by Tom Harem
I kissed each one's forehead first and we headed for the house.
Ashen, Gordon and Elisa were on the second floor, exchanging a few words, as they watched street images, from all over the continent, on the various screens. The map was still flashing red. Sometimes a black one would appear, but it would disappear at that very moment. I assumed that maybe there were other groups like us, that we weren't in that battle alone and that more reliable Hunters were fighting the status quo.
"Elisa gave me a summary of yesterday. You did well, James, but don't take that chance again. If they had caught you and made you reveal what you were doing there, you could have thrown it all away." Ashen said, pressing a few buttons until a 23-second video of a burning city appeared, "While the market was under attack, this was happening in a suburban town.”
"He's never pleased, is he?" Kendra said as low as a sigh.
I was going to answer her when gruesome images unfolded on the screens. During the fog, a human shadow emerged, moving like a robot, one step at a time, raising his knee to his belly before lowering it again. He raised his arm and pointed it toward the security camera. He fired two energy beams; one struck a car, the explosion covering him up with smoke, while the other beam destroyed the security camera. There was a period of hesitation in everyone in that room. The video kept repeating until Gordon finally stopped it.
"They did it. I never thought they'd make it, not even that they'd go this far." He said, turning off all the screens.
"What?" Maggie asked, lowering her gaze when Elisa stared at her.
"Monsters. Human monsters. This is just the beginning of what they intend to do. I never thought he'd do it."
"Him? What aren't you telling us?" I asked and took a step forward.
"I suppose everyone here has secrets, don't they?" Gordon began, "I was once a Reaper. At the time we had no name, let alone the intention of imposing rules in the world. We were only 3 youngsters who had fun building robots. Sometimes we entered competitions in the big cities, sometimes among ourselves. But one of us, Damien, wanted more than that. He wanted to sell our talent to military companies, but we refused. We didn't want to be the cause of death, you know?" He said and sat on the chair. He put his neck against the cushion part before continuing, "When me and the other boy, Chris, found out what he was doing, it was too late. He had gone behind our backs to ask for funds to create bigger, stronger monsters that could give him the power he longed for. After that, he disappeared. Chris walked away from all this. He dedicated himself to teaching in a college and I, well, here I am. I know that a few years later he asked the government to do unethical experiences and they rejected. Then, it all started."
"How do you know this is the work of your ex-friend?" Maggie asked him.
"Because this has always been our dream. A human with robot power, with the possibility of using missiles, flying, even creating fire, for example, without needing special gloves. I never thought he'd get there, not in less than 10 years. If this was a test, believe me, there's a lot more to come."
I thought about what to say and picked out the words that I thought were suitable, "Now what? Do we keep beating monsters knowing that the worst is yet to come? Do we remain hidden here while everything happens out there? When are high-ranking Hunters involved? We have to go to war. We have to show them that we're not giving up."
"It's not that easy. Not everything is black and white, boy." Ashen said to me.
I was getting more and more annoyed. It all seemed so pointless. The effort we made, putting our lives in danger, to then sit in the shadows waiting for someone to make a wrong move.
"The boy has the same temperament you had a few years ago, Ash," Elsa said and leaned against the wall.
"You know I don't like you calling me that." Ashen began, "And where did that temperament get me? We can't save everyone; I've already tried to explain that to them."
I interrupted them, anger flowing through my body, "I know! I know we can't! But if we have the possibility to act before the consequences, why shouldn't we? Are we waiting for more people to die?" I said, raising my voice, each time more pissed off, "We became Hunters for a reason. It wasn't to remain still."
"He's right, Ashen." Gordon said, still reclined in his chair, "maybe it's time to get out of the shadows. Damien needs to know that the path is not clear, that someone will stand up to him."
Ashen sighed and asked for a few minutes alone. The rest of us left the house and stretched out under the orange and red sky shining over the semi-cold water of the lake. The water splattered on our naked feet and the sun rays tanned our faces, also blazing our fragile eyelids. Kendra was on my right side, wearing only a black top like a long ribbon that wrapped around her body and only covered her tits and black lycra pants, while Maggie, on my right side, was wearing a blue dress up to her knees with 3 buttons above her chest, two of which were open. I didn't need to ask them to know that Gordon had taken them home to pick up fresh, new clothes after the old ones had been covered in dust and blood.
Unlike everyone, including me, who had lain on the already dry grass, Maggie remained seated. The bandage didn't deprive her of the pain she felt as she moved into certain positions. Gordon broke his silence to say that it had been some time since he had last set foot there, that the sun had faded in his face, highlighting the freckles he had around his nose. Taking advantage of his voice string, and a few birds humming from the nearby trunks, I asked Kendra what had happened to her sister.
"We left her in the warehouse. We heard her making some calls as we left, but we don't know a whole lot more. She dispatched us right away. She was scared, you know? I’ve never seen her like that, with her lips trembling and teary-eyed."
"It would be good if the council joined us against the Reapers. All that common enemy crap." I said, dreaming about the possibilities.
It wasn't the best of choices, but one enemy was always better than two unpredictable ones.
