Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny

By: Piper Bartsch

This is my first ever novel. I wrote it over the course of my freshman and sophomore years of high school between 2021 and 2022. It took me just about a year.

An Office Worker Of Little Consequence

The man across from him smiled pathetically, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and pinched the lit end with his calloused and sad fingers. He coughed briefly, sending a plume of foul-smelling smoke out to contaminate the air, and began to speak. His words seemed duller and softer as they bounced off the rough, soulless, industrial walls. The man looked at the small succulent on the outside right corner of the desk. 

“Lucky you,” he said meekly. “I just tend to kill plants. I always wanted a room littered with them, y’know? Plants and books. Gotta have both.” He had a rather thick East Coast accent. Something that had gotten close to extinction after the state invaded the coasts so, so long ago. “I was brought up in a house like that. Before my parents didn’t love each other and their bastard son wasn’t enough to keep them from blurting that fact out in the other’s face. The living room had dozens of plants everywhere, and a big window in the back that let in loads of light to shine through the leaves and turn the place green. There were comfortable couches too, three I think. Sitting on one of those felt like settling into a cloud. Man, I love it even without the nostalgia. I’ve always tried to get myself a room like that again. Plants seem to die around me though, there’s not much I can do. Not my talent.”

He lit another cigarette and took a long drag. The inhale turned into an exhale which turned into a shaky deep sigh. 

“I…..I know you gotta kill me. I’m from the coast, I came all the way out here, and you’ve got the coat. The one the FEDs all wear…. Can you at least make it fast? Please?” He almost started to cry but managed to cover it by hoarsely clearing his throat.

The other man looked down at his coat. Deep blue with bright yellow letters on the side explaining where he worked and that he was armed. In reality, though, he was not armed at all.

“Yeah. Sure,” the other man choked out through the smoke that now clouded his workspace. He reached into one of the drawers in his bleak metal desk and pulled out a small, light, blue cylindrical object. A euthanizer. He depressed a button on its side and it beeped once, twice, and finally three times. “Hold still? Ok?” It was cold both in his hand and against the damned man’s forehead. Briefly, it quivered as the condemned man sniffled. 

He didn’t hear any response, only the small metallic clunk of the needle sliding quickly out and back in. The man in the chair across from him was pulled down onto the top of the metal desk by the weight of his head with a clunk. Then he was quickly pulled to the carpeted floor by the rest of his body with a dull thump. The small stream of blood that trickled from his forehead seeped into the ground beneath the body. A cleaner would come to pick him up later and throw him down one of the chutes in the back. 

It was a tough job. A job that never got any less tough. After three years of working the same job, he still got sick to his stomach every time he had to put someone down or smoke someone out of their home just to put them down later. He missed his job selling weapons to the state. At least there he didn’t see the people die.

“Hey, Jake.” A woman he worked with was trying to get his attention. She shifted her weight onto her left foot and used her right to nudge the dead man on the floor further away from her. “You doing ok buddy? You’ve, uh, been staring dead ahead for a minute or two now. Want me to get a cleaner? Or a medic for you?” She emphasized the word dead cruelly.

Jake, right, that was his name. It had been for almost thirty three years, going on the big double three. He forgot who he was for a minute. Watching a man’s skull being punctured by something sitting right in his own hand tended to do that to him, without fail, every time.

The woman’s name was Kate. She was three years older than Jake and had worked with the feds ten years longer. There were a few other differences between them. For example, Kate was a woman, Kate seemed to have a stomach for putting people down, Kate’s cubicle was decorated with vividly colored patriotic posters and pictures of her family, and Kate was heterosexual.

She was normal, as people called it. She didn’t break the rules. The rules Jake tried to obey whenever he could, and right now he had an opportunity. Kate was unmarried, she never had been, and she was coming close to the age when all women had to either wed or submit themselves to a work camp so as not to be a burden. She was looking for a partner and both of them knew it. The way she tried to get as close to Jake as possible wasn’t exactly subtle. And it wasn’t subtle to Jake that he had a fragrant distaste for such an action.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you, Kate.” He looked briefly up at her, flashed a sheepish grin, and looked down at his logbook where he pretended to scribble something down. In reality, he just traced his gray pencil in circles a few times and wrote down some nonsense words. Kate noticed this immediately. 

“Ok then.” She frowned and looked away from his mindless scribbling. “Do you at least want to catch a drink after your shift today? You never have any fun, I want to help.” Much of that was lies.

“No thanks.” His tone had shifted from the lighthearted way he spoke to coworkers and the enforcers to a more serious and deeper one. He hoped Kate would take the hint, or at least begin to take the hint. 

“Alright Jake, you win.” She threw her hands up in defeat. “I’ll leave you to it.” With that, she waddled back to her desk. The government-mandated Dignity Dress she wore didn’t allow for much movement at all, Jake had heard they were a nightmare to work or walk in. They were.

All around his office Jake saw similar situations unfolding. Men and women alike tried their best to flirt with coworkers while still staying within the “decency in the workplace under God” laws that had been put in place decades ago. The first ones had gone into effect only a few years ago after a media influencer had openly expressed attraction to a female coworker. The man ended up paying her a quarter of a million dollars, more than a year’s salary, for defamation. Jake smirked as he remembered that monumental court case. The judge had called the media influencer an affront to The Lord’s good nature.

“He got off easy.” He sang under his breath to the tune of a childhood warning song he couldn’t recall the name of. Really, by the current standards at least, that man had. Nowadays a man would have to forgo his salary for two years and work in a labor camp for half a year if he so much as looked at a female coworker for too long. These cases were rare, out of fear alone, but when they happened the perpetrator often simply died. A woman would get double the regular punishment. And anyone would immediately be shipped off to God knows where if their victim happened to be of the same sex. It wasn’t a lesson you were supposed to better yourself by. Jake had gotten close to some severe punishment before, but the most that ever happened was a hefty fine.

“Oh fuck!” Jake suddenly shouted. After getting lost in thought he had started to stare at his feet and ignore his paperwork. Then his eyes wandered and settled on the still leaking body lying just before him. He had completely forgotten about the dead man he had personally put down just a few minutes ago. He had also unfortunately forgotten his employer’s policy on expletives. He would most certainly have his pay halved for a week because of this outburst. The walls did have ears after all.

The 9-9

An hour and a half after the body had unceremoniously slammed itself from desk to floor the cleaner approached Jake. He seemed to appear from nowhere. Although in reality nowhere was the break room about ten cubicles away and this particular cleaner was just a very quiet person. 

“Hey, 0916.” Jake jolted upright at the sound of his ID number. No one called him that, only his higher ups. The cleaner lifted his tinted face shield and looked down to Jake with what felt like the most pretentious smirk ever let loose in an office building. He genuinely believed using Jake’s ID number was the funniest joke he ever told. “Finally got yourself a new lover, you deviant?” With this remark, the cleaner dragged the body along the floor with his heel. Then he cackled, choked on his spit for a second, coughed without covering his mouth one bit, and cleared his throat.

The cleaner didn’t know Jake’s preferences, as it were, of course. They were just joking. Yet in that one moment between the end of the word lover and the sharp screech of the laugh, Jake was more alert and terrified than he had ever been. His eyes went wide, his hair stood on end, and his throat closed. Jake placed one of his hands over his eyes and the other around his throat. Luckily the cleaner was so engrossed with his joking and choking that he didn’t notice.

“Yeah,” Jake quickly looked back up to the cleaner’s name tag, “Gary. That’s a good one.” Jake forced a weak chuckle out of himself. It felt like acid coursing its way up and out of his throat. Upon contact with the outside world, it died immediately. Gary barely even heard it, he thought he was just hearing things. “Gary, can you just get him out of here?” Jake pointed towards the dead man who now had Gary’s heel stuffed into his mouth.

“Him?” Gary laughed again, although this time he managed to avoid choking. “Him! Jake,” he said, finally using Jake’s name and not number, “that thing doesn’t legally count as human. Jake,” Gary slammed his heel farther into the dead man’s mouth with a sickening crunch. “Jake, that thing died for a reason.”

Jake stuck the tip of his thumb between his teeth and started chewing quickly. He moved his other hand down to his side and scratched at his jeans even quicker. “Gary move the body,” he hissed under his breath.

“What was that? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over that thumb you’re sucking on.”

Jake’s left hand flew away from his mouth and slapped down onto his desk. The tips of a few fingers landed in still drying blood stains near the edges where the thing’s head had cracked open on them. “Gary for God’s sake can you please just do your job and move the body?” Right as he finished his sentence the small poster of the ten commandments lit it up around the fourth commandment.

The cleaner sent his hands flying down to his pockets and took a step back. “Hey! You aren’t superior to me you little rodent. ! You can’t tell me what to do!” Ironically, as he sneered and jumped away from Jake, Jake could see the face of a sewer rat that ran past him one day in the city as a boy. He was less scared of this new one. Jake did not respond.

Gary squinted hard down his nose at Jake. “Alright, whatever.” His hands slid back out his pockets and then down to the shoulders of the dead thing whose blood had finally dried. Gary pulled the thing away from the viscera encrusted desk with a few grunts. By the time he had passed around the corner and out of Jake’s sight, Jake began to shake and exhale violently. No one heard, or no one paid any attention at least. Their shifts all ended in three hours, and they weren’t paid to coddle their coworkers. What’s more, it was probably in their best interest to keep their heads down and look away from any signs of mental fragility until the clock struck nine.

So Jake spent the rest of his workday quietly shunned by his peers. He sat in almost complete silence, occasionally broken by the quiet clacking of a keyboard or stifled coughing of someone who had no choice but to come into work sick. He scribbled nonsense on his notebook again for most of the time, but every once in a while he would do some actual work. Then, the workday ended and Jake went home.

He spent his late evening having his oven cook some chicken for him as he went through the rest of his nightly routine. Showering, shaving any hair that even dared to show its face on his chin, watching his favorite T.V. shows about famous wars his country had won, and sitting alone at his dining room table to eat whatever dinner was that night. His home was full of a depressing stale air, and empty of anyone to speak to.

The next day he did everything he normally did all over again. Wake up, shower, shave again, watch T.V. as the food cooks itself, go to work, eat lunch, euthanize, complain to Gary, turn down Kate, look up to see there were only three hours of work left. Jake soon began to believe he did not very much enjoy his daily routine. This was all but confirmed to him when he looked down and noticed that, to his disgust, the carpeting in his cubicle had become so stained over the years it was now completely coated in a thick layer of maroon despite Gary’s worst efforts at cleaning. The carpet used to be teal.

Jake whittled away two hours very slowly. He took a few calls from grieving families and monotonically told them he had made the right decisions for his country. Then he spent ten minutes staring at his hands, this was noticed and his pay was fined heavily for wasting his country’s time. Jake didn’t react when he was alerted of this. Finally, there was one hour left of work. Jake managed to make good use of it and arranged the next day’s euthanization. Briefly, he wondered if he would ever run out of people to euthanize.

First Impressions

An hour and ten minutes later Jake found himself on a very dark sidewalk lined by hundreds of shops and uninhabited homes with very dark windows. His walk home went by a rough part of town. It was a part of town people like him weren’t supposed to travel to. The poor, the junkies, the last of the colored, and the outed resided there, usually right until they were dragged away with a bag over their head. He pulled his dark navy coat closer around himself. The word “FED” had been embroidered cheaply on the back in large golden letters. Underneath that, another line read, “Jake Kim” in smaller and equally as gold text. The coat made Jake feel safer than any hypothetical gun he didn’t have.

The houses surrounding Jake stared down at him with their empty eyes. The wind blew through them and howled down at Jake. The weather was so severe nowadays, though it didn’t bother him anymore. The concrete and brick he walked over matched the houses, run down and covered in dirt. Jake instinctively held his arms and shoulders closer to himself. It was a pathetic attempt to become physically smaller. Despite his shrinking gambit he soon felt eyes stuck to the back of his head. The eyes were deep purple, bright, and almost seven feet in the air. As he made his way slowly down the cracked streets Jake could see the gaze piercing the night. Those eyes that could only accompany a wide Cheshire grin then made their way out of the darkness, around the corner of a run-down alleyway, and stopped about fifty feet behind Jake. Within three seconds the figure coughed, Jake froze and began to tear up at the thought of what he assumed was his imminent death, and the distance between the two decreased by forty-three feet without a sound. Jake picked up his pace and so did the figure. Jake didn’t even stop to think about how someone could travel forty feet in only three seconds so easily and so quietly.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end like the lines of soldiers he had seen parade through the streets in front of his childhood home and then later worked for. His heart began to pound with such force his ears rang. His bones ached and tried to jump out of his body and away from whatever was stalking Jake. His vision went blurry behind the tears. Whenever he glanced over his shoulder to get a view of what was following him his panic only grew more.

Jake felt like screaming, but he looked down at the blinking light on his belt and realized it wasn’t the best idea. He already had an infraction for the day, as he had sworn at Gary again. Getting two within twelve hours wasn’t a great plan. He used to have a neighbor who had received three infractions in one day. The house across from Jake’s was empty now.

At that point, and at all previous points as well, Jake had been an average man. His face and voice were soft and smooth but of completely no note. He appeared normal and as Caucasian as possible, as he was supposed to. He was five foot eight and he wore the tracker belt he was given plus the tracker chip in his arm that he had been told he volunteered for when he was born. He wore a sweater when it got cold and a t-shirt when it warmed back up. He had no physical or mental defects of issue, and, because of this, no enhancements. Those were rather taboo in the GNA. Especially around where he lived, such a wealthy neighborhood. They were more common in those so-called degenerate states just past the eastern coast and the poor ones to the south. His hair, which was often in a crew cut, and eyes were dark brown, and his opinions on his corporation and government were very positive. None of this mattered to the figure as it extended an arm that briefly shone from just above the elbow and down like a new car’s hood in the moonlight. Yet all of it crammed into the front of Jake’s mind at the same moment. He briefly considered that his life was incredibly boring and that he was about to die having lived completely uneventfully and unhappily. Then the figure placed its cold hand on Jake’s shoulder. It grabbed a hold of his coat roughly and spoke.

“Hey man-” was all it could get out in a voice like a machine being murdered. Jake had already begun to scream. The thing’s other hand, the one that didn’t shine and wasn’t on a shoulder, shot up to the screaming mouth and clasped it shut. The one hand nearly wrapped all the way around Jake’s head. Jake then began to cry a little. “Oh, Jesus fucking christ,” The figure said. If Jake’s eyes hadn’t been full of tears he would have noticed that no light went off on the figure’s belt to warn them for their profanity. “I’m not here to mug you, or to shoot you, or whatever you thought it was. Can you quiet down?” The hand over Jake’s mouth moved away very slowly.

Jake stifled a second scream and instead spoke with a voice that almost blew away in the light breeze. “Whu-whu-what do you want from me?”

He was mostly scared by the situation and the random appearance of the figure. But the figure’s voice only rattled him more. It was juvenile and carefree yet sardonic. It had a twinge of an east coast accent. It still had an electric undertone. To Jake, it sounded like death’s voice.

“For you to just shut the fuck up, man.” Again, no light on the belt. The figure waited, its hands were both now at its sides. “Alright?” Jake nodded as fast as he could. “Alright, ok so here’s the thing…we know you’re a deviant.”

Jake shot backward, now free of the steely grip of the shadowed man or woman he was free to move as he pleased. Between the time when his feet left the ground and when they touched back down again, which was less than a second in reality, he heard the word “Deviant” shoot through his head hundreds of times. The sharp T at the end seemed to cut deeper and deeper into him each time it rang out. He was sure the figure was just like him, a FED. Maybe an agent had followed him home, waited outside, and heard him talk to himself. Jake had heard stories about that. Whether or not they were propaganda didn’t really matter. Jake was surely about to be dragged away with a sack on his head and a sock in his mouth.

When Jake landed he landed under the strikingly bright light of the nearest street lamp. The figure approached him again, stepping closer towards the light. As it slid across the ground its feet clacked against the hard concrete. The beat of the feet seemed to briefly sync up with Jake’s heart. Then, with massive, thundering footsteps like rolling tides, it entered the light and revealed itself to be seen.

Intimidation

It turned out that the figure was a human after all. Its left arm was chrome plated, or maybe it was chrome all the way through. It wore a long coat that was so long it almost crossed the pavement with the figure’s feet. The letter Z had been shaved into the side of its head. The other side of its hair was long, down to the shoulders, and bright orange. Its eyes were a pastel-like purple color and they shone even when under the bright light. Jake couldn’t discern the gender of it at all. It towered over Jake, it was almost a foot and a half taller than him. Its shoulders were broad but no other features showed any type of gender. Most importantly, in the hand that was still wrapped in flesh, it held the oblong object Jake had used to remove the east coaster earlier. Whatever it was, it reminded Jake of the distasteful “punks” he had learned about in his history class. Dead enemies of the country akin to the ancient “yankees” he had also been taught of. Jake also noticed, to his intense confusion, that it wasn’t caucasian. Its skin was tan, which was a worrying sight for him.

“Oh-oh god.” Jake began to pray in his head. “L-look I don’t know whu-what you heard, but I’m no queer.” He tried to push his chest out with his lie, hoping it would make him appear more convincing.

“Yeah…” The figure spoke, nearly laughing. “Yeah you are, so am I.”

Easy Come Easy Go

With its free hand, the figure snatched at Jake’s arm. In one swift motion, the euthanizer was placed on Jake’s bicep. This was a perspective Jake had never experienced before. He had held the small machine to people’s heads before, but to feel the rough metal of the tooth inside pressed against his skin sent waves of a dull and shallow feeling through his gut. What’s more, this euthanizer was clearly heavily used. At least those put down in the office got to look up at a pretty little trinket before it bore into their brain. Then, with the signature electric whir of a motor that was dying, the tooth shot out and back in. The pain was shockingly brief, like an electric shock from inside the skin it struck in an instant but with enough force to cause Jake’s whole body to shake. When the tooth flew back out of Jake it was carrying a small tracker chip on its end. The chip that was previously in Jake’s arm fell off the tooth and clattered almost silently to the ground below.

“What the hell did you just do to me!” Jake screamed, accompanied by his weak punches falling against the figure’s chest. Jake’s hands rang out in a pain similar to the hole in his arm. He had never thrown a punch before. Jake also thought he heard the figure’s chest ring slightly.

“Well, I think it’s time you learned my name.” The figure laughed. “It’s Xye. Xye Arlott. Pronounced like the letter Z, written like a man had a stroke. Spelled X-Y-E.” Xye tapped the letter in question that was marked on their head and let out a hearty laugh at their joke. In his sheer confusion Jake almost missed the name, to be fair he had just been punctured and his chip had been removed. 

His chip hadn’t been outside his body since three seconds after he was born. It was him, it was how his company and government, (things which were almost the same thing, save for a few foreign investors), found him and paid him. Without it, he quite literally could not survive in this world, as it was used to buy his food and water. Realizing this Jake stopped his fruitless attempts at hurting who he now knew as Xye and instead turned his attention to snatching at his chip on the ground.

As he scrambled for the blood-soaked American chip on the concrete, Jake shouted up at Xye, “What even are you?”

“I’m Xye. We’ve been over this….Alright, see ya.,” Xye said, cool and organic. Then gave a quick salute and turned on their heels. Jake saw none of this as his eyes were focusing on his fingers desperately trying to shove the sparking chip back into the hole it had been flung out of. By the time his tears had dried and he had stood back up Xye was long gone. Jake let out a weak whimper and went scampering back down the street with his chip clutched between both hands. 

Homecoming

Twenty minutes past the time he usually arrived Jake came flying through his front door and up his stairs. Blood was still dripping from his arm, and in his haste, that blood landed on a multitude of surfaces throughout the house in random splotches ruining them forever. If anyone were allowed to be on a personal kwalk at this time of night they would have thought he was being murdered.

A few bandages and overly liberal splashes of rubbing alcohol later and the bleeding, screaming, panicking man had transformed himself into a man who was no longer actively bleeding and screaming. Sweat poured down his face in tremendous volumes. His head felt heavy, like he had hit it against a wall. His chest felt heavy, as if he was inhaling something thicker than air. His legs all but turned to jelly, only supporting him long enough to get to his bed and collapse.

Jake’s bed was queen-sized, although it never had anything in it that took up all the space. The blankets that lay on top of it followed a blue theme, but one of them was a light green. The pillows near the headboard were scarce and plain, typical of single men his age. Too much color could be a sign of deviancy, after all. To the left stood a nightstand, and on top of that stood a small yellow lamp with a shade that was beginning to fall apart. Directly under the lamp, there was a three-day-old glass of water. On the other side of the bed, there was nothing; but Jake often thought of filling the empty space with another nightstand. At home he thought of little else.

Jake’s front door was regular-sized. There was a window near the top that let in a few strands of sunlight in the day and many strands of complete darkness during the night. The handle was brass and only ever turned by Jake. As Jake slept that night, Xye was picking its lock and muttering strong expletives over and over. 

Jake was already fast asleep by the time Xye broke through his locks. Jake was a fast and heavy sleeper, especially when he was so stressed and low on blood. Someone had once asked him if he developed that as a defense mechanism for when his parents would fight and lock him in his room; Jake laughed calmly at that and didn’t speak to the asker for a week straight. Because of this defense mechanism, Jake didn’t hear his front door clicking open, the feet trudging through his house, or the long tail of a dark leather coat flapping against metallic legs. Jake didn’t even hear his bedroom door slide over his thick carpeting or the dulled thumps the muddy combat boots made.

“Hey Jake, bad news.” Xye tried to make themselves known gently to the sleeping man. Jake did not wake. “Jake, pal.” Xye placed the metallic arm on Jake’s shoulder again, they gave it a small shake. Jake still didn’t wake up. “Alright fuck you too.” Xye playfully muttered under their breath. He resorted to just slapping Jake awake with their flesh arm. Xye was not a people person.

Jake came awake the second he was slapped, screaming again. After a moment his eyes adjusted to the lack of light and he could make out the figure in front of him. “Oh God, please leave me alone. I can’t give you any money, just leave me alone!” Jake almost began sobbing again.

“No man, listen,” Xye sighed and took a step back. They brought their fingers to their temples and rubbed them for a second as they watched Jake quiver. “Ok we got off on the wrong foot, and I just wanted to say-”

Jake cut them off: “You already took my chip out! What more do you want? I’m not a degenerate! I told you! Get out of here and go back to Europe!” 

Xye shushed Jake like their mother used to, it was a family skill. “Shut the fuck up! Holy mother of God! I don’t want your money. I forgot to tell you that we’re coming to pick you up. We’ll be down at the pier by the lake for a few days. And by we I actually  mean just me. Get in the sailboat with three gulls painted on the side.” Xye walked to the headboard and stared down into Jake’s eyes for a second or two.

“No! No, God no! I’m not going with you anywhere, you freak!” Jake pounded his fists against his bed, but before Jake had finished speaking Xye opened a window and hopped out. All Jake heard was a hydraulic squeal and hurried footsteps getting farther away. Jake fell asleep again in three minutes, although it was accompanied by a few quick glances around the room.

Resilience

Jake still arrived on time to work the next day. His eyes were sunken and the bandages around his arm were unchanged from the night before. He couldn’t let down his guard by taking a shower, so he smelled a little pungent. Of course, all of his coworkers noticed. Many of them even went out of their ways to mention it to him with condescending chuckles and smiles that seemed to bore through Jake’s soul. The guard at the door to his office building cleared his throat hard when he got a good look at the sullied man walking towards him.

Despite his appearance, Jake was still as hard a worker as ever, so he sat right down at his desk and began shuffling around some of the files that were left on his desk. He booted up the rickety computer he was given on his first day and stared at the glowing bright screen for a minute or so. For the first time in his life, Jake did not want to work. Despite what the schools had always told him growing up, how much of a burden and plague he would be if he didn’t work, Jake did not want to get his job done. Even when he had to euthanize some poor soul he still wanted to or felt like he wanted to at least. At the least he had to. 

When Jake finally looked up from his computer and around his office he noticed that three nearby cubicles had a rifle leaning against one side of them. The owners of both the rifles and the cubicles continuously stared at Jake from the corner of their eyes. Jake looked exactly like the domestic terrorists and anarchist revolutionaries their guns were promised to protect them against. His five o’clock shadow brought out a new man in what was so often an overly soft face. The bags under his eyes made him look shifty and dangerous. The most damning of all was his unruly hair. God forbid a man go outside in this day and age without combing, decency in appearance was the cornerstone of decency nationwide. Many of his older coworkers still remembered how their fathers remembered when, as it was put, “Men were men, and they had the hair and neatly trimmed beards to prove it!” This was something often screamed more than reminisced, but gradually the screaming turned into the soothing tone of a grade school teacher or nanny.

No one was sent to his desk today, Jake assumed the overseers had taken note of his general appearance and decided to keep him occupied with busy work on his computer for the rest of the day. So all day Jake typed away at almost identical documents. He spent hours writing the same few lines over and over and over in the same spaces. His fingers grew strained and rough as they pushed the same keys hundreds of times. His eyes screamed at him after hours of being bombarded by the harsh light from his computer screen.

On his thirty-minute lunch break, Jake suddenly found himself in the lunchroom all alone. He didn’t remember walking there or standing up from his desk, or everyone else quickly shuffling out when he entered, but all those things surely happened. His brain had fried after going through such monotony. A gray cloud stuffed itself in between Jake’s brain and skull, he shook his head violently and it left only leaving a light ringing behind.

In the window, Jake swore he saw Xye’s enormous figure peeking in, but he reminded himself that wasn’t possible as he was on the tenth story. Then he checked again to find Xye actually was staring at him through the window. Xye’s orange hair, which Jake now noticed was rather unkept and full of stray hairs, was tied up in a bun above their head. Jake noticed a lot about Xye, as they were no longer shrouded in darkness or standing over Jake as he was trying to stay awake. 

Jake noticed Xye was now wearing an old Hawaiian shirt from before Hawaii was only good for exporting gas and sugar; Jake guessed it was from the early 2010s, so roughly three hundred years ago. Xye also had shockingly pastel purple eyes, they contrasted with the hair and created an odd face to look at. Xye was also floating. Jake had expected this when he saw Xye in the window, but it was confirmed when Xye moved back a bit and their feet came into view. Xye’s legs were covered by long flowing denim pants, but their feet were uncovered by any shoes. They were also made of metal, the same metal as Xye’s false arm. From the bottom of Xye’s chromium-plated soles, a steady stream of blue flame shot out.

All Jake did in response to all this was mutter a defeated “Ok,” and slam his head down onto the table. 

“Hey! Man! I’m just checking in on you! I can’t stay long in these parts looking the way I do!” Xye was shouting and cupping their hands but was still muffled through the thick bulletproof break room window.

“Fine.” Jake breathed in deeply and stayed silent for a long time. Xye was just about to speak again when Jake finished his thought. “Please go away.” Jake didn’t lift his head off the table.

“Alright, well I’ll see you in a few days!” Xye was used to dealing with the stubborn type. They knew Jake would end up at the pier. 

“That’s nice,” Jake mumbled, only half aware. He looked up just in time to see Xye float back down into the alley next to the office building with a bubbly wave.

Death Of A Salesman

Jake went back to laboring at his desk for the rest of his shift. He spent another seven hours doing absolutely nothing, and then he walked home. This time he wasn’t scared on his walk back, he had already met Xye. All he felt this time, and for the first time, was apathy. 

His feet shuffled along the pavement, his coat’s hood flapped against his face, and his eyes settled on the road beneath his feet. Jake walked like this for what he felt like was hours, his eyes blank. When he got home he collapsed on his couch and slept there all night. That did not do wonders for his already faltering appearance.

In the morning Jake rubbed his face and felt stubble, something a little too taboo where he lived. A beard, even though what he had wasn’t much of a beard, was something he had never seen on his own face before. Usually, he shaved every night just to be safe. Overall, he looked downright awful. His eyes were sunken, bloodshot, and twitching. Instead of waking Jake shot up with a gasp. He cursed the strange man- was it a man? They didn’t look like a man, but they didn’t look like a woman either- whose name he couldn’t seem to remember under his breath. 

The guard at the front door to his office turned him away citing “Improper personhood” as his reason. 

“Jesus man,” the guard, Louis, grunted at Jake. He was one of few people allowed to take the Lord’s name so casually, no one dared question him. “Go home and clean yourself up.” He pushed Jake to the ground with the barrel of his rifle. “Don’t come back today.”

From Jake’s position on the ground, Louis looked more ogreish than usual. Louis was a temporary hire from the national guard, although temporary was beginning to mean permanent at this point. As such he looked the same as anyone else where he came from. Over six feet, tanner but still pale, a neck thicker than his thigh, a half-chewed cigar clenched between his back teeth-sometimes he didn’t bring out his cigar, it was technically allowed because of his service to the state. However some of the more ladylike women in the building found it appalling-and a scruffy black beard.

“You look worse than me!” Jake retorted. “You’ve got a beard and you smell like death!”

“Yes,” Louis replied coldly. He blew hellish smoke down at Jake. “Go home.” The conversation was finished. Jake would either go home or be shot. Unfortunately for Jake, he wouldn’t find more solace or peace at home.

Second First Impressions

 Jake found himself standing outside his house vacantly, empty of anything. He wasn’t thinking or doing anything. Just standing there. When he touched the door he realized it was already unlocked. So he continued to stand there for a while trying to decide what he should do.

When Jake stumbled through his front door he came face to face with a shockingly blonde woman in a sandy, dirty poncho. Her broad shoulders raised the poncho slowly up and down as she breathed. Her eyes seemed glazed over as she was staring down at one of Jake’s framed photos of his parents. Her face was rather weathered on the left side, though the right side was just as clean, fresh, and young as the man widely regarded as a semi-babyface before her. Her nose was crooked from a previously healed break. She looked like a snake.

“Hi, Jake.” She spoke without looking up. Her voice was rough and deep, it sounded like sand blowing through an abandoned motel out west. “Your boss sent me. A few weeks ago they found degenerative materials on your home computer. They were going to wait until the end of the fiscal year, to get the most use out of you, of course, to send me, but someone reported seeing you speaking to an odd figure.” The woman didn’t look up.

A cold burst of air swept over the threshold, past Jake, and through the grimy poncho that rested on the woman’s shoulders. Jake shivered and the woman did not.

Jake cleared his throat, “what-”

The woman cut him off: “When they came through the coasts they killed us off. I was just a baby.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake spit out through gritted teeth. He was so stressed he didn’t stop to think about the fact that the coasts were raided nearly two hundred and fifty years ago.

“Don’t be, they were dishing out jobs as well as bullets.” The woman looked up from the photo of Jake’s parents, Marty and Janice Kim. They locked eyes for a moment, and when Jake finally broke free of her gaze he noticed an old revolver strapped to the woman’s side. One that shot bullets instead of lasers or electric pucks. It was weathered and had lost all of its original sheen, but, under the dirt and scratches, Jake could see flecks of blood. 

She dropped the photo and snapped the now free hand down to her gun. The glass shattered and flew in all directions, three shards got caught in the woman’s poncho and two stuck into Jake’s pants. Before Jake could react to either the flying glass or the hand on the gun the woman’s other hand flew out and pointed to the scabbed-over crevice that Jake had haphazardly shoved his chip back into. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake backed away a few steps and directed his gaze down to his feet. 

“Yeah.” The woman fell silent for a few moments. “Now you know what it’s like, huh?” Again she fell silent for a moment, then her hand slowly moved from her gun. “Now you know. I’ll be back in two days. Get your affairs in order. Don’t run. I will find you, and I will make it worse.” With that, she pushed Jake aside, walked back out of his house, and shut the door swiftly behind her. With that Jake immediately fell to his knees and began dry heaving.

The Breaking Point

His mind jumped to Xye right away. There weren’t any other options even worth considering. If he went into hiding they’d send his coworkers to drag him back within one week. If he ran for the border, which was far enough away as it was, he’d be shot dead in the streets. So he could really only wait for the woman to come back and sit him on the other side of his desk, or run to, as Jake sputtered out, “that queer.”

That night Jake fell asleep where he kneeled. He was too afraid to move. The dull shine of the blood-painted gun crept its way behind his eyes and woke him suddenly many times in the night. 

When he jolted awake screaming around four in the morning Jake decided to stay awake. He went about his daily routine of making coffee, brushing his hair and teeth, changing into new clothes, and watching the news. It would have seemed like a regular day to even Jake himself, had he not been shivering violently, racked with terror the whole time.

Jake didn’t go to work again, it didn’t matter. If his company had sent a headhunter after him, they had certainly fired him too. Normally without a job, he’d have three weeks to pick up a new one before being designated a new one instead, but now he only had another day or so. So there he sat for hours. Unmoving from his couch for so long that his exposed skin began to hurt when it pulled away from the couch. In a twisted mime of his workday, his whole body cried out at him. Legs and brain crying out for movement. Eyes recoiling at the harsh glare of the T.V screen. Jake’s heartbeat painfully and with enough force that he felt it in his throat as well as in his chest. 

All that was on the T.V. was Jake’s favorite shows. Now they seemed gray and meaningless. As he flipped through channels he saw more threats from the CESH, specifically a Greater Greater London representative calling Americans “imperialist dogs.” The Communal European States in Harmony hadn’t been big fans of the GNA, or God’s Nation America, killing its own citizens and invading its own land as well as the land of its neighbors. Most of the programs on that day were loud and sweaty American politicians yelling at videos of the CESH representatives who could not hear them.

For a brief second, Jake understood that all of the media he consumed was from an American point of view, and, quite possibly, very biased. The thought didn’t last long, though, and he went back to staring vacantly.

Around one in the afternoon he stood up, brushed the crumbs off his shirt, looked around the room, took his coat off a hook near the door, and ran out of his house as fast as he could, sending his door flying into the wall. The window at the top of the door shattered as the whole thing slammed into the side of the house. Jake ran down his street and kept running. His lungs burned and his legs began to ache but he kept moving. His eyes were glazed over and crazy-looking. His legs moved faster than they ever had before. 

It was only the afternoon so the sun still lit up the town and the small man running across it. Children left at home with their nannies saw the disheveled monster rush past their windows. Dogs who were tied up in front yards turned and barked. Wives who were walking or driving past him turned their heads away and sped up. Eventually, he had run so long and so far that no one saw him anymore. The few houses along the street were empty. Dogs were no longer chained up, children no longer squealed and pointed from windows, and no more wives were on their way home from markets or other stores. 

The sun was low, still above the horizon, but low enough that the sky seemed to be lit on fire. Jake’s mind swirled, and the gray cloud between his brain and skull had found its way back in. He only really thought about reaching the pier and running longer. As the sun faded out into the night sirens started to fade in. Long wailing cries wound their way up the streets and into Jake’s ears. With any luck, he’d be pinned to a wall with a gun to the back of his head in ten minutes.

A Very Human Alley Cat

Jake ducked into an alley between an abandoned deli and a lightly burned former nursery with enough force to send him skidding to the ground and into a puddle. His arms and legs were immediately soaked in the foul and cloudy water, a moment later the splash reached his face and panting mouth. 

Jake stared down at his arm. He ripped the bandages off and rammed his finger into the partially scabbed-over hole. A few horribly painful seconds later his chip left his body for the second time in his life. Next, he snatched at the box at his belt and ripped it off. Jake sent the monitor flying into the nearest wall, and it broke open with a cavalcade of sparks. 

To accompany the crash and screech of what used to be Jake’s Perfect Citizen Box slamming into a singed brick wall he began to cough violently in response to the dirty water that worked its way down his throat. Jake’s hacking coughs turned to laughs. Vicious laughs that bounced off the alley walls and back at him.

Then he stood back up and began to run. Without his box or chip, he had an infinitely better chance of reaching the lake and the boat that floated quietly in it. His feet pounded back up the alley and down a side street. The sirens still drew closer, but not as fast as they had before. 

A Lake View

Five hours after Jake had broken the hinges on his door the lake came into view. Ten minutes after that he could see the pier, but he could also still hear the now devastatingly loud sirens. As the pier came into view Jake began to wave his arms and cry out.

“Whatever the fuck your name was! I’m here! I’m here! Please don’t leave! Please stay you fucking weirdo!” Jake’s words shot through the almost pitch-black night and reached Xye down at the water as a faint whisper. Xye, who had been trying to fall asleep with their fisherman’s hat placed over their eyes, bolted up in response to the meek calls.

“Oh damn.” They smiled before processing the urgency in the tone of Jake’s voice. “Oh fuck.” Xye sprang around the small boat in a mad dash as they tried to ready it for their new friend’s arrival. As they worked they whistled and laughed at Jake’s frantic yelling.

The Young Man And The Lake

Jake’s legs felt like they were full of burning coals. His feet felt like they were trying to push out of his shoes. A strange thumping noise was pounding away in both of his ears, but it was far stronger in the left. Jake’s gait had turned into a contorted limp after a burning stitch burrowed its way into his side. His hair was matted to his face with sweat and no longer looked anywhere near his neatly trimmed work hair. All of this made for a terribly pathetic sight. A terribly pathetic sight Xye took great guilty pleasure in watching stumble towards their relatively small sailboat with the gulls on its sides.

Although they greatly enjoyed staring at Jake hobbling his way to the water, the sirens and flashing lights approaching quickly snapped them out of their enjoyment. Xye went back to whistling and tying various knots. Though in reality, Xye had absolutely no idea what they were doing or how to properly man a boat. This was a problem they planned on addressing after there was no imminent threat of death.

Xye was still in the middle of tidying up when they heard a loud thump and their boat began to rock back and forth. This sent Xye to their knees, a position they quickly jumped up from, before noticing the quivering man on the deck. Xye had been so distracted being confused with boats and how to get one to work that they had completely tuned out the deafening sounds of stomping feet, wailing sirens, chugging engines, and a screaming man. This was common for Xye. Not just the tuning out, but those specific sounds too.

“Nice man! You made it in one whole piece!” Xye reached down and patted Jake’s shaking head lightly. 

Jake turned his eyes up to Xye who, clad in full fishing attire, looked much less menacing than the night they had first met Jake.

“Oh my god pull the boat outright fucking now!” Jake shouted, scrambling to his feet and snatching at the mast for support.

“What? Oh, right yeah. The cops. They won’t be an issue right now.” Xye shot finger guns at Jake who only shook in response. “Ok, we can go now.”

By then the police cars were fully visible, and a few shots from their light puck guns slammed into the water or the dock and shook the air around the pair. Jake thought he heard someone scream orders at him from the cars and shakily laughed at the thought that he would actually listen to them now.

Xye reached into one of the many pockets on their vest and pulled out a small remote. They pressed a button on it. From beneath the small boat rose two large jets crudely attached to a few motorboat engines. The sides of the boat split open and fins extended themselves. Small steel walls rose up a few feet above Jake and Xye.

“Alrighty then.” Xye pressed a second button and the small boat’s new propulsion system kicked into action. The fins sent it skidding across the surface and the metal walls kept the two inhabitants safely inside.

Jake and Xye were both flung against the back wall. They smacked into each other and then crumbled to the ground where they continued to be jostled. The police watched in sheer confusion as the boat they had been shooting and shouting at turned into what looked like a metal egg with jet engines and flew across the surface of the lake. 

“Holy shit.” One officer let slip, being immediately docked pay for that week. 

Another starred in complete awe, not moving or blinking for several seconds, and was penalized for inaction. 

Road Trip

When Jake had his body thrown to the ground he saw a carving near the bottom of the wooden walls of the boat. It read: “The bottom of the ocean is nothing but wet sand” and underneath it, there was a symbol. A circle within a larger circle and an arrow down the middle through both of them. Jake didn’t have time to think about it or ask Xye what it meant as, by the time he had finished reading, Xye had stood themself up and yanked Jake with them.

Xye practically had to scream over the roar of the jets: “So what do you think? Pretty sweet right? We’ll be on dry land again in a few hours!” Despite their volume, Jake could only barely hear Xye. So he just nodded and pretended like he could. “Roughly in about four hours,” Xye got back to screaming, “We’ll get to another pier! They’ll probably have more cops waiting for us, but that won’t be an issue!” Jake thought he saw Xye point to something and wink, but his hair was flying around his head and in front of his eyes. “Settle in!”

Drugs 101

Eventually, the jets started to die down. The roar turned into a gentle humming. Xye was leaning against the cold wall with their hat in between their neck and the steel. Jake had slouched over the benches in the boat and remained there for a good while.

When the both of them noticed that they could hear again they sat up straight. Xye put their hat back on over their nearly glowing orange hair, adjusted it, and cleared their throat. Jake rubbed his eyes as hard as he could and yawned. 

Jake stammered for a second and then spoke, “So where are you taking me?”

“The ocean,” Xye replied nonchalantly. “Actually first we have to go east. Then we go east for some time until we reach the coast. That’s where I was born.” Xye smiled and pointed to themselves like an excited child. “And then the ocean.” 

“Oh.” Jake stared up over the walls at the stars. He had never seen the stars before. At the heart of the city they didn’t show up. Light pollution had always corrupted his night. “This is very pretty.”

Xye looked up. “Sure, but just wait until you get out of town. Once you see that sky there’s no going back.” Xye reached into one of the many other pockets on their vest and removed a shiny black flask with the same symbol on the boat glowing lightly on its side. They unscrewed the lid and took a quick drink. After seeing this Jake averted his eyes. Xye chuckled and drank some more. “You’re really going to have to get used to that.” 

Another hour or so later and Jake had fallen asleep to the gentle and methodical sounds of the engines. Xye was still awake and nursing their drink. They looked over at the tarp near the stern and smiled for a second. Then they slipped the flask back into their pocket, closed their eyes, and waited for landfall. 

Baby’s First Massacre

When the boat hit the shore the sun was beginning to rise. The boat jolted suddenly against the rough sand and threw Jake and Xye around again. Jake pulled himself up and looked for Xye. Xye was doing the exact same thing on the opposite side of their vessel.

“So what now? Where do we-” Jake started but was interrupted by Xye shushing him. “Hey, that’s really rude.”

Xye shushed him again.

“There’s fucking cops,” Xye hissed under their breath at Jake. ”Keep quiet.” Xye shuffled over to the tarp and reached under. They pulled out a long subsonic rifle. Jake gasped and covered his mouth.

One of the officers spoke loudly through a bullhorn. “Put the walls down, sir,” he announced. Xye frowned and stuffed a cartridge into an open slot on the side of the rifle. “Sir, if you do not lower the walls we will use lethal force,” the officer boomed again. Xye’s frown changed to a sneer as the tip of the rifle began to glow a deep, hazy purple.

Then another voice spoke up. A low and harsh voice. Jake recognized it as the headhunter and began to shake slightly. 

