by Nicol, Andy
“So, princess,” Dan started, as we made our way through the crowded mid-morning streets of Lilithia. We had met at, and promptly left, the cafeteria to go walk through town. “Are you sure you didn’t get a look at this guy? I mean you were stuck with him for, like, a day and a half.”
I shook my head. “I was drugged, remember?”
He stayed quiet and kept walking.
“And don’t call me princess.”
He nudged my shoulder and gave me a sideways smile, something that suddenly made me very uncomfortable. Dan had always been a charmer, a flirt, but this time it felt different, like something was wrong. It felt like he was trying to lull me into a false sense of security.
I kept my eyes down and followed him out into the street. People turned to stare (they always did — we were the stars of the town, after all), but I kept my head down.
“So where are we going?”
Dan pointed to a tall red brick house down the street. “What, you don’t recognize your own best friend’s childhood home?” He grinned at me.
We walked up and knocked on the door. I was greeted with a smiling face.
“Benji! What are you doing here?”
“Hey, Chrissy, how are you feeling?” I tilted my head and crossed my arms.
She shrugged. “I’ve been better, but at least the drugs are out of my system. What happened to you? Don’t tell me this guy got to you too?”
I looked down. My strawberry blond friend shook her head. “Are you alright? Why does something tell me that it was your own fault.”
I nodded and let out a laugh. “Yeah … you’re probably right. I’ll just walk it off.”
“That’s why we’re here actually,” Dan cut in. “We both got it the other day. Warriors are being attacked almost every day. Do you remember anything about when you were hit?”
She rubbed her arm and shook her head. “I felt a pin prick in my neck and arms holding me back. I … I was in my room. It shouldn’t have happened. I thought I was safe…”
She shook her head and wiped her face in order to keep composed. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked back at me.
“I know the door was locked and no one else had a key. I heard something metal clang, like the air vent or something though,” she said.
She still seemed a little shaken. She was a long-range combatant and had rarely had to deal with any kind of direct enemy contact.
“Once we find this guy — and I promise you we will — I’ll let you know, and you can come back to work. Josh is putting new security measures in place and he’s changing the locks.”
“Okay. Thank you, Benji.”
For a few seconds, she looked relieved. Dan let out an impatient sigh and tapped his foot, so naturally, I had to draw out the conversation. “How’s your big sis? Still trying to convince you to leave this behind?”
Chrissy instantly rolled her eyes and snatched my shoulder. “You have no idea! All of this has just made it worse. I even tried to convince her I’d be safe in another city, but she just wouldn’t go for it.”
“What? You can’t leave Lilithia!”
Chrissy was the first partner I ever had in this place. Back then she was kind of stuck up and I was a little brat. No one wanted to work with me and no one wanted to train me; she had a proper fit when Viktor assigned us. She’d take my shots before I could reach my opponents, and we ended up fighting with each other more than anyone else.
I always figured she was just there for the fame until the day we were up against Dan, who had just joined, and a guy that resembled someone from my childhood. I couldn’t even hit him. It was pathetic, but halfway through the match, Dan got close enough to Chrissy to toss her into me. I had been about to call her a few names when I noticed the tears in her eyes. I helped her up and we ran, and she told me about her sister wanting to pull her out of the competition if she didn’t win at least once.
She wanted to be like her mother. She wanted to make her proud. So I’ve made sure she’s never had a losing streak since. We’ve been an unlikely pair, but we’ve made it work.
Chrissy sighed and let her hand fall from my arm, holding my hand tightly in hers. “I’d never go anywhere without you. And besides, I’m a grown-ass woman! Annie can’t tell me what to do!”
“I’m sure she thinks otherwise…” I dropped my gaze but nodded nonetheless.
“Benji Keanin, I’m not leaving you alone to fend for yourself with all of this going on. I’m just … taking a break.”
“Because you know I can’t do it without you?”
Pearly white teeth shone under her pink lips, and she tossed her perfect hair over her shoulder. “Exactly!”
Giving a laugh, I shook her hand and started walking away with Dan. “Oh, by the way, a bunch of us are getting together next week. Angel wanted me to ask you to come,” she said.
“Of course, just email me the day before.” I sheepishly grinned. I have a hard time remembering stuff like this.
She waved as we walked down the path and back to the street. She was staying with family until this was over, but she had guts for wanting to come back. I had to give her that.
“Now where, boss?” I asked.
Dan scratched his head and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. Some people we couldn’t get locations for, and the rest left town. Two of them are comatose at the base.”
I nodded and did up the zipper on my coat. “So much for your ‘investigation,’” I mocked.
“You know what? What is your deal lately?” He stopped walking and turned to face me. “You’ve been acting weird all day. Would you even care if this guy gets off scot-free?”
I shook my head and looked down; the rage in his face would have been intimidating if so many people hadn’t stopped and stared.
“This guy did who knows what to you and countless of our co-workers and friends, and you’re questioning the logic behind asking people what they remember?” Dan raised his hand to his head, touching the gash he got in the arena. “Come to think of it, Ben, how exactly did you end up in the Pit when I got attacked? You say you were drugged, but I saw you before everything went to shit, and you looked pretty damn lucid to me.”
