Anika Rising (Gretel Book 4)

by Christopher Coleman

  She was halfway to the building when a frantic shuffle accompanied the grunting noise, a shuffle that sounded like sheets of paper being gathered into a pile with a rake.

  Anika slowed her pace only slightly, and within seconds she was standing in front of a building with the word ‘Maintenance’ written on the door.

  Anika grabbed the door handle and turned it, but it was locked. “Who’s here?”

  Anika stepped around to the right side of the building and then craned her neck forward and to the left as she made her way to the building’s rear. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness behind the maintenance shed, and in that moment, something tall and spindly sprinted away from her. Anika’s eyes adjusted quickly, as if triggered by necessity, and she could see now that the sprinter was a man. He was trying to flee, running away from her toward the bridge.

  Instinctively, Anika dashed in the direction of the man and caught him within seconds, grabbing him by the back of his shirt collar with her left hand. With the fingers of her right hand, she gripped the front of the runner’s throat and then dug her feet into the soft, damp park grass, effectively braking her run instantaneously. The abruptness of the move, along with the runner’s momentum, caused the man’s body to become airborne, rising a few inches of the ground before slamming back to the turf.

  Anika was immediately on top of the runner with a knee in the middle of his chest. She cupped a hand across his mouth and then scanned the area like a cheetah mother after a kill, looking for the approaching lion or cackle of hyenas.

  “Who are you?” Anika asked, staring down into the man’s eyes, which were wide and filled with terror. He was younger than Anika, though the lines on his face were those of someone who had lived a life of hardship, and judging by the build of his chest now pinned beneath her knee, he was emaciated.

  The man groaned, shivering his head in a motion of denial, but which Anika soon understood was a signal that he couldn’t speak.

  “Don’t scream,” Anika said calmly, and then released her hand from his mouth. “Who are you?”

  The man squinted in confusion. “What does that question mean? Who am I?”

  Anika let the rebuttal linger in the air, saying nothing as she held the man’s eyes firm. During this short interlude, she assessed her hunger and her desire to feed. If she did need to eat, she wouldn’t get a better opportunity than this in the Urbanlands.

  But the desire wasn’t there. Despite the meat below her, literally in her clutches, her instinct to feed hadn’t emerged.

  “I am nobody,” the man said, and for the first time Anika heard the accent. It didn’t sound exactly like that of the people of Jena, but it was close.

  “You’re from the Old World.”

  The man nodded.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I sleep here. Just in the night. I don’t bother no one. I leave before the day. You are police?”

  Anika frowned and shook her head.

  “Then why you are here? Is no one after dark allowed in here.”

  “I wasn’t asking, ‘why are you in the park?’ I meant, ‘why are you in the New Country?’”

  The man snickered and shook his head again. “I don’t know. Why is anyone here?”

  Anika considered the question earnestly.

  “Can I get up now? I am having trouble with my breath.”

  Anika took her knee from the man’s chest and stood quickly, reflexively taking a step back, keeping beyond striking distance in the event the man suddenly went on the offensive.

  But the man rose slowly from his back and dusted himself off, and then winced as he began rubbing the back of his neck where he’d thumped against the ground. He squinted at Anika, a mixed look of confusion and intrigue showing in the dwindling light of the moon. “You are from the New Country too.”

  “No. What? Why do you say that?”

  “I can see it. It is in your cheeks and body. It is, how you say it? Lithe?”

  Anika touched her tongue to her teeth and she felt a surge of blood rush to her face and extremities. She was prepared to tear the man apart if he moved an inch towards her. His observation didn’t sound sexual, at least not in context, but Anika was hyper-poised now, and suspected she would be until the day she died. For the rest of her days, comments from strange men about her body would be met with readiness.

  But the memory of Anika’s strength certainly still stung within the man’s chest and throat, and, seemingly oblivious to Anika’s growing fury, he said, “You no sound like it, but you are from there, eh?”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  “Yes, but you are close to that land.”

  Anika let the man study her eyes for a beat, and then she changed the subject. “The university. Do you know where it is? At least the general direction?”

  The man held Anika’s eyes for a moment longer and then nodded once. He turned and walked down to the beach and Anika followed. When she arrived behind him, he turned down the river, away from the bridge, and pointed to the modest skyline that spanned the horizon. “You see that tallest building?”

  Anika nodded.

  “Is not that one, but is just on the other side. Maybe one mile past it. Other side of the city. From here is twenty blocks—maybe less—to that building. And then one mile past.”

  “Why do you know that?”

  “I go there sometimes. Is far, but nice there. Sometimes I read books in the library.”

  Anika smiled as she held the building in her gaze. Twenty blocks plus a mile. She could do that. And in the darkness of the night and early evening, she could probably avoid having too many encounters along the way. “Thank you,” she said. “What is your name?”

  The man lifted his shoulders and chest proudly, standing as if addressing a superior military officer. “I am Adis. Adis Kokot.”

  Anika smiled widely now, and for the first time since meeting him, her eyes softened on the man. “Thank you, Adis. I want you to have this.”