“Jake, tell your weirdo pal to come on out. It’s not worth dying here and now,” the voice announced.

“Well? You can get out now if you want. I won’t blame you, but I will still shoot at them,” Xye said, looking at Jake inquisitively. They were almost speaking at full volume.

Jake ran his hands through his hair a few times. When he finally took his hands away they were dripping with sweat. His shakes became more pronounced as they crept their way into his voice. 

“Do you have to?” Jake asked sadly.

Xye dropped their sneer and nodded.

“Yup. They’re not going to take us peacefully. Especially not me. Pigs don’t care for me. Or you…anymore.”

Jake nodded and crawled under one of the benches. Xye began to giggle. 

“Alright!” they called out. “Give me a second!” Xye pulled out the remote again and clicked the button to lower the walls. The cold steel began to retreat back into the walls with deafening clangs as they went. Before the walls were fully gone Xye clicked the button a second time so that a foot or so was still sticking up. “Oh, I guess they’re stuck. Hey…” They fell silent for a second. “Can you guys just let us go? This just seems like such a hassle.” 

The headhunter took a pair of TuffGuy arm restraints from the bag on her back. 

“No,” she said. She turned the dial on the side and the restraints lit up and buzzed lightly. Jake had seen these a few years back. They had proven very valuable to another headhunter when taking down a target who liked to thrash around. After the first outburst, they hit the electric bands along the edges. When they didn’t stop they finished the job early.

“Damn shame,” Xye said, placing a toothpick from their pocket between their teeth. They peeked their rifle above the wall. Before any of the people on the other side could react the first shot fired. It missed and angrily tore the bark off a nearby tree. 

The shot was silent and the projectile was invisible, but the marks that a shot from a subsonic rifle left were neither. The startled policemen jumped for cover behind their car doors. The headhunter pulled out her rickety revolver and took aim above the rifle. 

Xye pulled their rifle back down and shuffled to their left. Then, as fast as they could, they stood up, took aim at the head of one of the men who had looked out from behind his cover to observe, and fired. They ducked down again so fast they didn’t manage to see what happened to the “poor bastard”, as Xye put it after sitting back down.

What happened to the man was witnessed by everyone who still had a head in the immediate vicinity. His face seemed to fold in on itself for a moment before a jet of air shot out the back followed by a solid stream of blood and liquified bone. His head seemed to deflate in on itself before the man collapsed to the ground. He looked like the mere suggestion of a man, a literal husk of what he had once been.

One officer vomited and ran off down the road. Another stared at the corpse for a few seconds in sheer disbelief. The headhunter adjusted her poncho and fired a round at the wooden hull of the boat. It pierced right through but hit no one. 

“You know that old saying about exchanging eyes?” she called out in her usual tone of voice. “Let’s try it, you fuck.” A few of the policemen gave her dirty looks for her language. To which she responded by briefly gesturing at the now skull-less man.

Xye shuffled on their knees over to the now lightly crying Jake. They prodded Jake with the barrel of the rifle. 

“Hey, Jake. I need you to shoot a man for me.” Xye smiled. Jake did the opposite. “Ok well, I can see you’re not psyched, so-”

“I’ll be honest with you if you give me a gun I will cry a lot more.” Jake interrupted. 

“Ok, throw this for me though?” Xye pulled two black glass orbs from yet another of their many vest pockets. 

Jake sighed and took one of the orbs. He tossed it over the wall. 

“I don’t hear anything. Did it work?” 

Xye nodded and responded: “Yup.” They threw their own orb.

No one but the headhunter saw them, but they were small and fast so she couldn’t exactly do anything. The orb Jake threw hit the ground near the woman’s feet. The glass shattered, and, with the shattering, sent out a shockwave. The headhunter was sent up and away, eventually reaching the ground again twenty feet away with a hard grunt. 

Xye’s orb hit the ground next to one of the cars and sent it flying away. It collided with another car and turned the two men hiding between the cars into a sticky, red paste. 

“I count one jackass a few feet away on her ass and at most three more pigs!” Xye shouted. “How’s that for your eye bullshit?” 

Xye stood up again and took note of what they saw. There was only one officer left and the headhunter was knocked out cold. The officer was scrambling in an attempt to stand up. Xye put a shot through their back. The man’s spine folded in on itself and he bent over backward. His head touched the dirt and blood poured out of his mouth. Xye spit out their toothpick. 

“Nice.”

Bonding Over Blood

Xye lowered the metal walls all the way and stepped out from the boat. They inspected the hole in the side briefly and complained about it for twice as long. They made their way over to the headhunter and spit in her face. 

“Dumb ass. Leave my boat alone.” Xye said to their unconscious foe before sitting down under the tree they first shot and waiting for Jake. 

Jake shakily made his way over the walls of the boat fifteen minutes after Xye sat down. He looked around the scene and ran back to the water to vomit. Xye had to stifle their laughter and focus on their game of solitaire, which they had started almost immediately after sitting down, harder in an attempt to not make Jake feel even worse.

“Jake,” Xye said, looking up from their cards. “You look like shit, man.” 

Xye laughed, and Jake looked down at himself. He really did. His clothes were soaked through with sweat. His face was dirty but was cut by clean streaks from his tears. He had more facial hair than he ever thought he could grow. His hair was hanging down in his eyes and had become darker from being soaked in sweat. His clothes looked the worst of all. They were ripped in a few places from loose nails on the boat, they had a few specks of vomit in random locations, and they too were caked in sweat. Jake held back another round of vomit. 

“Yeah,” he responded simply.

“Do you want to get going?” Xye asked. They looked back down to their game. “We’ll have to walk for a bit. I have a bike stashed a little way up the road. I expected we’d hijack one of the cops’ cars, but they turned to mush like the men they pressed together.” 

They had. The sides of the cars that had crashed into each other were no longer recognizable as the sides of cars. The metal had become so twisted and bent that it would take years for them to be separated. What’s more, the mangled bodies of the two very unfortunate police officers were still dripping slowly through the small cracks in the mangled wreck. 

Even if Xye had the ability to separate the cars and the corpses it wouldn’t have mattered. The cars were the newest model. They had all the bonus features available, including an engine that wouldn’t so much as start unless the right fingerprint was scanned. And the right fingerprint was currently in an aqueous state.

“What?” Jake asked, his eyes were narrowed to slits. His head was slowly swaying back and forth even as he stood completely still. He stared at the dead, deflated, and crushed men for a few seconds. “Did you really kill them?” He pointed at the man without a head and spoke with the confused disinterest of a toddler. 

“What? Yeah, man. I did.”

 Xye stood up. Although Jake knew it since he saw Xye outside his break room window he only just now realized that Xye was more metal than man. Their left arm was fully robotic. Both of their legs were encased in chromium from the soles of the feet to just above the knee, but the real legs were entirely hidden by the mechanical joints inside. A few metal plates were installed into random spots on Xye’s neck. Their metal left arm matched their legs. Even their eyes seemed to have been modified, as they shone an unnatural purple and seemed to focus robotically.

Jake held his hands to his temples for a few seconds and sucked in air sharply. 

“Well…” 

He sucked in air again. Xye actually managed to wait patiently, they were very used to people from the cities reacting this way to extreme viscera or deviancy. Two sides of the same coin in the government’s and the government’s peoples’ eyes. 

“How did you lose your arm? The metal one? It looks like the arm doesn’t keep going after the metal.”

Xye turned their head to the side and stared off down the road. They closed their eyes lightly. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” They said, beginning to grimace.

“Oh…Oh, I’m sorry.”

Xye looked back. 

“Jake I’m fucking with you,” they laughed out. “Can you imagine if I really said that for real? No, man, I’m just messing around.” They kept laughing in between words. “For real though, it was just like you said. I lost it. I originally had it sawed off by a few FEDs who then sent me home with it clenched in my other hand as a warning. We had a surprisingly good doctor though, and she managed to reattach it. After she got it back on I was able to unscrew it in case I needed maintenance on some of the arteries inside. After one session of repairs, I forgot where I put it and never found it. I swear it’s still somewhere in my old house. Maybe one day some poor bastard will find it and get a nasty surprise. Anyways, the doc just gave me this new one instead. Can’t lose this bad girl as easily.” Xye flexed and the shining arm released a few jets of steam from its pores. 

“Oh. What about the rest of you?” Jake replied as he found a seat across from Xye and next to the pools of blood that were beginning to shine in the morning light. “You know. All the other metal bits?” Jake waved his hand at the whole of Xye.

“Got bored.” Was all they responded with. 

Jake sat in silence for a few moments listening to the gentle flicking sounds of Xye playing with their cards. Then he cleared his throat and spoke again.

 “So….does it go on under the..uh..clothed area?” 

Xye looked up with a contorted smile. 

“Are you trying to ask if I’ve got a dick? Because I’m not interested.” Then they went right back to their cards.

Jake shot his hands out and shook his head violently in defense.

“No! No, no, no! I mean, nothing against you. I’m just wondering! I’ve never seen someone who was so shiny. That sounds dumb. I mean, how does it work?” Jake rambled loudly while he continued to flail his arms. “I like mechanics and machines and things! I don’t want to invade!”

Xye lost their game of solitaire, frowned, and scraped some dirt over the cards. Then they leaned their head back against the tree. 

“Relax. I’m messing with you again.” They slid open a panel on their arm and removed a short but thin glowing yellow stick about the size of a pinky finger. They stuck the stick in their mouth and began to chew. “Most of my chest is modded or synthetic in some way.” They thought for a moment and chewed with more intensity. “My lower torso is all done up too. Plus a few of my insides. And I do not have a dick.” The stick suddenly stopped glowing and Xye placed it back in their arm. For a split second their eyes flashed from the regular pastel purple to a brilliant yellow. “Keeps the mind sharp.” They winked.

Jake tried to take in all the information at once. It proved fruitless as he still couldn’t really understand what Xye was. He wasn’t exactly opposed or angry at Xye, although he wasn’t really in a position to be after seeing what Xye did to the police. He just genuinely could not understand. He only ever grew up with males and females. He had been taught and told over and over that what you were born as dictated everything from your clothes to where you could work. He only knew of people born correct, and people born wrong. Seeing someone who did not immediately fit the two groups he knew of confused Jake just as much as if he had seen someone from another planet. Seeing someone who didn’t fit the two groups and wasn’t actively trying to destroy him, as he had been explained they all did, confused him a little more.

Jake piped up again: “I, uh, don’t mean to question your helpfulness or generosity.” Xye waited for him to say but. “But, I have a lot of questions.”
“Shoot.” Xye looked Jake dead in the eyes. 

“Well, why are you helping me? How did you know I’m a degenerate? What’s going to happen to me? What is going on? What were you drinking on the boat? What was the stick you chewed on?”

“Ok, A) You’re not a ‘degenerate’. You’re a person. What do they teach you in your schools?” Jake opened his mouth to respond. “Don’t answer. That was rhetorical. I already know.” Jake closed his mouth. “For the rest, I’m helping you because it’s my job. Helping people like you is what I’ve done since I had all my limbs. It’s what I do and probably how I’ll die. I knew because your boss knew and we bugged his room. I’m taking you to a safe place, and you’ll be fine. You’re being rescued. I was drinking vodka, and it tasted good. Finally, that stick contains adrenaline, and chewing on it releases it slowly. You should try it, or the vodka.” 

“No thank you. I’ve never really done anything like that.” Jake shook his head politely.

“Alright, that’s fair enough. Now I get to ask you questions.” Xye clapped their hands together once and sat up extra straight. “Do you want them one by one or all at once, machine-gun style?” Xye squinted and mimicked firing down the barrel of a machine gun at Jake.

“All at once is fine I suppose.” Jake leaned out of the way of the fictional bullets. 

“Alrighty then.” Xye cleared their throat. “You believe in God? You got any family? How’d you first find out you didn’t like women all that much? Why did you become a FED? When should we get going?” 

Jake responded quickly: “I don’t exactly believe in God. Not in the literal sense at least, but I was raised to and I never really saw any other option. So I guess so. I don’t have any family left. My parents died when I was twenty three or so. My two sisters disappeared a few years before. I think that’s what killed my parents. To figure out women weren’t exactly my favorite I just sort of never really got into them. To put it one way. I started working for the government after my first job as a sales representative for some big weapon company. They demoted me after I sold a shipment of ICBMs at half price and sent me to my most recent place of employment. And finally, let’s leave after I sit here for a few more minutes.” 

“Fair enough. I’ll go get the bike from down the road. By the time I’m back you should be well-rested enough. Don’t get kidnapped.” 

With that Xye stood up, kicked the gun of one of the police officers to Jake, and walked along. Then they stopped and shuffled around in one of their pockets. Xye took out a large bag of trail mix and another smaller bag of apple slices. They tossed it to Jake and continued on their way again. They kicked the headhunter in the head as they passed. 

Jake’s stomach screamed at him. This was the longest amount of time he’d ever gone without eating. He immediately ripped open the plastic bags and stuffed the food down his mouth with a satisfied sigh. 

“Thank you,” Jake said to the far away Xye.

Back On The Road

For a while, Jake just looked down at the gun next to him. From the bottom of its grip to its trigger it was caked in blood. The rounded barrel had a steady stream of light blue smoke leaking from it. Along the body, a few lines of deep green lights blinked on and off periodically. Jake assured himself he wouldn’t so much as touch the thing, but when the headhunter shifted slightly he snatched at it and pointed it in the general direction of her. 

After a little bit, Xye came back. They were straddling an electric motorbike. It was matte gray with shockingly light blue wheels that glowed so much it hurt to look directly at them. The bike growled as Xye rolled up. The exhaust pipe spewed out translucent gas. On the side, the same symbol from the boat was carved in.

Xye had changed outfits again. Their fishing attire had been swapped for a large black leather biking jacket covered in various patches and studs, dark brown leather pants, and black tinted sunglasses. Xye grinned wide and called out over the screaming of the bike’s engine. 

“I’m back!” Xye whooped. They hopped off the bike and made their way slowly over to Jake, exaggerating their stride. “Ready to go?” They gently took the gun from Jake’s hand and dropped it into the pile of once human sludge, making a small splash. Jake didn’t take his eyes off the headhunter.

 “She moved,” he whispered.

“Yeah, well, if we get out of here now she won’t be able to do anything so…” Xye gestured towards the bike over and over. “Let’s go?”

Jake blinked hard and jumped quickly to his feet. 

“Yes!” He became very lucid again. “Yes, yes let’s get out of here for sure.” Jake eyed Xye up and down for a minute, briefly opened his mouth, and ultimately decided not to question any of it. 

Xye hopped back on the bike and revved it.

 “Just get on the back.” They flicked their glasses down at Jake.
“Right. OK.” Jake stood still. “How?”

Xye flicked the glasses back up. 

“It’s like a regular bike. Just get on the back and I’ll do all the hard stuff. So hop right on please and thank you.”

Jake timidly approached the rumbling beast. After a moment or two of consideration, he realized he had no better options and slid right on behind Xye. 

“Let’s get going!” Xye whooped against s and sent the bike off down the road. It emitted a low growl that quickly grew vastly louder. Loud enough to cover both the screams of Jake and the excited laughter of Xye. And as it tore its way down the dirt road it kicked up dust that landed on the headhunter who coughed, slowly got to her feet, and looked around at the carnage and lack of targets. 

A Roadside Chat

Jake continued to scream for a few minutes after the bike took off. Xye didn’t hear it at all, because of their own screaming in a much happier tone. Jake’s condition was also not helped by the constant physical bombardment. The wind whipped around Xye and sliced Jake’s face. Xye’s burning orange hair flew out behind them and clouded Jake’s vision. The frigid morning air crept its way into Jake’s lungs and lit its cold fire inside.

For a long time, the two of them flew down the same dirt road and past what felt like thousands of trees. They rode for a few hours, and the sun rode across the sky with them.  Soon though the trees began to thin and the dirt changed to pavement. Xye pulled their bike over to the side of the road and shut it off.

“Alright, Jake.” Xye turned their head halfway and looked at Jake from the corner of their eyes. “We’re getting close to civilization again, and this civilization should be avoided. We’ll try to skirt around it, but I can’t tell you no one will see us. You’ve seen what will happen so I want you to be ready. It could and probably will happen again. You good?” 

Jake knew the town they had been coming up on. The one across the lake he visited a few times with his mother in his childhood. It was smaller than his hometown, but still large comparatively. He used to have a pen pal there who he fell out of touch with when he started his new job. On its outskirts there were the last few human-run farms which often pulled in most of their income from acting as roadside attractions rather than as farms. 

“Yeah,” Jake responded. He was lying, and Xye knew it.

Xye sighed a little before starting the bike back up and taking off down the road again.

More Civilized Land

Eventually, the lines of trees changed to seas of cheap wheat, kale, gourds, and other show crops. Behind the vast fields, Xye and Jake could see the town they were approaching. Xye knew there was no way around it, and Jake heavily suspected the same.

Xye did not stop when they sped past the sign that read, “Welcome to CottonWood! 80,000 strong.” They did not stop when the first few skyscrapers began to crop up. They did not stop when people on the sidewalk began to yell at them to slow down or called them a eurofag. They also did not stop when another police car started tailing them with its sirens blaring. 

“Just ignore them!” Xye began shouting back to Jake again, “Once we reach the other side they won’t follow us!” Xye paused and then shouted again, “Probably!” 

The car’s sirens pierced the air and sent Jake into a panic. Xye, however, only sped up. 

“Pull over now!” A voice came screaming from a speaker on top of the police car, “You have caused a serious distraction and must be taken in for questioning!”

Xye turned around to look at the car for a second. They looked the officer right in the eyes, shrugged, gave them a puzzled look, and turned around again. Then they shouted to Jake.

 “Just so you know we definitely are not doing that!” Jake was aware but glad for the reassurance. 

They drove with the officer tailing them for a few minutes. Xye dodged cars that were driving or parked on the side of the road, and the police car pushed the same cars aside with its shockwave-like siren. Then suddenly Xye turned on a dime and shot down an alley between two of the many towering, shining, glass buildings. The alley was well lit, as the glass buildings allowed a large amount of light to reach it, so the man in the police car saw exactly where the bike was going.

“Ach!” the officer yelled through their speaker as he sped up and shot around a corner to try and cut the two suspected anarchists off. He set his car on the path to the street that the alley let out on automatically and crawled to the backseat. As his car drove itself as fast as it could he rummaged through a box on the floor. From within the box, he removed an old pump-action shotgun that his great great great great grandfather had used to cleanse the town. He grinned to himself as he shoved some shells brutishly into the gun.

Meanwhile, Xye stopped just before the end of the alley. They hustled off their bike and practically dragged Jake with them. 

“Stay right there!” Xye hissed quietly under their breath at Jake. They placed him twenty feet away from the exit of the alley. Jake began to protest loudly but Xye stopped them. “You’ll be fine! I’m dealing with the cop! You’re safe, the fucker won’t shoot you. He wants the valor of taking you in.” 

“What?” Jake practically screamed as Xye slid behind a dumpster a few feet to the left of Jake. 

Gone Fishing

The officer’s car screeched to a stop at the exit of the alley. He kicked open his door with the same cruel grin still plastered to his face. Immediately, he saw Jake standing petrified with the bike still rumbling behind him. Jake went pale and his hands automatically shot up. 

“Stand down terrorist!” the policeman yelled, aiming his shotgun at the anarchist’s legs and cocked it. “You’re coming with me. Alive!” Then he leaned into his blue radio on his shoulder and clicked it on. “I’ve got him, boys. Open something nice for me before I get back.”

Xye quickly snatched a brick from the ground next to them and crouched on the balls of their feet. 

“Pig,” they mumbled.  They spit on the brick after they spoke. The officer did not hear any of this. His head was already swarming with the exaggerated ideas of how he would be treated for bringing the very small and pale man back to the station. 

The police officer pulled regular steel handcuffs from his belt and walked right up to Jake. Then he placed the gun right up against Jake’s forehead. Jake, even paler now, began to slowly lose vision. 

“Gotcha.” The officer sneered. 

“Hey! Hot stuff!” Xye stood up and held the brick over their head. “You want the brick to the head or the stomach?”

The policeman whipped around and, seeing Xye’s appearance, shot immediately. Nothing came close to hitting. 

“Who are you?” he shrieked and reached for their radio again.

“God. What do I look like?”

“A eurofa-” The officer’s words were cut short by a brick slamming into his throat at full force. Xye’s enhanced arm had a strong throw. Strong enough to not just leave a mark, but rip off most of the skin the brick came in contact with. Strong enough that the brick treated the man’s vulnerable neck as elastic and sprung right off after doing its damage. 

Xye jogged over to the coughing and gagging pile on the ground and, with one long stride, turned a small jet on the back of their left leg on and propelled it forward straight through the wheezing man’s skull. 

Just before his head exploded onto the grimy pavement beneath him the officer coughed up one last consonant, “g!” 

“I was born here!” Xye yelled as they skidded to a stop a foot away from the corpse. Then they walked right back to the newly formed fountain of blood and cleaned their sole on the uniform of the dead man. They looked up at Jake, whose face had been splattered with gelatine-like chunks of blood and flesh mixed together. “You’ll get over it.” 

“Really? Will I?” Jake shouted.

“I sure hope,” Xye said.

As Xye was scraping the bottom of their feet on the pavement the radio on the lapel of the dead officer clicked on.

“Ether?” a tiny voice crackled through the radio. “Sergeant Ether, please respond. Your box indicated your vitals have dropped. Backup has already been dispatched.”

“Fucking…fuck,” Xye said, clearly exasperated.

“Wait, there’s more coming?” Jake asked.

“I suppose, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s just hop on my bike and book it.”

“Freeze!” a deep voice shouted from just outside the alley.

“Oh shit!” Xye shouted back. 

They jumped straight for Jake and grabbed him mid air. They pulled their whole body around him and tumbled straight to the ground. They rolled out of the way of the mouth of the alley, just in time to dodge the laser pucks the new policeman sprayed towards Jake and Xye.

“Ok, we kill this guy and then we run. Got it?” Xye asked.

“I don’t want to kill him at all,” whined Jake, clambering off of the ground. 

“Tough,” Xye shot back through gritted teeth. They ran to the nearest door in the alley and kicked it open with one clean shot. Pieces of shattered wood flew through the air and blocked Xye from view for a minute. When the wood fell to the ground Xye had disappeared into the building. “Hurry in!” they shouted from inside.

The Sound Of Music

Jake scrambled in through the door, barely skirting away from the few laser shots that landed at his feet. It turned out the building was a music store, one that apparently mainly focused on percussion instruments. The entire room was decked from side to side in xylophones, various types of drums, cymbals, and chimes. Xye was yelling at the store owner and failing to calm them down.

“Shut up! Shut up! This is important! Would you shut up already!” Xye yelled at the owner, their shushing skills failing them under pressure.

“You broke my door you terrorist! What’s wrong with you? I’m calling the police!” the owner snapped back.

“Ugh, you bitch. Take this,” Xye said. They stuffed a handful of bills into the owners hands. “Fifty two thousand GNAGB, enough to buy an army of doors. Now get out of the way!” 

“No!” the owner shouted, dropping all the God’s Nation America Gold Bills.

A laser puck shot through the door and past Jake’s head, shaving a half an inch of hair from above his right ear. It carried on past Xye, ruffling their hair seriously, and struck the store owner in the shoulder. The store owner fell to the ground in a heap; they were very much alive, but only barely conscious. Xye spun around on their heels with a quick activation of their jets to reduce friction and fired their own gun back at where the shot had come from. However, the officer had ducked behind the door frame, dodging Xye’s laser completely. 

“Eat fuck!” Xye yelled, failing utterly to think of a snappy insult. 

They rushed over to Jake by the door and grabbed him again. Like a cat they sprung across the room with Jake still in their arms. They landed with a crash behind a wall of glockenspiels, commonly called Liberty Slappers for patriotism’s sake, and ducked immediately. Apparently, the policeman had entered the store, as another bolt struck a Liberty Slapper next to Jake and created a discordant cacophony of notes all at once. Jake squeaked in response.

“Are we safe?” Jake asked.

“More or less,” Xye said. “Apparently laser pucks don’t have the force to melt the bars of a xylophone or whatever. At least, not in one shot.”

“It’s a glockenspiel, I think,” Jake added.

“Cool, I do not care,” Xye replied. They stood up and whipped a small square object out from inside their coat. They unfolded the thing to reveal that it was a folding plasma rifle. They loosely aimed the rifle and fired once. The iridescent bolt ripped through the air with a terrific roar like some ungodly beast. It slammed into the wall on the other side of the room and shattered bits of the bricks with a boom. Xye ducked behind the glockenspiel again.

Another laser puck rammed into the barricade again making another uproar. This time, the puck traveled straight through the metal, melting it totally in a blaze of purple heat. Jake screamed.

“Do you have a plan?” he asked.

“To not miss,” Xye explained calmly.

Xye stood up slowly. They raised their rifle to their eye even slower. They stared down the sights with devilish concentration. The officer was taking cover, and so was not able to seize the opportunity to shoot such a still target. Finally though, the officer peaked out from behind cover. Xye pulled the trigger immediately, hitting the right arm of their target. The policeman screamed and dropped his gun to the floor with a clatter. Xye stepped over the barrier and walked towards their prey. Jake peeked his head over to watch. Xye’s left hand detached itself. It fell to the floor and skittered towards the downed officer like a huge, metal spider.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! What is that?” screamed the officer at the sight of the hand. He tried to crawl for his gun, but Xye stepped on it with one foot. They crushed it to nothing but dust with the sheer force of their legs. The officer swallowed air. “Oh my god!” he repeated.

The radio on the officer’s chest clicked on. The same voice that had spoken on the dead man’s chest spoke again: “Officer Torrent, are you alright? We noticed you took some damage and took the Lord’s name in vain. What’s happening?”

Torrent reached for the radio communicator with his uninjured arm, intending to request further backup. But he was stopped when Xye’s hand climbed up his chest and wrapped its cold, tight fingers around his throat. He squeaked hoarsely  and looked up to Xye. Xye simply tilted their head knowingly.

“A-all is good here, base. There, uh, was an attack by a terrorist. But I managed to p-put it to rest. Took some damage though.” 

The voice from the radio was silent for a moment. Then it spoke again: “Alright, head back to base for medical care then. It will be taken out of your paycheck. That and the swearing.” The radio clicked off.

“Good job. Now, promise you won’t follow us?” Xye asked.

“I promise! I promise!” Torrent replied.

“I think we can go now,” Jake said, still behind the wall of instruments.

“Let’s be sure,” Xye growled lowly. The last syllable of sure panged out like a computer dying.

The hand around Torrent’s neck slowly began to tighten. Torrent choked. His eyes went red. He grabbed and clawed in vain at the mechanical hand. Blood began to pool at the hand’s fingertips until suddenly and all at once it released. The hand hopped off, leaving five deep, circular marks in Torrent’s throat, and returned to its master. Torrent crumpled backwards, still breathing.

“Now. Now we can go,” Xye said. They walked out of the store. 

Jake followed after Xye a second later. He took great care to step over the bodies of the store owner and officer Torrent. He snuck out of the building and back into the alley. Xye had already pulled their bike up to the store’s door.

“Hop on,” they said. They smiled lightly. 

Jake did as was requested and slipped onto the bike behind Xye. Xye took off immediately. They rocketed out of the alley and past the police cars at alarming speeds. They took off down the streets and out of CottonWood all together.

Lover’s Spat

Jake and Xye sped down the road for hours on end. They passed by farmland for half of the time. Eventually, Xye stopped the bike outside of an old run-down homestead. The wheat fields went on for miles completely untended. A barn lay surrounded by the golden grass a ways away from the main home. 

Xye jumped off their bike and kicked up dust.

“Get off, Jake.”
“I’m still really mad, Xye!”

“Hey! You used my name!” Xye smiled and placed their glasses in their breast pocket. They cleared their throat and spoke again, “I get that you’re mad.” Xye did not look back at Jake. “But this is how it’s going to be. For a while. If not forever. Running from the GNA doesn’t give you an easy life. You can still turn back. I’m not though. This is my job.” Xye took their flask out and drank again.

Jake flung himself off the bike and stomped away from Xye. He grumbled to himself as he went. A few feet in, though, he looked around and noticed the nothing around him. “Fuck!” He yelled and stormed back to Xye. 

“Pent-up rage?” Xye shook the flask at Jake. Jake did not immediately turn it down. “Try shooting the next guy yourself.”

Jake yelled again and charged towards Xye, Xye didn’t move. Jake swung his fist and punched Xye as hard as he possibly could in the chest. Xye coughed and Jake reeled back holding his hand with the other while crying out in pain. 

“Jake, please stop.”
“You used me as bait!” Jake collapsed to the dirt. 

“Ok. That was a dick move of me, but let it go! I won’t do it again.”

“Yes! You will! You jackass! You eurof-” Jake stopped when Xye whipped out a slick black pistol and aimed it at Jake’s head.

“God, you big city assholes don’t have any other fucking insults. You people really are miserable sacks of shit. It’s like all you fuckos know is that one word! You know I was born in this piece of shit excuse for a country. I’ve never been in Europe for more than a month. Now, stop acting like a child.” Xye narrowed their eyes. “I hate children.” 

Jake stared back into Xye’s eyes. He thought quietly for a long time. As Jake thought Xye sipped their flask, though they didn’t lower their gun. 

“Fine, but this isn’t the last discussion. And at least tell me where you get all these guns.” 

“Store.” 

Xye approached the house with their hands in the coat pockets.

The Arlott Siblings

Jake followed behind Xye, wringing his hands together. He mulled over the last two minutes in his mind. As he did so his heart sunk deeper and deeper into his stomach. All within the span of three seconds he tried speaking up to Xye to apologize but stopped short of making noise six times.

Xye knocked on the door of the old run-down homestead. The door creaked open, and from behind it came another person similar to Xye. They weren’t physically very similar, but their general attitude and the air about them was. They were shorter than Xye and taller than Jake, but were still a giant. Their hair was dark brown and cut off at the shoulders, it was also slightly disheveled. They had a clearly discernible gender to Jake, female. And they wore what looked to be an old black wide-legged jumpsuit and matching high heels. On her right hand sat a large black tattoo that looked exactly the same as the concentric circle design on Xye’s boat.

“The bottom of the ocean is nothing but wet sand,” Xye repeated the words from the boat. 

“Hey Xye, come in.” Her voice was smooth and calm, yet still demonstrated a level of mental maturity. Jake thought she sounded like what the shutters on her crumbling home would sound like when the wind passed through them. 

“Say your thing.” Xye frowned at the woman.

She sighed and reluctantly spoke a similar phrase, “Water can go over bridges too.” The very same words were carved into the faded wall next to the front door.

“What do I call him?” She pointed down at Jake. 

“Jake.” Xye didn’t even look back. They just smiled down at the woman.

“Made any new footballs recently?” She leaned against the door frame. A few pieces fell down by her feet.

“Footballs?” Jake asked timidly.

Xye turned on a dime and stared at Jake intensely. They grinned like they had when they first approached Jake at night. “Pigskin. Get it?” With that, they whipped back around as quickly as they had turned to face Jake.

“Got it.” Jake did not get it. 

Xye whispered over their shoulder back at Jake, “Because cops are pigs. You’ll pick it up.”

“Come inside.” The woman stepped aside for Xye, but when Jake approached the door she stretched one of her arms across the entrance and extended the other to Jake. “Hi, Jake. I’m Fear. It’s pronounced like a long-distance but spelled like mild terror. Just forget about the ‘e’. Please, shake my hand.”

Jake did as he was asked and added a comment, “You people have odd names.” 

Fear laughed a hearty laugh unfitting of her voice and removed their arm from the doorway. “Yeah, we do.” She continued laughing after Jake passed her.

When Jake’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of the inside of the house he saw Xye already laying down on a couch with their eyes closed. Afraid of waking them, he awkwardly shuffled past the couch and sat down in a chair right next to it. Fear followed, and, in a moment of great terror for Jake, slapped Xye in the face.

“Don’t go to sleep yet. We still have to do introductions.” Her tone was flat even though she had just hit someone very dangerous with what seemed like all her might. Xye groaned and sat up slowly. 

“It’s been such a long day.” They rubbed the newly formed red hand-shaped mark on their cheek and kept talking, “Can we do that tomorrow?” 

Fear shook her head and dragged Xye by the arm to the floor. “Tell me about him.” She pointed at Jake and nudged Xye with her foot. 

“He’s being a bitch right now,” Jake slumped down in his chair while Xye spoke, “and he’s from the place across the lake from CottonWood.” Xye thought for a few seconds about what they knew about Jake. “He used to be a FED. As of now, he’s killed two or so cops. And finally, he likes guys.” 

Jake began to protest loudly at the description of himself. Fear seemed to agree with the protesting. “Don’t mind Xye. They’ll be over it by tomorrow morning. Trust me, I’m their sister. Betcha wouldn’t have guessed that.” 

She was right, Jake assumed they were friends at best. Fear’s slapping and nudging didn’t fit the family dynamic Jake was brought up on. He was only ever in fear of physical and very not playful violence.

“I wouldn’t have.” Jake shook his head and compared the two. “You don’t exactly look like siblings. You know…” Jake stuttered for a moment. “You’re not metal, and you’re not tanned,” Jake said, pointing to Fear. “And you’re not a lot of things,” Jake siad, pointing at Xye who responded by turning on their side to face the legs of the couch.

Fear used her foot again to slowly push Xye towards Jake. As she moved them she talked with Jake, “Xye here never looked much like the family. I’m still not certain Mom didn’t have an affair. Actually, I’m certain she did. After their many surgeries, they bore even less resemblance.” Fear succeeded in moving the moping mechanical mound to the feet of Jake. “Now, you two get to going to sleep. We can get back to running tomorrow morning.” Fear’s simple and sweet yet cold tone was soothing to Jake. 

Xye grunted, “Fine. It’s getting late anyway.” It really was getting late. Jake hadn’t noticed, but when he finally took note of it he realized that he was very tired. So he closed his eyes and began to drift off while Xye did the same near his feet. 

“Goodnight, Xye.”

 Xye did not respond for several agonizingly long seconds.

“Goodnight.”

Morning Glory

Jake woke up with an incredibly sore neck. When he looked down by his feet he noticed a lack of either Arlott. So he got out of his chair and began to wander from room to room. Every room was as empty as the last, and they smelled like a faint whiff of bread or some other baked good. 

Eventually Jake saw Xye’s head poking out above the golden sea that surrounded everything beyond the house. The top of Fear’s head could also be seen a few feet away. Jake stared at them for a second before going back to his chair. It was then that he noticed the new set of clothes that had been placed nearby.

Jake slipped into the clothes quickly, keeping his FED coat over them. He felt better immediately to be wearing a fresh set of clothes. These were not tattered. Their threads were not unraveling. They weren’t even stained. Jake smiled a little and headed for the backdoor. He pushed open the door with a loud creak and stepped into an almost boundless sea of wheat and grass that towered over him like his companion.

The morning light turned a deep brown gold as it made its way through the surrounding growth and onto Jake’s face. As he slowly swam through the warm plants, Jake smiled brightly and breathed calmly. He moved in a state of complete serenity, sliding across the ground and being unbothered by the occasional scrape of a twig against his arms or scurrying of a small mouse away from him. He moved in the general direction of where he remembered Xye and Fear being, but he really moved wherever he felt was right. 

Jake managed to find his way to the small opening where the siblings were sitting. It was a small patch only about ten feet in diameter where nothing was growing. Fear was sitting on a folding lawn chair, and Xye was sitting on the ground with their arms out behind them. Both of them shifted slightly to look at Jake when he pushed through the gilded wall and into the patch. 

“Hey,” Jake waved slowly. Xye waved back excitedly and Fear nodded.

“Good morning!” Xye jumped to their feet and walked over to Jake. “Welcome to the field. It’s pretty, isn’t it?” 

“Very. I didn’t know places like this still existed, or that they were so…” Jake looked for the right word and eventually settled, “…good.” 

Fear chimed in, “Yep, the last homesteads like this are as close to heaven as we’ll ever get.” She laughed again. Jake frowned at the joke.

Jake sat down at the edge of the patch and Xye sat down with him. Fear turned away from them and looked up at the sky. For several minutes no one spoke. Jake was the one to finally break the silence quietly. 

“I always wanted to work on a place like this. I imagined myself waking up really early to fix some old machine that barely worked anymore. But by the time I was old enough to work there weren’t many left. What’s more, in school we took this test that helped us find what was supposed to be our dream job. In the end, we either believed the test on our own free will or somebody made us.” 

Xye and fear both nodded in agreement.

“They said I should be a gas station attendant,” Xye added. 

“And me a food reheater,” Fear followed after Xye.

“You went to school?” Jake asked a few seconds later.

“Of course. The ones on the coasts are just like the ones you went to. Except they’re in a ghetto and there’s a lot more despair and constant threat.”

All three of them fell silent again. Jake first, followed by Xye, and then Fear. All three of them sat quietly staring at the shining blue sky above the brimming grandeur of the glimmering golden wall. Most of the time Xye and Fear had their eyes closed, but Jake almost never did.

Rude Awakening

Fear’s eyes were jerked open by the loud grunt of Xye standing up and the squeak of their legs assisting them. 

“Do you always have to stand up so loudly?” Fear whined and turned over in her chair. 

Xye slowly pushed Fear out of her chair. Fear fell onto the ground with a light thump, sighed, and didn’t move.

“Yep. Alright, Jake. Let’s get going. Meet me back at the house and we’ll get supplied.” Xye grinned down at Jake and dashed into the wheat. At first, Jake heard their loud stomps making their way farther away, but after a few moments, he only heard the gentle swish of the wheat Xye passed through swaying back and forth. 

Fear picked herself up and addressed Jake, “Want me to lead you back?” 

“I’m ok, I think.” He responded. 

“Don’t get lost.”
“I won’t.”

Jake watched Fear slip into the field with less reckless abandon than her sibling and completely disappear. Then, he breathed deeply, turned towards where he remembered the house being, and began his brief journey.

Jake reached the end of his trek faster than he had hoped for. Fear was glancing around and happened to catch Jake’s eyes right as he stuck his head out of the field. She waved to him and gestured towards a bag on the floor near her and Xye’s feet. Jake shook the wheat stuck in his hair out and joined the siblings inside. 

“What’s in the bag? More guns?” Jake looked up at the two. It suddenly struck him with great force and neck pain how much larger Xye and Fear were than him. The smell of baked goods also struck Jake, but this time it was far stronger. 

“Lots of food,” Xye responded as they patted Fear on the head. Fear frowned.

“You keep doing that and I swear I’m not going to keep supplying your runs anymore, Xye!” 

“Sure thing.” Xye reached down and picked up the bag. Jake’s stomach growled as he got closer to Xye, Fear, and the tantalizing smell. 

“I’m really hungry. Can I have something?” Jake inched ever closer

“What?” Xye looked up and over at Jake. “Well yeah, man. This is all for you.” Xye struck their stomach. “I don’t need much in the way of solid food very often.” Then, they tossed the bag towards Jake. It struck him in the chest and sent him straight to the ground. Xye ran over to him and quickly slid the bag off of Jake. “Fuck! I’m sorry.”

Jake rubbed his head, blinked for a few seconds, and then laughed. He laughed happily. He laughed with such strength and for so long he had to curl up from the pain it caused his stomach. Xye was taken aback and thought about calling some sort of doctor. 

“Does he need a shrink or a surgeon?” They asked Fear.

Fear answered Xye’s question with one of her own, “Does he not usually do this?” 

“He usually just slinks around depressedly, freaks out, or gets really mad.”

“Surgeon.”

Jake picked himself up off the dusty floor and took a few seconds to catch his breath. Then he righted himself against the wall with one arm while using the other to hold his still heaving stomach. Chips of the faded green paint fell off the wall where he touched it and floated gracefully down to his feet.

Finally, he sputtered out a few words, “That poor policeman!”

Xye slowly started to laugh along with Jake, eventually they burst out into a howling blast of cackles. Fear chuckled lightly, attempting to be included.

Temporary Goodbyes

Later the trio found themselves calmed down and sitting on the couch. Each time they moved it spat up dust into their eyes. Because of this, Fear and Jake’s eyes were constantly squinting. Xye’s were wide open, though, immune to such attacks. Jake was far away on one arm of the couch while Xye was draped dramatically over Fear with their head near Jake’s legs. 

Jake stared vacantly at a point between the floor and Xye’s head. His eyes were still stinging slightly from the dust, but they were slowly opening. After a good amount of time spent staring and listening to Xye and Fear discuss nonsense and politics he spoke up.

“I don’t want to be rude-” 

Xye cut him off: “Go ahead. Be rude.”

Fear agreed, “Yes,” She nodded. “Feel free.”

Jake thought the pair’s words over and quickly decided against it. 

“I was just wondering if we’d be going soon. I mean, we’ve been here a while, and we’ve all eaten enough for the time being. Plus, we still have food in the bag. Why are we still here? No offense.”

“What would I take offense to?” Fear asked politely. She rolled Xye off her lap and onto the floor with a sizable crash.

“What part of that was in any way offensive?” Xye asked from their new position.

Jake sputtered his words out, “I don’t know. I-I just wanted to be polite.” His face was turning a dull red shade.

“Well,” Xye finally stood up with the familiar creaks of their legs and walked over to the now slightly lighter duffel bag, “we can leave whenever you want. I just wanted some family time.” Xye searched through the bag for a second and then whipped an apple they pulled out at the head of Fear. Fear caught it with ease and gently placed it on Jake’s legs. She smiled at him, and he returned a shaky half smile.

“Sorry,” Jake whispered under his breath. Fear heard him and frowned.

“Stop being sorry.” She furrowed her brow and slid across the couch towards him. Both of them briefly coughed in response to the dust that was raised. “We’re not your mom and dad. You can say whatever and we won’t mind.” 

Xye placed an adrenaline stick in their mouth and held their finger under their nose to mimic a mustache.

 “Do I look like your father?” Xye asked with a very poor attempt at a British accent. Seeing and hearing this, Jake laughed a little. 

“No,” Jake chuckled more and spoke through a grin, “You’re missing his signature regular body parts made of flesh.” 

Xye laughed, unscrewed their arm, tossed it into Jake’s grasp with the still attached arm, and headed for the front door. 

“I’ll go start the bike. Bring that out to me when you’re ready to go.” 

Jake handled the arm with intense care and inspected it closely. 

“Yeah….” He spoke slowly while directing most of his focus towards the intricacies of the arm. “…..Ok…..Wow.”

“And don’t stick your finger in there! I’ll feel it!” Xye called out as they pushed through the front door. 

