by LM. Preston
She pulled to a stop at the end of the Black Snake Avenue. The others parked their cycles next to her.
Valens stood when Mitch came up to meet him. “Why’d we stop short? I thought Nan lived two blocks down.”
Shamira and the others gathered in a circle while scanning the empty street around them.
Valens took some gloves out of his pocket and put them on. “We can’t take these cycles down her street. It’ll scare them off.”
Shamira rested her hands on her hips. “How do you know?”
“I check on them, bring her food and supplies. Her mom had a hard time kicking the dream habit on her own, but she did it. Now her mom works in the center, trying to help others that denied artificial cure, kick their habit and live through the withdrawal.”
“Man, Valens, you just keep on earning my respect, dude.” Anthony gave Valens a soft punch on his arm.
“Now what?” Mitch crossed his arms.
Shamira felt a bit edgy with the silence around them. “We’ll ask her if she’s heard anything on the street. Maybe someone’s still supplying them with a sub-product of dream. If so, we need to find out who that is.”
“Well, let’s take the high road, up the side of the building then down the street.” Dion pointed up at the tall brick structure beside them.
“You’re kidding, right?” Hedi eyes traveled up. “Climbing buildings was not part of my training.”
“No worries, Valens always has a trick in his pocket to help his team out.” Kurt chuckled.
“That I do, my friends, that I do.” Valens reached into his jacket and pulled out a bag. “Put these on your fingertips, knees and shoes. It’ll help us get up the walls, but from building to building…uh, I wouldn’t risk it.” He scooped out a handful of flat, round, metal looking discs the size of a thumb tip. The disc were firm but flexible.
They all put on the discs that bent and stuck on. The devices secured themselves to their fingers, shoes, and knees as though they were skin.
“I’m still confused here.” Hedi gazed warily up at the building.
Mitch and Dion winked at one another. Then spoke in unison. “We got that part covered.”
“The part where we go from building to building?” Hedi pulled on Dion’s jacket. “Like how?”
“Don’t want to spoil it, babe. Trust me, it’ll be a blast.” Dion grabbed her hand, heaved her on his back then ran up the side of the building.
Shamira got a rush of excitement. Valens held out his hand. “Ready?”
“All my life.” Shamira smacked his hand. “Beat yah!” She dodged past him and jumped on the outer brick wall of the ten-story building. Totally trusting any of Valens’ creations, she scrambled up the side like a spider. It was amazing. She held in a snicker. Her grin widened, she couldn’t believe she was actually able to climb a building.
Dion and Hedi had a good lead on her so she cheated. Mentally, she pulled from the simmering energy in her gut. The power was born from her brush with death when she was a baby. It bubbled up to give her extra strength that surpassed the enhanced strength given to them from their technosuits. She practically leaped several feet higher. With a giggle, she pulled herself up by her hands, barely using the tags on the tips of her shoes. Sticking out her tongue, she passed Dion and Hedi.
“Hey, you’re cheating! No sneaking strength the rest of us don’t have,” Hedi called with a laugh.
Shamira was the first to make it to the top. She tugged herself up and slid her foot over the ledge and onto the roof. Dropping to one knee, she yanked Hedi up by the hand while Dion flipped over the ledge. The others followed, seemingly trying to outdo each other on their various flips over the rooftop.
Shamira smiled. “Showoffs!”
“Skill babe, plain and simple skill.” Anthony slapped hands with Mitch and Dion.
Valens slid over beside her and put his hand on the small of her back. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Don’t let them fool you. They’ve been practicing with me while I tried out these babies.”
She stared at him with awe. “How do you get them to be the guinea pigs for your prototypes?”
With a cocky grin, Valens shrugged. “Mitch asked me to create something like this for them. Kurt and Dion have been teaching them some of the slick techniques from their old days as Assassins with Monev. Both could climb without this device. Mitch and Anthony just wanted some help to keep up.”
“No fair you guys didn’t ask us to come along.” Shamira’s eyebrow lifted.
