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Mirrorsmoke Company
- Prologue -[]
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Somewhere in the outskirts of Albany City
New Oslo System, Draconis Combine
3018
It was already past 1 AM when I heard the sound of feet slowly shuffling down the bedroom hall. Someone who was careful; who knew that the floorboards creaked louder in the middle so they stuck by the walls.
Those same footsteps finally reached the end of the hall, step after step near silent except for the sound of shoes meeting the stone cold floor. It was here I turned my flashlight on, right towards his face, and the surprise on him gave me a vicious grin. In most cases, I would have been laughing at this, but instead it just made me belligerently angry.
It was Logan, ever the stray cat. He had a bag on his back, his one and only arm clumsily trying to pick the lock out of the only windows not barred from the outside.
See, I knew he was up to something when he avoided the other kids the entire day. The minute I let him out of my sight, the moment I thought I could actually rest on my laurels for just a second, he does this shit.
"Hundsen," he said, and nodded at me as he unlocked it, creaking open the window to the outside world. The crisp and cool air of the New Oslo night crept inside, but all that did was raise my temper even more. "I can explain–"
"...Are you insane?" I hissed, a little louder than I should have, given the hour. "Are you really doing this now, of all times?"
He didn't answer. All he did was stare at me, his hand caught in the cookie jar.
"Fuck," came out of me in defeat. It was really happening this time. One of my palms found themselves on top of my head as all anger just dissipated out of me like a balloon deflating.
I could never describe Logan as the type to mesh well in a unit, he'd always been the nail the minders have desperately been trying to hammer down. I was surprised that they even kept him. All this time I had known this crafty little brat, he had never been one to cry when his entire world upended like it did. Like all of ours did.
No, getting caught stealing and losing an arm was what broke him.
"I'm sick of this place, Dav," he said, "sick of the fucking torture."
I didn't even have an answer. I wouldn't. If I was any other loyal citizen of the Combine; someone who partook of the brain rot that the minders kept spouting at us, I would have comforted him. As the oldest of all the kids, the big brother, I would have wrapped this kid into my arms, and squeezed as hard as I could.
I would have whispered to him lies. I would have shared the poison.
"I just want food that don't make me sick," he squeaked. Thirteen years old, but the whites of his eyes had an edge of desperation I'd only seen in my father's last moments. Haunting. It took all I could just to be able to look at him without flinching away. "A roof over my head that doesn't leak when it rains, or walls that keep the cold away."
"And you think you can get that going outside of this shithole, with the Combine's minders on our asses?" I growled, careful not to get too loud. "And what about us? What do you think is going to happen when the other kids find out you bailed, when Kristin finds out you ran away?"
He looked away, towards the window. "...Kristin can handle herself. They can all handle themselves. They don't need a cripple to weigh them down."
I scoffed, "Bullshit and you know it, Stray. We can handle it, because we're all that we have. A family–a goddamn pack!"
"It's selfish, I realize that, but we both know what's going to happen to us, to all of us, later down the line, right? At the end of it all?"
I wasn't stupid. The only reason we even got the chance to live was for the possibility of wiping the stain off our parents' shame. I knew the trap; that the Combine deprived us of even the barest decency. A trick of the mind; Logan called it brainwashing, and I agreed. They kept us starving for affection, for humanity, so that when the time came to recruit us, they could use that starvation–that need–to keep us all in line like good little slaves.
I realized I was afraid of saying it out loud, the silence between us giving way to the unspoken truth.
The fate of all of the children here. All of us, whose parents have wronged the Combine in some way. Forced to train, to be perfect soulless soldiers for the Kurita war machine. Broken down only to be rebuilt over and over again. All for the chance of dying for a meaningless a word as atonement. I had one more year before they came knocking for me.
And I didn't know if I could resist that velvet glove at the door.
"I don't want to be here," he said, breaking the silence. "I don't want to be leashed by the people that tortured us. Fucked with us."
"Where would you even go?"
"Anywhere but here."
I scowled. "I'm serious, Logan. Do you at least have a plan?"
Losing his arm only made him more and more like a feral animal. I could hardly believe this was the same kid that got us food when the minders punished us over nothing; when the times were lean in New Oslo, he would be the one who would hunt birds with a slingshot or forage outside the city walls.
"Of course I do." He sighed, unaware of my thoughts. He pulled his backpack down to the ground, his arm rummaging inside for a few seconds before pulling out a Vid-Phone, one of unknown make and design.
The same Vid-Phone that cost him, when the minders thought he stole it from someone.
"How the hell did you get that back?" I asked. He then turned the thing on, and tossed it to me. It was heavy, and looked like a military device rather than a civilian's. Built more like a brick too, rather than something that could fit into someone's pockets.
The screen flashed nothing but neon green text that I couldn't make heads or tails of, filled with nonsensical code and terminology. At the bottom however, were a set of numbers and letters jumbled together.
Coordinates.
"...I have my ways," he said, his brown eyes avoiding my blue. "Not the first time they thought they finally kept me in line."
"You're lucky they didn't just kill you." I countered. That errant twitch, the way he stilted. I caught the lie easily. More and more questions kept piling up. Questions I couldn't ask without him clamming up. So he had a destination, but I wasn't entirely satisfied...
"That's it?" I said, "What, you're just going to a place you have no idea how to get to, much less know how far, and hope for the best? Ain't much of a plan."
"It's different, okay?" He pulled the bag onto his shoulders. "But it's a way out. I have to take it."
I crossed my arms. "You're a lot of things, Stray, but you've never been one to gamble. This? This is a gamble. What if it's just some convoluted ploy to get at your organs?"
He started prying the window fully open, pushing his legs over the windowsill. The wind outside was practically howling, despite the calm spring season.
"Look, I have my suspicions as to what it is. Best case? Someplace safe. Worst case? Well, it won't be your problem anymore."
That's what I was afraid of. All I could do was pinch the bridge of my nose. I couldn't stop him, not really. I didn't have that right. Had I been in his shoes, if I had the guarantee of safety for these kids I'd have made everybody come with me.
"...Not even going to ask if I wanted to come with you?" I asked eventually, more for levity. I couldn't bear to say goodbye.
He stopped to look at me, rolled his eyes and snorted, "You wouldn't have, Hundsen. You're too loyal to the kids."
"Then fine. Fuck off," I said. Damn right, Stray. "...They're going to miss you, you know that, right?"
"I know, but it'll pass," he said. Probably more to himself than he realizes. As flighty as Logan was, when the chips were down he was there for all of us, he just didn't like showing it. "Besides, the kids need you. Kristin's gonna be fucking pissed."
"Oh absolutely, she'll tear you a new one if she ever gets her hands on you." My hand clasped his shoulder, briefly. It was all I could do to keep myself from tearing up. "Good luck out there."
He looked at me one last time, a small moment of indecision and uncertainty on his face as he took the biggest leap of his life. Then, a smug smirk, the same one he always had when a scam was running along nicely.
He jumped down, landing neatly like the goddamn cat that he was, and ran towards his freedom. It didn't take long for the darkness to engulf him, the rustling of the trees muffling his footsteps on the grass. I couldn't even make his silhouette in the horizon now.
I closed the window and put the lock back on. Every step felt like the creaking floorboards got louder and louder, as I headed for bed. But I knew sleep wouldn't come for me, not after this.
I'd be staring at the ceiling, counting down the hours, knowing I'd just sent a brother to his death.
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