Looper

by Ann Bakshis

  “The Litarian Battles is mainly played during the day, but to fill up the time the government runs the battles continuously all day long until the next morning when selection begins again.” Addie takes a big bite of her apple. She has it devoured in a matter of minutes and tosses the core into a waste bin under the screen in front of us. “So,” she says, pulling her legs up underneath her butt, turning her attention to me, “what do you think?”

  I look at her puzzled. “Of what?”

  “Being chosen to participate. It’s not every day that contestants are plucked from the Outer Limits, especially so many of them at one time.”

  My response is simply a blank stare. I have no idea what to say, or even articulate how I feel. I’m not even sure what I feel about all of this. My fingers move over my wristband, feeling its sleekness, wondering what the purpose of it is and why they had to embed it into my flesh.

  She sees me fidgeting with the device and places her hand on top of mine. “You’ll get used to it eventually. It does take a little bit, but soon you won’t even know it’s there.”

  “What’s it for?”

  “You’re kidding, right?” she asks, completely astonished at my question. “You’ve watched The Litarian Battles before, haven’t you?”

  I shake my head.

  She purses her lips and cocks her head to the side. “Huh, I thought everyone in the Outer Limits watched it. Well, Rem will explain it all to you tomorrow during training.”

  “Who’s Rem?”

  “She’s the lead trainer for the Looper unit. I’m her assistant. It’ll be fun.” She smiles, then gets up as the scent of hot food wafts into the room.

  I turn and see a staff member in the same regulation uniform worn by those at the orphanage, dark blue pants with a white dress shirt and black coat, pushing a large cart loaded down with food. The man stops, places the trays along the bar, and leaves. It’s a frenzy to get a plate. Fried chicken, freshly baked rolls, corn, and brownies are on the menu. I get in line with everyone else, but there isn’t much left by the time I’m filling my plate. Addie gestures for me to follow her back to the couch we’d been on. We use the coffee table in front of us to rest our plates. She gets a couple of water bottles from the icebox, but before she can sit down, she’s scooped up from behind by a young man and flung over his shoulder.

  “Frey,” she says, squealing, “put me down.”

  He smiles, complies, and sets her back onto her feet. He then jumps onto the couch next to me, taking her seat. “Hi, Max,” he says to me.

  “Hi,” I respond, nervously.

  “I’m Frey, unit troublemaker.” He laughs, sticks out his hand, and bumps me to shake it.

  I comply and am surprised at how gentle his grip is compared to how bulky he is. I thought he would’ve crushed my bones without even trying. His smile is slightly crooked, auburn hair brushing the top of his shoulders. He is several inches taller than Brink, almost Garrett’s height.

  Brink. How could I have forgotten about him? Is his unit just as crazy as mine? Is he glad to be here? I wonder if the only time I’ll see him is during battle.

  “Leave her alone,” Addie says, pulling Frey off the couch so she can sit down and finish her dinner. “Go bug someone else.”

  “Fine, crabby, but I’ll be back.” He winks at us and leaves.

  She rolls her eyes, hands me a bottle, and picks her plate back up. We finish our dinner, tossing the remnants into the trash, setting the dishes in one of the sinks behind the bar, and reclaim our spots on the couch. We spend the next several hours just watching music videos. I ask Addie if every day is like this. She’s says yes and no.

  “It depends upon what happened on the floor. If no one died, it’s a good day like today.”

  “How often does someone get killed during The Litarian Battles?”

  She scrunches up her face and looks up at the ceiling, obviously trying to think about the answer. “At least every couple of weeks. Unfortunately there will be more deaths coming with the event and all.” Her body language changes from joy to discomfort. She pulls her knees up into her chest as she lies sideways on the couch.

