The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  Dart stopped suddenly, looking up at one of the buildings. Then he turned down that alleyway. Halsey and I poured on the speed, and turned down the alleyway a few seconds behind him. When we caught up to him, I asked, “Does the word 'backup' mean anything to you?”

  “I didn't want to lose that kid,” Dart explained.

  “How do you know it's a kid?” Halsey asked?

  “I think it has to do with what his old friend Mr. Reggie called him,” I offered to her, keeping my eyes on Dart. “His asset, right?”

  “We need to hurry,” Dart said, passing over my comment. He kept his eyes forward on the buildings in the alleyway. Each one looked more run-down and abandoned than the next.

  “You're right,” I said, “but first, I need a bit of honesty. How do you expect me to trust you when there's something you aren’t telling us?” Dart stopped walking and I saw his shoulders rise and fall slowly. He turned around, and said, “I'll explain, but we need to keep moving.” Then he turned around and kept on his path down the al Halsey and I following close behind. “Old friends isn't exactly accurate, I guess,” Dart said quietly. “I used to work for Mr. Reggie, here in De Mentoria. I would run errands for his restaurant like deliveries and pick-ups, and other business.”

  “That's why you knew your way around town so well, and where to find his restaurant.” Halsey assumed. It made sense to me too. But some of it didn't add up. The part about “other business” was particularly off to me.

  “If you did all this work for him, why did he say you owe him favors?” I asked. Dart put up his index finger, walking up to a specific building. Instead of a door, there was a brick wall in the doorway. “He offered his restaurant as a place of...” Dart paused, squatting to examine the brick wall. Near the bottom left, there was a brick-sized hole.

  “Safety.” Dart decided.

  “Safety?” Halsey asked. “From what?”

  Dart took the brick from his hand and slid it into the missing spot. The whole wall tumbled down with a loud crash, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

  The three of us took a step back, me trying not to trip over my feet. When the dust cleared, two boys were standing above us. I recognized one of them as the small boy who must have thrown the brick. Now he held a shiny silver handgun, pointing it directly at us.

  “From them,” Dart muttered to us.

  ✽✽✽

  “Them?” Halsey muttered. “Who exactly are them—err, they?”

  “Quit your yapping'!” the small boy shouted, moving his gun up to point at Dart's face.

  “Gang members,” Dart answered quietly.

  Gang members? I did not remember signing up to fight that.

  A part of me wanted to announce this wasn't my fight and just back off to the side. But the look in the small boy's eyes as he held the gun led me to think he wouldn't be open to reason any time soon.

  Standing next to the small boy with a handgun, was a taller boy closer to Dart's size. He had a mop of black hair that covered one of his eyes, and a look of anger on his face.

  “Come in and have a seat,” he said, no hospitality in his voice. The small one gestured to us with his handgun. I looked at Dart. He nodded, walking up the steps into the building. I walked in next, Halsey following behind me.

  Once inside, I took a look around. The room looked even more disgusting and abandoned on the inside. There was a fireplace against the wall, but you could barely see it behind all the cobwebs. Wooden floorboards were split and warped, making the floor look unstable. In the middle of the room, there was a big red rug that torn and frayed at the corners, and coated with a layer of dust on top.

  “Have a seat on the carpet,” said a young voice behind me who I assumed was the small boy. Halsey was the first to oppose this order. “I don't think that's a good idea,” she decided. “I also don't think a little boy like you should be trying to use a gun. Why don't you hand that here, and go apologize to Mr. Reggie for breaking his window?” Halsey held out her hand to him.

  The small boy chuckled at her. “First off…”

  He fired the gun straight up through the ceiling. It shot with a loud popping sound than rang in my ears and the abandoned building. The shot tore a hole straight up the next few floors, sending fresh dust and debris down into the room.

  “...I know how to use it. Now have a seat.” the small boy said. This time, Halsey was the first to sit down. Dart and I joined her on the rug, keeping our eyes on the two boys. “Second, I wasn't the one who broke the window.” He pointed with his gun, one of those fancy six-shot revolvers, at the three of us. “One of you did.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. My voice came out a little shriller than I meant it to. I cleared my throat. “I saw you running off; you did it.” I told him. The two boys came and joined us on the carpet, sitting on either side of Dart. The tall one sat on his right, between him and Halsey. The small one on his left, next to me. Halsey and I scooted closer to one another to make room, making an oval between the five of us on the rug.

