Myrikal

by Holli Anderson

  “I suppose you aren’t going to share that with me, huh?” she said.

  Baby replied by growling low in his throat and dragging his kill a few feet away. Myri sighed, “At least I won’t have to start a fire to cook it on.” She unzipped her pack and pulled out the package of food Nancy had sent with her.

  “You’re really making a mess over there.” Baby looked up at her and licked his bloody whiskers before returning to his feast. Myri bit into her last peach. Grace had been right, apples were good, but nothing compared to the dripping-with-juice peaches fresh off the tree. They should be getting close to the next town, if they were still headed in the right direction.

  Myri washed up in the stream then stood, shouldering her pack. “Come on, killer. Let’s get on the road.” She had to do some coaxing to get him to leave the carcass of his first solo kill behind.

  From the looks of the outskirts, Hilton was definitely not as friendly as the kibbutz. It also appeared to be much larger. Ragged tents housed bedraggled people—old, young, families—in an area that had been decimated by the ‘quakes and what came after. From her perch in the top of a huge evergreen, Myri looked over the large city-town that centered around a tall building with the word “Hilton” still dangling from the top.

  People milled about the crumbled streets and in and out of a number of buildings that still mostly stood. The city showed no obvious signs of improvement—no planted fields, no cleanup of the streets, no new construction. It reminded her of Manhattan, only somehow worse. The only area that looked even remotely cleaned up was the Hilton itself, and the surrounding block around which a barricade had been built. Built was not exactly right, more like piled. That’s where she should head first. That’s where the leaders would be.

  She tried to get Baby to stay back, hiding in the trees, now that he was too big to hide in her backpack, but as soon as she got a few yards away from him, he bounded out to swat at her legs.

  “Panther!” came a yell from the street ahead.

  A couple of people screamed and ran. Two men and a woman nearest her grabbed weapons—a shovel, an axe, a club. They didn’t charge, thank goodness, they just stood their ground, eyeing Baby.

  Myri held up her hands, palms out. “He’s with me. He’s tame. He isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

  As if to defy her proclamation, Baby leaped in front of her and crouched, wiggling his butt back and forth. A sign, Myri knew, that he wanted to play, but the people bearing weapons didn’t know that. Baby roared. A deep, barky, roar. The loudest she’d heard from him yet. A roar like a grown panther, instead of the meager juvenile attempts he’d made before.

  The group of armed citizens stepped back. “You sure he’s tame?” asked the man holding the axe.

  Myri reached down and picked Baby up. His hind legs hung nearly to the ground now. “He’s tame. That was just his way of saying ‘hi’.”

  “Maybe you should tie him up or something, just in case?” The woman lowered the shovel in her hands.

  “I’ll just hold him for now.” The wriggling cat apparently didn’t feel the same way about that decision.

  “He looks heavy,” the woman said. “You sure you don’t want me to get you a rope?”

  Myri shook her head. “I’ve got one if I need it.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t sound like she believed her. “Where you headed anyway?”

  Myri’s eyes flicked to the Hilton. “There.”

  The woman’s eyes widened, as did her two male companions’. “Why?” she whispered.

  “I’m looking for some information and instinct tells me that’s the place to get it.” That’s where Cascus would have gone. Straight to the leaders.

  “They won’t let you in.” The woman still whispered, like she was afraid the people in the big building several blocks away would hear her.

  Myri smiled. “I’m going to try anyway.”

  “They have weapons.” The man lifted his axe a little. “Real ones. Like guns and stuff.”

  “Where did they get them?” Myri asked.

  “Max, the self-appointed governor, owned a big gun store before the ‘quakes hit. He gathered what remained of his friends and family in the aftermath and they hauled ‘em all to the hotel. Threatened or killed anyone that tried to get in.”

  “Yeah,” the second man spoke up for the first time. “Unless you had something to bring to the table. Pretty much all the food storage, money, ammo, batteries, generators… if it was something they deemed necessary or worthy, they let you join them.”