The arm was cold to the touch and slowly pulsing. On one end the shiny, chrome, thick fingers gripped at nothing, and on the other, there was an opening that revealed an indent containing various clear tubes full of strange colored liquids and wires attached to the interior. The recurring symbol made of circles and an arrow was engraved on the underside of the arm’s wrist.

Jake glided his eyes across the smooth metal walls of the inside of the arm. He lifted one of his fingers to the edge, but, after a moment of consideration, moved it back down. He then moved the same finger up to the squirming fingers. The second the tip of his fingers touched the tip of Xye’s they were snatched and held tight. Jake let out a sharp yelp and stood at absolute attention. Fear, who had become engrossed with writing something that seemed very important to her on a very old tablet, turned to look with little interest. 

“They’re just messing around. Xye’ll let go in a second.” She went back to writing on her archaic device. 

Fear was right, and the robotic fingers released Jake with a gentle hiss a few seconds later. Jake’s hand was red where it had been gripped.

“Oh,” he said, his frantic panic stopping altogether. Jake realized he looked a bit ridiculous and attempted to slink towards the door silently.

“You’re Irish now?” Fear looked up suddenly as Jake placed his hand on the chipped doorknob.

“What? No…I’m…was…could be…an American?” Jake removed his hand from the door pensively. “What?”
“Irish goodbye.” Fear looked back down at her tablet and gestured to the door and Jake with her thoroughly chewed on stylus. She did not bother to explain any further.

Jake went silent and simply nodded. His hand went back to the door and began to open it slowly. 

“Before I go.” Fear looked back up. “I saw something on Xye’s boat. It was a weird symbol and the words ‘The bottom of the ocean is nothing but wet sand.’ And yesterday they said it to you. The symbol is on their hand to0, and yours. What does it mean?”

“The symbol is the sign of our organization. Those words are Xye’s stupid ID phrase they. Mine is the bridge thing.” 

“That’s cool.” Jake forced a smile and directed it at Fear, who wasn’t looking. He then pushed the creaking door open all the way and stepped out into the burning sunlight.

Xye was sitting down and leaning against their rumbling bike. When they saw Jake step out into the light they waved and pointed at their lack of arm.

“Toss it over, man!” 

“Uh, yeah. Ok!” 

Jake flashed another of his perfected smiles and tried his best to throw the arm. Unfortunately for him, the arm was heavy. Heavier than a regular arm, a weight Xye was horribly accustomed with though Jake was not, and less aerodynamic than one too. The squirming thing fell flat in the dirt a few feet away from Jake.

“Good throw,” Xye laughed.

“I’m sorry! I’ll go get that.” 

Jake ran down the porch stairs but stopped quickly when he saw Xye extend their attached arm, telling him to stop. 

“Check this shit out!” 

Xye took out an adrenaline stick, bit down hard, and began to stare harder at the arm. Their eyes flashed yellow again as the arm began to slowly writhe. Then, suddenly, the chrome bug propped itself upon its fingers and scurried quickly to Xye. Xye picked it up, petted the thing briefly, and stuck it back into place. Jake stared in horror.

“Its alive?” Jake choked out.

“Nah,” Xye tightened the arm, “I just pretend she is. Once she’s close enough I have some remote control. But I have a few programs baked in that make her act independently if something happens to me and I can’t control her.”

“Is that so?” Jake blinked repeatedly and thought about what he had just witnessed. “The hand is a she and it walks. Noted.” He smiled again, less boldly this time as his cheeks were beginning to hurt, and walked slowly over to Xye. He made sure to keep his eye on the arm.

“Hop on.” Xye straddled their bike and waited for Jake to follow. Once they felt Jake slide on behind and hold on tight they began to ride off. Just before they left the property they called out, “See you in hell, Fear!”

Fear didn’t hear them, her human hearing was unable to surpass the engine’s noise.

Some Kind Of Broadway

Jake and Xye flew down the road once more. The path beneath their screeching tires occasionally changed from dirt to gravel or grass, but it mostly stayed the same. Many things stayed the same. Xye’s fire-like hair still blinded Jake, and the wind still cut like knives. Though, despite the monotony and simplicity, Jake found peace. The natural world that surrounded him was almost novel. So many trees and such a vibrant sky were like a new toy for a young child to Jake. Time seemed to twist itself in strange ways, and the pair quickly found themselves stopped again. Night had fallen swiftly and darkness clouded Jake’s vision, but despite this, he could make out exactly where they had stopped. They were at a state border compound.

Xye quickly slid behind a patch of trees just before anyone at the compound would have spotted them. They then slipped off their bike and stood with their back to a tree to match its silhouette. Jake stood next to the bike. Xye pointed at Jake’s now very dirty and faded government coat. 

“Hey, Jake. You’re into guys. Up for a little acting?”

One of the guards stationed at the border compound that separated Jake’s home state and the one a step closer to the ocean was named Luke. His father before him had worked at a border compound, although he had been stationed at the ever-encroaching border of the GNA and what hadn’t been taken of South America, and his great great great grandfather far before had helped construct the compounds after the big invasions.

Most of Luke’s nights were simple. His schedule almost always consisted of waiting in his booth by the gate, letting the three cars that came around pass after a lengthy inspection and interrogation, and whipping up some coffee around one in the morning. This night was different. That night he saw a small man in an incredibly poorly treated and heavily damaged FED coat leading what looked to Luke to be the devil himself in handcuffs. The two figures approached Luke’s booth.

“Hey.” The man in the dark FED coat pushed the strange-looking person to the ground and knocked on Luke’s window. He stuttered a little, “Hey. B-booth boy. Got a deviant here. Need to t-take it through. Open the door.” Despite the man’s stuttering, his tone and jacket were very convincing.

Luke responded, “Yes sir.” He reached for the lever to open the gate but hesitated. “Do you have any identification on you, sir?” 

The man in the coat went a little pale.

“Just open the gate, son. They had a bike parked a while back, and I’m worried it’s rigged to blow. Do you want to be waiting here discussing pedantics if it does?”

“Yes sir, right away.” That was all Luke needed to hear. He pulled the lever and saluted the man.

“See. Wasn’t that easy?”

“Yes sir, but, what name should I put on the registry? I need to mark who comes through.”
The man in the coat thought for a second and then responded, “Gary Smithson.” With that, he picked the deviant off the floor and dragged them through the gate where he sat them down. Then he walked back through. “I’m going to get the bike. Watch that psycho.” 

“Understood.” Luke watched Gary walk down the road and disappear into the night. He noticed Gary was no longer guiding their captive. When he left his booth to look for the unguarded and disturbing person he noticed that they too were gone. 

“Oh f-….darn.”

Then, suddenly, purple eyes lit up in the shadows just beyond where the harsh lights of the compound couldn’t reach. Luke told himself they belonged to an animal, but couldn’t help worrying as the eyes made their way closer and closer. He also knew, deep in his mind, that animals didn’t have pastel purple eyes.

Luke scrambled back into his booth, trying to maintain his composure and man up. When he was safely locked behind concrete and glass he picked up the phone to put out a call for the escaped deviant.

Luke grumbled to himself slowly and dialed the nearest police pavilion. Before he could get halfway through the numbers he saw movement in the edges of his vision. Luke looked up and saw the deviant standing right outside of his window. He screamed and dropped the phone. This thing was nothing like anything he had ever seen. Everything about it was wrong, down to the smallest details. 

The deviant was now free of its handcuffs. The remnants of them hung from its wrists limply like the restraints of some movie monster on the loose. It waved and smiled cheerfully. 

“Hi,” it said before flying headfirst through the glass and into Luke’s stomach. 

The Fight Of His Life

Shattered glass tumbled through the air performing a gentle dance as it went. The deviant crashed into the lights on the wall and destroyed them with the weight of its body. Luke was sent soaring into the wall as well. The air fled from his lungs and was replaced only by the darkness of the night that had oozed into his booth after the lights went out. Luke gasped and stood up quickly. His hands reached for his gun but met an empty holster. The emergency light on the ceiling snapped on after recognizing the lack of light had lasted long enough. The darkness fled back out of the booth. The deviant was twirling Luke’s gun and looking at his control panel.

“Look,” the deviant spoke to Luke in a voice that sounded much to him like an old childhood friend had grown up to become a robot in both its tone and general sound, “You’re basically a kid. So I’ll just break your toys.” The deviant lifted one shiny arm and sent it cascading down through the various buttons and knobs with a fantastic crash. 

“Give me my gun!” Luke jolted towards the thing and snatched at the gun. He was pushed back into the wall with little interest from his target. 

“No. Anyways, like I was saying. Me and my pal are going to mosey on through. You can tell your boss it was terrorists or whatever so you don’t get fired. Yada yada yada. Say you shot at them. Boom you’re a small-town hero. Now, stay here while we pass through, and don’t chase us.” With that, the thing used the same shiny arm to slowly twist the barrel of the pistol into oblivion and toss it to the floor. 

Then, from the corner of his eye, Luke spotted Gary Approaching again with the bike by his side. Luke screamed out to him, “Gary! Help! He got out!” 

Gary, or Jake as he almost always went by, looked over at the general destruction and the shouting Luke. He responded promptly and without any stuttering.

 “Sorry, I’m kind of preoccupied. I also don’t think they’re a he to be honest. I just call them Xye.” Jake rolled the bike just past the gate and then turned to watch Xye finish up. “Oh also, my name is actually Jake. I used to work with a Gary though.” 

“What?” Luke shouted as he attempted to snatch his useless gun again. Once more he was pushed to the floor.

The deviant, who Luke now knew was named Xye, seemed a little annoyed at this most recent attempt for his gun. Xye frowned slightly and spoke down to Luke like he was no more than a child.

 “I’m going to have to tie you up if you don’t quit that,” Xye complained

Luke disregarded the gentle threat and ran at Xye once more. They expertly sidestepped the attack and snatched Luke by the arm. They then struck the man on the top of the head with their human arm, instantly knocking him unconscious.

“Dumb fucking kid,” Xye mumbled to themselves as they propped Luke up against the wall. After they had the young man secured they carefully climbed out the broken window and joined up with Jake and their bike at the open gate.

“You didn’t kill that one? He looks less mangled than most people you meet.” 

Jake sat down in the grass. He would have been sitting in pitch black-as when Xye had destroyed the gate control they also turned off all the floodlights around the compound by accident-were it not for the gentle blue light that Xye’s bike emitted from a few locations and the penetrating purple stare of Xye themself.

“Jake, he’s just out of school.”
“You kill everyone you come across. Like all those police.”

Jake picked at the grass in an attempt to avoid another confrontation with Xye.

“Well, they were cops.”
“So? Not all police are bad people, Xye.” 

Jake kept his eyes glued to the ground. Xye fell silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

“Jake, they cut off my fucking arm.”

“I was just making conversation. And you even told me I could be rude before.”

Jake stood back up but continued to avoid Xye’s illuminating gaze. 

“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. Whatever. Just get back on the bike,” Xye spit through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, Xye.”
Xye sighed and straddled their bike. 

“It’s not your fault.” They rubbed their temples for a while.

Jake timidly mounted the bike and grabbed Xye from behind as he had done before.

“I’m sorry, Jake,” Xye said clearly before flying away into the next state on their path.

Nightly Routine

Jake and Xye rode all night. On occasion, Xye would stop for a moment, fish through the duffel bag on the back of the bike, and give Jake some food or water. If Jake was asleep, as he more commonly was the deeper into the morning or early night it happened to be, Xye would instead pat his head and get back to driving. In the early morning when the sun had still not risen, Xye pulled the bike up next to a massive water outlet pipe sticking out of the side of a clearly abandoned old factory.

They were on the outskirts of another city. A city they had seen many times on their journeys but had never visited. Xye felt no need to visit, they realized that, despite its brilliant lights that shone all day, its uniquely and fantastically tall skyscrapers, and its population of over twenty million, it was the same as every city in the GNA. Nothing would change for them if they took a visit. A lot would change for the city, though.

Whatever time it was it wasn’t clear. The darkness was receding, but not quickly. It was neither morning nor night. Xye felt unright. It was a time of day that felt wrong to experience. Despite all their modifications and improvements Xye still couldn’t shake the unearthly feeling. They knew they would have to relent soon.

So Xye gently lifted the sleeping Jake off the bike and laid him down a few feet from the pipe. They pulled a blanket from the side compartment on their bike and wrapped Jake in it. Jake mumbled something and latched onto the blanket. Xye then sat down under the tree nearest Jake and closed their eyes. Within seconds Xye fell asleep.

Daily Routine

Jake woke up shortly before noon. He found himself in a particularly strange location, but he quickly brushed it off and began the lengthy process of fully waking up.

“Xye?” Jake asked groggily as he looked around the general area. “Xye, where are you? And where am I?” 

Jake’s rocky early morning voice rattled Xye awake. They were pushed even further into consciousness by the sudden wall of Jake’s morning breath that hit them, despite their distance.

“Fucking christ,” Xye said as they rubbed at the crick in their neck and stood up. 

They pulled two travel toothbrushes from their back pocket and tossed one at Jake. Then, they slid a hatch on the underside of their arm open to reveal many more travel size or folding personal hygiene tools. Xye took the toothpaste.

Jake didn’t catch the brush that was sent soaring through the air towards him. He was still trying to adjust to the morning and the bright light. The red plastic thing bounced lightly off his head and landed in his lap. Jake stared down at it blankly before recognizing what it was.

“Hey…Are you saying I smell bad?” Jake picked up his brush.

“Uh…Yup.” Xye spoke through both the brush and foaming toothpaste that took up the entirety of their mouth, “We both do. The least you could do is brush your fucking teeth.” Xye tossed the toothpaste into Jake’s lap. Jake recognized it immediately.

“Bit mean,” Jake mumbled before obliging Xye’s curt demands.

A  New Tool

After the two of them had freshened their mouths, briefly washed their faces, and brushed their hair Jake and Xye sat down by the stream that the outlet pipe created. Xye passed some of the last bits of food to Jake but still saved a small reserve in the bag.

“We’re headed in there.” 

Xye bit into an apple they held in their metal hand and pointed at the pipe with the other.

“What?” Jake thought for a moment and gave up. “Fuck…Ok. But what about your bike?”

“Fear’ll pick it up on her way through. She can move way faster than us since she looks normal. Normal enough.”
“Why can’t I travel with her?”

“You don’t like me?” Xye asked, pretending to be hurt.

“No! No, I do. It’s just that if she moves so fast…”
“Relax, Jake. I know. But you’re a wanted man. That headhunter is still after you. I expect we’ll see her before we’re home free.” Xye stood up and walked over to their bike. They walked the bike behind a few trees and pulled out something from the side compartment. “Speaking of which…” Xye walked back to Jake and placed the item in Jake’s hand. It was cold and heavy. The shape was slightly irregular but familiar. “Take this.”
Jake looked down at his hands. There was a small gray handgun sitting in them now.

“Oh, Xye. I can’t. I never passed training…You probably don’t care.”
“I do not. Plus it’s nothing fancy. Something simple to start you off. No lasers, just bullets.”
Jake handled the gun with the same fear he had felt when handling the policeman’s gun after the boat ride. He aimed it at the ground for a second and then waved the thing around.

“I actually don’t mind this all that much.”

Xye put a finger on the barrel and guided it far away from themselves. 

“Just keep it away from anything that you won’t kill.” Xye smiled, but Jake thought back to the altercation outside of Fear’s house.

“Sure thing.”

Technically A Sewer

After a few more minutes of investigating his new firearm and watching Xye take the supplies they needed from the bike they were leaving behind, Jake got up and approached the pipe. Xye walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.  

“I do not want to go in there,” Jake said assuredly.

“Yeah,” Xye responded, “Let’s go.”

“Fine.”

So shortly after, the two of them waded into the stream with their shirts and jackets held above their heads. Because of this, Jake was able to see the full range of Xye’s torso modifications. The left breast was covered with chrome, the whole stomach was as well, and only about ten square centimeters of skin were still left visible. Most confusing, and disturbing to Jake, was a complete lack of a nipple on the uncovered part of Xye’s chest. Xye began to seem ever so slightly less human.

After approaching the pipe Xye hoisted Jake up into it. Jake turned and reached down to offer a hand to Xye, but it was rejected. Xye shot up out of the water and landed smoothly next to Jake.

“Show off much, Xye?”

“You know it, baby.”

“I’m an adult man, not a baby.”
“You sure whine like one.”
“Dick head.”

“Ok, let’s get moving.”

Xye removed and bit down hard on another of their adrenaline sticks before stepping into the shadows. They fully disappeared from Jake’s sight for a moment, but reappeared shortly after by the light of an almost worryingly large blue flame jetting out of the palm of Xye’s enhanced arm. Jake stepped into the darkness after Xye and soon found himself in the cool blue light as well.

Xye whistled as they walked seemingly aimlessly down the twisting pipe. The snaking metal monster twisted suddenly and in many directions, yet Xye seemed to have no trouble making their way through at all.

Sometimes Jake would stumble and find himself in the dark again, but he would always quickly recover and scamper into Xye’s light. Xye never tripped or even so much as second-guessed themselves, or where they were going. They had no map or signs telling them where to go, and yet they marched on as sure as they had ever been.

Walking through a pipe full of dirty water didn’t do wonders for Jake. His eyes became irritated and his skin burned slightly from the occasional droplets of dank water that would fall from the ceiling of the pipe and hit him. Jake coughed violently every other minute or so. Xye either did not notice or did not care.

Finally, the cramped tube came to an end and opened up into an even larger and worse-smelling tunnel. Luckily this tunnel had lights along the ceiling, so Xye was able to turn the light in their palm off. Despite the lights, some areas still laid dark as night beyond where the flickering bulbs on the ceiling could reach.

The tunnel was massive. From one wall to the other it was roughly twenty whole feet. Straight down the middle was a rapidly flowing river of strangely dark water. The river created a roaring sound that, while not completely drowning out other noise, at least clouded most sounds made by anything in the tunnels. The tunnel was also completely devoid of any life aside from the two humans who had just entered. Not so much as a rat ran along the floor, nor did any bugs float lazily near the foul river.

Every few feet along the wall there was an inlay into the walls. In some of the inlays, there were doors or panels that Jake suspected led to other pipes or other buildings like the one he and Xye had entered. Beyond the sound of the rushing water, Jake could hear dead silence. It was an eerie sound that fit in nicely with the eerie feeling of the tunnel.

“Welcome to the tunnels, Jake!” Xye’s shout echoed through the strangely modern and seemingly living cave. The walls bounced their words back like soldiers bombarding the enemy.

“Is this a sewer, Xye? Did you bring me to a sewer?” Jake was unimpressed.

“Though it is technically a sewer its main use is transportation for agents like us.” 

“Xye this is a sewer,” Jake sighed a little and leaned against the wall weakly. Upon contact with the wall, he shot back up straight.

“Don’t touch anything, by the way. Again, technically a sewer.”

A Brief History Lesson

On one of the dark and slightly green walls, Jake saw a carving of a train that had been signed by someone named Lucien Greene.

“Hey, Xye. What’s the train about?” Jake asked and pointed to the carving. His voice echoed emptily over to Xye.

Xye looked over where Jake was pointing and immediately responded, “Oh, it’s a train. They’re used for moving people on train tracks.” Xye turned away.

“No, I get that. But why is it a train?”

Xye turned around again and appeared to be struck by a realization. 

“That’s right, they wouldn’t teach you guys about this. Ok, so,” Xye squatted down and began gesticulating with their hands as they explained, “a long time ago there were these people called slaves in America. To help them escape their captivity there were things called ‘Underground Railroads’ operated by many people. No, they weren’t real railroads and no they weren’t actually underground. Just roll with it. M’kay?” Xye popped back upright. 

Then they walked over to the carving of the train. They took out a battered pocket knife and spent the next couple of minutes carving a symbol next to the train while Jake watched mildly intrigued. It was a poor rendition of what appeared to be a young girl wearing a cat kabuki-like mask and oversized sweater holding a knife. Next to it Xye had carved their ID phrase. “That’s Pipi. She’s how I communicate to other agents that I’ve been to this railroad stop. It’s like a calling card. There are a bunch, like the one on my bike and boat that represent my organization. Keep an eye out.” Xye winked, fully aware their calling card was purely for their entertainment and nothing beyond that.

“Ok, sure.” Jake walked up to Xye, ignoring the ridiculous drawing and accompanying wink, and contemplated the brief history of his country and what he had just learned about the strange system of communication. While he stood there thinking Xye took out their flask, sipped it briefly, and waved the thing in front of Jake.

“Thirsty? It’s good stuff, you know. Good for parties and such.”

“Are we going to be having parties down here?”

“Oh for sure. There’s at least fifty people at the end of the tunnels just waiting to celebrate.”

Jake eyed the flask cautiously and tuned out Xye. Their witty remarks only really confused him. He weighed the pros and cons in his head over and over. Xye seemed to grow impatient as they shook the flask again and tilted their head slightly. Jake kept thinking. His brain pounded against his skull. Every muscle in his body was straining against the very idea of drinking, but at the same time he realized at this point it didn’t even matter.

“Jake? Buddy? Hello?”

Jake released a guttural growl and snatched the thing from Xye’s hand.

 “Fine! Yes! I’ll do it!”

“Cool.” 

Xye sniffed and began to walk down the tunnel. Behind them, Jake unscrewed the lid of the flask and took a deep smell of the alcohol within. It smelled, to Jake at least, exactly like the polluted river a few feet away. Despite this Jake swallowed his guilt as well as a large gulp of the liquid and held back a few coughs and sputters. Behind him, a door tucked away into one of the wall inlays creaked open slowly.

Xye clanked down the tunnel on their bulky legs joyfully. Completely unaware of the opening door. They were followed by Jake who slinked along near the wall and on occasion took very quick drinks from the flask. They were both a few hundred feet away from the pipe they had climbed out of.

“Freeze, Jake!” a familiar voice called out behind Jake and Xye and echoed off the walls of the cavern. It bounced aimlessly down ahead of the pair and continued into the abyss.

“Motherfucker,” Xye whispered under their breath. They turned around slowly and raised their hands. Jake did the same and accidentally dropped the flask which spilled its contents onto the stones on the floor. 

“Xye?” Jake looked over to Xye. Xye looked back down at them and grinned. Then, without warning, Xye snatched Jake and pulled him wildly into an inlay.

“Take out your gun, Jake. I told you there’d be a party.”

Like Rats

“You’re trapped, Jake. Both you and your psycho Mexican boyfriend!” The headhunter began to walk slowly towards where she saw Jake and Xye. Her feet dragged across the ground and made foreboding sounds that echoed down to Xye and Jake. 

“You’re Mexican? But Fear is like me,” Jake asked in a strange moment of calmness when presented with the unfamiliar predicament of race issues.

“Not Mexican, half Cuban or Puerto Rican I believe. Or maybe Columbian. Dear old Mom had an affair while on one of those fake missionary trips down south. I assumed you’d already noticed my skin tone,” Xye responded with a smile.

“Oh, alright.”

Xye then jumped out from the inlay and drew their gun. They fired randomly but missed every shot. 

They screamed, “I’m not a boy you fucking moron!” Then they ducked quickly back next to Jake.

The headhunter leaned into a microphone on her lapel and whispered something indecipherable to both Jake and Xye, despite Xye’s advanced hearing. After she spoke, dozens of heavily armed police officers burst through doors in the tunnels. Some behind the headhunter, and some ahead of Jake and Xye. 

Xye audibly sighed and patted Jake on the head. 

“No really, get ready to use that fucking gun.”

Xye grabbed Jake and started to run. The officers behind them began to fire, but most bullets missed. The ones that hit slammed into Xye’s metallic torso and went flying in other directions. Nothing was able to touch Jake who was covered safely by Xye’s body and coat. The officers in front of the two had much clearer shots and were able to send a few well-placed rounds through Xye’s coat or whizzing by Jake’s face. The speed of the tumbling pair shot up to nearly one hundred miles an hour in less than a second.

Jake screamed a little bit and struggled with his gun. He aimed it as well as he could and fired. Jake had no time to notice as Xye rushed by, but he struck three men in their necks and chests and sent their bodies falling into the river. 

Xye pumped their legs with as much force as they could. The hydraulics and metal squealed and pushed harder and harder. They reached a speed that would rival their bike. They were stuck in a particularly difficult position. When they ran past an officer they would quickly hit them or throw them into the water, but sometimes they just had to run by.

Xye jumped back and forth across the river. They often landed directly on officers and crushed them flat. When they flew through the air Jake screamed and dangled beneath them and above the water that was starting to run red.

Under their breath, Xye and Jake were both cursing heavily. Neither of them could hear each other over the constant gunfire and screams of police officers calling out in pain or anger.

Xye took their own gun out and fired it with Jake. Together they both hit a few more officers as they ran. Jake was crying a little, partially from the alcohol in their blood and partially from the blood they had spilled.

“We’re going to jump really, really far!” Xye yelled, but Jake did not hear. 

Xye tightened their grip on Jake and stopped running for half a second. They then crouched down, built up as much power in their legs as they could, and went springing forward with the momentum  of a small truck. Their heavy body went flying through a few men and ripped them to shreds. The men turned inside out, and what was left of them was sent flying just as fast as Xye into the nearby walls to coat them like paint. Xye essentially flew down the tunnel and skidded to a very violent stop near enough to the end. All in all Xye and Jake had flown, ran, and jumped close to a whole mile. They had also killed almost two hundred men collectively.

“Run!” They threw Jake from their arms and towards a door that they knew led to the surface. The headhunter had been running after them the whole time. Her poncho swayed wildly around her legs as she bounded across a pile of what could barely be considered bodies. Her gun lay in her hand and sent a few bullets flying right past Xye and into the wall a few dozen yards back. Xye returned the favor but missed just as wildly. They were both still far away from each other.

Jake took Xye’s advice and burst through the door. He ran up the dim gray stairs he saw right away but stopped halfway up. He began to pant. Then he began to cry. Finally, he leaned against the wall and sobbed violently. He wished for all the world he still had Xye’s flask. 

Back in the tunnel, Xye was breathing heavily with their back to a pillar. There was a bullet hole straight through their human arm. They were yelling violently, and the headhunter was still approaching them quickly. The headhunter and Xye had been exchanging shots as she approached.

Xye ripped a piece of their coat that was hanging on by a thread after being blown to bits and tied it around the wound. They screamed more and reloaded their gun in anticipation. The headhunter jumped around the pillar and reached for their trigger. Just before she could fire Xye snatched her gun and forced her arm upward. The bullet struck the ceiling.

Xye stared into the woman’s eyes. There was no spark. She seemed uninterested despite her situation.

“I’m going to kill you,” Xye explained calmly.

“Figured,” the headhunter responded.

“You don’t seem upset.”
“I guess I’m not.”
Xye took their gun by the barrel and began to bash the butt of it into the headhunter’s face with as much power, which really was an absurd amount with their mechanical arm, as they could muster. The once shiny and smooth end of the gun’s handle was soon coated with a thin layer of crimson blood. Quickly, blood began to pool and cover the woman’s face entirely. Xye continued to strike her. Xye grunted as they swung and their heavy breathing merged with the dying gasps and small sputters of the headhunter like two rivers. Her flesh began to tear and collapse to reveal the already cracking bone beneath. She was no longer moving or breathing, and her blonde hair was so coated and greased with her blood it became matted and wine-like. Xye continued to swing manically. Her bone gave way and revealed a hole. Xye stopped swinging and threw the body into the river where she soiled the already tainted water. The water seemed to boil before the body sank to its depths.

Xye unloaded their pistol into the water above her body. They spoke one word so quietly they might as well have only mouthed it, “bitch”. Then they cleared their throat and opened the door Jake had gone through with a spring in their step. 

Nap Time

Xye treaded slowly but calmly up the utilitarian metal stairs Jake had used a little while ago. They were smiling despite the amount of blood trickling down their arm. Jake heard the drops of scarlet ichor drip onto the stairs and wiped his eyes. 

Jake called out, his voice trickling down the stairs like Xye’s blood, “Xye? Xye, is that you? Why are you dr-dripping?” His voice hitched but he managed to hold back more tears and even let out a tiny laugh.

Xye still couldn’t see Jake, nor could Jake see Xye, but they knew exactly what state he was in. Xye looked down at their trail down the stairs and called back up to Jake, “It’s me. And I’m just a little shot, that’s all.” They returned Jake’s small laugh and continued their ascent up the stairs.

“Shot?” Jake suddenly became startled. He jumped upright and hustled down the stairs to meet Xye. “You were shot? Jesus, Xye, by who? Are you ok?” 

“Wait!” Xye called out when they heard Jake’s feet patter down the stairs. They weren’t in a condition they wanted Jake to see. Unfortunately for Xye, Jake wasn’t paying much attention and didn’t hear.

Jake rounded a corner in the stairwell and came face to face with Xye in the worst state he had ever seen. Xye was pale from both blood loss and overexertion. They were leaning against the wall for support. An unhealthy stream of blood was trickling down the right side of their body and had soaked the makeshift bandage so badly it was almost falling off. Xye also had viscera strewn across their face from beating the headhunter, and more gore was stuffed in the crevices of their legs from landing on or flying through the officers. 

“Oh god, Xye,” Jake whispered under his breath. Xye heard and shook their head. They tried to walk towards Jake but moved too fast and had to fall back onto the railing.

“Ah,” Xye attempted to advance again, this time succeeding with much less haste, and placed their non-blood-soaked hand on Jake’s shoulder as usual. Their words were a little slow to come, but they still managed to get them out, “I’ve had worse.” 

“Come here,” Jake held out a hand for Xye who actually took it. He led Xye slowly up the stairs and eventually to an unmarked gray door.

Jake pushed open the door and was blinded by the sun. It was mid to late afternoon, but the tunnel and stairwell were so dark that the sun stunned Jake. Xye greeted the fresh air and startling light slightly after Jake. They simply groaned and let their eyes adjust automatically. After recoiling and getting his bearings again, Jake moved away from the exit, which appeared to be nothing more than a hole with a doorway built around it, and laid Xye down on the soft grass.

Xye passed out immediately on contact with the ground. In response to that, Jake shook them lightly. 

“Xye. Xye,” Jake shook Xye a little more. “Xye, what do I do? Can I call someone? Xye?” 

Xye groaned again and simply pointed to a small radio transmitter on the inside of their jacket. Jake grabbed it and flicked the power on. It whirred slightly and began to lightly vibrate. Then a voice came through, although poorly, on the other end.

“Hello? Agent 4202? This is Dom. What are you calling in about?” The voice paused and awaited a response.

“I’m Jake. Xye is injured pretty badly and drained of energy. Whoever you are, please help!” Jake’s words tripped over each other and flowed sloppily out of his mouth.

The voice responded, much clearer this time, “Calm down, Jake. It’s good to finally talk to you. My name is Dom Richards. Now, Fear is way past you and we can’t send anyone to you. I’m going to help you out here over the radio. Got it?” The voice was calm and sweet, but commanding at the same time. The radio was clearer, but even when it was spotty the power of the voice shone through the interference like a lighthouse through fog. It made Jake feel protected.

“O-ok, sir. Is it a sir? I don’t know anymore.” Dom laughed and after a second Jake started laughing with them. He stopped when he noticed Xye had gone unconscious again and was having difficulty breathing. 

Dom heard Jake’s sudden shift and spoke up again, “How’s Xye? Where are they hurt?”

Jake studied Xye for a moment before responding, “They’re not great. There’s a bullet hole straight through their real arm, and they bled a whole lot.” 

“Ok, they’ve been through worse. At least they still have the arm. Have you got any alcohol to sterilize the hole?”

“Not anymore.”

“Alrighty then. Burn the wound. More accurately, cauterize it. Xye has a lighter in their palm, and it can be used for more than getting high.”

Jake fell silent for a long time. They looked back and forth between the bloody chasm in Xye’s arm and the hole in their palm. Dom tried to snap them back to reality, “Jake? Jake, this is pretty important, buddy.”

“Give me a minute here.”

 Jake put the transmitter down and scooted on his knees over to Xye. He lifted Xye’s metal arm. It was heavier than he expected. The weight was similar to a young child and totally overwhelming. Jake lugged the thing slowly and placed the hole on the palm right against the hole in the other arm. He held back a little vomit.

Then Jake picked the transmitter back up.

“Ok, well, I’ve got the hole in place. I don’t think anyone but Xye can turn it on though.”
Dom immediately knew what the solution was and explained it quickly, “Whisper in their ear that you’ve got weed. It’s a code phrase, automatically starts the burner.”

“Wuh-what?”
“Just do it, Jake. Xye is simple.” 

Jake did as he was told and watched as the bright blue flame jetted into one end of Xye’s arm and out the other. The jet crackled and wrapped its burning tentacles around the exposed flesh. Xye winced with the pain and shut the fire off as quickly as possible, but remained asleep, or in some state of unconsciousness, the whole time. 

Jake leaned down and brought his eye to the wound. It was cauterized as well as one could hope in such a situation as he was in. It was also one of the most upsetting things he had seen in his entire life. Certainly not the most, his recent travels and scuffles around Xye had provided worse images, but enough to make Jake immediately regret his choice to look. Jake recoiled and grabbed the transmitter again.

“It worked.” Jake sighed a little and waited for Dom’s response.

“I knew it would. Alright, Jake. Now just wait the night out here. Xye’ll be better by morning. I’m right here if you need anything more. Good meeting you.” 

With that, the transmitter fell silent and Dom was gone. The chirps of a few evening birds began to pipe up but were soon drowned out by the light rumble of a nearby superway. Superways were a relatively new creation thought up by a strange engineer who very few knew about. They were massive roads hundreds of feet across with support pillars as thick as houses. They wound over and around themselves like serpents and ruined any landscape they were placed in. Along the superway near Jake and Xye, Fear was speeding down the road in a black SUV. Jake was unaware that Fear was still important to him or Xye in regards to their journey, and would have no way of knowing anyway. So he did all he knew he could and pulled Xye’s jacket out from underneath them to lay on top of them instead like a blanket. 

Meanwhile…

Fear was sailing smoothly down the super way. It was so long and infested with other drivers that she couldn’t see the sides or more than twenty feet ahead of her. Despite this, she continued to ride along at well over one hundred miles an hour. When she passed by Jake and Xye she couldn’t see them, she was already far past them a second later. The back of her SUV, including all seats, had been removed to fit Xye’s bike and other supplies. The transmitter on her hip rang and then connected to the earpiece she had on.

“Hello? Fear here,” Fear said as she tried to stay focused on the road.

“Hey, Fear. It’s Dom. Xye is hurt, but not bad. That Jake is taking care of them. Just keep going on the superway and scout ahead. I’ll get back to you.” 

The earpiece buzzed and then clicked off. Fear processed the information for a second and finally gave up trying to think up solutions. She already had a task and helping Xye out of a shitty situation wasn’t going to help anyone very much.

Fear chuckled a little at Xye’s expense and changed into a farther left lane to pick up her speed. She was headed through two more states to check if there was anything in the way of Xye’s path and get some more supplies ready for them at the end. She looked fairly normal. She did take after her mother after all, and her mother was a very standard woman, tall like Xye and Fear but not monstrous. The memories of the specific details had faded with time though.

Fear continued to make her way down the superway. She had already passed by much of the state Xye and Jake were in and it had only been a few minutes since her brief call with Dom. Since then her speed had dropped to a more leisurely eighty miles per hour. She had also been debating whether or not to call Xye. She reasoned that it couldn’t hurt, but also that it could be a waste of time and a distraction. Eventually, Fear gave up and pulled off to the side of the road. She pressed her earpiece and connected to Xye’s transmitter. It rang a few times before Jake picked up.

“Hello? Dom?” Jake answered with a slight slur in his speech. Fear assumed he was drunk or high, but in reality, he was just woken up by Fear’s call.

“No, It’s-Oh, hi again Jake. How are you? Have you been well since we last saw each other? Wait, never mind, what’s going on with Xye?” 

“Huh?” Jake was still tired and barely heard a word Fear said. He only managed to make out “Xye” and “Jake”, so he went off of that, “Xye is sleeping. The blonde lady shot them. How are you?”

“Shot where? Did you help them out? I can turn around now.” 

Fear was a little panicked but stayed calm and slow in tone.
“In the arm, they’re fine. I castrated the wound or whatever.” Jake yawned loudly into the transmitter and went back to speaking as though nothing happened, “Just keep going wherever you’re going.”
“Ok, Jake. By the way, it’s called cauterizing,” Fear waited for Jake to respond. She sat in silence for almost half a minute. 

“Right, right.” 

Jake yawned again and said no more.

“Goodnight, Jake.”

 Fear hung up. She looked around and realized that, although it wasn’t night just yet, it was certainly getting late.

Fear drove for ten more minutes until she reached a border compound much like the one Xye and Jake had visited before. She pulled up to the window where a boy like Luke sat, looking wearily down at his tablet. The boy looked up at her and leered for just a second less than the amount of time it would take for the system to recognize his indiscretion.

“Papers, ma’am?” The boy asked, clearly uninterested in his duties. His voice was squeaky and cracked a few times despite the very short sentence.

“Right here.” 

Fear brightly smiled at him but did not receive any smile or even so much as recognition of the smile back. She brushed off the cold response and reached for her papers. They were all neatly stacked on the seat next to her and bound with a clean ribbon. The stack was almost three inches thick. They were also, of course, all faked. 

Fear stealthily slid on a pair of black leather gloves to hide her tattoo before grabbing the hefty papers with both hands and lifting them through the window of her car and into the window of the booth. The boy took them from her and dropped them onto his desk where they blew aside a few styluses and pencils. The boy sighed under his breath and quickly flipped through the pages. His greasy hair was styled into a crew cut much like what Jake’s hair used to resemble. A few short strands were loose and occasionally fell down before his eyes where they were wiped away by his busy hands. He pushed them back into place before any camera could pick up the issue and order him a demerit.

“What’s your name?” Fear asked sweetly. She smiled again and leaned out of her window a little.

“Mark,” The boy squeaked out, “And you are?” Mark gestured to the papers with a free hand.

“Lisa,” Fear said, remembering her false name with no difficulty. “Lisa Mary Brown.” Fear smiled again.

“Correct.”

 Mark looked up and held one paper up next to Fear’s head to compare its photo with her face. He noticed her smiling. He absent-mindedly returned the smile and quickly went back to reviewing her papers.

“How’s it all looking?” 

“Fine.”

“Almost done?”
“Yes.” 

Mark squinted his eyes as he concentrated on one paper longer than usual. Fear began to worry ever so slightly.

“What’s wrong, Mark?”

Mark didn’t respond. He instead leaned closer to the papers and slid them aside quicker than before. His eyes narrowed and he stopped on a seemingly random page. Fear began to sweat a little bit. Mark looked up, “When did you last have these updated?”

Fear stuttered and stammered over her words for a moment before managing to get a date out, “Thirty-two. I think. That or Thirty-one.” Fear smiled again, there was a large amount of uncertainty behind it.

“It says they expired two years ago. Come inside.”

 Mark stood up and pressed a button near the papers. The massive steel gate in front of Fear slammed shut faster than she thought was possible. Mark gestured for her to follow him back inside of the compound.

Fear reached down to a combat knife she kept under a small handkerchief and in a cup holder. Her hand graced the edge and then moved away. Mark was only a kid. So, with a heavy stomach, she stepped out of the SUV and followed Mark into the dark room.

No Job Interview

As Fear scraped aside the thick metal door that Mark had slid behind, a drawn-out scream sprung forth from where the door and the ground met. She found that Mark had already sat down on one side of a table placed in the center of the room. It all grimly reminded her very much of when she was surveying and bugging Jake’s place of work ahead of his rescue. Most work places in the GNA followed a similar design plan. She smiled again and waved to Mark. Mark waved back and gestured to the seat across from him. Fear took it begrudgingly.

“Lisa,” Mark was still shuffling some papers back and forth in his hands as he spoke, “Why are these out of date?” Despite being no older than twenty, Mark managed to come across as slightly intimidating.

“I didn’t realize they were.” 

“You don’t travel very much?”

“No, I do. I suppose no one ever mentioned it.”
“I see,” Mark kept his eyes down on the papers he was shuffling around with seemingly no purpose. The sound of the papers sliding back and forth across each other began to feel like nails on a chalkboard to Fear. Mark’s voice accompanied the grating sound with its nasally and squeaky tones, “I can’t let you pass on through the gate without up-to-date papers.”

“Well,” Fear tightened one hand into a fist under the table, “Can you get them up to date here?” 

“Nope,” Mark smiled and slid the papers back across the table. He patted them like a child and smiled as Fear had before, “Go back to the nearest issuing station. Then come back here once you’ve gotten that sorted out.” 

Fear saw Mark’s smile and grimaced a little.

 “But, that’ll take days. I’ve got somewhere to be right now.” Her fist tightened even more and drew blood from her palm.

“It’s important to keep your papers updated,” Mark said as he pushed his chair back with a scrape much like the scrape of the door only moments ago. He stood up and headed for the door. As he passed Fear he patted her on the shoulder like he had the papers. She tightened her other hand into a fist and almost jumped at him. She only stopped because he had a box on his belt. His overseer would hear right away if anything happened and have a warrant on her head. She didn’t much enjoy being like her sibling.

Fear was left alone in the dull room. Mark had left the room and Fear alone. He expected she would find her way out and drive back to get new papers. Instead, she was leaning back in her chair and concocting a plan to get past the gate. As she was tilted back and chewing on a pen Mark had left she noticed a small camera in one corner. Not wanting to look too suspicious she sighed, took her papers, and moped out of the room.

Fear closed the door behind her. It scraped against the floor again and made her feel as though her skin was shivering and her bones were shrinking. She then walked back to where her car was parked, no one had pulled up after her to wait, and slid into the driver’s seat. Mark was back in his booth and smiled at her. Fear smiled and looked him dead in the eyes. She shifted the car into reverse and quickly accelerated back. As she did she kept a smile on her face and her eyes on Mark’s. The car was a mile down the road in twenty seconds, and all the while it was going straight backward.

The Plan

Fear pulled the wheel hard to the left and went sliding, while still headed backward, off the road, and into a small grassy plot. She stomped on the brakes and the car came to a standstill. The engine rumbled and then died as Fear turned off her car. Fear leaned her chair back as far as she could and began to relax. It was close to midnight. She only needed about half an hour.

Twenty-nine minutes later Fear turned her head to look out the window and immediately noticed it was dark enough. She made some passing comments about time to herself and started the car up again. Then, she ripped off the grass and back onto the road. Fear’s car drifted around a corner and shot towards the compound. Fear narrowed her eyes and mimicked some of the things Mark had said to her in a mocking tone. 

