Belligerent (Vicara)

by B. N. Mauldin

  Belligerent

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  BELLIGERENT

  by

  B.N. Mauldin

  This book is available in print at Amazon.com.

  Digital Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any character resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Belligerent

  Book 1 of Vicara

  Copyright © 2013 by B.N. Mauldin

  Published by Fable Press

  FablePress.com

  Cover by Steven Novak

  To Shirley, Bill, Mary and Bobby for more reasons than I could ever list in a single novel.

  For Rachel, the girl who made me feel like the best even at my worst.

  For Ashley, the girl I call my literature sister.

  For Jennifer, the girl who is always there.

  For Matthew and Donovan, who are cooler than any characters I could ever come up with and who are the best brothers a girl could ever ask for.

  Chapter 1

  A can of soda cost one credit. A ticket to the pit games cost anywhere from ten to fifty credits based on who was competing that day. A pass buying a person's freedom for a decade would set a person back five hundred thousand credits. A quick check of his balance card informed Ryan that he could buy a sandwich and maybe even a soda as well. He ducked into a convenience store and purchased that sandwich, deciding to not bother with the soda when he could have water at home. The slowly rising sun meant Ryan needed to get back to the apartment soon if he intended on getting any sleep at all. He ate the sandwich on his walk back while watching the city information boards flash alive with the morning news. The weather report, traffic delays and latest celebrity scandals were reported hastily in order to get to the big news: Vicara. The final round of the games was slated for the weekend, and only two teams were left in the running. Ryan was tempted to stop and watch, but exhaustion was creeping in and the news would replay in a few hours.

  He shuffled up several flights of stairs to the small apartment he currently called home. The other residents were all asleep on their worn mattresses. Duffel bags containing everything they owned were being used as pillows or gripped tightly even as the residents slept. Ryan had apparently been the last one to finish up his work that night as there was not a free space left. The buzzing light in the kitchen area provided enough illumination for Ryan to stumble his way over to one of the two bedrooms without waking anyone. However, the door creaked as he pushed it open, and he was immediately shushed by at least three of the apartment's squatters.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, though he really wasn’t.

  The temporary visitors didn't live here like the rest of them. They had no right to shush him in his own home. He shut the bedroom door, effectively separating the strangers from the apartment's real residents. Unlike the main room, the layout of the bedrooms almost never changed. Thin blankets hung from the ceiling in an attempt to create some privacy, and Ryan's own mattress was hidden away in the back corner. He crept past his three roommates and plopped down as quietly as he could manage. He tugged at a loose piece of the wall until it opened to reveal the safe he had hidden there, and then he set to storing his gear.

  One of the blankets surrounding his bed was tugged to the side, and he was greeted by Alex's grin. “How was your day?” she whispered.

  “Slow,” he replied, placing the section of wall back in place before turning on his side to face her. “I did some scouting, but everyone was too alert to actually take anything. I stopped by the garage after and disassembled some vehicles to help Paul out. What about you?”

  “Best it's been all month. People have been saving up their credits for this weekend and I'm gonna rake it in.” She gestured to a spot next to her mattress where her tablet rested. He was about to ask why she hadn't locked her tablet up yet, but she continued, “Just finished checking the numbers. If everything goes right, we'll have about thirty-seven hundred credits.”

  “Love this time of year. The finals always bring in the real money,” Ryan mumbled around a yawn.

  “How much you think you can get tomorrow?”

  He mulled it over. “There's some nice stuff out there. I can probably get anywhere from three to five thousand.”

  “We'll have a good few months then,” she whispered a little too loudly.

  Plans for the new gadgets she hoped to buy with the extra credits ran through her mind. The Vicara games were the best time of year in the city. Their revenue allowed everyone in the city of Darton to live comfortably for a few months, before resuming living from paycheck to paycheck or illegal activity to illegal activity once more.

  Alex fidgeted before settling down with a sigh. “You know, there's going to be a game later today,” she said nonchalantly while moving her tablet to the inside of her pillow case, safely under her head.

  “What's new about that?”

  “I heard that there were going to be some Betas there. Their Owners brought them here to watch the finals of Vicara, and they've agreed to put on a show while they're in the city.”

  “There's no way we could afford tickets to that.”

  “I was thinking that there were other ways to see the games.” Alex's tone revealed exactly what she meant by that comment.

  “You said only a few weeks ago that you were done sneaking into coliseums,” he reminded her.

  “Sometimes I say things that I don't really mean.”

  “Go to sleep already!” one of their roommates hissed before Ryan could really contemplate Alex's remark.

  Alex rolled her eyes, the city light's glow illuminating them softly, then mouthed, “Go with me?”

