“Once you’re in, you can work your way up through the ranks. Those who go all the way are known as the Sons of the City. These,” she waved a hand toward the piles all around her, “are from those who don’t make it. They get piled up here until the next intake. You feel better now?” She added a fake, bright smile which lasted all of two seconds. Then her frown came back and she wasted no time getting into her suit, doing up the catches.
Kai didn’t risk opening his mouth. He stared down at his feet, willing desperately for boots. Wearing something dirty was one thing, something dirty that someone had died in? He shook his head at his stubborn bare feet, told his brain to hush up, and got dressed. His skin crawled at the touch of the stiff fabric. Rolling in a million ants would feel better than this.
Bree shoved her feet into boots, stuffed her hair into a cap. “There’s no time. They’ll be doing a change-over soon. You ready?”
“Why are you doing this, Bree? I’m not moving until you tell me.”
“There’s no time.” Bree placed a cap on his head, studied him critically and nodded. “You’ll do. Come on.”
He folded his arms, raised an eyebrow, and planted his feet.
“Fine. It’s my brother. He got himself recruited, and every day he’s becoming more a part of them. I have to stop him. At least try.” Bree turned silently toward the gate, her boots crunching gravel with each step.
Kai nodded grimly. Only for Runt. He was doing this for Runt. And maybe for Bree, too.
10
Carla checked the thermometer. “His temperature is lower, but his other vitals are weakening. This doesn’t look good. If he has any family, they really should be here.”
Evazee’s heart dropped. Carla’s unspoken fears hung in the air like toxic mist. “What happened to him? Nobody will tell me.” She watched Carla squirm.
“A bus. He got hit by a bus. Corner of Third and Macklemore downtown. Don’t get any ideas about going there, do you hear me? It’s a terrible part of the city. I know I said his family should be here, but—”
Eva heard the warning, but she didn’t pay any attention. She was too busy running down the passage to catch a bus.
She tried to call SandSky Gallery, knowing there’d be no one there at 11pm. She kept trying all the way anyway, fuelled by an urgency she couldn’t put a name to. After the fourth call, she left a message and gave up. The bus deposited her at the exact spot where it had collided with the boy. Carla’s warning words took on flesh here in this part of town, hungry flesh, drug-riddled and desperate, wearing rags and looking for easy pickings. She stepped gingerly past a broken rum bottle, a dozen more bottles lay shattered, sparkling shards waiting to slit unwary feet. Thick hopelessness hung in the air, not shifted by the breeze.
What now? Jesus, please show me.
She found the key in her back pocket and pulled it out. Wedged in between two shops stood a rickety block of flats that looked as if they’d been built from cardboard. Six front doors made up the bottom floor. Two more stories balanced on top with a rusted staircase to get up. Eighteen possible doors, and she could be on the complete wrong track anyway. Madness. The key didn’t work in the first door on the left.
The second woke an ancient woman who came out armed with a bread knife, bleating curses from her wrinkled mouth. Eva dived behind a dirt bin, burying her nose in her jersey to block out the smell of rotting fish. With a few more curses and a shake of her fist, the old lady locked herself in. Soon after, the lights went off. Eva counted the minutes in heartbeats, rattled by the close call.
Her legs were numb. She’d have to move now–ready or not. Her hands shook as she sneaked across and lifted the key to the next door in line. The key didn’t work there either. It didn’t work in any of the eighteen doors. Eva blinked back tears. This was too much. She turned her back on the flats to scan the rest of the street. These flats were the only residential buildings. There were shops to the left and right, an abandoned warehouse over the road tucked in behind a condemned sign. No more homes. Wait—the warehouse. It had a metal staircase around the side that wound back and forth up three stories high. What if…
With a quick check to make sure no one was watching, she crossed the street and ducked behind the signboard. Ignoring the bright red warning to keep out, she lifted a foot to the first step.
Something grunted and moved in the dark space below the stairs. A shadowy form lay hidden beneath sheets of old newsprint. The paper crinkled and moved. Whatever it was, it was coming out.
