by Jamie Wang
Lao shook his head. “Rule number two.”
Another twitch of her mouth. “If they complete the contract and earn the final reward, they’ll have enough saved up to leave the city. I don’t suppose I need to remind you what happens when the world learns of Mice and Hawks.”
“Yes, everything we’ve worked towards will be ruined.”
“The second they win, the city is doomed. We do everything it takes to keep that from happening. Whatever it takes.”
Lao chuckled to himself. Of course the answer was obvious, it had always been in front of him. What is one life compared to an entire city?
Jynx must’ve sensed his hesitance. “It’s one life versus two hundred thousand. She’s just a Mouse.”
But she wasn’t just a Mouse and both of them knew it.
“Not just a Mouse,” Lao said. The irony was so stark, he had to laugh. “She’s human.”
MAVERICK
Maverick had never been a heavy sleeper. Even after drops, when his eyes drooped and limbs failed him, his eyes still opened at the slightest noise. But any excuse to awake from his nightmares was a blessing.
This time, it was the sound of Prince’s staggered footsteps. Maverick peeked out his tent to see Prince’s shadow swaying in front of Sasha’s tent. He crawled into the moonlight.
“At least I don’t watch her when she sleeps,” Maverick said in a hushed voice.
Prince jumped. He twisted his head to find Maverick. “Oh, it’s you. What was that?”
Maverick smiled. “You call me a creep, but at least I don’t watch girls while they sleep. What are you doing?”
Prince smiled back. “I was just wondering what it’d take to convince her that she snores.”
Sure enough, Maverick could hear the gentle sound of snoring from Sasha’s tent. If he could hear it from his tent on the opposite side of the circle, it must’ve been pretty loud. “I don’t think we can ever convince her of that.”
“What a horrible sound. But still, I like it,” Prince said, stumbling over his words.
Maverick nodded. “It’d be hard to sleep without it.”
“We’re finally this close to finishing our contract. Three years of being hunted, cut, and beat. And now, none of it will matter if we fail the next one. What the fuck.”
Maverick stared at Prince. “That’s why we can’t fail. No matter what. It’s why we bought the knives.”
Prince shook his head, his balance swaying. “That’s not why.”
Maverick scrunched his brow.
“I bought the knives to protect Sasha. So we can protect her.” The words came loud and clear. For a second, it seemed that Prince was faking his own drunkenness. But just as fast as he had sobered, he was drunk again. “Promise me you will,” he slurred.
“Okay, Prince.”
“I’m serious, no matter who or what, we’ll protect her.”
“I was going to anyways.”
“She’s already been hurt enough.”
Maverick nodded, “Hawk’s Lair was –”
“I’m not talking about Hawk’s Lair.”
The statement shut Maverick up. “Prince.” They had agreed to forget about it, but both knew they couldn’t. “Something like that, we can’t—”
“I don’t care. It almost destroyed her.”
Maverick remembered the twisting trail of blood that ran down Sasha’s thigh. It was more horrible than the cuts and bruises all over her body. The blood shone so radiantly that it seemed to be the only color on her. And with this blood came a new girl, one who was shy and timid, who shrank away from conflict and would cry endlessly into the night.
Maverick opened his mouth against his better judgment. “Prince, if you found the Hawks that did that to her, what would you do to them?”
Prince stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground in a sitting position. “I’d kill them of course. I’d break their necks. I’d let them know exactly why they were dying. They would never hurt her again.” His words were poison.
“Talk like that and I’ll think you’re The Slasher.”
“Maybe I am.”
Maverick rolled his eyes. “You’re not crazy enough to be The Slasher.”
Prince fell silent. He stared into the shadows of Sasha’s tent. When he at last spoke, his words came in a low whisper. “You think that The Slasher’s trying to protect someone?”
Prince’s honesty caught Maverick by surprise. He found himself scrambling for an answer. “I think you shouldn’t try to understand the crazy,” he said.
