K: The Awakening (The Shadow Chronicles Book 1)

by K. R. Fajardo

  He was very familiar with the routine, having gone through inspections many times in the past. But this was the first time he had the Enforcer in his clinic and he was trying his best to control the nervousness in his voice as he spoke, “This boy is only sixteen years old and has been here for about two weeks.”

  “What is wrong with him?” the young inspector asked sounding bored. Mikel frowned as he watched her run the finger of one of her white gloves across the counter top. He was having a hard time accepting the fact that someone who didn’t look to be much older than his own daughter held this much authority over him.

  Taking a moment to clear his thoughts, he finally answered, “He hasn’t reached maturity, but they put him to work on the road anyway and his body couldn’t handle it. He hasn’t showed any signs of recovering as of yet.” Turning to stare at the young patient, Mikel added, “We have been directly infusing formula into his system to keep him from getting any worse, but what he needs is the red formula to heal.”

  “Interesting,” the male inspector remarked flatly as he approached the bed. “Perhaps you should get his family to put in an application for consideration.” He picked up the boy’s arm with the tag, and using a scanner ran the bar code. The machine let off a beep, signaling the information being accepted.

  Mikel, watching attentively, continued talking, “They have, twice, and they have been denied both times.”

  “Well I’m sure the Shadows have their reasons,” the young inspector chimed in. Her cocky demeanor and perky voice were really beginning to annoy Mikel. She signaled to the others and they encircled the body, searching for anything out of the ordinary. For years people had been speculating as to what they were looking for when they did these inspections, and there were lots of theories,—possibly rashes, scars, signs of some kind of disease—but in all honesty, no one really knew. All anyone did know was that when they came, they checked over the whole body in search of something.

  They motioned for the Enforcer, who walked over, grabbed the boy up like a doll, and flipped him over onto his side, nearly dislodging the line from his arm. Janil moved quickly and repositioned the pole to give him a little more slack. Mikel, bit his lower lip to keep from saying anything stupid. Where he had been nervous before, he was now beginning to become aggravated as he watched helplessly as they looked over the boy’s back. After a minute they seemed satisfied by what they saw, or didn’t see, and the Enforcer let the boy roll back over.

  “Who is next?” the inspector asked.

  Mikel was fighting the overwhelming her to choke her. Instead he plastered on his most humble smile and led them back into the hallway. He headed down a few more doors to the other male Full-blood’s room and entered with the parade of them following close behind.

  The scenario went much the same as it had in the previous room. Mikel explained about him coming into the clinic after being robbed and that they were simply waiting for him to heal and wake up. The male inspector scanned his tag and the three of them did their check for markings without incident. Mikel was beginning to get excited about how smoothly the process was going, but was quickly put back in check when they announced they were ready for the next room.

  The group stood in front of the last door, and Mikel’s stomach began doing flips as he reached for the door knob. Turning it he stepped inside. Janil followed him in, along with the Enforcer, still looming over Dirik, and the inspectors close behind. The girl remained in the same position as they had left her in. But upon entering the room Mikel could tell that something was different, although he couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly.

  He took a deep breath in and then exhaled, trying to steady his nerves as he began. “This is our last patient, she arrived last night. We don’t know much about her, other than the workers found her at one of the job sites. They believe someone attacked and then robbed her.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but there was no way he was going to tell them the truth.

  “Has she not told you what happened? Who did this to her?” the young inspector asked sounding genuinely concerned. “It appears like they did a terrible number on her.”

  “No,” Mikel answered cautiously—he had to be careful he didn’t talk himself into a corner, “she hasn’t awakened yet. Whoever it was probably hit her in the head.” He turned his attention back to the girl. “We haven’t even had the chance to clean her up properly.”

  The older female inspector, who had so far through the tour remained silent, joined in, “That doesn’t explain why she is so thin, is she sick with something?”

