by Tom Harem
There was no clock in the room and the cell phones were still in the clothes pockets that color-filled the white floor. We changed positions once more, when she climbed on top of me and rode me until she nearly rolled her eyes. Her tits swung, her hair swirled around, and I could feel the end approaching. That sensation in the stomach core, when it looks like it's being drained, and a few seconds later, we pop. And that's how it was. I finished within her, with my hands on her ass, whilst she moaned in my ear, her breath still warm. We didn't move. The bodies asked for a rest; sweat ran down my forehead, my legs still trembled and when I tilted my head up, I noticed that she had my fingerprints on her ass.
"After all, you are even better." She said and stood up, letting my liquid run down her leg, "I'm going to take a quick shower and go to sleep. I don't think we can do much more today."
She dressed her clothes, winked at me before she left the room and vanished into the hallway. I was alone in the room again. I closed my eyes and I don't remember anything that happened after that.
By the time I woke up again, the rain had stopped. Or at least, calmed down enough not to be heard. A buzzing sound grew in the room and it took me a few seconds to realize it was my cell phone vibrating.
I had a message from Tom.
Chapter VII
"I was in the hospital. I know you've been looking for me. Kendra's getting out of here in two or three days. Ashen's going to need a little more time, but at least he can already talk."
The message had been sent two hours ago. Damn it. How long had I slept for?
I got dressed and went downstairs. A dozen people were sitting at the computer, while two were eating chocolate cakes in the living room. No sign of Tom, Aldrin or the girls. As I walked around the room, eyes rose up on me.
"It's weird when all your moves are being followed, isn't it?" someone said behind me.
"Is it always like this?" I asked him.
"For a famous person, yes." He answered me.
Only after his answer did I turn around. He was the youngest looking boy who had been at the meeting the first time I had arrived there. He was wearing a suit, the gray folds facing in, and a pair of black pants that were probably new as you could see from the lack of creases and how they hadn't gotten used to his body yet. The fringe wasn't quite the same size and a few strands of hair covered his black eyes as well as among his thin eyebrows.
"Famous? I? I arrived a few days ago', I replied, looking around again and seeing the eyes that were still on me. As soon as they noticed I was looking, they lowered them back onto the screens.
"Everyone here knows you've destroyed a human beast. They saw the video. You've discovered something we've been trying for years. Regardless of how lucky your members were to know the right people for it, you're still rookies who survived." He said and smiled, his lips disappearing to make way for the whiter, almost glossy teeth that I had ever seen, "They'll stop staring. Don't worry about it. By the way, I'm Jose, are you looking for Tom?"
"From anyone on my team, actually. But, actually, I could use talking to Tom, too. I have something I need to discuss with him."
"I think he arrived an hour ago and went to rest for a while in one of the empty rooms upstairs." Jose answered me. He called one of the boys who was working on the computer and asked him if he'd seen Tom. The boy repeated what he had said. Well, I'd have to wait for him to wake up. There was a moment when I stopped to think. All the recognition I'd always wanted was there. I had it, albeit on a small scale, but I didn't need much more. I was the boy who survived, from the group who had delved into the conspiracy theory and who had survived the attack of a beast who had no level.
The conversation was over there. He told me he had some business to attend to, said goodbye with a strong handshake and wished me good luck.
I didn't see Tom that day. Not even on the next day. I stayed with the girls, but we didn't leave the secret base. The doctor had been very clear. They needed a day to rest, to spread a sour cream that smelled almost like oil all over their hands, every three hours, until the pain, blisters, and swelling disappeared. Elisa no longer had her glove attached to her hand, but she still couldn't move it and had part of her bones fragmented. We spent the day in bed, talking, laughing, kissing to the sound of the thunderstorm outside.
The next day we woke up early. We almost slept together but there wasn't enough space in the bed. We got dressed, ate the doughnuts that Tom had left again in the living room, entered the black jeep and hit the road. I still tried to look for Tom before we left, but no sign of him.
I don't know what ointment they had put on, but the effect was perfect. It reduced her swelling and she could move her hand as if nothing had happened. Maggie no longer had any bubbles and there were only a few marks and scars left that would fade with time. We had maintained the same seats as last time. Elisa next to me and Victoria and Maggie in the back. We had taken advantage of the previous day to talk and she seemed calmer. At least she had gone back to apologizing and saying that she had to find other ways to release her anger. We all forgave her, even Elisa, who went even further and said she could give her some boxing lessons.
"That's what I did after Ashen took me out of the group. It helped me to calm down and improved the way I fought." She told her.
The invitation was made, and Maggie said she'd think about it. It was still 10 am and the sky was already clear. The thunderstorms of the previous day were now replaced by the pale clouds and the yellow of the sun's rays that dried the streets, lawns and even the damp windows of the city buildings where the headquarters was located. We were already arriving and the differences between the day I went there to register and now were remarkable. There was only one Hunters ad about new shields for sale, and the rest were anti-Hunters ads. One had the face of the radio woman and the following sentence underneath,
"If they fight each other, how long will it take them to fight us?"