"It's not going to happen. Part of the board is involved up to the marrow with the Reapers. Who do you think gets them the technology? Just because it's paid by us, Hunters, doesn't mean that we provide them ourselves. It's a complot. A triangle in which everyone does their part. The council gives them weapons, we pay, and the Reapers give us a reason to spend more money on weapons, often produced by illegal sub-companies controlled by the larger ones. There are no good people in this world. Only those who have not yet stepped out of line." Elisa said and sighed, the icy air spinning in the sunlight.
"That's a very pessimistic view, don't you think?" Maggie said, intervening.
"I know who you are, girl, and who your father is. I don't think you're the best person to talk about how bad the world is."
"Do you think I've never had people dying around me? That I didn't see pain in other people's eyes? Not all my life has been roses. I've had enough of being judged because I'm the daughter of him and not because of who I am." Maggie said, exalted.
She closed her fist as hard as she could and punched the ground. Soon after, the bandage was ripped and blood surfaced, staining the lighter dress.
She got up, her spring-like perfume soothing along the way, as she limped, taking small steps, always settling one foot on the ground before raising the next. I couldn't see her like this. I ended up helping her, sticking my arm to her hip, lifting her up until we reached the small stairs that led to the ridge that surrounded the whole house. We crossed the living room and the kitchen and entered our bedroom.
She removed the dress over her head and laid it on the bed. From a drawer on the bedside table, she took out the utensils she needed to sew the wound and make a bandage to staunch it. Most likely she was repeating the same movements as the day before. She knew where everything was and what to do in a way that displayed a certain amount of experience. Her hand didn't shake even when her skin was being pulled, and her gnashing teeth didn't distract her. Sometimes she paused and only then continued. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it while performi
ng the final touches. The skin around the scar was dry, faint red, and seemed to be unsalvageable. Being who she was, she would have no problem buying skin to replace that one, but the words that came out of her mouth were different from what I expected.
"I want to leave the mark, you know? It will help me when someone talks about my father. I'm not him, I have nothing to do with him. I'm on the good side. I get my hands dirty."
I smiled and kissed her. It was one of those that went on for almost a minute until lips broke off and a string of saliva lay on them.
"You don't know how happy I am that you're alive." She said and hugged me, turning only the upper half of her body, "You might have not noticed, but I'm not very sociable... At least, I was never good at maintaining friendships. I'm glad I have you now."
We lay down on the bed and stayed there, curled up in each other, until the minutes were hours and the hours felt like days.
Chapter XII
Two weeks went by without anything of importance happening. After the heated exchange of arguments between me and Ashen, and his time alone, we finally came to an agreement. We would be more proactive, but if at any time he thought we were in genuine danger, we would have to obey him and flee as soon as possible. Running away was not in my personality. I was taught to fight until the end, that's how I grew up and it wouldn't be any different now. However, now that I knew the reasons behind the request, I accepted it. If something like that happened, I would have to choose what to do wisely. Every situation is a situation, as one of my academy teachers said. A grumpy man, with a goatee on his double chin, already in his 50's, but with an outstanding sword skill.
We spent the time between researching the Hunters' board members and even a couple of A rankers and destroying monsters. We reached rank C in an instant. Elisa helped us a few times to defeat level C monsters and two B monsters. She confessed to me that she was fond of being around me and that she had begun to get attached to the team, although when I invited her to join us, she refused.
"It's still early." She told me, before we leaned over her couch, as had become regular on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Kendra and Maggie had no problem with that. They learned to like her style; ruthless but, at the same time, more preponderant when she gave them suggestions on how to improve.
At the end of the seventeenth day, Kendra's mobile phone rang during dinner. She ran a napkin over her lips before taking the mobile out of her pocket.
"It's Lipa! I haven't spoken with her since that day."
"Pick up. It could be important." Ashen told her and we all put down our cutlery.
We heard her exchanging a few "yes" and "are you sure?" but we remained uncultivated about the subject being discussed. The expressions on her face ranged from relieved to serious, with half-closed eyes and twisted lips, until she finished with a smile on her face, just before releasing a "Be careful. Don't get caught.". We all had our eyes on her, following her movements, from putting her mobile phone in her pocket to sitting down.
"Good news?" Maggie asked, stirring up the fork on her plate.
"Yes?" Kendra said, trying to hide her enthusiasm, but unable to conceal the smile rising up in the corner of her lips, "My sister told me the council will meet on Friday, but she is aware that most of the members won't want to get into trouble with the Reapers. But not everything is bad news. She heard rumors that there would be a party this Friday, at a mansion in Fortress, the richest small town on the continent, where they would demonstrate a new weapon to powerful men. She doesn't know which mansion, what or to whom."
"Well, that's enough. It's a start." Gordon said, the words going out at half a gas, mixed with his teeth crunching the food, "I can investigate which of the houses will have a party."
"That's not necessary. I know which one." Maggie said, shoulders away from the upper body, a downcast look, "It's mine. My father texted me yesterday. I still haven't answered him. I wasn't planning on going. Parties are always boring. They have fun talking about money. Not to mention the times I ended up cleaning vomit off my bedroom carpet because some idiot thought it was the bathroom." She said, before pausing a second time, "I can get invitations, but I can only get two. My dad keeps telling me to bring along a couple of friends."