As the car came screaming towards the compound Fear got a clear sight of what was going down. Mark was getting off his shift and was slinking from his booth to the parking lot. The gate was open and there was about a thirty-second window before it would be occupied again by the next worker. Fear pushed the gas pedal even harder and shot straight past Mark as he walked towards his own car in the compound parking lot. 

Mark heard the car approaching, but was fumbling through his pockets and didn’t catch anything with his eyes. As Fear passed him though he spun around in reaction and watched the blur disappear through the open gate.

“Mother of God!” Mark screamed a relatively safe expletive as he watched the incredibly fast shape pass. The other man who was taking over his shift simply fell down and stayed down. Later both of them would file a report and be admonished heavily for allowing something past the gate.

Fear kept driving quickly once she was far past the gate, and, eventually, merged on to the first superway she saw. She drove peacefully for a while, but eventually noticed the time and began to whine out loud to no one and about a variety of things plaguing her mind: 

“Motherfucking nineteen year, old grease face, dumb shit kid messed up my goddamn schedule!” Fear groaned and slapped her steering wheel a few times. She quickly regained her composure though. She straightened her hair in the rearview mirror, briefly touched up her lipstick-something she was only recently able to do in her car after acquiring a much smoother riding model from someone her sibling had killed incredibly violently-, flattened out her shirt, and became calm again. “Fine, whatever.” She frowned for only a second.

Fear merged into the leftmost lane and picked her speed up another fifty miles per hour. The intense lights that lit the superway were on top of massive poles on either side. They hung over the whole road and shone down with malice to illuminate the drivers no matter how thick the darkness lay. Fear knew this and kept a cheery suburban smile on her face lest anyone in another car caught a glimpse of a clearly perturbed woman. The smile was a well-practiced one and was able to hide the seething rage Fear was feeling for getting off track with only the occasional fracture. Sometimes Fear would briefly yell, especially when a nearby engine suddenly became louder than usual and could cover her outburst.

She drove along the same superway for most of the night and following day. She would stop at towns along the way and drive slowly through the streets. If anyone asked what she was doing she would simply tell them her dog had escaped. Most people would scoff and tell her to pay closer attention before immediately leaving. Every town and suburb was the same. Even their names were similar, they were either named after a confederate general or some relevant nearby landmarks that had long been destroyed by the ever encroaching urbanization. 

As the velvet curtain of the next night began to rise, Fear realized that she had bounced from town to town all the way to the edge of the next state. She parked in an abandoned market’s parking lot (the market was called “The Free Market” and had failed miserably because of confusion with the name and widespread mismanagement of funds by a manager) and began to think about how she would get through the next border compound. She knew she had new and up-to-date papers back at her farmhouse, but she also knew that wasn’t an easy or viable option. Fear leaned her chair back again and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep.

Mild Recreation

Jake was woken up the next morning by the calm words of Xye flowing like a river into his ears. Jake smiled at the sound and came quickly. Xye was perched on the tips of their toes next to Jake and was leaning over him like a mildly frightening bird of prey. Their hair dangled down and danced above Jake’s face like the morning light danced through the hair itself.

“Hi Xye,” Jake grumbled tiredly, “Are we going to kiss? Please don’t kiss me.”

“No, I don’t like you that much and also you just woke up,” Xye responded right away. They rolled back onto their back and then jumped upright. As his eyes adjusted Jake noticed the hole in Xye’s arm was still very prevalent, although any bleeding had stopped and some healing had begun.

“Are you…feeling better Xye?” Jake yawned and stretched. A few bones popped and he stiffened quickly. Xye stretched like a marathon runner and cracked their neck.

“Well I’m moving aren’t I?” 

Xye continued stretching. When they finished they sat down next to Jake. Jake was still struggling to get to his feet. Suddenly, Xye’s communicator rang. During the night Jake had placed it in his front pocket and forgotten about it. The sudden vibration and loud noise startled Jake to an even more alert state. He snatched the thing out of his pocket and fumbled with it for a moment. 

“Hello? Fear, Hi how-” Was all Jake could get out before Xye stole it.

“Hey, dipshit. I’ve been up for three hours. What took you?” Xye smiled as they spoke. Then they went silent and listened to their sister. They nodded along as they listened. Jake stared up at them and tried his best to listen to the mumblings of Fear that leaked out of the communicator like molasses through water. Eventually, Xye nodded one last time before ending the call.

“What did she say?” Jake asked, fighting back a yawn.

“Well,” Xye said, ”She’s got my bike, and she’s gone through a few towns up ahead. They all look pretty safe. We’ll have to get to her at the next compound on our own.”

“How are we going to get across the state? Are you going to run again?”

“Did you see what that did to me yesterday? I can’t sustain that speed long enough.”

“Well, then what’s your plan?” Jake asked as he came fully into consciousness. 

“There are people around here who will help us. It’s not too far anyways,” Xye said as they began to walk. To Jake, Xye moved almost aimlessly. Their feet seemed to second guess themselves. In reality, Xye was listening to the now less prominent sound of the superway. The morning rush had not yet started, but the sound was still intense. Once they had found the direction they stuck their enhanced hand out behind them for Jake to take.

Jake took the hand. He was then suddenly hoisted up. The movement was so fast Jake had no time to realize what was happening. One moment he was grabbing Xye’s hand, and the next he had suddenly been placed on their shoulder like a pirate’s picturesque parrot. Xye looked up to Jake and smiled. 

“And we’re off!” Xye yelled as they took off running towards the superway. Jake was still adjusting to the sudden position change, and the shift to Xye running only messed with him more. He almost fell backward onto the grass, but Xye had a tight grip around his legs to prevent such a thing. After a few seconds, Jake relaxed and just enjoyed the view from such a height. He peacefully admired his surroundings as Xye took him roaring past them. A smile briefly stretched across his face.

Xye moved swiftly through the relatively untouched field they and Jake had slept in with similar reckless abandon to how they moved through their sister’s wheat field. Jake was held tightly enough so that he was jostled very little. His ride was pleasant and quick. Within minutes Xye stopped at the edge of a relatively steep hill. The superway was a few hundred yards away. Xye gently placed Jake on the ground and rested their arm on his head nonchalantly.

“Want to roll down the hill?” Xye asked. They inspected their non-existent nails on their left hand and waited for Jake’s answer.

“I don’t want to get my clothes dirty or mess up my hair. I’ve worn my coat this whole time. It’s barely recognizable anymore,” said Jake with little regard for the arm resting on his head.

“Man,” Xye sighed, exasperated, “Neither of those are getting worse than they are now. But, it’s your choice. If you want to walk down, I’ll meet you at the bottom.” Xye removed their arm from Jake’s head and approached the very top of the hill. Then they slowly laid down, their legs squealing as they went, and pushed off. Xye went tumbling down with immense speed. Occasionally they bumped which caused them to grunt lightly and be sent flying in some odd direction, but mostly they laughed a little as they hurtled towards flat ground.

Jake watched Xye roar down the hill while he deliberated on what to do. He had actually never rolled down a hill. It was only something he had seen done in movies from a long time ago. So he decided to go for it. He laid down, with less squealing than Xye, and began to roll.

At first Jake stayed completely silent as he made his way quickly down the hill. He would also grunt a little whenever he hit a bump or rolled in an unexpected direction. Though soon, he got used to it. Within seconds he was laughing like Xye was and smiling brighter than he had in recent memory. The glimpses of the sky he caught in between having his face stuffed into the ground brought him more delight than any sky ever had.

At the bottom of the hill, Jake came to a sudden stop when he rolled into a chain-link fence. The fence gave a little, but mostly it resisted and bounced Jake back. Even after it had been hit the fence continued to rattle subtly like the bones of an angry spirit. Jake shivered despite the heat. He sat up and looked around. He noticed that during their travel down the hill he and Xye had moved a good distance away. So he began to walk over to where Xye was standing staring straight up at the top of the fence. It was only as he walked to Xye that he noticed his clothes. They had a few grass stains and patches of dirt but weren’t nearly as devastated as he expected them to be after rolling down the hill.

“Xye?” Jake called out, “What are you looking at?” 

“The fence. See?” Xye pointed up at the fence and turned to smile childishly at Jake. 

Jake did see. He also suddenly realized that he was standing directly beneath the superway. The rattling chain link fence was the only thing separating himself and Xye from the plagued area beneath the massive road. It was one of those areas mothers warned their children about going to. Not because it was inherently dangerous, no cars drove beneath the road of course, but because it was repulsive. Piles of trash had built up from cars tossing their garbage out the window. Bullet casings and the occasional full bullet littered the ground from countless executions or fights with the police (these bits of refuse did not make Jake feel very good about his current situation). And even the occasional vagrant spent the night beneath the superway before being hauled off by men in navy blue coats the next morning.

“There’s nothing under here for us, Xye. It’s just trash.” 

Jake leaned with his back against the fence. Xye did not respond so Jake closed his eyes and focused on the events of the past days. After a few seconds, the fence behind him suddenly disappeared, and he was sent sprawling to the ground. His head bounced lightly off a bag of trash behind the fence, but his back and elbows landed on the pavement with a thud. 

Jake raised his head from the trash bags and wiped the juice that spurted from the bags off the back of what was once considered a work-appropriate crew cut. As he looked around he noticed that the fence had not in fact disappeared, but instead had had a large hole peeled away by Xye. The rot and lack of upkeep made the task of removing the fence all the easier for Xye, who Jake then saw was trying not to laugh at Jake as he wiped the putrid sauce from his head.

“Wow, real fucking nice, Xye,” Jake whined.
“Oh, come on, Jake. That was funny! It’s no big deal! And I got us through the fence!” Xye responded with exasperation as they threw their arms out. “I’ve been doing stuff like this since we met!” 

“I know, I know,” Jake grumbled as he stood up from his resting place on the tainted ground. “I just wish you’d give me a warning or something. I’m not used to it.”
“Ok,” Xye said, lowering their arms back to their natural position, “Next time I’ll warn you before I mess with you. Deal?” Xye stuck their metal arm out and waited for Jake to shake it.

“Deal,” Jake agreed. He was clearly annoyed. His head was tilted down ever so slightly, his fingers fidgeted meaninglessly at the air, his left food ground into the dirt a little, and his eyes kept blinking hard. Nonetheless, he took Xye’s hand.

“Sorry, Jake.” Xye smiled. Before Jake could get a response in, they detached their arm from its socket. They popped their pocket knife out of their coat pocket and walked over to one of the superway’s pillars. There they carved Pipi and their ID phrase again. It was next to a few faded and heavily worn carvings whose meanings even Xye did not know. Jake watched Xye walk away, and only when they had finished their carving noticed that the hand he was still holding was only dangling in mid-air.

Jake grabbed the other end of the hand awkwardly. He remembered the way it had walked back at Fear’s house and shuddered at the thought. He placed it down and lightly shoved it towards Xye, who was making their way back towards Jake leisurely, with the tip of his foot. As Jake expected the hand propped itself up on its fingers once Xye got close enough. It scurried over to its owner with such speed and precision that Jake momentarily forgot his discomfort with the ghastly thing. Xye scooped the hand up and slid it back into its socket with a noise like a train pulling out of a station.

“Our guy should be around here somewhere,” They said as they started off further into the jungle of concrete support pillars and mountains of rotting trash. The road above them shook with vigor as cars rode by. Jake tentatively followed at first, but soon sped up his gait to pick up with Xye. Jake occasionally glanced over his shoulder or grasped onto Xye’s shining arm whenever the wind would pick up or a piece of trash would tumble down a pile and clatter to the ground. 

Bubbles?

Xye walked with Jake hanging onto their arm for only a minute and a half. They turned around pillars and ducked under piles of filth. All the while Jake followed religiously. Eventually, they came out of the other end of a tunnel of cardboard boxes. Leaning against a pillar and hiding under the shadow of the superway, the image gave Jake immediate flashbacks to his first meeting with Xye and caused him to almost smile a little, was a man with skin like Xye’s. The man wore a long brown coat and had a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Xye noticed the cigarette and quickly popped one of their adrenaline sticks into their mouth.

“That’s the guy,” Xye spoke around their adrenaline. 

Xye walked towards the man with an exaggerated saunter. The adrenaline was just starting to take effect. They reached into one coat pocket and removed a shining yellow coin which they tossed to the man. The man caught it without looking up from his feet. That’s when Jake lost all stock in the interaction. Xye started speaking a language that Jake had never heard or heard of. In reality, it was only a mix of both Spanish and French, but Jake wasn’t aware that either of those was a language. Many years ago the country of France had merged with the country of Spain, and many years before that any mention of the filthy languages, as they were called, was banned. Mexico had also been invaded by the GNA just after the language ban, and the new ruling power in what had once been a vibrant country with diverse culture stamped out anything it did not like. 

The man pointed to Jake and referred to him with a word Jake didn’t know. Xye nodded and laughed. The two kept talking. Jake slinked back towards the tunnel he and Xye had squeezed out of but stayed just near the entrance. From there he watched Xye speak in rabid sounding tongues with sounds he wasn’t aware people could make. He watched for only a few minutes, stricken with an unnecessarily overwhelming worry the entire time.

Xye and the man spoke back and forth for a while. Xye handed the man a few more coins and the man seemed pleased. Xye turned around and gestured for Jake to come closer with a smile that made Jake feel a little better. 

“Hey, Jake,” Xye said once Jake had shuffled over to them, “This is a coyote. He’s the guy getting us to the next state. The next state where my sister is.”
“Ok,” Jake responded without looking at the man, “What did he call me? When he pointed at me?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Xye laughed a little and put their arm on Jake’s head again. 

Then the man spoke a few more words Jake did not understand and removed a large gray orb from his coat pocket. Xye nodded in recognition. The man squeezed the orb and dropped it to the floor. There it expanded rapidly to surround all three of the figures beneath the rumbling superway. Jake instinctually screamed for a moment in response to the quick transformation, but he quickly calmed down once he realized what was happening.

It was a transport sphere. A more or less new piece of technology that was developed in Greater Greater London. The GNA had completely banned its use, punishable by death, simply because it was from the CESH. It was a pocket-sized sphere with a fusion cell inside. When squeezed the cell broke and released a sudden burst of intense energy that was absorbed by the material the sphere was made out of. This provided an incredibly durable, lightweight, single-use transport device. The coyote somehow smuggled one in.

The bubble that Jake, Xye, and the coyote were fully encased in flew straight up to the underside of the road above it. The sun rippled through the curved murky walls and cast strange shadows across the bodies inside. The coyote reached his hands into the walls of the bubble, and his hands were overtaken by them. He began to pilot the bubble ahead under the superway with his fingers that were wrapped in the semi-liquid material. His eyes rolled back a little and he began to speak to Xye in the language Jake was scared of again. 

The whole ordeal, the eyes, the walls sucking in the hands, and the language, was slightly terrifying to Jake. Xye’s arm was still on his head, so he scooted closer to their body. As he inched his feet across the bubble he noticed that they were only barely supported. It felt like he was sliding his feet across a thin surface of water seconds away from falling away from beneath him. That feeling only caused him more worry and he found that he was hugging Xye. He would have jumped back but didn’t trust the bubble to support such an action.

“Sorry,” He mumbled under his breath.

Xye looked down at him, “No, it’s ok, man. Come here,” They responded, moving their arm down to Jake’s side and pulling him in tighter. Xye squished Jake against their side. Jake found that Xye was abnormally soft. Not abnormally for a human, but abnormally soft for a person who happened to be more than fifty percent metal.

“Thank you,” Jake mumbled, slightly louder that time.

Bubbles

The bubble stayed tightly pressed against the underside of the road as it flew ahead. The top of the bubble was pressed flat against the concrete. Lazy and bloated bugs that hovered slowly around the bottom of the superway were bounced off the speeding bubble. The cars soaring above at similar speeds occasionally shook the bubble and caused the people inside to trip over themselves slightly. 

The coyote stayed focused. His eyes narrowed and widened as he shifted his vision from his fingers in the bubble to the path above and ahead of him. Though the superway shifted very little, at such high speeds the slightest changes turned into radical turns in need of immediate attention. The technology was new, and the coyote wasn’t used to traveling on a path above his head. Regardless of his inexperience, he was still skilled enough in other fields to pilot the finicky device. 

“How far are we, Xye? Can you ask the guy?” Jake asked, looking up to Xye.

Xye took their arm away from Jake. “Sure. No problem,” They said with another calming smile. Then they shuffled carefully over to the coyote. They tapped him on the shoulder very slowly and carefully. The coyote pulled his hands out of the bubble immediately and sent it to an immediate stop which sent Jake to the floor and himself to the wall. Xye was unaffected and stood firm because of their incredibly strong legs.

The coyote pushed themselves off the wall. He stared at Xye with his deep brown eyes, clearly annoyed to some extent. Xye only responded with another cheerful, if not somewhat ignorant, smile. The coyote and Xye conversed for a minute. Jake listened this time, less afraid but still slightly apprehensive. He began to take some interest in the strange language and its foreign sounds. The new form of communication turned into wonderful music in his ears.

The coyote grunted at Xye, whether or not it was a word was lost to Jake. It wasn’t lost to anyone that the man was upset. So Xye handed him another coin, called him a playfully rude term, and patted his back with more force than necessary. The coyote seemed appeased and went back to piloting the bubble.

“What did he say?” Jake asked. He looked down at the curved floor beneath him. It looked stable enough so he sat down. He crossed his legs and looked up to Xye as he waited for a response. His neck hurt again. “And would you mind shrinking a little?”

Xye crouched down on the balls of their heels in a similar pose to the one they took days earlier in CottonWood. They thought for a moment and then answered Jake, “No, I don’t think I can shrink. The legs don’t come off so clean like the hand.”
“Well, how far are we?” Jake tried to remind Xye.

It worked. Xye’s face lit up for a second and they remembered their conversation with the coyote. They popped another adrenaline stick into their mouth. “About ten minutes away, tops. This baby really flies, huh?” Xye reached down to pat the bubble like a car but decided against it as the bubble was not metal. 

“Are those things healthy?” Jake pointed to the yellow stick in Xye’s mouth and then gestured towards their flashing eyes.

“They’re very heavily concentrated. It’s about enough adrenaline to explode a horse’s heart. Luckily for me,” Xye said as they tapped their chest with an almost hollow metallic sound, “My heart is explosion-proof.” 

“What do they even do for you? You take so many.”
“Honestly I’m probably addicted at this point,” Xye laughed, “They used to help me focus and move like twice as fast.” Xye spit out the drained adrenaline stick. It hit the wall of the bubble and slid down to the bottom near Jake’s feet. There were deep teeth marks all around the base. The yellow glow that had once exuded from the stick when it was fresh was completely gone. The dull gray plastic the whole tube was made out of blended with the generally gray superway and its underside. Jake nudged the drab thing away with his foot and tentatively leaned against the wall of the bubble. He rested his head on his shoulders as his eyes began to close. Xye scooted across the bottom to lightly shake Jake’s leg and check if he was asleep. Jake was, in fact, he had fallen asleep almost the second he closed his eyes.

“He falls asleep so easily,” Xye laughed a little.

Drugs And The Like

Jake came to only around a dozen or so minutes after he had fallen asleep. Nothing jolted him awake, as the bubble ride had been relatively smooth, he just became conscious naturally. When he looked around he saw that the end of the superway was soon ahead. The area surrounding the road was less densely packed and urban and more grassy and rural. Xye and the coyote were talking quietly in their strange language. Jake stood up slowly and rubbed his eyes.

“Are we there? How long has it been?” He asked.

Xye turned around. “It’s been twelve minutes. A few minutes ago we got delayed when some cops drove nearby and we had to hide. But we’re really close now.” They turned back around and stared towards the end of the road. There was another adrenaline stick hanging out of their mouth about half full and their eyes were flashing yellow. They seemed to be focusing hard but continued speaking nonetheless, “I think Fear is still up ahead there.”

Jake noticed that the hole through their arm was almost entirely healed at that point. He was taken aback by the speed of the healing process so he asked about it, “Xye, how is your arm so healed?”

Xye brought their arm up to their eye and looked through the shrinking hole at Jake. The purple of their eyes shone through the darkness inside their arm. Jake felt like he had been pierced straight through the forehead by their gaze. Xye then gestured to the coyote with the arm they weren’t looking through.

“This guy’s got crazy shit! He gave me this medicine that-what’s it called?” They turned and asked the coyote in the creole they both understood. “It’s called ayahuasca. They used to use it throughout South America a long while ago when it was really just a plant, but nowadays it’s mostly modern medicine with slight hallucinatory effects.” 

“Hallucinatinatory? Are you seeing anything weird?”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Xye said, looking back through their arm. They kept staring at Jake for a few seconds and then added another idea, “Although you’re a little wavier than I remember.”

“Are you going to be ok?” Jake was wary of drugs. Any drugs. Even drugs that were prescribed by doctors. A lifetime of afterschool specials, movies about killing drug dealers, presentations by DEA officers, and watching drug users be dragged from the street had ingrained a fear deep into his mind. His friend using drugs from a South American country, another idea that had been corrupted by similar methods, was an absolute nightmare.

“The adrenaline sticks I slurp down are more dangerous than this stuff. Right Boss?” Xye asked the coyote with slightly slurred speech. The coyote didn’t respond but Xye seemingly thought he did. “Yeah, see?” They turned back to Jake.

The bubble suddenly jerked to a stop. Jake toppled over and the coyote tripped backward over himself. Xye, despite their illusioned state, managed to stay upright. They only swayed slightly. The coyote stood up slowly as they regained his balance. He had hit his head lightly on Xye’s arm so he stood there rubbing the back of his head and muttering to himself for a minute. 

“I guess we’re here,” Xye said.

“Ok,” Jake responded. “Wait.” He paused for a second and looked down. The bubble was still under the superway. It was still about two hundred feet above the ground. “How do we get down?” Jake looked over to the coyote who appeared to be considering the same question and tried to ask him, “How do we get down?” Jake exaggerated his words and slowed his speech as much as he could to try and get through to the coyote. Xye put their hand on Jake’s shoulder. They stared right into his eyes.

“You’re not gonna get through to him and you sound really dumb,” Xye said more seriously than they had been since the day began. Their dull purple eyes shone like a vineyard. They were held so wide open Jake could almost see through the camera lenses and into Xye’s head. “Want me to do it?” They smiled dumbly and patted Jake hard on the shoulder.

Jake was taken aback by Xye’s eyes and intense shoulder pat. He stood silent for a moment before finally responding, “Y-yeah sure, Xye,” He stuttered out. 

Xye smiled emptily. They nodded along slowly to a song that wasn’t playing. Then, they let their hand fall slowly from Jake’s shoulder and then to their side where they laid still. For a few seconds they just stood in front of Jake without moving, but eventually, they whipped around and approached the coyote. They spoke with him differently than they had before. Sometimes they stopped or stuttered on a word before moving on with their thoughts. Sometimes they spoke in English for a significant amount of time before switching back to the language the coyote, who only stared at Xye with annoyance when they spoke in English, understood. Eventually, they finished their slow conversation and returned to Jake.

“We jump,” Xye said with little interest. 

“Where?” Jake replied with much more interest. 

“Don’t worry, man,” Xye sighed dreamily, “I’ve got the legs.” They tapped their legs hard. It made a deep metallic clunk that reassured Jake heartily. 

“Ok, but what about that guy?” Jake asked, pointing to the coyote. The coyote appeared to be contemplating the same question. He looked down, around, up, and over at Xye over and over again. He scratched his head and grumbled to himself. 

Xye mimicked the actions of the coyote while they mulled over the question. It took them far longer than it normally would have. Eventually, they decided: “I’ll just carry both of you. We’ll drop down safe and sound. No problem,” they explained. 

“Are you sure? Xye, it’s close to a hundred feet. What are those legs even made of?” Jake wrung his hands a little. He looked over his shoulder instinctively but remembered there was nothing behind him but air. Then he looked beneath him and contemplated the dizzying height while Xye tried to remember what their legs were constructed from.

“They’re, uh,” Xye stuttered as their brain lagged a little. They would never know, but the coyote had given them more than just ayahuasca. “They’re made of titanium or something. Come on, Jake,” Xye said as they reached their arms out towards Jake like a young child asking to be picked up by their parents. 

Jake was hesitant for a moment but eventually scooted across the bubble and towards Xye. He wrapped both arms around Xye’s enhanced arm and held on tight. Xye lifted him up and held him close to their chest. Jake was surrounded by the chilled tight feeling of Xye’s inhuman parts. Just the feeling alone made most of his worries melt away. Then Xye turned around and extended their real arm to the coyote. As they grabbed the coyote with their other arm Jake barely swayed.

“Now what?” Jake asked, looking up at Xye. The coyote was inches from his face and clearly unhappy about it. Jake wanted to get to the ground as fast as he could.

“Pop the bubble,” said Xye gleefully. Then, without hesitation they slammed one foot down through the bubble, popping it instantly. The metal plates on the outside of the leg slid apart as the leg extended as far as it could. Jake saw the cable-like tendons inside stretch and bend. He saw the chrome-plated knee joint straighten out before snapping back with the force of a lion. It wowed Jake and provided him an image that would be seared into his mind forever. He even uttered a few interjections of interest under his breath.

Time seemed to slow for Jake after the bubble popped. He managed to glimpse the hole opening around Xye’s foot and then chewing its way around the rest of the murky sphere. Next, he felt the feeling of falling. It was a feeling Jake wasn’t used to, and so it caught him off guard and caused a small, though substantial, fear. He felt the sinking feeling appear in his stomach only for it to swiftly drop even farther down to his waist. Jake whimpered at the feeling. He slammed his eyes shut with so much force his ears rang in an attempt to avoid looking below him. Despite this, though, he still saw the ground before his eyes fully closed. He also saw the dark black and stained pavement below him come rushing upwards with a speed that was incredibly uncomfortable. He saw the superway just above him fly back upwards where it belonged. And he saw, but didn’t hear as his ears still rang, Xye laughing. Then his eyes fully closed and the two men clasped tightly to Xye plummeted with them.

Waiting For Fear

Xye hit the ground fast. Their legs squealed loudly but were overtaken by the booming sound of the metallic legs slamming hard into the pavement. Their knees skewed at harsh angles as they bent as far as they possibly could. They slammed into the concrete so fast a shockwave was sent straight up. It shot past the coyote and Jake, blowing their hair upwards. Then it picked up Xye’s coat and flapped it above their head before dropping it back down in a slump over Xye’s forehead, protecting them from the light. Xye dropped Jake and the coyote who promptly fell to their knees. 

Xye rubbed their legs and groaned lightly. They couldn’t actually feel any fatigue or pain in the legs, but the shock from hitting the ground so fast and so hard had rattled their legs and lower torso. They then fell backwards into a sitting position where they waited for Jake to recover from the fall. They continued to rub their legs.

The coyote stood up. He rubbed his head and eyes slowly and swayed back and forth. Once he regained his balance he walked over to Xye and stared down at them. He opened his hand and pointed to it. He stayed in that position for half a minute before Xye realized what he wanted. Xye attempted to respond but only babbled nonsense for a moment before reaching into one of their many pockets and removing three more golden coins. They tossed the coins to the coyote who caught them swiftly. Then, he walked off. He simply placed the coins in his back pocket and walked away from Jake and Xye before disappearing behind a large pile of aluminum cans. Xye and Jake were alone again.

Jake pulled himself up off his knees. He blinked heavily for a few seconds before looking around. He noticed that he was still under the superway, but that just beyond the chain-link fence a town was visible. It was a small town named Limburough just on the outskirts of the border to the next state. Fear was still parked in The Free Market’s parking lot. 

“Is Fear here?” Jake asked.

“Fear? Who’s that?” Xye responded. They rolled over onto their stomach and sighed. Their hair fell around their face, blocking it from view. 

“That’s your sister, Xye.”
“Oh,” Xye groaned loudly, “That bitch. She’s always so prim and proper. She’s probably my half-sister anyways.” Xye accentuated their point by waving their hands wildly. “Plus, she didn’t get her period until she was fifteen. And when she finally got it she cried.”

“We really have to get going. I don’t want to stay here any longer. It’s awful!” Jake exclaimed. 

“Alright, alright. Calm down, man,” Xye grumbled as they rolled onto their back. “I’ll call her. Alright? I’m sure she can pick us up.” Xye took out their communicator and tried to dial for Fear. They missed the proper buttons a few times, but eventually reached the correct line. The communicator rang a few times and then stopped.

“Hello?” Fear’s usually clear voice came through garbled. “Hello? Xye?”

“Yo, it’s me, Xye,” Xye answered. They giggled at their rhyme for a second. “Come pick us up please we’re under the road.”
“Xye are you high on a mission? Where’s Jake? Put that guy on the phone,” Fear commanded.

“We were in a flying bubble, you know,” Xye murmured as they passed their communicator over to Jake. Jake tenderly took the small machine and held it up to his ear.

“Hi, Fear. Can you come get us?” He asked, thinking about how much like a child he sounded asking to be picked up. Fear didn’t respond right away so he spent a few horribly uncomfortable seconds considering the idea. He spoke again to try and get Fear’s attention, “Fear? I don’t…I don’t like it here.”

“One second, Jake. My car is acting up. I’m sure Xye isn’t of much emotional support right now, but if the environment is stressful I can play some music for you,” Fear finally replied, her voice coming across as mildly uninterested.

“Oh, that would be nice.” Jake thought for a moment. He didn’t expect Fear to offer any sort of relief. “But, no thank you. I’ll…just wait for you I guess. We’re right under the-” Jake began before being interrupted by Fear.

“I know where you are,” Fear said before going silent. Then, a few seconds later, she spoke up again, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that. Anyways, I’ll be there in five minutes.” Fear ended the call abruptly, leaving Jake, and Xye to a smaller extent, in a deafening awkward silence. 

“Five minutes,” Jake sang softly to himself to the tune of another song he also could not remember. Thinking about forgetting a song title caused him to think about forgetting a song title while singing at his old workplace. Thinking about singing at his old workplace caused him to think about his old life. And that caused him to consider all of the events of the past days. To consider how fast things had moved and how far he had gone. He sat down with an exaggerated sigh next to Xye and tossed their communicator onto their stomach. 

Xye turned over onto their side, letting the communicator roll slowly to the ground. They smacked their lips together vacantly a few times. Their muted purple eyes were rolling steadily around their sockets without any target. Jake looked down over his shoulder to observe the state their guardian was in. He was unimpressed. Xye was a strangely pathetic though endearing sight. They had fully dissolved into their drugged state. Jake sighed and reluctantly laid down next to Xye. His whole body shook when his head made contact with the crusty ground. He closed his eyes, folded his hands over his chest, and waited for Fear to arrive. A few seconds later he felt Xye lay their arm over his chest and smiled.

Jake And The Sister

Fear’s SUV chugged up to the chainlink fence under the superway. She flung the front door open and stepped out. Her tall black boots kicked up a little dust around her feet. She slid on a pair of beat-up sunglasses and looked around for her sibling and Jake. When she had thoroughly scanned the area and seen neither Jake nor Xye she cleared her throat and walked towards the fence. There she scrambled up the rickety barrier with a great effort then landed roughly with a loud sound. 

“Jake!” she called out with her hands cupped around her lips, “Jake get over here, buddy!” She waited patiently for a response.

“Fear?” Jake yelled back, sitting upright. Xye was still smacking their lips and babbling strangely next to him. “That sounds like you, Fear. If it is, we’re back here behind some trash,” Jake hesitated for a second before adding an extra piece of information, “And if it isn’t, Xye gave me a handgun a bit ago and I may have used it on someone!”

“It is me. Fear, I mean,” Fear coughed out as she threaded through the swamp-like garbage piles lying in between her and Jake. She covered her mouth with one hand while using the other to push aside the occasional loose scrap of soiled cloth that fell in front of her face. She was coughing almost violently by the time she stepped around the pile of used cans Jake and Xye were laying behind. She walked up behind Jake, then cleared her throat. At the sound, Jake screamed and bolted to his feet. He whipped around and fired his handgun. The bullet slammed into the cans behind Fear, starting a small, but incredibly loud, tin avalanche that piled up around Fear’s feet. 

“Jake,” Fear gasped out with wide eyes hidden behind her dim sunglasses, “I think you need more training with that thing than whatever my sibling gave you.”

“Sorry, Fear!” Jake shouted, lowering the gun back to his side. He wrung his hands after putting the gun back in its holster.

“Jake,” Fear sighed, “Jake, give me the gun.” 

Fear reached one hand out towards Jake and rubbed her temple with the other. She wiggled her fingers reaching towards Jake with intense anxiety and a hint of frustration. She scraped her foot against the ground and groaned. Jake handed over the gun with no resistance and Fear stopped fidgeting. She gingerly removed the clip of Jake’s gun and then ejected the round from the chamber. She then stood upright again and pointed to Xye. 

“Help me get them to my van, please.” 

Fear and Jake trudged over to the completely unresponsive Xye. They took turns poking, prodding, and waving their hands in front of Xye, but couldn’t get them to respond or recognize anything. They gave up within two minutes and surrendered to simply picking Xye up. They both crouched down on opposite sides of Fear’s siblings and grabbed at either their legs or their arms depending on whichever they were closer to. Both grunted at the nearly absurd weight Xye’s body displayed as a result of being more than half metal. Fear and Jake waddled slowly out from under the superway towards Fear’s car. When they came to the chain-link fence they paused to put Xye back down.

“How…uh…um,” Jake stuttered. He looked back and forth between the fence and Xye. 

“Do we get them past?” Fear filled in Jake’s query. “I don’t know. I think Xye usually just cuts down fences like these, but unfortunately for us, my arm wasn’t sawed off.”

“Can we throw them over?” Jake nudged Xye with his foot to test their weight.

“Not while they’re only technically conscious.” Fear thought for a while. She rubbed her temples in a slow rhythmic pattern. Finally, she had an idea. “I think we should throw them against the fence,” She said with little interest or afterthought.

“What?” Jake turned quickly around from poking Xye. “Are you joking?”
“No,” Fear said simply. “Pick them up, please.” 

Jake and Fear hoisted Xye up again. The two positioned Xye with their arms draped over the shoulders on either side of them. Fear guided Jake and Xye to a foot or so in front of the fence. 

“Now what?” Jake asked.

“Chuck the fucker.”

The two swung Xye back, forward, and back again. They gained up momentum and speed before letting go and watching Xye go soaring forward through the fence. Their heavy body brought the emaciated fence down with both ease and a terrific clattering. Xye then lay face down in the dirt on the other side. Dust and bits of shattered chain lay in their hair. Jake and Fear were silent for a second while they waited to see if Xye responded in any way. 

“Fucking…” Xye murmured. “Ouch.”

“Good,” Fear announced, clapping her hands together. “They’re fine.” She turned to Jake. “I’ll go pick up my car and get it closer. Then, please help me load Xye in. I can drive you and them for a while, but it’s pretty risky to have someone looking like Xye and someone wanted like you in my car. So once they’re more awake, you’re evicted.” Fear didn’t wait for a response from Jake at all. She walked towards her car immediately after she finished speaking. She stepped across Xye’s back as she went. Her boots made a thumping sound as they pounded lightly against the reinforced armor covering most of Xye’s torso.

“Ow,” Xye mumbled again as their sister used them as a bridge. They then fell silent again, save for the occasional infantile babble that slipped past their lips. 

“Bye, Fear,” Jake called out as he watched Fear walk up a shallow hill covered in dead grass towards where her car was waiting. Fear heard him, but by the time she remembered how to respond to a farewell she was too far away for Jake to hear her response, so she acted as if she simply didn’t hear him. Jake didn’t know whether or not Fear had heard him and really didn’t care. He was relieved to be safer again, even if it was only until Xye was conscious. He sat down on Xye’s back cautiously, moving slowly and listening for any moans of pain. But Jake was too light to hurt Xye by simply sitting. So there he waited for the next three minutes before Fear drove down the yellowed, shallow hill. 

After Fear slowly maneuvered her SUV down the hill she spent a minute explaining to Jake how to get Xye into the back and where to put them. She explained how Xye’s bike was still in the back, and so the two of them would need to strap Xye down to it. They both lifted Xye with a great effort again and then pushed them through the SUV’s back door. The seats in the back of the car had been removed to fit the motorbike, so it was a simple task for them to drop Xye right over the bike. They then took a few ropes and chords with which they loosely strapped Xye to their bike. Satisfied with her work, Fear clapped her hands together once again and swiftly marched into her car’s driver seat. Jake followed suit to the passenger side. 

Fear started her car again and Jake examined the inside. It was a strange sight, the inside of Fear’s car. Taped to the ceiling and under the seats were small knives or single-use guns. There was a lump under the floor’s carpeting (the lump was three ounces of cocaine for when Fear was especially bored) that wouldn’t go away no matter how much Jake tried to flatten it while Fear watched him with horror in her eyes. And, of course, there was an androgynous terrorist with freshly dried blood around their coat strapped to a gray and blue motorcycle in the back. Fear drove off after Jake seemed to have sufficiently examined his surroundings. She drove from the grassy hill to the sidewalk, from the sidewalk to the street, and, finally, from the street to the superway. All the while she made sure to avoid areas where a lot of people might be gathered.

Gender Studies 101

A little while down the superway Jake turned to Fear and asked, “Hey, Fear, what is Xye?”

“What do you mean?” Fear answered Jake’s question with a question of her own.

“I mean are they a he or a she? They said they don’t have…” Jake hesitated on the word for a long time. So long that Fear had to fill in for him.

“A penis? You can say the word, Jake. No box on your belt is going to blink at you for that,” Fear teased without leaving her usual tone of voice. “Although knowing Xye they probably said dick instead. They never really got past being seventeen. But to answer your question I don’t know what they are. They’re neither a he nor a she. At one point in their life they were physically one of those, but, from what they’ve said to me, never really mentally. They haven’t put a word to it yet, but they’ve said they probably will before they die.” 

“What?” Jake asked even more confused. “That’s not how it works. Are they male or female?” 

“Gender isn’t the same as sex, Jake.”
“What is gender?” Jake gestured wildly to display his utter lack of understanding.

“It’s how you feel. Masculine, feminine, somewhere in between, or none of those. Get it?” Fear reached over and gently lowered one of Jake’s gesturing hands that briefly protruded into her field of vision. 

“No, that sounds absurd. You’re born male or female.” Jake crossed his arms. “How can you be neither?”
“Xye isn’t either,” Fear explained simply. 

“That’s in their head.”
“Exactly. It’s how they feel. And how you feel about yourself is more important than whatever the government or your parents tell you you are. Right, Jake?”

“Well,” Jake began to rebut. Or rather, he attempted to begin to rebut. He realized quickly that the whole reason he was in the situation he was then in was because who he felt he was wasn’t what he was told he was. “Well, I don’t get it,” He huffed.

“I wouldn’t expect you to right now. You’re probably not even used to Xye’s skin. They’re not just tanned, you know.”

“I know that,” Jake mumbled. He looked out the window, embarrassed at his ignorance. He then felt Fear’s soft but strong hand rest on his shoulder. He looked back over expecting to see her smiling much like Xye often did to him, but found that she was attending to the road diligently. He found that more comforting. Then he turned back to the window and watched the trees and monstrously tall skyscrapers fly by as he often did on long car trips with his family when he was younger. Although back then neither the trees nor the buildings were as tall as they were then. “Fear?” He asked a few minutes later.

“Yes?” Fear responded with her hand still on Jake’s shoulder.

“Do you think I’m a disappointment to my parents? They were always pretty harsh on the rules about how you’re supposed to be,” Jake inquired with a small shake in his voice. 

“Has Xye had the name talk with you yet? About your name?” Fear seemingly avoided the question.

“What? No, I don’t think so. What does that have to do with my question?” 

“You’ll get there. You need some more time,” Fear nearly whispered. She patted Jake’s shoulder before moving her hand back to the steering wheel. She drove in silence with Jake for a few hours as the sun slowly set and Xye continued to babble. Every once in a while she’d stop to have a snack or drink with Jake, but little else happened aside from occasional close calls with other drivers.

Half an hour later Xye was starting to regain consciousness. They were still incoherent and heavily drugged, but every few seconds a look of recognition would flash by their eyes and they would scan the inside of the van before falling back into their impaired state. Jake watched them nervously. During the past thirty minutes, multiple police vans had pulled up next to Fear’s car. When the vans got anywhere near the car Jake had to duck into the back with Xye’s bike. Neither he nor Xye was covered with anything, so had the police peered past the jovially smiling woman and into the back of her car they would likely have killed all three of the car’s inhabitants. 

The sun lingered just above the horizon, dousing the landscape with a magnificent golden haze much like it did when it shone through the wheatfields at Fear’s farmhouse. The traffic on the superway was light at that point. Most had gone home to their families to have a home-cooked meal which no one spoke to each other over. The rumble of Fear’s wheels was joined by, on average, only ten or so other sets of tires. Jake relaxed slightly after noticing the diminishing crowd. However, at one point another police van drove by. And for a second the officer in the passenger seat looked into Fear’s car and recognized Jake’s face from a wanted alert he had received. The officer didn’t have time to say anything to their partner, though, as at that same moment they received a radio call alerting them of a more serious issue up ahead which they sped up to meet.

Fear checked all her mirrors three times. Then she looked over her shoulders. She scanned the entire road for several seconds. Jake took notice and waited to see what she was going to do. Then, to his shock and horror, Fear reached up and ripped off a piece of her skin underneath her eye. Underneath the skin was a long and rough scar leading from just below Fear’s right eye to just above her mouth. Jake tried to scream, but his voice hitched in his throat.

“It’s just makeup, Jake,” Fear explained rationally. “Sorry, I had to take it off, I’ve had it on for so long.” She looked over to see how Jake had reacted. He had not reacted well. “I’m surprised you’re so shocked. Makeup is a very stereotypically feminine hobby. It’s fitting for a stereotypical woman like me. What’s a lady without her lashes?” She teased. 

Xye’s Back

Night had fully descended on the GNA when Xye regained full sentience. They sat up, grunted, and snapped most of the chords holding them down like a chained beast breaking free from a zoo. Then they looked around the inside of the van. Jake was staring back at them after having heard their violent awakening, and Fear was looking down the road completely uninterested.

“Hey, guys,” Xye groaned. 

“Hi, Xye!” Jake grinned wide.

“Good evening,” Fear spoke calmly. “Get the fuck out of my car right now.”

“Can’t you give me some time to get my bearings? I only got back a second ago,” Xye complained. 