I parked the jeep in front of the main building. Someone had graffitied one of the walls with a hatred symbol. A cross with an X on it, the sign of someone who rejects Hunters. There was also a sentence saying that we should all burn and another one, quieter and of a different color, saying that we should clean up the shit we were doing. The differences didn't stop there. The door, which before never stopped turning, with people coming and going, was now standing still, almost as if time had been frozen only in that area.
As we entered, we were greeted by the same girl I had innocently flirted with on my first day as Hunter. She had a sad look, her cheeks orange in contrast to her white and snowy face, and she wore brown pants and a transparent white sweater that let people see the black bra she had underneath.
"Oh, I remember you." She said to me, "Things have changed a little bit around here. With so many protests around the building, a lot of Hunters stopped showing up. The administration gave us orders to look more professional while they plotted a plan to return to the public's good graces." She answered, as she walked us to the stairs.
Apart from two groups in opposite corners of the room, there was no one else there. The walls had lost their vivacity and even the lights seemed weak and filled with insects that liked the heat around them. A sweet perfume lingered in the air. I inhaled in order to try to perceive what smell was, but it was different, new, even for me whose mother worked in a perfumery.
"The smell? It's the woman who works downstairs, the saleswoman, who sprays it every day. I think she did it. I've already asked her, but she says it's a family secret," the girl answered me as she listened to me take successive breaths, "But, well, be my guest. You can take the elevator to the fourth floor. It will take you to your rank floor. Don't be surprised if there aren't too many people over there."
We thank her and headed for the elevator. It was spacious enough for the four of us, had all the buttons and a transparent door. We could all watch as he went up, passing through the two floors below, each one with its own color, and different groups of Hunters talk
ing, some walking towards the rooms.
"I haven't been here in years." Elisa said, ''Before it didn't have all these colors, you know? It was unusual for groups to hang around talking. We just stopped by to accept quests."
The elevator stopped. At the exit of the elevator was a group of three boys, all with red fur coats, two swordsmen and an archer. Their eyes fell on us and, not a minute later, they walked away.
"Is it me, or did they leave because of us and now they're talking about us?" Vic asked.
"I'm going to go ask them why. Who do they think they are?" Elisa said and started walking towards them before I could grab her leather jacket.
We followed her down the hallway, and within meters of the living room, she caught up with them. She asked them why they were talking about us in that aggressive way that characterized her. They didn't dare answer her. They probably weren't expecting to be challenged, let alone by a girl with deathly drawn eyes, a frightening look and a black skull T-shirt. She stood out from all the other Hunters. There was no professionalism, respect or decency in her and yet no one could say that she did not belong there.
"But will you take long to answer? Do I need to freeze your body and leave only your mouth uncovered?" She continued, and they looked at each other, opening and closing their mouths as if they were looking for the right words.
"We...ah, it wasn't out of spite. We recognized you from the video... fighting other Hunters. You've ruined everything for us. Now we're hated wherever we go. The police avoid helping us. Even the people we save complain about us." One of them, the slender one, with a bowl-like hair, beaked eyes and denim pants, told us.
"We weren't fighting against..."
"Maggie. Doesn't matter. They're right. We made a mistake and we apologize." I interrupted her before she talked too much.
"Don't expect our sympathy. You should have thought of that before you fucked up." Another of the boys said, lifting his chest and drawing closer to Elisa.
I walked in between her and him and shoved him before he touched her, "Don't go near her. We already apologized. Settle for that." I said to him, "the best thing to do is for each of us to go our own way."
They grumbled, snorted even, but went the other way, returning to the elevator. Elisa calmed down and we headed for the living room. Missions were popping up on the interactive board on the opposite wall to the entrance. The translucent blue light swirled around the room, coloring the yellow walls, the black ceiling and the brown floor with thin stripes. The trash can in the right corner was packed and balls of paper surrounded it. No one had cleaned the room for days, maybe a week now, and neither the lavender sweet smell that originated from a girl with a purple encharpe or the metal smell of the boy who was wearing a trench coat, from her group, dazzled a dead aroma that flowed through the room. The girls covered their noses and complained about the smell.
"It's coming from there," the girl from the other group said and pointed to the ventilation, "some rat must have died there. Since the cleaning ladies haven't shown up in days, no one's taken him out yet." She added. She had a sweet voice, and her teeth scraped off her thick lips when she spoke.
"You are..." One of the boys started it, but Vic interrupted it.
"Yes, we are. What is it?"
"No reason. I didn't think you'd show up here after all. I'm just surprised."
Nobody answered him. We just went ahead and sat on one of the couches in a corner. A couple of missions were disappearing, being accepted at other Hunters' homes elsewhere, and being replaced by new ones. Most of them were level 3 and 4 monster missions and some level 8 missions. After a few minutes, there came a level 7 and we accepted it immediately. The other group watched everything but didn't even move. They didn't seem interested in the missions. They were still talking about Shimmer being on television the day before, complaining that the rest of the Hunters' administration was lost. Apparently, he'd gotten ahead of us. If he were arrested now everyone would think it would be retaliation and without tangible evidence, they could not accuse him of anything. Things weren't going well for us and they were only getting worse.
