Truancy City

by Isamu Fukui

  Cross averted his eyes and saw Floe doing the same as Obeita’s muffled shrieks filled the room.

  The noise seemed to go on forever. When it finally stopped, Cross turned his head back. Obeita was lying on the floor like a beached whale, unmoving. Noni was breathing heavily, her finger still pressing the button. The look on her face was beyond anger, beyond hatred—it was focused, and had tapped something primal that told Cross that many people were now going to die.

  Silence. Then a restrained cheering filled the room. Cross heard a few catcalls ring out as Noni dispassionately pressed another button on the remote, and all the ankle devices in the room unlocked. Cross himself felt no sympathy for the teacher who had been one of his many tormentors as a child.

  Satisfied that Obeita was dead, Noni went down the rows of desks, releasing all of their handcuffs. The freed students stood up to stretch, rubbed their wrists, and tried to thank her. She ignored every one of them. Her eyes met Floe’s as she came around, and Floe mumbled her thanks. Noni paused and for a moment looked like she might say something. Then she moved on.

  When she reached Cross she gave no sign that she’d recognized him, though Cross knew she had by her reaction when she first spotted him.

  “I knew you had to be better than that.” Cross rubbed his wrist. “How long have you been acting?”

  Noni’s icy blue eyes seemed to penetrate him for a moment, and in them he could see untold suffering. Then she moved on without saying a word.

  Cross watched her go, then turned his attention to Floe. They hesitated, then flew into each other’s arms. Cross hugged her tightly, thinking darkly about how powerless he had felt when Obeita had her electrocuted.

  Soon all the students were free, though none of them made a move. Perhaps it was part of their conditioning, but they all waited silently at their desks, watching Noni. Noni turned her attention to the dead soldier, stripping him of his weapons and armor, taking them for herself.

  As she stood up again, she found the eyes of the entire class on her. For the first time, she spoke, and her voice was no longer monotone and compliant but cold and hard.

  “I don’t really care about any of you,” she informed them. “I’m getting out of here. You can take your chances by yourself, you can try to stop me, or you can follow me. Those are your choices.”

  Then she donned the soldier’s body armor, even though it was too big for her, and lifted his rifle. Without waiting for a reply, she darted out the door.

  Another moment of silence. Floe and Cross looked at each other. Then every single person in the room followed Noni out the door as gunshots rang out in the hall.

  * * *

  “Well, I’ve had enough for now,” Takan said, standing up and dusting himself off. “Who knows how long we’ll be sitting here before something happens.”

  “Cross did say that we should wait only twenty-four hours before coming to get him,” the albino replied. “If only there was a way for us to contact him.”

  “No use wishing for what we can’t have,” Takan said. “I’m going inside. If you need me I’ll be in the old bar room on the second floor—maybe the Truants missed a few bottles when they left.”

  The albino waved good-bye as Takan walked towards the stairs. Just then, there came the distant but unmistakable sound of an explosion off in the direction of the camp. Takan froze and the albino shot to her feet. Faint gunshots soon followed. The two teenagers looked at each other.

  “You know, I’m starting to get used to being wrong.” Takan shook his head. “All right, let’s go ask Cross how he did it.”

  The albino followed Takan down into the old Truancy hideout, where the other rebels had also heard the commotion. They hurried about, loading up on weapons and explosives, marching down the dark stairwell as they prepared to run to the aid of their fellow citizens in the camp.

  28

  FADE TO BLACK

  “Frag out!”

  Cross ducked behind a column as someone hurled a grenade towards the front doors of the school. A moment later it went off, and the doors flew off their hinges along with a Government soldier. Cross raised his rifle and fired at some of the dark shapes waiting outside. It seemed that the soldiers had been caught off guard, and two of them fell before finding new cover.

  “Come on, let’s clear the courtyard!” Cross shouted.