“No. Too many police have passed us. One looked in the car. I’m not risking this. I’ll meet you on the coast. Keep in touch and don’t forget to get off the road as fast as possible.” Fear spoke without once looking away from the road. “Oh right,” She added. “You can have this back now that you’re headed out again.” She dropped Jake’s handgun lightly into his lap, making him grunt a little.

“This is the worst thing cops have done since taking my arm, man,” Xye complained again. “Alright. I’ll go.” They shook the cords that still lay on their shoulders off as they seated themselves properly on their bike’s seat. “Jake, get over here,” They grumbled, rubbing their head. Jake quickly hopped over his seat and slipped onto the bike behind Xye. He waved goodbye to Fear for a second but remembered she wouldn’t be looking. He tried to call out a farewell, but before he could get any words out Xye popped their arm off and whipped it at the large door in the back of the SUV that had been added for such a purpose. The door slammed open to reveal the rushing road coated slick with the oil-like blackness that battled with the buzzing street lights. Xye’s arm fell to the floor after hitting the door and then skittered quickly back into its place.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jake screamed over the sound of rushing air.

“Making an exit,” Xye responded nonchalantly and with a shrug. Then, they kicked off the chain attached to the wheels of their bike and rolled out of the back of Fear’s car. The bike slammed hard into the superway and struggled to stay upright. It wobbled back and forth and threatened to fall over. Xye revved the engine over and over until it eventually gained enough force to keep stable. Jake was frozen in terror the whole time. Up ahead he could see Fear finally take her attention off the road to walk back and close the door. She had put the car on autopilot for a moment, though she often ignored the feature. 

Xye looked around, examining their surroundings thoroughly. They seemed displeased at the retaining wall to the right of them. So, in one swift motion, they pulled a grenade much like they had used at the beach after their boat ride with Jake and slammed it into the wall. The concrete shattered immediately. It broke for hundreds of feet ahead and behind of the initial impact. The GNA was infamous for its poor infrastructure. 

Xye then quickly pivoted their bike through the hole left in the wall and off the road. The bike and its two riders fell for about twenty feet before landing hard in a patch of grass. Xye looked back to check on Jake and found that he was unresponsive yet still conscious. They concluded that he was fine and continued onwards. They also pressed a button on one of the bike’s handlebars that switched the tires to an offroad mode. The bike sped away over the grassy knoll and disappeared into the darkness that the superway’s lights could not reach.

Xye swerved their bike around thick trunked trees and dense bushes just in time to avoid hurdling into them. Even with their enhanced eyesight, the darkness was so thick that the dense jungle-like forest they had entered after riding through the grassy patch was so closely packed that they could barely see more than ten feet ahead. Jake had an even more difficult time. His eyes were wholly natural, so they couldn’t see anything. He resorted to feeling the forest instead of seeing it. He felt the wind’s chilled scream whip his hair and clothes around his body. He felt branches smack lightly into his sides every few seconds. The one thing he didn’t feel was the pair of eyes watching his back from a similar motorbike a hundred feet back. 

Hunted

Xye and Jake rode on for a few dozen minutes through the dense forest. Occasionally gaining a few seconds of air time after banking off a low rock or smooth fallen tree stump. When they finally glided out of the shadowed jungle they found themselves back on the road. Not the superway, but instead a more rural road with no streetlights or drivers in sight. A few dilapidated homesteads dotted the sides of the road. No lights shone from within them. Xye pivoted hard onto the road and skirted down it. Jake stayed pressed hard against their back and tried to imagine what the place Xye was taking him to looked like.

Jake and Xye continued to ride with little to no issues for close to a full day. The only problems they encountered were along the lines of having to duck the bike behind a nearby tree or abandoned building if any cars came by while the sun was out. They continued down the same rural road the entire time, headed roughly east. The sun ran the opposite direction of them as the next day unfolded. Occasionally Xye would stop the bike just off the road to give Jake some food, water, or just to talk for a few minutes. Sometimes Xye called Fear, while still driving despite Jake’s intense warnings, and asked if there was anything up ahead to be worried about. Fear always answered with a no. It was the fourth of July, and the whole GNA, from Winnipeg to Bogotá, was celebrating with their family in their backyards. Near the early evening, Fear had already reached the east coast and had driven into the ghetto. Xye and Jake were only two states away from her.

“Hey, Jake,” Xye said midway through a late evening food stop.

“Yeah?” Jake spoke with a mouthful of ham sandwich. 

“Do you want to stop here for the night?” Xye gestured wildly to the shaded grove they were resting in with Jake. “Or keep riding? We’re not very far from the coast. With minor setbacks, we should be there in two days or so.”
“The coast…” Jake trailed off. He hated the idea of traveling to the coast. He was horrified by the thought of entering the ghettos. Though, he was even more terrified of staying in the GNA where every man with a gun and a badge tried to shoot him.

“Yes,” Xye reiterated. “The coast. Where I lived. And where you’re going with me.” They stood up and stretched their legs noisily. “So do you want to get going now or later?”

Suddenly a shot rang out. Dirt and smoke exploded up next to Xye who screamed in response and whipped out their gun. They shot a few times in random directions, hitting nothing but a few trees. Jake screamed as well and crawled quickly back on his hands and knees. No more shots were fired, either by Xye, the original shooter, or even Jake who was then grasping his handgun at his belt.  Xye swiftly slid their arm open to remove an adrenaline stick which they immediately consumed. They narrowed their then yellow eyes and scanned the trees just on the other side of the road.

“We’re leaving now,” they said curtly, grabbing Jake by the back of his shirt as they walked towards their bike.

“What the hell was that?” Jake shriveled out, trying to contain a scream.

“Don’t know,” Xye spoke in short bursts. “It’s following us. I thought I heard another bike earlier. I don’t want it getting the drop again,” they rattled off as they practically threw Jake onto the back of their bike before climbing on themself. Jake just barely had time to wrap his arms around Xye’s hefty torso before the bike took off at max speed down the road again. A minute later a similar bike, though light red and black instead of light blue and gray, followed it. Xye and Jake were both aware of the following bike, but neither had any idea of what to do about it aside from wild shooting.

Xye drove madly, pushing their bike to its absolute limit. The tires squealed harshly over the pavement. Jake clung to Xye’s back with more strength than he had ever displayed before. If anyone had been watching from any of the dilapidated abandoned homes along the road they would have heard anything before they saw anything. They would have heard the thunderous, roaring, clawing, screeching cry of Xye and Jake’s tires crashing through the night towards them. Next, they would have seen a pair of headlights paired with dull blue side lights fly past at speeds barely legal on the superways. After that, they would have heard a second and slightly quieter screech which would herald the arrival of dull red sidelights with no headlights to bear them company. But no one had lived in the houses for almost three hundred years. 

Old Pals

Xye turned their head to Jake while still driving at incredible speeds. Their purple eyes glowed a little as they adjusted to the world not lit by the headlights. 

“Xye?” Jake asked, slightly disturbed by their staring.

“Hand me my communicator,” Xye responded promptly. Jake did, after fumbling around in the bag strapped to the back of the bike. The cold night air and wild flapping of the bag due to the high speed made him nearly drop the communicator several times. Once Xye had the small square thing in their hands they called Fear. “Fear,” they spoke calmly, even over the crying wind, “Fear, we’re being followed. I’m gonna stop up ahead and fight them.” Xye hung up before Fear could get a word in.

“Xye, don’t stop the bike. They have a gun!” Jake pleaded. 

“I do too,” Xye spoke calmly still. “You do too.” 

They began to slow the bike to more reasonable speeds and eventually to nothing but a crawl. They steered the bike off the road and into the field there. They turned off the bike and slid off. Jake followed them. The two of them stood behind the bike, illuminated by nothing save the brilliant lights of the nearby city that just barely grasped them. The two stood there, with hands resting on the grips of their guns, for several seconds before the red light rolled up to the side of the road. The two stood there, waiting.

 The rider of the red bike turned their vehicle off and slowly stepped off just as Jake and Xye had. They walked closer to Xye’s bike, their clothes swaying gently in the wind as they went. Xye slowly took a long sip from their flask. It shimmered in the light, casting a glint across Xye’s face that illuminated their scowl.

“Hello, Jake,” The figure spoke in a familiar, though unnervingly cold and mechanical, dead voice. 

“Holy-,” Jake shouted as he jumped back. He pulled his gun up quickly and aimed it at the rider.  Xye stood their ground.

“Who are you?” Xye asked.

“Oh, you know. Nobody really,” The rider spoke casually. Then, lights, shining and brilliant bright lights all around their body, burst into existence. The lights doused the rider, Xye, the two bikes, and Jake with their brilliance. With the light, Xye and Jake could suddenly make out two very shocking things. They realized that, one: the rider was actually the headhunter (though it was hard to make out her mangled face, they still managed to recognize her) and two: from the neck down, and in most of her face, the headhunter was made of metal like Xye. The lights on her body were just one of many new abilities she was now privy to. “Thanatos, back for round two,” she said. The metal covering her face, which ran vertically from the top of her forehead down to just under her chin in jagged lines cutting across most of the area and horizontally from the left eye to just before the right eye, flashed quickly. Vents on her body opened up, releasing thick white jets of steam that clouded her figure.

Half Humans

“You mother fucker!” Xye shouted. They cracked their knuckles and slid their feet into a battle-ready stance. Lights along their body turned on as well. Although Xye’s lights were far less numerous and bright than the headhunter’s. “I turned your head inside out!”

“I noticed,” the headhunters grunted, running her shimmering fingers over the hunk of metal covering the front of most of her head. 

“How did you survive?” Jake shouted with a mild quiver in his voice. He raised his gun.

“That is a very good question, Jake,” Xye snapped without turning their gaze from the headhunter. “What’s going on? I threw you into a sewer. You sunk like the dead dog you are.”
“We had more soldiers outside the tunnel,” The headhunter sighed. “They got me out of there before I fully faded off. I was the only one they saved. You mangled everyone else worse than me.”

“What about that fancy new body?” Xye asked, inching slightly closer to the headhunter. “That’s strictly illegal in the GNA.”

“They make exceptions,” the headhunter explained dully.

“You FED fuckers never learn. You’re all a bunch of empty-brained drones,” Xye shouted with an intense fury. Their eyes shifted from their common dull pastel purple to an incredibly vibrant and brighter violet.

“Hey!” Jake retorted suddenly. 

“Not you though, Jake,” Xye shouted back to Jake with their eyes still focused on the headhunter. Then they spoke to the headhunter again, “Who goes first?”
“Flip a coin?” The headhunter suggested.

“Got one on you?” Xye asked.

“In me,” The headhunter said. She turned the palm of her left hand up to the sky. For a few seconds, nothing happened aside from a small mechanic whirring sound repeating itself. The sound eventually became louder and louder until a small, perfectly smooth, coin-shaped slice of metal was shot straight up out of the headhunter’s palm. It spun around in the air as it seemed to hang on the wind. “Heads or tails?” the headhunter asked.

“Tails!” Jake shouted out from behind Xye. Xye craned their neck around and stared Jake down.

“Jake,” They said calmly. “If you’re wrong and I get killed because of this I’m going to kill you.” They reached for their flask and took a long slow sip.

“The results are in,” the headhunter chimed plainly as the metal disk made its descent. It tumbled quickly downward straight towards the headhunter’s new hand where it stopped suddenly. An inch above the hole it came out from, the disk stood still in the air. Suddenly, it flung a bright blue holographic image upward. The image was incredibly blurry and impossible to make out at first, but it quickly enhanced to display a symbol. The symbol of a bald eagle. “Good guess, Jake,” the headhunter grunted. 

Xye then lunged over their bike directly at the headhunter. They made a noise not too dissimilar to a growl as they briskly flew towards the woman. While in the air, they activated the jets on their soles pushing them even faster into the headhunter’s torso. They flung their left arm forward just before ramming directly into the headhunter. Both were sent wildly to the ground.

Xye jumped to their feet before the headhunter regained her balance. They had fallen down two feet away from her so they immediately ran straight back as she regained her stance. They threw another punch with their left hand into the headhunter’s chin just as she righted herself. It pushed her back slightly, but did not cause her to fall. They tried to strike again, this time with their right hand, but the headhunter swiftly caught the hand with their own.

“Whatever happened to ladies first?” she said sarcastically. Then she spit out a bit of blood so deeply red it appeared black. “Unless you are a lady. You never explained who or what the hell you are.” 

Xye roared wildly. It was a deep sound far closer to a randomly generated electronic screech than a roar, but it got the point across. With one swift motion, they sent a kick directly up into the side of the headhunter’s leg. Her leg buckled and she crumpled quickly, though she recovered even faster. Once she recovered she headbutted Xye directly in the forehead with her metallic, glimmering face. Xye began to bleed heavily from the center of their forehead. They wiped the blood away and sent another blow to the woman’s stomach. 

The two fought fast, hard, and viciously for nearly a minute before Jake thought to help in any way. He watched, stupefied, as sparks and droplets of blood twinkled across the dull sky. He stared, completely entranced, as Xye and the woman out to kill him viciously engaged in a twisted dance that would most likely be the death. Once he snapped back into reality he rushed next to the two fighters with his gun drawn in shaky hands. When he was standing directly next to the barbaric display he took a few potshots at the headhunter when he felt he had a good chance of hitting her. None of his bullets hit, nor did they even faze the two fighters who continued their small war to a violent, unheard rhythm.

Xye suddenly jumped back towards the headhunter’s bike. They snatched quickly at her bike’s gas tank and ripped it off with a wretched screech. They tipped the tank so that the gasoline poured hastily out and into Xye’s left hand where it was immediately sucked down through the hole in their palm. The headhunter shouted nonsense angrily and dashed at Xye who sidestepped her with ease. They then slid their arm open to retrieve an adrenaline stick which they would suck down faster than Jake had ever seen them do. After finishing their adrenaline in under a second their motions became more fluid and even faster still. They swung their thick legs and muscly arms in rapid succession with movements resembling those of a professional fighter. Each blow landed spectacularly on the headhunter who barely had time to brace herself or block the oncoming assault. One soaring kick landed squarely on her jaw and pushed her quickly into the side of her bike where she crumpled like paper.

“Jake!” Xye screamed as they turned their attention from their temporarily bested foe to the frantic-looking man with the gun they were protecting. The blood from their forehead ran in a thin trickle down their cheeks.

“Yeah?” Jake called back meeker than Xye.

“Get on my bike and drive to the city! Keep it a little under forty, ok?”

“Why forty?” Jake asked while approaching Xye’s bike like it were a wild animal. “And how am I supposed to drive this thing? It’s twice my size and growls!”

“That’s how fast I can run,” Xye explained while ignoring Jake’s second question. “Just go!”

Jake heeded Xye’s shouts and mounted the bike in the front seat this time. He took a second to get used to the feeling before messing around with a few of the buttons, levers, and other mechanisms. Once he figured out what made him go he took off down the road at a low speed. He was also incredibly surprised how naturally piloting such a beast came to him. As he chugged away Xye and the headhunter continued to beat one another senseless.

As Jake watched the glowing city grow slowly bigger the sounds of the battle behind him began to fade. The grunts and clashes turned gently into puffs and light crashes. Though, back where he had started, the fight was just as loud and violent as it had ever been. Xye and the headhunter had both been successful in hitting their foe around enough so much that they both stood back from each other waiting for the other to make a move. Xye took the break in the action to turn and run down the road at their top speed. They dashed so fast that the ground beneath them was dented about three inches by their heavy footsteps. The headhunter shouted and followed after them much slower.

Jake heard Xye’s thunderous steps pounding closer and closer. He whipped his head around to inspect only to see Xye’s piercing eyes breaking through the dark and tromping straight for him. Once they were close enough Xye pushed off the ground with an even greater force than with which they ran. They landed with a thud and a huff on the back seat of the bike. The jump created a crater half a foot deep in the road. 

“Hi Jake,” Xye huffed out. “Nice driving, buddy.” They slapped Jake on the shoulder. “Can I take over though?”

“Holy shit, Xye! Are you ok? You ran so fast!” Jake shouted worriedly. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I took that jackass back there’s fuel,” they said as they lifted Jake up and shifted forward into the front seat. They placed the confused Jake gently back down behind them. “Alright, thanks dude,” They responded to the nothing that Jake said before kicking their bike’s speed up from forty to one hundred and forty miles per hour, nearly half of what the bike was truly capable of. The city grew much faster.

No More Drugs

Xye’s bike rumbled down the streets of the city a few minutes later. Its engine’s growl woke a few residents up, but by the time those disgruntled men and women came to their windows, the bike was long gone. After a minute people stopped waking up to the sounds, even if only because Xye had driven to a part of town almost no one lived in. It was there where they parked their bike in an alley and leaned against the wall as they recovered and waited for the enemy to catch up.

“Why here, Xye?” Jake asked, looking over his shoulder into the street.

“It’s honestly more safe than that field,” Xye explained rationally. “No cops are gonna come around here.” Xye flicked another empty adrenaline stick to the ground. Their eyes were seemingly stuck in the sickly yellow state they usually only flashed into after taking adrenaline. Their arm shook slightly as they tossed away the tiny tube.

“Take it easy, Xye,” Jake said with a concerned look. He walked across the alley and looked up at Xye. “You’re taking way too much of that stuff.”
“You don’t know what’s too much for me! I’ve got a heart that could take a million of these!” Xye snapped at Jake suddenly. Their hair bounced out of place and hung loosely in front of their yellow eyes. Jake held one hand in front of himself as he walked a few steps backward.

“Xye…” he started.

“Fuck…I’m sorry, Jake,” Xye whispered, realigning their fiery hair. “You’re right.” They fell silent for a long time. The dead quiet was only broken by the rumbling of a few cars in the distance. They stepped away from the wall. As they did Jake took another step back, thinking of the altercation at Fear’s farm. “Don’t look at me like that!” Xye shouted. “Come on! It wasn’t that bad!” They threw their arms up, exasperated.

“Xye, you’re supposed to protect me,” Jake mumbled.

“And I am! Everyone slips up sometimes. Remember at Fear’s farm? You were a real bitch to me.”

“I didn’t know you as well as I do now. We weren’t as close,” Jake spoke meekly.

“Jake, I’m sorry,” Xye said in a low tone. “I really am.” They crouched down to be at a more even height with Jake. “Please say you’ll forgive me…” Their voice bounced back pathetically at them off the alley walls. Jake looked away from Xye. He stared awkwardly at his feet. Seeing Xye in such a vulnerable state was too foreign to view head-on. 

“You’re hard to deal with, Xye,” He sighed. “It’s worth it, but it can be so hard. I’ll be ok with it. Just give me some time. And sober up at least a little.” 

“Ok,” Xye sighed as well. They stood back up and leaned back against the alley wall. They ran their fingers through their hair over and over again, watching Jake sit awkwardly on the ground as they did. Finally, they spoke again, “Are we still friends?” They blurted out.

“What?” Jake looked back up at Xye. “Yeah, of course, we are.” He cracked a small smile.

“Thanks,” Xye said absent-mindedly. They stopped running their hands through their hair nervously. 

Jake and Xye stood around awkwardly for a few minutes. Neither of them wanting to speak much after the brief confrontation, no matter how unimportant it was. Every few seconds Xye would instinctively reach for the adrenaline pocket in their arm. Jake would watch, strained and full of worry, for the fraction of a second the motion took. Each time Xye would pull away.

Life And/Or Death

After a while of sitting around Xye and Jake heard someone running towards them with footsteps almost as heavy as Xye’s. Jake slid backward farther into the shadows of the alley and aimed his gun at the alley’s mouth. Xye raised their fists up in front of their face and stomped forwards. Right after they stopped their stomping, the headhunter burst around the corner. What was left of her face shone blood red. Her hands curled in and out of fists.

“You slippery eurofa-” she started to screech. Before she finished her sentiment Jake fired off a few rounds from the shadows. She blocked them all with ease and screeched again. “Oh my god! You two make this so hard!” She then jumped quickly to the side. Her thick robotic legs slashed through the brick walls of the alley like a knife through a stomach.  She jumped from wall to wall nearly halfway up the alley where she stuck one arm in and remained stable. From her new vantage point, she began to fire crossbow bolts from a slot in the side of her cheek down at Xye. Each bolt tunneled half a foot into the concrete.

“How much do they pay you to go through all this trouble?” Xye asked nonchalantly while mimicking the headhunter’s movements up the wall. As they jumped from wall to wall they spun elegantly in the air to avoid the bolts that rained down upon them. Jake backed them up with ultimately useless cover fire.

When Xye and the headhunter were at an equal level on the wall they both perched motionless for less than a second. Xye’s long coat flapped loudly in the wind. Their eyes shifted back to purple. Then, the headhunter ripped her arm from the wall and fell. They dropped straight down. Their silhouette against the clear night sky resembling a massive shimmering bird flying overhead to Jake on the ground. As she fell, a thin cable extended from her arm and wrapped around Xye. She yanked hard and pulled them down with her.

“I once had a buddy who had a trick like that!” Xye laughed as they were pulled down.

“Oh yeah?” the headhunter grunted sarcastically. She pulled even harder and flung their fist towards the rapidly approaching Xye.

 “He died trying to pull it on someone once,” Xye explained as they flexed their real and false muscles all at once. The cable around their body snapped violently. Seeing this, the headhunter stuck her leg out behind her and caught herself in the wall again. Xye continued to fall. They grabbed the stuck headhunter by the neck and fell even further. The two tumbled in the air, slipping past the continuing reverse rain of Jake’s shots. A few bullets bounced off their bodies and briefly illuminated them in sparks.

“What killed him?” the headhunter coughed out. She tried to right herself in the air or catch the wall again, but found no success.

“Some jackass like you. One with a big gun and a bigger chip on their shoulder since daddy never let them be gay,” Xye answered quietly. They spun backward in the air with the help of their jets until their legs were facing the headhunter. They kicked her straight into the wall where she was buried a few inches deep. They then jolted forward and grabbed onto the wall just under her. They pulled themselves up into the divot the headhunter was attempting to pull themselves out of and began to pummel her.

“What’s going on up there?” Jake called up. He received no answer aside from the grunts and sounds of crushing metal from up above. A few pieces of broken bricks tumbled down to his feet.

The fight above continued in the newly formed enclave in the wall. The headhunter kicked Xye hard in the chest, sending them flying out of the indent and into the other alley wall where they made a cave of their own. After crashing into the bricks Xye jumped straight to their feet in the wall. They snatched the black gun at their side and emptied the clip directly into the headhunter. In the dark of the night, it was a mostly invisible action. 

“Eat lead you dog!” Xye shouted.

“No,” the headhunter replied simply, blocking all of Xye’s bullets with their forearm easily.  “Even if I didn’t block those you realize you can’t pierce almost my whole body,” the headhunter scoffed. She flicked the compressed bullets off her arm as if they were bugs. “Unlike you. If I land a shot on your stomach, head, or right arm that could mean serious damage.” She slid open a compartment on her arm similarly to how Xye often did. From there she removed an actual cigarette which she lit using a flame from her palm. The small fire hanging near her mouth cast a dull glow around her face. 

“God, you’re a bitch to fight!” Xye groaned loudly. “Why do you keep trying? I beat your ass so bad last time. I thought you’d give in!”

“I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it,” the headhunter said through her cigarette.

“Ok Dipshit,” Xye chuckled. They held back a barrage of laughter. 

“It’s Clint Eastwood.”

“Who?”

“Classic movie star,” the headhunter explained, clearly annoyed at Xye’s ignorance. 

“Oh!” Xye shouted. They snapped their real fingers. “I forgot! I have something to tell you.”

“Something to declare terrorist?” the headhunter spit out.

“Look down,” Xye laughed again, pointing down as they did so.

The headhunter did as she was told. Below her, right near her feet, she saw a bright blinking purple light. She gasped and tried to jump away, but to no avail. Xye snapped their fake fingers, detonating the charge under the headhunter. It exploded into a shining blue supernova-like cluster of light, sending the headhunter straight forward into the air and dazing her. The blue dust slowed her fall as though it were a thick jelly. So instead of tumbling rapidly to the ground below, she instead turned over and over again in the same spot. Xye had slipped the charge underneath the headhunter before they were tossed off.

“Works every time,” Xye chuckled. They adjusted their coat’s arm, brushed some rubble off the shoulders, and tapped their boots against one another. Once they had sufficiently cleaned themself to their liking, Xye jumped high into the air. They reached just above the alley, the top of their head seemed to scratch the sky. They threw their hands out as if mimicking a swan dive. Their hair swung majestically through the dark air. Then they fell back towards the ground. On their way to the concrete below they met with the headhunter. They slammed into her back with such speed that she was knocked free of the nova charge. 

The headhunter flew straight down to the ground. She tried to grab at the walls and to use her grappling line again, but couldn’t get a solid hold. Her head hit the concrete first. The rest of her body followed a millionth of a second after. Xye landed safely on their feet just next to her. Jake jumped back from the impacts.

“How much did I help?” Jake asked in a joking tone.

“One of your shots scratched a rather bad itch I had,” Xye returned in a similar cadence.

The headhunter cried out a long electronic scream, “Guuuuuhaaaaag!” She writhed in strange patterns in the heap she had been contorted into. Sparks and random flashes of light flew around her body. Beeping sounds played over and over. All of her limbs had either been fully or nearly separated by the fall. Her head was turned one hundred degrees to her right. Jake and Xye could see inside of her through many different new jagged holes. Her blood was dark, thick, and like gasoline.

Xye trotted in front of her. They looked down pitifully into her eyes. “Why didn’t you come work for us?” They clicked their tongue a few times disappointedly. “We always need more soldiers like you.”
The headhunter managed to strain a few comprehensible words out through her near-constant electric screams, “Made me! Made me! You fucker! Couldn’t say the words! Wanted to! I’ll kill you! Wanted to leave! Kill you! Want to go home! Miss the sun! KILL YOU KILL YOU KILL!”

“Fuck,” Jake murmured. He looked away, trying to focus on the grimy alley floor.

“Yeah, man,” Xye sighed with a twinge of sadness in the back of their throat. “Fuck.”

Xye reached down to the headhunter’s belt. They slowly pulled her old revolver out of its holster. Then they walked around to her head and lifted it up onto one of their knees. The gingerly placed the barrel of the revolver against an exposed patch of skin near the temple.

“Xye, wait,” Jake piped up.

“What?”

“Give them something nicer. Please?”

Xye sighed. They thought it over for several seconds. Running the idea back and forth in their mind. They furrowed their brow and tapped their fingers against their legs absentmindedly. 

“Ok. Fine,” they finally announced. “Go around to the other side of their head…..Please.” 

Jake did as was requested. He kneeled down next to the still sputtering head and placed one hand softly on the side.

“Now what?” he asked.

“See that slot?” Xye replied, pointing to a thin but very wide slit on one of the metal parts of the head. Next to the slit, there was a small red button. “It’s her memory drive. Press the button.”

Again, Jake did as he was requested. Out of the slot rolled a long dark green card the size of the hole it came out of. Xye took it from Jake with their free hand once Jake had picked it up. 

“So what are you going to do with that?” Jake asked as he stepped away from the headhunter.

Xye didn’t answer. Instead, they simply placed the card in the headhunter’s hand over the hole in the center. They squeezed the cold hand gently and the blue holographic light began to shine through the hole. It passed through the card and projected a blurry image just above the hand. Slowly, the image became recognizable. Everyone, including the headhunter who had stopped her sputtering upon seeing the image, could make out what it was depicting. 

The image displayed a scene from the headhunter’s perspective. She was young. It was night. There was a bonfire, and sat all around it were roughly eight other people. They were all talking, laughing, and shouting over each other. The memory was clearly from before the GNA’s total takeover, as one of the people was not white, one babbled in a strange tongue to another, and all were acting or talking in manners the GNA outright banned. The headhunter smiled dully at the video. She reached a crumpled arm up towards it from its resting place a foot away from her body in the concrete.

“How old is she?” Jake asked after realizing what the people’s races and behaviors meant for the time period of the memory.

“Don’t know,” Xye said very quietly, “I had heard about things like this. Preserving soldiers for years upon years. I thought it was a myth. She has to be at least three hundred or so.”

The hologram came to an end, but the headhunter did not restart her babbling. Instead, she smiled slightly. Neither Jake nor Xye noticed the smile through the contortion of her face and the dark of the night, but she certainly did smile. 

Xye sat still for a moment after the video ended. They tightened their grip on the revolver, shifted their legs around, and looked from side to side.

“Xye?” Jake asked, staring away from the headhunter at nothing in particular.

“Yeah,” they replied slowly, “One second.”

All was dead silent for nearly a minute. The faux-tranquility was eventually broken by the bombastic crash of the revolver being fired. The headhunter went completely limp. Her slimy blood gurgled from the back of her head.

“I hope they can’t bring her back again,” Jake choked out.

“Yeah,” Xye said, trying to cover their eyes discreetly.

A Very Lackluster Funeral

Together Xye and Jake hauled the headhunter’s body deeper into the alley. They laid her down gently in a dumpster, closed the lid, and left without a word. They stayed silent as they left the alley. They stayed silent while they stood awkwardly next to Xye’s bike, wading through time which felt as though it were as thick as toothpaste. They stayed silent as they stood on the curb unthinking. Sounds as innocent and minuscule as a window opening several blocks away became instantly tumultuous. 

Jake finally snapped the stillness in the air: “That wasn’t right,” he sniffled. “Why was it different?” 

“You knew her better. We saw a part of her life beyond her trying to kill us,” Xye explained. “She was, in a real fucked up way, our friend, I guess.” They stuffed their hands into their coat pockets. “I mean-,” they started before being cut off by Jake.

“Yeah,” was all he said.

“Yeah,” Xye echoed back.

Minutes later Xye and Jake rode down the streets again. The wind hitting their faces felt sharper than usual. They didn’t speak or enjoy the scenery. They didn’t do much else aside from stare off down the road and into the darkness. Eventually Jake fell asleep with his head resting on the hunched shoulders of Xye. Xye didn’t notice at first, but when they did they didn’t even mind.

Wall

In the morning, Jake woke up to find the bike parked next to a towering, slate gray wall. It was a rough concrete wall, loosely constructed and aging rapidly. Lengths of rebar stuck through at countless points, intersecting and tangling with the branches of the nearby trees. Countless pieces of vibrant graffiti interfered with the bland design of the wall. At any moment it appeared that the wall would fall. After he had taken in the monstrous sight of the wall, Jake experienced something else even more intriguing. He heard the sound of the ocean.

Jake stood up. His back ached dully. He had been sleeping sitting up against the massive wall. As he stood up he scanned the environment once more. Upon his second viewing, Jake realized that he could not actually see the ocean, as it appeared to be behind the wall. Traveling away from both the sound of the ocean and the wall was a wide paved road adorned along its edges by barbed wire. Jake also noticed that Xye was perched loosely on a branch far, far above him. They were twiddling a completely full adrenaline stick back and forth in their human hand. With their false hand, they carved the ever prevalent ID phrase accompanying Pipi into the wall.

“Xye!” Jake called up the tree Xye was perched high up in. He stumbled closer to the trunk and called out again: “Xye! Xye! Where are we?”

“The coast. My hometown, man,” Xye called down. They were still tossing around their adrenaline stick and staring off at nothing.

“But,” Jake continued to call up to Xye, “I thought-Hey can you get down here please? It’s very straining to keep shouting up!”

Xye sighed a little and tossed their adrenaline stick straight up over the wall with ease. They slid off the branch like a snail down a rock. As they awkwardly sliced through the air towards Jake below, they took a few moments to check the nails on their left hand before remembering there were none there. Finally, they landed with a crash at the stump of the tree. The landing created a crater that revealed a few tree roots. 

“Sure,” they said cheerfully. “What were you saying?”

“I was asking how we got here so fast. Wasn’t it supposed to be a lot longer?” Jake finished.

“It was, but I managed to steal a ride on the flatbed of a commercial transport truck. You know, one that has special access to those lanes without speed restrictions and can go twice as fast as my bike,” Xye rationalized the confusing advanced travel. 

“So you said we’re at…” Jake stopped before saying the words he wanted to.

“The coast?” Xye tried to fill in. “A ghetto? A shanty town? Shitsburg GNA? I can keep guessing, dude.”

“A few of those,” Jake said bashfully. He rubbed his hands together, ashamed at thinking poorly of his friend’s home.

“You can insult it as much as you want. Just because it’s my hometown doesn’t mean I love this place. In fact, I hate it a lot,” Xye laughed lightly. “And again,” they pointed to Jake’s waist, “No more beepy box!”

“I stopped caring about that box when I smashed it. I’m just a nervous guy,” Jake groaned. “You guys always act like I’m not used to this yet. I’m pretty accustomed at this point! I’ve killed a few people!” Jake sputtered out his words without remembering what he had done for a paycheck the day he met Xye.

“You sold weapons to and worked for the government, Jake. Not only have you already killed, but you were about as far away from this lifestyle as one can get when we found you,” Xye said, lightly placing a patronizing hand down on Jake’s shoulder.

“Alright, ok I get it,” Jake grumbled. He ground one heel into the dirt. As he did so he noticed the state of his shoes. They were a pair of old Oxford shoes. Their original black color now faded, through both use over time and recent travel, to an almost dark gray that was spattered with dried mud. The soles of the shoes were almost entirely worn through, and in several places, the leather had been torn away entirely. Xye noticed the shoes as well.

“My god,” they announced. “You weren’t wearing those the whole time, were you? Were you?”

“I was. Why?” Jake looked up to Xye confused. He didn’t understand why so close to their goal and so far away from the origin they would care about shoes.

“Your feet must be killing you!”
“Everything is killing me.”

“First thing we do once we get behind this fucker,” Xye said, rapping on the wall, “Is get you some new shoes.” They then took to inspecting the rest of Jake’s raggedy outfit. “And new clothes in general.”

“Well, how do we get in? Can you just break a hole through?” Jake walked over to the wall and scraped at the loose stone with a nail.

“No sir. The guards would punish the citizens if they found something like that. There is, however, a main entrance you can just waltz right in.”

“Hold on, there are guards? GNA soldiers?”

“Yeah, a lot. They don’t give a rats ass about what happens inside though. All they do is walk the streets at night to keep a curfew, make sure no ‘unwanted coast dwellers’ leave the wall, and stand near the exit so they don’t have to mingle. They’re easily bribed, but equally easily pushed to violence.”

“And they’ll just let me in the front door? What about you, Xye?” Jake walked back over to Xye from the wall.

“Come to think of it, they definitely won’t let you in. You’re a wanted man and all. Give me a minute to think,” Xye said as they approached the tree again. They clambered up with the swiftness of any forest creature common to climbing. Jake grunted, annoyed at being left alone on the ground. A few minutes later Xye scampered back down with an idea. “Fear can come and get you from inside. She’s already in there, remember?”
“Ok, sure. But what about you?” Jake asked again.

“Oh, right. I’m climbing. Without any extra weight, it’ll be easy! I’ll call Fear right now,” They explained quickly. Once they were finished, they fished around in their bag for their communicator and rang for their sister who answered immediately. The plan was explained again and Fear agreed. After disconnecting from the call Xye climbed back into the tree before shouting a quick goodbye down to Jake who stood in solitude against the tremendous wall.

Cargo Loading

An uproarious metallic rumbling suddenly grew on the side of the wall just around the corner from Jake. After that, Jake heard the sounds of a car roll forward and several people talking for several seconds. He pulled away from the wall towards the tree Xye had climbed where he ducked into the shadows. As he waited to see what the sounds would amount to, Jake didn’t think of anything beyond keeping his hand close to his gun. Later, the realization of his new instincts regarding his gun and staying hidden would shock him.

Around the corner slowly drove Fear’s SUV. Jake recognized the car, and felt safe enough to stop his continuous scratching at the grip of his gun. Though, he didn’t step out from behind the tree until he saw Fear’s face through the windshield. Once he had stepped back into the cool sun Fear waved and hopped out of her car. She was dressed in warmer clothes than usual. Her formal suits had been replaced with a rather thick sweater and her western-style boots had been traded for large black combat boots. Her scar was once again covered.

The first thing Fear said upon leaving her vehicle was: “Good lord! They left their bike out in the open. Fucking Xye. Jake, get it in the back with me please.” 

“No greetings?” Jake asked, meeting with Fear at Xye’s bike. He rolled it with her towards the SUV.

“We’ve already met,” she said. “And you know I’m here. I don’t need to announce it.”

Once Jake had helped Fear haul Xye’s bike into the open space in the back of Fear’s car he took a seat in the front. Fear sat down in the seat next to him shortly after. She brushed off her sweater and focused the rearview mirror, which was really a camera in the back of the car that had its feed displayed on what looked like an old rearview mirror in order to appear vintage, on herself to adjust her hair. She spent several minutes grooming herself while Jake sat awkwardly nearby.

“Ready, Jake?” Fear finally asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Jake replied simply.

“I don’t think you are. You’re about to leave the GNA. You’ll be steps away from the ocean with nothing between you and the CESH but water. So, I ask you again. Are you ready?” Fear leaned over towards Jake. She stared dead and unblinking into his eyes.

Jake thought for several seconds. He considered leaving the GNA, an action which for most was a felony. The thought was revolting to him, but the thought of staying disgusted him ever so slightly more. “I am,” he finally said. Fear nodded. She drove back towards where she had come from.

Almost The Final Frontier

Around the corner was a large metal gate implanted deep into the wall. Several heavily armed guards stood firm as trees before it. They all noticeably shifted and groaned when they saw Fear’s car approaching. Three rubbed their temples, and one even shouted a safe profanity. Fear pushed Jake roughly to the back of the car without explanation. 

“Hello again boys!” she chirped to the guards. “I believe I forgot a few things back in that nasty place. I hate to ask, but could you please open the gates for me again? My boss wants my report on the slums really soon.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” one guard loudly sighed. “You may go inside.” He rubbed his eyes and walked begrudgingly over to a control panel. He flicked several buttons, typed in numerous codes, and wrote countless small notes on a nearby pad of paper. Finally, once he was finished, the large gate creaked open with a sound like the earth being ripped apart.

“Please do not cause mischief, mayhem, or any sort of anti-government behavior when interacting with the people of the slums,” another guard rattled off monotonously. “Please surrender all weapons and illegal substances now. Please admit any loyalty to a sovereign nation, especially any nations that are considered part of the retched CESH, or any intent to flee the country. We’re watching you and will shoot before provoked. Have a blessed day.” 

Fear drove through the gates, waving happily to the frustrated guards as she passed. The metal doors slammed shut behind her.

“They’re not watching don’t worry,” Fear whispered to Jake. “They’re not payed enough to care.”

Once the gates had closed firmly shut behind the car Fear reached back and pulled Jake to the front seat again. Jake didn’t mind, so he willingly let himself be dragged into place. When he took a moment to look around, Jake saw a world unlike any he had seen before or could ever comprehend. Fear parked her car and stepped out while Jake stared out the window wide-eyed.

Contrary to the image Jake had in his mind, the streets of Xye and Fear’s ghetto were vibrant and lively. People of many different races and skin colors walked through the colorful streets joyfully. The buildings were all decorated with thousands of exquisitely well-kept plants and vivid flags. Children sat on the laps of their parents or ran in and out of the carless streets after each other. On every corner, someone stood with a cart selling food the likes of which nearly destroyed Jake’s brain.

The appearance of the slum’s citizens was just as shocking. They were all dressed in apparel either similar to Xye, or traditional clothes from a country Jake had never heard of. Nearly every single person had some visible augmentation of some kind, Every other person Jake saw was just as androgynous as Xye. No one wore the boxes around their belt. No one wore government-suggested hairstyles. In fact, most had wildly colored hair. Many people smoked openly (they smoked a newer drug that had been created in the slums to replicate the then extinct plant, marijuana).

“A lot to take in, huh?” Fear chimed in from outside the car. She was peeling the makeup over her scar off.

“Yes…..” Jake trailed off before finishing his response. His eyes had wandered over to a pair of men who were holding hands.

Just then, Xye approached Fear and Jake. They were trying to balance an enormous falafel flatbread in one hand while waving with the other. They had a dumb smile plastered over their face. A few random people were following them at their sides with pens and pads of paper extended.

 “Hey, guys!” They called out. “This place is way better than I remember! Everyone here loves me!”
“Xye has memory issues with the slums. Because of all the, shall we say, fucked up shit that happened to them when they were young here they can’t see it as anything but the hell it used to be,” Fear whispered down to Jake. “They have trouble forming new memories around it.”

“How do they all know me?” Xye asked before loudly devouring half of their sandwich. 

“You’re a celebrity here, Xye,” Fear explained to their sibling for the twentieth time that year. “And I think those people want your autograph.” She pointed to the mob of people pushing one another aside for the chance to get closer to Xye.

“Oh…ok!” Xye laughed. They placed their sandwich gently in their coat’s front pocket. Then they took one of the pens being thrust towards them with their still greasy hands and began to sign the papers. Their signature barely resembled anything close to letters, but the crowd was pleased and dispersed slowly.

“What did you do to get such a fanbase?” Jake finally added to the conversation.

“I really don’t know,” Xye said slowly as they tried to remember. Their eyes glowed darker for several moments while their brain tried its hardest to recall memories it had purposefully crumpled up and discarded.

“We’re both well known back here,” Fear reminded Xye. “We were born and raised when this was a lot worse than it is now.” She gestured in large sweeping motions to the small world she was in. “We got out. Became agents. Yada yada, backstory.”

“Oh right!” Xye snapped their fingers in recollection. “Why didn’t they want your signature, man?” 

“You look a lot cooler,” Fear mumbled in the tone of voice of someone all too aware of their secondary position. Jake nodded in agreement.

“So….what do we do now? I’m getting nervous standing around here,” Jake asked. “Everyone is staring at me? Do we get on a boat? Can we get on a boat? The water is nearby right?”

“Yeah, man, we’ll get on a boat later,” Xye said, snatching their sandwich back out of their pocket and taking a massive bite. “We can…take a boat later…let’s rest up for a few days,” Xye spoke through bouts of chewing.

“Can you finish your food before answering us? Pretend you aren’t a caveman for a minute?” Fear whined in disgust.

“No,” Xye responded quickly while stuffing the rest of the sandwich into their mouth.

The Word Around Town

The group left Fear’s car with Xye’s bike inside in a lot near the gate. They took off down the road towards a hotel and pub Fear knew of. Jake stood between his two companions in an attempt to conceal himself. However, because of the crowds and fans that were drawn to Xye wherever they walked, Jake was seen by everyone in the town. Not three minutes after his arrival, all two thousand inhabitants of the Oceanside Slums Number 17 were aware of the new American in town. The pub owner prepared a small meal for him in anticipation of his arrival.

