Reapers

by Ain Soph

  There Edric goes again, going out of his way for me, letting his feelings for me get in the way of what’s best for him. I need to talk to him. He can’t keep pushing himself out of his comfort zone for me. I take a deep breath and ready myself, because even though everything is going smoothly in the car, I know I’m inviting conflict by bringing up his feelings. Before I can, though, Edric interrupts.

  “Lux?” I snap my head in his direction, alarmed by the slightly panicked tone in his voice. “We’re out of gas. This thing’s about to stop moving.”

  “Are you kidding me? We still have hours left until we reach the Twilight Void. I thought the car had enough in it so that we wouldn’t have to fill up until we made it there. You didn’t think to ask Loka to top off the tank?” I shift in my seat so I can look at the gas meter. Sure enough, the needle’s pointing to empty.

  Edric glares at me in annoyance, “You still see me as an irresponsible kid, right? Obviously I had her top it off, Luxem. I’m not an idiot. There’s probably some problem with the tank.”

  We hop out of the car and I sit cross legged on the ground while Edric walks around and inspects it to see what’s wrong. After he’s finished, Edric drops down on the grass beside me with a heavy sigh. “So...” he drifts off and pauses for a moment while scratching his chin, “We have a leak in the gas tank. It’s would take a while to fix and that’s assuming we had the proper tools to do so.- and obviously, cans of gas to fill the tank afterward.”

  “If we had the tools, you’d be able to fix it? I didn’t know you knew so much about cars.” I look at Edric in surprise. It’s unlike him to try anything new. Contrary to his devil-may-care attitude, Edric likes comfort and consistency. It’s one of the reason he joined the Dagger Corps. He knew that he’d always have steady work and a handsome payment waiting for him afterward. Edric has never in his life been passionate about reading though, so for him to try and learn something as complex as automobile repair is something I never imagined him doing.

  “I started trying to teach myself a few things after my mom died to get my mind off all the stuff I didn’t want to deal with,” I’m surprised Edric is saying anything about his mother’s death. He glances at me for a moment before continuing, “Regardless of what I do or don’t know, we still have a problem. I don’t have the tools here to fix anything, there’s no gas station for miles, and no one to contact. We’re going to have to figure something else out,” I groan, calculating how long a walk it would be from this point onward. Too long. And we didn’t pack supplies for a walk. Surviving that long on the open road would be tricky- and dangerous.

  “Lux, I have a plan. Don’t say it’s stupid and irresponsible until I’m done though, alright?” Edric fidgets with his fingers and gives me a sly smile. I raise my eyebrows at him but let Edric continue without interruption, “We burn the car. Trash it. Right here. People are going to see the fire and come check it out, and if luck’s on our side, they’re going to come in their own vehicles and that, Luxie, will give us a chance to steal one.” Edric takes a lighter out of his pocket and flicks it once, firing up a small flame. “What do you think?”

  I open my mouth in surprise and look at the car before laughing under my breath. Typical Edric. Dangerous. Reckless. Spontaneous. The plan is so different from anything I’ve ever done in my life… I think it just might work. “It pretty much sounds like the kind of hair brained plan you would have come up with when we were kids. And, if my memory serves me right, I always agreed with you even back then. What about the car though? I mean, won’t Loka flip out when you come back and she finds out you completely trashed a Dagger Corps car?” Edric has worked hard to build up enough favor with Loka to convince her to lend him a vehicle. If he trashes it on the mission after working so hard to persuade her it was necessary, Edric will suffer some serious consequences.

  “Yeah… I’m kind of counting on either stealing a car or hoping Dryden has low morals for his business and will let us take one off of him. But considering we only got this car because of my convincing argument that Dryden won’t have one available, I’m banking on the first plan of stealing one. And Loka can’t be mad if we bring her back a car nicer than this heap of junk.” Edric kicks his legs out in front of him and bounces one over top of the other while running his fingers through his hair. His movements are becoming frantic, and I can tell he’s full of energy. Edric is ready to put this plan into action now; he’s just waiting for me to give him the word. I feel the same nervous energy building inside me at the thought of the risks involved with our plan. What if no one comes? How will we make it to the Twilight Void? Regardless, I feel alive. It’s as if I’ve been in a fog the past couple days and the adrenaline from the plan is dosing up my veins with life and excitement. A lot can go wrong, though, and the plan isn’t that well thought out, but it’s all we have, and a lot is riding on its success.

