Looper

by Ann Bakshis

  “I think the bedrooms at the orphanage are bigger than this whole place,” I comment as I walk the perimeter.

  Garrett goes over to his bed and slides out a box full of tools and other random items from underneath. “Yeah, but it still beats the shanties.”

  By the lone window is a cinderblock shelving unit holding a small display, a few photos, and a dead plant. One of the pictures catches my attention. I pick up the flimsy wood frame, and have to look at the face carefully to make sure I’m seeing it correctly.

  “Is this my mother?” I ask.

  Garrett looks up from his task, but only briefly. “Yes. The Patrician gave that to me in case I saw her and was able to see if she knew where you were.”

  I remove the picture from the frame, and that’s when I see it. A black dragon, just like Frey’s, on the top of her left chest, just like mine. I tuck the photo into a pocket in the suit.

  That’s why when I saw Frey’s tattoo I thought it felt comforting. He got the same one my mother had. But why?

  “Here,” Garrett says, pulling me over towards the bed and having me sit down.

  He takes a thin set of pliers and tries to force it between the display screen on the top of the wristband, and the rubber backing imbedded in my skin. I wince at the pain. He apologizes, but I tell him it’s fine. It takes almost ten minutes before the two pieces separate.

  “I can’t simply just cut the connection between the device and you, because that’ll kill you instantly. What I need to do is disable that portion of the wristband’s programming,” Garrett says as he reaches for his box of tools again.

  He pulls out a small screwdriver, but it’s not like one I’ve ever seen before. He touches the tip of the tool onto one of the circuits and along the side of the screwdriver a display describes that circuit’s function. There are so many circuits in that tight space, that it’ll take him a while to locate the right one. Yelling pulls my attention away from what Garrett is doing. It sounds close. The building shakes as a bomb goes off.

  “Do you think they’re nuclear?” I ask as Garrett continues to work.

  “I don’t think so. They would’ve used them by now if they had them. I think they may be afraid of killing someone useful, like you.” He looks up and smiles at me.

  “Where’d you get that tool?” I ask, trying to distract myself from the mayhem outside.

  “I used it in the smelting plant. I was relegated to maintenance, so I needed this type of screwdriver to make repairs on the machines, or to stop a specific action. Ah, there it is,” he says.

  Along the other side of the screwdriver are small buttons. He pushes a few, and the wristband’s looping ability is temporarily deactivated.

  “I can’t permanently disable it,” he says, replacing the casing over the wristband. “Hopefully the Patrician don’t look too closely. I also disabled your locator, so they can’t track you.”

  I kiss him deeply just as the building shakes again. This time, cracks appear in the walls and ceiling. I take Garrett’s hand before he has time to put away the tool, and try to loop, hoping my theory about my being modified is right. It works. Within seconds, we’re in front of the orphanage, or at least what’s left of it. I walk up the steps to the front door and head inside. Only a few pieces of the exterior walls remain. The top floors have collapsed onto the main level.

  “Why’d you bring us here?” Garrett asks from the entryway, dropping the screwdriver into his quiver.

  “I was hoping Brink would’ve brought the others here, but I guess he didn’t.”

  I run to the grove just to be sure, and it’s empty. My workbench is in ashes, but the wall surrounding the grove is perfectly intact. It looks like the Patrician bombs are designed to destroy only designated targets, not everything around it.

  “Now where? We can’t loop around the whole city,” Garrett says, joining me.

  “Head Master Edom’s mansion. Maybe they’re there.”

  I take Garrett’s hand and loop us to the hallway just outside the dean. Aedox fill the room. Garrett and I are immediately fired upon. I loop us to the upper level. Luckily the suits protected us from being killed. We carefully walk towards the staircase, peeking around the corner to count exactly how many Aedox there are.

  “I’ll distract them while you loop,” Garrett says.

  “Fine, but wait a few seconds until after I loop.”