Xye slid aside the door to the pub. Everyone inside looked up from their drinks, away from their friends, or down from the second floor. The room exploded with screaming loud cheers for Xye. Offers of drinks were thrown out with no regard. The bartender and waiters all stopped their jobs to join in the cheering. Xye hid their face with a flap of their coat and shuffled awkwardly through the crowd towards a seat. Their sister and friend followed behind. They fell gracelessly into a seat. The chair squeaked loudly against the floor. The bar continued to stare dead at Xye and their group.

“When do they stop?” Xye asked Fear as she sat down across from them.

“Never,” she replied matter of factly.

“Are we going to drink?” Jake asked, taking his seat. He was never a heavy drinker, having only sipped three alcoholic beverages in his life. That in conjunction with the general atmosphere of the bar led him to hide his face much like Xye.

“I should think. We deserve it! We’re at the coast, Jake!” Fear replied louder than she usually was. “I mean, you made it! You’re safe. Mostly.” 

“I guess we should do something…” Jake trailed off.

“Not a big drinker?” Xye asked.

“Not really.”

“That’s ok,” said Fear. “We get a lot of those. We’ll just get you some pastries or something.”

Two drunks and a runaway

A waiter with a particularly large smile made his way through the wily ocean-like crowd to the table Jake, Xye, and Fear were sitting at. He carried a tray with several complimentary beverages. In front of Fear, he placed several shots of whiskey. Fear thanked him sweetly before downing her drinks shockingly fast. In front of Jake, he placed a tall glass of sweet tea. Jake mumbled his thanks shyly into his hand without looking up at the waiter. Finally, he placed a bottle of rubbing alcohol before Xye. Xye broke out of their bashful state to smile at and thank the waiter heartily. They drank the rubbing alcohol as though it were a glass of water.

As the morning progressed, Jake and Xye regaled Fear with stories of their trip she had not experienced. Xye and their sister matched each other shot for shot. Jake’s eyes took occasional trips around the bar to look at all the strange characters. Though the initial intrigue had died down, many patrons still stared at or talked about Xye passionately.

“How much can you guys drink?” Jake asked at one point. He had barely finished his first glass of sweet tea in an hour. “Especially you, Xye. Is that rubbing alcohol?”

“It is,” Xye confirmed after finishing a swig of their drink. “I can take enough adrenaline to kill a horse. This is the same idea.” They burped quietly.

“What is that, Fear?” Jake turned his attention to his other friend. He pointed to her several glasses of whiskey.

“It’s God,” she answered simply while staring vacantly into an empty glass of hers.

“It’s…not even noon,” Jake whispered.

Jake did not order any more drinks, he didn’t even thinking about drinking alcohol with so many eyes on him. He sat rather still in his uncomfortable chair and watched his friends get pissed drunk. Once the two were nearly unconscious he called over the waiter timidly. The waiter nodded understandingly before he even reached the table. He handed Jake a key from his back pocket. 

“Here,” he said. “It’s for the agent suite. Head up to the fifth floor. Room 504. Take your friends up.” He smiled and cleared away the empty glasses on the table without a second thought.

Jake tried to shake Xye awake but did not succeed. He tried again with Fear and managed to wake her. She bolted up and blinked hard. 

“Hi, Jake. Sorry about that,” she groaned, rubbing her head. 

“Can you wake up Xye?”

“Easily,” Fear said as she stood up and walked around the table to Xye. She smacked them hard in the side of the head, waking them up instantly.

“Motherfucker!” Xye screamed as they sat up. After shouting they screamed nonsense and punched at Fear who ducked with a great, sluggish effort.

“I got a key.” Jake placed the key gently in the center of the table.

“Fuck yeah,” Xye purred lightly, trying to sound as excited as they were. “Take us up, man.”
“Please,” Fear added.

The band that was composed of two drunks and a runaway made its way slowly up the daunting five flights of stairs. The elevator was not in working order. It hadn’t been for forty some odd years. Jake opened the door to reveal a luxurious apartment with all the amenities one could want. Xye and Fear smiled at the sight and ran to the nearest bed where they collapsed. 

“Go explore around town,” Xye grunted. They pulled a small white pin in the shape of the concentric circle design associated with their organization off their coat and tossed it in the direction of Jake. It hit the floor five feet away from him. “Flash this and you can get a bunch of stuff for free. Plus, no one will mess with you.” Then they pulled Fear’s arm over their eyes to protect them from the light. “It works anywhere us agents are. Should work here too.”

“It will work,” Fear confirmed, under her sibling’s arm.

“But,” Jake hesitated for a long time. Finally, he finished his thought: “It’s really scary.” He waited for Xye or Fear to respond, but neither said anything. “It’s not even noon.”

A New Savior

Jake found himself outside the pub, blinded by the mid-day sun, shortly after his friends passed out. He looked from group to group. From building to building. Each time being more taken aback than before. The sights and sounds still struck him like a HypoTrain, but he was slowly adjusting. In recent times he had found it easier, even if only out of necessity, to adjust quicker than he was previously able. So he walked across the street without having to wait for cars to pass as he usually did. This confused him so much he almost walked back across the street to try again.

On the other side of the road, Jake found a man half as tall as Xye and twice as dark selling tacos. Jake didn’t know what a taco was, so he apprehensively approached the man and asked, “What are tacos?” He pronounced the word “tacos” incorrectly, as if it was spelled “tacus” instead.

“What? Are you new or something?” The man answered with a question of his own.

“Um…” Jake stammered out. He fumbled with the pin in his hand before raising it up to show the man. “Yeah. Yes.” 

“Oh shit,” the man exclaimed. “Ok, I get it. Here.” The man quickly assembled a taco on top of his stand. He handed it to Jake who cradled it cautiously. He then propped up a sign on the cart for Jake to read. It explained the logistics of eating a taco. Jake failed anyways and winced at the spiciness. He shuffled awkwardly away while the man tried his best to assure Jake it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.

Next Jake saw the two men holding hands he had seen before. Around the taco stand, he saw several couples who could have been of the same gender. But most had one ambiguous-looking partner. They reminded him of Xye, and, although he felt very comfortable around Xye, they reminded him of when he wasn’t comfortable around Xye in the slightest. For a second he felt worried when he couldn’t discern their gender as he had when he first met Xye. Though the fear quickly subsided.

The couple was sitting on a bench. They were no longer holding hands but were sitting very close to each other. They seemed to be talking about something important, so Jake stood strangely off to their side at an awkward distance. Once he noticed a break in the conversation he walked up. This time he had the pin on display in his open hand ahead of time.

“Hi,” he said quietly. The concentric circle pin was raised up to eye level. “You guys are…uh…um…both men? Unless you’re not! I have a friend who isn’t a man or a woman!”

One of the men laughed under his breath. The other responded, “Yeah, dude. We are. Don’t get so worked up about it.” They both laughed silently before regaining their composure.

“Sorry,” the other man said, slapping his knee lightly. “We see a lot of people like you every few weeks. I’m assuming you left because you’re also gay?”

“No!” Jake shouted out of instinct. “I mean yes. I think. I don’t know. Sorry.” He rubbed his temples, thanked the men, and walked bashfully away looking for a place to hide. The coast had overwhelmed him much faster than he was ready for. He stuffed the pin into one of his back pockets and headed for an alley he saw up ahead.

In the alley, Jake walked slowly down towards the far end. It was full of puddles set deep inside of potholes and reminded him heavily of the alley where he smashed his box. He was about to reach the end of the alley when he felt a strong, heavy hand grab his shoulder tightly. He turned around quickly in surprise, expecting to see Xye. Instead, he saw a very strange, though short and seemingly unthreatening, silhouette.

“Hey punk,” the silhouette spoke with a heavy east coast accent in a deep rocky voice like an avalanche tumbling over a log cabin. “Hand over that pin and any cash you have on you.” It poked Jake in the stomach with a blunt object.

“What?” Jake asked, dumbfounded.

“And shut up while you’re at it,” the silhouette growled.

“Are you robbing me?” Jake tried to speak calmly. All the while he snaked his hand down towards the holster at his side.

“Yes.” The silhouette saw Jake reaching for the gun. It snatched his wrist. “Nice try, jackass.” 

“Sorry,” Jake stuttered out. He began to shake slightly. “I only have the pin. I didn’t bring any money with me!”

“Dumbass!” The silhouette shouted. “Fine! Then give me those shoes. They look expensive.”

“What?” Jake stammered. “What? That’s insane! What?”

“The shoes, office clerk! The shoes!” the silhouette nearly screamed out of frustration.

Jake kneeled down slowly. He kept one hand on his head while he used the other to untie his shoes. He muttered angrily under his breath the whole time. Finally, after managing to remove both shoes with just one hand he stood back up. He slipped his shoes off and held them up with the grueling speed of a man trapped in amber. But when Jake turned his eyes down to the silhouette he saw that it had an arm wrapped around its throat. The silhouette choked out a few incoherent mumbles before tumbling unconscious to the damp ground below. In the space it had left behind with its fall stood another silhouette about the size of Jake. The new silhouette stepped closer to Jake to reveal that it was actually a smiling man. He had a very sharp face and hair blacker than smog. His eyes were gentle like the night sky, but his body was lean and tough like a soldier’s.

“Hey,” the man said. His voice was smooth and buttery. He had an accent Jake couldn’t place. He almost suspected it wasn’t from the GNA. It wasn’t. The man was Japanese and had been raised around mostly native Japanese speakers.

“Xye?” Jake asked, still confused from the quickly thwarted robbery.

“Is that the one who brought you?” the man asked lightly. “I was with Coeus.” 

“Coeus? Who? And who are you?”

“Oh!” The man slapped himself on the forehead. “Right, me. My name is Alex Takahashi. What would yours be?”

“Uh…” Jake stuttered as he tried to remember his name, “Jake Kim.”

“Kim?” The man sounded surprised. “Are you Korean?”

“No.” Jake laughed a little. “I’m a white American obviously.”

“Kim is a Korean name,” Alex said, leaning on the alley wall nonchalantly.

“No it isn’t,” Jake said matter of factly. “It isn’t for me. Because, like I said, I’m white.”

“You don’t look white,” Alex maintained, “Not one hundred percent at least. Did that Xye guy never bring this up?” He checked his nails as Xye tended to.

“No.” Jake fell silent for several seconds. The alley was void of all noise. The silhouette on the ground made the only sound. It gurgled for a moment. When Jake spoke again his voice was low and trembling: “And Xye isn’t a guy. In their mind they’re nothing. Or something like that.” He stomped around the silhouette and towards the mouth of the alley. As he pushed past Alex he glared directly into his eyes. 

Jake left the alley angrily. He ground his teeth thinking about how that strange man so much as dared to tell him he wasn’t white. Jake knew for a certified fact that he couldn’t be anything else. No one had ever told him otherwise. He thought that, perhaps, his last name could simply be a coincidence. He thought the man could not know what he looked like, as the alley was dark. He thought it was all just a big annoyance. So he took to wandering the roads again, avoiding the alleys just to be safe, in an attempt to calm down.

He roamed the streets aimlessly. The lack of cars flying by still shocked and confused him each time he crossed or looked anywhere down the road. His journey remained largely uneventful. It went unobserved by most he passed by. He visited a few more food stands where he went through a similar routine each time. Show his pin, get the food, fail to eat it, and leave annoyed. His least favorite foods were poutine and kimchi. The flavors disgusted him. So after wandering pointlessly for an hour or two, Jake walked back to the pub and hotel.

About one hundred feet away from the pub’s door Jake saw Alex again. Alex was walking with someone very similar to Xye. Jake assumed, correctly, that they were Coeus. Coeus was tall, but not as tall as Xye or Fear. Closer to a reasonably tall person’s height. Their right leg and arm were mechanized like many of Xye’s parts, though they were clearly newer. They appeared very male, but Jake was hesitant to decide on where they lied in regards to gender. Their hair was very short and deep black. They wore a coat, but it was black like their hair and much shorter and in much better condition than Xye’s coat. It was decorated with many patches and bits of paint like Xye’s. The most noticeable difference, however, was the decorations on their body. From head to toe, they were tattooed and pierced. They also had some of the darkest skin Jake ever saw, it resembled the brown steel barrels of the shotguns many of Jake’s neighbors kept near their beds. Jake felt a strong urge to talk to them, but an equally strong urge to avoid the nearby Alex.

Eventually, Alex and Coeus made their way into the pub. Jake waited in a nearby lot of grass for several minutes, enjoying the serene new sounds of the ocean and birds unhindered by pollution, before entering the pub himself. Inside he found that little had changed since he left that morning. The only difference being that where he had sat with Xye and Fear, Alex and Coeus now sat. A crowd of people was gathered around Coeus, though it was smaller than the crowd for Xye. Jake groaned and crept along the wall towards the stairs. Just before he reached the first step, he made eye contact with Alex. Alex smiled and waved. Jake turned his head and flung himself up the stairs like a hunted rabbit.

Back on the fifth floor, Jake used his key to get back into the suite. Fear and Xye had barely moved in the two and a half hours Jake had spent exploring the town. They were both still on the bed. Xye’s flask lay empty and open on the ground. Fear had taken her arm of Xye to guard her own head from the light, however. Xye had also switched to using an arm of their own.

“Hi,” Jake announced louder than was expected or necessary. He startled Fear and Xye into a more conscious state.

“Gurng,” Xye gurgled. They moved their hands up to their ears.

“Gak,” Fear coughed out. She mimicked her sibling.

“I met some…asshole,” Jake recounted his time on the town. He didn’t care that no one was really listening. “Well, two really. Actually, that was all near the end.” Jake rambled pointlessly for several minutes. He explained every detail of his experience, especially the small and meaningless ones. He backtracked often and made little progress. When he eventually reached the important part of the tale Xye and Fear were almost fully asleep again. “So, the guy saves me from the robbery. He then acts like he knows everything. He told me I’m not even white!” Jake scoffed. “He had a weird accent too.”

Xye bolted straight up. Their eyes faded to a lighter purple as they adjusted to the light. “Oh fuck,” they whispered.

“Right?” Jake chuckled. “What an idiot!”

“Jake,” Xye said calmly, “Jake, you’re not totally white.”

Incredibly Large Pills

“What?” Jake didn’t even come close to believing he was anything other than a white man. “That’s not funny.” 

“Your father was Korean,” Fear explained bluntly, “This makes you half Korean. Only half white.”

“What!” Jake began to shout, “Stop!” He turned around in a frivolous attempt to stop Fear and Xye. “Someone would have told me. I couldn’t keep a job if I wasn’t white. They’d treat me like you guys! Especially you, Xye!” 

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!” Xye rebutted.

“You know exactly what it means,” Jake grumbled.

“Jake,” Fear said, standing up from the bed. She walked slowly over and placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder. Jake shrugged it off. “As long as you didn’t know they didn’t care. You made them a lot of money, and you thought you were white…So they let it slide. You looked white enough, so did your dad. White enough for their standards.”

“That’s absurd.” Jake was shaking.

“Yeah.” 

“Kim is a Korean name,” Xye added from the bed.

“Alex told me that! It’s not helpful!” Jake grunted loudly. He stormed towards the door. Just before he flung it open and waltzed out he stopped. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He asked with a dull twinge in his voice.

“I was busy,” Xye tried to explain. 

Jake suddenly whirled around to face his friends. “What the fuck is wrong with your names anyways? Huh? What kind of names are Fear and Xye? And why do you spell them like that? What’s wrong with you guys?” Jake whipped back around and stormed through the door. He slammed it shut behind him with a crack. Xye stood up to follow Jake.

“Don’t,” Fear said simply. So Xye didn’t.

Hissy Fit #13,421

Jake ambled strangely down the stairs. His feet tumbled like a cloud of smoke. He wanted to be mad, to burst out louder than he ever had. But decades of forcing his emotions into submission proved effective. All Jake managed was a few childish stomps on the stairs paired with a couple tiny grunts or shouts. No one on any floor except for him heard or saw any of it. So Jake reached the pub even less satisfied than when he had barged out of the suite.

He pushed his way through the crowd to the bar. He called over the bartender currently working, a mean-looking woman who was clearly busy, somewhat rudely. She approached from the other side of the bar with an incredibly strained grin.

“Need something?” she asked politely.

“I want alcohol,” Jake answered.

“Then you’re in the right place. What kind?” She continued with her tame facade.

“The best,” Jake said.

“Sure,” the bartender sighed. She took down a bottle of scotch and poured a shot for Jake. “Got any cash?”

“No,” Jake said bluntly. He tried to pull the pin out of his pocket but couldn’t find it with his fingers. 

“Fantastic,” the bartender squawked. Having not seen Jake come in with Xye the bartender thought he was simply asking for a free drink. So she took his shot away and slid down to the other end of the bar to serve other customers. Jake followed her, nearly fuming.

“Hey!” he shouted. The volume in the bar decreased significantly. Jake glowed bright red “That’s my drink!” he shouted again, noticeably quieter. 

“You don’t have any money on you,” the bartender scoffed.

“I didn’t have a chance to grab any on my way out the door. I’m with an ‘Agent’ or whatever.” Jake made air quotes for the word agent. 

“Oh yeah? Like you’re the first guy to pull that one,” the bartender squealed scornfully. “Got one of those pins?”

“It’s stuck in my pocket somewhere!” Jake shouted needlessly. A few people in the bar recognized him and shouted a few words of encouragement or confirmation. 

“Let me know when you find it,” the bartender said, unswayed. She turned her attention back to her paying patrons. Just then, a concentric circle pin fell softly onto the bar in front of Jake. It was cleaner and shinier than the one Jake had been searching for in his pocket. The bartender turned at the sound of the small bit of metal tapping against the hardwood. She recognized the symbol immediately. “Well shit,” she said as she made her way back with Jake’s shot in hand.

Jake took his hands out of his pockets. In his right hand, he clutched the pin Xye gave him. The other hand held nothing but lint. He inspected the pin in his hand closely. He compared it to the pin on the table. When the shot was slammed down next to it on the bar he jumped back and collided with something behind him. That something grunted and caught Jake in his fall. That something was Alex. That something had dropped the shinier pin.

“Be more careful, Jake,” Alex scolded sweetly. 

Jake looked up and behind him. Instead of Alex’s face, he saw red. However, the next moment, when he felt himself being supported and nearly surrounded by Alex, made his cheeks go red. He jumped away again, away from Alex and back into his stool at the bar. He didn’t so much as bother to respond or acknowledge the man behind him in any way. Alex shrugged it off carelessly and returned through the crowd to his table with Coeus.

Jake gingerly lifted the shot of whiskey up to his eye level. He inspected the color deeply, pretending to understand what it was and what he could discern from its physical appearance. After nearly a minute of empty gawking at the glass, he lowered it down to his lips. It lingered there, the smooth glass grazing the edges of his mouth as his hand swayed. Jake took several deep breaths before tossing the drink down his throat and dropping the shot glass onto the bar. He felt the burning sting immediately. It was so powerful he nearly spit it out before he had a chance to swallow. But the eyes all along the bar, eyes watching the new American and judging his every move, pressured him

into taking the drink down. It nearly made Jake cry. Everyone looked away.

Despite his effectively unlimited tab, Jake did not ask for any more drinks. He whittled away the rest of the afternoon rooted to his stool. Patrons came and went over and over all around him, all the while he paid them no attention. At some point, when the sky changed its hue to match the faded red leather of the bar stools, Alex quietly took the pin back off the bar and went up to another suite with Coeus. Jake continued to fester and boil in one spot. No one paid him any attention. Finally, the night came. The bartender was reduced to standing around and washing a few glasses repeatedly. The only people remaining were Jake, her, and a few people in the back who were far too high or drunk, or some dangerous combination of the tw, to realize it was an appropriate time to leave.

“Hey,” the bartender interjected Jake’s unending angry mutterings, “I don’t know what’s eating you, but you should go brood somewhere else.”

“Fine,” Jake responded tartly. He pushed back his stool with a disgusting squeak and walked away. First, he walked towards the door out of the bar. But, upon noticing the darkness and remembering the recent mugging, turned on his heels and headed towards the stairs. There he reluctantly dragged himself dully up to the fifth floor. It was empty and silent. Most people staying at the inn were asleep. He unlocked the door and cracked it open to peek in. Inside he saw that Fear and Xye were both awake. He walked in anyways.

Fear was sitting in a large chair near the window. She was smoking something with her right hand and holding a thin brown book with the other. Xye was laying on the bed letting their arm crawl around the room. Neither of them did much more than glance up at Jake when he entered. They both watched him wander strangely around the room, opening doors and staring at whatever was behind. Eventually, he found that one door led to another conjoined room. So he tripped through it and shut the door behind him. Xye groaned. Fear sighed and took a long drag of her cigarette.

Inside his personal room, Jake closed all the blinds with a snap. He locked the door to Fear and Xye’s room. He even turned the T.V. away from the bed, although there was no camera in the T.V. nor was it even likely there was, that practice was only common beyond the ghetto’s walls. He took every precaution to not be seen. Once he was secure in the thought that he was alone, Jake crawled sadly into the bed. He pulled all the sheets around him tightly and cried himself to sleep with hollow, silent sobs.

In the morning, Jake found himself in a far different position than he had fallen asleep in. His blankets were wrapped tightly around him like a noose. The pillows that initially rested near the headboard were strewn at random points around the floor. Jake had even completely changed the angle at which he was sleeping. His head was almost hanging off the right side of the bed. He shivered and fell awkwardly to the floor. When he stood back up he saw clothes hanging from the doorknob.  A note on the clothes read: “Jake, please wear these new clothes. You smell and your old ones are gross. With love, Xye :).” 

Jake dropped the note to the floor and scoffed. He was about to knock the clothes down when he noticed what they were. It was a brand new navy blue Jacket with his name in golden lettering on the back. Just under his name in fantastic silver stitching read the phrase: “Former FED.” And just underneath that was also a line reading: “Plus Xye and Fear Arlott.” Accompanying the well-washed jacket was a fine silk shirt, a pair of smooth denim jeans, and large black leather boots Jake didn’t like the look of. He sighed and reluctantly changed. When he took a look in the mirror his mind felt as clean as his body did. He even began to like the strong appearance of the boots. So he decided to leave the room, unlike what he had planned for the rest of the day.

Pathetic Reluctance

Jake slowly pushed the dividing door between his and his friends’ rooms aside. He peeked around it and immediately made eye contact with both Fear and Xye who were watching him enter the room intently. They snapped their attention away from the door and to the ceiling. Both of them tried their hardest to appear as though they weren’t watching Jake enter. Xye inspected their nonexistent nails as they often did while Fear watched her feet with the intrigued stare of a small child watching its first movie.

“Good morning,” Jake announced dully. He stepped all the way out from behind the door to reveal his new clothes. “Did Xye pick the lock to my room last night?”

“Huh?” said Xye, turning quickly to face Jake as though they hadn’t noticed him. “Hey, nice clothes!”

“Oh, yes those are quite nice,” Fear added, looking up briefly from her boots.

“Yeah…” Jake took a few steps into the room. “When are we getting on that boat?” 

“Whenever Coeus and his target are ready to go. So probably today or tomorrow,” Xye answered.

“Today would be better. I don’t want to wait around,” Jake whined. He picked at his messy hair.

“You’re not going to be much more comfortable at HQ,” Fear warned. “It’s pretty much the same as here, just on a boat and a little more violent.”

“Ok,” Jake spit out quickly. He balled his fists over and over again in anger at his lack of control in the situation. “I,” he started, “Don’t actually have anything to say.”

The suite was silent for an awkward amount of time. Jake didn’t want to talk very much, and his companions didn’t want to cause him to lash out again. Everyone stayed statue-like where they were. Xye didn’t even inspect their nails. Somewhere, very far away, a siren could be heard blaring through the early morning haze, probably warning GNA citizens of a non-white person the police had spotted. The footsteps in the hall and even on other floors echoed up to the suite where they became booming claps. Jake let out one long, shaky exhale.

“You asked about our names,” Xye said, finally breaking the silence.

“Uh, yeah,” Jake grumbled. He was already beginning to regret his outburst the day prior.

“Well, it’s fair. They are pretty odd. Fear?” They looked over to their sister inquisitively.

“Yes, I’ll go first,” Fear announced. She cleared her throat and cracked her neck. “Well, Fear is an Irish word. Ireland of course is a country in the CESH. It’s an island located west of Greater Greater London. Although it’s far more rural than that metropolis. It really is beautiful, I have a few friends there. Take a visit sometime once we reach the shore. Anyways, I’m getting off-topic.” Fear’s eyes roamed around the room for a second as she tried to remember what she was saying. “You see, the Irish have their own language. Although nowadays ‘had’ seems more accurate. No one is a native speaker anymore.”

“Can you get to the point?” Jake asked sharply.

“Yeah, this is a bit much,” Xye added.

“Fine,” Fear sighed. “In the Irish language, the word fear means ‘man’. It’s spelled like the English word fear but pronounced like far. Dear old dad was proficient enough in Irish, and he thought it was funny to name his daughter ‘man.’ Got it?”

“But you’re not a man? Right?” Jake asked.

“No,” Fear answered simply.

“That’s dumb,” Jake stuttered our nearly silently. Both Xye and Fear heard him, but didn’t say anything. Although Xye heavily considered it. “What about you then, Xye?” He pointed to the person in question.

“That’s a bit of a story. You should sit down first,” They replied. 

“Fine,” Jake said as he took a seat in a large faux leather armchair not too far from the doorframe he had been standing in. 

“So,” Xye started, “Back in the day, about two hundred to two hundred fifty years ago, my great great great great grandparents were very young.” Xye leaned back in their chair and stared up towards the ceiling with thoughtful eyes. They reached for an adrenaline stick but pulled back quickly.

“How pensive and nostalgic do you have to get for this?” Jake asked bluntly.

“Very, Jake. Sentimentality is rather important,” Xye retorted.

“It doesn’t make you look very strong or intimidating.”
“Dude,” Xye sighed, “I’m almost seven feet tall and can crush heads with my left hand.”
“Xye,” Fear chided quietly.

“Fine, ok,” Xye groaned. They sat up straighter and regained their composure. “So two hundred or so years ago, my great great great great grandparents had their kids later in life, they lived in the same town that used to stand right here in this ghetto. This was a while before the GNA became the government you know today. People of all cultures were able to live together. Especially on the coasts where most people came in by boat. Both my ancestors were white though. My grandparents and parents too. As you can imagine,” Xye said, shifting in their seat, “This doesn’t explain my complexion.” They held their right hand up to demonstrate. “But that’s something else entirely.” 

“Is this all important?” Jake butted in. He was perched like a bird in his seat.

“No,” Xye hesitated, “But I think it’s interesting. Whatever, I’ll jump ahead. So back then my great great great great grandma had a group of friends from multiple different countries. One of those countries being what was then called China. The Chinese also have their own language. And when it gets translated to English some letters make different sounds than you’d expect. Particularly prominent are letters like w, x, z, and h. When my great great great great grandmom met this friend, the GNA was already starting to mess with other cultures and races. So they had already banned spreading ideas such as cultural names or different writing systems. All she knew about the Chinese language was that the letters were pronounced weird. So, it became a tradition to name the family kids in some strange way. They usually fucked around with a bunch of letters, pronounced it weird, and called it a day in an attempt to honor the friend who was dragged off to some hell camp. Honestly, when I think about it, it doesn’t seem like the best way to honor them.”

“What?” Jake asked, confused. “All that for such a simple explanation?”

“Guess so,” Xye said, shrugging.

“And why can’t your parents choose any regular good old fashioned names? Like mine? I don’t understand why it all has to be a big show.”
“Alright,” Xye calmly sighed. They pushed up from their chair. Their legs squeaked so loudly a few birds outside the window flew away. “Listen, I’m gonna go talk to Coeus and his target. That Alex guy. We’ll see about when we can get the ferry to HQ. Stay here with Fear and don’t cause any trouble,” Xye warned. They patted the gun in their pocket jokingly. They bellowed a hearty robotic sounding laugh. Jake was not amused.

Xye ducked loudly into the hallway outside of the suite through the door. Their footsteps clanked stoutly on the thinly carpeted floor. They cracked their neck and moaned loudly in response. After creating a ruckus and waking several other guests, Xye strolled deftly down the hallway. They had no clue where Coeus or Alex were staying, but figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out. So they took to knocking on every door in sight.

Their tactic proved fruitful. Even though no room except one housed Coeus and Alex they found the proper door eventually. Though, along the way they did manage to anger an incredible amount of patrons by waking them up with their absurdly loud knocks. The irate guests were quickly calmed after opening the door, looking up, and recognizing the celebrity before them. It was only after seventeen tries of repeatedly waking up other hotel guests that Xye knocked on the right door. Coeus answered the door in a bathrobe that revealed the tattoos and various faded scars down his dark chest.

“Xye,” Coeus acknowledged sleepily.

“Coeus,” Xye shot back. “When can you and your friend get on the boat with us? My guy is dying to get going. Oh yeah, and how’s the new arm doing?” 

“Well,” Coeus thought out loud, “I was hoping to spend a full day resting. And it is very early in the morning for me. And the hand is fine.” He flexed the fingers of his mechanical arm with a clicking noise. He also quickly moved his thoughts internally before closing the door. Xye waited patiently outside. Three minutes later Coeus opened the door again and continued his thoughts, “We can go if you really want to. Alex said he’s fine with heading out today. But why is your target so desperate to get out of here? It’s pretty nice.” 

“It is nice, isn’t it? I didn’t remember it like that,” Xye said cheerfully. “And I guess he’s just in a mood. We had to have The Talk with him last night. It didn’t go over well. He gets like this. Real bitch to deal with at points. But it’s worth it. Jake’s a good guy. Anyways,” Xye announced, clapping their hands together, “I’ll see you at the dock around three?” 

“Sure, see you then,” Coeus agreed. He shut the door for good.

“Bye,” Xye said to no one. They stopped crouching into the doorway, turned towards the direction they came from, and headed back to the suite.

Back in the suite, Jake was pathetically attempting to avoid conversation with Fear. Fear continued to talk about her life before meeting Jake, prod Jake with questions about his life before meeting her, and talked about every person she had ever met. Jake squirmed in his chair. He fought the urge to talk with one of the only people he was friends with anymore and found so interesting. His absurd anger over being told a simple fact still burned furiously inside him, preventing even simple pleasant conversation. The absurdity of his rage only made him more angry.

Xye was only gone a few minutes. Not long enough to have any sort of serious conversation. But the room quickly grew to feel crinkly and stale as Jake sat still and attempted to hold back any conversation with Fear so hard his fists began to dig into his chair. When Xye finally pushed back through the door Jake sighed loudly and released his tight grip on his chair’s arms. Fear, too, relaxed. She loosened her posture and halted her almost unending talking spree. They waited for Xye to speak.

And speak Xye did: “We can go around three this afternoon. Just hop right on a ferry with Coeus and that guy Alex.” 

“Great,” Jake responded with an accompanying thumbs up. He tried to stifle the loud complaints that came with thinking about being on the same boat as Alex. 

“Why do you hate Alex?” Fear suddenly spouted out.

“Well he’s an asshole!” Jake shot back loudly. “He thinks he’s so smart! And he was so uptight about knowing I’m apparently not white!”

“How many words did you two actually exchange?” Xye added.

“That doesn’t matter!” Jake raised his voice higher.

“Look,” Xye said calmly. They raised their arms above their head slowly. Their hands folded slightly against the ceiling. “We don’t want to work you up.”
“Right,” Fear concurred.

“But you can’t get on a boat with a guy you hate so much you get like this.” 

“I just fucking hate the guy!” Jake shouted with the force of a teenager deprived of personal time by their parents.

“Ok, we get that,” Xye continued calmly, “But would you consider giving him another shot? Maybe you got off on the wrong foot.”

“And you’re acting like a fifteen year old,” Fear added suddenly. 

“Sure, whatever,” Jake grumbled. He went back to clawing at his chair’s arms. “Get me at three.” He shot out of his chair and stomped back through the dividing door. Though, he didn’t bother to lock it.

Lift Off

A little before three, Jake heard a soft rapping on the dividing door. He wriggled from his quilted prison and down onto the floor. Once standing, Jake made his way solemnly to the door. And once opened, the door revealed the Arlott siblings. In their hands they each held a shot of whiskey much like Jake had almost spat out the night before. On their faces they wore sympathetic smiles beaming down at the slug-like man. Despite the new clothes, Jake still looked heavily disgruntled. His hair was barely combed, and had grown slightly out of its original clean cut. His beard was coming in stronger than ever before, making him look far older than he actually was. And flakes of dirt and dried blood were stuck under his nails and around his face.

“Hey buddy,” Xye said lowly.

“I’m really sorry. Please just forget about earlier,” Jake blurted out.

“Ok,” replied Fear, “We can ignore it. We get it. It’s a really stressful time. So we thought maybe you’d like these shots?” Fear and her sibling extended the small glasses towards Jake. “Patricia at the bar told me they were your favorite.”

“Oh,” Jake chirped, heavily surprised at the kindness. “Thank you.” He gently took the two shot glasses and held them awkwardly.

“So it’s around three,” Fear continued her train of thought. “So let’s get going. Say any goodbyes you want to this place. Odds are you’ll never touch the shores of this continent again.”

“I just want to get on the boat,” Jake rushed out quickly. His words mixed together. He sounded to himself like the coyote Xye had spoken with. He hung his head slightly, but quickly lifted it again and powered through one of the shots.

“Alright,” Xye replied softly. They laid their heavy metal hand on Jake’s shoulder, causing Jake to sigh under his breath. “Let’s go.”

Xye led Fear, Fear led Jake, and Jake his shadow down the hallways and stairs that lead to the exit of the inn and pub. Once outside the pattern continued through the cool oceanside air and down to the pier. At the pier Coeus was sitting peacefully with Alex on a bench just next to a massive industrial ferry covered in graffiti much like the wall around the ghetto. Coeus noticed the group and waved slowly. Xye returned the favor. Suddenly, Fear stopped dead in her tracks.

“Fuck!” She shouted louder than usual. “Forgot my car. Be right back.” She grunted and turned to walk the other way.

Jake boarded the boat slowly, holding his breath and clenching his jaw. He trudged over the gangplank staring dead ahead at the sky so as not to accidentally look down into the water. Normally, being on a boat wouldn’t have bothered him. But this was the ocean. And the ocean that would finally lead him to safety. As his left foot made contact with the deck of the ferry, clad in his new heavy boots, Jake finally exhaled. Then he made eye contact with Alex, who waved politely and gestured to a seat next to himself, and acted out his nervous ticks again. 

“Ready to leave Jake?” Alex asked once Jake shakily took a seat next to him.

“Everyone keeps asking me that,” Jake scoffed. He folded his arms both in annoyance and an attempt to cover his anxiously twiddling fingers. “Yes, I’m ready to go. When does this boat take off?” Despite his cold tone Jake very clearly looked nervous. He kept his eyes stuck to the ground to avoid the sight of the ocean, causing his words to dampen and lose their edge after bouncing back off the wet wooden deck.

“You’re adorable, Jake,” Alex laughed.

“What?” Jake finally looked up.

As he looked up though, Fear pulled her SUV onto the ferry with a fantastic commotion. Several ferry workers shouted instructions all at once while even more moved items around to make space and get the car bay ready. The massive beast of a machine plodded and lumbered slowly over a small temporary bridge layed out so as not to fall into the ocean. Because of the angle the car drove up the bridge at, the sun reflected off the windshield in such a way that the car could not be seen inside of. Even though Jake knew Fear must have been inside, because he could not see her the car appeared to move on its own accord. The spectacle snatched his attention as though he were a young child, causing him to forget what Alex had said seconds before.

Once the SUV was situated and tied down in the proper position the ferry floated away. The anchor was pulled up, the ropes tied to the dock untied, and the engines turned over. There was no fanfare. There was no party or celebration. The boat, with Jake, Alex, Fear, Xye, Coeus, and all the men working it, simply floated away from the GNA and into the vast gray ocean. Jake shuddered once he realized there was no connection to the land anymore. Though the realization that he had finally, or nearly finally, finished his grand journey didn’t cross his mind until later.

Therapy

For the first several dozen minutes Alex and Jake sat in silence next to each other on one of the ferry’s uncomfortable wooden benches. They both looked awkwardly at the tinted glass-like ocean and ever fading land behind them. Xye and Coeus walked by several times, handing the two drinks or small party favors like noisemakers in a belated celebration. But neither of the two escapees seemed very interested in much interaction. Xye and Coeus understood and left their targets alone to go bother Xye’s sister and wait for later in the evening. The trip would take only two days, as the ferry, despite its gargantuan size, was rigged amateurly with a AguaDrive speed booster that once turned on acted quite similar to the jets on Xye’s small boat they used to cross a lake with Jake.

Eventually Jake spoke up. His voice crashed and meshed with the sound of the waves slapping the hull of the boat. “So what’s Asia like? Korea specifically.”

“I don’t know. I really wish I did,” Alex replied wistfully. “But I was raised on the west coast. The accent is because I spent my youth and adolescence in a Japanese camp. I’ve never seen any other country.” 

“Are you scared of the water?” Jake asked. He found that he was angry at himself for being interested in Alex’s life.

“No. I grew up on the pacific. I spent a lot of time staring over it trying to see Japan,” Alex answered. His voice cut through the noises of the waves and occasional seagull with little effort. His voice was truly one made for battling such sounds.

“Why didn’t you sail away?” Jake asked, turning to finally look at Alex.

“The guards on the west coast are policed more than the ones here. They cared. Wouldn’t look the other way so easily. They were crueler too.” Alex looked at Jake as well. The two were sitting face to face.

“Oh.”

“It’s nothing like that one we were just at.” Alex pointed back towards where the shore would be. The fog blended with the gray sky of the same shade to form a wall-like, gray horizon that hid anything more than a couple dozen feet away. “I don’t know how the people there did it, but they pretty much have free reign to sail away. I’m sure they bribe someone.” Alex stopped talking for several seconds, lost deep in thought. “Back at what I called home if we got too close to the water they’d just kill us right there.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I couldn’t even go and play on the beach without fear of losing some vital body part.”

Suddenly Jake remembered his flagrant fury at Alex. Though he enjoyed his talk with Alex he could no longer stand to sit near him. So, he stood up quickly and walked towards the stern of the boat with his hand over his eyes. Alex, of course, noticed and followed slowly behind Jake. They both ended up standing at the very end of the ferry, the wind whipping their hair-Jake’s now much longer and unruly hair more than Alex’s-wildly around their heads like serpents. One unaware that the other had followed. One unaware the other hated him.

“Jake?” Alex asked gently. 

“Aaah!” Jake shouted, turning around so fast he accidentally slapped Alex. “Fuck! Sorry! I didn’t think you’d follow me.”

“No, it’s ok,” Alex laughed a little. He held his cheek tenderly where Jake slapped him. “But are you?”

“Well,” Jake said. He thought for a long time. The cold air reminded him of motorcycle rides with Xye and side tracked his train of thought for a moment. Once he returned his mind to Alex’s question he had an answer: “I hate you,” he explained dully.

“What do you mean?” Alex took a step back and narrowed his eyes. He cocked his head to the side like a confused child.

“I mean, you’re fine. You’re interesting,” Jake rambled, “I just can’t stand you. You were the first person to tell me anything about me not being white. And I had this whole meltdown over it. Looking at you makes me so angry for no good reason!” Jake turned back around to look at the ocean again.

“Did your parents die when you were young?” Alex asked the back of Jake’s head.

“No,” Jake sighed, “No, I was twenty three or so when they died.” 

“Did any of your siblings die when you were young?”

“What the hell kinds of questions are these?” Jake asked, suddenly very annoyed. Though he still did not turn around.

“Just tell me.”

“My sisters left when I was seventeen. Now that I think about it I think they went with someone like Xye or your Coeus.”

“Did you look up to them?”

“Are you a psychologist? They weren’t fond of those guys back in the GNA and I sure as hell am not enjoying it either.”

“Jake,” Alex scolded again.

“Fine,” Jake groaned. He rubbed his temples a few times before answering. “Yeah. Yeah I did. They were my role models. Taught me to ride a bike and cook pasta and all that stuff.” 

“So when you lost them you never got past the stage of life you were stuck in. You’re still seventeen,” Alex remarked oddly warmly.

“I’m not seventeen. I’m thirty three.” Jake leaned his elbows on the railing between the ferry and the ocean. 

“No, in your mind. You didn’t advance. It’s why you’re so surly and angsty.” 

“Is this like that fucking gender stuff? I don’t understand any of it, ok? And who are you calling surly? You’re no ray of sunshine!” Jake complained. He regretted his last sentence as he said it, realizing that Alex had been nothing but a ray of sunshine ever since the two had met.

“Sorry, that came out wrong. I’ve been told I have trouble turning it off,” Alex said. He accompanied Jake at the railing, mimicking even his elbow placement. Neither of them looked at the other. 

“I’ve seen,” Jake said back. He tried not to look at Alex as hard as he could.

“Can I make it up to you? Wanna go have dinner? The ferry is smaller than most, but they have a mess hall and the food can’t be that bad.” 

Jake wanted to say no. Jake intended in every way to turn Alex down. His tongue was pushed up against the back of his teeth in anticipation of the words to come. But just before he actually pronounced the word, he felt the pit in his stomach move. He realized if he said no to Alex he would have to avoid the mess hall and go hungry for the rest of the afternoon. So Jake caved.

“Ok,” he said.

Alex led the way to the mess hall. He didn’t actually know where it was, but assumed rather correctly that it would be easy enough to find. Behind him followed Jake with his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his new coat. The wind had died down, so the hair of Alex and Jake was no longer an obstacle, but the bitter cold had only increased the strength of its onslaught. Seeking shelter from the burst of cold air Alex ducked into the first door he saw. He stopped right after the door to enjoy the immediate heat. Jake followed unthinkingly with his eyes on his toes and ended up slamming hard into Alex’s back. Jake quickly stood up and went back to a normal standing pose as if nothing had happened. In an attempt to appear as though he had not fallen to the ground he leaned against the door frame. 

Alex turned around, having felt the very fast and heavy bump on his back, already apologizing heavily. After he was finished spouting a stream of atonements and had taken note of Jake’s casual and uninjured stance he changed his train of thought. “Sorry again,” he said, “I shouldn’t have stopped.”

“It’s fine,” Jake snapped back. He tried to accompany his words with suave finger guns and a snap, but fluked the snap and ended up just shaking his limp hand towards Alex. 

“You know, if you hadn’t gotten up, that would have made a nice meet cute,” Alex mentioned casually before walking farther into the ferry. 

