by Sara Daniell
The blood from his head forms a puddle, and I step to the side so it misses the soles of my shoes. I click the safety in place and put my gun back in my boot. I look to the bystanders, who are quickly heading for the door, and I hear the police sirens. Dammit. I run through the side door and head down an alley, keeping a watch on my surroundings. If I have learned anything from being on Earth, it is this: when there is one, there are always more.
I pick up my pace after pulling my hair into a bun and throwing a wig from my bag over my head. I run faster when I hear walkie-talkies and voices. I reach my apartment, and run upstairs. I notice the door is slightly cracked open. Sphere Hunters. I turn to go back down the stairs and run into the landlord demanding this month’s rent. She has the worst timing.
I check behind my shoulder, making sure that I don’t have unwanted company; I quickly hand her every bit of cash I have. She takes a slow puff of her cigarette as she counts it. She rolls her eyes at me and walks away. I really need to get a few things out of my apartment before Sage and I say goodbye to this town, but I’m not sure how many will be in there. Realizing I have better odds of living if I leave the stuff alone, I head in the opposite direction of my apartment.
As I make my way down a busy street, I hear Sage yell for me. “Wait!” I turn around and see her moving her arms around to get my attention.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I grab her hand and we both duck behind a large dumpster.
“I came to find you. Remember, I was supposed to meet you at the coffee house? I saw brains splattered and police cars. The scene screamed Orion.”
“We have to relocate. They know our location.”
“Dammit. Where to now? We are running out of options.” She fumbles through her purse and lights a cigarette with shaky hands.
“Do you still have that map? And I’m out of cash. Do you have any?” She hands me her cigarette, and I take a quick hit off it. I hand it back and exhale the smoke as she hands me the map.
“I have enough to get us a flight somewhere and a good down-payment on a place to rent.”
“What about food?” I look away from the map and incline my head towards Sage.
She laughs. “It looks like we will have to work our charm and get someone to buy us a meal.”
“Right, because I have so much charm.” We both laugh, and I continue looking at the map.
Sage puts her cigarette out on a place on the map that once said “Texas”, but it’s now smudged and burnt. “There. That is where we should go.” She throws the cigarette butt behind her.
I raise my eyebrows and ask, “And why there?”
She smiles. “It is the biggest place on the map.” I laugh at her reasoning as I fold and tuck the map into my messenger bag. “And that’s supposed to be a logical reason?”
“The bigger, the more people, the harder to find us.”
I laugh. “Okay, that is kind of smart.”
“Duh.”
I roll my eyes. “We should hurry up and get to the airport. I think we’ve ruined our welcome here.”
WE QUICKLY MAKE our way to the nearest bus station. Sage hands me some cash, and I walk over to the long line.
I wish we could just start all over back in Dandux, in our Sphere. As much as I have hated their ways there, I liked it much better than being on the run from the Hunters. I knew my fate there. But here, I’m not sure death will come so quickly once it finds me.
I move forward as the line gets shorter and watch every person closely. I never know who a Hunter will be, but it doesn’t take me long to figure out when one is near. Their mannerisms and the looks in their eyes are dead giveaways. When someone is out for another’s blood—it’s tangible. You can feel it, hear it, and smell it.
“Ma’am!” I startle at the sound of the lady behind the window yelling at me. I’m so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize it’s my turn.
I quickly shove cash under the glass and say, “Two tickets to the airport, please.” I watch her slowly take the cash, and her eyes stare ominously into mine.
“Can I see your ID, please?” I hand her my ID, hoping she doesn’t notice it’s fake. No one has been able to, but I always cringe a little when having to use it.
“From around here?” She counts some cash, then places it in her drawer.
I keep looking behind me to make sure there isn’t a Hunter around. I hear her speak but don’t hear what she says. “Huh?’ I reply.
“Are you from around here?” She asks more discourteously than before.
“Oh—um, no. Just passing through.” I look back at Sage to make sure she is okay. I grab the tickets and leave to let the next person in line go.
As I walk to where Sage is sitting, I do a quick survey of my surroundings. I still haven’t figured out what the big deal is about Dwellers leaving the Sphere to come here. I also wonder why no one ever mentioned Earth back in Dandux. I have so many questions, I fear will never be answered. What I fear most is that this is my life now.
We board the train, and I need to tell Sage to chill. She is looking at every person as a rabid dog would before making an attack.
I nudge her in the side with my elbow and keep my voice low. “Sage, stop that. You are going to scare the hell out of the kids on the train.”
She doesn’t remove the look on her face and says, “I trust no one.”
I shake my head and laugh. “Remember, we are supposed to blend. If you go around looking at others like that, you will stick out like a straight guy in a gay bar.”
“You can just tell people that I’m your cousin you just rescued from a mental institution.”
“Or you could just chill out.” I laugh.
WE REACH OUR destination, and Sage pulls out her cell phone. “What are you doing?”
“Confirming our ticket order,” she says as if I should have known that already.
“You have to have a credit card for that,” I reply matter-of-factly.