  I look Edric in the eyes and let my smile grow even bigger. “Let’s do it.” Edric opens the back door and grabs his bag, shuffling through it until he finds a random piece of paper he doesn’t need in the bottom of one of the pockets. He rolls it up and puts it in the gas tank, leaving half sticking out, and methodically empties the car of anything he wants to keep. I just open the passenger door and grab my own bag off the seat before walking to stand beside Edric. He’s busy filling his bag with items that look completely meaningless to me. Edric’s extremely serious though, carefully packing his lucky bobble head, a broken pair of aviators, and an animal printed steering wheel cover. He pauses with the steering wheel cover still in his hand, and, after a moment’s deliberation, Edric wraps it around his wrist like a bracelet.

  I stop paying attention to what he’s doing and instead take a good, long look at Edric himself. I hadn’t noticed certain changes in him before talking to Mori, but after hearing about his mother, I realize that Edric has become harder- and not in the emotionally distant way I first thought after I told him about the Remnants. He feigned nonchalance then, but in reality, Edric doesn’t have any real nonchalance at all anymore. All of it looks studied and practiced, as if he has memories of the boy he used to be and is trying to pretend he hasn’t changed. But as I watch him, I notice more and more how different he’s become, and as hard as Edric’s trying, he can’t recreate who he was when we were kids. Edric’s shoulders are stiff and his eyes are rapidly dotting around while he packs things, as though someone is going to jump out of the bushes around us. I want to ask him more about his mother, about how the last five years have changed him, where he disappeared to after seeing me in the fields that day, and most all of, what he feels about the person he’s becoming- but I can’t. It isn’t the right time, and we still have a mission to do. Then again, when will it ever be the right time? Fate is playing cruel games with both of us.

  “Okay, Lux. I’m lighting the paper. Run up the hillside and jump in a bush, a pile of leaves, ash, something. Whatever you pick should provide suitable cover until our motorcycle, or, hopefully, car bandits come.” Edric looks at me with no humor in his face, his eyes calm and deadly serious, but I know better. Even without showing it, I know he’s enjoying every part of our struggle. The spontaneity of coming up with a plan at the last minute, the unforeseen challenges, the danger of it becoming a fatal failure- it’s all right up Edric’s alley. He could have never been a farmer like his dad. His fingers twitch in excitement and his breathing rapidly increases with movement he makes. Edric’s in his element and I feel like I’m watching an artist at work.

  “You got it, Edric. Do what you have to. We’ll get a vehicle.” I smile at Edric and turn to jog up the hillside, looking at all possible hiding places before deciding on an orange fire bush. It feels like autumn hit this area early, though I probably know that’s just because of how far north we’re traveling. The cold arrives here much faster. Still, the fire bush is a lucky find. My clothes are a similar rustic shade that will help me blend into the scenery. I move sticks and leaves aside to hide myself within the bush and
wait for Edric’s car to catch fire. When I look out of the small pocket I created in the branches though, Edric is nowhere to be found. I jump as his car finally bursts into flames and even though I’m not supposed to move, I swing my head around to see if I’m able to find him. There are only so many plausible hiding places and I surveyed most of them when I was looking for my own.

  I feel Edric settle in beside me and I jump at the slight brush of his arm. “This bush isn’t going to be big enough to hide both of us, Edric. You’re not even wearing clothes that will camouflage you.” I’m in burnt oranges and browns, my hair a shade of fire itself, while Edric is wearing all black with some navy blue, his hair even whiter in comparison.