  Anika pulled Randall’s wallet from her pocket and opened the billfold, taking out the cash inside. “It isn’t a lot, but it should buy you a few meals.”

  Adis looked at the money like it was fairy’s gold, eventually taking it in his hands as gently as if he were receiving a newborn baby. “It should,” he said humbly. “Thank you.”

  Anika walked from the park, leaving Adis sifting through his windfall, and headed in the general direction of where he had pointed, all the time keeping the river on her right. She walked a full four blocks, passing nothing but abandoned commercial buildings and run down apartments, before she eventually arrived at a wide street that was lined on each side with a variety of stores and restaurants.

  The day had made the transition from late night to early morning—Anika reckoned it was not quite five o’clock—so most of the establishments had been closed for at least a few hours. But the streets weren’t entirely deserted, and as she looked the length of the street and chronicled the sidewalks, Anika could see a few isolated groups of people still milling about.

  The Urbanlands.

  To this point, Anika’s knowledge of the place was only conceptual. She had never set foot inside their limits until today, and almost all of what she knew about them had come from her father. Every month when Anika was a girl, he would take at least one trip into town. She had never really understood the purposes of the trips, but the ostensible reason given was “For supplies and things.” It sounded reasonable at the time, especially since he always came back with treats and other little treasures for Anika and her brothers. But as Anika got older, she suspected the jaunts were mainly to do with a woman.

  In any case, secret lover notwithstanding, her father’s opinion of the Urbanlands was like that of most of the citizens in the Back Country: it was dirty, expensive, and the people were as ill-mannered as any on the planet.

  Based on these opinions, Anika had never felt the desire to come and see the place for herself, and as she stood now watching
the various groups of men loitering before her, she realized that had she not died and been resurrected by a witch’s magic potion, she never would have made it. The funny twists of life and death.

  A car passed Anika and she instinctively moved to her right and off the sidewalk, sidling through the row of border hedges that lined the pavement. Thus far in her short journey, she had been able to avoid any main thoroughfares, and the buildings and trees along the walking paths had provided adequate cover. Now that she had reached this shopping district, however, she was going to have to enter the fold of streets. She was going to have to cross the paths of other humans.

  Ahead of her, Anika could see that, of the seven or eight cross streets in front of her, there were three that were still fairly well lit at this hour. This indicated to her that these were the busiest areas of town, and her instinct was to get to one of those areas as quickly as possible. Then, once she was past those blocks, she would have only a few more to traverse before finally exiting the downtown area entirely. Beyond those final streets, she would be in the clear of the city and, hopefully, make it easily to the university campus.

  Between Anika and the illuminated blocks, however, were three under-lit blocks that still needed to be navigated. She chose the right side of the street, avoiding a small group of three men who had huddled on the corner on the opposite side and seemed to be in the process of finishing up some type of illicit business. They paid Anika little attention as she walked past them, and Anika let out a sigh of relief.

  She reached the last of the dark streets, where, just around the corner, she encountered another group of men. This group was only a few yards from Anika, and they stared her down curiously as she walked past them. Anika didn’t turn towards them, but she could tell they were older and probably harmless. Nevertheless, Anika picked up her pace just slightly to be sure.

  Anika reached the first corner of the heavily lit streets, and as she looked down the length of the cross street, she saw several more people, late-nighters who apparently had found an establishment that had stayed open late, or else they had brought the party to the street themselves. Despite their obvious intoxication, the signs of life comforted Anika.

  She passed the third and final illuminated block, but as she entered into the last of the downtown blocks, she nearly crashed into a woman who was in the process of ashing her cigarette, laughing as she was finishing what was some kind of funny story or joke.

  The woman was one of four who seemed to be completely out of place in this setting, standing idly and talking.

  But as Anika took in the full scope of the scene, she immediately saw that each of them was wearing grossly inadequate clothes for the weather. Or any other weather for that matter.

  Anika stepped back and apologized for the near miss, and as she did, she further noted that three of the women were old enough to be the fourth’s mother.

  This wasn’t her business, she thought, and turned to resume her walk, lowering her head slightly as she plowed ahead.

  “Hey!” One of the women yelled, and Anika knew from the direction of the sound and pitch of the voice that it had come from the youngest girl.

  Anika ignored the call and kept walking, but then she could hear the click of heels behind her, striding purposefully at first before transforming into a steady trot.

  “Hey, lady! Come here a minute. I just want to talk to you?”

  “Leave her alone, Bibi.” The command of one of the older women was uninspired and perfunctory. “How many times do I have to tell you? Women don’t need to pay for it.”

  “They do if they want me,” the girl called back, playful and challenging in her tone. She was running now and was right behind Anika.

  Anika stopped and turned. Instinctually, she placed her hand over her mouth, hiding the teeth that had erupted from her gum line. She waited a moment for them to recede and then asked, “What do you want?”

  The girl—Bibi—grinned at Anika, and then dropped her eyes and gave a dramatic once over, dipping her shoulders back as she silently evaluated Anika’s body. “I think you know what I want.”

  Anika felt the aggression building, but acted the role of the stern prude. “Leave me alone, young lady.”