  He nods. I remove my Kopis and vanish. In the void, I hover above Garrett. He fires his arrows rapidly, striking a couple of Aedox before he’s fired upon. I land in the back of the group, blade at the ready. Two Aedox fall before me, but I have to loop again since the others see what was happening and attack. I don’t land, but stay in the void. Garrett continues to shoot, but he’s running out of ammunition. I project myself across the room, land, slice up two more Aedox, and loop again. Only four Aedox remain. I sheathe my Kopis while still in the void and land next to a dead Aedox. I remove his gun and fire at those still standing. Garrett steps onto the top of the landing when he sees there aren’t any more.

  “Here,” I say, tossing him one of the Aedox rifles as he gets off the last step.

  He takes another one, along with some extra clips. I do the same, place the ammunition into one of the pockets, and we begin scoping out the mansion, one room at a time. We split up. We start on the upper level and I work my way down to the cellar where the carriages are kept. Empty. Garrett didn’t follow me down to the cellar, so now I have to go looking for him too. I find him in the dining room, and discover he’s not alone. I unsheathe my Kopis and hold it firmly at my side. Vernon smiles when he sees me.

  “I was wondering what happened to you when the war started,” he hisses as he sits at the head of the table.

  “You let the Aedox take me,” I say, walking cautiously towards him.

  “I had to, dear. You see, it was imperative that you get to Tarsus and The Litarian Battles. From what I’ve learned, you’ve done quite well. Leader Fallon will be so pleased.”

  Garrett points his gun at Vernon, pressing the barrel almost to his temple. “You’re not going to get the chance to tell her you saw us.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Leader Fallon says, walking in from the kitchen.

  The dining room fills with Aedox. Garrett and I are relieved of our guns. An Aedox tries to remove my Kopis, but his hand goes right through it.

  “Never watched The Litarian Battles, did you?” I say with a slight laugh.

  The Aedox hits me in the back with the butt of his gun, knocking the air out of my lungs and causing me to fall to my knees. My hands are shackled.

  “You’ve done well, Garrett,” Leader Fallon says approaching him. “You will be greatly rewarded for your loyalty.”

  I glare at him, rage coursing through my veins, as I’m hoisted to my feet.

  “It wasn’t me, Max,” he says, pleadingly. “I didn’t tell them anything. I’m with you now, not them.”

  “There’s no need to keep trying to win her over, Garrett. She sees the real you now. After all, it was your tracker that led us here,” Leader Fallon says, placing her hand on his shoulder. “This will all be over soon.”

  “I can just loop out of here, you know,” I say, arrogantly.

  “Yes, but I don’t think you will,” Vernon says, rising from his seat and nodding to a couple of Aedox.

  Frey is dragged into the room, blood caked along the side of his head. An Aedox has a gun pressed underneath Frey’s chin. I gasp at the sight of him. He looks at me and smiles. I choke on tears and bile. I step over to him, but the Aedox doesn’t remove his weapon.

  “I didn’t know where you were,” Frey says hoarsely.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” I reply. I kiss him gently on the lips.

  “See, Garrett, Max does prefer Frey over you,” Leader Fallon says.

  Garrett’s face flushes red and I can see the anger in his eyes.

  “Where are the others?” I ask, turning my attention back towards her.
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  “They’re with the Dracken,” Vernon answers. “They’ll all be dead soon.”

  “How?” Frey asks.

  “The Outer Limits will be eradicated like Pentras was. Now,” Vernon says gesturing towards the door for the hallway, “shall we?”

  I’m led out first, with Frey behind me. Garrett exits with Leader Fallon and Vernon, who are at the end of the line, which just affirms his betrayal. We go out the front door and are halfway across the yard when gunfire erupts all around us. The Aedox that was holding me falls, as does the one holding Frey. The Aedox return fire while Frey and I drop to the ground and begin searching for the key to our shackles. I finally locate it, give it to Frey, and he unlocks me.

  “Come on, I know how to find Brink and Van,” Frey says, taking my arm as we stand.

  “Not without Garrett,” I say, shaking him loose.

  I pick up a gun from a fallen Aedox and toss it to Frey, who starts to shoot at anything that wears the Aedox uniform.

  “Why?” he screams to be heard over the battle.