  An hour later, Addie retreats to the girl’s bedroom to sleep. Everyone else starts making their way to one of the two bedrooms the later it gets. I stay up, partly because of anxiety, but also to be alone. I focus my attention to the screen playing one of the battles that was supposedly recorded earlier, according to Addie. The battlefield is constructed out of concrete rubble, collapsed metal structures, and a lot of debris. I can’t tell if the landscape is real or something the government cooked up. There are two players on the floor. At the top right hand corner of the display is a digital clock counting backwards. I’m not sure what time it started on, but there’s an hour and twenty-seven minutes left. In the upper left corner are the names of the two battlers and their points.

  A young man with a quiver slung over his shoulder and an arrow ready in his bow is slinking around the rubble, looking for his opponent. I can barely catch a glimpse of the other person; they’re moving too fast. The man with the bow winces as a gash appears along his ribcage. The points next to the name “Lok” decrease ten, while the ones next to the name “Drake” increase ten.

  I wonder if that’s the Drake from the Outer Limits.

  Lok is struck again, this time in the arm holding the bow. His points decrease another ten, bringing his total down to five thousand seventy. He steps on top of the rubble he had been hiding behind, looks intensely off in the distance, and fires his arrow. Drake is struck in the chest. He drops, as does his points. The minutes slowly pass before Drake touches a spot on his wristband, which seems to end the battle. Lok is declared the winner. He is awarded one hundred points for the strike on Drake, but since he had already taken a loss of twenty, he only gains eighty.

  The rubble, debris, and metal structures disappear leaving a large open area. The walls and floor are covered in gray tiles with light blue illumination between them. Drake disappears, the battle clock resets to two hours, and the final points tallied. I look at my wristband, paying close attention to the one thousand points that flash in my face. My eyes find their way back to the screen, staring at Drake’s points: 230.

  If we start out with one thousand, what happens if we hit zero?

  Five

  I stay up most of the night trying to get caught up on how The Litarian Battles work. No one appears to be seriously injured by their opponents, so I wonder if the outfit they all wear provides some kind of protection. Many use shields that are generated by the wristband, but as Matron Kaniz said, they don’t protect against all weapons. All the matches I watch end with someone surrendering. Drake has the least amount of points. I still can’t figure out where the actual positions of the players come into play. Maybe that’s what Rem will explain to me. I finally go to bed just after two in the morning, according to a small clock on my wristband.

  I don’t bother changing my clothes, I just get under my blankets and try to bury myself. I feel like I’ve been given a death sentence. There isn’t any escaping this, bargaining my way out, or hoping for some sort of miracle. I wish I knew why I was chosen. How was it determined who would be sent? Were the names selected at random, or purposefully? I wonder if there’s a way to get out of this. Could I just leave through the emergency door? Where would it take me? Does the wristband have a tracking device?

  The lights automatically come on just before six. I keep my head covered while everyone else makes their way to the bathrooms or out to the common room. Addie pokes her head into my space, our noses almost bumping. She drags me from the comfort of my mattress and into one of the bathrooms. She grabs a change of clothes from one of the cupboards, hangs it outside a shower stall, shoves me inside, and orders me to wash. I don’t argue, but I do try to avoid getting the wristband wet for fear it’ll electrocute me.

  Once I’m clean and dressed, we go to the common room and eat breakfast. There’s enough food this morning to get
second helpings, which I do. Just after nine, everyone begins lining up in front of the lift except Addie, who nudges me to follow her. We pass through the common room, and towards the side of the floor where the Progression Room is. I fear she’s taking me back there, especially since Matron Kaniz is standing in the hallway apparently waiting for us.

  “Hello, Max,” she says to me, hands behind her back. “Addie, Rem is waiting for you in the training room. I’ll bring Max along shortly.”

  Addie heads back the way we came and enters a room on her left before she reaches the common room. Matron Kaniz gestures towards a door next to her. I open it and a room the size of a walk-in closet sits just beyond. Secured against the walls are labels, flashing the names of everyone on the floor. Behind the labels are empty sheaths, except for one. I recognize the handle sticking out of the leather case. My name bounces underneath the weapon. I have to step far into the room to retrieve it. The Kopis practically sings in my hand. I feel like it’s always been a part of me, an old friend I’m finally reunited with.

