Program Erin

by Alex Fall

  A memory of last night entered my head. The sorrow and the pain made it easy for another tear to fall from my eyes, and also made me pause. "Maybe...."

  He leaned down and wrapped me in his coat. It had his residual body heat in it, but smelled faintly of dust and body odor. "I'm going to take you inside. It's not much, but at least you'll be able to get those wounds treated. You're very lucky to be alive."

  He picked me up, but labored to do so. My burns, although already visibly better than yesterday, hurt so much to be touched that an involuntary whimper escaped my clenched teeth. He stumbled to the building with the vent I slept against, nudged the door open and made his way to a flight of stairs. Inside this particular building was a different world. Each room was claimed by a separate family and decorated with salvaged junk. Blankets carpeted the entire second floor and up, and children peeked around hidden corners to see what was going on.

  "Jen! I need medicine, hurry!" The man yelled. He set me as gently as his aging body could in a fluffy pile of blankets that smelled of detergent and mildew. A woman in her 30's or so with her dark hair pulled back, also in tattered clothing, came into the small room I was in and gasped in horror.

  "Oh child, you poor, poor child." She leaned down and began clearing the area of clutter. It appeared someone was trying to fix a small stove in this room.

  "Please, I need to leave." I tried to get up, but the small woman forced me back down. She brushed a burn on my arm and I clenched my teeth in pain.

  "Absolutely not. I can see you're a feisty one, but the burns hurt pretty bad don't they?" She set some bags down and shooed everyone away until it was just me and her. "I will admit, not many people get hit by the Greaters as bad as you have and still keep moving."

  There's that word again.

  "What are....Greaters?"

  "Oh you know, the Benevolents. My my, has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes a human being could have?" Jen stated as she prepared a few basic medical things.

  "I am not from around here...I don't know what's going on."

  Jen paused. "What do you mean you're not from around here? Where else is there? Poor thing, you need rest."

  I sat up while she was cleaning her hands. "I can't sleep either. What are you about to do to me?"

  She poured some liquid on a swab. "Relax, I'm just cleaning you up so you can heal." She began to dab at the bruises on my face. "Oh...you're freezing. You don't feel cold?"

  These people were trustworthy enough I suppose....

  "Yes, I'm very cold." Instantly Jen yelled out the door and a heater was brought in. She cleaned and dressed my wounds starting at my head going down. When she got to my chest, she unzipped my hoodie and held a hand to her mouth.

  "My god, this isn't the only time they got a hold of you. Look at all these scars... Was there more than one Burn? A Bolt or a Slick also?"

  I grabbed her hand when she started on a burn across my chest. The medicine stung, probably because of my body's weird reactions to normal medicine, but at least this was better than nothing. "Look lady, I already told you, I'm not from here and I don't know what's going on. I don't understand these terms you keep using."

  She sat back on her knees. "You really don't know?....who are you?"

  I glared at her before answering. "You can call me Sapphire Eyes."

  After some time, Jen said cheerily as she finished wrapping my burns, "There, that should do it." My body tingled from the poultices and medicines she used to treat me, but the familiar pain was still there.

  "Here, it's all I could find." The man that found me (whose name was Darren as I found out) came back from looking for a pair of pants for me. He dropped off some navy blue sweatpants that smelled of perfume and rust.

  "Thank you. I'll let you know if we need something else," Jen said, dismissing Darren from the room. "Here how do they fit?"

  I slipped the clothing on, looking forward to the added warmth. "A tad short, but it's fine. Are you the medic of the building?" I asked.

  "Medic? Oh, I could never be a medic, I'm not that trained. I just know simple remedies, mostly from helping people that get snatched by the Greaters."

  "Do you always pick up random people off the street that are hurt? That seems dangerously trusting on your part."

  "We can tell who's ours, like you," she said with a smile.

  "Like me?...I don't think you know me as well you'd like to believe."

