Imperfect

by Tina Chan

  “That’s a bummer. We could’ve gotten a lot more information from Stevey if we had only posed our questions correctly,” said Jaiden, kicking rocks down the road.

  With less than one day’s supply, they desperately needed to refill their necessities, as the next closest civilization was at least three days’ walk. Chelsa had grudgingly agreed to stop by the city of Alma for one night.

  “We still received a fair amount of info,” said Kristi. “Let’s go find an inn.”

  Chelsa looked at a map on her electro-slate, deciding where and when they should call it quits for the day. Jaiden pulled out his electro-slate and typed something. Chelsa, absorbed with her map, didn’t notice Jaiden using his slate.

  Since when did he retrieve his slate? Kristi thought.

  “Jaiden, you never told me that you had your electro-slate the whole time. How’d you get it from jail? When did you—” Kristi stopped talking when Chelsa’s head jerked up.

  “You brought your electro-slate?” Chelsa said.

  “Yeah.” Jaiden brandished his slate in front of Chelsa, but snatched it back to his chest when she attempted to nick it out of his hands. “Is there a reason I can’t bring my electro-slate, when you can bring yours?”

  “Duh, there’s a reason why you shouldn’t have brought yours. I thought you knew electro-slates have trackers in them—the government could be tracking us this minute. I thought Perfects had their brains meddled with so they can be smarter, not dumber!”

  Kristi, taken aback by Chelsa’s volatile moods, didn’t know whether she should jump into the argument or not.

  “Then why do you have yours?” said Jaiden.

  “Because I removed my tracker.”

  Jaiden attempted to form a response and Chelsa took this as a chance to seize the electro-slate out of Jaiden’s hands, throw it onto the ground and stomp on it.

  “Hey! Why’d you do that?” Jaiden demanded, eyes flitting from the broken device and Chelsa.

  “Were you not listening to my explanation?” Chelsa grounded the heels of her boots into the shattered remains of the slate, causing the shards to catch the rays of the setting sun.

  They stood nose-to-nose, glaring at each other; Kristi could almost see smoke coming out of their ears. The way Jaiden and Chelsa were giving each other death-stares should’ve warned Kristi to keep out of this dispute, but the attention they were beginning to receive from passerbys convinced her otherwise.

  “Guys, cool down a bit, alright? We should find some place to stay for the night.” She stepped between the staring contest, feeling Jaiden and Chelsa’s burning glares pass right through her.

  Chelsa and Jaiden scowled at each other, neither willing to back off from the stare-down. Kristi exhaled slowly through her pursed lips and decided to blame the hot tempers she was witnessing on the stress created from the past few days.

  She grabbed Jaiden’s wrist in her right hand and Chelsa’s wrist with her left hand, then pulled them apart.

  “Stop fighting,” Kristi ordered. “Unless you haven’t noticed, you’re attracting attention from the residents.” She awkwardly dragged them down Rhine Lane, hoping to find a cheap inn to spend the night.

  Jaiden tried to pry her fingers off his wrist. After a moment’s hesitation, Kristi released her grip, knowing Jaiden could easily remove her hand by force if he wanted to. Then she uncertainly loosened her clutch on Chelsa as well, not sure if Chelsa was going to punch Jaiden in the face or not. Chelsa clenched her fists, but didn’t lash out.

  “Do you know where you are going?” Jaiden asked her. His voice was calm and steady, as if nothing had happened between him and Chelsa.

  “No.”

  Dazzling red lights flashed down upon them. A United Regions Homeland Security Helicopter hovered above them, its blades whirling at a demonic speed. The searchlight landed on them and an amplified voice rang out, “Stop where you are! Put your hands behind your head and lay down. We will shoot if necessary.”

  “Look what your stupid slate did,” Chelsa hissed to Jaiden. “We’re lucky they hadn’t dispatched a helicopter earlier.”

  “No time for arguing.” Kristi craned back her neck, eyeing the chrome belly of the chopper.

