Becoming Super

by Plowden, Richard A.

  Proof stared at her. “How old are you anyway?” he asked.

  “Sixteen,” Taia replied. “I’ll be 17 in the fall.”

  “Hmm,” Proof said, before turning over in his bed, his back to Taia.

  “Hmm?” Taia asked. “What does that mean; ‘hmm’?”

  “I just didn’t know that humans had soldiers so young.”

  “Oh but I’m not a soldier yet,” Taia replied.

  But she heard him snoring and she did not know if he caught that. She was jealous of him, that he could sleep so easily. Taia did not think that she would be able to sleep tonight. The pain off loss and heartache over her comrades plagued her. But before she knew it, their ghosts were soon haunting her nightmares.

  Chapter 5

  The sun shined into Taia’s eyes and forced her awake. She blinked her eyes rapidly. How odd. Her Academy standard issue cot wasn’t exactly the most comfortable bed in the world, but it usually didn’t feel like she was sleeping on worn out wood. And why was the sun shining so brightly?

  Realization dawned on Taia. The sun was out. That means that she’s late for class. Again.

  “Finally Up?”

  Taia looked towards the voice. It was Proof. Even though it was quite warm and stuffy inside the cave, Proof was wearing the same clothes as yesterday; overcoat, scarf, and boots. The events of the previous night suddenly came flooding into her mind. Taia felt her eyes sting as she fought back tears from falling. She couldn’t cry. Not in front of a Supe. Even a Supe that saved her life. Even a Supe that promised to make sure she got home safely after she guilt him into it. Even a Supe that felt guilt.

  Taia shook herself out of those thoughts. She couldn’t begin to trust Proof. She didn’t know what his motive was but she didn’t have any other way home than his way. And she would do whatever it took to get home.

  As Taia gathered her bearings she realized she felt much more rested than she thought she would. Last night, she initially thought she wouldn’t be able to get any sleep with a Supe sleeping just feet from her. But she supposed being in shock had caused her body to crash last night. And the last thing she remembered she had been on Proof’s floor.

  “What time is it?” Taia asked. The sun was shining brightly and it was warmer than it usually was in the morning. “And why am I on the couch?”

  “I’m not sure about the time exactly,” Proof said. “But it’s midday.”

  “Midday? Midday!” Taia exclaimed. She couldn’t believe she had slept so late. “But we’re going into the city. It’s going to be pilling with Supes!”

  This guy really was trying to kill her.

  “Yes, that’s true,” Proof said annoyed. “And that’s beneficial to us.”

  Before Taia could interrupt Proof continued.

  “Look kid, we’re going into a Supe metropolis. Core officers are going to be all over the place, patrolling constantly. If we had gone early, when there were no citizens crowding the streets, we would only have drawn attention to ourselves. And considering I just took out a few officers of the Core, I’d rather not draw attention. I’m sure you don’t want to either.”

  Proof turned and walked towards one of his makeshift pantries. Taia reluctantly realized that he was right. Going at dawn as she had originally planned the night before would not have been smart thinking. Then again, going with a Supe to the home of another Supe, whose family was known for being very connected in the Regime, for help, was not very smart either.

  But this was her best option. Her other option was attempting to get to the Sector 6 base on foot. Even if she did know how to get there, it was extremely dangerous for a human walking in the wilderness of the Supe regime, especially for a several day journey. Especially an unregistered human. If Proof wanted her dead, there was no reason for him not to have done it already. And he didn’t trust all Supes either. He had provided a decent argument last night that he wasn’t like all other Supes, but she still wasn’t going to trust him.

  A plate and bottle of water was set down next to Taia on the table.

  “It’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Proof said. “You should eat before we go into town. You have ten minutes.”

  Never trust anything that a Supe gives you. This was one of the many things that Taia’s father had said to her in reference to trusting Supes. This wouldn’t be the first one of her father’s rules she broke in the past day though.

  Taia began eating the sandwich hurriedly. This was the first time she had eaten in almost 24 hours. As she began to gargle down her water a thought occurred to her.

  “Shouldn’t you eat too?” Taia asked. Proof would have to remove that stupid scarf to eat. She could finally see his face properly.

  Proof looked at her. Taia thought she saw confusion in his eyes.

  “No, I ate while you were sleep.”

  Taia rolled her eyes. She really wished she could see his face. She didn’t know why but she had an uncanny desire to see the face of the old man. Taia greedily scarfed down the rest of her sandwich.

  “You have any more food?” Taia asked.

  Proof chuckled. The laugh gave Taia butterflies for some reason. She assumed that maybe it was because she didn’t think that Supes could laugh. They were too evil to laugh. But Proof wasn’t evil.

  Taia pushed that thought down. Of course he was evil, he was a Supe. Maybe he was just trying to fight it. But it would take over eventually. It did for every Supe.

  “Yeah, I do actually,” he said. “But we should get ready to leave.”

  Taia sighed and drank the rest of her water. She almost made a smart remark about no shower first but then rethought it. Proof’s shower didn’t exactly seem like something she would want to use. After all, it didn’t even have a curtain or cover of any sort. So it didn’t look like it would be any privacy in the save.