  Ryan nodded and received a smile in return before Alex pulled the blanket over her head. Despite his exhaustion, it took longer than Ryan liked before he could fall asleep. As always, he felt he had to keep his guard up with the main room full of strangers, and thanks to the Vicara games, more people than usual had settled into the apartment. “Friends of friends,” they had claimed. “Friends” was a label tossed around casually in their world and typically meant “acquaintance” or “not an enemy, anyway”. They were all thieves of some sort. They all did what they had to in order to survive, but some of the others didn't believe in honor among thieves. Long ago, Ryan had learned that if you weren't careful you might wake up to find that the few credits you had cheated off someone else had been stolen off you.

  Despite his paranoia, eventually, Alex's soft snores and the sound of people talking in the alleys along with the news screens floating by their building lulled Ryan into his usual restless sleep.

  A few hours later, after not quite enough rest, he and Alex packed their few valuable possessions into their backpacks and headed out to the pit games. When they arrived at the coliseum, they took their time slowly circling around the complex while other people with tickets were permitted ins
ide.

  “There!” Alex gave a nod in the direction of a window that led to the underground locker rooms. It appeared to be the least guarded of all the entrances that day.

  “I'll go first,” Ryan offered while adjusting the straps on his backpack. If the bag was loose at all, it would snag on the window's edge.

  “Why you?”

  “What if there are guards in there?”

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “You think you could take on the guards any better than I could?”

  “You're a pacifist... And a Buddhist. Aren't you?” Ryan wasn't sure any longer. She constantly labeled herself with a new term. “Besides, I run faster.”

  “Good point.” She motioned for him to go on as she had no interest in trying to outrun any guards that morning.

  With practiced nonchalance, Ryan casually made his way over to the window that led to an underground level of the coliseum. It was large enough for him to squeeze through, and from past experience, he knew it wasn’t that tall of a drop down to the floor. He climbed inside, pausing long enough to check that the room was empty before motioning for Alex to join him. She took her time getting to the window, making sure not to draw any attention to herself.

  When she scrambled inside, Ryan knew better than to offer her a hand and allowed her to drop to the ground where she easily landed on her feet. They had been sneaking into buildings for entirely too long.

  “Room's clear,” he said. “Want to sit in a center section?”

  “Not too close,” she reminded him. “First three rows draw too much attention.”

  He gestured for her to lead the way, but before they could leave the room, footsteps sounded in the hallway.

  “Hide!” Ryan hissed and pushed her towards the back section of the locker room. She was lean enough to fit inside one of the lockers, so he shoved her inside then hit the button to silently close the door. His shoulders were a little too wide for him to do the same, so he hurried over to the stash of shields and crouched behind them, hoping that whoever was coming wouldn't need anything from the inventory.

  Only seconds after Ryan had hidden behind the shields, a boy walked in to the locker room. He was the same age as Alex and Ryan, but the band on his left wrist alerted everyone that he wasn't a Commoner like them. He was a Beta Belligerent, and he wasn't alone. Ryan held his breath as a second Belligerent made her way into the locker room. Two of them. There was no way he could fend off two Beta Belligerents. Maybe one, but definitely not two. He would have to wait them out. He could only hope that Alex would do the same.

  *

  Logan bounced on the balls of his feet and grinned widely to hide how nervous he was. He needed to focus. He couldn't let the others down. Inhale. Exhale. His armor felt too tight on his muscles, and he was regretting the greasy breakfast that he had eaten that morning. Inhale. Exhale. Don't puke.

  “Calm down. It's just another pit game. We'll be on the plane flying home by this evening.”

  He whirled around to face Eva. Of course, she had noticed his nerves. “Why did Shifter pick me this time? I thought he hated putting me in the pit games. I'm too dull outside the virtual world or something like that.”

  Eva continued her stretching, and Logan did his best to not stare when she bent over to touch her toes. “If you wanted to know that then you should have asked Mackenzie or Clarisse,” she replied then slowly rolled up to a standing position.

  Logan tugged at his armor and glanced over to the wall of weaponry. “Think we'll ever get to use modern weapons?”

  The look that appeared on Eva's face at the question helped to calm his nerves only slightly. “I doubt they’ll allow you your machine gun,” she commented dryly. Her black hair was in its usual tight braids keeping it neatly pulled back out of her face while Logan's own hair flopped messily in front of his eyes. Maybe he should get a haircut.

  Logan sighed. “Apparently, machine guns don't allow for a fun show outside of Vicara.”

  “Don't forget to protect your hands this time,” she reminded him.

  Logan curled his fingers into a fist. He was more reliant on his hands than he cared to admit since he was a technology specialist. Something as small as a fractured pinkie could substantially slow down his work. “Kick before punching. Got it.”