  “The weapons can only be used in the training room and the battle floor. If you attempt to use it outside of these areas, the weapon becomes non-operational and is immediately returned to the storage room you’re now in. This will be the one and only time you can carry your weapon out of this room. All other times, your weapon will be brought to you.”

  “I thought I was the only one who could handle my weapon? How can you bring it to me if no one else can touch it?”

  “There are ways to transport items without physical contact.” She steps out of the doorway, locks the door behind me, and escorts me a few feet to another door. “Rem and Addie should be ready for you.” Matron Kaniz leaves, making her way towards the common room.

  I don’t see a doorknob, so I push on the wall where the entrance is supposed to be and the wall slides open. The interior of the training room looks just like the battle floor: gray tiles one foot in length and width, illuminated from behind by a light blue glow that flows between the slats. The room is far larger than I had imagined. Addie is standing off to the side with another young woman whose red hair is short along one side, and buzzed almost to the scalp on the other.

  “Max, this is Rem,” Addie says, introducing me to the young woman. “Put your weapon in the holder over there.” Addie points to a small rack on the wall to my left.

  “Won’t I be needing it?”

  “Not at the moment,” Rem says.

  I place the Kopis on the rack and follow the two of them to the center of the room.

  “Before you can be placed into The Litarian Battles, you must learn how to use your new ability,” Rem says, pacing in front of me.

  “New ability? What do you mean by that?” I ask.

  “I told you she’d have no idea what you’re talking about. She’s never watched,” Addie says, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Rem’s lips curl up, but not quite in a smile. “Then this should be fun.” She disappears right in front of my eyes. “A Looper,” she says, her voice echoing through the chamber even though I can’t see her, “moves through both space and time.” She pops back in front of me. “It’s so we can avoid our enemies and use the element of surprise.”

  “How’d you do that?” I ask, my mouth hanging open.

  She picks up my left hand and taps on the wristband. “This is what gives you the power. It can only be used in the training room or the battle floor. You will not have this ability outside of these areas.”

  “That’s why it’s adhered to my skin,” I state more than ask.

  “Kind of,” Addie says. “It’s internally wired into your nervous system. It’s also used to transmit your whereabouts in the battle to the Keepers.”

  “Who are they?” I ask.

  “They create the battle plans for the day, are in charge of giving us our weapons when we get to the floor, and determine the points awarded for each hit. Though, I’m sure the points will be increasing tremendously as soon as the new candidates from the Outer Limits are all trained,” Rem says.

  “Why train us at all?” I say, walking backwards as the air around the three of us has become too intense. “We’re only here to make your advancement into the event easier. What’s the point of any of this?”

  Rem crosses her arms over her chest, puffing it out. A scowl causes lines to form around her lips, making her look old. “My intention is to have the best unit in this complex, and that even means you, Max. I want the best Loopers to advance to the event, no one else. In order for that to happen, I need the best and to become the best you have to train. I don’t care that you’re from the Outer Limits. At this time, you’re a Looper. You’re one of mine and I will do everything I can to make sure you last. Understand?”

  I nod.

  “Good.” Rem unfolds her arms and her scowl is replaced with a wide smile. “Now, take my hand and we’ll begin.”

  She stretches out her right arm. This is the first time I actually notice all the scarring she has on both limbs. That much torture had to have come from the Aedox. I never would’ve thought Tarsus would abuse its own citizens. What kind of discipline did Rem need to warrant such torment? Or did she earn that in The Litarian Battles?

  I hesitate, then slowly reach out and take her hand. Everything flashes around me. I feel the air in my lungs being sucked out as if I’m flying through a void. I can see the training room, Addie standing in the center, but I can’t touch anything. I feel like I’m floating and falling at the same time. I begin to panic, my body disconnecting from time.

  “Breathe, Max,” Rem says somewhere near me. I can still feel her hand in mine, but I can’t see her. “Concentrate on where you want to go. You can pick a point in time or one in space.”