She smiles. “You can also have a debit card.”
I scrunch my eyebrows. “You have a checking account? I thought we discussed nothing linked to our names.”
“Yes. And don’t worry, I used my fake I.D. like I did when we found the place to rent.” She continues pushing buttons on her phone.
“And how much money do you have in this checking account? I thought you said you only had enough to get plane tickets and to put a down-payment on a place to rent?”
“You asked how much cash I had. You didn’t say anything about what I had in my checking account.” She hands me her phone, and I see two plane tickets. “See, all we have to do is bring this to the gate, and they scan it.”
“How much, Sage?” I shove the cell phone back at her.
“Around… eight thousand—maybe a little more.” She mumbles under her breath.
“Eigh—what? How!”
“Don’t worry about how I got it. I knew my little job at the bookstore wouldn’t be enough. I had to do something. I know you said we didn’t need to tie any accounts to our names, or use our fake ID’s more than we had to, but I couldn’t keep cash stashed. Not that much.”
“How did you get it?” I yell.
Sage starts walking, and I keep up with her, so I’m walking beside her. “Well, are you going to tell me?”
She rolls her eyes and sighs. “I worked nights.”
“I thought you were out clubbing?”
“I was… Well, sort of. I was working, though.” She averts her shameful eyes away from mine and continues to walk towards the front desk to get us checked in.
“What kind of work? Oh hell… Sage!” I had to strip at a club for some extra money once. But I promised myself and Sage I wouldn’t do it again. I’m a little upset that what she told me I shouldn’t do, she did behind my back.
Sage laughs hysterically and shows the lady behind the counter her cell phone. The lady hands her back the phone and explains how to get to the metal detectors.
“Oh, don’t
act like you haven’t done anything you regret to make money! When we first came here, you had to do things you are not proud of!”
I look away from her accusing stare and laugh. “Okay, you made your point. But why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it didn’t matter. I would have done it regardless of your opinion. Besides, you should thank me. Now we have money and don’t have to worry about a job right away. Plus, you need money to keep up with that awful hair.”
“My blue hair kicks ass.”
She rolls her eyes and laughs. “It does on you. Not many people could pull that off.” When she says “people,” I shudder a little. It took us a while before we got used to not referring to others as Dwellers. It’s moments like this that the spot in my brain, that I try to avoid, sends memories creeping into every inch of my being. I long for a conversation with my brother and parents.
We are next in line to go through the metal detectors, so I give Sage “the look”. We take our weapons and plant them on a man standing in front of us, a technique for sneaking our weapons on a plane that has never failed us. The man is taken aside by security guards who rid him of the weapons.
After Sage and I make it through the metal detector, I purposely run into a person, knocking her down to the ground. It causes a momentary disturbance, and Sage takes advantage of it. She grabs our pistols and knives from a basket, successfully sneaking them into her purse. I apologize to the lady I knocked down and catch up with Sage.
As we are walking, I notice a group of about seven men. Their icy stares give away their identities. Definitely Sphere Hunters. I notice one guy in particular. He is leaning against the wall and seems to be waiting on the other men. He makes brief eye contact with me, then averts his eyes back to the floor.
“Sage…” I whisper as I tug on the back of her shirt.
She slows down so that she is walking beside me instead of in front of me. “What?”
“Behind us. There are seven of them. Don’t look. Just keep walking.”
“But...” She starts to turn her head to look, but I grab her arm and squeeze it.
“But nothing. Just. Keep. Walking. Trust me.”
We continue and finally make it to our gate. We sit down and wait for our plane. My heart is racing because I know, soon, we will have trouble.
Is that the group of men you were concerned about?” Sage asks close to my ear so no one can hear.
I nod my head. “We need a plan. Now that they know where we are going, they are going to follow us. We don’t need a messy fight on the plane. People could get hurt. Do you have your phone?”
Sage pulls it out and says, “Right here.”
“Order tickets for the soonest plane to anywhere but Texas.”
She looks at her phone as discretely as possible and then looks at me. I take the phone from her and see she has ordered tickets for the next plane to Atlanta, Georgia.
“We will wait until they board the plane. We can’t let them see us leave. Pretend you forgot something in the bathroom, and I will say I need to wait for you.”
Sage nods her head. “I really hope this works. But if it doesn’t…”
“We fight. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you.” I’m trying hard not to let her see how tired I am of all this. I’m the one who got us in this mess, and I need to stay strong.
“I’m sick of fighting. I’m also sick of fearing that each day will be my last.” Sage stops talking as she sees the men sit down. Her shaky hands fumble around as she puts her cell phone back in her purse.
I look at the men who are clearly Hunters. I wonder if they think they are being secretive. I laugh to myself as I think about how stupid they really are. It’s obvious they’re following us. I’ve also noticed the Hunters are working in larger groups now. A little intimidating, but I know one thing for sure: I won’t go down without a fight.