  Above them the crowd roared as the current bout came to an end, and Logan locked eyes with Eva.

  “Looks like you're up,” she said and strolled over to the wall of weapons. A slight movement caught her eye, but she decided to leave it for the moment. Whoever it was wasn't a threat at that time, and Logan didn't need any distractions. She pulled a harpoon off the wall and weighed it in her hand.

  “This one feels about the same as yours,” she said while carrying it over to him. Each Belligerent had their preferred weapon, and Logan's, strangely enough, had always been a harpoon.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled reaching to take the weapon from her. Her hands, rough from training, lingered on his for a few moments before she released the harpoon into his hold.

  “We'll talk about our victories over tea tonight,” she assured.

  He grinned. “And make tequila toasts to tomorrow's fortunes.”

  Eva giggled a bit. The sound helped to calm him down. “Trust Clarisse to come up with such an interesting motto.”

  Logan felt himself calm slightly. “To be fair, we were only ten at the time and unaware that half of us would hate tequila when we finally got to try it. I hope we still have some of that fruity tea. I still can't stand that spicy stuff.”

  “Win your bout, and I'll make sure you get any tea you want.”

  “I'll hold you to that.”

  With those promises made, Logan made his way down the hall to the arena. He stood at the entry and peered out at the crowd of people gathered in the stands. The turnout was sparser than usual, as the Vicara games tended to provide enough entertainment during the month they were held. Despite the thin crowd, the usual suspects were still there: drunkards who could afford the concession stand prices, die-hard fans checking replays on their mini tablets and families. Pit games were popular household outings, after all. Some of the spectators lofted signs with a scrawled name of a Belligerent. Overall, it looked like the kind of crowd typically gathered at any other sporting event.

  The booming voice of the announcer flooded the coliseum as he recounted the stats of the newest combatants. Logan peered across the arena floor to where his opponent stood, ready and returning the glance.

  They were given the signal. Calming his pounding heart and after a deep breath, Logan took the first step out onto the sand.

  Eva remained out of sight in the armory, but where she could still watch Logan’s match.

  “You can come out now,” she said without letting her gaze leave Logan. She was a combat specialist for a reason, after all. A few seconds passed with no response. Whoever was there was determined to hide. Too bad she wasn't oblivious. “You, behind the shields. And you, in the locker. Come out before I grab you myself.”

  Alex emerged from the locker first, with Ryan a half beat behind her.

  “Were you sneaking in?” Eva asked them, but they didn't respond. “It's not like it's a crime... Well, it is, but you don't have to be so worried. I'm a Belligerent, not a member of the disciplinary squad.”

  She glanced over them but kept half her attention on Logan's match.

  Too awestruck at being in the presence of a Beta, Ryan simply started at her.

  “We just wanted to watch the games,” Alex said, sensing her partner’s inability to speak.

  “How were you planning on getting into the stands with nobody noticing?”

  Alex and Ryan exchanged glances before Ryan motioned to a nearly unnoticeable door in the opposite corner. “Crew entrance,” he said.

  “You've done this before then?”

  “A few times,” he confirmed.

  “Do you two have names?”

  “Alex and Ryan,” Alex said, careful to keep things simple with
the Beta.

  “I'm Eva,” she offered in return. “You guys should head up now if you don't want to get caught. This match is about over and our Owner will be here soon.”

  Despite a few sloppy moves, there was no doubt that Logan would be the victor. Overestimating his opponent, he didn’t hold back, thus ending the match too quickly. Their Owner wouldn't be pleased even though it was the schedulers' fault for deciding to pit a Beta against an Omega in the first place.

  “I would have liked to see your friend fight,” Alex admitted.

  “No worries about that. He's going again after four more rounds. I'm sure that one will last longer than five minutes.”

  “And you?”

  “I'm going two matches from now. You really should hurry though,” Eva said as the crowd began cheering Logan's victory.

  “Let's go,” Ryan said as he led the way to the door not wanting to risk Eva changing her mind.

  They climbed the stairs to the stands and took advantage of the crowd's attention on the last match to slip unnoticed into the seats. Despite the fact that Betas were competing that day, there were still open spaces throughout the coliseum. During the month of Vicara, people tended to save their money to place bets on the finals rather than paying to see a pit game – a fact the two trespassers now took advantage of.

  “We just spoke with a Beta.” Alex practically bounced out of her seat with joy. “Do you realize in a few years she may be a Vicara contestant? Okay, so logically the odds are against her. I mean four academies, each putting out one hundred and sixty students a year with only sixteen from each academy going on to the games... Not impossible, but not a good percentage either. The fact that she’s already a Beta speaks to her ability to defy the odds, though.”