  She turned and put the medicinal supplies back in the bags she brought them in. "Well if you're a Dweller, that's all I need to know."

  "Alright, this lingo is getting on my nerves. I need answers!"

  Jen looked up in surprise at my sudden spark of annoyance. "I don't understand, Sapphire eyes...."

  I stood despite my burns and went to the window on the far side of the room. The curtains blocked almost all the outside light out, leaving only candle light, but I moved the curtains to observe the city as I formulated my questions. "First of all, what is this about Greaters and Dwellers and Benevolents? Define that."

  "Oh, You know..." She said scratching her head.

  "No, I don't. Explain it thoroughly."

  She sighed. "Dear, you've had a long day and I think it's wearing on your..." She paused when she met my gaze. She shifted uncomfortably as if I were boring into her soul. "Ahem...well Dwellers are us. You know, people. Well I suppose Greaters are people too, but not the normal kind. Are you sure you haven't heard this before?"

  "Positive."

  "OK...well, some time ago, a group of people, a gang I guess you could say, randomly showed up one day with.... Powers. I'm not sure how they developed them, but that group took over our government. After that, they forced everyone in the city to take some kind of medicine. The medicine was supposed to develop powers in the people too. If someone showed reaction to the drug, then the gang kept giving it to them until their power developed. If someone didn't react, they were ousted out of society."

  I listened while staring out the window. At the break in the story, I glanced back to see Jen. She seemed uncomfortable telling the story. "So who is who?" I asked.

  "Oh, the dwellers are those that didn't react. We just scavenge for a living in the ruins and trash of the city, and also stay out of the way of the Greaters. Oh right, the Greaters are those that DID react. They call themselves Benevolents, but that seems misleading so we just call them Greaters. They kind of run the city, or what's left of it."

  Questions popped in my head. "What's left of it? Meaning they destroyed the city?"

  "Well no...it's more like any building that provides a service is for the greaters only. The dwellers get nothing, unless we're forced to work for them."

  "And why not just leave the city?"

  "At first people were leaving, but then strange monsters appeared and now it's dangerous to leave the city. The only reason this city is still standing is because the Greaters can kill the monsters."

  I mentally noted that the 'monsters' that she referred to were Leftovers. Explains where they've been hiding. "What did you mean by, 'forced to work for the Greaters?'"

  "Oh it’s horrible. Whenever they need manual labor or servants, they just storm in and kidnap any dwellers they find." She paused for moment, letting her voice get quieter. "Most of the time they work us to death."

  A deep seeded fury awoke within me. I kept my cool, but noticed that I had unconsciously clenched my fists. "Are all Greaters like this?"

  Jen nodded her head. "Pretty much. A few have tried to resist, but the power struggles usually end up killing those that resist along with those not involved, not to mention destroy the city."

  "And what kind of powers do they have? Burns obviously..."

  "Yes, Burns, but those are rare. There's also-"

  "Rare? What do you mean rare?" I asked, turning to face her.

  "Well, if you'd let me explain. There are lots of powers but some are more common than others. Burns are rare, so are slicks and Jesters. The m
ost common are Bolts and Brutes. Freezes and Flyers are in between, not the most common, but not as rare as burns."

  So I'm a rare breed after all. And what are those other powers? Some were self explanatory, but others... "Bolts are electric? What are slicks and jesters? And brutes?"

  Jen sighed, like she ran out of patience for this conversation, but continued anyway. "Slicks are really fast. Jesters can trick you, make you see things and hear things that aren't there. And brutes are just really strong....Sapphire, Why do you need to know all of this?

  I returned to looking out the window. Two well dressed people, a man and a woman, were walking down the street. "Because I intend to fix the world."

  Jen laughed sarcastically. "Ha! And how do you suppose you're going to do that, ask politely? We can't do anything about the way things are! We're just dwellers!"

  "Where I come from, it wasn't like that. There was a bad ruling class, but the people saw how bad they were, and down they went. People make the biggest difference....it was a normal person that saved me." I stared out the window pensively.