Eva squealed and ran up the stairs, two at a time. Her hands shook as she tried to fit the key into the lock. Three attempts later, it slid all the way in and let out a click as she turned the key. This was it!
Something crashed inside. Eva tried to pull the key out to run, but it was stuck. Deep groaning came from the thing under the stairs. Fear prickled across her scalp. She twisted the metal left and right, but it wouldn’t budge. Someone scratched at the inside of the door. One last twist on the key, the lock fell out and smacked onto her toes. The door flung open. Evazee overbalanced backwards, caught herself on the door jamb to pull herself upright. Too far. She fell forward and tumbled into the room.
She fell hard, and a whip-crack shot through her shoulder sending needle pricks of pain down her spine. Winded, she lay in the dark trying to breathe.
Someone started up a tiny buzz saw next to her head, scouring her face with miniature sandpaper. Ten sharp claws began kneading her arm. What?
Her fingers found the form in the dark, a round soft head, way smaller than her palm. A neck she could encircle with her thumb and forefinger, a spine that pressed up into her hand, soft and yielding, a fluffy snake of a tail…the creature was purring. A kitten. She scooped it up, feeling fragile ribs beneath its fur, and tucked it to her chest.
The boy had been in hospital for two days. If this was his cat, it would be starving. She threw the light switch, scanning the room for anyone or anything else. The place was deserted. Eva retrieved the lock, shut and bolted the door with the lock on the inside. The kitten nestled close to her chest as if it could burrow its way right into her heart.
~*~
Kai and Bree were arguing in whispers, hidden behind a flimsy wall of crates, trying not to attract attention.
“But we just join that group. They’re our ticket in.” Bree motioned to a dozen wolfmen marching toward them from the thick of the slum.
Kai faced the solid blackness of the OS—the group coming at them from the other side. This could only end badly. “Are you insane? They’ll see right through our disguises and lock us up. Trust me, you don’t want that.”
Bree moved and he grabbed her hand to stop her doing something stupid. She pulled away from him sharply, over-balanced, righting herself on the crates. The impact sent them crashing. The noise rang out loudly, and Kai cringed. Bree’s face scrunched up and he thought she might apologize. Instead, she glared at him, pointing with a stiff finger, mouth clearly forming the words your fault.
“You! Don’t move. What’s going on?” A thickset man with eyes too small for his face and a nose the size of a small country broke rank and ran toward them. “Are you slagging off? You know the penalty for laziness.” His nostrils flared like a racehorse fresh off the track.
Bree stared at his flapping nose.
Kai wanted to laugh at the horror all over her face.
She said nothing but grabbed Kai by the shirt and dragged him to his feet.
The man squinted at them, apparently trying to place them.
Another ran up behind, his face an older, more angular version of Bree’s.
“Let me deal with these, Jepson. It’s below you.” Kai could swear he looked panicked. His eyes were wide and the muscles in his jaw clenched tight. His nostrils weren’t doing too badly either.
Jepson, stroked his beard, nodding in agreement. “You’re right. Sort it out. Don’t be gentle.” He spun on his heel, took his nostrils, ego, and the rest of the pack, and disappeared into
the vast blackness of the OS.
Only once they were all gone did the man speak. “It is you. Bree, what are you doing here?” A quiet fury showed in the fists hanging deliberately at his side. He checked the deserted yard to make sure nobody was watching, lifted her chin, took in the blackness of her eyes, “What have you done?”
“I came for you. You can’t do this. Please—”
“Don’t tell me you let them take you. Bree, no…” his voice cracked, and he reached toward the coppery mark on her forehead, fingers stopping short of touching.
Bree grabbed his hands from her forehead, “It’s OK El, it goes away. Look!” She rubbed at the point of a snake with his finger and held it toward him, coated in a smudged coppery sheen. “A disguise, that’s all. We came to fetch you.” She gestured toward Kai, “This is Kai. Kai, my brother Elden.”
Kai tipped his head.
Elden looked him up and down and turned back to his finger. He studied it for a moment, “Get out of here. Don’t come back.”
“El—”
He pulled a rough weapon from the holster on his belt. Shaped like a palm-size crossbow, it was loaded with a needle-thin dart. Elden pulled back the string and hooked it. “Get out of here.” He levelled the weapon at her forehead.