"Excellent. But I'm not satisfied with just the three of you. Elisa is going too. She should have no problem infiltrating the party." Ashen said, smiling for the first time.
At that point, Elisa was probably already preparing a group to attack the council and I knew how hard it would be to convince her to put that aside to help us. Her presence offered me a certain security that no one else could. In fact, each of them had something that made them stand out. It was with Maggie that I felt most comfortable and laughed, with Elisa I felt safe and at peace, and with Kendra I talked about the world under the limelight.
Maggie put the plate aside and left the table. She told us she was going to call her father, but we all knew there was more to it than that, that there was a mixture of hope that her father would be good versus the fear that he was not. She was on a tightrope between lost until she knew whose side her father was on. She was in our room, lying on the bed, sideways, with her feet hanging out and her cell phone by her side. She heard my footsteps as I entered and tilted her head up. She hadn't lit the lamp in her room, but the lamppost on the bedside table. The dim light was bright enough to illuminate her upper body and the left side of the room.
"You are both invited. My father wants to meet me half an hour before the party starts to check on the gloves." She said, and took a deep breath, "If he's really evil... We have to capture him, don't we?"
"You know that, Maggie. He could be an essential part of finding out everything. We already know who the scientist is behind the beasts, but what about the rest? There's still a lot to discover." I said and sat next to her. She elevated her upper body and stood on the same level as me, "You're not alone."
She hugged me and sniffled, "You may have noticed that I get frightened very easily. But it's a good thing I was in that room on that day so that I could meet you. I'm lucky to have you!"
As soon as she finished talking, she lowered her face and raised her eyes, an angelic pouting frown, asking for comfort and shelter. I placed my hand on her hot pink cheek and kissed her humid lips.
"Hurry up!" Kendra screamed, from the kitchen.
"Shit. I almost forgot. A level 6 beast appeared nearby. Ashen is contacting Elisa, but until then you have to take care of it." Gordon said, breaking the flow of the moment.
"We better go then." She said, this time with a smile.
She took the mobile and put it in her pocket. When she got up, she ran her hand across the scar she had got. She had earned the habit of sliding her finger through the healed curvature before each mission. I don't know if she did it to remember the consequences and the danger to which we were subjected or if she just liked the sensation. I avoided touching on the subject. I had already tried to do it, but I always felt that she avoided the talk.
"I'd forgotten. You must bring a suit to the party. It's a gala dinner. It's my father's rule. No one goes in without one."
"Where the hell am I going to get one? I'm a man of action, not a man of two fingers in a glass and drinking sitting on an armchair." I said, remembering the infamous day I wore a suit to an academy party, and it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Not only didn't I look good, but it made my movements slow and embarrassing. Still, I accepted. After all, being a Hunter was also about making sacrifices for the cause. To be willing to go further, to skip a once frightening stage, to go beyond anything else.
Kendra was already waiting for us in the room, grasping the whip with both hands. Ashen wished us good luck. He had been a tad more relaxed in the last few days. Elisa's presence also reassured him, and, above all, there had been no deadly situations. A few scratches and lacerations on our legs and on the palm of our hands, but nothing more. Gordon also told us that he had already tried to contact E
lisa but that his mobile phone was occupied. He had left a message with the location.
Chapter XIII
We switched our car to a black, open-top convertible with a curved hood and wider headlights. In the morning it stood out, at night it went unnoticed. We left through the same man-made corridor, to the sound of the creaking trunks and the chirping owls, under a half moon and a starry sky that plunged into minimal lights, distant from the other, as we sank into the road. At that time only four or five cars were being driven on the road, on their way home, mostly with only one person inside, fatigued eyes and a repetitive yawn.
The car smelled like Maggie's wild fruit perfume. It changed when we got close to the city of Irishima, where the monster was, and the sky had been covered with ash and a burnt odor. Putrid, as if something was burning at thousands of degrees.
We were minutes away and we could already see the buildings being torn apart, others burning and the sound of people screaming, running to where they could. Some of the buildings looked like nothing more than floors with the light on until the color faded, and they crumbled. The city was now merely made up of the remains of buildings and flames of a red as bright as the blood winding through the narrow streets. Some 19th-century houses intertwined with modern skyscrapers and, in each street, a different kind of food restaurant and some museum, whose entrance was a cream milk dome between rows of pillars whose bases were already blemished.
We arrived at the edge of the city. Most of the people were at the door while the rest took what they could from their homes and put it in their cars and vans until the trunks filled up. The streets there were narrower than I was used to. Some didn't even have two lanes. Just one, where our car almost ripped off the walls, and I couldn't deviate a centimeter.
It took us at least another two minutes in the street maze to reach downtown. Kendra squeezed the whip and Maggie closed her fist and stretched her foot until she couldn't anymore. I felt her behind me, banging against my seat occasionally, sometimes slow as a clock and sometimes like a nervous bomb about to explode.
