“But Natalie…aren’t you worried about her?”
“Maruska can take care of herself, Julia,” said Ghost, pausing to take a bite out her sandwich. She and the slightly younger brunette were sitting in the Chatrani food court, if you could call it that. The large, circular room didn’t seem so large when it was crammed with hundreds of people, most of them waiting impatiently in line for miserably small portions.
It was really more of a Cafeteria, but the term “food court” seemed so much more appealing, and carried with it a certain essence of what used to be considered normal in cities around the world.
“I wish you’d stop calling her Maruska—she has a first name, you know,” snapped Julia. The young woman wasn’t meaning to be rude, but one could only handle so much of Ghost’s cold demeanor. She sighed and lay her sandwich down on her plate, muttering something about losing her appetite.
Ghost raised her faux-blue eyes to meet Julia’s deep blue ones, and for a moment neither said a thing. “Okay, then. What do you want me to do? Convince her to quit the Nightriders? We both know that’s not possible.”
“Why? Why does it have to be impossible, Natalie?” Julia persisted. She glanced to the side, hoping Ghost wouldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes. “Damn it, why do you people have to be so stubborn? Nothing is worth risking your life over!”
Natalie shook her head and stared at the girl, who was so desperately naïve it was almost pathetic, but Ghost softened her tone when she spoke. “Julia, a lot of people wouldn’t agree with you on that. Maruska believes that her purpose is to protect this community. I happen to feel the same way, and that’s why I’m willing to risk my life.”
“Well it’s stupid!” Julia persisted, and several people looked over to see what the commotion was. Embarrassed, she lowered her voice. “Look, maybe I can’t…be as detached and as logical as you, Natalie, because I care about Evelina.”
Ghost raised an eyebrow.
“Not that you don’t,” Julia added quickly. “What I mean is…it’s not just because I care about her. It’s because I’m worried about her, you know? She’s been acting different lately. I think the job is getting to her. If anything, shouldn’t she at least have some time off?’
“Maruska would never go for that. You know that.” Ghost said matter-of-factly.
Julia pressed forward across the table, looking desperate for something to say, but there was nothing. She ran her fingers through her long, thick hair, pulling it back from her forehead and causing her eyebrows to lift slightly. Natalie tilted her head a bit and watched her friend struggling for words. All around them were the sounds of dishes clattering, people talking and laughing, and the smell of food cooking. Since there were no windows down here, steam filled the room to the point of slight discomfort.
“I don’t know what to say,” Julia confessed, standing up hastily, the flimsy orange chair scraping against the cement floor. “But I’m going to convince her, somehow, to stop before something terrible happens. As her friend, you should do the same.” With a resolute nod she turned and walked out of the room.
Ghost just shook her head and finished her meal in silence.
Just days later, Julia had been killed while following Evelina on a dangerous mission. Natalie, sitting alone in her room, couldn’t stop thinking about it. The eerily prophetic statement of Julia’s parting words turned over in Natalie’s mind. She kept wondering if she should have listened to Julia, asked Golem to give Evelina some time off, even locked her in her room if necessary…anything to get that woman to take a break. Or perhaps she could have talked to Julia, found out her plans, and convinced her not to do anything stupid.
But I shrugged her off, and she died…if I had listened to her, she might still be alive, and Evelina would be her old self again. Natalie, who was hardly accustomed to feeling guilt, found herself quite uncomfortable with these second thoughts she was having, and had been having difficulty sleeping. Julia had seemed so…innocent. All she wanted was for everyone to get along and for no one to get hurt. But that wasn’t the real world. That wasn’t possible; Ghost had tried to tell her. And she still, in part, believed that.
Still, Julia’s words, and her covert attempt to stop Evelina, were undeniably haunting. The corruption of her innocence, her purity, her goodwill, in yet another senseless conflict of revenge had left Ghost with many questions. One being if there was any good left in the world at all; another being, Is this really worth it? For now, she had to believe that it was.
These thoughts were becoming more and more common for Natalie; the worms, the flies, and the vultures of reason were coming to prey on the corpse of the ugly truth, as it grew more putrid by the day.
“Yo, sweetheart…Natalia,” interrupted a familiar voice.
At the very sound of that voice Natalie Stanford cringed, swiveling around in her chair to face the doorway. “Yes?” she replied in the iciest tone she could manage.
It was Killswitch, a fellow Nightrider in name only, as far as many were concerned. He leaned casually in the doorway with his arms crossed, ubiquitous cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth along with a poorly concealed smirk.
“Is that the best you can do?” he chided, looking forlorn. The cigarette wagged as he talked, threatening to ash on his shirt, but somehow he always kept that from happening. “You could at least pretend to be glad to see me.”
