by Eden Crowne
Behind the counter was a mural painted last year by art students from all the classes showing the old Spanish Missions along the northern Californian coast. Sky and the squad worked together on Mission San Juan Batista. Every day when she came in for lunch, she felt very proprietorial over their corner of the mural.
Sky loaded her plate with meat and vegetables. What with the rigorous physical training and lugging her gear around on patrol, she didn't have to worry much about calories.
“Hey, can you reach the pasta?” Rickey asked. “I told them to stop putting it at the back.”
Sky piled the plate with spaghetti and smothered it in meat sauce for him.
“Thanks. We just officially finished that online training session for the new hack on intercepting cell phone calls this morning. The thing was so simple, I figured it out last week after just one session. I am so badass.”
“Interesting stuff?”
“Cool. Very cool. Nasty bit of engineering. I love it!” He gave her a wicked grin. “With a bit of fiddling, I can hack into cell phone calls and texts. Don't you want to know what they're saying? I've collected all sorts of sound bytes on file from all kinds of people. Including them.”
'Them' meant Andrea Goodman, Thomas Raines, and the rest of the Negative Seniors. Even with such a small school, Redneck Juniors and Seniors didn't mix.
“No,” she sneered. “I don't care what they are talking about. Why would you?”
“Maybe we could get some insight on the aptitude tests. They'll take them after graduation, during winter break.”
Sky rolled her eyes. “Don't lie. Like you care about aptitude tests. You just want to hear your crush Thomas' voice on the line to Andrea and pretend he's telling you how sexy you are and how much he wants you right here, right now!”
“Shut up!” He bumped her with his chair wheels.
She bumped him back. “No, you shut up. And you know it's true, Rickey.”
“Shut up. And yes, it is.”
They both laughed. Rickey wanted the tall, tan, gorgeous Thomas to be secretly gay. Thomas, however, refused to stray from his girl-chasing ways and turn that perfectly chiseled jaw in Rickey's direction.
“You know you can get into a lot of trouble for hacking calls like that,” she felt honor-bound to point out.
He made a fake innocent face, giving her expert puppy-dog eyes. “Oh, but officer, I didn't know what was going on. The technology is so hard and I am so young.”
She laughed again.
“Out of my way mortal,” he declared swiveling his chair away from the counter.
She backed up so he could move and ran into someone with her tray.
“Ow!”
She looked up and saw Hugo St. James. He leaned over to rub his knee.
“Sorry, sorry. My bad,” she apologized.” Did I hurt you?”
He dropped his hand. “No, I'm fine. Nothing.”
“Really? Because you look like it hurts. Wasn't that the pants leg with the blood on it?”
Last night he'd told her he brushed up against something. She'd smelled the blood, though. No Positive brushes up against blood without freaking out. Blood Plague could be carried by bodily fluids. Maybe he'd hurt himself and just didn't want to say.
He made a face. “What a wimp I must seem. And my knee is fine. More importantly, how's your head?” He looked at her temple. “That's a nasty bump.”
“Let's just say me and my bottle of ibuprofen are like this.” She set her tray on the rack to hold up two fingers crossed on one hand. “Very close.”
“I hope it doesn't ache too terribly. May I say your hair looks very pretty down like that? I hadn't realized it was so long. You often wear it pulled back at school.”
She didn't know quite how to reply. He knew how she wore her hair. That delighted and terrified her at the same time. He was very cute and she, like most of the girls at Redwood High, had been admiring him since he arrived. Admiring from afar and standing there talking to him, were two very different emotional dynamics. Her mouth went dry.
“Sky, Rickey!” Melissa Mathews waved vigorously.”Get your butts over here!” She and her sister Mary were just sitting down. The twins were in Tactical with Sky as well. Sky took a second to admire their outfits, just as she did every day.
Those girls knew the definition of style.