We went back to the elevator. The boys' group was no longer there. We descended to the first floor, where the same girl bowed when she saw us, and we left.
Chapter VIII
As soon as we stepped on the first ladder we were greeted by whistles and a dozen people with posters slandering Hunters. They kept sending us away as we walked down the stairs, some of them throwing banana peelings at us and others trying to calm them down, saying it was just a peaceful protest.
"If you don't stop, I'll freeze you all," Elisa screamed and raised her hand.
"Elisa, damn it, let's just get in the jeep and get out of here as soon as possible," I said before the situation got worse.
People backed off and lowered their posters, as well as their fists, and none of them dared to talk. They shivered from fear of her, and even though I knew it was not the best time, I did not have the patience to put up with them.
We got into the jeep and I got out of there, arriving at 80 per hour in a few seconds, and putting ourselves on the road, on our way to the city of Itaka.
"See? People don't even value our effort. The whole being a good person thing is exhausting." Elisa said, "Acting in the shadows is much more fun. If it weren't for you, James, I wouldn't be here anymore." She added, leaning against the bench and yawning.
"I know, but nobody said being a good person was easy either. If it were, everyone could be." I said, "Any idea how to stop this monster? From the images, it doesn't look like it's going to give us a lot of trouble, but you never know."
"Didn't it seem very... small?" Maggie talked. She was calmer than last time and already looked us in the eye, and yet the light behind the green appeared extinguished. She was missing a part of herself. Something had come off when her father called her as we ran away from the party. In other words, the flame she had, burned with the fire that consumed our house, and they both dissipated into the air.
"I was thinking the same thing. I don't know if it was the distant images but compared to what we faced last time it looked minuscule." Vic said and paused before continuing, " Nevertheless, we better not underestimate him. He's still a level 7 beast."
"You're right. Keep your eyes open and work as a team. We have a long day ahead of us." I told them. Maggie's words still lingered in my mind. We couldn't stick to one beast a day. We had to want more, do more, fight to save people, climb the ranking, all this while we were waiting for new developments. Almost a week had passed, and no one had told us anything; not even about Shimmer, not about Maggie's father or the albino, not even if there had been new sightings of human beasts. I still had the paper I had picked up in Tom's living room in my trouser pocket, but we weren't seeing each other.
Itaka was almost an hour away. It was a fishing town in the province. I immediately recognized the name; a few years ago, they were on the news after a beast had burned all their boats. The state financed the reconstruction of all that had been left in ashes and provided better weapons to the local police whose station was 20 minutes away. The further we moved away from society, the more the buildings and small slopes were replaced by faraway mountains, arid terrain along the narrow road, and the brightness of the day was grayed out. We were still at least 20 minutes away. On the radio, a hoarse voice sang a song from the old 90's in celebration of the seventy-five years since a classic album had been released. We enjoyed the melancholic view from outside; a light green rose on the horizon and some cows and oxen strolled through the meadow.
"It's the first time I've seen anything so beautiful," Maggie said, breaking the silence.
"You were rich, and you never traveled to exotic places?" Elisa asked her.
"Haven't I told you before? My father was always paranoid. I've always been able to explore our garden, but that's all. Apart from a dog I had when I was younger or the fish, I never saw other animals except in pictures and videos."
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"That doesn't sound very healthy to me," Vic answered.
"Probably not. Don't you think the people here are happier? They probably have fewer worries and problems," she added, looking out the window, her forehead brushing against the glass.
"Maybe, but do they live like we do? To what extent do they not get so used to the tanning life that their life is just this infinite boredom?" Vic answered her.
"We are going to fight. What the hell are you talking about?" Elisa told them, running over their philosophical conversation.
"Let them be. I like to hear these thoughts. Life can't just be about fighting." I said, and in a way, it was strange to hear it coming out of my mouth. All my life I had wanted that, the fight and the high ranking, to meet new Hunters and other cities, but, now, I just wanted to take a few days to rest. I no longer saw hunting beasts as a diversion but as a necessity.
"Is it there?" Maggie asked, leaning forward and pointing to a piecemeal road that flowed near some straw buildings.
There was only the sea on the horizon and the waves were bursting against the already reddish sand. The blood blended with the light brown color before being swallowed by the water. As we approached, we noticed that some buildings were already undone, the wood that supported the dry straw broken to pieces and some of the trunks were naked.
"There!" Victoria stormed out of her seat, "the beast!" and pointed to a nook, meters away from us, a star-shaped shadow coming out of the wreckage of what was once a house.
I stopped the car at the top of the hill, and we walked downhill. It was a path of boulders and solid sand blocks only.
"Is it me, or does the beast look like a starfish?" Elisa asked.
"Now that you mention it... His body's all orange, five tips, the only difference is it's made of metal." Vic answered her, carrying the sachet with the arrows on one shoulder and the bow in the same hand, "What's the plan?"