Bree stared, her eyes wide. She backed away, stumbling, head shaking in disbelief. “What have they done to you?” Biting back a sob, she turned and ran.
Kai had trouble speaking. “What are you doing? She’s your family.”
Elden swung toward him, needle pointing at the centre of Kai’s skull.
Kai growled, “Kill me. I don’t care.”
Elden’s face contorted. The gun dropped and strength bled out of Bree’s brother. He hit hard, knees denting the gravel, breath coming in gasps, “They want her. I will stop at nothing to make sure that never happens. Even this.” His hand swept over his clothes, the OS. He turned to Kai, “Get her away from here. Don’t let her come back for me.”
Kai nodded once. “A trade?”
“What do you want?”
“They have my friend. She’s little, just a kid.”
“I’ll find out. Take this.” Elden pushed a small, round disc into Kai’s palm. Milky white and smooth, it felt cool. “If it goes red, come find me. If it goes black, then…” he shrugged. Then it was too late. Then Kai had failed Runt.
Kai pocketed it. “Thank you.”
“She’s only sixteen. Please.”
~*~
Evazee lay curled up on the bed with a tiny grey kitten sleeping in her arms. Her phone rang and she shot up and off the bed in one smooth movement. Sharp claws dug into her thigh as the kitten slipped down her leg and landed with a shake of its head. Both of them were too sleepy to be on their feet.
Pale light shone through a gap in the boards as she tried to focus enough to answer the call. Her sleepy mind scrambled to break fuzz as she pushed the right button and sank back onto the pillow. The kitten eyed her suspiciously.
“I’m returning a call from Eva. Is that you?”
Eva shook her head to clear the fuzz, not successfully. “That’s me. Who’s calling?”
“TrisTessa from SandSky. You were looking for me?”
“Oh, wow. Yes!” Words failed Eva. Where to start? “Can I come see you? It’s urgent.”
“I guess so. I’m at the gallery. Is it in connection with a booking?”
“You could say that, yes.” Eva cringed. A booking with your past.
“We’re not open yet, so buzz me when you get here and I’ll let you in.”
“Give me a few minutes, I’m on my way.”
Eva sat cradling her phone, stuck between asleep and awake, taking in the tight paper balls that dotted the floor. Cold water and her face had to meet. That would do the trick.
She slipped off the bed onto shaky legs, rinsed her face in the basin, and gave it a quick wipe out of habit. She filled the two kitty bowls, one with food, the other with water, heart pounding in her throat.
~*~
TrisTessa unlocked the door. Her unruly raven hair was caught up in a loose braid that hung over her shoulder, nearly to her waist. The over-sized shirt she wore used to be white, though now it was a canvas in its own right, dotted with paint splatters and smears. A tired pair of jeans beneath it showed slim legs. In her mid-forties, yet somehow ageless, this woman was stunning.
Now that she was here facing her, Evazee didn’t know where to start. “I love your photos.” She motioned to the paint-splattered top. “Do you paint as well?”
“I dabble. I’m thinking of branching out, extending this place. Just a thought. How can I help you, Eva?” Her voice was low and soothing, and it made Eva think of a wave over cobble stones. Musical.
“You have to come with me, right now.”
“I’m afraid I don’t work like that. Let’s discuss your needs first. Follow me.” She turned and led on through the gallery Eva had toured by herself, down a long, atrium-like glass passage that ran between two gardens. Halfway down, she stopped and threw the bolt on a sliding door to the left. The crisp morning air outside rushed in as the door slid back, scented with the heady fragrance of jasmine.
TrisTessa led them down a winding path between a garden dotted with pansies and bright poppies—too many to count. Eva started counting colours, got to ten and shook herself. Now was not the time. How to start this conversation?
TrisTessa settled at a table beneath a spreading frangipani, waving for Eva to join her.
The long walk did nothing but fuel the urgency inside Eva. As she sat, she drew the crumpled letter out of her pocket and handed it over. Surely this was the quickest way.