  Edric brings his finger to his lips to silence me and moves his face closer to mine before whispering, “I think I may have a little more experience in the realm of reckless planning, and I think us hiding together will be just fine. There’s a burning car in front of us. I doubt anyone’s going to be looking at a bush on the hillside.” I don’t reply and instead watch the burning car in silence, waiting to see if anyone will pull up to investigate. We only have to sit for a couple minutes before we hear several motorcyclists. Six of them drive into view and Edric swears under his breath, “Guess we’re going to be taking a bike then. Sorry, Luxie, I really wanted a car for you.” I smile to let him know it’s okay but refrain from moving. While staying as still as possible, I watch the motorcyclists park their bikes around the car and start yelling unintelligibly to one another.

  “Still though, cars or not, I predicted this, Luxie,” Sloan says with a wide smile across his face. “I mean, yeah, a car or two would have been nice, and I do wish the situation was more ideal- as in we didn’t have a busted gas tank to begin with, but this is what I was talking about!” Edric starts talking too loud in his excitement and I mimic his motion from earlier, bringing my finger in front of my lips to silence him.

  “Alright Edric. I think I’ll take over this mission now. I’m happy for you, but you’re acting like a puppy here.” He brushes his overgrown golden locks out of his eyes and winks at me. Since accepting this mission, he’s stopped slicking his hair back to Dagger Corps standards, instead keeping his hair messy and pin straight, blonde bangs hanging over his eyes.

  He grabs my hand and before I can draw back and take it away, he leads me from the bush, using different covers to creep closer to where the bikers have gathered. Four of them talk among themselves near the car while two of them hang back near the cluster of bikes. The four that looked to be arguing just moments before nod their heads at one another and split up- I presume to look for us (or at least whoever started the fire). When they first showed up, I felt a pang of guilt for taking one of their bikes, but after observing them more, I recognized the way they hold themselves and converse. Their eyes are shifty and threatening, as though they don’t even trust one another. I’ve come across rogue mercenaries like them multiple times during past missions. They’re not attached to any militia and choose instead to prey on the weak for their own survival . These types of rogue mercenaries have no care about who suffers from their lawlessness. They don’t kill- that would attract too much unwanted attention if they took out the wrong person, but they don’t think twice about stealing the last bit of food a family has for the week. I usually try to avoid them when I’m out, but for this mission, I’m glad I have an opportunity to inconvenience them in some way, even if it’s small.

  I move forward to take out the two bikers left standing by the vehicles, but Edric grabs my arm and pulls me back beside him. He shakes his head and points to the four bikers returning from wherever they had gone. I look at him in confusion but he just shakes his head again. The bikers were only gone for moments, and I assumed they left to look for the owners of the car, but maybe I was wrong. Edric nudges my shoulder and points in front of us. It looks like the bikers went to fetch some stale beer, but I have no idea where they found it. I didn’t see any of them pull the cans out of their bikes.

  Edric motions for me to follow him and we duck behind a boulder with tree branches cascading down behind us, effectively concealing us from the bikers’ view. We peek around the boulder and watch as the rouges settle down for a night of partying. They pull sleeping bags from the packs on the sides of their bikes and crack open a few cans, using the burning car for light. Some are even throwing a few of the sticks they find around the area into the flames in a weak effort to keep the fire alive. I groan and rest my back against the boulder, listening to the rowdiness behind us. “We’re going to have a long night ahead of us with complete meatheads.” I’m glad the rouges are at least being loud enough with one another for Edric and I to be able to whisper without being heard. “Where did they even get those cans? They didn’t bring them along, did they? I don’t think I saw them grab anything like that from their bikes.”

  Edric grins and shrugs his shoulders, “I’m not as unprepared as I may seem, Lux.”

  I frown, my forehead creasing with confusion, “Wait, you packed beer for us? What in the world would make you think I was going to decide to drink in the middle of our mission, Edric?”

