Estranged (18 page)

It was... different.

Terin had stepped into the room and
walked over to the center of the training mats, not quite sucking
the air from the room with his stoic nature. He stopped when he
reached a seam in the mats that divided the room perfectly in half.
With his hands in his pockets, he looked each of them in the eye,
then said, “You’re done with basic training. But we can’t promote
you to Wardens until you pass a test, so here it is: go into the
district and shake hands with an Estranged. We will be watching
through your ear cameras.” He walked back to the door.

Erit stepped forward from where he
stood by the wall and added, “Of course, the Estranged you shake
hands with cannot be affiliated with SWORDE.” Before the recruits
could grasp what either of them had said, Erit waved his hand with
a “Best of luck!” and followed Terin out of the room.

Several moments passed in silence,
until Shenaia said, “What the hell kind of test is
that?”

Kalei raised an eyebrow as she
continued to stare at the door. “Who knows?”

Mar added, “Who cares? I’m just gonna
do it and get this damn training over with.” The old woman tore off
her ski mask, flung it in a corner, and marched out the
door.

Shenaia looked at Kalei, a grin on her
face as she said, “He didn’t say nothin’ about doin’ this thing
solo. Let’s go, little sis! Although I wanna stop by tha closet
first. There’s no way in hell I’m passin’ no test in these damn
sweats!”

Kalei followed as Shenaia pranced out
the door. “What makes you think I’m the little sister? I’m at least
a decade older.”

Shenaia looked over her shoulder and
smirked. “Trust me, you ain’t no big sister ta me.”

“
Do I need to set you
straight, little one?”

Shenaia scoffed. “Go ahead and
try!”

Out in the street, Kalei glanced left
and right as she tried to make sense of where they were. It
occurred to her that she had never spent much time outside of
SWORDE HQ, except that time when Lecia had taken her to Tusic.
Kalei’s sense of direction in the Downtown district was a bit
lacking.

She asked, “Where do we find other
Estranged?”

“
The theatre. They always
at tha theatre.” There was no hesitation in Shenaia’s stride; she
was already halfway down the block before Kalei caught up to
her.

Kalei replied, “I’m not going to
ask.”

They had been walking for
about half a mile when Kalei told Shenaia, “You know, I’m guessing
the entire point of this exercise is that we
don’t
get high from touching
them.”

“
Don’t you worry ‘bout
that.” Shenaia pulled a pair of Warden’s gloves out of her back
pocket. “If you’re nice, I’ll let you borrow ‘em when I’m
done.”

Kalei raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that
cheating?”

“
Well, ain’t you a goody
two-shoes? Did Terin hand you a freakin’ rulebook before he left?
No.” She pulled the left glove down firmly over her wrist. “No
rules, no cheatin’.”

They took a left down an
alleyway, and as they emerged into a parking lot on the other side,
Shenaia pointed out, “There.” On the far side of the parking lot
stood a flat, square building with burnt-out lettering above the
entrance which read:
C-n-ma
. And sure enough, huddled
against the outer wall like smokers out for a puff, sat three
Estranged.

One man wore nothing but a pair of
grimy briefs, and he sat with his legs sprawled out while the sun
gleamed off his balding head. The second man was only marginally
better dressed, sitting cross-legged and wearing a pair of
basketball shorts, but he had enough hair on his chest and limbs to
make him look like he was fully clothed. And both men possessed an
ample supply of belly fat, which sprawled over their waistlines
like some ill-conceived clay creations.

Then there was a little girl, probably
no more than six years old, wearing a faded yellow sundress. A
ponytail hung limply from the back of her head as she looked to the
sky with closed eyes and hummed a cheery song to herself. She was
small and flexible enough that her hands held on to her bare feet
as they moved back and forth to the rhythm of her
humming.

Shenaia laughed. “I think we found
Erit’s girlfriend.”

Kalei rolled her eyes. “Stop being
stupid. Let’s just shake their hands and get out of
here.”