“Do you recognize this?” As if she’d tossed a stone in a still pool, she watched emotions ripple across the woman’s face.
“Where did you get this?” She didn’t unfold it; she didn’t need to. Her hands shook as she held it, not even glancing down.
“My Gran is in hospital. I got lumped with visiting her and while I was there I…” She faltered. How could she admit out loud that she’d been hanging out at the bedside of a strange guy, digging through his personal belongings. None of it mattered anyway, he was dying. “You’ve got to come. He’s not doing great.”
~*~
A shot fired to the left of Kai. He felt the stinging buzz as a pulse dart flew past, narrowly missing his arm. He halted and turned back.
Elden aimed the gun straight at him, but motioned with his other hand to keep running. Go straight, don’t dodge, otherwise I will hit you.
Ah, a cover up for their escape. Even knowing Elden had no intention of hitting him didn’t stop him flinching as a second dart whizzed past on the right. A few more darts and he was clear, into the thick of the slum.
He pushed hard, but he couldn’t gain on Bree. She ran like a spooked rock rabbit, nimble, and quick. Getting through the slums was easy wearing an OS uniform. The apathetic black-eyed souls moved out of his way without blinking. He’d been wishing for boots, but these were like blocks of concrete, weighing him down, sapping strength from his muscles.
Past the slums, the land dropped away into a rocky bowl the length of two football fields, encircled on the far side by a low mountain range, jagged, and sharp like dinosaur teeth. Far off through the gloom, a spot moved. Bree. She was coming up the other side of the bowl, climbing toward a dark crevice that slashed through the wall of grey rock.
Should he ditch the boots? Bree was running too fast. He’d lose her if he stopped. Shutting off the pain, he pushed on, down into the valley. When he looked up again, Bree was gone, swallowed up by the shadowy chasm. He checked the disc in his pocket—still milky. Onward, then.
The floor of the bowl that looked so smooth from a distance was a mess of rocks and ditches. How Bree got through it so quick without breaking an ankle was beyond him. He slowed down, picking a careful path to avoid the shifting rocks and deep holes.
Halfway through, a single howl cracked through the silence. Kai halted
. Which direction had it come from? The sound bounced off the rocks, echoing and re-echoing until it nearly split his eardrums. DarKounds.
It was answered by a dozen other howls. From behind? All he could do was get to the crack and hope that darKounds couldn’t climb the sheer face. Picking the high rocks, Kai sped up, leaping from one to the next, praying none would tip him.
The ground curved upwards. Sweat poured off him. Nails scraped on rock behind him and he pushed hard. The rock floor dropped away as he clawed his way up, fingers splayed like spider legs. Fingernails ripped as he scrambled for a hand hold. Shoulder muscles burned as he pulled himself higher. He could hear panting, whining. His fingertips bled freely, leaving a trail on the rocks. Black, not red.
I’ve had enough.
The boots slipped more than they held, but his fingertips saved him. By the time he pulled over the last lip of rock, every muscle in his body quivered. In his mind he envisioned the darKounds coming after him, somehow spidering up the steep face. Against every instinct, he stretched out on his belly, forcing himself to peer over the edge.
A group of thirteen frothed at the bottom of the cliff, whining to get to him, climbing awkwardly but slipping back, claws leaving smoking furrows in the rock. He forced himself to stay put, leaning out over the edge to make sure they didn’t find a way up. He cringed each time one crouched to jump, expecting their teeth at his throat. Watching them through slit eyes, Kai was mesmerised.
DarKounds were sleek, hairless, covered in smooth seal-skin that rippled with each muscle contraction. Their pale eyes were catlike, fixed on him even as they paced. All except one. Bigger than the others, it sat unmoving with its chest heaving, snarling a constant low growl.
Their gazes caught and a flood of thoughts slammed through Kai. There is no escape. Come down. You’re only delaying the inevitable. It will be better for everyone if you come willingly. You can end this now. The power is yours. The small one can go free if you surrender.
Runt. They’d let her go. It all made sense. Kai looked for the quickest way down. A scream pierced the air. It came from inside the stone mountain. Bree! He pulled away from the edge, rolling onto his back.
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