“I’m not here to reinforce your delusions, Killswitch,” she said bluntly. His green eyes widened in mock surprise. “And unless you have something important to tell me, I recommend you leave...immediately. Your very livelihood may depend on it.”
“May, hmm?” said Killswitch, his face turning dangerously serious. He took a few steps toward her. “Perhaps I should take my chances then, my dear.” Natalie stared at him, incredulous. She and the fiery-haired Russian had never gotten along, and that was…an understatement. When Natalie had traveled from London with Evelina and first joined the Nightriders, Killswitch had made the “friendly” gesture of grabbing her ass and joking about having “never felt up an Albino chick before.” Although that had resulted in his week-long incapacitation, his behavior only worsened.
I’m not gonna let him get to me, she though fiercely, and promised herself not to show the slightest sign of discomfort. Thus she remained expressionless, as usual, and tilted her head to look blandly at the swaggering man before her. “So…do you have something of vital importance to tell me or not?”
The shit-eating grin on his face was unbearable. Dropping his cigarette carelessly on the floor, Killswitch took a few slow strides toward the desk where Ghost was sitting, resting his hand on its worn surface. She glanced from his hairy knuckles up to his looming, angular face, inches away, and their eyes met. Killswitch, although an excellent fighter in his own right, was nonetheless tempting fate with this maneuver, and he knew it.
“Why are you here?” Ghost asked coolly. Her arm, which had been lying casually at her side, slipped a few inches beneath the chair without notice.
“Does that really matter?” Killswitch smirked. “Well, I must say, to have not broken eye contact yet is…commendable on your part. After all, it must really suck to be reminded of your own inadequacy.”
“Wow, that’s the way to go,” Ghost replied tiredly. She was really getting fed up with his unconscionable behavior. “When you can’t get a girl to like you, you end up having to force yourself on her, and when, surprise of surprises, she still doesn’t like you, it’s gotta be her fault, right?” Natalie couldn’t resist an eye roll. “Give it up, jackass, and tell me why you’re here. If leering at me is your only reason, you had better get out, now.” Without a sound she had removed her trusty switchblade from her boot and now had the blade firmly pressed against the inside of his thigh.
Taken aback, the redhead shot her a nasty look before heading toward the door. He had taken a step into the hallway when he seemed to remember something, then said casually, “Oh yeah. Your friend Eve and that mercenary woman took off, I’m sure they’re gone by now. Thought you might want to know.” With one last wicked grin he was gone.
* * *
Within minutes Natalie had made her way across the vast underground complex toward the security station, which was maintained by the Nightriders and monitored by various Chatrani workers.
She strode into the rather small, dimly lit room. The lack of overhead lighting was more than made up for by a dozen or so television sets—in color, nonetheless—displaying various parts of the huge complex. At least half of the cameras had been trained on the community’s invaluable light crops.
The first thing Natalie observed was the two Chatrani currently watching the monitors were both on their feet, clearly agitated about something. As she stepped into the room, one could be clearly heard to say, “Look, I wasn’t gonna shoot Evelina Maruska. Not on your life, buddy.”
“What about Maruska?” Ghost asked calmly. Inside she felt a whirl of panic, but she’d spent the whole jog over here trying to suppress her nerves. The young man looked embarrassed, and the older guard, who had been speaking, shot him an accusing glare.
“It’s just, uh, you see…” stammered the young man.
He was interrupted when the door opened behind Ghost and in walked Golem, Vesper, and their latest hire, a Palestinian man named Ren. Golem, in all his seven-foot-tall glory, looked positively distraught. He was frowning and his eyes appeared small and watery. A moment later Killswitch slipped through the door.
“What happened?” asked Marcus, looking from the security guards to Ghost, who shrugged, and back to the guards. “Did Evelina and Marena really leave? Coz if they did, you know…I dunno…I feel like it’s my fault.”
“Yeah, Marcus, they did leave,” said the older man, who was called Eagle Eye for obvious reasons. He was excellent at spotting anything even remotely odd with security. “There wasn’t anythin’ we could do. Although Pete here seems to think it woulda been a brilliant idea to kill those two ladies, I figured, we just had to let them go.”
“Only following protocol, Marcus,” said Pete anxiously. He turned to address the Nightriders. “Let it be known that as soon as we…made our decision…the proper notification steps were taken.”
“How long ago was it?” asked Vesper, finding his voice. “Maybe we can go after them?”
“’Bout fifteen minutes ago—“ said Eagle Eye, at the same time that Killswitch and Golem exclaimed in unison, “No,” and “I don’t think so.”
“Why the hell not?” asked Ghost, putting her hands on her hips. “Maruska is my best friend.”
“Hey, I know I just got here, but…you guys barely know this Marena person,” added Ren. “What if Evelina is in some sort of danger?”