  The other students roared with approval as they stormed the door. The kids from the intensive program, armed with weapons from soldiers Noni had slain, had quickly scattered throughout the building and liberated the other classes with lesser security. Not everyone had gone along with the revolt—some were too broken by the system or otherwise cowed. However, enough had joined to overcome the relative handful of soldiers guarding them.

  As Cross advanced, he noticed more students running down the hall to join the offensive, all of them armed with guns and armor. Someone must have found a Government weapons cache. Cross let them take the lead, catching his breath against another column. He turned to look at Floe, who had been following him closely.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  Floe nodded, though she looked shaken. She had only reluctantly donned armor, grenades, and a sidearm at Cross’ insistence, and he hadn’t seen her fire a single shot yet. Her eyes were wide and kept straying to the bodies of fallen soldiers and students.

  “What’s wrong?” Cross pressed.

  “I-I’m sorry, I can’t do it anymore.” Floe shook her head vigorously. “I’ve had enough of war. These soldiers aren’t all bad people; some of them were nice to me. Those kids earlier—”

  Cross flinched as another grenade blast went off outside.

  “—were harassing me because I made friends with a couple of soldiers.”

  Cross processed her words. Floe had always been the most compassionate of their group, caring even about the Truants they killed. He had thought it was just because they were her old comrades, but now he realized the truth: Floe was by her nature too kind for war. She didn’t belong here.

  Further blasts and a crescendo of gunfire snapped Cross’ attention back to their current situation. He wiped a stray tear from Floe’s face with his hand.

  “I understand,” he told her. “Stay close to me and keep your head down. You don’t have to do anything. We’ll get out of here.”

  She smiled faintly at him and nodded.

  Cross gave her shoulder a squeeze, and then turned and followed a fresh group of students out the door with Floe right behind him. They burst out into the courtyard and found it in turmoil—the uprising had spread like wildfire. Gray-clad students were everywhere, sheer numbers overwhelming the guards. Mobs of kids beat and stomped on the soldiers with their bare limbs. Others were firing up at the guard towers with stolen weapons.

  “Where is Noni?” Floe shouted over the din. “I didn’t see her leave!”

  That was a good question. Cross hadn’t seen their liberator since they’d split up in the school corridors. He glanced around the courtyard and frowned. There was no hope of spotting her in this mess.

  “Noni must have her own plan,” Cross told Floe. “Don’t worry, she’s strong, we’ll see her later.”

  Just then one of the students nearby crumpled and fell from a gunshot. Cross looked around wildly for the attacker and then spotted him—a guard standing high atop one of the walls. Cross raised his rifle to fire back, but even as he did an enormous tremor shook the ground, and a huge chunk of the wall blew in as though it were made of sand. The soldier toppled as the section beneath him collapsed.

  Cross felt his heart soar as dark shapes emerged from the gap, led by a boy in a trench coat. Takan’s reinforcements had arrived. Cheers went up as the Truants closest to the wall recognized their old leader, and for the briefest of moments Cross resented Takan for receiving all the credit. He scolded himself for the thought.

  “Come on!” Cross told Floe. “This is our chance! Sepp will be leading another group to blow a different part of the wal
l, so we should—”

  “Sepp?” Floe interrupted, sounding strange. “I thought he was captured.”

  “He escaped, he was the one who told us you were in trouble,” Cross explained quickly. “You’ll get to see him later, now let’s get out of here!”

  Floe did not protest and let Cross lead her along through the crowded courtyard, though there was a troubled expression on her face. Cross’ attention was drawn by a group trying to break into the dormitories to release the students still trapped there. Moments later the doors caved in, and many more gray bodies began pouring out into the courtyard.

  The excitement in the atmosphere rubbed off on Cross. It was really different when you had something to fight for. He found himself yelling as he fired up at the few remaining guards on the walls. One of them fell forwards, and dozens of angry students surged forward to meet him. Only now did Cross appreciate just how many youths there were in the City. There had to be hundreds and hundreds in this camp alone.

  Another enormous blast went off at the other end of the courtyard, collapsing that part of the wall as well.