  A couple of children slunk out of hiding, eyes wide as they stared at Baby, still trying to escape Myri’s hold on him.

  “Hmm…” Myri said. “That sounds beastly.”

  A bitter laugh escaped the woman’s mouth. “That’s a great way to describe it. They rule this city. They hand out just enough crumbs to us to keep us around. Order us around like they’re kings of some kind.”

  Myri knew better than to ask why they put up with it. She knew about survival. She knew what it was like to feel as if you had no choices. “I’m going to go talk to them anyway but maybe I should leave Baby here.” She pointed her chin at him. “If I tie him up, will you keep an eye on him? I’ll bring you something back from Palace Hilton.” Myri was bullet proof, but Baby wasn’t.

  The man with the axe harrumphed and the woman rolled her eyes. “I doubt that. I doubt that you’ll even make it back alive with that overly-confident attitude.” The woman pointed to a blue tent tied to a tree. “But I’ll keep an eye on him for you. Tie him over there.”

  “Thank you.” Myri smiled. “He’ll probably fall asleep shortly. He had an eventful morning.”

  After securing him, protesting, to the tree, Myri asked, “What would you like me to bring back for you?”

  The woman scoffed. “Food. Always food.”

  Myri pursed her lips and nodded before setting out at a jog for the Hilton.

  Rather than dealing with the armed guards posted at the small opening in the ten-foot high wall made up of the piled remains of buildings and homes, Myri climbed over it in a spot where she wouldn’t be easily seen.

  Unlike at the kibbutz, she really didn’t care if she made a good first impression here. These people sounded like jerks.

  She landed in a crouch and glanced around. No people in sight. The place was a disorganized mess. She noted a few plots of ground where vegetables grew amongst poorly tamed weeds. Some sad looking strawberry bushes wilted against the wall. Her ears perked up.

  “What do you think you’re doing in here? Your kind aren’t allowed on this side of the wall unless we need you to do something for us.”

  Myri searched, sure right away that the person belonging to the voice wasn’t directing his comments to her. A glimpse of movement nearer the building led her to the speaker and the young teen boy who was being spoken to.

  “You know what the penalty is for stealing food, don’t you?” The man, in his mid to late thirties, held a black rifle pointed at the boy’s head.

  “Yes, sir.” The boy didn’t whimper or plead. His voice remained steady as did his eyes as he looked at his tormentor. “It was worth the risk. People are starving out there.”

  “Survival of the fittest.” The man gestured with the rifle. “And the fittest are those with the weapons and food. Now, to your knees, thief. The penalty will be enacted immediately.”

  “No!” Myri stood and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “It won’t.”

  The boy, already halfway to kneeling, stood and jerked his head around, wide eyes catching Myri’s. The gunman whirled toward her, eyes narrowed, rifle pointing at her chest. Undeterred, she strode toward him, not rushing now that the gun was pointed at her and not the boy.

  “Who are you?” the man growled.

  “I’m Myri, and you’re going to let this boy go. I have some questions for your leaders. Take me to them.”

  The man laughed, but Myri caught a trace of fear within the scowl he threw her wa
y. “Oh, really? Well, seeing as I’m the one with the gun here—”

  A giant leap landed her right in front of the muzzle. She ripped the weapon out of his hands before he even registered she was there. She held it there, intending to break it in half. But, instead, she handed it to the boy and said to him, “I think this place needs to be a bit more balanced. I’ll meet you at the outskirts and bring you some more items to help even things out around here.”

  “You… what do you think you’re doing?” The man looked from his now empty hands, to Myri, then to the kid with the gun. “That’s mine.”

  “Not anymore.” Myri nodded to the boy. “Go. I’ll catch up to you later.”

  The boy’s mouth twisted up into a half-smile and he nodded before turning to run back behind the building.

  “You can’t...” The man lunged toward the retreating boy. Myri stuck her arm out and clotheslined him then stood over him as he lay on the ground gasping for air through his damaged trachea.