  “Split up and return to the intersection of Rhine Lane and Route 56 once you’re sure you’ve lost the law enforcement,” said Chelsa. She turned on her heels and swirled away in the cityscape.

  “Want to come with me?” Jaiden asked.

  “It’s better if we split up,” Kristi said, waving away Jaiden. “Go now. I’ll be fine.”

  Jaiden cast a doubtful look at her but heeded the advice when she gave him a slight push. The searchlight brightened, tightening its focus on Kristi. She scrunched her eyes against the beacon.

  “I repeat. Put your hands behind your head and lay down. We will shoot if necessary,” the speakers attached beneath the chopper blared.

  Well, Kristi decided, she wasn’t about to be caught so easily. She raced out of the beam and dodged between two apartment buildings. The few civilians that were wandering the streets so close to curfew scuttled into the nearest building and locked the doors.

  “Stop running!” the speakers crackled once more. “You will face fewer consequences if you come with us peacefully.”

  In your dreams. She tore through the narrow streets, staying in the shadows of buildings as often as possible. A gunshot was fired into the air as a warning.

  She peeked behind her; several law enforcement officers searched the streets of Alma. Each officer shone his or her flashlight down every nook and cranny. They kicked the trashcans lining the streets and peered under the porches in front of the houses.

  Somehow, Kristi always managed to stay just out of reach of their flashlights. Spotting a stack of empty fruit crates, she darted behind the rotting wood. The stench of overripe apples, bananas and pears clogged up her nose, forcing her to breath through her mouth.

  Kristi crossed her fingers and wished for all the officers to bypass her. And most of them did—they walked right by without giving a second look at the fruit crates. Except for one officer who stared at her hiding spot a few seconds too long for comfort.

  “Linda, let’s go,” a senior officer yelled. “There’s nobody there.”

  “One minute, sir,” replied Linda. She strode towards Kristi. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute, sir!”

  Kristi crouched lower to the ground and pressed herself against the wall. Linda kicked over the stack of crates concealing Kristi and shone her flashlight a bit too far to the right. Kristi stopped breathing and began praying Linda would leave, like all her comrades did.

  Linda didn’t; she swung her flashlight straight onto Kristi and yelled, “I found someone!”

  Kristi made a run for it. She ducked underneath Linda’s arm while Linda fumbled for her handgun. The woods, Kristi thought frantically. The trees should provide some protection from the bullets.

  There was just one problem with her plan. In order to reach the woods, she needed to cross fifty yards of open space.

  She pounded down the pavement, sneakers slapping loudly. A solar-car crossed by; Kristi seized this opportunity to surge across the road, causing the driver to honk irritably when he slammed on the breaks. The car squealed to a stop less than a foot away from her.

  There was a brief moment of silence while Kristi momentarily lost the officers on her trail. Rising walls on either side of her provided plenty of shadows for her to blend into. A door ahead opened and an arm snagged Kristi around her waist, pulling her inside of the stone building. The door slammed shut and someone locked it.

  “Seemed like you needed some place to hide,” a voice grunted in the darkness. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here. There’s a hiding place in the fireplace for you if the officers decide to search the store.”

  A solar lamp flickered on, allowing Kristi to discern that she was in a bookstore. All the shades were drawn over the windows and the person who pulled her i
nside was a woman who looked to be in her fifties. The woman thrust Kristi into the fireplace before she had a chance to protest.

  “You comfortable in there?” the woman asked.

  “Yeah,” she lied, feeling cramped. She was in a hidden compartment within the fireplace; the compartment was just barely big enough to fit a person.

  “Alright. I’m going to close the lid over you now.” The woman dimmed the solar lamp and slid the lid above Kristi shut with a click.

  It felt like several hours had passed by the time the woman let Kristi out from the fireplace. In reality, only forty-five minutes had elapsed.

  “Thanks for hiding me.” Kristi scraped some ash and soot off her skin.

