmy’s eyes flipped between them. “How did that happen? You were both in charge of the control room yesterday.”
I answered again for them to avoid another argument. “Ricky took off to call his girl, and Phil fell asleep. When did you take notice of the signal, then?” I inquired.
“I saw it when I came back and woke Phil immediately,” Ricky answered with his eyes stuck to the floor in shame.
“How much time passed?”
“I think about forty minutes.”
I snorted. God only knew what could have happened in that time. “Do you know if it was one of us or one of them?” They both shook their heads.
Jimmy cursed loudly. “If it were one of the Hunters, it would be enough time for one to slaughter everyone within a one-mile radius. I guess they already disappeared when you took notice of the signal?” Phil just nodded. “Dammit, kids…” Jimmy wiped a hand over his face in exasperation. I couldn’t blame him. “You two only had one job to do,” he exclaimed, slapping his hand against the surface of the desk in front of him. “We all know that night shifts in the control room don’t provide much entertainment, but we’re doing this for a reason. Whoever is sitting in front of these monitors needs to be focused all the time. I’ll see to it that you both won’t have tandem shifts anymore,” he reprimanded them, pointing an accusing finger at each. “And there will be consequences, I can promise you. I want to see the recordings now. Show me.”
Ricky nodded eagerly, relieved that Jimmy didn’t unleash hell on them, and ran over to another set of monitors currently showing random images from the outside world.
It had taken us a long time and a lot of nerves to hack into the traffic system. Phil was a computer genius and had developed a software which scanned the eyes of every passerby in milliseconds, immediately signaling the presence of an unregistered Roe.
The registered ones were listed in a database. Whenever the signal informed us about an unregistered one, we had to quickly jump into action to get to them in time. If they were ‘good’ Roes who didn’t know about their abilities yet, we tried to convince them to join the compound. They were provided safety here, trained to defend themselves, and taught how to handle their powers.
If they were ‘bad’ ones—meaning one of the Hunters, as we called them—then we wiped them out before they could hurt anyone else. They were known for their resentment for the ‘normal’ population doing nasty things and leaving destruction behind. It was impossible to negotiate or settle things in a civilized manner.
I got up to join the others in front of the monitors as Ricky opened the video file. The little digital clock in the right corner showed that it was a few minutes after two a.m. I spotted a crossroads from an upper angle—the camera was probably positioned on one of the traffic light posts. There was a pet store, a café, a bar called Joey’s, and a brothel called Jessica’s Love Rooms.
“Where’s that?”
“Somewhere downtown about twenty miles from here.”
At first, we didn’t see anything unusual. People were milling around going in and out of the bar. A few girls with heavy makeup on their faces and clad in skirts that could be mistaken for belts were walking the sidewalk on the other side waiting for customers. The software scanned every passerby who was referenced by a digital blue visual in the form of a rectangle moving quickly from one head to another in the process. Then one started to blink red, and the camera automatically zoomed in on a man currently standing outside the bar and smoking a cigarette.
“Freeze and zoom,” Jimmy demanded, and Ricky did as he was told.
The image showed a man with familiar eyes. They were glowing with the Flare for a second—a flash of light that was only visible for Roes—reflecting in the camera lenses. His long, dirty blond hair was held together by a hairband at the bottom of his neck. I immediately knew he was one of the bad guys.
“Shit,” I cursed, and all three heads shot toward me.
“You know him?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes. His name’s Dorian. I fought him once a few years ago but haven’t seen him since. I assumed he’d left town, but it seems I was wrong.”
“Ability?” Jimmy threw in.
I shook my head. “No idea. Must be a passive one, but he’s nasty nevertheless. Likes all kinds of crazy weapons like throwing stars and grenades. He was a marine, as far as I know, very skilled and a deadly opponent. Killing is his hobby, and unlike most of the others, he likes to play with his prey before executing them.”
“That’s good to hear,” Jimmy mumbled sarcastically. “Any press news about murders or anything similar?”
“No, thankfully not,” Ricky replied. I exhaled in relief, but I couldn’t shake off the strange feeling in my gut. If the Hunters didn’t leave with a slaughter yesterday, then they were working on a plan to do so.
“Continue with the recording,” I demanded, and Ricky pressed the play button.
On the screen, Dorian tossed the cigarette stump away and entered the bar. We all waited in silence for something to happen.
“We’ve already watched the recording two times. He’s not going to come back outside. We don’t know where he went,” Ricky confessed as he sped up the video.
I watched the clock tick in the right corner. Two hours had already passed, and the bar was closed. “Do you think he disappeared through the back door?” I asked Jimmy.
“Probably. The question is… did he just go in there for a drink, or did he have something else in mind?”
I doubted Dorian just entered the bar for fun. If the Hunters left their hideouts, it always
came with a disaster. They usually tried to stay off the grid. “My guess is he was there to check something out. When he stood outside the bar before going in, he looked like he had a plan… too focused, scanning his surroundings carefully. He was up to something. I don’t understand why he would leave through the back door if he didn’t do anything he needed to hide,” I pondered.
“Maybe he stayed inside?” Phil tried to come up with a reason, but Jimmy shook his head.
“No, I don’t think so. What would be the point? Is there any possibility we could get a recording from the other side of the bar? Are there any cameras available?”
“I can try to find one, but it will take some time,” Phil answered.
“You do that, and Ricky, find me some footage that gives us more details. If these Hunters are mingling around here, we need to interfere. We can’t afford for them to find our compound, or we’re screwed.”
I nodded in agreement. “Should we check out that bar to see if we can get any information?”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Jimmy replied with a look at his watch. “But I guess we’ll have to wait a few hours. It won’t be open until early evening.”
Jimmy and I stood in front of Joey’s bar. The red light of one of the logo’s letters blinked, making low buzzing sounds. A few people were mingling outside smoking cigarettes and judging from the stench inside also some other things.
Jimmy got in through the door first, and I followed him descending a narrow staircase, the rock music from below getting louder. We entered the bar at the bottom of the stairs, and we were greeted with red and white spotlights flashing over the space. The stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke polluted the air. A makeshift stage was set up at the end of the room, and a billiard table stood in the middle. It was a rundown bar like all the others around here.
“Let’s get a drink. I could use a strong one,” Jimmy suggested.
A man and a young girl were working behind the counter. The man made his way through swinging doors to serve the customers surrounding the tables, while the girl was currently drying cocktail glasses with a dishcloth. A lonely customer was seated at the end of the bar staring at his empty triple shot in front of him deeply lost in thought.