  Bibi laughed. It was the condescending laugh of teenagers. “Why? Don’t you like the looks of me?”

  Anika sighed, as if regretful that she was taking the bait of the question. “You’re very pretty. Too pretty for this, frankly.”

  Bibi shrugged. “It’s just temporary.”

  Anika nodded and raised her eyebrows doubtfully before turning to restart her trek. Even this brief interlude was too much time. The sun would be rising soon.

  “You don’t believe me?” Bibi had stopped following Anika, and was now calling after her from behind. “Well you don’t know me. You don’t know shit. Piss off.”

  The girl’s voice was becoming farther away with each step Anika took, and she was glad to have escaped the encounter having only sustained a moderate verbal barrage.

  “You’re pretty too,” Bibi called, now yelling from a distance, “from the neck down.”

  Anika couldn’t help but smile at that.

  “What the hell happened to your face? You look just like that bitch witch that got her head blown off by Gretel!”

  No conscious thoughts entered Anika’s mind as she spun on her heels, stopping with precision so that her body was now facing Bibi in perfect alignment. She pushed her head forward just slightly, slowly, and then lowered it to shoulder level like a panther in a sea of tall grass. The measurements of distance and direction processed automatically, and Anika inhaled first before breaking into a full sprint toward the young prostitute.

  In less than four seconds, Anika had Bibi’s arms in her hands, gripping her at the biceps as she carried her for several yards before pressing the girl’s back against the brick façade of a restaurant. The young whore’s feet weren’t quite touching the pavement as she dangled next to a large window with the word ‘Coffee’ painted across it.

  “What did you say?” Anika whispered, her lips brushing against the girl’s chin.

  “Get off me you goddamn ugly bitch!”

  “Why did you say that to me? What do you know about Gretel?”

  “What? Gretel?” The girl sounded sincerely confused. “That’s what you want to know? That’s what’s gotten you so piss mad? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Tell me,” Anika growled.

  “Let her go, patchy.”

  The voice came from Anika’s right, and as she turned toward it, she instantly saw the gun. The three older prostitutes were now standing in a line, ten or so feet away, with the two on the ends just a step or two back. The middle woman, the one who had spoken the command, was holding the weapon.

  “She didn’t mean nothing by the insult,” she reasoned. “She’s young; you remember how we were.” The woman gave an earnest grin after this quip.

  Anika liked this woman instinctively. She hoped she wouldn’t be forced to kill her, but the gun was a problem.

  “I’m not insulted,” Anika said. “I just want to know what young Bibi knows about Gretel.”

  The woman scoffed. “Everybody knows about Gretel, honey. Now let her go.”

  Anika lowered Bibi down and released her grip slowly. She took a step back.

  The girl shook her arms out and grimaced at Anika, looking Anika up and down again, but this time with disgust. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she repeated, though less rhetorically than earlier,

  “I’m sorry. I...I am. I don’t know why I lost myself like that.”

  Anika knew she’d erred in her reaction, but she hadn’t much choice. Instinct had taken over. Still though, her goal had been to pass through the downtown area unnoticed, and she had certainly failed in that.

  Anika apologized again, backing away slowly as she did, and then turned face and started on her path out of the center district. She was only a few steps on her way when Bibi called o
ut, “I see her almost every day, you know?”

  Anika stopped and closed and opened her eye in one long blink. She sighed and then turned around slowly. She stood in place this time, lowering her shoulders as she shoved her hands in her pockets.

  “I don’t know that much about her though. Other than the stories everyone knows. I don’t think I’ve ever actually spoken to her other than to say ‘Good morning.’”

  “You see her every day? So you’re a student then? At the university?”

  Bibi nodded. “She’s in two of my classes. I haven’t seen her this week though.”

  “Do you know her friend Petr?”

  Bibi grinned. “Friend? I’d say they’re more than that.”

  “You do know him then.” The adrenaline was firing in Anika, but she fought the effects, keeping her demeanor relaxed and loose. Adrenaline had its place, but it wasn’t going to get her anywhere in this conversation.

  “He’s in one of the classes I’m in with Gretel. So, no, I don’t really know him, but I know who he is.”

  “Do you know where he lives?”

  Bibi shrugged. “No. Does it look like I’m active in the campus community? I have a shit-stained apartment down here with my sister and I take a shuttle into classes.”

  Anika frowned. “Sorry.”

  “But it’s not really a mystery. If he lives in the student housing complexes, than he has to live in the Ferns.”

  “The Ferns?”

  “It’s what they call the boys’ housing. That’s not really the name, but everyone calls it that.”

  Anika was captivated by this revelation of Bibi’s. She knew of Gretel and Petr. She had classes with them. This accidental encounter—with an Urbanlands prostitute—now seemed meant to happen. Still stunned by what she was hearing, Anika began walking towards her.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” the pistol-wielding woman warned, patting her pocket where, presumably, the gun now rested. “Take it easy there, Ms.”

  Anika looked at the woman confused. She had already forgotten about the gun and the recent aggressive encounter.

  “There’s too many men I’d rather shoot, so don’t make me waste a bullet on you.”