Holding up a gloved hand and wriggling
her fingers, the teenaged girl said, “Watch how it’s
done.”

“
No thanks.”

The two women crossed the parking lot
and made their way over to where the Estranged sat. Shenaia headed
for little girl, while Kalei picked the hairy man as her target.
She didn’t want anything to do with Mr. Boxers.

When they came within a few feet of
the Estranged, the three opened their eyes and looked for the
source of the scuffing noise Shenaia made as she walked. Their eyes
lit up when they saw who it was, and they reached out eagerly to
the newcomers.

Kalei stepped up to the hairy man,
pulled the darkness back from her arm, and offered him her
hand.

His two hands latched onto her one. As
his fingers closed around hers, a grin spread across his face,
revealing black, rotting teeth. His excitement was palpable, but
nothing happened. Kalei sealed the handshake with a quick up-down,
then tried to withdraw from his hold. The man’s smile slid from his
face, and creases began to appear on his forehead as his eyebrows
came together in anger. Before Kalei could break free, his grip
tightened and he started to yank on her arm with impossible force,
like a small child trying to yank their favorite toy out of the
bushes. Kalei almost lost her balance, but she caught herself on
the brick wall with her other hand. Off to her right, she heard the
shrill notes of a temper tantrum starting up.

Kalei delivered a solid
kick to the man’s ribs, yet he didn’t seem to notice. He just kept
yanking and yanking, his lip curling as he redoubled his effort.
Kalei thought her arm would pop out of its socket any moment. Then
the bald man decided to take an interest and began crawling toward
the party.
Dammit!

Kalei looked back at Yanker and tried
to concentrate despite the constant jolt-jolt of the man’s
persistence. She reached in, ripped off a piece of darkness, and
shoved it down her arm. She pushed it out her hand, into the man’s
palms, and kicked him in the chest as it hit. She pulled her arm
free just in time to catch a tackle from Mr. Curious.

Kalei hit the ground hard, forcing the
air out of her lungs. The little girl’s screams became frenzied,
like a wild chimp, furious that her meal was trapped inside a glass
box.

The bald man had her
arm.
Shit!
Kalei’s control of the darkness had slipped in the attack,
and now she could feel a high racing up her arm from where he made
contact. Kalei severed the connection with all the darkness below
her shoulder, and, just like with the first man, she shoved it into
her attacker’s hands. As his head rolled back and a grin blossomed
on his face, Kalei pulled her arm away and struggled out from under
his weight.

A gunshot ripped through the alley.
Kalei looked up in time to see the little girl fall to the ground,
her brains splattered across the bricks of the cinema.

Kalei regained her feet and shouted at
Shenaia, “What the hell did you do!”

“
Wha’? She didn’ feel a
thing. She’ll be fine,” Shenaia said as she calmly holstered her
weapon.

Kalei closed the last few steps
between them and grabbed Shenaia by her shirt. “That wasn’t
necessary.”

The teenager grabbed Kalei’s hand and
shoved it off. “What’re you so worked up about? She was Estranged!
No harm done.”

Over Shenaia’s shoulder, Kalei could
see the little girl’s body crumpled against the wall, like a doll
propped up for teatime. The child’s delicate jaw hung open. A bead
of blood escaped from the red hole in her forehead and traced a
jagged path through the light layer of dirt on her ivory
skin.

Kalei said, “That doesn’t make it
right.”

Shenaia gave a harsh laugh. “What the
hell do you care? I thought you wanted all Estranged dead, Little
Miss High-and-Mighty.” Shenaia grabbed her left glove by the wrist
and peeled it off, then did the same for the right. “And what about
all that ‘highs are bad’ shit? Look at your guys!” She finished
removing her glove and pointed at the two men lying against the
theatre with wide grins on their faces. “They’re high as the
fucking moon! Don’t go preaching to me about what’s right, you
fucking hypocrite.”

Shenaia smacked the gloves against her
open palm and walked back across the parking lot.