  “That’ll be Sepp!” Cross exulted, not noticing how Floe’s face went pale. “Nothing can stop us now!”

  Indeed the students were now spilling out of the gaps in the walls, climbing over one another in their rush to escape. Cross and Floe elbowed their way through the crowd as they made for the closest exit.

  Then Cross became aware of the familiar roar of helicopters, and he and Floe looked up. A dark shape blotted out the moon, and Cross felt his excitement dim. The first Government reinforcements had arrived to investigate the commotion—when they found out that prisoners were escaping, things would get ugly. Ground troops couldn’t be far behind.

  Cross tugged Floe harder as they scrambled up over broken chunks of the wall. His gaze was held heavenwards, watching the nearest helicopter. As it maneuvered, the light of the moon illuminated the helicopter’s occupants. Cross grimaced. He had seen the silhouette of a woman, standing next to a boy dressed in black.

  Apprehension settled in as he realized that both the General and the Mayor had come for them.

  * * *

  Noni hummed to herself as she strolled down the empty green hallway. After the initial excitement, things had quieted down inside the school. Noni hadn’t run into anyone—student or Government—for several minutes. She preferred it that way, it gave her more privacy for what she was going to do. The battle outside could be faintly heard, but Noni ignored it. Her business was here, for now.

  Reaching the familiar door to the psychiatric ward, Noni kicked it in, letting the door swing a few times before stepping inside. The room was dark. Still humming to herself, Noni meandered over to the largest desk.

  A quivering lump hiding behind the desk gave a yelp of terror and leaped backwards.

  Noni smiled. “Hello again, sir.”

  “Noni,” Ferraro licked his lips nervously. “It-it’s so good to see you’re all right.”

  Noni calmly raised her rifle. Ferraro stared at the weapon.

  “Steady there.” Ferraro held his hands up. “Noni, it’s clear that you’re suffering from a little relapse, but it’s nothing I can’t fix. I have another dose right around here, just let me—”

  Noni lunged at Ferraro, and the man yelped and turned to run. She seized him by the scruff of his neck and threw him into one of his own chairs. Disoriented, Ferraro didn’t notice Noni securing his wrists with the built-in restraints until it was too late.

  “You, and everyone like you, are the ones that need fixing.”

  Ferraro gulped as he stared up into Noni’s pitiless blue eyes.

  “Listen, Noni,” Ferraro said. “I know you have some traumatic experiences in your past, but we can work them out! Let’s talk!”

  But Noni wasn’t listening. She continued to hum to herself as she rummaged about the ward. Finding an unused syringe, Noni tested the piston and nodded to herself. Then she turned back to face Ferraro.

  “You know, your drugs did work to an extent,” Noni said. “I was suggestible at times. I even appreciate the calm focus you gave me. But the programming, the humiliation—not so much.”

  Noni smiled and began advancing upon Ferraro. Not knowing what else to do, the man smiled back nervously.

  “And you know what, doctor? I never stopped hating you for a second,” Noni said. “You never changed who I was. Tonight I felt a little more clearheaded than usual, and so…”

  Noni waved her wrists to show that she was uncuffed. Ferraro looked terrified.

  “Obeita is dead,” Noni continued. “She had too much respect for your treatments, and too little for me. Same with you.”

  “Noni, please,” Ferraro said in a panicky voice. “Please, I was trying to help—”

  “Shut up,” Noni snapped. “You’re scum. Say it.”

  Ferraro gulped. “I’m … I’m scum.”

  “Yes, you are,” Noni said. “Humiliate yourself like I did. Say that you’re a dirty sewage-eating rat, and don’t forget to smile.”

  With obvious difficulty, Ferraro forced a grin. “I-I’m a s-sewage r-rat eating—”

  “Close enough.” Noni shrugged, satisfied. “Now, I have to get going, so its time for your dose. We wouldn’t want you to relapse into old habits.”

  Noni held up the empty syringe, and Ferraro stared at it. It took him a moment to understand. Then realization and horror dawned on the man’s face. Seeing that, Noni plunged the needle into him, injecting a fatal air bubble into his bloodstream.