“You were too busy shadowing Cal and learning to be the next Security Force Leader to have time to goof off with us. And Hedi was training with the Computer Security Team.”
Dion came up beside them. “Ready to fly?”
Hedi’s eyes bulged at Dion like he was insane. “Fly? How? You’re kidding, right?”
Mitch lopsided grin got wider. “Naw, we’ve been doing this ancient art of hopping buildings called Free Running. These new toys Valens made for us will help you girls hang. The rest of us have been doing it without the prototypes for weeks.”
Hedi pointed her finger at Dion’s chest. “So that’s where you boys have been sneaking off to at night. You too, Valens?”
Valens smiled sheepishly at Shamira, then Hedi. “Someone had to go along to keep them out of trouble. Besides I had to study what they were doing to find a way to perfect it.”
“I so can’t wait to try this.” Shamira eyed the ledge of the building. Her eyebrow wrinkled while she tried to guess the distance to the next building.
Hedi shook her head nervously. “You would. You’re worse than the rest of them. Can I remind ya’ll that I’m not in training for this.” She stepped back. “I’m the inside computer geek.”
Shamira gawked at Hedi dumbfounded. “You look and act nothing like a geek. And you know you like it. You just need us to give you a little push.”
“Yeah, like this.” Mitch pushed Dion forward.
Hedi yelled in fear. Dion ran then made a laughing leap through the air and over the side of the building out of sight.
Hedi’s hand came up and punched Mitch in the arm. “Are you crazy!”
Mitch laughed. “He loves it when I do that.” He hopped then vaulted into a run behind Dion. Arms opened wide, he flew over the side of the building.
Shamira was itching to try, but she saw the fear in Hedi’s eyes. She grabbed Hedi by the hand. “Don’t let them see you chicken out. I’ve got you—let’s do this together.” Shamira tugged Hedi along as she started to run. Hesitantly, Hedi ran alongside her, then started too relished in the new adventure and sped up.
Valens called behind her. “Duck and roll when you land!”
“Gotcha!” Shamira held tightly to Hedi’s hand while they leaped off the side of the building. “Don’t look down!”
“No way.” Hedi squeezed Shamira’s hand tighter.
Shamira dragged Hedi with her. She spied the top of the building.
Mitch and Dion waved them on. “Now! Flip now!” Mitch yelled.
Shamira yanked Hedi’s arm forward to force her into a spin. They flipped together landing on their knees with their hands still tightly clasped together. They looked at one another in silence for a moment. Both Hedi then Shamira burst out in laughter. Behind them several thumps and bumps from Valens, Kurt and Anthony signaled that they landed.
“It’s good to be back. Ye-ah boy!” Kurt exclaimed and slapped hands with Anthony.
Shamira’s chest filled with butterflies of adrenaline. She jumped side to side on each foot ready for the next building.
Valens pulled her in a hug. “Like that, don’t you?” His voice deepened.
“Just what I needed,” Shamira answered then kissed him, butterflies tickling her stomach at his closeness. “Ready for the next one?” She nipped his bottom lip with her teeth.
Valens squeezed her tighter and whispered. “Yeah. Dion’s got Hedi. You want to do it with me or by yourself?”
“I can go it
alone this time.”
Valens shook his finger and tsked. “Yeah, but then you’d miss out on this new move I’ve got up my sleeve. I’ll teach it to you and then you can do it yourself on the next building.”
Her curiosity and thirst for a challenge piqued. She grabbed his hand. “Let’s do it.”
Valens let out a chuckle and pulled her forward. “I’ll dive first and pull you over my head. You dive over me and pull me with you.”
“Got it. So you land first and I’ll land over you.”
“Yep.” They started running.
Valens whooped. “Top this, suckers!”
Dion answered. “You are wrong. So wrong—in so many ways. Hedi won’t make it.”
Anthony shouted. “You go boy! But Kurt and I got something for you!”
Shamira sped up.
Valens yelled. “Now!”