  “He has something the Patrician want, and I’m not letting him give it to them.”

  I unsheathe my Kopis and make my way through the crowd towards Leader Fallon, Vernon, and Garrett as they retreat towards the carriage entrance to the cellar. The doors swing open when we run through them. Frey shoots at Vernon, hitting him in the leg. He aims next at Leader Fallon and hits her in the shoulder. He’s about to fire at Garrett when I stop him.

  “Don’t,” I say to Frey.

  “Why not?” he asks, his eyes looking through the sight on the top of the large weapon.

  “Because it’ll just go right through him.”

  “I’m not taking this off,” Garrett says, pulling at the suit and smirking. “The Patrician will have their technology shortly.”

  His tracker still works, so they can loop him.

  I charge, and as he’s readying his bow and arrow I cut into his arm, an inch above the wristband, severing it. He screams and collapses to the ground.

  “You bitch!” he shouts, cradling his wound.

  “See if they can find you now,” I say through clenched teeth.

  “Fuck you, Max,” Garrett says, trying to stem the blood running from his arm.

  I knee him in the face. “Kill them,” I say to Frey, pointing to Leader Fallon and Vernon.

  I get Garrett to his feet as the suit reacts to his injury and covers the wound. I’m not sure what more the suit could or might do, but I know we need to move fast to find the others. Frey joins us as we’re making our way out the cellar’s back entrance.

  “This way,” Frey says, tapping me on the shoulder.

  I practically have to drag Garrett with us. A few feet away we find an empty carriage, so I shove Garrett in the back and Frey slides in next to him while I take the controls. I have no idea where I’m going, but anywhere is better than being near the mansion. We’re about a mile away when the bombs hit the structure, incinerating everything and everyone in and around the building.

  “Where are they?” I ask Frey as I go by the factories.

  “Brink said to meet him at the place where you two grew up.”

  “We were already there,” Garrett says through spasms of pain.

  I swing the carriage around and head back towards the orphanage. I have to change our lines several times to make sure we’re on the correct one leading to the orphanage. I take us off the main line when we reach the alley and let momentum bring us to the gate of the grove. We hop out, enter the grove, but still no one is around.

  “This is so damn frustrating,” I almost shout.

  “Chill, Maxy, it’s all good,” Brink says emerging from the shelled structure.

  “Where are the others?” Frey asks.

  “Not far away. Come on, we’ll go on foot,” Brink says and gestures for us to go back out the gate.

  We hustle down the alley, Garrett now being carried by Frey and myself. His color is fading, so perhaps the suit can only do so much for his injuries. We stop when something detonates a few blocks away. Brink looks around the corners of the demolished shops that used to be there, and signals for us to continue. We wind up almost at the complex for second-level housing when Brink directs us to an opening at the base of the steep hill. Heavy metal doors open as we approach. They’re manned by heavily armed citizens, but many have the dragon tattoo visible on their exposed flesh.

  The doors are closed behind us as we enter a tunnel that is lit by small gas feed lights that are secured into the metal that covers the walls. The air is stale and reeks of unwashed bodies. The tunnel finally empties out into a large space filled with cots, boxes of food, and over a hundred people. Two men take Garrett from us to tend to his wound while Brink goes to look for Van.

  “What is this place?” I ask, putting my Kopis back in its holder.

  “A refuge created shortly after Pentras was annihilated,” a female voice answers from somewhere in the crowd.

  Nan emerges from the fold. Frey raises his weapon, aiming it at her. Those around us immediately point their guns at Frey.

  “No, don’t,” I say to Frey, placing my hand on the barrel of his gun.

  “She’s a Patrician. That’s why she killed my father,” he says, not lowering the weapon.

  “She’s not with the Patrician,” I respond just as Nan is opening her mouth to speak. I turn towards her and smile. “She’s a Keeper.”

  “What?” Frey asks disbelief etched on his face. The weapon wavers in his hands before being dropped to his side.

  “It’s true,” Nan says, moving closer to us. “How did you know, Max?”