“A what?” Jake asked, following Alex inside. He stopped for several brief seconds to enjoy the warmth and close the door behind him.

“They don’t have those in mainland GNA? How terrible,” said Alex. He opened a seemingly random door and slipped behind it. Alex’s footsteps echoed down the hall and into nothingness.

Jake approached the door Alex had slinked behind. He rested his hand on the knob, beginning to turn it. But he stopped, took his hand off the doorknob, and stepped back. He realized that for the first time in quite some time, he was alone again. Though he had been alone when sulking in his room, he knew his friends were watching over him. He was truly alone in all ways imaginable. No one was physically near him, nor could he be seen. He wasn’t near any communities and there were no people in the streets to miraculously save him from any muggers. He was alone out in the damp fog, and, if he felt so inclined, he could disappear into it without notice.

 The thought filled him with a strange mix of feelings not known or comfortable to a man so used to suppressing emotions. It made his stomach swirl, but jump happily upwards to his heart, his fingers lost any feeling, his eyes faded out up close but focused far away, and his legs gave out beneath him causing him to tumble to the ground with an absurd smile on his face. There he sat laughing to himself for nearly a minute. Nothing was particularly funny, neither to Jake nor any other conceivable party. But he laughed nonetheless. The feeling of being alone closed in on him like a lukewarm blanket. 

When he finally regained his composure, Jake scrambled to his feet. He let loose a few more childish giggles while he pointlessly pushed his hair back into place only for it to fall back down immediately. He nearly skipped back to the door Alex was somewhere behind where he made a strange show to no one but himself of opening the door with a flourish. What lay beyond the door, a hallway that looked like a textbook example of a hallway, was far less whimsical than Jake’s mood. Though that didn’t stop him from starting down it like a teenager headed to their prom.

Dinner Date

Although the mess hall was at the far end of the corridor, the loud voices and sounds of eating and cutlery could be heard all the way at the other end by Jake. Alex had apparently already made it there as he was nowhere to be seen. The noises only grew louder as Jake clambered his way down towards them. He leaned on and dragged his hand along the wall as he went. Every once in a while he chuckled to himself again-and then immediately thought about how much the laugh sounded like his late father’s-, but the time between the laughs grew longer and longer until no more came at all. When he finally reached the entrance of the mess hall he was perfectly calm again.

From the doorway Jake saw Alex already seated at one of the many drab metallic gray tables. Nearby at other tables a few workers sat, and somewhere by the salad bar Xye was locked in a heated debate with Coeus over the croutons in both of their hands. Fear seemed to be waiting for the two agents to finish up at a table consisting of her, her plate, and two empty chairs. The kitchen could be seen in the back of the room, and in it several cooks rushed back and forth between stations trying to balance the raw ingredients in their posession against the swaying of the boat. The food they prepared was situated comfortably in a buffet line that was constantly surrounded by a catalog of younger workers swarming at the steaming food. Jake took in all the sights and smells absentmindedly before walking over and taking a seat across from Alex.

“What took you so long?” Alex asked, looking up from his large salad.

“I thought of a very funny joke,” said Jake.

“Wanna tell me?” Alex awkwardly funneled a few leaves of lettuce from his salad into his mouth, keeping the majority of his attention on Jake.

“Nah,” Jake droned on, “You wouldn’t get it. You had to work in an office like mine.” His voice was clearer than usual, more dissimilar to its usual monotone and simple cadence. It resembled the voice of a veteran park ranger, if such a job was possible in the GNA anymore, during a light storm.

“Alright,” Alex said. He shrugged and returned his attention to his salad. “If you want some food I’m happy to give some recommendations. It’s all free, compliments of HQ, so take what you want.” 

“Maybe I will,” Jake said lightly. The clean feeling that slid off Alex’s person to infect the air around it put Jake in an even more buoyant mood. He navigated his way slowly towards the nearest buffet line, rocking and swaying with the ship as he went.

Jake spent several minutes standing before the occupied buffet line with no clear goal in mind. He watched the sailors fight over the food like an elderly man watching the birds in his backyard. He only snapped back into reality when the sailors each individually found satisfaction in their meals and left the food and their coworkers in peace. Once his mind had found his body again, Jake shuffled down the buffet at a snail’s pace picking at random bits of food to place on his tray. He didn’t look around, but instead just smiled down through the sneeze guard. Xye and Coeus had settled themselves and returned to Fear, so even when Jake had passed through the whole buffet he hadn’t spoken a word to anyone. He made his way back to Alex’s table holding his tray and the wide variety of food on top of it.

None of the food really looked very appetizing or appealing to Jake. Having been prepared on a ferry from the slums it was already lower quality. But it was also all foreign to Jake. He had tried a few new foods on land, but the new diversity of colors and smells bothered him. Nonetheless, he tried, or tried to try, everything he had taken. Picking at each item while making small talk, over topics ranging anywhere from family activities to murder along with one’s agent, with Alex sped the afternoon along, and soon it was getting late. The sun hung low over the water, making it and the dimly lit inside of the ferry’s mess hall shimmer a romantic orange. Alex’s tray was clean and wiped down, while Jake’s still could not really be seen under the pile of, now cold, half eaten food. 

As the sun fully dipped its gilded crown beneath the calmed waves Xye and Coeus walked up to either side of the small table their targets were sitting at. They both leaned over, resting their massive hands on the edges. Alex and Jake naturally noticed right away and broke their conversation to look up at their respective agent. The agents, they noticed, had the dumb maniacle smiles of a toddler formulating a master plan scrawled across the lower halves of their faces.

“Time to settle in for the night campers,” Coeus said. His voice slithered through the air sensitively.

“The AguaDrive will kick in while we sleep, and it’s not too fun to experience it while awake,” Xye added. They moved on hand from the table and down to one of their numerous coat pockets. From there they removed a crumpled piece of paper that they tossed to Jake.

“What the fuck is agua,” Jake muttered under his breath. “And what’s this?” He said louder and more audibly.

“That’s your room number,” Coeus cooed again, “Talk to Matilda in office thirteen if you can’t find it. She’s a peach.”

“What about us, Coeus?” Alex chimed in. “Where are you and I staying?”

“You’re staying there,” Coeus said, pointing at the crumpled paper Jake was unfolding. “With Mr. Anger Issues.”
“What?” Jake asked, looking up from the room number.

“Well then where are you staying?” Alex asked.

“With tall, dark, and handsome on the other side of the table,” said Coeus. Then he turned and walked away. Xye followed shortly after, leaving the two men at the table alone and confused.

“Are they…I mean…they both have similar parts…so…” Jake tried to say. He was cut off by Alex shortly after.

“I certainly hope not. Coeus already had a run in with an Arlott sibling. It didn’t go well. That’s where half the chest scars come from,” Alex said, tumbling and spilling rapidly past his words.

“Do you mean Fear?” Jake asked, shocked to the point of his jaw dangling loosely.

“That I do,” Alex confirmed. He took a particularly long drink from the plain blue plastic cup filled with watered down wine.

“I thought she was…” Jake trailed off again.

“So did Coeus!” Alex laughed out hard. The pink wine rocketed out of his nose, changing his laughter into a howl of pain and sending his hands up to his nostrils to cover them.

Jake laughed as well. At first under his breath at Alex’s joke. But when he saw the wine spray out of Alex he screamed laughing with him. He slammed his hand on the table repeatedly so hard it knocked the rest of Alex’s drink onto the dirty floor to mix with the specks of food and nearly flipped the table itself. He bent over laughing, nearly crying. Alex blew the rest of the thin wine out of his nose, whined for a few seconds, and joined Jake in the laughter to a less extreme extent.

Classical Cliches

The room Jake and Alex were situated in, room forty-two, was separated from the hallway by a wall and thick mahogany door with the number forty-two stamped on near the top in golden letters much like on the back of Jake’s new jacket. Once the door was opened the inside was revealed. It was moderate in all aspects, nearly bare bones. The walls were painted a bleak faded yellow, the scratched hardwood floor was covered in most places by an ancient white shag run, and every piece of wooden furniture had been stained a strangely unnatural looking dark color. The three porthole-shaped windows along the far wall allowed only a fraction of the view outside to be seen and an even smaller fraction of the light from outside to enter. There were two large dusty looking armchairs in one corner, an international entertainment display television in the other, and one queen sized bed along the right wall.

Jake took notice of the bed. “There’s only one bed,” he stated accurately.

“Oh?” Alex added, “You saw that too? Good, I was worried the sea was getting to me.” He laughed gently. “Do you want the bed? I’ll gladly sleep on the floor.”

“No,” Jake said firmly, “No. I’m going to go talk to that Matilda woman. We’ll get a new room.” He turned around to walk away. But before he stepped through the doorway he felt Alex’s hand fall on his shoulder much like Xye’s often did. He loosened his posture and returned the foot that was in the middle of taking a step to the ground.

“It’s no big deal, Jake. Come on, let it go. We can make it fun,” Alex chirped, “It’ll be like a slumber party.”

“Like a what?” Jake asked, still facing the door.

“I thought you had two sisters. Didn’t they ever have slumber parties?”

“Parties in general were banned from our house. And fined in most parts of the country.”

“Well, then I’ll show you your first.” Alex let go of Jake and walked over to the bed. “Come on, we’ll have fun.”

When Jake finally gave up, sighed, and turned around he saw Alex rapidly searching through a thick green backpack that had been left on the bed before they arrived. He pulled out and tossed aside onto the bed or carpet various small tubes and bottles along with a few small articles of clothing. Jake made his way to the bed to observe the scene.

What Alex had removed from his bag, aside from the few pairs of socks and underwear, turned out to be a myriad of miscellaneous bootleg makeup and other cosmetic items. Jake had never seen the likes of it before. The only makeup his parents ever allowed his sister to wear was blush and mascara. And even those were locked away from Jake lest they ever infect him. The gentle colors soothed his eyes and calmed the trivial anger that was still bubbling away inside him over the lack of a second bed.

“Is that makeup?” Jake asked. He took a seat near the headboard. 

“You’re so smart,” said Alex. “It is indeed makeup.”

“Do you have a sister coming with you?” Jake floated another question.

“No. I’d be surprised if she came with me. She died a few weeks ago.”

“Oh,” Jake spit out after stuttering on the word for several seconds. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Yeah, well not much I can do about it now. Would you like to try some of this?” Alex swept his arm over the pile of cosmetics.

“Am I allowed to? I mean,” said Jake, “can I? You won’t mind? I know since we’ve taken off I can do whatever I feel like, but that’s all your stuff. I don’t want to take your stuff.” He held his hands up between himself and the makeup defensively.

Alex took Jake’s hands gently in his. He lowered them slowly down to Jake’s lap where he patted them into place. Jake’s eyes jumped back and forth, bewildered, from Alex’s face to Alex’s hands on his own. His face turned a bright shade of red and he tried for a moment to scoot away. But for a reason even he didn’t know, he didn’t move in the slightest. 

“Let’s wait a day then,” Alex said. “We can have a real slumber party tomorrow night. We’ll invite our agents and get some room service. But we should really go to bed anyway. The AguaDrive will turn on soon and we have to be asleep for that. I shouldn’t be putting on makeup before I go to bed anyways.” Alex chuckled softly at himself. He swiped all the makeup back into the bag which he then tossed onto the carpet. “So do you want the bed?” He asked, looking back from tossing his backpack.

“No!” Jake sputtered out like a car trying to start. He backed off the bed. “Sorry. I mean, no, you can have it.” He smiled incorrectly. 

“Well, alright. Here,” Alex said, returning a correct smile to Jake. “Take a blanket and a few pillows.” He tossed said items to Jake, who caught them awkwardly and immediately dropped them on the ground.

‘Thank,” Jake choked out awkwardly, forgetting the proper word for thanks.

“Oh, just the one?” Alex laughed. 

“What?” Asked Jake.

“Nevermind. Let’s just get to sleep, ok? I’ll see you in the morning Jake,” Alex said in a low soft tone. He laid his head gently on the remaining pillows and closed his eyes. “Oh,” he added, eyes still shut, “please turn the light off if you don’t mind.”

Jake didn’t respond, but he did accept his small task. He shuffled his way awkwardly to the door. There, he checked the lock and sturdiness of the door several times over. Attempting to open the door while locked and knocking on the wood to test its strength or resistance to a possible kick. Once he was satisfied he flicked the light off, casting the room into a darkness only briefly penetrated by the small slivers of silver moonlight sluggishly rolling through the three windows, then took his place in the makeshift bed on the floor. Alex was not yet asleep, but Jake felt very alone. Not in the way that had made him laugh harder than ever before like he had earlier that day, but in the way he felt he was missing something. His mind made its way to Alex’s hands as Jake made his way under the sheets he had been tossed. 

Soon both men were asleep. The boat rocked them gently away from the sea. Not too long after that the AguaDrive kicked in. A set of massive fans on the underside and back of the boat that had been charging via solar panels on the roof all day. They allowed the craft to hover a few centimeters above the water and triple its speed. The downside was the constant high squealing sound they produced, especially when in disrepair. By the morning though, the sound would fade away into the icy ocean air, and the boat would splash safely back into the water.

Wake-Up Call

Though morning had come long ago, both Alex and Jake were still asleep. Their cabin faced away from the rising sun. The location of the sun paired with the room’s particularly small windows created a very dark room. The only light came from the hallway lights slinking under the door, three thin ribbons of sunlight through the windows, and a blinking light on the receiver of the international entertainment display television. Out in the lighted hallway soft voices moved back and forth. Footsteps and the occasional cough or sneeze accompanied them. Hours passed by, the clock ticked closer and closer to the afternoon, and still the men in room forty-two stayed asleep. At least, until around one in the afternoon that was.

Roughly thirteen minutes past one PM Xye flung the door open. They came barreling in like a wild animal, shouting gaily for Alex and Jake to wake up. The small ray of light coming through one of the portholes hit their left arm and bounced off in all directions, illuminating the room like the disco balls that were so popular three hundred or so years ago. Behind them followed Coeus, equally as loud and fast, though slightly less shiny. Unsurprisingly, their antics achieved their goals and woke up the two now very angry and confused men.

“Xye?” Jake groaned.

“Coeus?” Alex followed suit. “Jake did you not lock the door?” He asked.

“He did!” Xye announced, flinging their arms out and spinning around gracelessly.

“It doesn’t work on them,” Jake growled into his pillow.

“It’s far too late to be sleeping guys, we have some fun activities to get you ready for HQ,” said Coeus. He turned on the absurdly bright light with one flick. Jake and Alex hissed like cats in unison under their breath. 

“Twenty minutes, be out on the port deck. Or die or something, I don’t know,” Xye said. They shrugged and pulled Coeus out of the room. For several seconds they were as good as gone. Until suddenly they walked back through the doorway. “Oh,” they said suddenly, “and if you guys, you know, we can give you some extra time.” And with that Xye closed the door gently, waving sweetly at both men inside. Though neither was awake enough to notice any of it.

“What?” Jake asked.

“Just go back to bed, Jake,” Alex said.

A Doomed Stowaway

Twenty five minutes later, Jake and Alex pushed open the exceedingly thin glass door to the deck. The afternoon air wasn’t especially cold, but it was enough to cause both of them to shiver. Jake even subconsciously stepped closer to the body heat of Alex. On the deck, they saw very few people. Three sailors were tying various things in various knots, but Xye and Coeus were nowhere to be found. The pair asked the sailors if they had seen anyone matching the absurd descriptions of the agents. The sailors had, and pointed around a corner that Jake and Alex promptly rounded.

The two stood just around the corner, craning their necks to looks for the glint of a metal arm or leg, the shimmer of Xye’s eyes, or the deep colors of both of the agent’s eccentric hair. What caught both of their eyes first though, was the shocking bright red blood pooled near a few stacked boxes. Standing inside the growing puddle of blood, or rather being supported by Xye and Coeus, was a young man bound and tied by several ropes around his legs, arms, and chest. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, and his feet were broken at the ankle, causing them to dangle loosely. He had bruises and marks all over his face, his nose was broken, and he was missing several teeth. The two agents had their mechanized hands resting on the man’s shoulder while they stood behind him on either side.

 Xye pulled up their shirt slightly and tapped one of the many metal panels. It slid open smoothly to reveal several small handguns and collapsed larger weapons hanging on the wall inside of Xye’s stomach. Seeing this gave Jake a moment of realization regarding where Xye hid all their weapons. Xye then lifted a rather minute pistol from the compartment, in their massive hands it appeared even smaller. They also removed an equally small magazine which they slid into its proper position in the gun. They pulled down the hammer and held the barrel of the gun against the young man’s head.

“So do you want me to use the gun or just toss you over now?” Xye asked.

“You see heat-vision with them purple sons of bitches?” The young man snapped at Xye. 

“Sometimes,” Xye said. 

“Typical,” the man scoffed. “Messing with your body. You eurofaggots ain’t got a clue.” 

“I can also hold my breath for over half an hour. What about you?” Xye asked Coeus.

“I’ve got normal lungs. Only about a minute and a half. You?” Coeus asked the man. He tightened his grip on the man’s shoulder, causing him to scream for a second.

“I don’t know,” the man spit out. 

“Shame,” Xye said. They sighed, shrugged, and picked the man up with just their arm and a little support from Coeus. The man dangled two feet above the ground. He screamed again, out of anger this time, and tried to kick at Coeus and Xye. Most kicks missed, but the ones that hit scraped off like a fly bumping into a wall.

“So gun or no?” Coeus brought Xye’s question up again.

“Fuck you!” The man shouted in response. His belt beeped at him, despite the distance from the GNA shores.

“Golly,” Xye said nonchalantly. They then carried the man over to the railing at the edge of the boat. They held him over for several seconds, staring him up and down. Coeus stood next to them watching. “Bye I guess,” Xye said, suddenly releasing their grip on the man. 

“Bastard!” The man shouted. His voice quickly dropped away along with his body. The last remnants of his shouts were swept away by the splash his bound body made slamming into the water below.
“Fucking stowaway GNA soldiers,” Coeus complained.

“There’s always one,” said Xye. “Every damn boat.”

“Hey, Coeus,” Alex shouted over to the blood-stained agents, “What was that?”

“Oh,” Coeus said under his breath, “Shit.” He rubbed his bloodied hand through his hair. Bits of the thick sanguine solution slid off the metal hand and stayed in the jet black hair like dye.

“Hey man,” Xye called back. They waved, ignoring the blood splashed around their hands and legs. “You weren’t supposed to see that. But that’s alright. This happens a lot. Let’s go get the activities today started, huh?”

“Are you fucking joking?” Jake shouted. He stepped fully around the corner, but remained half a dozen or so meters from the blood. “What in God’s name was that? That looked awful!”

“I’m sure you’ve seen worse,” Coeus interjected.

“Oh, he has,” Xye confirmed.

“I thought we were done with all that! I thought no one more had to die! I let my guard down!” Jake shouted more. He tossed his arms out in exasperation. 

“Not…not really, dude,” said Xye. One of the pockets on Xye’s coat suddenly started buzzing violently. “Oh hey! It’s Dom. Let me get this into video mode real quick. Coeus?”

“Sure thing,” Coeus replied. He trudged through the blood, right foot landing much harder than the other, towards Xye. From Xye’s pocket, he removed the vibrating communicator and a small cable jack. He attached one end to a port on the back of the bean-shaped communicator, and the other he slid into a similar port on the back of Xye’s head just under their hair.

“Ew,” Jake commented, watching the thin cable slide into the back of Xye’s skull. The pond of blood had thinned out so far across the floor it had begun to lap at the bottom of his feet in waves caused by the ship’s movement. Alex stood just behind him, keeping his shoes clean.

Xye cracked their neck. The wire from the back of their head traced down their shoulder and arm down to their hand where the communicator lay. They twiddle their fingers and cleared their throat. Then suddenly, their right eye emitted a bright light quite similar to the light the headhunter had displayed from her palm, though Xye’s light was a calm purple like their eyes. The light fell in a conical shape on the ground where it spun rapidly until the shape of a human began to form inside. It was a rough and faded image because of the very prevalent sunlight, but the finer details were still decipherable. Inside the cone of light, stood the half meter tall hologram of a woman. She looked very happy. Jake and Alex were both reminded of their own mothers upon seeing the hologram. She had short hair that came to a tiny bun in the back, a very kind and smooth face, and wore worn-through jeans below an equally scuffed shirt toting a city in a state that no longer existed. On her left arm she had a massive, intricate flower sleeve tattoo.

“Hey guys!” The figure said. “I’m Dom.”
“Hi Dom,” Alex said from behind Jake. He waved at the tiny woman.

“I’m sending this as a recording, so don’t respond to me or you’ll look silly,” Dom continued.

“Oh,” Alex added under his breath.

“We’re all very glad you’ve made it off the shores! I’m sure the journey was long and hard,” the recording said, causing Xye to have to fight to hold a barrage of snickering back. They shook in place, fighting down their laughter, causing the image of Dom to waver and distort further.

“Come on,” Coeus muttered, nudging Xye in the shoulder. “What are you? Three?”

“I’m terribly sorry for any losses you incurred along the way,” Dom’s recording said. “We’re happy to replace any lost limbs and provide free counseling for any trauma.” It paused for a moment. The small woman leaned out of frame and flipped through a few papers before speaking again. “HQ is located about three and a half thousand kilometers away from shore. By the way, a kilometer is a thousand meters, and a meter is about this big.” She held up a meter stick and smiled into the camera, or whatever the message was recorded on.

“I can’t remember that,” Jake whined under his breath.

“Once you reach HQ you’ll spend a month or two, or however long you’d like, aboard. We have a multitude of classes, programs, and tutoring sessions you can take to help you adjust to life in the CESH and see past the propaganda of the GNA. You can learn special skills, languages, how to shoot, and proper sex ed, that’s our most popular class, all onboard.”

“Do they have any mechanical classes?” Jake whispered to Alex. Alex just shrugged.

“So we thank you for choosing The Arrow,” the recording said. She held up her right hand to display her tattoo of the two concentric circles connected by an arrow. Coeus and Xye showed theirs as well. Coeus’s was on his left bicep. Xye’s was quite small and behind their left ear. “And if you didn’t choose us and we sort of kidnapped you,” the hologram continued, “You’re welcome.” The image wavered. Dom’s figure split into multiple parts, each slightly corrupted, and disappeared. The purple light shut off with a snap. Xye blinked and wormed their fingers roughly through their orange hair to snap the wire out of the back of their head.

“That’s not how I imagined Dom looking,” Jake said.

“Well, usually she’s about five and a half feet taller,” Xye added. 

“You heard the woman,” Coeus said loudly. He clapped his hands together. The action made a strange sound. The human hand hitting the enhanced hand sounded wet and dull. “HQ is great. That is all.”
“Didn’t you say there were some activities?” Alex chimed in, still behind Jake and clear of the blood.

“We did say that,” Xye confirmed. “We were lying. We knew you wouldn’t come up for just a call. Seeing as how busy you two were with each other.” Xye winked. Coeus winked. Jake squinted his eyes and shrugged ever so slightly in confusion.

“But,” Coeus jumped in the conversation quickly, “There is a lot to do anyways. There’s a pool. And a spa. And a glass diving bell they drag behind the boat. Why not go check some of it out?”

Fear came walking by at that moment. She still had a party hat from the day prior atop her head. Her face was beet red. In her hand she was holding a communicator quite similar to Xye’s. It was connected remotely to a small blinking pod stuffed into one of her ears. As she stumbled along, leaning against the wall, she mumbled something incoherently. Often saying Dom’s name. Everyone took notice.

“We should go get her to bed,” Xye announced.

“Or the brig,” Coeus added.

“You guys have fun,” the two said in unison, walking after Fear. Jake and Alex were left alone again. One with very bloody shoes.

Spa Day

“Those all sounded like fun, those activities. Wanna pick one?” Alex asked. 

“I don’t want to go swimming,” Jake said. His monumental fear of water extended even to swimming pool and was only slightly sated by having survived so far on the ferry. “And definitely not the glass thing.”

“Spa then?” Alex laid his hand gently on Jake’s shoulder.

“I’ve never been to a spa,” Jake said, trying hard to look away from Alex. He found the only other thing to look at was the blood, and decided Alex was more pleasing to the eye.

“You, if anyone, need a spa.”

Alex navigated expertly across the swaying deck of the ferry towards the stern. Behind him, Jake wobbled strangely. A weak trail of bloody footprints traced out his path. The quickly drying macabre path lead all the way from the original pool of blood, that was already being mopped up, to a staircase which descended deep into the heart of the ship. Jake and Alex found themselves at the bottom of the stairs. In every direction a cheap door stood before another room. Alex opened the door labeled “spa” and Jake followed him in.

The spa was sparse, much like the room Jake and Alex slept in. Its walls were a very warmly colored wood that matched the floors. Along one wall there was a desk. Behind which sat a small woman who could only barely be seen in the dull warm light coming from the ceiling. In the back several worn in couches surrounded a coffee table laden with fragile elderly magazines. Behind the couches a few doors were labelled things like: “Agents”, “Targets”, and “Crewmen.” 

“Hiya,” the short and stout woman said with a halfway southern accent, standing up from her desk. She revealed herself to be even shorter than she appeared. “Y’all are the new targets we’re taking to HQ, right? Along with two or three others?”

“There are more targets on the ferry?” Alex asked.

“Well, sure. We move around twenty a month!” The woman replied.

“Hey,” Jake interjected. “What’s up with calling us targets? It makes it sound like you’re gonna kill us or something. I mean, that’s what we called people we’d kill at my old job.” 

The woman shrugged. “Honey, I don’t know. Take it up with Dom if you’ve got a problem. Anyways, I’m assuming you two are gonna want a couples massage?”

“A what?” Jake nearly shouted.

“We are going to want that,” Alex said.

“No. We’re not…I mean I do prefer men…But we’re not,” Jake stammered.

“Oh it doesn’t have to be a romantic thing,” the woman said, distracted for a moment. She typed for several seconds on a visibly aging tablet. She snapped herself away from the small machine and back into the conversation for a moment. “It could be a couple of friends.”
“Uh, fine. Sure, the couples massage,” Jake gave in, groaning.

“Take a seat, lover boy,” the woman said. She pointed through Jake towards the  thoroughly aged couches. “I’ll get everything set up.” She smiled warmly before typing and swiping on her tablet again.

Jake turned around to look where the woman had pointed, the couches. He noticed they still looked just as run down. Though, now they had an occupant. Alex was sitting in the middle couch and lazily leafing through a magazine left on the table in front of him. The other two couches were left completely empty.

Alex looked up from his magazine. “Come take a seat,” he said. He patted the seat next to him and smiled much like the woman behind the desk.  

Jake weighed his options. He didn’t have many to begin with. He had already been invited to sit down next to Alex, and, although he wasn’t good friends with him, he didn’t want to upset him. He had grown attached to Alex in some way. He noticed the similarities between his relationship with Alex and his relationship with Xye. So he shrugged, and sat down next to Alex. The couch squealed like Xye’s mechanical legs and dipped where he sat.

“Are you excited?” Alex asked gleefully.

“I guess,” Jake said. He shrugged again.

“You’re not a very certain person,” Alex commented. “How were you even certain to leave the GNA?” The burning bright light in the ceiling flickered for a moment, casting the room into darkness.

“I didn’t really have a choice,” Jake said. “Xye showed up one day after work. They told me where I could find them. At first I wasn’t gonna go. I was terrified. But, I guess my boss had found out I was…well, you know.”
“Gay? Into men? A friend of dorothy? Kind to your mother? Limp in the wrists?”
“Yeah…” Jake grimaced. “Anyway, they sent someone to my house to kill me. This young woman. Well, actually, she’s from before the Great Revival. She was ancient, they just kept her young. Did you see anything weird like that with Coeus?”

“I saw a robot orgy, a man turn inside out, and a dog with a human brain,” Alex said.

“Wow, ok. Kinda makes my thing seem less interesting,” Jake said. “As I was saying though, they sent her to kill me. So I just ran and ran. And eventually I made it to Xye who helped me escape.”

The woman behind the desk stood up and walked through the door labeled “Agents, glancing quickly at Jake and Alex on the couch. The door swung shut behind her and opened again a second later. Fear walked through, clad in her usual chic-cowgirl attire plus her new party hat. She had a light but strong smile on her face.

“Hey guys,” she said strangely energetically and in drastic opposition to her mood earlier on the deck. She was not looking at Jake or Alex but instead glancing all around the room. She rubbed her nose vigorously. “I just needed a break from my idiotic sibling and my ex. Don’t tell them I said that. And don’t tell them I came here. I think they’re looking for me…Hey, Jake, who convinced you to get a massage?”

“Alex, obviously,” Jake said. 

“Yeah…yeah that makes sense,” Fear said quickly. “Have fun in there guys. I’m done, so you should be up soon.” She then shuffled out the door and down the hall.

“Man, she’s weird sometimes,” Jake commented.

The southern sounding woman reentered the lobby of the spa shortly after Fear left. She made her way to the door labeled “targets” and pushed it open to display a large and very comfortable looking room. It was about twice the size of Jake and Alex’s cabin, and four times as luxurious. The lights inside were dim and a calming light orange tint. In one corner of the room a heated tub sat surrounded by scented candles and a small room divider screen. In the middle there were three massage tables. And all along the wall there were serene paintings and photos of nature that no longer existed in the GNA. A man and a woman, both of roughly equal height and general build, stood next to each other near the massage tables and waved happily to Jake and Alex through the door.

“Right through there, honey,” the woman from behind the desk said, returning to her original post.

Alex walked through the door without hesitation. He greeted the man and woman inside and stood next to them, leaning against one of the massage tables. Jake followed shortly after, glancing awkwardly around the room. He stood just behind the massage table and did not say anything to the workers.

“Well, I’m Saturn,” the man said.

“And I have a normal name. Juniper,” the woman said.

“Juniper,” Alex said. He stepped away from Jake, leaving him floating awkwardly out in the open. “I’m very interested in that bath over there.”

“Well sure. Go ahead and change behind that screen if you’d like and hop in,” Juniper chirped happily. 

Alex nodded and walked behind the screen. He briefly peeked out from behind and waved at Jake, but pulled his head behind again shortly.

“Uh,” Jake said to Saturn. “Uh, why is this on a ferry? Seems a bit much for just some transportation across the ocean.”

“Your journey here must have been awfully stressful. Everyone needs to relax after something like that,” Saturn said.

“I’m fine,” Jake said. He shrugged.

“Why don’t you lay down on the massage table, take off that old jacket, and see how you feel afterwards.”

Jake shrugged again and slipped out of his coat. He placed it gently on one of the massage tables and took a seat on the other. Then he laid down with his face through the hole at the head of the table. Staring straight down at the hardwood floor Jake felt himself drift away into the heavenly softness of the table. His eyes began to close right away.  Then, when Saturn laid his hands softly over Jake’s back and kneaded it like dough, he fell nearly unconscious.

A minute later Alex shambled out from behind the separating screen still struggling out of his regular clothes. Jake looked up from his small slice of heaven to view the commotion caused by Alex. He found that Alex was mostly uncovered and pulling off his shirt, but now had a comfortable looking bathing suit on. Jake averted his eyes back down to the floor quickly, but couldn’t stop himself from seeing Alex’s torso and the slightly healed bullet wound in its left shoulder.

Alex stumbled over the edge of the tub and into the water. He sighed loudly and sank underneath the water. There he remained for nearly a minute. He left the room in silence. Jake laid awkwardly on the massage table as his back was treated like a surrealist art piece, trying desperately, though in vain, to vanish the image of Alex without a shirt from his mind. He knew it wasn’t wrong to think of, he even knew it was ok, but that didn’t stop him from hating himself for it. When Alex bobbed back up above the surface of the steaming tub with a splash, Jake was grinding his teeth so much it was nearly audible.

“You, uh, don’t seem very relaxed,” Saturn said.

“I’m fine,” Jake grunted back through clenched teeth.

“Is there anything else I can get you? Or Juniper can grab some tea or something?” 

“No, really.”

“How about some of this?” Saturn asked. He reached out behind him towards Juniper. Juniper placed a small vial in his hand which he then lowered down to Jake’s face. The bottle was small and filled with a liquid the color of blackwood. It was labeled: “THC.” 

Jake inspected the bottle for a moment, he stared at the word without reading it. His eyes unfocused and refocused several times before he finally comprehended what the bottle was full of. When he fully understood, he shot up to his feet from the table and grabbed his coat.

“No! Not that!” He shouted. He began to remember. His vision unfocused again, and he found himself sitting at his office desk back on mainland GNA. He wondered if the whole journey was just a dream. But then he looked up to the people across from him and remembered what was happening.

Past Lives

The woman was pale. Her face was devoid of any emotion and color aside from the splotch of blood across her right cheek. She was still living, as was made clear by the gentle hitched breaths leaving her mouth every few seconds. But, the baby in her lap no longer was. It had a hole through its head. One made by a euthanizer. It was limp and pale like its mother. Its forehead and clothes were stained with the blood leaking from the hole Jake had made.

“Do you understand the crime you committed ma’am?” Jake asked the woman flatly. He received no response. “Ma’am,” he repeated. “Ma’am, you were charged with giving an illicit substance to a minor. The substance being synthesized THC. Both you and the minor are to be dealt with immediately,” he droned on monotonously, “A gift has been given to the familial member that turned you in. Have no fear, die for your country, and God bless the GNA.”

“It helped him with his spasms,” the woman replied meekly.

“Do you have any final statements?” Jake asked.

Gary walked by. He stopped at Jake’s desk and took note of the situation without saying anything, he reached over and grabbed the corpse of the baby to take it away. He tugged at it but the woman did not release her grip.

“Let go of the corpse, ma’am,” Jake said.

“His name is Jackie,” the woman said. She closed her eyes and held the baby tighter.

“Unfortunate,” said Gary. He grabbed his own euthanizer from his belt and swiftly thrust it against the woman’s head.

“I-” the woman started. She was cut off by the sound of the euthanizer’s needle piercing her skull. Her body slumped over. Her grip on her child only tightened. The two were buried in separate sinner’s plots. Jake ended up on the floor of the spa sweating violently. 

Current Lives

“Jake?” Alex said. He was leaning over Jake, inadvertently dripping water from the hot tub onto his face. “Jake, wake up. Jake.”

Saturn and Juniper stood behind Alex with looks like worried parents. They were both staring intently at Jake’s face, trying to determine if he was ok. When Jake slowly opened his eyes they breathed heavy sighs of relief and collapsed to a sitting position on the ground. Alex stayed leaned over Jake, still dripping and still trying to snap him further into consciousness. The drips of water eventually helped to fling Jake back into his head. He sat up fully and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

“What happened?” Alex asked. He turned around to face Saturn and Juniper. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Saturn said defensively, holding both hands up. “I didn’t even give him the THC. Just showed it to him and he freaked out. Honest.”

“No!” Jake struggled out through the haze clogging his mind. “Don’t give it to me!”

“He’s not going to,” Juniper said calmly. She covered the bottle in Saturn’s hands with her own and slipped it away into her sleeve. She had grown up with a younger brother often troubled with panic attacks at the sight of nickels and had learned how to handle such situations.

“What do I do?” Saturn whispered to Juniper. He turned his back to Jake to talk more privately. Juniper did the same leaving their conversation as no more than a hushed buzzed.

“Let’s go. Back to the room? Or somewhere else?” Alex asked. He helped Jake softly to his feet and supported him with a hand on his back.

“Leave me in the room. I don’t want to ruin this for you,” Jake blurted out before pushing past Alex and rushing out of the Spa. He blew by the woman at the front desk, disregarding her questions about where he was going, and flew up the stairs red in the face. Alex watched him disappear behind the door at the top of the stairway.

Jake And Alex Sleep Together

Jake stumbled oafishly across the deck of the ferry. He rubbed his eyes so hard it felt like they were pushing into his brain in an attempt to flush out the images of the dead baby held close by its soon to be dead mother. It didn’t work. His vision was bombarded by splashes of the blood he spilled, the bodies that toppled onto his desk, the stains left on his carpet, and the families he ripped apart. His ears were attacked by the sound of his euthanizer flicking in an out and the sound of his old belt beeping at him for a minor offense. By the time he miraculously managed to scramble his way to room forty-two his senses were wholly untrustworthy.

He slammed the door open, barely breathing anymore, and rushed to the bed. There he collapsed within seconds of touching the mattress. His eyes unfocused and he stared at the wall without seeing it. He felt detached from his body, as if he were physically behind it. He felt as though his body were made of a dense gas. He was no longer conscious, but he wasn’t asleep either. He lay completely still, not even reacting when the door opened slowly, someone walked in, and the door shut quietly. He didn’t so much as turn his head to figure out who had walked in. Whether it was Xye there to comfort him or the headhunter back from the grave once again to kill him he didn’t really care. And if he had cared he wouldn’t have been able to react.

As it turned out, the door opener was Alex. He closed the door behind him, but didn’t bother to lock it, and strolled calmly over to the bed where he sat down next to Jake. He placed one hand on Jake’s shoulder and rubbed it gently. Jake didn’t even look over. Alex rubbed Jake’s shoulder more.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked. His voice echoed bleakly through the dark room. He waited for a response, but never received one. “It’s ok if you don’t. I can just stay here with you.”

 Jake shivered randomly. He scratched at his nose and wiped his eyes. But he didn’t say a single word. Alex patted Jake’s shoulder and laid down next to him, keeping one hand firmly on Jake at all times. He began to talk about whatever came to his mind. Whether or not he was being heard wasn’t really important.

“I don’t know where I’ll go once I reach the CESH. Maybe we can go somewhere together,” Alex said to his catatonic friend. “Wouldn’t that be nice? We could go to the Alps, or the Horizontal Tower Di Pisa. We could go right away, the second we make landfall.”

Jake did not respond. His mind felt as though it were burning him, and his bones felt like wet concrete. Alex didn’t expect a response. He was perfectly fine waiting with Jake in silence. Eventually, when the evening came, he called Xye and Coeus briefly to explain the situation. The two were understanding and promised to leave them alone for the night. Alex then curled up next to Jake and fell asleep. Several times during the night he woke up and checked on Jake, but Jake usually was still in the same position. It wasn’t until around five in the morning that Alex noticed Jake had finally come back. He had turned to face Alex in his sleep and had placed his head on Alex’s shoulder.

The sun rose again the next morning, following its usual and reliable morning routine. The ferry was stationary in the water and everyone onboard took note of the pleasant and noticeably calmer experience. The door to room forty-two was in the same spot it had been the night before, no one had entered or left after Alex. Though the sun was high enough in the sky, it did not shine through the window at all. Instead, the windows only portrayed a flat gray sheet of metal extending upwards beyond view. 

Jake woke up first, not to the sun of course but simply to his natural clock, to find that his head was resting on Alex’s chest and that he was held under Alex’s arm. He expected himself to panic or quickly try to worm away. He did neither. Instead he closed his eyes again and remained blissfully in a state somewhere between conscious and not. Alex woke up an hour later. Both were awake but neither said anything.

“We should get up, Jake,” Alex finally said. 

“No,” Jake said, pretending that he was not really very awake.

“Yes, now come on,” said Alex. He patted Jake on the back and sat up. Jake sighed and sat up as well.

The two stood up and changed into new clothes, both looking away from the other. Jake scrambled into a random blue shirt from origins unknown and picked his new FED coat up off the ground where it had fallen over the night and slung it over one shoulder. He then pulled on grey sweat pants and slipped into his heavy boots. Alex slid on a pair of heavy old boots he left in the corner, a needlessly fancy white dress shirt, and a simple pair of jeans. They both left their room and walked up to the deck of the ferry. There, they finally laid eyes on HQ.

HQ At Last

It was a towering beast. A gigantic structure hundreds of times larger than the already large ferry. Constructed of three GNA aircraft carries, seventeen mega yachts, forty smaller submarines, and eight medium sized general warships all welded, tied, and screwed together it looked less like an HQ and more like a metal eldritch god. The hulls of all the boats were coated thick with layers of colorful graffiti stating things like: “GNA SUCKZ”, “THE ARROW 4 LIFE”, “JENNIFER IS A BITCH”, or “CALL ME, LUCIEN GREENE!” Some people were even hanging by cords over the edge to add to the art. Some noticed and waved to the new arrivals, others noticed and intentionally did not respond. Massive wave making machines on all sides of the HQ created counter waves at all moments to balance out the waves hitting the ships and keep them stable. It was a masterpiece.

High up on a balcony attached to the side of one of the aircraft carriers stood Dom, in the flesh. She waved happily and called down, “Head in guys! I’ll meet you in the lobby!” Her warm and maternal voice crossed the distance down to the ferry as if she was standing a hundred feet below on the deck. Jake noticed she appeared half asian, or at least not white, much like him. He and Alex watched her turn and disappear into the HQ. They discussed the massive size of the thing in front of them for a minute or two until their agents walked up behind them.

“We’re here! HQ!” Xye announced.

“We noticed,” Jake said. “We saw Dom. She told us to meet her in the lobby.” 

“Ah, great,” Coeus chimed in. “Fear is already inside. We’ll catch up with her.”

“So,” Alex asked, “How do we get up? Is there a tractor beam, or a hydro lift, or does the ship eat up this ferry, or what?”

An old and fretted rope fell down from the balcony Dom had previously been standing on. The end dangled centimeters above the deck of the ferry next to Xye. Coeus quickly grabbed on with their false arm and lifted himself off the ground easily. Jake and Alex studied it as if it were an alien life form.

“Rope,” Xye said.

Rope

“You guys really don’t have any better method?” Jake asked. He was about eighty feet in the air, held against Xye’s side as they climbed the rope. His eyes might as well have been glued shut.

“We have other windows you could go through,” Xye said.

“Or a helipad up top,” Coeus added from up above. He was carrying Alex much like Xye was carrying Jake.

“But,” Xye said, “Ropes work just fine. Cheap too. We’ve used this guy since I started working here.”
“That doesn’t make me feel much better,” Jake said. He hid his already closed eyes in Xye’s long hair.

“I think it’s rather nice,” Alex commented. “Refreshingly simple.”

Jake groaned under his breath and into Xye’s hair, “Shut up, Alex.” Though, he wasn’t really annoyed.

Finally, with one large grunt, Coeus clambered over the railing of the balcony and off the rope. He dropped Alex onto solid ground. Alex thanked him and leaned over the balcony to watch Xye’s climb. Coeus did the same. Their two smug faces beamed down at Xye and Jake. Xye paused for a moment to delicately carve their code phrase and Pipi into the wall of HQ with the arm holding onto Jake. Jake squirmed in protest.

“Hurry up! What’s taking so long?” Alex called down.

“I’m busy admiring the view,” Xye retorted.