  Mikel, thinking on his feet, answered quickly, “There has been a recent cut in the merits provided to the road workers, and this has led to an increase in robberies and attacks on each other. It is very likely that she is one of the weaker ones on her crew and they have been taking advantage of that for a while and stealing her formula.”

  There was a sound of disgust from the male inspector who decided to add in his opinion, “Full-bloods are a primitive race. Since they can’t take advantage of us anymore, they have resorted to turning on each other and doing our job for us.”

  Mikel turned a side glance at the Enforcer, thinking that as a Full-blood he would surely take offense to the statement. But if he did, he showed no signs of it as he remained emotionless and frozen in the corner with Dirik in arm’s reach.

  “Let’s have a look,” the small inspector said as she bounced toward the bed. The other two joined her and together they pulled back the blankets, revealing the girl’s pitiful body. It was clear as she laid there exposed for them all to see, what a horrible condition she was in, and despite the fact Mikel had already laid witness to this site multiple times, it still didn’t make it any easier. The inspectors diligently checked every inch of skin, and once satisfied the small inspector again summoned the Enforcer over for his assistance, “Come hold her over while we look at her back.”

  Her back? Mikel’s pulse rate immediately doubled. Why had he not thought to check her back? The Enforcer pushed Dirik to the side and came out from the corner to stand on one side of the bed while the inspectors gathered on the other side. He reached down, grabbed her by the arm, and flipped her onto her side.

  To his left Mikel heard Janil, who hadn’t said a single word throughout the process, take in a deep breath. He turned to see her cringing and followed her gaze to see what had disturbed her so. Whether on purpose or as a result of her weakened condition, the Enforcer had applied enough force to the girl’s arm to snap it in two. Mikel winced and averted his gaze, imagining the tremendous pain she would be suffering with if she were awake.

  His eyes landed on Dirik, who was cowering in the corner and staring back at Mikel. The fear in the boy’s eyes made his heart break. Mikel wanted to reach out and comfort him, but he knew that would be a mistake. It would have been hard for anyone, much less a fourteen-year-old boy, to be singled out by the Enforcer.

  “All right, all she has is some old marks, most likely from being in prison at some point or from working the road. Otherwise nothing very remarkable,” the young inspector stated, and then to the Enforcer added, “You may let her go now.”

  The Enforcer followed the command without comment. Mikel watched perplexed. He couldn’t help but wonder why a formidable Full-blood, such as the Enforcer, would so willingly follow their orders; especially from the likes of that tiny, overly annoying woman.

  Once the girl was returned to her back, it was the Enforcer who made the next move. In neither of the other rooms had they checked the eye color of the Full-bloods, but for whatever reason he reached down to pull open one of her eyes. And it was in that moment that Mikel realized what it was that had made her look different when they had first walked in … the scar over her right eye was gone.

  A million questions rushed through his mind, as he scanned over the rest of her and realized that almost all the scarring had vanished, then a flash of hope, maybe, just maybe.

  Mikel held his breath as the Enforc
er pulled open the eye lid, and to his relief there was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. A perfect, gorgeous, light brown eye. He heard a little gasp of surprise come from the corner where Dirik was and quickly sent a warning glance his direction. Looking back at the Enforcer, he was relieved to see that neither he, nor the inspectors had seemed to notice his young friend’s surprise.

  He was daring to celebrate inside, they had done it, they had survived the inspection, and everything was going to be fine after all. But his celebration was cut short as the male inspector spoke the words he had dreaded to hear, “It seems we have a problem here,” Mikel’s eyes closed, awaiting whatever trumped up charge they had come up with to be laid on them, “she has no tag.”

  Mikel was taken aback for a minute. How could I be so stupid, he thought, rummaging in his pocket to pull out the tag.

  “I have her tag,” he interjected.

  All four of them turned on him suspiciously, but it was the Enforcer and his deep, threatening voice who spoke first, “Why would you have it in your pocket? They are never to be removed under any circumstance.”