  “I thought at first you were with the Patrician, especially after you killed Avery. But then it dawned on me when I saw Hammond at the Icarian Depository. The Patrician were looking for you, so if they were looking for you, and since you had murdered a Dracken leader, I figured you had to be a Keeper.”

  Van pushes his way through the crowd and gives me a hug. “I’m so glad you made it,” he says after letting go.

  “You three come with me,” Nan says. “Everyone else get prepared.”

  We walk past the cots and towards the back corner of the vast room. Brink joins us a few minutes later with news that they’ve been able to stop Garrett’s bleeding. I lean against the wall and watch Frey hug his mother.

  “We don’t have much time,” Frey says, releasing her. “The Patrician are going to nuke the Outer Limits.”

  “I know. That’s why this shelter was created,” Nan says.

  “We need to get back to the Dead Zone,” I say.

  “Why?” Brink asks, seemingly disgusted by the idea. “We’re perfectly safe here.”

  “It’s not about safety,” I counter. “I need Van and his detonators to destroy the contents in Pentras Tower.”

  “What are you talking about?” Frey asks.

  I point to the suit I’m wearing and look around to make sure no one is in earshot of us. “The Patrician want the technology used to create this suit. If we don’t get back to the Dead Zone and destroy it, they’ll just keep trying until they have it. Once they do, all worlds are in danger, not just ours.”

  “It’s Dracken technology, right?” Brink asks. “Why not just give it back to them?”

  I’m about to respond when Nan stops me by placing her hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m sure that’s Max’s intent, Brink. Perhaps Van can take the suit Garrett is wearing so he can safely return to Pentras Tower.”

  I reach into my pocket to pull out the suits I’m carrying, but stop myself. Van leaves to get the suit from Garrett, while Brink and Nan discuss tactical maneuvers for getting us near the dome’s entrance. I pull Frey away from the others, moving us off to the other end of the room near a couple of gas tanks that are feeding the power to the shelter. Once we’re alone, he pulls me in close and kisses me deeply. I pull back, reach into my pocket, and pull out the picture of my mother.

  “Does this look familiar?”
I ask him, tapping on the dragon tattoo she’s donning.

  “It looks just like the one I have,” he responds.

  “Who told you to get it?”

  “Troy’s father.”

  “Did he tell you why?”

  “No, not really. I thought it was odd, but Guy Larsen was getting me into The Litarian Battles, so I wasn’t about to argue with him.”

  “Maybe he thought of it as a way to get to me. And when that didn’t work, he had Troy use the Archives to jog my memory.”

  “He wouldn’t have known you would be sent to The Litarian Battles.”

  “Sure he did. Leader Fallon told him. Troy knew of the mutilation done to me long before anyone else did. The only way he could’ve known that was from Leader Fallon. She would never have talked to him directly, but it makes sense that she would tell his father, to ensure his loyalty to the Patrician.” I slip the photo back into my pocket and remove one of the suits from the other pocket. “Here, put this on under your clothes, but be discreet about it.”

  He takes it, goes off to another vacant area, and puts the suit on. He returns just as Van does. I instruct Van to put his other clothes on over the suit, so it’s not obvious he’s wearing it. The three of us return to Nan and Brink who have moved back to the main area with the cots. The four of us head back towards the entrance, but stop short of the guards.

  “What about Garrett?” Brink asks.

  “We’ll take care of him,” Nan answers. She turns her attention to Van. “Would you mind giving me a couple of your detonators?”

  He looks puzzled at the request. “They won’t work for you,” he says. “They’re designed to be used exclusively by me.”

  “You and the Keepers. We just never mentioned that part to the Matrons.”

  He hands her two and cinches the bag closed.

  Nan hugs Frey again, but this time with tears in her eyes. “I’ll be thinking of you,” she says to him.

  “I’ll be back,” he says to her.

  I know what her intentions are with the detonators, but I’m not telling Frey until I have to. He won’t ever understand the sacrifice his mother is about to make, but I do. I hug her as well, holding on for a long time. I feel like I’m also saying goodbye to my mother. Secretly I am, in a way.