  “You never answered my question,” Taia said.

  “What was the question?”

  “How did I end up on the couch?”

  Proof sighed. “Well you were sleeping on the floor when I woke up in the middle of the night. And you looked uncomfortable. So I put you on the couch and I just slept in my bed.”

  This surprised Taia. She felt that she would’ve woken up to Proof picking her up and putting her on the couch. But somehow she hadn’t.

  Proof went over to one of his cupboards and pulled something out. He tossed it at Taia.

  Taia caught it. It was a pair of black shirt and pants. “Put that on” Proof said. “You can’t wear what you have on. They’ll know who you are.”

  He then went over to his bed to grab something. Taia quickly changed while Proof’s back was turned and he searched under his bed.

  Proof pulled out his two .50 caliber Desert Eagle pistols as well as ammo and refilled the pistols. He then put a few extra mags of ammo in his coat pocket. Taia reached down to grab her own rifle.

  “What are you doing?” Proof asked turning around to look at Taia.

  Taia glared at him. “I’m grabbing my rifle. What do you think?” she said smartly.

  Taia felt her stomach drop. She knew that she should be more respectful when it came to Proof. He was much more powerful than her. But for some reason she felt so comfortable around him and felt like she could be herself.

  Proof shook his head. “You can’t do that.”

  “And why not?” Taia asked, flabbergasted. “You’re carrying your guns.”

  “Yea, well I’m not a human, am I?” Proof asked in an odd tone.

  Taia was confused. He said that like he wanted to be human. What Supe didn’t want to be a Supe? They had such an advantage in this world. But as Taia looked around the cave, she realized Proof didn’t seem to be utilizing his advantages.

  “Listen,” Proof continued. “Humans have no rights in the Regime. You know that. They’re slaves for the most part. So you walking around with some big energy gun is only going to get you killed.”

  Taia was irritated. “Well how are they going to even know I�
��m human?” she asked.

  “Other than the fact that you’re carrying a huge gun?” Proof asked sarcastically. Taia realized that again Proof was right, something that she loathed. Taia thinking it was appropriate for her to walk around with her gun was the same mistake that Connor had made. Supes didn’t use weapons with the exception of Proof. But Taia supposed that Proof was an anomaly when it came to a lot of things concerning Supes.

  “The city has machines that can tell when someone enters isn’t a Supe,” Proof continued. “An alarm goes off in the security station. Humans coming into the city from the outside doesn’t happen often. They’re usually already in there as slaves.”

  “Well what about your guns? Or my pistol?” Taia asked. “I can conceal those.”

  “Do you listen?” Proof asked irritably. He obviously had very little patience with Taia. “Their machines will mark you as a human. And then they’ll check you so you can’t be carrying. But I’m a Supe. They won’t check me. They’d never think a Supe would lower himself by carrying a weapon. ”

  Taia was upset. “Well how am I even supposed to get in the city if they’re going to be able to tell I’m human?” she asked.

  Proof hesitated. “I’ll say you’re my human”. It was obvious that this made him uncomfortable.

  Taia understood why. She was uncomfortable with it too. Slavery. Not only had she never been more grateful that she was part of a free human settlement but she had also never felt more pity for those humans who were not.

  “And what if I need to protect myself?” Taia asked.

  “It shouldn’t come to that, but I’ll protect you,” Proof said simply. “So leave your rifle and leave your pistol.”

  “I thought you weren’t a hero,” Taia said sarcastically, the events from yesterday again crashing into her mind.

  “I’m not,” Proof said hanging his head. It was as if he was thinking about something he was ashamed of. He suddenly looked Taia directly into her eyes. Taia felt the butterflies return. “But I owe you this.”

  “Fine,” Taia said turning her head.

  Proof walked over to the entrance of the cave to check if there was anyone outside of it. His walk seemed off to Taia for some reason.

  “You aren’t limping anymore,” Taia said slowly reaching behind her back and grabbing something.

  Proof turned and looked at her. “What?” he asked.

  Taia froze. “Yesterday, you were limping,” she nervously said. “I figured you had a bad hip or something. But now, you’re not,” she finished lamely. Taia assumed he had a permanent limping problem. He had limped all day yesterday, now he was walking normally.

  Proof hesitated once more. “I got hurt yesterday. It must have healed,” he turned back around.

  Proof was limping pretty heavily yesterday. Taia felt that if it was an injury causing that much of a limp, it would not have healed that fast. Taia dismissed it and grabbed what she needed.

  Proof lifted the gravity on himself and Taia and then slowly lowered them to the ground. They walked in silence on the rough terrain and sandy plains of the Wasteland. Taia followed Proof towards the direction of what she assumed was the Supe metropolis. Taia hated silence.

  “So what’s our backstory?”

  Taia didn’t like the idea of being anyone’s slave. But she didn’t know what else to talk to Proof about. Everything she wanted to know he had either told her or had given her half truths about.

  “I don’t understand,” Proof said.

  “Well you know, we’re kind of going undercover here. So what’s our backstory? You’re some rich farmer who has humans grow his crops?”

  “All rich farmers have the ability to grow crops themselves,” Proof said matter-of-factly. “It’s their ability. They wouldn’t need humans.”

