The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  “Sorry about that. It's right through here,” she said, pointing to a door down the hall. She pushed it open, and said, “The bunks with sheets and beds made are usually for new recruits or guests. The messy ones are bunks that are being used, unless you keep yours clean like me. The ones that just have mattresses are vacant.” I walked in past her, and saw there were quite a few bunks that just had mattresses. More than there were beds made or messy, at least.

  “Here,” Halsey walked in and stopped by a bunk near the entrance. “The bottom one is my bunk. You can have the one next to it.” I glanced at the bunk, neatly made with a burgundy comforter spread over white sheets.

  “Thanks,” I told her, and walked over to the bed. I wasn't much in the mood for small talk. My body was drained, but my mind was racing. I wanted to sleep, but I needed to calm down first. I plopped down on the bed, and reached into the jacket pocket for the paintbrush. But I felt something else in there. That couldn't be right, I thought. I pulled out not one, but two paintbrushes. There was my yellow one that weird guy Damian gave me, and now I held my blue paintbrush as well. I tried to make sense of where it came from. Maybe he slipped another paintbrush in my pocket? But how could he? He was sitting across from me the whole time.

  At the moment, I decided I was too tired to keep wondering about things. For now, I knew I didn't like the color yellow. Even just thinking of the color left a bad taste in my mouth and my eyes and basically everywhere. I also knew yellow was the color that represented things like daises (which had an expression that went with death) and cowardice (which speaks for itself). Both great examples of things I didn’t want to focus on. Finally, I knew that I got the yellow one from that weirdo at the club, and that sealed the deal. The yellow one was not getting used. Back in the jacket pocket it went.

  I rolled up the left sleeve of the jacket. Then I pinched the sides of the blue canister and pulled the paintbrush out of the top. The moment the cold paint connected with my arm, a rush of relief fell over me. It felt natural, and while I probably imagined it, it cleared my head a little too. I could feel my mind slowing down; chilling out as I drew. I drew a paintbrush down my arm in the form of a question mark, with a cloud for the dot. I thought that accurately summed up the day's events. A part of me couldn't even believe I'd been at school less than what was probably a day ago.

  “Um,” Halsey said, leaning on the side of her bed, “do you know if Scott will be okay?” When she spoke up, it startled me. I'd almost forgotten she was still there. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?” I asked, irritation getting the best of me. “I don’t even know what happened! I know less about what's going on than anyone else here!” I didn't realize how loud I was until I saw Halsey's surprised face.

  “I'm sorry for bugging you with that. That wasn't fair of me.” she said quietly. I sat there awkwardly for a moment, not knowing what to say until I realized I'd been a bit of a jerk. Here I was whining like a child about my own problems, and she was just worried about her friend. It was in no way fair of me to blow up like that.

  “I'm sure Scott's gonna okay somehow,” I told her, pushing down the truth that I was still unsure of what would happen to him.

  Halsey showed a small smile, but said nothing.

  “Uhm,” I said awkwardly, “thanks for the clothes.”

  “It was the least I could do to help you out.” she said as her smile grew larger. “Those gym shorts didn't look like they were gonna last. Plus, you looked a little out of it when you showed up. That's why you paint, right?” she pointed to my arm. I traced the outline again with a thin stroke of the brush, thinking about her question.

  “It keeps me calm; from losing my mind all the time. They told me it's my Handle. So far, it's coming in handy.” I said, gesturing to my arm.

  “Well, it's a good thing to have. The Dust is a pretty crazy place to be.” Halsey said, walking over to her bunk and sitting down.

  “Speaking of,” I said, looking around the room again, “more than half the beds are just mattresses. Has the Depression Force always had a shortage of woman Officers?”

  “I don't think so.” Halsey said slowly, looking around the room and nowhere in particular to think.

  “You don't think so?” I repeated her question.