  “I don’t follow,” I almost scream.

  “You can either project yourself to an alternate point in the room, or you can jump to the future, but only by a few minutes. Or, you can do both. Let me show you.” She lets go of me. I fall to the ground, hitting the tiles hard with my stomach. Rem is now on the other side of the room. “You’re going to need to work on your landing,” she says, laughing. “Addie, why don’t you take her this time?”

  I don’t even get a chance to get on my feet when Addie takes my hand and we vanish. The same sensation comes over me and I have to continually tell myself to breathe. I can see Rem walking across the floor, heading in the direction we had been.

  “Think about what you want to do,” Addie says. “Picture where you want to go and you’ll arrive.”

  I concentrate on the far corner where Rem was. Addie and I are swept over there, the floor materializing beneath us. Our feet make contact and the room stops spinning. We’re solid again.

  “Not bad,” Rem says. “It’ll take some time for you to get the hang of it.”

  We spend the next four hours practicing. Either Rem or Addie take me in, but I have to direct where we’re to go. I’ve only been able to do the aerial projection, where I can move us from one location to another, but I haven’t figured out the time one, yet. We break for a late lunch. Everyone is still down on the selection floor, so the three of us raid the iceboxes for food. The monitors show the same images they did yesterday, except one is now showing a live feed of the battle floor, where two people are battling for points.

  The points for one keeps going down, almost below the one thousand threshold. I turn and look at Addie, then Rem. Neither are paying too much attention to the battle. Both are watching a music video, the volume too loud for my ears. The young man’s points drop close to eight hundred.

  “How many points do you both have?” I ask, just as the young man declares defeat.

  Addie is the first to respond after a quick glimpse towards her wrist. “Eight thousand, nine hundred, and fifty.”

  “Twelve thousand four hundred,” Rem says without even looking at her wristband. “And they expect us to get up to fifty thousand in eight weeks. They’ll have to increase the number of battles per day,
or the number of players per sequence.”

  “How many are there now?” I ask, tossing my trash into the receptacle.

  “The Keepers only allow five battles per day, since they max out at two hours each. There are only two participants in each sequence.”

  “So, not everyone gets to play in one day,” I say.

  “Yup, which sucks because you can get bored really easily,” Addie says, standing up. She gets something from the icebox, then sits back down. “I wish they would let us go out, just for a few hours, into the city.”

  “Did they used to?”

  Rem lets out a slight snort. “A long time ago. The problem was the wristbands couldn’t be tracked outside of Thrace Tower, so people would start disappearing. No one knows if they just returned to their parents, or if something else happened. They widened the spectrum on the newer wristbands they started using.” Rem holds up hers, shaking it. “Now it doesn’t matter where you are, they can find you.”

  “But why stop the outings? I would think since they now have a better way to keep an eye on everyone, it would be easier to let them out and explore.”

  “We thought so too,” Addie says, pulling her legs up underneath her. “But then people started missing their battle times.”

  “So?”

  Rem and Addie look at each other, obviously annoyed by all my questions. “If you miss your scheduled time, the Keepers automatically transport you to the battlefield, knock your points down to fifty, and hope that your death will be a lesson to others,” Addie says.

  “Or, if you happen to survive, they punish you anyway. Making sure to display your subordination to everyone,” Rem adds, holding up her arms.

  “No more excursions,” Addie says. “The lessons didn’t exactly take.”

  “Ladies,” a voice utters behind us. Matron Kaniz is standing in the main hallway. “I think you’ve had a long enough break.”

  Rem rolls her eyes as she stands, and Addie and I have to muffle our laughs. The rest of the day is spent with me trying to move on my own. It takes some getting used to, and I almost make myself sick a few times, but it gets easier the more I do it. I still haven’t figured out the time piece of it, but Rem says I’ll get there. We finish just after seven. I notice that my weapon is no longer on the rack, so I ask Addie. She tells me the Keepers would’ve moved it back to the storage room.