  “So what’s the purpose of human slaves? If Supes are just so great that they can do everything themselves.”

  “Well for menial tasks. Like washing dishes, cleaning clothes, stuff like that,” Proof said. “That’s why it’s not many human slaves. Human slaves are actually the lucky ones. Remember that. ”

  Taia did remember. Their conversation from last night. Human control.

  Not feeling much like talking anymore, the pair walked in silence. They did not come across anything of note for quite a while and Taia was beginning to doubt that Proof knew at all where they were supposed to be going.

  Soon however, they came across a sign and behind it was a very steep hill. It was the most amazing sign that Taia had ever seen. It was floating in midair due to what looked like an oval disk under it emitting a light blue light. The sign read

  “Carthage, O.”

  “Here we are,” Proof said. “Up over this hill.”

  The hill was very steep and several feet high. Taia could not see over it but she followed Proof as he made his way up the hill.

  “What kind of idiots built a city on top of a giant hill?” Taia said after a few minutes of walking up the hill, breathing heavily. “How do they expect people to walk or drive up here? Where’s the road?”

  Proof kept marching forward and did not look back at Taia. “No one walks or drives from city to city in the Regime girl,” Proof said, finally making it up to the hill.

  When Taia got over the hill and saw the city of Carthage she gasped. “They teleport,” Proof finished.

  The city of Cartage was incredible. It was a metropolis filled with skyscrapers thousands of feet in the air. Taia could see men and women flying and stopping in midair in what looked to be some sort of organized pattern so people could get to place to place without flying into one another. Some people had wings, some were glowing, and some were simply flying in the air. It was like nothing Taia had ever seen.

  But she could only see the skyline of Carthage, because surrounding the city was a large metal wall that looked like it stretched for miles and never stopped. The wall was very familiar to Taia except that it was round instead of square.

  “It’s the greatest city I’ve ever seen,” Taia said breathlessly.

  “Oh this is nothing,” Proof said. “This is one of the smaller cities.”

  “What’s up with the wall?” Taia asked. She was surprised. They had defensive walls surrounding her entire Sector but that’s because they needed it for protection against the Regime. “Why put the wall up if the Regime is not worried about anything?”

  “That’s just how the Regime is,” Proof said. “Extremely arrogant, but just as paranoid at the same time. All of its cities are like this, with the great walls surrounding them. Supes believe in protecting their own. Which is why I really hope they don’t think we killed the Core officers. Cause if they do, we’re definitely about to die,” Proof then began walking towards the wall.

  “Wait, what?” Taia asked before hurrying after Proof.

  They were a pretty good distance from the wall and by the time they got there Taia was parched. They had been walking for nearly an hour in the sweltering heat of the Wasteland to get to the city. They were standing in front of two huge double doors. “You couldn’t fly us here?” Taia asked Proof. Proof looked down at her with an eyebrow raised. “Why would I do that?” he asked.

  Taia didn’t understand. It had to be nearly 90 degrees out and this man was in an overcoat and scarf and didn’t seem bothered at all. Nor could he understand an ounce of sarcasm but that was a completely different problem.

  “Let me do all the talking,” Proof said. “I have done this often. And it is uncommon for a person to enter this city through the desert.”

  “What is your business here?” a booming voice asked. It came from the wall and was amplified due to some sort of sound system.

  “I have business within Carthage,” Proof replied.

  “From what region are you from?” the voice asked.

  “Region?” Taia whispered.

  “Every Transcended is a citizen of the Regime but all hail from a particular region,” Proof whispered back. “When the Outbreak happened, t
he 20 Regions were determined based off whatever territories used to be called back then. This city used to be named “Columbo” or something like that.”

  Proof responded back to the call. “I am a citizen of Region O. I live outside of Carthage. I used to be of the Core. My name was Officer Proof, Captain of the—“

  “Oh Captain Proof!” the booming voice began stumbling, not nearly as confident. “It’s him! It’s the Proof!” the voice obviously did not realize that the sound system was still on. Other voices could be heard but nothing could be made out. “Open the doors for him now!” the voice said terrified.

  Taia looked at Proof with fear and began moving away. Proof looked at her. “Oh calm down,” he said. “I told you I used to be in the Core.”

  “Yeah but you didn’t say people were afraid of you,” Taia retorted reaching behind her and gripping something in her back waistband.

  “Yes, well. You didn’t tell me all of your secrets either,” Proof said seemingly unbothered.

  All of a sudden the doors began to open.

  There was a large arch right over the entrance to the city. And standing beyond the walls guarding the entrance were several individuals in Core uniforms and another inner wall beyond that. Taia breathed deeply.

  “You’re going to be okay” Proof said looking at Taia. And Taia believed him.

  She followed Proof as he began walking through the giant doors. But as soon as Taia passed under the arch, one of the Core members turned to her and began walking towards her.

  “Umm” he began. This officer was young. He looked to be no older than Taia. “We don’t know her Captain Proof,” he said timidly.

  “I know son,” Proof replied. “But please don’t call me Captain. I’m not in the Core anymore,” The boy nodded.