Prince took a moment to mull over Maverick’s words. “Fair.” With that, he headed toward his tent. “G’night Mav.”
“Goodnight Prince.” But Maverick stayed up.
He brought out his knife from underneath the blankets and held it to the moonlight. Strange etchings had been carved into the blade. Though it was old and rusted, it could still cut stone. Unlike Prince’s knife, his was only sharp on one end, but it was jagged and had a small hilt.
I wonder if he really is trying to protect someone.
SASHA
She reached into her pocket to make sure Prince’s money was still there. Under The Dragon’s reign, there were no pickpockets, but whoever made girl’s shorts had decided that their pockets didn’t need to work. Half the time, the slightest jump would cause everything to spill out.
It should be around here.
Maverick had told her where Prince gambled, a shanty bar called The Riverside Tavern. Walking up to it, she could see that it lived up to its reputation. The red paint on the wood was mostly gone. The name itself was painted in what used to be yellow. Now it held the dull orange color of rust. Most of the windows were either boarded up or too dusty to see through.
“What a dump.” Sasha shook her head and continued toward it. The building looked old, perhaps old enough to be one of the first buildings of this city. A monument of the past turned into a place of drunken vice. Fitting.
Walking in was equally revolting. The only thing in the bar worth having was the bar itself. Along the sides of the bar were tables and chairs. The middle was an open space of scattered bar tables topped with gambling games.
“Hey,” Sasha said as she approached the bar.
The bartender adjusted his spectacles. “Would you like a drink?”
“No, I want a favor. A boy name Prince comes in here a lot to gamble, I want you to stop him when he does.” Sasha pulled out the money Prince had given her and dropped it onto the bar. “Alright?”
The bartender made no move to collect the money, instead he started making a drink. “Unfortunately, just as we don’t have age minimums on our drinks, neither do we on our services.”
“Prince gambles more money than he has and the last time he lost, he almost got himself killed. I’m just trying to protect him.”
The bartender stopped making the drink. “Is it your money?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Stealing isn’t allowed in this city. Nor is bribery.”
“This money’s going to get Prince killed one day.”
“Are you the boy’s guardian?” He poured the drink out into a sink and rubbed the glass down with cloth.
Sasha looked away. “Not technically.”
“I won’t accept the money.”
“Tsk!” Sasha rolled her eyes and turned. “Either way, do whatever you want with it.”
The bartender’s voice stopped her. “If you leave the money here, I’ll have it returned to its original owner.”
She looked back to see the money still exactly as she had left it. There wasn’t a single dollar out of place. She frowned and grabbed the dollars, stuffing it into her pocket.
Sasha walked out of the bar into the glaring sunlight, unsure of how she would get rid of the money. There were stores aplenty, but spending the money to buy gifts for everyone would defeat the purpose of her having come here in the first place. Instead, she wandered aimlessly, letting her mind drift to the same questions t
hat had always haunted her.
Why do Mice even exist?
However proud she was to be a Mouse, she found it hard to believe that delivering life-saving medicine was a task fit for children. After all, the success rate of Mice was abysmally low. Surely they should’ve found something better.
Project Persist was the company that originally brought medicine into the slums. The history books claimed that Project Persist had brought in their own people to deliver the medicine, but the slums proved too difficult to traverse. In the books, that’s all they said about Project Persist.
There should be more. But there never was.
Sasha looked up to see the Riverside Tavern in front of her. She had walked in a large circle. With a smile, she closed her eyes and shook her head relieving herself of such thoughts. It was a beautiful morning and she had the whole day free.
Suddenly, a body slammed into her from behind. The world spun. When it finally stopped, she was on the ground covered in dirt. To her left laid another girl groaning.
Sasha pressed a hand against her own aching head. It was wet. “What the hell?”
The other girl remained still. Both her knees shone bright red through the dirt clinging to them. A small fist was curled up at her sides with a bag of pills.