  “I can.” She dragged him to his feet. “Now take me to the leaders of this pitiful compound.”

  He drew in a hoarse breath and stared at her with bulging eyes, one hand protectively covering his neck. Myri gave him a little nudge and he started walking toward the front of the former hotel.

  A middle-aged woman lounged in a chair just outside the entrance. “Who you got there, Marco?”

  “I’m Myri,” she answered for him. “Marco is taking me to have a little chat with your leaders.”

  “Marco? Is that true?” The woman hefted herself out of the chair, and stepped closer to Myri and her new “friend.”

  Marco, eyes wide but no longer bulging, nodded at the woman.

  “Hmmf. I think I’d like to come along and see how this goes.” The woman motioned for Myri and her escort to proceed through the door ahead of her.

  An older woman dressed in rags, mopped the former lobby of the hotel. “Lacy,” Marco called to her, hoarsely. “Go get Liam.”

  Myri gave Marco a push. “You go get Liam. I’d like to talk to Lacy for a minute.”

  The woman who’d followed them inside raised her eyebrows, but kept quiet, lips pursed. Marco stumbled around a corner and down the hallway.

  Lacy continued mopping but followed him with her gaze, a slight smile playing across her wrinkled mouth. Myri stepped up to her, standing far enough away to not get slopped on by the mop. “Hi, Lacy, I’m Myri. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”

  Shrugging, Lacy said, “Sure.”

  “You seem to be from out there.” Myri bobbed her head to indicate outside the barriers set up around the hotel. “And you seem to be working for the people that live in here. What’s it like in here compared to on the outside?”

  The slip of a smile disappeared from her face and her eyes darted to the woman from the porch. “I’m very lucky to have the privilege to work inside The Hilton. They treat me fairly and provide food for me and my son.”

  “You’re scared to tell the truth,” Myri whispered so only the mopping woman could hear.

  With a slight nod of her head, Lacy dunked the mop back in the bucket and turned away from Myri. “If you’ll please excuse me, miss, I have a floor to finish cleaning.”

  Myri stepped back out of her way and cocked her head as approaching footsteps alerted her to the arrival of Marco and Liam. Her enhanced ears picked up parts of their hushed conversation as they shuffled down the hall.

  “Why’re you so freaked out if she’s just a young girl? You shoulda’ just thrown her ass out,” a man, who must have been Liam, said in hushed tones.

  “I don’t know, man. There’s something up with her. She’s strong and didn’t seem at all scared of my threats. And she took my gun.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me? I’m just going to throw her out.”

  Several seconds passed with no answer from Marco. The two men rounded the corner into Myri’s line of sight and stopped a few feet in front of her. Liam stood at least a head taller than Marco, with bulging biceps exiting the short sleeves of a too tight T-shirt. His right hand rested on the handgrip of a pistol shoved into a holster at his hip. “I’ll give you one chance to turn around and get out of here,” he said, his fingers tightening around the handgrip of the gun.

  Myri rolled her eyes, stepped forward, and grabbed his hand as he attempted to pull the gun free. Her grip tightened as she stared up into his widening eyes. Bones crunched beneath her fingers and Liam squealed like a newborn baby. She lifted his slightly mangled hand and snatched the gun from its holster with her other hand.

  “What do you want?” Marco backed away, staring at his friend’s pained face.

  “I want a couple of questions answered.” She looked down at the gun in her hand. “And I want to even a few things out in this town before I leave.”

  “Wh… who are you?” Liam cradled his injured hand against his chest.

  “I’m Myrikal.” She didn’t know why she used her full name for the first time in weeks. It just felt right. “Now it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

  “Lacy,” Marco said. “Go get the others.”

  Lacy glanced quickly at Myri, fear evident in her eyes, as she rushed down the hallway.

  “Sit.” Myri gestured with the gun to a couch and a couple of chairs.

  The men sat on the edge of the couch, perched as if ready to bolt. Myri remained standing. “First, how long have you two been here?” She needed to establish whether or not they would have been around when Cascus and Branch came through.