I bit my lip and spun around to face him. “With all due respect, Danny, you have no idea what you’re doing. This guy will stop at nothing, and I don’t think some pathetic, half-assed investigation is going to save anyone’s life. Why don’t you grow up and stop playing detective?”
I was inches away from him. My faced burned with irritation. He looked like he was about to snap too, but I didn’t back down.
“You’re either with us” — he spat at me — “or him.”
I was 100 percent okay with siding with him, but I took a step back. “Fine.”
“Then let’s go.”
Dan stormed off down the street. It was crowded and people parted for us, partially out of respect and partially out of fear of an angry Dan.
We trudged along silently as the streets got darker; the crowd thinned but disappeared abruptly. The days are pretty short here. I’d followed Dan to the oldest part of the town, all the way to the north. One of the outer walls that surrounded the city partially stood in ruins to separate the market from the wasteland. All the cities have walls like this, and people may travel as they please, but they can only pass through the gates at certain parts of the borders.
This area, the old town, was now mostly a burned-out ruin, abandoned after a civil war. It was eerie how quickly it went from being populated to a ghost town. But the buildings were still structurally sound for the most part, and it was on a small hill, so we could see the angled-down buildings that made up most of the city — a beautiful sight when the sun sets. We’d often use this part of town for open battles. Graffiti and overgrown plant life aside, it was rather nice.
That’s our city for you for you — nice view, war-worn buildings, and gory TV. Lilithia Heights! A pretty pretentious name for such a hole. I wouldn’t give it up for the
world.
Every city has a base like ours, and warriors too, but none of them measure up to us. We got to prove that in the tournaments. Though I doubt the warriors in other cities were being slaughtered like us.
Once every year, a tournament is held featuring warriors from all the cities. The high council gathers to discuss possible war threats and the details of the Tournament of Survivors. They’re kind of the peacekeepers who mediate everything. Since the Tournament of Survivors was created, there has been less fighting. Our business was set up to prevent war.
One day someone figured out that if the gladiators and their old-fashioned style of sorting things out was brought back worldwide, then people would get their fill of violence from us and crime rates would go down. It worked for the most part. It was a method brought about when society was nearly in ruin from having to adapt to how the world was changing — or falling apart, really. Apparently, world leaders at the time hadn’t believed what was happening until it was too late, but we all know how people feel when change happens. The government was nearly abolished. No matter where you go, it’s the same set-up, and every ten years, they send warriors chosen from the tournaments to be thrown into an even bigger battlefield. Beyond that, the cities keep to themselves.
Not many cities are like ours, though. We only have a very basic way of broadcasting with almost ancient tech, and the fact that we straight out battle… Other cities are more organized, civilized, and methodical. But we were the first to bring back the gladiators, and we stayed true to the most basic, brutal aspects of battle. Makes for really good TV anyway.
The Tournament of Survivors is a little more Lilithia’s speed. Two combatants from each city are sent in — one male, one female — and fifteen cities compete. We don’t kill each other (if we can help it). The fatally wounded are booted out of the competition. There’s a monitor that relays our vitals, and if they drop to a certain point, we’re pulled. Of course, accidents do happen.
Whatever city is left wins. There’s no reward other than the pride of being the city’s champion, but it’s every warrior’s dream.
When I looked up again, we were outside of a cracked old building.
“Why are we here?” I asked.
“Are you going to freak on me again, princess?” Dan asked with a sigh.
I shook my head at him. “I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Benji. My code name is K9. And no, I’m fine. Now, why are we here? I’m exhausted.”
“I have one last idea, then you can go home and rest,” Dan said. “If my gut is right, we’ll find something here. I knew this kid a couple years back. He, uh… Something happened. I doubt he has anything to do with it, but it’s still worth a shot. The building should be around the corner — dammit!”
There were four buildings that looked exactly the same. This must have been the source of his sudden discouragement.
“I’ll take these two,” I suggested. I gave him a pat on the back out of pity then took off toward them, trudging through the trash in the courtyard.
The stairs were rickety and dangerous, but I did my best to stay upright, ignoring the minor splinters I got when I tried to hold onto the railings. Most of the doors were open and most apartments only had two or three rooms, so it was quick work to check them out and move on.
I was in the bedroom of a particularly messy unit — the poor people who had to leave it behind probably missed their family photos — when I heard Dan’s muffled shouting.
I opened the window closest and shouted back, “What was that?”
“Check the eleventh floor. I’m not sure what room.”
“On it.”
I turned back to the room and sprinted out. The hall was in the same disordered state, but I made my way up the staircase to the eleventh floor.
The flora-infested building was a dark brown colour, with peeling paint and rolling carpets. All the doors were open, so it didn’t take me long to conclude that I wasn’t going to find anything in this building. With a sigh, I exited and crossed the courtyard to the next building. Also not much to tell other than that I hit my wrist while falling down a flight and a half of stairs that caved in and left me on my back in the lobby, dazed and confused.