CHAPTER TEN

Freedom

Kalei, Shenaia, Mar, and Erit sat in
the back of a windowless van, rocking back and forth with the
motion of the moving vehicle. The bleak interior with its two
benches reminded Kalei of the first time she had sat on the back
bumper of one of these vans, getting tested while she wondered how
much longer she would be keeping her job. So much time had gone by
since then, so much had happened... the incident felt more like a
dream than a memory.

They were on their way to their first
Call. Kalei sat next to Shenaia, and as she watched Mar grunt at
the straps of her helmet, nearly elbowing Erit when one of the
straps came loose, Kalei couldn’t help but wonder if this was a
good idea. They were still Estranged, all of them. Could a little
bit of training really change anything? Who knew what Mar had done
in her past? It wouldn’t surprise Kalei to learn that the old woman
had killed someone, Estranged or not. It made sense, back at the
hotel when Mar had said she was going to make things right. Maybe
she was trying to redeem herself for past crimes? Why else would
the old woman be so set on learning to suppress the
darkness?

But suppression was not erasure. Once
they were out in the city, it would be too easy for Mar to hurt
innocent people. Take away her weapon, tie one hand behind her
back; it wouldn’t matter. Mar was Estranged. Let her have her pinky
and she could wipe out an entire city block in the span of ten
minutes.

Kalei wasn’t sure she was ready for a
Call. There was too much at stake.

“
What the hell is a ‘Call’
anyway?” Shenaia blurted, breaking the silence.

Erit hadn’t explained much when they
left headquarters. He showed up at the Lounge and told them to suit
up, Terin had orders for the team to take their first Call. So they
did.

Irritated, Kalei saved
Erit the bother of explaining. “It’s when the police call SWORDE to
alert them—” Kalei glanced at Erit. “—to alert
us
to an incident involving
Estranged. The police will secure the area and wait for Wardens to
arrive.”

“
Precisely,” added Erit.
He leaned forward to address his students. “We will go in as a
four-man team, with me as the leader, of course—”

“
Shouldn’t you be
teaching?” Mar butted in.

Erit closed his eyes and took in a
deep breath, then he opened them and propped his right hand on his
knee as he told Mar, “There are plenty of people who can teach as
well as I. Terin has assigned me to lead your team, and so I shall.
Now, from what I understand, an Estranged has attacked the West
Hill apartment complex on Lake Street. The building has been
evacuated, although the occupants are in quarantine until we can
confirm that they are not Estranged.”

“
Is that really an issue?”
Kalei asked. “Some of them are victims, for Pete’s sake. Why make
the police coral them into pens like cattle if—”

“
Not every Estranged is a
blubbering zombie, as you well know. It is possible that the
attacker may be hiding among our victims, posing as an
Untouched.”

Kalei leaned back and diverted her
gaze to the rear doors. “Makes sense.”

Erit continued, “Our task today is to
locate the Estranged who attacked the complex, disable him or her,
and relocate them back to the Downtown District along with any
corpses. We must submit what bodies we find to the Containment and
Observatory Department to ensure that they do not decide to wake up
in the near future and become Estranged themselves. Now, any
further questions?”

Leader perhaps, but always
the teacher,
Kalei thought to
herself.

Kalei returned her attention to Erit
and asked, “Do we know for certain that just one Estranged is in
the complex?”

“
We do not.”

Shenaia scooted forward on her seat, a
big grin on her face as she said, “What if the guy is hot? Damn, I
love bad boys.” The van grew silent as the three other occupants
openly glared at her. Shenaia’s grin fell from her face as she
rolled her eyes. “Okay, alright, go back to your little policy-chat
or whatever you’re doing. Forget I said anything.”

Erit shook his head, then replied to
Kalei, “Reports are vague at best. You will find that with most any
Call. Once the word ‘Estranged’ gets out, panic tends to run
rampant among the witnesses, and the local police can offer very
little assistance from the sidelines.”