  A long pause followed before Jen spoke up. "Sapphire eyes?....are you alright?"

  "Yes...I'm just remembering how things were."

  "Where did you come from? What was it like?"

  "It was a normal place. A lot bigger than here though. It was five cities together called the Decapolis, though now it's quickly growing. Its very far away."

  "We can't go there?"

  "No, it's doesn't even show up on a GPS." Wait....a GPS. I had one of those on me when I got captured...

  I stretched and moved over to the pile of blankets. "I'm going to try to get some rest. Let me know if I can do anything," I said. Jen and I exchanged farewells and she left the room. There was a fair amount of ambient noise, but it was distant. A few more sleeping pills later, along with my protein bar, and I was soon sleeping in the warmth of the heater. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

  * * *

  The pounding echoed loudly against the walls. Whatever they had used to drug me was just about done wearing off, and I was just finished warming up. I beat the technology laced punching bag furiously, pretending it was one of them. THEY were watching, from the safety of camera lenses and very thick fireproof glass. They knew I'd incinerate them given the chance. That's why they had to drug me to move me from room to room. It didn't help speed up the process of earning their trust. It also made it much harder to fake being on their side. And so here I was, training. I shifted to kicking. I kicked the bag in a quiet blood rage. I kicked it until it stopped hurting to kick, and then I kicked it some more.

  A crash echoed nearer to me than the kicking. I jumped out of bed and onto the floor, gripping the blanket that covered that section of the ground in a death grip. A couple of children that had been playing and inadvertently bumped my door open now stared at me, motionless and wide-eyed. I came to the realization that I had my teeth clenched and bared, drawing deep breaths like an angry animal.

  Relaxing my features, I rolled over and sat down, rubbing my face to silence the dreams and wake up completely. The children left the room behind my back. I heard one of them down the hall tell their parent, "That new lady scares me..."

  For some reason, the comment kind of hurt me...

  It was sometime in the morning. Hard to tell without any timepieces around. A medley of sounds played through the building. Sounds of talking, cooking, moving, playing, doors opening and closing, simple tasks being done all throughout, they all tickled at my ears. I was sure that to a normal person, this environment would be relatively quiet, but once inside, my hearing picked up everything. It was sometimes a curse of mine.

  I spent some time exploring the building. It seemed to be originally intended for a residential building of some kind, but all of the rooms were now bare and carpeted with salvaged blankets. A few rooms had sinks or washers and dryers, but those appeared to be salvaged also. Every floor was a hallway with rooms off of the hall. Most rooms had windows, but all windows were kept covered. But at last, there was the roof. It was broad, relatively flat with a few AC units and electric boxes, and close enough to other buildings. Being barefoot wouldn't work for what I had planned, so I snatched a couple pairs of shoes on my way out. I ended up wearing a pair of worn out skate shoes, since they were the closest fit. Then, I picked my route.

  "Oh 'scuse me. I thought I'd be the only one up here," said a young teenage girl that just entered the scene.

  "You are..." My reply left her silent for a moment.

  As I was running toward the ledge, the girl shouted out, "What are you doing?!" I planted my feet and took a flying leap out toward the next building. It was shorter than the one I was on, so I had to find something to grab. My hands latched onto a metal structure that looked like part of a cell tower and spun my body around, allowing me to land firmly on that rooftop. My wounds stung and tingled, my head throbbed, my vision blurred, but at least I had healed fast enough to be functional. Another perk of being me...

  The young girl ran to the edge to see what happened to me. The shock on her face brought a smirk to mine. She didn't think I was going to let myself die, did she?