  Edric sighs and pats the top of my head as I push his hand away, “No, Lux, come on. I get that I’m impulsive and everything, but do you seriously think I’d do that? I kind of always keep a case on me for when I’m in a situation where I might need to do some bartering. It can be a hot commodity with some mercenaries and especially good for getting info. In this situation, it ended up working out because I basically just left it on the ground on the other side of the car. At any point in my plan, something could have gone wrong- like if they questioned any part of the situation. I mean, the whole think reeks of a set up, but lucky for us, rogues like this feel confident enough in their physical capabilities that even if they thought this was a trap, they’d probably just assume they could take on whoever tried to trick them. They’re fools is what they are, and thanks to that very fact, my plan went off without a hitch. The bikers took the bait and all is well.” He lets out a deep breath and stretches his arms in front of him, loudly cracking his knuckles.

  It takes me a moment to piece together and comprehend everything Edric’s telling me. “So what you’re saying is that we wait until they pass out drunk and that’s when we go in and take the bike? There’s only enough for one beer between all of them, Edric. That plan isn’t going to work. They’ll just go to sleep, and then wake up the second a stick breaks under our boots.”

  Edric gives me a smug grin and lets out a long, relaxed sigh, “They’re laced. Their party isn’t even going to make it into the night.”

  I release a low whistle and look at Edric with admiration. “For this being a spontaneous plan, you’re actually pretty prepared, aren’t you?”

  Edric laughs under his breath and looks at the ground, “So, do I look pretty cool, then?” He meets my eyes with a penetrating gaze, the atmosphere around us turning solemn. “Maybe if I do more stuff like this, you’ll look at me in a different light?”

  I open my mouth to respond to him, but I can’t think of what to say. A loud cheer rings out from the group of bikers behind us and both Edric and I slightly jump. Our small talk took an intense turn, so the cheer actually helped to lighten up the atmosphere. I didn’t think I’d end up being grateful for the distraction the rogues brought along with them. Edric still feels the same way he did five years ago, and I’m still not ready to talk or even think about the two of us like that. My focus is the mission in front of us- it always has been- and the mission comes first. I’ve been treading on emotionally unstable ground since my meeting with Ulric, and having a mission is the only thing keeping me together. I can’t allow Edric’s feelings in or I run the risk of losing that focus, and in the process, losing myself.

  Edric clears his throat and looks away from me with a sigh, “Are you tired? We can take shifts sleeping until the last of the bikers pass out if you want.”

  I shake my head and shift my position on the
ground, trying to get more comfortable. “Don’t worry about that, Edric. It was already late when the rogues pulled up. They’ll probably be passing out pretty soon.” Edric nods his head and rests it on the boulder behind us. I don’t know when the bikers will eventually pass out, but no matter how long it takes, the minutes between then and now are going to feel like an eternity. We’re in for a long night. I don’t want to address what Edric’s feeling, and if the topic of his mother comes up, I have no idea how to comfort him or if he’d even accept my sympathies. If the party behind us lasts too long though, our conversation will inevitably end up in a place I’m not ready for, and I’m dreading every moment until then.

  “Architecture is measured against the past; you build in the future, and you try to imagine the future.”

  -Richard Rogers

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Surprisingly, Edric and I don’t talk at first. I thought he’d use this opportunity of us being trapped together to bring up his feelings or the argument we had before we were captured by the Dagger Corps. The two of us have no shortage of conversation material. It seems like we’ve fallen into this pattern of halting conversations when they get too intense, but then we never revisit them. If that persists, I wonder if our friendship (or whatever relationship we have now) will finally come to an end. There are too many unspoken things putting too much distance between us. I shift uncomfortably on the ground beside Edric, but he’s still as a statue. The silence between us is making me tense, and for the first time in our relationship, I have no idea what to talk about with him. In the past, there was never a quiet moment between us. Now, I feel like I’m seeing a new side of Edric, and I have no clue how to approach it.

  I speak first to break the discomforting silence between us, “I’m sorry, you know. I’ve always been sorry about how things were left between us.” I let my words drift off until they’re so quiet, I’m sure Edric has a hard time hearing them. I’m not sure why, out of all the topics we have to discuss with one another, I chose that one. His feelings are one of the last things I want to deal with- I just told myself to place my focus entirely on the mission- but his friendship is still important to me, even after the five years we’ve been apart. If I don’t address his honesty with some of my own, I’d accidentally push him away until Edric’s lost to me forever.