  “I've been here a little less than a year,” she explained, “but you'd have to be pretty blind to notice the numbers dwindling—men and women—the longer you stick around. “ She sighed, and leaned back in her bed. “The only reason I'm probably still around is because they don't send me into the field.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked.

  She stared at me with a look of disbelief. “You're joking, right?” she asked. “You've only been here a day, and you've seen firsthand the stuff that's going on out there.”

  “Oh, right...” I said, thinking about some of the stuff that happened just today; the lemon in my eyes; the traumatic car crash; being kidnapped; almost getting boiled alive; talking to a skull...”I suppose that's enough to want to make some people want to jump ship.” I decided. But I wasn't going anywhere. Not until I had Chloe.

  “You're right, and that's not all.” she said, sitting up and talking directly to me. Was this stuff really getting her excited?

  “Where I am in the office, you can see statistics. And although no one is saying it out loud—”

  She stopped suddenly and peeked over my shoulder. I followed her gaze, and saw a woman climbing into a bed at the other side of the room.

  “There have been rumors of something stirring,” Halsey whispered. “Things changing.”

  “Things like what?” I asked.

  “If you ask me,” she said, looking around the room for eavesdroppers, “I think Depression is changing altogether.”

  “Wh-what makes you say that?”

  “The Depression Agents are getting bolder, for one,” Halsey noted. “This rogue Agent abandoning his Zone is just one problem. Before long, more will come along. We got a report today about a bunch of Agents teaming up to destroy a kid's mind.”

  Destroying a kid's mind? I thought of Chloe; if she were to get taken over by a whole league of Agents...One was enough to deal with. I couldn't let anything more happen to her...unless something already did.

  Dart's text!

  When I saw him, I forgot to ask what happened. I hurriedly put the paintbrush and the paint back in my pocket, and rolled down the jacket sleeve.

  “Halsey, where is the Observation Deck at?” I asked. All that answered me was light snoring. Her conspiracy theories must have tired her out. I scooted off the bed, and decided I'd been meaning to have a look around the Depression Force HQ.

  22. My Midnight Stroll Goes Very Wrong

  I snuck away from the bunk where Halsey was asleep across from me, and out of the room, closing the door behind me slowly.

  It was cool in the hallway, like someone opened a window down the hall. It was also dark, and quiet now. Every couple steps, I passed a pair of dim lights on the hallway, but I didn't meet another person for a while. I figured it must have been late now; probably close to midnight for it to be this scarce. Or at least, more scarce than during the day. Halsey did say their numbers were dropping, which didn't sound for the ones like me...

  I shoved the thought out of my head and kept walking. I'd been concussed the first time I went to the Observation Deck, so I wasn't exactly sure which direction I went to get there. So I wandered the hallways and peeked into open doors looking for Dart, or better; Chloe. Room after room, however, I turned up empty.

  I turned a hallway corner and came to a room cracked slightly, letting light filter out from it. The door opened facing my direction so no one could see me coming, but I slowed down anyway. Not because I didn't want anyone to see me. I heard a sound, coming in bursts and then stopping. As I got closer, it got louder. Then I recognized it, and I didn't have to peek inside to know what room it was. It was the infirmary. The sound was violent coughing.

  I stopped
for a moment by the door, knowing Scott was inside. I wanted to go in and...I don't know, say something to him. But I couldn't. I felt guilty for not even remembering who he was until I wanted to beat him up. Now he was sick, and it all felt like my fault.

  Plus, Lieutenant Hollister was probably in there already. I didn't want to run into her again; I dodged a bullet when Dart interrupted her. I still didn't have a cover story or anything for her.

  I quieted those thoughts and pushed past the room, trudging on to another door. It was also cracked open, but no lights were on inside. Even still, the door was open at an angle that the light from the infirmary shone through, so I could make out a faint shine of some machines that looked like...eggs?

  Not quite what I was looking for. I closed the door and kept walking.