Today, Mary had on a short, navy blue and white dress with a checkerboard pattern, thigh-high socks also in navy blue and her masses of super-curly hair held back from her face in a ponytail. Her sister was wearing a classic white oxford shirt partially tucked into super skinny indigo jeans with a blue cardigan tied around her waist. Her hair was loose, held back by a wide, white headband. The girls always coordinated their looks by color.
Sky didn't really hang out with kids who weren't Negatives. There was too much unspoken resentment over her status as a Redneck. Not so much from people her age, but their parents. Those moms and dads didn't want to see her. Didn't want to think about her and her immunity. The fact that Negative parents didn't have to stay awake, sleepless, before the first of the month blood lottery announcements and every night all winter long. Waiting for that tell-tale cough. Worrying over their children's or their own survival.
“Are those your friends?” He pointed towards the table.
She felt her expression change, her natural sense of humor asserting itself and some of the shyness melting away. They sat at the same table every day: her, Rickey, the Twins, sometimes Sara Anne and Chase and Raj. Hugo couldn't miss them in the cafeteria.
“What did I say? You're staring at me with a very odd expression.”
Rickey snorted a laugh. “Give us a break, Brit. You're not that new.”
Hugo looked slightly chagrined. “Yes, I've seen you and them. We never...” he stumbled a bit on the words. “How shall I say, had an opening to speak? Be introduced.”
“This isn't Edwardian England,” she couldn't help pointing out. “We don't have to be introduced.”
He brushed his bangs out of his eyes with one hand as he balanced the tray on the other. “Of course. Last night at the hospital, though, we chatted and I sort of...” he let the sentence hang.
“Hey, Christensen!” Mary shouted. “Bring England over, you are wasting valuable eating time.”
Rickey bumped her with his chair. “Ask him to sit with us, Sky.”
“Rickey!” she hissed.
“Yes, Sky, ask me to sit with you,” Hugo grinned.
Good God, he had dimples. She hadn't even noticed last night.
She felt a flush creeping up as she walked to the table and said over her shoulder in the most fake-nonchalant voice ever, “Come sit with us.”
The twins introduced themselves. Chase and Sara Anne were sitting with their friends on the soccer team but waved as Rickey shouted their names and pointed to Hugo. They were both sports mad and lived for soccer. Raj, who had been absent last night, was probably outside on the bleachers eating lunch with his new girlfriend, Michelle. Not a Redneck, nor part of their squad. Daphne, the squad's med-tech, was the last to join them, setting down her tray with a clatter and nearly spilling her drink.
Daphne was very well-endowed and enjoyed wearing V-neck sweater tops that showed her figure to full effect and kept all the boys drooling. Hugo looked slightly stunned as she leaned over to introduce herself – and her breasts – her long red-brown hair sweeping forward and back.
Rickey took the opportunity to whisper in Sky's ear. “Tell all!”
“He was at the hospital last night waiting for his dad. We chatted.” Sky whispered back. “Why is he talking to me? He's been here two months and never said a word. Not one.”
Rickey stared at her like she was crazy. “Who cares why! Look at him. He's gorgeous. And he's British. That accent is divine. Talk back! Make him talk more so I can listen.”
Melissa leaned over and whacked them both on the shoulder. “Stop whispering. We can all hear you. Ain't you got no fetchin' up!”
“Do not say 'car keys,' Mary.” Rickey waved his fork with several long strings of spaghetti dangling off. “You know you were going to!”
This made them laugh harder.
“I see you have made a wise drink choice,” Melissa pointed at Hugo's soda. “If you'd brought milk, we would have asked you to leave.”
He looked surprised. “Why would you do that?”
“Rednecks are lactose intolerant. Almost all of us.”
“The smell of milk makes us sick.” Mary made a face. “Especially Sky and her super smelling sense.”
He blinked a little. “Oh. Well, hurrah! Clever me.”
“Oh, Rickey, Rickey, Rickey!” Daphne bounced up and down in her seat making her breasts jiggle like custard.