  Then she turned and went to join the battle in the courtyard, leaving a terrified Ferraro strapped to the chair to wait for the inevitable embolism to stop his heart.

  * * *

  “Watch out!”

  Cross ducked and pushed Floe down as gunfire rained over their heads. They had escaped through the gap in the wall only to be pinned down on the waterfront. A few soldiers from the helicopters had landed to cut off their escape into the district, forcing the escapees to take cover with the water to their backs.

  Cross sprung up and fired back at the soldiers, thanking his luck that the moon was full and bright tonight, giving him enough light to discern the enemies. A shot whizzed by dangerously close to his head, and Cross dropped down again. Out of the corner of his eye he could see students still spilling from the gap, taking advantage of the soldiers’ distraction as they ran for the cover of the buildings.

  “Floe, over there!” Cross pointed at the escaping prisoners. “Go with them, Takan’s group will be leaving first so you should—”

  “Takan?” Floe repeated. “Isn’t he an enemy?”

  Cross hesitated, realizing that he hadn’t yet told Floe anything about their alliance or Takan’s strange history. He shook his head, resolving to explain everything later.

  “He’s on our side now,” Cross said. “Listen, I’ll throw some grenades and keep their attention, you have to escape with the—”

  “No.” Floe looked at him fiercely. “Not without you. We made a promise.”

  There was no room in her voice for negotiation. Feeling a strange fluttering feeling, Cross closed his mouth and nodded against his better judgment. A roar from above caught their attention, and Cross looked up to see the black shape of a helicopter hovering close by. Cross fired up at it, and the helicopter veered off towards some enormous shipping containers.

  Cross gritted his teeth, his heart pounding—not with bloodlust, but with determination to protect the person crouched next to him. More gunfire flew above them, keeping them in place, and he realized that if this kept up then they would both eventually be killed. Then he glanced again at the nearby cargo containers, and a plan came to him.

  “Floe, see those containers over there?” Cross gestured with his head. “When I say go, we’re going to run for it. The soldiers won’t expect it.”

  Floe simply nodded in agreement.

  “All right, hold on.”

  Cross withdrew two grenades that h
e’d confiscated from fallen soldiers. He pulled one pin, then the other, and threw both with all of his strength. One of them burst with expected force. To his surprise, the second produced a blinding flash and deafening noise. Even better.

  “GO!” Cross roared.

  Floe sprang up from her crouch and dashed for the containers. Cross followed as best he could. She was faster than him normally, he had more to carry. As they reached the cover of the containers, Cross breathed a sigh of relief. The containers were bigger than they’d looked from afar, stacked at least two high.

  “Hey, look!” Floe was looking back towards the camps. “It’s Noni!”

  Cross turned around and caught a glimpse of a girl with a familiar black ponytail slipping through the gap and off into the shadows, out of sight.

  “I think you’re right,” Cross said. “But she’s gone now.”

  “If only there were a way to get her attention.” Floe bit her lower lip. “She’d be a huge help if she came with us.”

  Cross shook his head. “Nothing we can do. The way she’s going will take her to Sepp’s group—we’ll probably see her again when we regroup at headquarters.”

  “I hope so.” Floe smiled at Cross. “We should keep going, now. It won’t take them long to figure out where we went.”

  “Yeah.” Cross straightened up. “We need to get out somewhere safe and then reach the cover of the buildings.”

  The two students began running through the spaces between the rows of containers. It was a little like a maze, Cross thought. The metal boxes had been abandoned for so long that they were all rusted, the paint wearing off of most of them. Then a metallic clang echoed throughout the area, and they froze. Someone else was in there with them.

  Cross looked at Floe and raised his finger to his lips. She nodded. The two proceeded cautiously, slinking through the shadows without sudden movement or noise. Rusted container after rusted container slipped by. It was nerve-wracking, stalking through the shadows, each row looking like the last.