They sailed through the air. She felt like she was on fire with tingles of awareness and a pure high. “Yes!”
Valens flipped her. She pointed her toes like a ballerina. Dragging him over her, she sailed through the air. He flipped forward and with a thump then a roll Shamira followed to land in front of him. She stumbled slightly and he hauled her forward into his arms and kissed her. “See, we’re made for this.”
Her hand rested on his rapidly beating heart that matched time with her own. “Yeah. We are.” She closed her eyes when Valens leaned in for a hungry kiss. Melting, she let out a small groan.
“Man, cut that out. Get a room,” Anthony snickered when he landed.
Shamira and Valens broke apart to grin at a grouchy Anthony.
“Stop hatin’.” Mitch hooted then landed out of his flip behind Anthony.
Kurt followed with the grace of a ninja warrior and landed silently behind them. “Ya’ll have to work on the landing.”
Dion and Hedi staggered noisily behind them. Dion slid Hedi into his arms for a quick kiss before turning to Kurt. “No one’s got it down like you, Kurt. You were one of Monev’s best assassins before you went rogue on them to join Valens.”
“Yeah, man, you got style—finesse, but to me, a kill is a kill.” Anthony scratched his wrist.
“What’s wrong with your wrist?” Shamira asked.
“Stupid rash. It’ll be okay though.” Anthony stretched. “You going now or what?”
Chapter 11
They climbed down the last building on the block. Lights framed the structures and traveled alongside the sidewalks. Shamira stuffed one hand in a pocket and closed her eyes. She briefly pummeled herself into the complete darkness that reminded her of the safe place she’d lived within most of her life. Being blind hadn’t been a handicap. It had been a safe haven. It was a familiar place that allowed her to be what she needed to be. A place without the weakness of what was seen, only what she believed.
A faint sound of young voices wafted around her. Her eyes fluttered opened bringing her back to her dim reality. “I hear something. Someone over there in that abandoned building.”
Valens chin dipped. “That should be where Nan lives. Several families share the bottom floor. The top floors are for the Help Center and the homeless.”
“Good. You leading the way?” Shamira asked.
“Yeah, she’ll let me in.” Valens went ahead of the others. His hand fisted up, froze for a moment, then knocked on what appeared to be the back door to the building. The door was a thick, makeshift door of hollowed metal.
They were sandwiched between two empty buildings in an alleyway. The sand-swept corners hadn’t had the luxury of the sand drains that drew loose fragments of sand within it to clean the streets. This part of town was neglected in the Mars cleanup, Shamira guessed.
Valens knocked once more before the door clicked open and a girl’s head appeared.
Shamira closed in behind him to study the girl. Nan stood about Shamira’s height with brown hair and large blue eyes that appeared tired. The girl was extremely thin with a weak malnourished look about her. Shamira couldn’t help being angry at seeing another casualty of what Monev left behind.
Valens reached into his pocket and pulled out some coined credits of money and handed it to the girl. “Nan, thanks for talking to us. Here’s some credits for food since I wasn’t able to get by here this week.”
The girl’s thin face brightened with a large beam of gratitude. “No, thank you. We are so grateful you help us, but now the Security Force Elite Reconstruction Program will start supplying us food and supplies while training some of us to work the underground heating systems and wind towers. If you didn’t get us moved to the top of the list I don’t know how long we would’ve been able to survive.”
“Great, I told them about your mom and what she was trying to do.” His face turned solemn. “But, I’m actually here for information.”
“Anything I know, I’ll tell you. What’s going on?” Nan sent a cautious look toward Shamira.
“Do you know if there’s been any underground illegal action? You know, someone trying to supply dream to some of the recovered addicts? Anyone’s lives being threatened?” Valens asked.
Nan looked confused. Then she turned her head slightly and peeked behind her. She stepped forward and closed the door. Whispering to herself, she wrung her hands. “Well, there’s something going on. One of the recovering addicts who was having a hard time of it, showed up a few weeks ago and said he was quitting the program. He and a few others packed their stuff and left. None of them had kids or family here on Mars to help them.”
