by Nathan Pedde
Des pulled a small black can of Firestarter out of his pocket. If they spotted the bike, he would burn it. If they didn’t see it, he would leave it there. In this neighborhood, a thief would be taking the bike within a few hours. Then it wouldn’t be his problem.
The station guards drove off, not getting out of their cars.Des jumped off the box, walking farther into the alley. It wound its way around the many different buildings in the sector. He would make his way back to his hideout on foot, though, it would take him a few hours.
He walked through the alley, a set of footsteps echoed behind Des. He looked around at the trash, picking up a metal pipe. He held it in front, yet out of sight.
Des peeked over his shoulder, spying Elsie.
“Des,” Elsie said.
“What?” Des replied.
“I apologize. I was stupid.”
“It’s okay,” Des said. “I’m not a very good spy.”
“No,” Elsie said, “the escape plan was flawless.”
“My back up location is undersupplied,” Des said.
Elsie grabbed Des’s shirt, the wet fabric slapping away from his skin. She pulled him to her, kissing him on the lips. Des was shocked for a moment, as he didn’t expect it. He felt himself melt into her arms as she pressed her chest up against him.
“Don’t get used to that,” Elsie said. “I’m still angry at you.”
“Okay…” Des said.
“How do we get out of here?”
“We can follow alleys most of the way. Long as we don’t meet any gangs, then we’ll be golden.”
“How bad are the gangs?”
“In the Teal Sector they don’t exist. However, in here or the Green Sector, they’re bad.”
From a small side alley, a metal clang echoed. A group of six gang members appeared from a nearby abandoned building. Des looked at the gang leader’s colors, recognizing the similar jackets they all wore.
Shit, Des thought. The Blackholes.
“Look at the two love birds,” the Blackhole gang leader said.
Chapter Ten
Des gripped the metal pipe, holding it out in front of him. Elsie grabbed a discarded, bent golf club from the trash heap. In front and behind him were eight gang members around his age. They were all dressed in dark clothes and carried makeshift weapons.
At least I’m not fighting adults,Des thought.
“I wish we had our proper weapons,” Elsie whispered.
The gang leader stepped forward, an electro-baton in his hand.
“There’s no need to fight,” the gang leader said. “Give me all of your money, and we will let you go.”
Des looked at the kid.Liar. You aren’t letting me get out of here in one piece.
“I don’t think so,” Des said, “There’s no possibility for me to trust you.”
Elsie leaned into him. “I’m not sure if we can take them.”
Des narrowed his eyes at the kid. He wished he still wore his helmet. That would be something.
“Listen to her,” the gang leader said. “She’s the smart one.”
One of the gang members leaned into the leader.
“How about we have him hand over the girl,” the gang member said, in a hushed tone. “Maybe we can make a deal like the last one.”
“What other girl?” Des said.
“None of your business,” the gang leader replied.
“Short petite woman, college age, longer hair, snobby attitude?” Des said.
“That’s her,” the gang member said.
Elsie leaned to Des, “Plan?”
“Keep close,” Des whispered, “and watch my back.”
Des charged at the gang leader, swinging the long metal pipe at the leader’s head.
The gang leader was caught off guard with the metal baton coming down at his head. Des pulled back the strike at the last moment, only tapping his head. If he hadn’t, the blow would have crushed his skull.
The teen fell to the ground, unconscious. His electro-baton clattered on the concrete, rolling away.
Elsie had moved with Des, keeping the distance close between them, not allowing any of the seven remaining gang members between them.
“Anyone else?” Des said.
The gang member who had spoken charged toward Des with his wrench raised. Des blocked the metal with one end of his pole, slamming the other end into his enemy’s leg. The distinct sound of a leg-breaking, followed by the gang member’s shrill scream echoed through the alley.
Two gang members, with baseball bats in their hands, charged at Elsie. She rushed first, tackling the first opponent, sending him sprawling into the second and finally to the ground. They both dashed to their feet. Elsie was quicker, striking the golf club at the second’s leg, taking his foot out from under him. With no balance, the gang member sprawled into a pile of garbage.
The remaining gang members took off and ran away. The only gang members left on the ground were the leader and the idiot who spoke. The gang leader was unconscious, while his idiot friend lay on the ground screaming.
Des helped Elsie off the ground as she dusted off her soaked clothes. Des noticed the rain had finally stopped.He picked up the discarded electro-baton. He checked the power supply, flashing low. However, it would do the job. Elsie stood next to him, checking out her arm. She had scrapped in on the pavement, and a streak of blood dribbled down to her elbow.
“You broke my leg,” the conscious gang member said.
“Fool,” Des said. “What’s your name?”
“McGragger, Michael McGragger.”
“Tell me, McGragger. Where did you take the girl?”
“What girl?”
Des stepped on McGragger’s broken leg. The boy screamed.
“Tell me what I want to know,” Des said.