  Once again Mikel couldn’t resist the urge as he looked down at the Enforcer’s wrist. And there it was, it seemed being the Shadows’ attack dog hadn’t made even him exempt from this law. Quickly regaining his composure, he answered, “She was found with it lying on the ground not too far away from her body. It must have come off in the struggle against her attackers, probably due to how thin she is. Anyway, she was lucky the thieves didn’t find it or they most likely would have taken it.” Mikel was trying desperately to read the Enforcer for any facial expression that might help him figure out what he was thinking, but without much luck.

  “Then why didn’t you put it on her when she arrived,” broke in the older female inspector, a woman’s whose face seemed to be stuck in a permanent scowl.

  Janil decided to break her silence and came to his defense, “Like he said, she arrived only last night, it just slipped our minds until now.”

  Mikel couldn’t tell whether or not they were buying the story, and he honestly didn’t care. His only hope at this point was that they would lose interest and leave.

  “Have you scanned it, how do you even know that it’s hers?” barked the male inspector.

  “Sir, we are a poor clinic, as you can tell, so we don’t have a scanner or access to one.” That part was the truth. There were many instances, the current one included, that he wished they had a scanner to verify tags.

  “Well, let us have it then and we will see what you’ve got.”

  Mikel handed him the tag, wishing he could knock the smirk off his face. The inspector, pulling out his scanner, ran it over the tag, and a beep sounded as the machine accepted whatever information Jahol had programmed into it. Mikel held his breath as he glanced over toward Janil, who stood quietly watching the events unfold. There was no way she could be as calm as she appeared to be.

  “It seems to be in order.”

  Mikel exhaled in relief as the male inspector continued, “Put it on her and leave it. If you are ever caught with a Full-blood without a tag on again, you will be arrested and taken to the Tower for treason.”

  “Of course, of course it will never happen again,” Mikel said, trying to contain his excitement as he reached out to take back the tag.

  “So are we done?” Dirik asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting his fear.

  “Not quite,” the Enforcer answered in a tone that sent Dirik cowering back down into his corner.

  “What do you mean? You have checked everyone, what else is there to do?” Janil asked, seeming as stunned as Mikel was by the remark.

  “We have had reports of someone stealing and selling tags to Full-bloods in this area to elevate their ranks off the road crew.” He turned and directed the rest toward Mikel. “These reports state that the attackers purposefully target high ranking Full-bloods, killing them, and taking their tags.”

  “We don’t know anything about that, this is the first time I have even heard of this,” Mikel stated nervously looking over the four of them. He rammed his hands back into his pockets trying to conceal the obscene amount of shaking they were doing.

  “I don’t suppose you do,” the Enforcer continued, “but someone in this clinic does.”

  Mikel’s stomach twisted painfully inside him as the color drained from his face. He glanced helplessly over to Janil and then back to poor Dirik. It was obvious from the expressions on their faces that they, like him, had come to the realization there was be no way all three of them would be coming out on the other side of this inspection intact.

  They remained silent as the male inspector began to speak again, “The second patient down the hall has on the tag of a factory supervisor,” he paused as he scanned over the three of them, smirking with cockiness, “but it as clear as the callouses on his hands that he is nothing more than a laborer, most likely from the road. The tag he is wearing was reported stolen several days ago by the family of the victim.” Once again he paused, taking a moment to relish in the power he held over them. “Now the question we have for you is, where did he get it?”

  “Sir, I assure you the tag he has on is the one he came into the clinic with,” Mikel replied, trying his best to keep his fear under control. He knew all too well if they were here to target them for this there was no way they would get out of it, and if he could do nothing else he would at least go out with some of his dignity still intact.

  “You have already been caught with a patient in your clinic without a tag on, now you want us to believe you didn’t know the other tag was stolen?” the Enforcer asked with raised brows. He knew he had them cornered, and as he watched them squirm he refocused his attention on Dirik. “Perhaps if I take messenger boy back with me for interrogation, we can come up with some answers. A few days in the Tower should be enough to get him talking.”