A Mouse! Sasha pushed herself up just in time to see her pursuing Hawk.
JAKE
The alleys twisted and curved endlessly. Each alley only led to another. Every turn brought with it its own distinct smell, the unique combination of garbage that nearby tenants had thrown out their windows.
Jake chased his prey, his bare feet bouncing off the cool dirt. Each breath was harder than the last. All that kept him going was the swishing blonde ponytail in front of him.
“Fuck you!” He breathlessly screamed.
The rubble on the ground ripped through the soles of his feet. Debris jabbed his toes with every step. But as long as she wasn’t slowing down, he couldn’t either. The Mouse was headed to the main street, probably to lose him there. At the rate things were going, she would.
Jake turned the corner. All that was left was a straight shot out of the alley. It was over. He couldn’t keep up. He watched her sprint out of the alley’s shadows. Then a miracle. She collided with someone and fumbled to the ground. His prey rolled through the dirt, sliding to a stop with bloody knees.
I hope you broke those knees.
“Thank you,” Jake said looking up to the sky. His run slowed to walk.
Walking out of the shadows was like entering a new world. Jake licked his lips. His nose crinkled at the foul musk of sweaty bodies. He preferred the sour smell of trash.
Stepping toward the Mouse, he stared at the bag of pills strewn across the street. They may as well have been a bag of gold. Slowly, his eyes slid toward the Mouse, her thin figure unconscious in the street.
My lucky day.
“Stop.”
Jake halted and turned to see two glaring red eyes. It was the girl the Mouse had ran into. Her hand clutched her head to quell blood.
“Why?” He ignored her order. Injured or not, she was still in his way. She would find no sympathy from him.
“You’re a Hawk aren’t you?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Don’t come any closer.” Her voice reminded Jake of a rabid dog’s growl.
Jake shook his head. Fortune had delivered this girl to him. There was no way he was going to give her away so easily. He reached into his back pocket and flicked open a switchblade. “Careful girl, we Hawks are known for our tempers.”
To his surprise, she reached into her shorts for a knife of her own, its tip charred black. She stepped over the unconscious blonde Mouse, her knife angled toward him. The pale scar slicing her eye in half crunched up with her face. It took only a single look at her to know how serious she was.
“And we Mice are known to bite.”
Another Mouse.
Jake slowed his breaths. In a battle between Hawks and Mice, the winner was obvious. “You don’t have to do this, Mouse.”
Plus, I have an advantage. I bet you’ve never fought a lefty before.
He tossed the knife to his left hand.
SASHA
Sasha felt like a hypocrite wielding the knife she had taken from Bolt. But what choice did she have? She saw the way the Hawk had looked at the unconscious Mouse. She had seen that look before; she had nightmares about that look.
Around them, pedestrians cleared a way. As usual, they didn’t even bat an eye. It was as if they were ghosts. It was times like this that Sasha missed the days where pedestrians would at least acknowledge her. But those days went away with the Lions.
“You don’t have to do this Mouse.” The Hawk’s knees bent and his knife danced in front of him. It looked like he at least knew a little about knife play.
“You must not know me very well.”
Sasha’s heart thumped against her chest and her muscles tingled with anticipation. She watched a bead of sweat drip down the Hawk’s chin. His tongue flicked in and out trying to wet his lips. His breaths were deep.
He’s tired.
A throbbing pain reminded her of her own handicaps. Blood from her forehead trickled into her left eye, forcing it shut. A string of scarlet dripped out her mouth. Her feet shifted as she fought to maintain her posture. The world hadn’t stopped spinning.
“You think you can stop me?” The Hawk’s grin cut across his face.
“Just who the hell do you think I am?”
It was just a slight twitch of his leg, but Sasha read his movements. The Hawk lunged forward wildly slashing into the air. Sasha leapt backwards and slid to a stop. If the Hawk chose to grab the pills and run, she wouldn’t be able to stop him. But she was more worried about the girl than the pills.