“Fine,” McGragger said. “We found this chick hiding in a warehouse. Claimed robots were chasing her. She called for help or something. Anyways, we tied her up and sold her.”
“Sold her to who?” Elsie said.
“That’s all I’m saying.”
Elsie took the electro-baton from Des and cranked up the power to high. Des smiled, knowing it wouldn’t discharge as the power was too low. McGragger didn’t. Part of Des wondered if Elsie knew.
“I’m not a nice person,” Elsie said. “Not like my friend here. Tell me what we want to know, and we will let you go.”
“Fine. Fine,” McGragger said. “Just keep her away from me.”
Elsie handed the electro-baton to Des, taking a step back.
“The guy’s named Martin Hemphrey,” McGragger said. “Not his real name I’m sure. He buys young children, preferably girls. With so many undocumented refugees in the station, no one important bats an eye on the disappearance of a few girls.”
“Where do they go?” Des said.
“I don’t know.”
Des lowered the electro-baton to McGragger’s broken leg.
“I’m sure that you’re lying to me,” Des said.
“Okay, okay,” McGragger said. “I have an address where he takes them. I don’t know what he does with them, just he takes them.”
McGragger gave him an address in the green sector.“That’s all that I know. Please don’t hurt me.”
Des turned off the electro-baton and stepped away.“Our paths will not cross again. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” McGragger said. “Crystal clear.”
“Good,” Des said.
Des turned to walk away, keeping the baton in his hand.
“Too bad,” McGragger mumbled. Des strained his ears to hear him, “your girlfriend’s titties are nice.”
Des swiveled on his heels, cranking the power of the electro-baton up to max. He struck down, bashing the end into McGragger’s leg. The kid yelped once, falling unconscious to the ground.
“Des,” Elsie said, taking a step towards the kid.
“The power was dead,” Des said. “Even though it was set to ten, it only gave a one. Maybe one
and a half.”
“Fine. I didn’t know you could be so mean.”
Des shrugged, striding down the alley. “He touched a nerve.”
“A nerve?” Elsie said. “Me?”
Des ignored the comment, and kept walking.
I’ve got to keep my thoughts clear,Des thought.She’s going to be the death of me.
He walked down the road with Elsie following close behind.
“We need to go get Susan,” Des said. “We have the address.”
“Let’s collect our assets,” Elsie said. “There are two of us, and we have no weapons except for an underpowered electro-baton. We are tired and wet. We need food, rest, and a change of clothes.”
“And if we wait, who knows what’s going to happen to Susan.”
“We have little choice in the matter. If we go in now, we are going to be captured as well.”
“Fine. We need to walk back.”
“What about the hover-scooter?” Elsie said.
“It has wanted plates. If we go out with it, the station guards will be after us.”
“Fuck. We walk?”
“We walk.”
“I hate walking.”
They exited the alley in a different area than they walked in at. The buildings looked different to Des, yet they were the same. Being on a scooter made the station seem small. He could drive around the station in six hours. Most places he needed to go were within a thirty-minute drive. Even with his job as a courier.
Des’s phone beeped, the sound loud in the quiet of the night. He glanced at the display. It was a warning his assignment was about to start.
“We need to hurry,” Des said. “My assignment.”
“Shit,” Elsie said. “How long do we have?”
“Ten minutes,” Des said.
Des walked down the road, opening a map on his tablet. He looked at how far he had to go to the hide-out and planned a route. He estimated if he took a straight course using major roads, then it would take him three hours to walk the distance. If he weaved his way through the alley’s, he would take six hours to get there. However, he would be out of most people’s sight. If he were to talk about the entire station, it would take him three long days.
“We are in trouble,” Des said. “Losing the scooter is a bad deal.”
“Can we go back to it?” Elsie asked.
“We could, but I bet those thugs have already stolen it.”
“That sucks.”
“Only if they try and take it apart.”
“Did you trap it?”
Des didn’t respond to the question.
“Shit. Fire or electricity?”
“Fire,” Des said. “It should smoke like a chimney, then when they put water on it to put it out, it’ll explode in flames.”
Elsie was silent for a moment. “I may have a solution to our problems.”
“What?”
“Promise me you won’t get angry and you’ll keep your mouth shut about it.”
“What is going on?”
“Make the promise.”
“I promise I’ll keep my head and I won’t tell a soul about whatever is about to happen.”
“You won’t tell Cooley, Cryslis, Mr. Smith, or the Captain about it,” Elsie said.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“Fine. Do you remember how I was a Jovian Security Agent?”
“Yeah,” Des said. “You got kicked out of it.”
“It was a lie. They made me into a double agent.”
“What?”
“Not my choice.”
“That’s—”
Des was silent. He didn’t trust himself to say anything. He didn’t want to seem like a jerk and his paranoia was running rampant. A piece of him wanted to run away from Elsie and was wanting to call her a traitor.
“I know,” Elsie said, grabbing his hand. “Listen, they’ve never asked me to spy on you guys. My assignments have always been to keep them in the loop about the station.”