“Right here, Daph. Not deaf. One Rickey will suffice.”
“Yea, whatever.” She waved one hand carelessly. “I keep forgetting to ask. My mom wants to know what to bring your mom. You know, for the birthday party.”
“Is your mother having a birthday?” Hugo sounded very polite and formal.
“No. I am having a birthday. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me,” he sang gaily.
“Rickey, focus.” Daphne waved a hand over his face. “My mom, to your mom.”
Sky leaned closer to Hugo. “Rickey's birthday plus his mom's baby shower equals one big event.”
“We're having a Britney Spears birthday barbecue and karaoke party plus baby shower. Britney is the queen!” He shouted the last part and several 'whoops' answered him from around the cafeteria.
“No, you are!” Came back one voice.
“Damn right!” Rickey shouted back.
“I gather you like Britney Spears,” Hugo said suppressing a smile.
“Like, is not the operative word,” Sky murmured. “Do you know who she is? Did they release Britney in England?”
“Oh yes, of course. Our entertainment industry and yours are quite integrated for music.”
“Integrated.” Rickey imitated Hugo's accent. “I like how you say that. Anyway, my mom is handling the Britney Spears part and Dad is doing the barbecue to keep the manliness quotient in his comfort zone. American dads are comfortable charring meat over open fires, Hugo. In case you do not know.”
“And is he okay with you being gay?” Hugo said around a bite of artichoke heart from his salad.
Sky watched the emotions flicker across Rickey's open features. Unlike her, he couldn't hide what he was feeling. Rickey could have been offended. He didn't really know St. James and friends are allowed liberties strangers aren't. Rickey saw his face relax into an easy smile. He'd decided Hugo could be in the friend zone.
“They're good. My dad has my sports-crazy little brother to go to games with. And I'm the daughter my mom always wanted.”
“Until now,” Sky pointed out.
“I know, it's so exciting.” Rickey started to gyrate in his chair. “Mom and Dad doing the dirty deed for their country.”
She punched him. “Don't put it like that. God, I know your parents.”
“Ow. And that brings me to our Med Tech Daphne's question.” He looked at Hugo and pretended to toss his hair with a flourish. “We are having a girl.”
“Hurrah!” Mary and Melissa cheered. Daphne had her mouth full and clapped instead.
“My mom would like something in yellow. Not pink. Not newborn, she says, but, like, six months old.” He wiped away an imaginary tear. “Because they grow so fast.”
“Do they make Britney Spears patterned baby clothes in America?” Hugo asked in all seriousness.
“I wish! I love babies. Do you love babies?” He didn't give Hugo a chance to reply one way or the other. “Me and Kyle are going to adopt. Like, three kids when I come of age and we can get married. We will make the best parents.”
“Kyle?” Hugo prompted.
“Rickey's boyfriend,” Sky explained. “He's two years older, in government service while he goes to college.”
“We're going to get married when I graduate.”
Sky poked him in the ribs. “What about Thomas?”
Rickey poked her back.
“Come to my party, St. James. Sky can give you the details.”
Sky stared at Rickey, saying, 'Really!' with her eyes as hard as she could.
“Yes, all right.” Looking around the table, Hugo included them all in a brilliant smile. “Thank you very much indeed. What shall I bring?”
Rickey's phone buzzed like a hornet. That was the distinctive buzz for Tactical. They all stopped talking and waited while he spoke.
“Get your gear.” He put the phone in his shirt pocket and backed away from the table. “The undocumented Negative we found last night in the woods is awake. She is not a nice person according to our sergeant. They took her to base and asked for more information. She gave them a lead. The C.O. thinks they have intel on a goblin blood drop. We found her, so our squad is in on the mission. We have to scramble. Van's on the way.”
They left their trays on the table and ran, Rickey in the lead. His wheelchair could go as fast as a bike on even ground.