The Hawk seemed to read her mind. He glanced at the plastic bag on the ground before returning his gaze to Sasha. Stepping over the blonde Mouse, he sprang forward, the silver of his knife disappearing in a whirling blur. Sasha ducked and dodged, making sure to keep her distance. The Hawk was much larger than her and almost as nimble. Worse, he was left-handed.
He stuck onto her tirelessly. With every step back she took, he responded with two steps forward. The difference in their strength was obvious. Sasha ducked a horizontal slash, feeling the blade whisk away the tip of her hair. It was all she could do just to avoid his knife. Another slash from the right. Sasha’s ankles burned, unused to always dodging to the left.
Shit!
Her legs tangled together. Luckily, she fell just out of the Hawk’s reach. A twenty-dollar bill floated down beside her.
She looked up to see the Hawk equally as stunned. Nobody moved as they both watched the bill land on the dirt. In a single moment, they lunged toward the bill. Even though Sasha was closer, the Hawk got to it first. Sasha stabbed her blade toward his hand.
The Hawk’s hand shot back as he twisted his body with a retaliatory strike. Sasha leaned back just far enough to avoid the knife and in the same movement flung dirt into the Hawk’s face.
“Fuck!” The Hawk’s arms came up and his head recoiled backwards.
Sasha thrust her knife forward, but at the last moment, turned her stab into a wild punch. She heard the satisfying crunch of her fist against the Hawk’s nose. Blood exploded from his face like fireworks.
The Hawk’s head lunged backwards and hit the ground behind him. “God damn it!” His voice sounded nasally. Blood poured out of his nose in a rich gush of crimson.
Sasha swiped the money off the ground and put it back in her pocket. “I could’ve killed you there.”
“Your mistake.” The Hawk shook with anger, his knuckles white from clutching his knife so hard. He pushed himself up.
Sasha’s head pounded to the rhythm of her ragged breaths. She wiped the blood from her eye only to have more trickle through. For the first time, she noticed that the Mouse had disappeared along with the drugs.
“Where is she?” Sasha demanded.<
br />
“What the fuck are you asking me for?”
“Then who took her?”
“The fucking Slasher!” He said. “Are you an idiot? She took off.”
How did I miss that? Sasha swept her eyes around the circle of people that had gathered around to watch. The blond Mouse had disappeared.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Mouse.” The Hawk raised his knife and pointed it at her.
Sasha returned his stare in kind. With a scornful grunt, the Hawk stepped backward, abandoning his posture. He grabbed his left hand to plug up a gash.
Sasha hadn’t even realized he was wounded. It must’ve been when he had made a grab for Prince’s money. Her knife had found its mark.
The Hawk put his knife away. “Remember me Mouse, because I’ll remember you.” He took off into the crowd and disappeared.
LAO
“I see you’re not a morning person.” Lao’s shoes clicked on the ground.
John bit against the knotted rag in his mouth. His body shook as he tried to inch away from the Dragon. As all the visitors of this room, his hands were cuffed behind him and his feet were chained to the floor.
Lao circled him, tugging on the noose around his neck. “Do you know why you are here?”
John screamed against the rag in vowels.
“Let me answer that question for you, because the answer isn’t actually all that exciting. You broke one of my rules.” Lao sighed, placing both his hands on his hip. “And I don’t really like you. In the short time since I’ve made your acquaintance, you have not only bullied children, but you’ve been bullied by children!” Lao clutched his sides laughing.
It didn’t seem like John found it as funny as Lao.
“Excuse me John, I thought you would appreciate some humor.” Lao grabbed the rag around John’s mouth and yanked it out. “Sorry, but I’m a little hard of hearing, I must be getting old. Could you repeat that?”
“I’m sorry. Please—” John coughed, his entire body shaking with its force. “—let me go.”