“It’s like they don’t trust the station.”
“That’s the Jovian Republic for you.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Des asked.
“Because I have access to dump houses.”
“Dump houses?”
“Jovian Intelligence operates differently than Station Security.”
“I understand that,” Des said, “the Fed’s rely on a single independent agent to live amongst the people giving subtle data on what is going on. Friends could be counter-spies, and no one would ever know it.”
“Exactly,” Elsie said.
“While us plebes in Station Security have a complex team running operations and missions.”
“There’s a dump house a half-hour walk from here.”
One part of him wanted to grab whatever was in the dump house and run with it. The other part was afraid of what strings the Feds were going to pull on by accepting the help.
“What are you proposing?” Des asked.
“We raid the box,” Elsie said. “Take what we need.”
“I’m hesitant.”
“It’ll be fine. Shall we go?”
“Fine. Let’s do this before I return to my senses.”
Elsie turned up a side street as Des followed behind. Des’s head was on a swivel, searching for any of his classmates.
He wasn’t sure when the assignment was going to start or if he would be informed if he was going to be notified. Which was why he had set the alarm.
“This is a recording,” Mr. Smith’s voice rang in his ears. “The game has now begun. The rules are simple. Each player hunts and finds other players for points, then tags them. To tag, you hit them in the ear. A three-hour cooldown exists between the time one player can tag the other. Each player gets one point for tagging another player. However, there’s a special player. Any player who tags that player gets ten points. The special player gets no points for tagging other players, but a player tagged by the special player will lose all his points. The special player will receive ten points for every player who doesn’t tag him. The game ends in seven days. May the best agent win. And a reminder the top seven players will advance to the next level in their studies. The rest will have to retake the course. Good luck.”
The voice went silent. The streets looked different, as every shadow was another player.
“Des,” Mr. Smith said. “This is a recording. You’re the special player. I understand you have other issues going on. I’d like to remove you from the game. However, I can’t. Try not to look like you’re cheating. Good luck.”
“The game’s started,” Des said.
“Which game?” Elsie said. “Sometimes, he changes things.”
“Tag— I think.”
“Not a great one,” Elsie groaned.
Des didn’t know what his classmates looked like besides Veer. For the others, he didn’t pay attention to what they looked like. Not to mention they were all in disguise, and he had no idea what face they would come at him.
After they walked six blocks, two figures crossed the street in front of him. In the right ear of the man on the left was a red glow.
“Do you see the red glow from the guy up ahead?” Des asked.
“No,” Elsie said. “That will be the mark of a player.”
“Shit.”
“I’m not supposed to help you.”
The two figures stepped closer, revealing two young men. Des recognized the one with the red glow. However, he didn’t recognize the other.Both pulled out stun guns from their coat pockets, aiming their weapons at Des and Elsie.
Beside Des was a skinny alley, like the rest of them in the gray sector, was filled with debris and boxes. Des grabbed Elsie, pulling her into the lane. The shots from the stun guns missed them, pinging against the nearby brick wall.
Behind Des, the two figures charged after him with stun gun. Des ducked behind a pile of debris.
I don’t have time for this, Des thought.
The two thugs
charged headlong into the alley. Des threw an empty box at the first man, who wasn’t the player. He then charged at both his electro-baton nothing more than a bludgeoning tool. Des body checked the first guy, sending him into the alley wall. Des slammed the baton at the player’s wrist, hearing a satisfying snap from the bones. The stun gun clattered to the ground, the fingers no longer holding onto the plastic.
Des slammed the baton into the player’s head, sending him sprawling to the concrete. Des cuffed him in the ear, the red light turning to a green one.
The non-player charged at Des. He was met by Elsie, punching him in the face. She swung at the thug’s nose, causing the nose to break and blood to pour out into the pavement.
Des picked up the discarded stun gun and checked it was loaded. He aimed the gun at the guy and put a pin into his thigh. The player collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Elsie did the same to the other guy, they quickly went through the man’s pockets.
“What are you doing?” Des said.
“Looking for loose change,” Elsie said. “What do you think I am doing?”
“Loose change?”
“More shots for the stun gun.”
A quick search revealed a half-dozen magazines of stun gun rounds. He also found the guy’s wallet, but he left it alone.
Des pulled the young men father into the alley to keep out of sight from anyone. He then left the lane and out into the street.
“Lead the way,” Des said. “This is only going to get worse.”
“Agreed,” Elsie said.
Des followed Elsie across the street and up another alley. He passed piles of trash as they walked. Des kept his head on a swivel, he needed to make sure he wasn’t being followed.
Elsie stopped at a small metal door, which had a sign saying, ‘Danger. Hazardous Area.’
“My guess is it isn’t hazardous in there?” Des said.
“It’s only hazardous if you don’t enter the proper code,” Elsie replied.
On the right side of the door was a brick. Its color was off to the other ones by a shade. Elsie pressed the brick and pushed it in until something clicked.