Melissa and Mary pushed ahead of Sky. They gave each other high-fives, shouting, “It's goblin time!”
Glancing back as the doors swung closed, she saw Hugo running in the opposite direction.
Chapter 5
Hot Blooded
“This is a joint operation with the regulars from the Home Guard.” Sergeant McNeil filled them via speaker phone from the van driver's cell. “There will be two Senior teams, your squad and one more Junior squad from Mountain View, joining a team of regulars from the base. Captain Christensen will coordinate. We're heading to Santa Clara.”
Rickey looked at her and she rolled her eyes. Sky hated having to work with her sister. In order not to seem to show partiality, she was especially harsh on Sky in front of others. Sky could never strip down her weapon fast enough, or throw her opponent in hand-to-hand hard enough to earn any words from her beyond, 'Drop and give me twenty!' Out of uniform, Kara ignored her, which she much preferred.
The squad changed into their gear on the way over to the municipal airport – the local staging area for big missions. Tonight's operation had been dubbed, Operation Cineplex.
Trying to get everything zipped and buckled in the limited space of the van called for gymnastic-worthy contortions. They'd all pulled their gear from the secure lockers as they waited for the transport van. Rickey only needed to put on his jacket and vest. At school, he wore his tactical trousers and boots, since they had to train every weekday anyway. It was a pain for him to get in and out of pants with the chair.
Scrambling to get their weapons together, Sky and her squad ran to take their places with the assembled soldiers on the airport tarmac.
Kara was already speaking, barely recognizable under all her gear. The only skin that showed was her chin and mouth. She had a dimple in the middle of her chin. Just like Dad. “Home Guard Alpha and Bravo teams will rappel down from the helicopters. Gamma and Delta Seniors are on the ground and will provide backup for the regulars as they storm the building. Juniors will be on both flanks to keep the perimeter secure. Antonelli!”
“Sir!” Rickey shouted.
“You wrangle the 'bots. I
want aerial in before Alpha Team drops. Once you have that data, send in four Catz. 'Bots are to be armed. On Sergeant McNeil's command, Juniors will sweep towards the target as the Seniors engage with the Regulars. Shoot at anything that tries to get by. Can you handle that?”
“Yes sir!” they said as one.
“I said, can you handle that!” She demanded again.
“Sir, yes, sir!” they shouted as loud as they could.
Sky sat in the back of the transport next to Rickey's chair as the truck rumbled and shook on the pitted freeway. He was running through some data on his tactical PC pad. Probably programming the 'bots.
Sky placed her hand over the screen. “You invited Hugo St. James to the 'He did It Again Birthday Bash' when I've known him for like, five minutes? What if he'd said no?”
“The Honorable Hugo St. James, son and heir of Viscount St. James, is a gentleman.” Rickey pried her fingers off his screen and placed her hand in her lap. “As such, he would never embarrass a lady in public or a lady man.” He winked.
“Viscount?”
“Yeah. Didn't you know? His father is a Viscount and his mother is Lady la de da something or other. Hugo will eventually inherit the title. I researched when he first came to Redwood. Sky and Hugo sittin' in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.”
“Juniors, mind on the mission!” Sergeant McNeil snapped from the front.
Viscount St. Jame'. Sky had not known about the title. Not that it should make any difference. Still. It was kind of cool.
Operation Cineplex was happening in an abandoned strip mall and movie theater complex off Highway 101 in Santa Clara. Rickey left for the mobile command van, the rest of the squad regrouping on the far side of an old Taco Bell. They watched the faint red glow of the flybot sensors as they took off in a circle formation for the cluster of run-down buildings.
The sergeant sent Daphne, Chase, and Sky to the left flank; furthest from the action. Mary, Melissa, and Sara Anne, took the center and another Junior squad Sky didn't know handled the right. Their job was primarily to stop anyone trying to flee the scene. Sky's squad took their positions, waiting for the Alpha team to drop.