  “Since before the ‘quakes,” Liam sniveled.

  “A few years ago, a man visited here. And a boy, about fifteen years old. They came separate of each other but left together. Do you remember?”

  “Yeah.” Marcus’s eyes shifted to the hallway where Lacy had disappeared then back to Myri. “The guy was strange. Weaseled his way right into the hearts of the elder-leaders.”

  “And the kid,” Liam added. “He showed up a few days after Cascus—that was his name, the guy—half starved, a little crazy in the head. The elder-leaders wanted to,” he glanced at Marco, “uh… they wanted to get rid of him. Said he’d be nothing but a drain on our resources.”

  Marco leaned forward, glancing again at the hallway. “It was weird. The kid didn’t even talk at first. His clothes were all torn up, he had scrapes and bruises everywhere. That Cascus dude took him on as, like, a special project or something.”

  “Why did they leave?” Myri could hear the approaching footsteps of “the others” Marco had sent Lacy to gather. She needed to get her information before all hell broke loose.

  “It was weird.” Liam winced and then scowled at her as he tried to use his injured hand to gesture. “The elder-leaders were all smitten with him, even allowing the useless kid to stay in The Hilton. Rumor was he had some grand plan to fix this place up, inside and outside the wall. They asked him to stay, even going so far as to tell him he could be the supreme leader or some such bull.”

  “Why did they leave?” Myri asked again as the footsteps drew closer.

  “I wasn’t there when it happened,” Liam said. “But I heard that Cascus turned them down and said something really strange. Like, ‘not enough humans here,’ or something crazy. Him and the kid left right then.”

  “Which direction did Cascus come from when he arrived?”

  “Northwest. The opposite direction the kid came from.” Liam’s eyebrows shot up and he tensed.

  The “others” came into view, quickly spreading out. The woman nearest Lacy pushed her to the side. She fell to her knees with a grunt and slid a couple of feet across the pitted tile.

  “Stay down, Lacy,” Myri yelled as she stepped toward the line of ten people pointing various guns at her chest.

  “Stop or we will shoot you,” an elderly man holding a rifle said.

  Myri shrugged. She’d had enough of these bullies. She drew in a deep breath and continued to walk toward them as electricity tingled at her fingertips. A shorter man,
about the age of her father, pulled the trigger first. Liam and Marco, still behind Myri, yelped and dove out of the line of fire, tipping the couch over.

  The first bullet struck Myri in the center of her chest. She caught the slug as it dropped, the tip flattened from the impact with her impenetrable skin, and flung it back at the shooter hard enough to leave a nice, big bruise. Her intention wasn’t to kill anyone. She only wanted to even things out for the people struggling to live outside the walls of The Hilton.

  She followed the flung bullet with a mild arc of electricity aimed at the metal barrel of the gun. The strike lit up the man’s face as he swore and dropped his weapon.

  The others opened fire. Myri continued to step toward them as they backed up. The bullets that hit her fell to the floor around her. She reached the line of bullies, their backs now snug against the wall, and kicked the dropped rifle over to where Lacy cowered on the floor. “Hold onto that for me, please.”

  Lacy laid a shaky hand on the weapon, tears falling from her wide and frightened eyes.

  Myri gathered all the weapons into a pile and cornered the town leaders into the non-functioning elevator. Still facing them with her body, she turned her head to look at Liam and Marco, slinking toward the exit. “You two. Get over here with your friends.” They hesitated, looking from her to the door. “Don’t make me show you what a couple jolts of electricity slamming into your bodies feels like.”

  They slunk over to her and wedged themselves into the packed elevator.

  “Now, listen closely.” Myri took turns staring into the eyes of her captives while she shot little lightning bolts from one hand to the other and back. “Things need to change around here. I’m going to even it up a little by taking some of these weapons and ammunition and giving them to the people outside your little wall here. I’ll also be taking some food and seeds to them and anything else I find here that they may need.”

  “But,” the short man who had fired the first shot said, “we’ll starve!”