  “No problem,” the bookstore keeper said. “I’m so tired of the government sticking their noses in other people’s business. I don’t understand why they can’t just leave people alone. Been here for thirty-six years and every time I see someone running down the street, I let them hide here. Government has stuck their noses in my own business too. God knows that fireplace has seen more thieves, beggars and lawbreakers than any other.”

  Kristi wasn’t sure how she felt to be lumped together with criminals. But then again, she reasoned, officially, she was a wanted fugitive. “I really appreciate your help, but I should get going.”

  The woman opened the door and let her back out into the streets. “Remember Beth the Bookkeeper if you ever need a safe place to stay,” she said before closing the door.

  Kristi took a huge gulp of the crisp, night air. Breathing in fresh air felt heavenly after living off stuffy air for forty-five minutes.

  Jaiden was already at the intersection between Rhine Lane and Route 56.

  “Thank God, you’re alive,” he said as soon as he saw her approach. He looked rumpled and sweaty, but was otherwise unharmed.

  “Never felt so good be alive.”

  Less than five minutes passed and Chelsa came jogging over to them with Ghost by her heels. She had scratches on her face and hands; her hair was littered with leaves and twigs.

  “I don’t think we should stay in Alma for the night,” Chelsa said. She shook out her hair, displacing some of the sprigs. “It’ll be safer if we camped outside.” Chelsa purposely spoke only to Kristi and ignored Jaiden, still angry with him about his electro-slate.

  “I’m sorry,” Jaiden said, catching the drift. “I honestly didn’t know there was a tracker in the slate. I acted inappropriately when you smashed my electro-slate; I understand you were concerned about our safety.”

  Chelsa’s expression softened a bit. “Apology accepted.” Then, after an awkward moment of silence, she added, “I apologize too. I shouldn’t have been so rude to you. You didn’t know any better about the tracker in you electro-slate.”

  “Apology accepted. So we’re cool, right? No hard feelings?”

  “No hard feelings.”

  “Can we move on?” Kristi said. “Save the touchy, feely stuff for later, when I’m not about to fall asleep on my feet.”

  “Sure. I found a nice clearing in the woods.”

  “Get up! No time for extra snoozing!” Chelsa’s voice brought Kristi out of her slumber.

  Kristi grabbed the pillow from beneath her head and smacked Chelsa. Then she settled back down for more sleep. She considered her sleep to be very important.

  “I said get up,” Chelsa said.

  “Well, then I say shut up,” said Kristi. She wondered when had she and Chelsa started harassing each other in a friendly way. Probably the past couple of days. Surviving so many near-death experiences has an uncanny way of bringing people closer together. The learning centers ought to consider putting students through near-death-scenarios for their teambuilding exercises.

  “I might as well get up seeing as I won’t get any more sleep,” Kristi grumbled good-naturedly, wiggling out from her sleeping bag.

  “That’s the spirit,” said Chelsa. “There’s no time to waste when we have a long trip ahead of us.”

  Kristi noted that Chelsa was already dressed and had her sleeping bag rolled. Jaiden came back into the tent to roll up his own sleeping bag. Seeing no other options, Kristi reproachfully trundled up her own, warm, comfy sleeping bag.

  “Here’s breakfast.” Chelsa handed her a protein bar. “I’ll go take down the tent in the meantime.”

  Kristi took a huge bite out of the bar. It had a chocolate-peanut butter flavor, which tasted pretty good considering it had expired a week ago.

  “Let’s hit the road,” Chelsa said. “We should reach the town of Oxfield by nightfall. Hopefully we’ll be able to refuel without running into any problems. However, we should be even more on our guard after our narrow escape last night.”

  “Perhaps we should change our appearances?” Kristi suggested.

  “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

  Chelsa dug out a knife from her boots and motioned for Kristi to come over. “How much of your hair do you want me to cut?” She fingered Kristi’s hair, which almost hung to her waist.

  “A bit past my shoulders sounds good.”