I scan the group of men as soon as I notice them not looking in our direction. I don’t see all seven of them, so I shift my eyes to the window where I find the seventh guy. He is leaning slightly against the window that looks out onto the runway, hands in his jean pockets, gazing out into the night. His whole demeanor is intimidating. He is tall, slender, and carries himself in a way that makes him appear to be far superior to any other being. His eyes seem made of dark shadows, almost mystifying. I might actually find him attractive if he weren’t here for my blood. I look away when he glances in my direction.
My heart starts pounding, and I can still feel his icy stare locked in on me. The lady at the desk announces they are now ready to load the plane, and I give Sage a knowing look. She nods.
We make our way to the back of the line. I’m trying my best to keep calm. It’s taking every ounce of self-control not to start blowing their brains out. We are standing directly behind them. It would be so easy.
“Oh, shit! I think I left something in the bathroom! Can you wait for me?” Sage says and walks away quickly.
I stand here and act as if I’m waiting. When it seems like Sage has been gone long enough, I look at the lady taking the tickets. “I should probably go check on her.”
“You will miss your flight, ma’am.”
“We will just have to catch the next one! Sorry!” I hurry towards the women’s bathroom and see Sage leaned against a wall, breathing heavily.
“The next plane leaves in ten minutes!” She yells and takes her phone from her purse.
We both run to the next plane loading area and hurry to get in the line. When it is our turn, Sage shows the tickets on the phone to the man, and he scans it. Once through the gate, we hurry and take our seats. I sigh in relief as I scan the plane and see that no one threatening is aboard. Or at least I hope there isn’t.
“I can’t believe we ditched them! Damn, what a rush!” Sage laughs and places her purse down by her feet.
I laugh and smile. “Maybe we will make it through one night without a fight.”
“Maybe.” Sage lays her head back on the headrest and closes her eyes.
I grab my IPod out of my messenger bag and place the earphones in my ears. I start my playlist and lay my head back.
The flight is long, and the layovers boring, which I’m thankful for. This is the first night in a long time that I haven’t had to fight for my life.
After several hours, we land in Atlanta. We make our way out of the airport, our first priority being sleep. Tomorrow starts the first day of our life in Georgia.
Oh, stop your pouting! It’s just hair!” Sage continues flipping through a magazine, circling pictures of hairstyles she likes. “Besides, this was your idea.”
We have been in Atlanta for a week, and I thought it would be wise to change our appearance. This is something we should have done sooner than later.
I rest my chin on my hand and sigh. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
I grab a magazine off the shelf and start flipping through it. My hair used to be short, but now it hangs past my shoulders. Today, I’m going back to my natural color of blonde. I’m letting go of what little bit of my old life I have left, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
A hairstylist notifies Sage that she’s ready for her, and she jumps up excitedly. She loves doing girly stuff like this. I grab the magazine she was looking at and notice all the pictures she circled are of short-haired brunettes. It’s hard to imagine her long ginger hair brown and cut short. I close the magazine and sink lower into the couch.
“Are you ready?” A friendly hairstylist asks. I nod my head and walk to the chair at her station.
She pulls my hair out of the ponytail holder and places it gently on her counter. She runs her fingers through my hair and smiles.
“My name is Liz, by the way,” she says with a warm smile that immediately comforts me. “You said on the phone that you wanted to go back to your natural color of blonde, right?” I nod my head and smile.
“Okay, girl! I’m going to get you all fixed up! Are you cutting any of
the length?” I shake my head no and close my eyes as she leans me back to wash my hair.
It is just hair, I keep reminding myself. My blue hair has been a part of me for so long, and although I loved it, I didn’t think it would be this hard to let it go.
After an hour passes, I’m done. She spins me around in the chair to face the mirror. I slowly look up from my feet and into the mirror. Damn. Who is this person? I stand up and get closer to the mirror. I run my hands through my hair and over my eyes that seem to be bluer than they were before.
“We look killer,” I hear from behind me. I gasp when I see Sage. Her hair is cut in a pixie boy-cut style and is dark brown.
“Do you like?” She spins around to show off her new look.
“You chopped your hair off! But I love it!” I’m shocked at how different she looks. The only way anyone could recognize her would be by her amber eyes.
She grabs a handful of my hair and smiles. “Now, this… This is something. I thought I would never see you with your natural hair color again. It looks great, Oreo.”
“Thanks. I’m a little shocked myself.” I laugh.
“No one will recognize us.” I smile at her because that is exactly why we did this. It will be harder for the hunters to find us now. We should have done this sooner. Maybe things will be different now.
“We should buy a car,” I say to Sage as we walk out of the hair salon.
“Why would we buy a car? We can take the bus everywhere.” She crosses her arms over her chest. I have bothered her about getting a car for a while now.
“What was the point of getting fake driver’s licenses if we are never going to use them? And I’m sick of the bus. Not to mention it’d be easier to stay out of sight. The bus is too public.”
“Ugh. Fine, but you need a job to pay for it. We have money, plenty of it, but a car would seriously cut into it,” she says then lights a cigarette.
I start looking around and spot a movie store on the corner. “Hey, Sage, I’m going to go in there. They have a help wanted sign up.”