  The tall boy pointed to the small one—did I mention the small one had a handgun?—and said, “It's Chugs initiation into The Abandoned.” His voice was a little deeper, and sounded a little like the Chinese

  “The Abandoned? What's that supposed to be?” Halsey asked. “Probably the name of their gang,” Dart said, “although I've never heard of it.”

  “The Abandoned is made up of Depression agents who've been dropped from their Zones one reason or another. We're on the rise.” the taller boy said, folding his arms and puffing out his chest.

  “Dropped from your Zone? How does that happen?” I asked, keeping one eye on the taller boy, and the other on the smaller boy with the gun.

  “If your Depression Zone goes fully Dormant, it leaves the agent frozen and isolated inside. Our only option is to escape before that happens.” the taller boy said with a scowl. “Also,” he continued, “I'm sure you're aware Depression can be fake.” I looked over at Dart for confirmation. He nodded at me. “Cases like that leave behind halfway Agents who aren't strong enough to find work in another Zone somewhere...”

  “So you're all ex-Depression Agents, then?” Dart summarized. “No!” the taller boy shouted at Dart, offended by his words. “We're the future. We're going to revolutionize the way Depression Agents operate.”

  “I don't quite understand.” I said after thinking. I tried to get where they were coming from, but I didn't get how it added up to breaking someone's window. “We didn't expect you to understand. We just expect you to take a fall.”

  “Take a fall?”

  “Chug's initiation was pretty simple,” the taller boy explained. “He needed to break some windows around the neighborhood, then frame it on some unsuspecting victims, played by you three today.” Halsey, Dart, and I all exchanged glances.

  “We're not going to confess to something we didn't do, when we saw him do it.” I said.

  “Especially not the ones all over the rest of town. That's ridiculous,” Halsey added.

  “I didn't think you would,” Chug spoke up, “which is why I brought the gun. De Mentoria made, with special bullets.”

  “Special bullets?” I couldn't think of anything particularly special about being shot. Pretty sure it just hurt. “They won't kill you,” Chug explained, “but one shot to the head will literally drive you insane,” Chug said. “All I have to do is get you to cooperate, assuming you can pull yourselves up off the floor—”

  “However,” the taller boy cut in, “If you accept, we can make this interesting.” I looked at Dart and Halsey for reassurance, and yep—they looked just as clueless as I was.

  “A hint of fairness into the mix, just for you three,” the taller boy continued. I figured fairness had a catch, since he used hand quotes when he said it.

  “How do you plan to do that?” Dart asked.

  “A game,” said the taller boy. “Russian Roulette, to be exact.”

  ✽✽✽

  “That's n
ot fairness,” Halsey pointed out. “It's just chance!”

  The taller boy looked like he was getting frustrated with her. I took this chance to look for a way to escape.

  There were only two boys. Even if one of them had a gun, the three of us could overpower them. Assuming no one got shot first, of course. I looked up at Dart for some help. The taller one was distracted. Now was our chance. But he seemed to read the look in my eyes, and shook his head. Then he tilted his head behind me, to the door. I turned around about halfway, and my heart dropped. There were three more goons standing guard right outside the door, all at least as tall as Dart. So much for that plan.

  “If you don't like our offer,” the taller boy said, “we could go back to the “shoot you all” plan.”

  “Oh, we accept your offer for the game,” Dart said, glancing from Halsey to me. I didn't know if he was trying to tell us something or just prepare us for getting shot, but either way, I was not ready to play this game for my freedom.

  “Simple decision. At least someone from your group has some marbles rolling around in their head,” the taller boy chuckled. He continued, saying, “The rules are simple. The one who avoids getting shot is the winner. If it's Chug or I, you'll be Chug's scapegoats and let us escape.”