Shamira came up next to Nan. “Were they over their addictions? Did they ask for food or anything to help them to survive after they left?”
Nan bit her lip. “No, both were working through the withdrawal pains. It takes almost a year to work through them; the pain hits less often depending on when you last used. A lot of the grownups here had a stash of dream to last them a while after Monev got destroyed and they would use what they had. We still have some people who are just now out of supply and decided not to go with the rehabilitation program offered by Earth.”
Kurt leaned over. “Something is off. You saying that several of the recovering drug addicts packed up and left? How were they acting? Did they seem like they were using again?”
Nan’s face frowned in thought. “Now that you mention it, no. They acted like they were fully recovered. No shivers, scratching, or denial of food. If I wouldn’t have known they were users before I would never had guessed they were addicts. The only other option is that someone gave them a synthetic of the cure Earth sent for users to take for the almost instant relief of the addiction.”
Shamira put a hand on the doorframe. “Why wouldn’t an addict take the Earth cure in the first place?”
“Many of them don’t trust the Earth cure. They think Earth will put something in the drug to control them, or track them like animals.” Nan frowned. “But my mom doesn’t believe that. She believes an addict has the power to overcome their addiction on their own, and by doing so, they understand the pain of the recovery and will choose not to go back to that life again.”
Anthony snorted. “Yeah, right. I doubt that works for most of Monev’s victims. They made sure dream and scream would hook a fool, and good.”
“We’ve seen success in most,” Nan replied. The door opened behind her.
A tall boy with spiked up hair stuck his head out. “Hey, your mom’s askin’ for ya.”
Nan looked over her shoulder at the boy. “Please tell her I’ll be right there.” She waited until the boy left before turning back to Shamira.
“One more thing, do you have any names? Ideas where they would hang out if they aren’t here?” Shamira asked.
Nan bit a fingernail. “I know one of them was called by a nickname. Freaksheep. He used to brag about how he’d been a top dog until everything went to pot. He said he started using dream to pass the time since he didn’t know what else he could do to make a living before he came to us. But now, dreamheads that didn’t want treatment fi
nd hideouts in the outlands. I don’t know where, but I overheard a few of those that left say this was better than there.”
Valens patted her on her shoulder. “Thanks Nan. Call if anything else weird comes up?”
“Sure.” She stepped back inside.
Shamira folded her arms. “Sounds like a copycat organization maybe starting up. But Renu just didn’t sound like the type to share his secrets. Especially what kept him in control of all the other turned criminals.”
Kurt teased his chin with his thumb. “No, he wasn’t sharing any information. At least not to anyone who wasn’t close to him or didn’t have a need to know reason for being involved.”
Mitch grunted. “All those guys were supposedly murdered. Even Renu. So who would be left to pull it off?”
Dion leaned on the building and crossed his legs. “What about some of the kids? I mean some who were assassins could be pretty devoted to Monev.”
“Considering that you and Kurt are the only assassins we know, do you have any leads to some of the former kids who were recruited as assassins by Monev?”
Dion spit on the ground. “Naw. Didn’t like any of them when I was with Monev, so I didn’t look for them when most of the kids were recovered by the Security Force. But because we got out of the organization before we turned seventeen, we didn’t have to make a choice to be elevated to permanent members. Those who never got out, either chose to become a Monev assassin for life—or they gave their lives.”
“You had Kurt vouch for you when you came to us. Wasn’t he your friend?” Shamira asked.
Kurt’s gaze locked with Dion’s. “No. I just knew I could trust him. We did some jobs together. He never failed—neither did I. Most of the other kids on my jobs, they just didn’t have it in them to survive. They were decoys we knew weren’t going to survive. Anyway, if you failed on a job and survived the hit, there was a chance you wouldn’t survive Monev’s discipline.” Kurt turned away in disgust.
Shamira tilted her chin towards Dion and watched as he scratched his wrist, then raked his hand through his dark hair. “How many assassins were they training?”