  Along the way, my mind kept fizzing and sparking thoughts like a Roman candle, until Lucas came to mind. More specifically, how did Scott see him in the club? I wanted to go back and check for myself. Only, there was no way for me to get back there on my own right now. There was also Damian to think about. I didn't want to go back there and risk running into him again...

  Wait, hold on.

  Don't misquote me. I definitely wanted to go back. I wasn't going to let this guy's threat stop me from coming back. But there were things that just didn't make sense with him, like how he knew Chloe's name without me saying it. I wondered if he was a mind reader or something, and when he was staring at me, he grabbed the name from my subconscious or something. Was that something Dusters—or whatever they called Dust people—could do in De Mentoria? If so, it was not alright. On top of that, there was also the question of why my mouth just wanted to blurt things out when he asked me stuff. Was he controlling me then, too? I wondered what else might have slipped out if I wasn't able to leave the room.

  In any case, if I went back there, Damian would need to be nowhere near there.

  Mr. Reggie's words floated around in my head too. About my powers and my dangers, and that De Mentoria craziness. Maybe that's all it was with Damian. Maybe he didn't actually say Chloe's name—I just thought I heard it. Maybe that meant Lucas wasn't really there. Scott was a human from Topside like me, so maybe he was just experiencing the effects of being in an Anchor Zone over and over or something.

  I didn't even realize how deep in thought I was until I walked right into a hallway corner wall with a big THUMP.

  “Ouch!” I said louder than I wanted to, clutching my shoulder. Then I shut my mouth.

  “Hey, who's out here past curfew?” a voice shouted from behind the door nearest to the wall.

  ✽✽✽

  I didn't even know these guys needed a curfew.

  “You'd better be gone when I get out there!” the voice yelled again. Whoever it was, they did not sound happy. I hoped I didn't wake them. (Knowing me, I totally did.) Then I heard the feet stomping from behind the door where the yelling came from, and I panicked.

  I booked it down the hallway when I saw the door fly open; the light from the room flooding into the hallway. I ducked into a room quickly and closed the door behind me, hoping he didn't see where I went. I leaned my back against the door and waited ten seconds...twenty seconds...thirty. I counted each second until a minute went by. Still nothing; not even another shout.

  I waited for a few more minutes, and then decided they were most likely gone. Probably back to bed.

  My back slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor, catching my breath, and I was able to take a closer look at the room I was in. The tables were scattered all over the room. Monitors and other hardware littered the tables. I was in the Observation Deck.

  I pushed myself up and walked past piles of papers and pens and clipboards over to the screens that were on. This place was a pigsty. How often did they tidy up? I tried not to trip over anything as I searched for the monitor Dart was working at earlier...then I found it.

  My heart skipped a beat. There was Chloe, lying down in the hospital bed like normal. As soon as I laid eyes on it, though, the screen went fuzzy and dark smoke filled the room. I clenched my fists hard, with a fistful of Halsey's jacket sleeves. It was the Depression Agent who attacked her before.

  I watched as Chloe started to shiver and tried to back away from it, up against her bed post. Something was strange about her, though. It looked like her body was phasing in and out, like a hologram. For a second, I thought the covers were going to fall right though her. Then the smoke swirled around the room, and gathered all up in the corner of the room furthest from the camera. I couldn't make out what was going on. Chloe screamed, putting her hands up in defense. I waited and watched through the camera for someone. A doctor or a nurse, to come into the room and do something. But no one showed up. I felt like I was being boiled alive in hot water, and swimming in ice at the same time.

  Something, I thought. I have to do something! But how was I supposed to help her from here? I couldn't reach her. All I could do was watch as the smoke level rose.

  “Chloe, wake up!” I shouted, as the smoke grew to fill her whole room. Then the Depression Agent's dark mass spazzed everywhere, swallowing everything in the room until the monitor went black.

  ✽✽✽

  “Chloe!” I yelled at the black screen.