I shook it off and stood up, nearly falling over in the process.
I was going to wait another moment, but I heard Dan shouting, telling someone to stop running and to get out of the shadows, so I bolted out into the fading sunlight and into the last building. I assumed that Dan was on someone’s trail by the way he was shouting, and once I met him on the ninth floor, he stopped his shouting and looked up at me.
“You’re bleeding again…” he said.
“Thanks, captain obvious; a fall from two storeys can do that. Who are we chasing?”
He scowled and shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought I saw someone come in here… Dear god, I need to start running more…”
I left him there and hauled myself to the eleventh floor.
The doors were all open once again, so I stuck my head in each until the last door. The window was open to the fire escape, and there were papers scattered across the floor, covered in what looked like fresh ink. I slowly pushed the door wider and walked inside. There was a certain feeling to the room. It felt older than the others somehow, like it had been abandoned long before the war ravaged this side of town.
I knelt down to look at one of the sheets of paper on the floor and dragged my hand through the ink. Sure enough, it was still wet.
I picked up a paper that looked like it had been dropped moments before. A creak in the floor caught my attention, and I spun on my heels, ready to fight. Dan was at the door, wheezing.
“What did you find?” he asked with a cough.
“I don’t know. It just looks like some drawings. Hold on…” I walked into another room and found a wall covered in them. The older ones were blue in colour, while the new ones looked black, and familiar; they were drawings of people that had been attacked recently. Chrissy, Ronin, Roberts, and Juno and Beanie — friends of mine, a sibling team who’d been attacked in the street a month earlier — were all up there, rendered beautifully in black ink. Dan’s profile was warped and splattered rather than sharp like the others. There was also a second one of Dan, in blue ink. I was sure it was him, but he looked much younger. His hair was really long, and his usual smirk was replaced with a goofy grin. There was another drawing next to it of a boy, maybe a few years younger, laughing. He had short hair sticking up in a mohawk and a space between his teeth. If I had to guess, I’d say the two of them were in high school.
The newer ones were slightly messier but still very skilled. Dan hobbled in next to me and pulled the picture of the boy off the wall. “This is Absolom Ravin. He used to be a friend of mine; the three of us actually went to school together. I doubt you remember that though.”
“I never talked to you. I don’t recognize him,” I told him quietly.
“He was such an innocent kid. He was kind of everyone’s punching bag, but he … he knew he’d be a champion one day. He was one of those guys who would ask out the head cheerleader and then be run up the flag pole by the football team, and still have a crush on her.”
I thought a moment. “Did that actually happen?”
He ignored me. Dan hadn’t taken his eyes off the paper. His hand shook. “He was always on his own. He was so … good. I just really don’t… It can’t be him.”
I tilted my head towards him. “What happened to him?”
Dan shrugged like he didn’t want to answer me. “The worst thing you can do is jump to conclusions. Let’s investigate more before we start speculating.”
He nodded to himself and walked out of the room.
So he had changed his name from Absolom to Soul; as someone whose name was “Benjamina” I could understand the impulse. Especially when everyone wants to call you “Mina.”
I turned around, finally, and noticed the closet. Well … I noticed who was leaning against the
closet. I jumped back and hit the wall with a thud. Soul held up his hands to show he wasn’t going to do anything. He didn’t say anything. He just leaned on the door frame and watched me with those sleepy eyes.
“This is going to get personal, isn’t it?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
He looked at the floor, then slowly brought his eyes up to meet mine.
“That’s what I thought.”
He stepped back into the closet, and I gave him a soft smile. What had changed between now and when he knew Dan, and why did he hate him so much? I needed to get Dan to talk.
“Are you coming, princess?” Dan called to me.
“Get lost, Dan,” I called back. “I’ll get back on my own.”
“Fine!” he snapped. I waited, listening as he stomped down the stairs and stormed out of the building.
“Soul, I have to talk to you,” I stated as I turned to the window. I climbed onto the fire escape and up to the roof. That little room was making me claustrophobic. Soul quietly followed.
I looked up at the sky, probably only minutes before sunset. Soul stood by the fire escape and waited patiently.
“The bird didn’t do anything wrong,” he mumbled nervously, making me turn around to face him.
“No, not at all.” I shook my head and sat down at the edge. “I just want to know how you got mixed up in this mess.”
He wrung his hands as he sat down beside me.
“Painting … fighting … underground fighting. The bird was hunting the worm…
Scared and hunting
Midnight black wings
Hunting the worm
And what he brings
The devil’s night
And demons sing.”
“He hunted…” Soul struggled to continue as his voice cracked.
“You mean Dan?” I asked as I tried to get a look at his face.
He nodded and then looked up. “And the demons. Demons … demons; the gemini did this … the Gemini… The bird never found them. A note found its way to the bird. I-it told him…” He paused and took a breath, wringing his shirt in his hands. “… me … where to find the worm. A time, a place, a name, a face … that’s how the bird found the nest. A home.”