  Halsey must have been doing her look positive thing, and said, “But if we win—”

  “If you win, you can take Chug back to that sorry excuse for a restaurant and leave. The rest of us will get out of your hair. Simple.” the taller boy said. I started to believe nothing was hard for this punk; there was a 'simple' outcome to everything.

  “Takao, are you...” Chug said to the taller boy, unable to finish his sentence. Only, he sounded different from before; like there was fear in his voice. The taller boy, who must have been Takao, smirked and shrugged at him. “You'll just have to win.” he told Chug. “The Abandoned is a strong cause. We don't back out.”

  Takao stood up and dug into his pants pocket, pulling out a handful of metal that clinked together in his hand. He dumped the pile into the middle of their oval of seating, and then sat back down. I leaned in to see what they were—four blue-coated bullet shells.

  “Insanity bullets, as you can see.” Takao guaranteed.

  Oh, great. I thought. Despite trying to escape, some sane piece of the back of my mind hoped these punks were kidding about the whole Russian Roulette thing. I could see now that they weren't. They were actually crazy enough to make us want to shoot ourselves. Sure, we wouldn't die, but was going insane that much of a step up?

  Chug grabbed a bullet and loaded it in the chamber, spinning the revolver shut. Then he slid it across the room to Halsey.

  “You can go first since you think its all chance,” Chug said, back in his normal punk voice. Halsey's hand shook as she raised the gun up to her head. Takao smirked next to her. What a jerk.

  “I just had to say something,” she mumbled to herself. She put her finger on the trigger, and her face winced. “Halsey,” I said, “you don't have to do this.”

  “It's for Scott.” Halsey said, as if that decided it. Takao snickered at that comment.

  “What's so funny to you over there?” I shouted a little loudly. The thugs by the door all peeked into the room. Takao waved them away and said, “You guys have obviously never played Russian Roulette in De Mentoria.”

  “I think I speak for us all,” I said, glancing from Halsey to Dart, and back to Takao, “when I say nope, we haven't.” Takao and Chug both chuckled.

  “Well, it's different here,” Chug said. “You don't shoot yourself. You shoot someone else in the group.” I felt like everyone in our group exhaled at the same time, Halsey letting out the biggest breath. She drew the gun away from her head, and pointed it at Takao. Her hand was shaky as she tried to aim it at his head.

  “Come on now,” Takao said in a taunting manner, “Don't keep us w—”

  BANG!

  Takao's head arched back before I realized that was it. He'd been shot. I leaned past Halsey to see the wound in his head, but there was nothing there. I looked around at everyone in the room. Not sure why; to get their expressions, maybe? But everyone's eyes were still focused on Takao. I looked back at him and I have no idea how, but he sat back up, staring ahead vacantly like a couch potato. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chug sheepishly reach over and snatch the gun from Halsey's hand. He opened the chamber and started to reload it. I'm not sure Halsey even noticed.

  “Was he supposed to sit up?” I asked, unable to keep my mouth shut. He was probably losing his mind behind his vacant stare, and I just had to ask how it worked. “I don't mind if that's all he does,” Halsey said, her hands shaking, “that was enough for me.”

  Dart shook his head and sighed. “Just wait for it.” he said with what sounded like regret. Before I could ask what we were waiting for, or why Dart knew what was going to happen in the first place, Takao turned his face and looked straight at Halsey. Halsey gave Dart and me a look that said, uhh, someone help—what do I do?

  Unfortunately, I had no answer for her.

  I kept my eyes on Takao, putting his hands on his head and shoving his hair back like a mad scientist. His face began to slowly stretch and morph until he wore a look of complete fear and craziness, like someone poured nightmares into his cereal instead of milk and he licked the bowl clean. (Great analogy, I know.)

  Then a noise so loud and horrible ripped through the room—and almost through my eardrums—it took me a second to realize it was Takao screaming in horror. He rose to his knees and somehow, got even louder. I saw Halsey, Dart, and even Chug cover their ears. I followed suit, but the sound of terror coming from him was only barely muffled. Thankfully, for our sake and his, it didn't last long. Takao stood up and ran to the corner of the room head-first. He slammed it so hard against the wall, more dust and debris floated down into the room. He lumbered back and forth until he fell backwards onto the ground, unconscious and silent. I kept my eyes on him, expecting to see him to get up and start the process again until his head drew blood. But nothing happened.