  “Bring back my sister,” I said, banging the side of the monitor with every word. It just stared at me blankly. No Chloe in sight. I was about to ready to shove it off the table, but then the screen crackled and hummed to life. I pulled back my hands and waited to see my sister's face again. The black screen slowly morphed into a deep blue color all over the screen, except for the top right corner flashing 1:01am at me. Then the monitor rebooted.

  My heart was thumping hard in my chest now, anger and fear swirling around inside me. I took a step back from the computer. I couldn't believe it.

  What did they want with her? To destroy her brain? How long it would take for that Agent to find others to do that to her?

  I put my hands on my forehead, and backed away from the computer to figure out what was happening, when I lost my balance. I reached out for something to lean on, and grabbed one of the swivel chairs behind me. It rolled away as soon as I put weight on it, and crashed to the ground. I followed its lead, tripping over it and hitting the ground hard on my back and elbows.

  “Ow,” I groaned.

  “Hey, who's in there?” a voice yelled outside the room. I was so out of it, I almost didn't hear it. The pain must have woken me up a bit. I rolled off of my back and crawled on my hands and knees underneath the nearest table, against the front side of the room. I barely had my legs pulled underneath when whoever it was came in and turned on the light in the room.

  “Oh, it was just a chair,” the first voice said in a joking manner. “These things are faulty; always breaking and falling over.” I knew that voice. It was Dart. He walked in and with his back to me, set the chair back up.

  He had to know something about getting Chloe back, right? I was about to crawl from my hiding spot and ask for help, but another person walked into the room and over to the computers. I stopped and scooted back in as quietly as I could, but not before catching a glimpse of her face.

  It was...Lieutenant Hollister. I thought she was with Scott. Did that mean he was awake?

  “I don't care about faulty chairs at the moment, Dart! Can you do what I'm asking or not?” she asked, her voice showing how little patience she must have had. It drew me out of my thoughts and back to the problem at hand; how was I going to get out of here?

  Dart walked over and stared at the screen in front of both of them, his arms folded.

  “It's gonna be difficult, but now that I have the coordinates to her first Zone, it's possible.” he said. If I was going to leave, now was the time. Both of them had their backs to me. But I hesitated. Dart leaned over the computer screen, and started to click around on a keyboard.

  “You know what the craziest part is?” Dart asked. “I still can't believe what Scott said about the rogue
Agent's whereabouts and how—”

  “Forget about that; just do what you were asked.” Lieutenant Hollister said, pacing over to the far side of the room. I held my breath and tried to make myself as small as I could underneath the table, to stay out of sight. “We have more important things to deal with now,” she said. She was a little quieter from that side of the room, but if I focused I could still hear her. “Now that Lucy's involved, we have to keep her safe.”

  My body tensed up when I heard my name. Worst possible timing. It was hard enough to make myself move. Besides, what did I have to do with any of this?

  “Yeah, yeah, I know your plan, Holly.” Dart said, sounding skeptical, “You want to help her clear her Zones and immobilize the rogue Agent at the same time.”

  “Correct. They've both been fighting for top priority, and right now, we have the chance to do both at the same time. I'm not wasting that opportunity.” Lieutenant Hollister paced back over to Dart.

  Dart held up his hands and shook his head and said, “That's fine if that's what you want to do. But I figure you can use a reminder, that your plans don't always go as you expect them to.”

  “Just get the search started.” she said, waving her hand to dismiss the conversation. “The plan has to work.” she said quietly.

  I'd heard enough about all this. I shook off my freak-out session and got my body to move. I snuck out from under the table, looking at both of them hunched over the computer screen. I quietly tiptoed up the stairs, and out of the doorway. I let out a small sigh, a sign of victory of escaping without being noticed.

  But it was premature.

  I turned to book it back to the barracks, but as soon as I took my first step, I stepped on a clipboard I hadn't noticed. It slid underneath my feet, and I slipped and fell to the ground with a loud THUD!

  ✽✽✽

  Chalk up two to clumsiness, right? But to be fair, I was in a heightened state of emotion.