  Chelsa started hacking away. She worked quickly and efficiently, cutting off hunks of hair. Within minutes, the ground around them was littered with clumps of hair. Jaiden watched with a certain amount of interest, chomping on his breakfast.

  “All done.” Chelsa rinsed off her knife with water from her water bottle.

  Kristi shook her head back and forth, trying to get used to the lightness of it now that two thirds of her hair had been cut off. I never knew hair could be so heavy.

  Kristi looked at Jaiden. “Your turn.”

  He stood there, combing through his hair with his fingers. A small songbird fluttered to the ground near his feet, tilting its head. Then the bird picked up a cluster of Kristi’s fallen hair with its tiny beak and flapped away.

  Chelsa watched the songbird fly away, carrying its precious cargo, with a slight smile. “I’ve forgotten chickadees like to line their nests with hair.”

  Eventually, Jaiden allowed Chelsa to cut his hair.

  “Thanks?” he said once Chelsa was done. The word came out unsure.

  “Never knew you were vain about your hair,” Kristi said.

  “I’m not.” He shuffled over to his backpack and lifted the considerably lighter pack onto his shoulder.

  The sun threw a golden glow across the sky. The temperature today was cooler than yesterday and a biting wind cut through the air. Kristi burrowed deeper into her jacket.

  The three of them trekked along the road, shoes encrusted with mud that was the result of last night’s drizzle, feeling heavy on their feet. Several solar-cars zipped by, passengers and drivers shielded from the outside world by tinted windows.

  “Wish we had a car,” Jaiden said, not for the first time. “We could’ve reached Charleston within four days.”

  “Suck it up, toughie.” Chelsa spread her arms open, waving to the open space all around them. “What’s the harm of walking? You get to enjoy the fresh air, the scenery and get some exercise as well.”

  “You get to enjoy being drenched in rain, swarmed by bugs and blisters on your feet,” Jaiden said.

  “You big wimp.” She punched Jaiden lightly in the arm. “And to think that I thought you were good at everything!”

  “Your compliment flatters me, but being good at something doesn’t mean I enjoy it. It’s hard work being perfect, you know.”

  Chelsa and Kristi looked at each other and rolled their eyes. “Right Jaiden, it’s just so hard to walk,” said Kristi.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be the manly one? From what I’m seeing, both Kristi and I beat you in our manliness.” Chelsa let out a bark of amusement.

  “I never knew you were sexist,” Jaiden replied.

  “Discovering new stuff every day, aren’t you?” Kristi said.

  They continued bantering in a friendly fashion, not noticing a rider slow his droid-horse’s pace to keep at th
e same speed as them until he coughed to grab their attention.

  “How may we help you, sir?” Jaiden asked.

  “I was wondering where you are headed towards,” said the stranger.

  “Launceston,” Kristi lied, figuring it wouldn’t be a smart idea to entrust a stranger with their destination. Launceston was two towns before Oxfield. What is this guy doing on Route 56 by himself anyways? Is he an idiot? Nobody travels by themselves on such a dangerous route.

  “I’m going there as well. However, I am rather unfamiliar with the roads. Would you mind if I accompanied you?” He scratched his balding head then yanked on the reins to halt his droid-horse.

  He’s giving me a creepy vibe. Kristi scooted a few steps away from the flea-bitten grey droid-horse. She pulled the hood of her jacket down before Creepy Guy could get a clear look at her face.

  “Will one of you kindly please answer my question?” Creepy Guy inquired.

  “We’ll slow down your traveling because we don’t have droid-horses,” said Chelsa. Her tone wasn’t hostile, but it wasn’t friendly either.

  “That’s alright. I have a few friends that will be joining me later. They have some droid-horses they can spare for you to ride to Launceston.” The man dismounted elegantly, his boots barely raising a puff of dirt from the ground.

  Chelsa raised an eyebrow but made no comment about their unwanted companion. Kristi swallowed her apprehension and allowed Creepy Guy to walk beside her.

  chapter fifteen

  [ Kristi ]