  “A-hem,” Chug cleared his throat. I turned my eyes back to the circle in time to see him handing the gun to Dart. “Your turn,” he said with a smile.

  This kid couldn't be serious. I looked back over at Takao, lying unconscious in the corner of the room. How could he want to keep going with this game?

  Chug sighed impatiently. “He'll be fine by tomorrow,” he said, “and besides, Takao enjoys the craziness.” Halsey put her hand over her mouth. “I can't believe I did that to him.” “It wasn't you,” Dart assured her. “It was the bullet.” As if he was proving his point, he aimed the gun at Chug.

  The combination of Dart pointing the gun at this kid and his cold eyes while he didn't gave me chills. A part of me wanted him to stop. But I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Dart pulled the trigger.

  I heard the hollow click of the gun tell me that it was empty. That and Chug wasn't screaming, although he looked tense with his hands in front of his face. I had the urge to snicker at him, since he was so high and mighty with the gun a few minutes ago. Then I remembered it was perfectly sane to react that way to a gun in your face. Chug played his scare off with a laugh. I couldn't tell you how successful it was. “What a shame.” he said to Dart. Then he took the gun from Dart's hand and aimed it at Halsey.

  Her eyes went wide like a deer caught in headlights. “Stop!” Dart said. “Just shoot me instead!” “Right,” Chug scoffed in that classic adolescent voice that makes you want to smack your younger sibling. “Not gonna happen. She shot Takao, not you.” Then he pulled the trigger at Halsey.

  32. We Are Very Unlucky (Also, Street Rules Are Way Unfair)

  It didn't take Halsey as long as Takao to lose her sanity.

  Barely a moment after her head lulled back, she was already screaming. I covered my ears as the sound of her terror rung in my head and made my hair stand on end. I watched as tears streamed from Halsey's eyes.

  She look
ed at me, her eyes holding an expression of genuine terror, shouting

  “Make it stop!” and I got scared and angry at the same time that I couldn't do anything.

  She knelt down like she was going to bow and pray to something, but instead of speaking, she brought her head up and slammed it down into the floorboard. There was a loud THUNK followed by a cracking sound that must have been her head breaking the wood.

  Halsey raised her head, bringing up wood chips, dust, and a fresh cut. She got ready again, and slammed her head down again. Dart caught her head before she hit the floor again, and gave her a swift chop to the back of her neck. Halsey's screaming and tears stopped as her head went limp. Dart laid her down behind him.

  Chug didn't seem very happy with this. “You interfered with my execution. That was my shot!” he exclaimed in a whiny voice, like a kid who got sent to this room. I couldn't believe this brat.

  “That's unimportant!” Dart shouted, gesturing to Halsey's head. It was quickly turning purple and growing a big lump. As Chug reloaded the gun, he muttered to himself angrily: “You're all so over-dramatic. They'll wake up by tomorrow just fine and all healed.”

  “That might be the case with your friend over there,” Dart said, “but Halsey's different.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?” Chug asked in a mock-interested voice, sliding me the gun. He was just taunting me now. I wasn't even thinking about using words, let alone shooting him. And the three goons at the door? Forget it. I was going to smack this kid upside the head so hard he'd—wait—what did Dart mean by different?

  “Halsey's not a Depression Agent,” Dart explained. “The insanity bullet could kill her.”

  ✽✽✽

  “What do you mean by kill her?” I asked Dart. I took a look at Halsey just to be safe. Her body rose and fell slightly. “I can still see her breathing.” I said with a sigh of relief.

  “Think about why they lock crazy people up.” Dart explained. “The invention of the straightjacket; why solitary confinement is in a cushioned room. I mean, you saw what just happened to Halsey.” I couldn't help glancing down at the bump on Halsey's head again. It looked even bigger than before; all swollen and purple. “It's all to save people from killing themselves in their insanity.” Dart said. “If I didn't stop Halsey, she'd try to make it stop the only way she could, because that insanity clouded her judgement.”