“No,” said Ghost. “I know her. There’s no way she’d let herself be tricked. Especially not by some new girl.”
“Hey, she’s all right in my book,” Golem said testily. “Would I have hired her otherwise?”
“You’ll hire any filth that gets carried in with the wind,” said Killswitch hotly, glaring at Marcus.
Golem fumed. “By the way, you two,” he said, addressing the security guards. “Why was this guy notified before I was?”
“Uh, because I happen to be in charge of security, Golem,” said Killswitch. “Or have you been so lax in your leadership you just completely forgot about that?”
Golem looked like he was about to attack, and sensing danger, Vesper stepped not in front of him but Killswitch. “Hey, back off. It hasn’t been an easy time, and Golem’s been doing his best.” Vesper, as with the other Nightriders, was fiercely loyal to Golem, who had helped so many of them when they had nowhere else to turn.
“Hey, Marcus, I’m real sorry. And if it’s any help, I’ve always been damned grateful to ya and the Nightriders,” said Eagle Eye, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, which looked rather amusing as the short, fat man could barely reach it. Natalie observed this, and for the moment, she felt secure and proud in her role as a guardian of the Chatrani.
“But we really need to get back to work now,” Pete interjected. He had been watching the monitors since discussion had began, and he was clearly frustrated with the lot of them.
“Of course, guys, sorry about that,” said Golem quickly. Five pairs of feet shuffled out the door and down the clanging metal steps.
“I’m not just going to sit around here, totally clueless…” muttered Natalie, walking briskly ahead of the others down the hallway.
“Natalie, we can’t lose anyone else right now, do you understand?” Marcus nearly shouted, rushing up beside her. “Natalie…”—she stopped and stared at him—“Don’t go, please. It’s not safe out there, they—they could have gone anywhere.”
“Marcus, you feel guilty, don’t you?” she asked. Flustered, he nodded. “Well I feel guilty, too. I should have seen this coming…that she’d get fed up with this kind of life…”
“There was nothing more you could have done to comfort her,” said Killswitch, who along with Vesper and Ren had caught up to Ghost.
“What would you know about sympathy?” she snapped. Turning back to Golem, she declared, “I’m going after them, Marcus. Please understand. We just lost Julia.” Marcus winced. “Kaori ran off as well. Maruska was the one who brought me here in the first place. I owe it to her to be worried, Marcus. I owe it to her to help her out.”
“She left with a total stranger,” said Ren, sighing. “Assuming she did so willingly, don’t you think she didn’t tell you for a reason?”
That proposal hit Natalie like a kick in the stomach, and she clenched her jaw in frustration, seeing sympathy and also determination on Marcus’ face. “You owe it to the Chatrani to stay here and protect them, Natalie. Which, for whatever reason, Evelina feels she can’t do right now. Just let her figure things out. We need you here, now more than ever.”
Ghost sighed. Had Evelina really…ditched her? Such a silly phrase, she thought, but I feel like a fourth-grader whose best friend just ditched her for the new kid.
After a tense moment, Natalie said bluntly, “I’m going. Unless you plan to have me shot, Marcus, I’m going after them.”
“Well, this isn’t a prison,” said Golem dejectedly, “And although I’m disappointed, I guess I understand where you’re coming from. I'll let security know that you’re leaving.” Everyone chose to ignore an exasperated sound coming from Killswitch, who muttered a few obscenities and proceeded to storm off.
“I’m going to pack a few things,” said Natalie.
When she arrived at the cargo lift about a half hour later, she was rather surprised to see Vesper standing there waiting for her with a suitcase of his own. The Chinese-American man looked at her with a nervous, tight-lipped smile. “I’ve been asked to escort you,” he announced, looking almost worried for his life. “Marcus, uh…thought it would be the best thing, if Ren stayed behind to protect the Chatrani, and if I went along with you. For safety’s sake.”
“Safety’s sake, huh?” Ghost repeated, repressing a laugh. As much as she felt amusement, or sadness, or any other strong emotion, it was her instinct to keep it locked up inside. Even though the Chatrani had accepted her with open arms, always in the back of her mind were the haunting words: Different. Freak. Weirdo. These were the words her insensitive parents and cruel peers had inflicted upon Natalie growing up because of her pale skin and crimson eyes, and those words had left scars no eyes could see.
She looked at Vesper and nodded, understanding how Marcus reached this decision. He’s always been like a father to me, she thought. So it makes sense.
“Well then, milady, shall we go?” said Vesper, extending his hand. She playfully ignored it but made sure to bump into him--probably a bit too hard, as he stumbled back a few feet--as she stepped onto the cargo lift.
“Let’s,” she said anxiously as Vesper closed the iron gate behind them and they began the slow ascent to the surface.
* * *
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