  All eyes landed on Dirik, who had retreated as far back into the corner as he possibly could, and was desperately looking around for a means of escape. Unfortunately there was none. The inspectors had already moved to block the door, the only way out of the windowless room.

  “Please I beg of you, he knows nothing. We know nothing, I swear,” Mikel pleaded, no longer concerned with dignity as he desperately begged for the life of a boy he had come to think of as a son.

  “Then who does know something?” the young inspector asked, her perkiness giving way to something slightly darker. “I find it hard to believe no one here knows anything about this.”

  The Enforcer advanced across the room toward Dirik while the boy looked on in terror with tears streaming down his face. Grabbing him up by the front of his jacket, the Enforcer spun the boy around so he was standing in front of him, facing Mikel and Janil. “Or maybe I should execute him right here and be done this.”

  “I know where he got it.”

  The voice sounded from behind Mikel with a calmness that made him doubt what he had heard. Mikel turned and his heart fell to the floor, as the whole room’s attention shifted onto Janil. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and repeated herself, “I know where he got the tag.”

  “No!” Mikel screamed, glancing back and forth between the inspectors and Janil “Janil, what are you doing? She doesn’t know what she is talking about, she is talking out of her head.”

  He was looking right at Janil, but she avoided his gaze, instead turning her attention to the Enforcer. “I knew his tag was a fake. He told me when he came in, before he lost consciousness, that he had gotten injured stealing it. I allowed him to come into the clinic anyway and never told anyone else. They didn’t know.” Finally she turned to Mikel, tears in her eyes. “That is why I couldn’t leave you here alone, I feared this would happen and I won’t have you taking the fall for my mistake.”

  “How touching,” the Enforcer said rolling his eyes. He pushed his way past Mikel to stand towering over Janil, “Aren’t you the lady whose husband I arrested about ten years ago fo
r harboring undocumented Full-bloods? Did you learn anything from your husband’s arrest?”

  Janil said nothing, she instead stood silently, eyes on the floor in a quiet defiance until the Enforcer had had enough.

  “Fine then,” he announced, and with a wave of his hand the room filled with members of the Black guard. Quickly they took ahold of Janil and began placing her in handcuffs and shackles. He then turned to another group waiting outside the door. “Go down the hall, get the Full-blood with the stolen tag, and load him into the wagon as well.”

  Mikel made a move toward Janil, hoping to take advantage of the Enforcer’s distraction. He wasn’t sure what he planned on doing, all he knew was he needed to get close enough to talk some sense into her.

  But the Enforcer wasn’t having it. Sensing his movement, he was on him in an instant with the blinding speed and strength known to his Full-blooded race. Before he knew what had happened, Mikel found himself slammed against the wall, with his feet dangling several feet off the floor, and the Enforcer’s hand pressing into his chest.

  “Would you like to join her in the Tower? I would be more than happy to accommodate the both of you.” the Enforcer snapped, his face only inches from Mikel’s. The look in his eyes left no doubt in Mikel’s mind that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. However, Mikel couldn’t answer; the pressure on his chest was so intense that he could feel his ribs beginning to crack beneath the massive hand. Struggling to breath, Mikel clenched his teeth against the pain and shook his head.

  “Leave him alone!” shouted Janil, who was now in chains and being held back by the guards. “I’ll go with you, just leave them alone, please.” Her desperation was undeniable, but her plea had fallen on deaf ears. The Enforcer had his eyes locked on Mikel, and Mikel’s were on him as well.

  “Let us go,” interrupted the older female inspector, “we have what we came for.”

  The Enforcer turned and glared at her. Mikel thought for sure he was going to challenge the order, but to his surprise and relief he turned his attention back to Mikel and released him. Mikel fell to the floor with a thud that sent pain shooting up his spine.