  Exploring the city in this fashion proved to be difficult with my bandages and injuries, but it also bore results. I built a mental map of the surrounding area, and spotted several ritzy buildings that stood out against the abandoned ones. Likely, I could find what I'm looking for in one of those, or from someone in one of them. Travel in my current condition proved to be slow, but I did well considering. Food was an issue. Apparently the buildings used by Benevolents were kept for use by Benevolents only. Dwellers would be ignored or removed. Being that I was dressed as a Dweller, there was no way I could trick my way into getting a meal. It might work if I had a vehicle, but the only one I had easy access to was left on the other side of the warp gate. Things would be much simpler if I had my ship...

  I returned to the building I was staying at in the late afternoon via rooftop. As I approached, something seemed off. The noise...there was quiet panic in the air. I crouched down and silenced my steps, made it to the edge of the last building, and peeked over. There were two lightly armed guards standing at the entrance of the derelict building, and based on the sounds, more inside.

  "No one ever said for sure," one guard said.

  "Of course she is, didn't you see all the stuff she messed over? What I don't get is the scars she has," the other replied.

  Botches! They're here looking for me!

  The first guard stretched his shoulder and looked upwards in the process, causing me to fall behind cover. "That's easier than 'blue eyes.' Do you know how many people have blue eyes in this city?"

  "For real...but they said you'd know it when you see it, so hey."

  Growing bored of the conversation, I went as far away as I could from them on my roof, then transferred to my home building, catching a window sill. Inside, I heard a raised voice, one of authority, but couldn't make out the words. I quickly scaled the building by climbing a gutter and any brick spaces that served as handholds. It was painful on me to do so.

  "And if any of you are found housing this fugitive, then you know the punishment. So just being clear, no one has seen this girl?" The voice of authority said.

  In the silence I heard a child whisper. Apparently, so did the antagonist. "What did he just say?"

  "Nothing! He was just asking a question," a nervous woman replied.

  "About the girl? She's been here hasn't she?"

  As I was creeping down the stairwell, I slipped my shoes off for added stealth. Some scuffling noises coupled with the woman shouting "No, please!" prompted me to speed up.

  There he was, a decent sized man in light ballistic armor underneath his shirt with a big firearm at his side. He had shoved the woman aside and was holding the kid in an aggressive manner. I dashed silently down the hall towards him and before he could throw the boy down, I was there. Another girl shrieked in surprise upon seeing me
, which led the man to look up, but I still had the jump. An elbow to the face sent him stumbling back to the wall, and when he opened his eyes again, it was to see my fist.

  He was tough, considering the direct blows. He still had the stamina to duck away from my next hit. He flicked his hand open and a strange sensation began to be fed to my head. I realized the temperature was rapidly dropping around my arms. This man was what is known as a Freeze. In that split second that I saw his hand open and realized what was going on, I also started heating my arms. My rate of collection was faster than his. A thick block of ice froze on the ground and walls, but a sizeable hole was left in the middle of it from the fire that spat off my arm and into the Freeze's chest.

  Out of pain and surprise that his power met resistance, the man screamed and fell back against another wall. Holding his body in pain, he drew his pistol and froze a thick sheet of ice in front of him as a shield. I ripped through the shield and was on him before the shot fired. A four hit combo left him on the ground with a broken arm and me holding his own gun to his face. The only thing stopping me from firing was the sound of the guards coming up the stairs. I'm on the third floor, they are approaching the second. I have about 7 seconds to get where I need to be.

  I jumped to my feet and grabbed the nearest solid object with a handle. Turns out it was a pan. I walked quickly to behind the corner of the stairs, just out of sight. I heard them both dashing to find the disturbance, but then they stopped before popping out. I held my breath for silence.

  "I don't hear anything," one whispered almost inaudibly.

  "Is she here?" The other asked.

  "I think so, I smell something burnt." He took a breath and shouted for the man that I had just finished neutralizing.

  Ignorant weaklings. They don't realize that they have already lost. I smirked and let out a single soft chuckle to congratulate myself. One guard shushed the other, so I held my breath again. How did he hear me? I barely heard myself. Did they hear someone else up here? Maybe someone down there on their floor?