“You’re missing the best view now that I’m not climbing above you!” Coeus added. He rubbed his hands seductively up his legs.

“Trust me, dude, I’ve seen better,” Xye said as they pulled themselves and Jake over the railing. “You could do some squats.”

“And you could stand to…shut up.”

“Good try Coeus,” Alex giggled out. He put his hand on Coeus’s shoulder.

“It’s huge,” Jake interrupted.

“That’s what she said,” Xye muttered under their breath. 

“Well, there’s a lot to keep inside,” Coeus said, giving Xye a death glare in regards to their joke. “Come on. Let’s head in.” He opened the door in from the balcony and gestured inside as a doorman would.

The Bizarre Bazaar

Behind the balcony door and down a set of stairs lay the hangar of what had, at one point in its odd life, been just an aircraft carrier. Two or so hundred people milled about on their own personal business causing a noise like a swarm of locusts. What had started as cold, militaristic, and tactical had been turned into a miraculous dreamlike central hub for the HQ. Much like the outside of the ship, the inside was covered in large swathes of colorful graffiti. The only part that had been spared by the wily paint and markers was a ramshackle wooden stage in the center of the room and the heavily scuffed floor around it. Stalls and bazaar style exhibitions or stores dotted the majority of the area, some even hung from the ceiling or were suspended mid air by illicit bubble technology. Fear could be seen down the stairs hugging Dom tightly.

The group headed gaily down the short flight of stairs. Xye and Coeus poked and joked at each other while their targets stared in awe at the room around them. Jake had seen bubble technology, briefly with the coyote, but had never seen whole stores suspended in the air by it. He wondered how people got into the stores, and his wonder was answered promptly when he saw a patron slam their hands together to form a personal bubble that lifted them up to a store above. He was instantly determined to understand the mechanics of the technology. Alex marveled at the art and the mix of cultures it displayed. The different art styles and historical figures created a blend that hit the eye like a million kolidescopes.

“Oh, and how is the engine running now?” Dom asked Fear sweetly. The two were still locked in a hug. Dom’s snappy black suit had an interesting contrast with Fear’s dusty blue general aesthetic.

“Perfectly, Dom. Thank you. Oh!” Fear said. She looked up at her friends coming down the stairs. “Everyone’s here now. Head up on stage.”

“Ok,” Dom said. She flashed a smile like hot chocolate on a very cold day up to the group now at the bottom of the stairs. “See you, Fear. Say hi to Xye, and tell them to wear a helmet if they’re going to be so reckless.” She smiled again, this time only to Fear, and disappeared into the crowd of people.

“Hey guys!” Fear announced with arms open wide. “How’s it look?”

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Jake said. “Can I try to ride the bubbles?”

“Don’t those scare you?” Xye asked.

“They probably wouldn’t if I was driving it.”

“What about shopping? I want to try whatever that is,” said Alex. He pointed to a floating hookah bar. Coeus fist bumped him.

“There will be lots of time in the future. But right now you guys have an introduction to attend. Walk up to that stage in the middle of the room. Then just wait a minute or two,” Fear said. Then, she walked over to her sibling, grabbed them by the arm, clapped her hands, and formed a bubble around the two of them. She piloted the bubbled up and out of sight. Coeus patted Alex on the back and slipped away into the crowd. Jake and Alex looked around for several more seconds before eventually pushing through the sea of strange looking people to the stage.

Dom’s Public Speaking Skills Aren’t Great

A small crowd had gathered around the stage. They were all clearly targets. Or at the very least not agents. Almost all were disheveled and tired looking. Most weren’t white. Seven of them had a pin with The Arrow’s symbol on it. All of them looked bewildered and stunned by HQ. One was missing an eye that had only recently started to heal.

Finally, after much more than one or two minutes, something happened. Dom walked up onto the stage. With her arrival the entire room and its some two hundred inhabitants fell dead silent. Dom cleared her throat, adjusted her tie, put on a pair of very round reading glasses, and tapped the microphone that had been adjusted down to her height. A hologram, thirty feet in height and electric blue, of her appeared just behind her mimicking her actions.

“Hey guys,” she finally said. Her voice boomed through the speakers loud enough to shake the bones of the listeners. “We’ve got a new batch of recruits! Everyone say hello!”

“Hello!” the entire room bellowed. Many of the targets, such as Jake, tried to shrivel away from the sound. But many others, such as Alex, shouted greetings back and waved at the smiling faces.

“You made it!” Dom shouted into the microphone. She took a small noise maker from her breast pocket and blew it loudly. The hologram behind her did the same. She pushed the noise maker back into her pocket. “Now, you are free to leave at any time you want. But we highly recommend you stay a while. There’s no time limit. In the meantime, we can offer you the best accommodations this side of the Atlantic. I’m sure you heard all this from the messages I sent your agents, unless you were with Lucien that is,” the whole room laughed at Dom’s joke at Lucien’s expense, Including lucien himself, “so I’ll finish up. We’re happy to have you onboard and glad you’re safe!” Dom waved her hand gently before walking off stage. The hologram fizzled out once she was gone.

The targets all stood amongst each other unmoving. They didn’t say anything or look around at their peers. They waited awkwardly for roughly a minute as the world ran by around them until Xye and a man approached the group. Jake and Alex looked up and waved at Xye, who waved back with their left hand that they held unattached in their right hand, and the target without an eye waved at the other man. He received a slow and wide wave in return. Xye had a shiny new flask on their hip.

The other man was Lucien Greene. He was shorter than Xye, about the height of Alex. His skin was the color of a bar of bitter belgian chocolate and it was just as smooth as one too. His hair was long enough to dangle just past his shoulders. It was shiny, heavily curly, and dangerously dark. His ears and nose were pierced. From his ears hung shimmering diamond earrings-that he stole from the corpse of a bounty hunter a few years ago- and from his nose hung a brass ring. He smiled at all the targets loosely.

“Heya guys,” Xye said to the small group. “For those of you who don’t know me I’m Xye. Spelled like a man had a stroke: X-Y-E. And this,” they gestured to Lucien Greene, “This is my dude, Lucien Greene.” Xye fist bumped Lucien. Their arm had been reattached.

“Yeah,” Lucien said. His voice was as smooth as his hair and as warm a candle. It sounded like the first snowflake of winter floating gently down to the ground to melt away into infinity.

“We’ll be your tour guides around here. My sister Fear will be waiting in the cafeteria to take those in need of immediate medical care, and Sarah Wilson should be somewhere in the library if anyone needs immediate therapy.” 

“Question,” one woman said. She raised her hand very high. She was dressed like a typical businesswoman, in a teal Dignity Dress and black pumps. Though both items of clothing were heavily damaged and dirty.

“Uh, you don’t have to raise your hand, man, but go ahead,” Xye said. 

“What’s up with him?” The woman asked, pointing to Lucien.

“Elaborate?” Xye asked.

“His skin,” the woman explained.

“Oh,” Lucien said. “Yeah, I can explain. I’m black.” He clicked his tongue and shot finger guns at the woman.

“There are still black people?” Another man chimed in. 

“Yes, a lot, all over the place actually,” Lucien said. “Except the GNA, I guess.” 

“The president made a PSA saying there were none left,” the businesswoman said. “When I was about thirteen.”

“What do you want me to say?” Lucien asked. He shrugged.

“She does bring up something a little important, actually,” Xye said. “You guys are gonna see some shit you’re not used to. I’m sure you saw some things that made you uncomfortable on the road with your agents or at the ghetto, but this is the big leagues so to speak. This is the freak show, so get ready.” They flashed a dumb smile and a thumbs up. Lucien rubbed the shaved part of Xye’s head for seemingly no reason. The two looked ridiculous. “Anyways, follow us.”

Xye turned on the jets on the bottom of their feet and hovered slightly above the ground. They slid along powerfully, twirling and sliding on a tuft of air. It made Jake think about the roller skates he had been told about by his sisters when he was young. Unfortunately, roller skates were all outlawed in 2112 for being too sexually suggestive. Lucien trotted along backwards next to Xye guiding the targets. Being fully human he was limited to walking.

The Grand Tour

Xye dangled above the ground like a marionette on strings for a while. They traveled along the long and brightly painted corridors at a leisurely pace. They led the group through the bodies of the many ships. The walls transitioned from one material to the next in an instant at the borders between the ships. There was no real way to tell where you were exactly, even the windows weren’t much help as some looked out only to water and some looked out to the bowels of the ship. Xye, unbothered by the maze-like HQ, waved, made brief small talk with, and introduced the targets to nearly everyone they passed. Lucien, still walking backwards with his hands buried deep in his pockets, talked the targets through what each room was and its purpose. Most were bunk rooms, labs, specific libraries, or combat centers. 

The group traveled for several minutes before reaching a large cafeteria. It looked like any cafeteria anywhere in the world would, save for colorful walls to match the rest of the ships. It was large, open, and full of food. Because it was not yet lunch the cafeteria was almost completely empty. The only inhabitants being Fear eating a small finger sandwich and drinking a very tall glass of beer, and a few very hung over people scattered about the room sipping on water or coffee. 

Fear looked over her shoulder. She saw the group headed by her floating sibling and, in response, downed the rest of her remaining beer, slid her finger sandwich to one of the regretful hungover people next to her, and walked towards the targets. She itched under her nose a few times, rubbing something away. She had a lanyard around her neck that held a card with her face and a barcode on it. Her face in the photo had squinted and dilated eyes. A plastic looking smile was stretched across the small face.

“Hey hey,” she said awkwardly attempting to sound laid back like her sibling. She ditched the idea after the one sentence. “Does anyone need immediate medical attention?”

Three people broke off from the group. The man missing an eye and two women who both looked rather roughed up in general. Xye nodded to their sister, Fear nodded back and led her three followers off towards a side room with a large red cross on the side. She swiped the card around her neck in front of the door causing it to slide open with a sound like Xye’s legs bending hard.

The rest of the group carried on. Targets splintered off in small numbers over and over again like the three that had gone with Fear. Two went for therapy with Sarah Wilson, five went with a teacher in the library to brush up on English or the Spanish/French creole that was common on the ship, and three went to the tailor for some new clothes. Eventually less than ten remained in the group, Jake and Alex included. Xye and Lucien showed all of them where they’d be sleeping, the twenty fifth bunk room in one of the submarines.

“You guys’ll stay here,” Lucien explained. “There’s no curfew or anything, but HQ is pretty hard to navigate. So don’t stay out too late or you’ll end up sleeping on the floor like Xye most nights.”

“That’s because I’m drunk,” Xye interjected from their hovering position. “Or high.”

“I’m gonna go get lunch, I’m baked and hungry as shit,” Lucien said. “Wanna come with, Xye?” 

“Sure thing,” Xye said. They began to hover away with Lucien but stopped soon after. They turned and tossed lanyards with cards to all the targets. “Alright, see ya.” The targets all noted that the cards already had photos of them taken while they were sleeping on the ferry. The targets all accepted it without a second thought.

Most of the remaining group headed off to ask where their luggage could be found. Only one or two descended the stairs into the former submarine housing bunk room twenty five. Jake stood alone in the empty hallway. He fumbled at his card for a while, trying to avoid walking into the bunk room. He knew he was already underwater, or rather that the part of HQ he was in was underwater, as he could hear the groans of the sea pushing against the metal hull from all directions. He just didn’t want to go any deeper, deeper into a room probably full of windows that stared directly out into the inky vast water. Though soon, closing his eyes and remembering that Alex was already down in the bunk room, he closed his eyes and stepped down.

The Bunk Room

The bunk room was cylindrical and felt lively to simply be in. There certainly were windows looking out into the ocean, but they were barely a meter underneath the waves and allowed plenty of light in to tint the floor with its blue streams. On the walls there were dozens and dozens of printed photos showing everyone who had bunked in the same room going as far back as 2170. They were all smiling happily and waving to the camera. Jake thought about how they were all dead. No one else did. 

Jake picked an uninhabited bed at random. The beds surrounding him were empty at the moment. Almost all were, save for the few on which the targets unpacked their luggage. The bed immediately above his was covered in frilly pink curtains that draped down over the sides of Jake’s bed. Most beds were messy but several were made in the specific tidy manner the GNA army employed, indicating the owners of such beds were defecting soldiers. The bed directly across the submarine was taken by Alex. He had already laid the sheets out nicely and placed all his folded clothes on top. Stepping back, he smiled at his work. Jake laid in his disheveled bed without any suitcases or travel bags to unpack. His stomach screamed at him.

Alex left his things on his bed and walked out of the room within minutes. Jake stayed sitting on his bed, staring out the window at the solid blue. He felt himself leave his body again, but this time it wasn’t as painful as he expected it to be. It was almost calming. All in all he spent twenty minutes staring at the ocean and thinking about nothing. Finally, snapping back to reality, he stood up and left with his coat slung over one shoulder for the cafeteria. As he walked he didn’t see any faces he recognized, and, as such, stared only at his feet crossing the smooth floor. Several people, whether they were agents or targets Jake did not know, tapped him on the shoulder or walked next to him for a while to try for his attention. He brushed them off with an awkward thumbs up.

New, Scary Friends

When Jake reached the food court he did not walk in. A crowd had formed inside, and it was a very lively crowd at that. He stood off to the side of the large opening to the cafeteria, hidden slightly behind the door frame. From inside the cafeteria he looked ridiculous. The grizzled and tired mist dripping from his entire body was in stark contrast to the wall he slinked behind that was covered in bright and happy paintings and posters depicting the food served within. Jake made a high pitched grumbling sound to himself and was seconds away from turning around to leave when a face appeared in front of his own.

“Hiya babe,” the owner of the face said. Her voice sounded like a can of soda being opened and felt like a fresh piece of bubblegum. “You look fun.” 

Jake jolted away from the face with a small squeak. The owner of it came into focus and Jake got a good look at them. She was a young woman, no more than twenty, who looked like the platonic ideal of a friend. Her deep brown hair, that paired nicely with her blunt green eyes, was tied up in a messy bun. A pair of archaic wired earbuds was tied up in the bun. She wore upsettingly bright clothes that reflected beams of light like laser bolts from one of Xye’s guns. They were of a strange new European style, half chrome plated and half white fabric, all very flowy. Her face was soft and jovial, though at the same time resembled the same maturity clearly visible in Dom’s face, and was accented on the side with elvish ears. Her skin was a calm milky color which reflected the lights around her.

“I just wanted some food,” Jake said. He held his hands up defensively. 

“Well, you’re in the right place, hun,” the face owner said. She reached right up to Jake’s defensive hands and forced him to shake. “Flynn Richards! She/her.”

“Richards?” Jake asked. He slipped his hand limply from Flynn’s. “She/her?”

“Richards is my last name. She/her are my pronouns,” Flynn explained.

“What are pronouns?” 

“The way you like to be referred to. Who was your agent?”
“Xye.”

“Oh! Perfect. You know how Xye is referred to as they?”

“Yeah? Because they don’t have a gender in their head.”

“That’s their pronoun.”

“Got it,” Jake said, immediately forgetting what a pronoun was. “But what about Richards? I feel like I remember that name from somewhere.”

“My mom is Dom. Dom Richards. She runs the whole boat. Boats,” Flynn explained happily. She gestured to the ship around her as she did.

“Oh, I know Dom. We’re…uh,” Jake hesitated for a moment. “We’re friends.” 

“I’m sure. Mom gets along well with people,” Flynn said, knowing full well that Jake had almost certainly never spoken to her mother for more than a few seconds. “Well, anyways,” Flynn said after a small delay, “Want to come eat with me and my friends?” She flashed a gigantic grin that made Jake feel warm.

“I have my own friends,” Jake replied stiffly. He saw the smile fade slightly from Flynn’s face and raised his hands defensively again. “But they’re not here right now. I mean…they’re on the boat, but they’re not getting lunch. I’m sure you know them. Fear and Xye? And Alex…Alex…something.” It dawned on Jake that he didn’t know Alex’s last name. “I have friends, is my point. But I’ll eat with you. I’m Jake, by the way. Jake Kim. It’s a Korean name.”

“Great!” Flynn chirped. 

She grabbed Jake by the arm and shuffled him across the cafeteria through the crowd. When she stopped and released Jake’s arm, where a red imprint in the shape of her had now rested, one of the many cafeteria tables lay before her. Seated at the table were many people Jake did not recognize, all dressed strangely. Flynn sat down and patted the stool next to her to signal Jake to do the same. Jake obeyed.

“Everyone,” Flynn announced to the table, “this is Jake! He’s new, and seems rather antisocial, so please be nice.” She smiled widely at Jake again.

First, a large man across the table spoke. He, Jake assumed it was a he, was massive, three times the size of Jake. He wore a black fleece coat that looked much like Xye’s leather one, though shorter, pitch black, and decorated with a few small sea shells and random splotches of paint. His face was sharp and jaded, giving him the appearance of the classical roman statues Jake had been told to idolize as monoliths of art. On that face he wore the smile of a man who knew how he looked. Above that face he had a glorious set of bitch black hair that, like his coat, had some paint and shells in it. Around one wrist he wore an incredibly fancy looking watch. Along the hands of the watch the words “Remember” and “You will die” were written. He reminded Jake of what a good dad would look like. 

“Hey Jake,” the man said in a voice that quite matched his face. It was like cold metal being struck with a hammer. “I’m Carvon, good to meetcha. New targets are always good to see. He/him, by the way.” He jutted his cracked and dark hand out to Jake. When Jake took it he felt as though he had no control over the sandy handshake.

The next to speak was a smaller person of relatively indeterminate gender. One half the size of Carvon though still larger and taller than Jake. They were clad in sparkling green plastic clothes that Jake thought looked like what he imagined a spaceman would wear. Their skin was celestial looking olive tone that complimented their attire nicely. Various dark blue chains dangled off their body and jingled as they moved around. Their face was skinny, angry, and sadistic looking. But the steely blue eyes etched into its face were wide and kind. They had a fantastic head of neon green hair that shot up in erratic patterns and shapes. They didn’t smile much, but had an aura about them that felt like they were. With their eyes or with their soul they got it across that they were happy. Their figure and posture made them seem ready for a fight at any moment.

“Luck. Luck Hopper,” the person said. “I don’t hop, and I’m not very lucky,” they clarified. Their voice was sing-songy and airy. It reminded Jake of the birds one of his sisters owned when he was younger singing to warn of dawn. “She/they. Who were you with?” She mimicked Carvon’s invitation to shake hands.

“Uh, Xye,” Jake replied. He took Luck’s hand and shook it. This handshake was the exact opposite of the one with Carvon. Luck barely moved their soft hand.

“Oh! Lucky!” The third and final person chimed in. “They brought me too.”

Jake thought for a second about how he wasn’t Xye’s first target. And how he almost certainly wouldn’t be their last. It made him a little angry, a little confused. He didn’t understand how Xye could care for and help someone who wasn’t him. He opened his mouth to say something but gave up, realizing he himself cared for Xye, their sister, and Alex all at once.

The last person was clearly very feminine, although Jake couldn’t tell with perfect exactness. They were very small framed, but at the same time relatively tall. They had a calm and carefree look about their very thin, pale face that made them appear as though they were always just a few minutes away from falling asleep. Their voice was shockingly normal, as normal as a voice could ever be. It brought no attention to itself. Much like their voice, the clothes they wore were equally normal. All in all, Jake liked the look of them best. He felt almost comfortable with them, though he didn’t feel good admitting it. They did not reach out to shake Jake’s hand.

“It’s Rowan, by the way. Like the tree. They/she. And what about you? Your pronouns?”

“Oh,” Jake stammered. He didn’t think he needed to state his, he assumed it was obvious. “I’m a boy. A man, I mean. So, the he one.” 

“We’re glad to have you, Jake,” Carvon said in his grave, nearly ill-sounding voice. 

Jake smiled, but quickly hid it behind his hand. No one had ever told him they were glad to have him.

Luncheon

Jake sat at the lunch table for quite a while. Rowan stood up after a few minutes and returned with a hamburger for Jake. He was very familiar with hamburgers. They were a staple of approved cultural experiences in the GNA. Though, back there they were called Power patties. Jake ate the hamburger like a small bird pecking at feed. His attention was mainly captivated by the strange, loud conversation his new friends had. They talked about movies with plots he could never imagine, distant lands they had visited that Jake thought were destroyed by the GNA long ago, and encounters they had had with soldiers or cantankerous citizens on the mainland.

“Jake,” Rowan said. 

Jake perked his head up from his hamburger. “Yes?”

“Do you have any stories? From traveling with Xye especially. There’s never a dull moment with them.”

“Not really,” Jake mumbled down into his food. “It was pretty normal.”

“Did you know Xye’s hand comes off? The fake one,” Carvon added.

“And their hair isn’t dyed. They had all their hair follicles replaced with genetically modified bright orange ones,” said Luck.

“I heard they’ve killed over two hundred GNA soldiers!” Flynn chimed in merrily.

“They can fly!” Rowan said.

“Their code phrase, you know the one about sand and the ocean, it’s from a book of poetry they wrote. You can find it in the library,” Flynn said.

“You’re real lucky Jake. All the agents are great. Myself, I had Lucien. He’s very calm. Very chill. But if you bring up pre-GNA American history he won’t shut up. Anyways, Xye is great. Good agent to be picked by,” Carvon said. 

“They picked me?” Jake asked.

“Sort of,” said Flynn. “Agents get case files of all targets nearby sent to their communicators, or eyes if they’re Xye, and then pick whoever they want to go with.” 

“Oh,” Jake said. He smiled behind his hand again.

“So, tell us about your trip,” Luck inquired. Their chains shook again.

“Well,” Jake began, deciding to indulge his companions. “It all started a few weeks ago. Actually, I can’t really remember how long ago it was. It’s all a blur. But, I come home from work one day and there’s this woman standing in my living room. She has these massive boots on and she’s dragged dust all over my carpet. My beautiful carpet. God, I miss that thing.” 

Flynn, Luck, Rowan, and Carvon all laughed at the carpet comment. Jake continued his story. He detailed his first meeting with Xye, his run away from home and to the dock at which Xye was waiting, the first fight he witnessed Xye fight in and the many more to come. He went over the headhunter and her continuous death defying reappearances, meeting Xye’s sister and sitting in her fields, and long bike rides with Xye. He explained how he had stood by, terrified, while Xye battled foes he would submit to in an instant. He told tales of languages he did not know and technology he could not comprehend. His friends listened actively the whole time.

“And now I’m here,” Jake finally said, finishing his odyssey.

“And being underwater all the time doesn’t bother you, hun?” Flynn asked in her soothing voice.

“No, it does. I just try and forget about it,” Jake replied. He received another round of laughs. He smiled, but did not attempt to hide it.

“And why’d your boss send that psycho bitch after you? For being gay or Korean?” Luck asked. “You’re gay, right? I just assumed because of Alex, but I realised it could be any number of things.” 

“Well, I guess I am. But I’m not dating Alex or anything. We’re just friends,” Jake said. Everyone stared at him. “We are! Nothing more,” he reiterated.

“Ok, dude,” Carvon said. “Talk to him about that.” He laughed heartily. His laugh was just as robust and intense as the rest of him.

“Anyways,” Rowan chimed in, “It’s not exactly the lunch rush anymore.” She was right. The cafeteria was cleared out. Only the group she was with remained. “Carvon. Time.” 

“Three twenty,” Carvon said, looking at his odd watch.

“What’s up with that watch?” Jake asked him.

“Gift from a friend. A momento mori. Don’t worry about it,” Carvon said. He shrugged. “But yeah, I gotta go. I have English lessons in the library.”

“You already speak perfect English,” Jake said, confused.

“I speak with a perfect accent,” Carvon corrected him. “My native language is Arabic.” 

“Huh, never heard of it,” said Jake. 

“Alright, bye guys,” Carvon chuckled out. He stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. Everyone called goodbyes after his hulking figure. 

“I should go to,” Rowan added. “I have to go write.” She said her goodbyes and left as well.

“Guess that’s my cue,” Luck said. She walked out without another word.

“Is Luck Irish?” Jake asked Flynn.

“No. Why do you ask?” Flynn responded.

“That’s the Irish goodbye. Right? Xye taught me that.”

Flynn giggled. “It is, Jake. But being Irish isn’t a requirement to just up and leave. Luck just doesn’t like goodbyes. Speaking of which, goodbye. I have to go help my mom with general maintenance. Ugh.” She turned and left the cafeteria.

Jake sat at the table alone and finished a cup of water he had gotten up to get midway through his story. He wiped his mouth politely with a napkin, dumped his trash in a nearby trash can, and left the cafeteria himself. He wandered the halls aimlessly again, this time with his eyes focused ahead of him instead of on his shoes.

A Motherly Chat

Jake’s walk took him to many interesting places. First, he stumbled upon a pub in a lower level of HQ. It was dimly lit and smelled like the underside of a car. Though it was barely the afternoon, the pub was already packed with lively patrons shouting, laughing, and talking at extreme volumes. They spilled their drinks all over themselves. When he saw Fear sitting at the bar moving her head back and forth across the counter, Jake almost walked inside. But, remembering his lack of interest in alcohol and aversion to loud, crowded spaces, he moved on.

Next, he came to an open area somewhere in the middle floors of HQ. It was vast and wide, extending farther and farther the more Jake looked at it. Dotting the massive room were small pockets for resting. The pockets contained bookshelves, snack carts, comfortable looking chairs, and many blankets. The room also had a glass ceiling that looked directly up into the sky. A few drops of rain splattered against it and made a very pleasing sound. Jake stopped at one of the resting stations for several minutes. He picked up a random magazine left on the couch and leafed through it. But, soon he got bored and went on his way again.

After that Jake encountered the most interesting room he had seen in a while. He had been walking peacefully-And actually making pleasant conversation with a few people he met in the halls. He made three new friends on his walk, but he didn’t remember their names-away from the relaxation room for a while. He wasn’t sure how long, but his feet were starting to hurt and he was looking for a place to rest for the rest of the evening. The room was disconnected from the rest of the world by an elegant dark red wooden door. It looked like it belonged in a castle. Jake was instantly intrigued. He slipped the ornate door open and looked inside cautiously. Immediately, he shut the door and walked away again. It was an orgy.

The final room Jake came to was where he decided to settle. It was up a tall flight of stairs at the very top of HQ. Nearly a kilometer above the ocean sat a small glass sphere. Inside the floor was dark wood. There were many plants hanging from the ceiling to receive all the light that could come in through the glass walls. On one side there was a fireplace with a fire already going. In front of the fire were two large velvet armchairs. And, between the chairs, a small end table was placed with a tea set on top. Dom Richards was seated in one of the seats by the fire. The rain had gotten heavier, and it rolled down the glass walls like many small waterfalls. 

“Jake, come in. Take a seat,” she said without looking away from the fire.

“How did you know it was me?” Jake asked from the doorway.

“Mom powers I suppose,” Dom said gently. “That and I heard you muttering on the way up here about how annoying all the stairs are.” She chuckled like her daughter.

“Sorry,” Jake said. “Is this your private room?”
“Not at all. It’s open to everyone. That’s why I asked you to take a seat.”

Jake took the seat next to Dom.

“Tea?” Dom asked. She gestured broadly to the tea set.

“I’ve never had tea, actually.”
“Really? Let me guess. Banned for being too Chinese? Or being too British?”

“You know, I’m not sure. But, I’ll try some.”

Dom took the teapot elegantly and poured a cup for Jake. She handed it over equally as smoothly. Jake held the small cup awkwardly. It was too warm and almost painful to hold. He stared at Dom’s tattoo, its dark tones seemed to sway like real flowers in the wind in the fire’s light.

“Sugar? Cream?”

“No, thanks. I’ll just…have it as is,” Jake said. He took a small sip and regretted it instantly. In fact, he hated it even more than alcohol. But he managed to swallow the tiny sip he took. Albeit with a twisted grimace.

“You don’t have to drink it if you don’t like it,” Dom laughed. Her voice matched the pattern of the rain falling on the glass.

Jake put his cup back on the table. He stared deep into the fire. Neither person said anything for a long time. They just looked into the cracking flames and admired the sounds of the rain at sea.

“I heard you met my daughter and her friends,” Dom finally commented.

“Yeah. She’s really nice…They’re all really nice…Can I ask, though? Is she yours? You guys look different.” 

“Of course, she’s my daughter. But if you mean biologically, no. She’s Russian, and I’m Vietnamese. She was born of one of my friends who died only a year later. So I took her in.”

“Well, you, uh, raised her well. She’s great.”

“Thank you. But, honestly, she did most of the raising. I was so busy with this,” Dom waved at the air in front of her, “that I never really had much time to parent. I regret that. I’m not as close with Flynn as I’d like to be. Do you have any regrets, Jake?”

“What?” Jake was caught off guard by the sudden question.

“Is there anything you regret? You don’t have to tell me, of course. We have freedom of speech here. And, thusly, the freedom to remain silent.” 

“I…I guess I regret never knowing my sisters. They both disappeared when I was young. And before that, they were so much to me, but I was so little to them. I was so caught up trying to be important and get a good job. I don’t even know what happened to them.” 

“I’m sorry. I can imagine that’s very hard on you,” Dom said comfortingly.

“It really is,” Jake admitted. He felt a great weight leave his chest. “I miss them. Even if I never knew them like I wanted to. Sadie and Sally. Those were their names.” 

“What do you think about Xye? They can be rather contentious at times,” Dom asked, quickly changing the subject. Though it was clearly not out of discomfort for the initial topic of Jake’s sisters.

“Well, they’re great. They’re my closest friend, I think. There aren’t many other contenders. Maybe Fear or Alex.”

“Yes, they are great. I wonder where they are right now. Probably getting really fucked up with Lucien. Those two can be a handfull. But, you’ll never find harder workers.”

“Why’d you save me? By the way. Or I guess, why did Xye save me? I’m no one special. I don’t have any special skills or attributes. I offer nothing. I even could have been a spy. Or a soldier. I’m just some desk clerk,” Jake asked glumly. He turned his focus out the window and away from the vibrant fire.

“You’re more than the sum of your parts, Jake, Who ever told you you weren’t?” Dom answered matter of factly. “And, for the record,” Dom added quickly, looking straight at Jake’s eyes in the reflection of the window, “If you were a spy you wouldn’t have stood a chance against Xye. No offense.”

“None taken. It’s true. You know what they do to people?”
“Of course, I trained them myself.”

After another hour or so of the two sitting in silence and enjoying the atmosphere Dom stood up. She put her tea cup down and walked towards the exit of the spherical room. 

“Goodbye, Jake. It was nice talking with you. Let’s do it again sometime, okay?” Then she walked down the stairs.

“Okay,” Jake called down to her. He didn’t know if she heard or not.

Jake spent the rest of the afternoon in the glass sphere. He let the tea next to him grow cold, not so much as looking at it. Dinner came around and Jake found himself very hungry. The small cakes and sandwiches on the tea tray had held him over for a while, but eventually he needed a real meal. So, he left the glass sphere and descended the great staircase that lead to it. At the bottom of the stairs he wandered the halls again, trying to find the cafeteria and, hopefully, his friends.

It took a few minutes to find the dining hall, but Jake had started to learn the layout of HQ. He found what he was looking for in half the time it took him the first time. His friends were there, Carvon, Rowan, Luck, and Flynn. Additionally, Alex was sitting with them. He looked up, saw Jake, and beckoned him over. Jake slipped into the room and through the crowd. He sat down next to Flynn and across from Alex.

“Jake!” Flynn exclaimed at the sight. “We met one of your friends. Alex. He’s very nice.”

“And rather cute,” Luck said from next to Alex. She made a deep sound from the back of her throat.

“I’m flattered, really,” Alex said. He laughed and flashed a wide smile. “But, I think I’ll stick with men. Specifically this man.” He pointed at Jake with his thumb.

“I’m going to get some food,” Jake suddenly interjected. He stood up from the table like a rocket, purposefully not making eye contact with Alex.

“Oh! Can you grab me some matzah while you’re up there?” Rowan asked.

“I don’t…I don’t know what that is,” Jake replied. He was already walking towards the jumble of people surrounding the serving tables. He returned to the lunch table a few minutes later carrying a tray laden with a deflated looking ham sandwich and a bag of brandless potato chips.

When his lunch table came into view through the swarm of dining guests again, Jake saw that Luck had slid across the bench even closer to Alex. They were basically leaning on his shoulder. Alex was going along with it, jokingly flirting and laughing along with the others-but mostly Luck-and generally enjoying himself. Jake gripped his lunch tray tightly and prepared to burst out or run off. Instead, he loosened his grip again and let a puff of air flow past his lips. He decided, relatively consciously, that it was nothing. Certainly nothing to lose his mind or composure over. He walked back to the table and sat down in his spot next to Flynn. 

“No matzah?” Rowan asked.

“Again, I have no idea what matzah is, Rowan,” Jake said. He chuckled. Everyone else did the same.

Alex And Jake Sleep Together Again

Soon, the water outside the windows turned an inky, pure black. The cafeteria cleared out as many went to go sleep or drink or smoke. Carvon left first, saying that he had an early start the next day and wanted some good sleep. Next was Flynn, claiming she had to get back to her mother for a movie night. After her went Luck and Rowan together. As it turned out, they were a couple. Jake realized he really had been overreacting towards Luck earlier.

“Should we head back to our bunks, Jake?” Alex asked.

“Well, I guess,” Jake said. He looked down at his plate. There was nothing left. 

“May I assist the lady there?” Alex stood up and walked over to Jake’s side of the table. He bent his arm and extended it to Jake as if they were at a ball. 

“Certainly,” Jake said, taking hold of Alex’s arm.

Alex slowly led Jake down the winding halls of HQ towards bunk room twenty five. He stopped several times to introduce some people in the hallway to the man on his arm or to point out the dark windows at fish or birds that swam or flew by. At one point, he walked Jake past Xye and Lucien who both giggled and pointed like school children before inhaling a blue gas from Xye’s hand. Jake felt at peace.

Alex reached the bulkhead door of Jake and his bunkroom. He pulled it open and stepped aside.

“After you, my good ma’am,” he said musically.

“Thank you,” Jake replied daintily. He stepped over the threshold.

The room was dark, only lit by five or six odd reading lights from the people in the room who were awake. Jake’s bed was exactly how he had left it. It was almost comforting to him in a way he did not understand. It felt more like his bed than the one that existed in his real house. He wondered, briefly, if that bed still existed, or if his house had been torn down and been dubbed full of sin and treason before walking over and sitting down on his new bed. Alex walked to the other side of the room and changed into his night clothes which consisted of little more than underwear and a small tank top. Jake his his face in his pillow. Shortly after, Jake changed into a similar outfit.

All the lights went out around one in the morning. Jake was still awake, but was not sure if anyone else was. Either way, everyone was quiet. The only sounds came from the waves outside and the few people in the hallways still up. He heard heavy boots clank around in the hallways to all directions of him, soft breathing from his many roommates he did not know, and the gentle sounds of various bits and pieces of machinery that inhabited the room. He felt cold.

Jake slid out of his bed silently, making almost no noise. His bare feet touched down on the floor and shrunk away from its cold. Eventually, though, they touched down. He slinked across the room to Alex’s bunk. There, he nudged Alex gently on the shoulder. When Alex did not respond he nudged him slightly less gently.

“Alex, he whispered directly into Alex’s ear. “Alex, wake up.”

“Guh?” Alex replied, barely opening his eyes.

“Alex, can I sleep with you? As in sleep in your bed? You’re, uh, very warm.” 

“Of course, Jake,” Alex said groggily. His voice barely escaped his lips. He lifted his warm looking blankets and gestured for Jake to climb in.

“Thank you,” Jake whispered. He scampered into the bed next to Alex and placed his head on Alex’s chest. Within a minute he and Alex were both asleep. The person who inhabited the bed above Alex’s snickered under their breath.

Taser Arm

The next morning, Jake woke up to find Xye sitting in a folding chair next to Alex’s bed inspecting their nails that did not exist. On the other side of the bed Coeus was sitting flipping through a magazine written in Polish. Xye looked up from their nails and smiled right through Jake’s head. Coeus simply nodded in recognition and flipped a page in his magazine. Alex was still asleep and holding Jake tightly.

“Hey guys,” Jake yawned.

“Hey dude,” Xye said.

“I see you and my buddy Alex there have been getting a little touchy,” Coeus added, trying to repress his laughs. “You got pants on under that blanket, slugger?”

“Well, no,” Jake replied. “But, it’s not like that. That’s just how I sleep!” 

“It’s fine Jake. We don’t mind at all. In fact, we’re glad you’re getting out there,” Xye said.

“I am not,” Jake hissed under his breath.

“We wanted to ask you,” Coeus started.

“If you wanted a private room. Just the two of you can have it. Lucien is setting it up right now. We assumed you would want it,” Xye finished. “Wake up Alex. See what he thinks.” 

Jake slid out from Alex’s grip. He shook Alex’s shoulder and pushed him around in the bed. When Alex stayed completely incapacitated, Coeus stood up and put his magazine down. He walked to the side of the bed and stared down at Alex. Then, he placed their mechanical right arm on Alex’s cheek. They grinned and pushed a button on their wrist. The arm began to glow and crackle with turquoise sparks. Alex shot up like a light being turned on.

“Coeus!” he shouted. “I asked you to stop that!”

“You’re such a heavy sleeper. I have no choice,” Coeus said cockily. He pressed the button on his wrist again, returning his hand to its normal condition.

“Alex, we wanted to ask if you would want a private room to share with Jake here,” Xye said. They leaned over the bed. To the prone Jake and Alex they looked like a godly being. The lights from the ceiling shone down through their hair and created a strange orange halo around their head.

“I don’t know,” Jake said, staring directly up into Xye’s face. “Seems unfair. Other people could use it.” 

“Oh, no. There’s plenty of other solo rooms incase someone else feels like taking them. We just thought we’d extend the offer to you.” 

“Come on,” Coeus said. He grabbed Alex’s blanket and pulled it off fervently. “You guys get dressed and go eat breakfast. Then, find us on floor thirteen in room ten. We’ll have it all set up.”
“But,” Alex complained, “I was comfortable in this room.”
“And you can get comfortable in the next. Now go put on some pants.” Coeus pulled Alex onto the ground. He picked up a nearby shirt and dropped it right onto Alex’s face. “See you soon.” 

Secret Santa

Alex dressed himself. He tried to hide from the other inhabitants of their room, but didn’t need to. No one was looking at him. Alex dressed in a snappy polo and accompanying khaki pants. Jake thought he looked too much like one of his former coworkers. Jake looked around for his clothes, but remembered that he left them on his own bed. Just as he started across the room to find them when he felt two absurdly strong hands grab his shoulders.
“Jake,” Xye said from behind him on his right.
“Jakey boy,” Coeus said from the other side.

“You know Luck right? Luck hopper?” Xye asked.

“Annoyingly horny? Eccentrically dressed?” Coeus added a vague description with a twinge of annoyance. “She left you a gift.”

“A secret santa,” Xye said.

“Dipshit, it’s not secret if she says its from her,” Coeus whispered to Xye.

A bright orange paper bag lowered down from above in front of Jake’s face. It clinked like a pair of keys. Jake took it and held it awkwardly. He turned to look up and Xye and Coeus. Both were smiling in anticipation.

“Open it!” a random voice called from one of the many beds. “You need some style!”

“Honey, that old coat is fine but a little drab,” another voice added.

“Come on! Give us a fashion show!” a third voice chimed in.

Jake gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the bag to the point of crumpling the flimsy paper slightly. He swallowed hard and blinked even harder. He felt another childish outburst rising up, but again, as before in the cafeteria with his friends, managed to snuff it out. He exhaled out of his nose, closed his eyes, and let his vice-like hold on the bag return to normal. He looked up to see Alex staring on excitedly.

“One minute,” he said before scurrying out of the room and into the nearest bathroom in the hall.

Unnerving Fashion

Minutes later, in a time most in the room considered far too long, the door to the bunk room creaked open. The door frame was empty for several seconds, until, suddenly, Jake jumped into it and flung his arms out to the side. He was wearing a new outfit. It was shockingly orange like the bag it came in. An electric yellow leather collar sat tightly around Jake’s neck. Massive three inch heeled orange boots swaddled his feet and legs. A fluffy faux fur coat, also dyed orange, though a less bright color, was draped over his shoulders. Under the coat, Jake had on his own ex-Fed jacket gifted to him by Xye and Fear along with a yellow shirt that read “Birthday Girl” across the chest. Below that he had a new pair of dark vinyl plastic pants that shone with vigor. He dropped his old clothes in a heap by the floor.

“Tada!” he shouted. “How does it look? Weird? I feel weird. I can’t walk in these heels.” 

Xye, Coeus, Alex, and many of the bunk room inhabitants clapped. Several whistled. Xye’s left eye flashed a white light while their right snapped shut for a second, taking a photo. Jake fidgeted with his fingers awkwardly and tried to scoot behind the door frame. His face turned a bright red that matched nicely with his outfit.

“You look great,” Alex called out. He tried to hide a laugh. 

“Really! You just look a little awkward!” Xye added.

Jake stumbled on his heels all the way into the room. He avoided direct eye contact with any of the cheering faces. He bowed on his enormous heels like a baby giraffe taking its first steps and tried to spin around. He smiled to himself. He had always wanted to wear such extravagant and garish clothes, the kinds his sisters had taken up before they disappeared. After his spin he tumbled back across the room to the bed where Alex sat in normal clothes. 

“Should we go get breakfast?” he asked.

“I really didn’t expect you to keep it on,” Alex said. 

Jake shrugged. “It’s honestly too much effort to take off.” He tugged at the tight collar. “Though I could go without this.” 

Alex put his hand on Jake’s plastic coated leg. “Let’s go get some breakfast.”

“I’ll need some help getting there,” Jake said, standing up poorly.

Moving In

After eating a strange breakfast that, in Jake’s opinion, was composed of far too many beans, Jake and Alex were taken to their new private room. Xye held the door open for the two of them and stepped in after. They bowed sloppily.

“Welcome, gentlemen. May I give the sirs the grand tour?” they said. They rolled the r at the end of tour with a electric click from the back of their mechanical throat.

“Please do,” Alex responded less robotically.

Xye led Jake and Alex around the decently sized and decently decorated room. It could have been better described as an apartment as it actually contained multiple separate rooms. There was the main living area outfitted with a radio, two velvet couches, seven very green potted plants, a bookshelf, and a large square window looking out on to the, at that time, tranquil sea. There was a very yellow kitchen that contained everything one hoped for in a kitchen. There was an average bathroom. There was a dining room conjoined with the kitchen that had only two chairs seated very close at its large dark table. All in all, it was a normal apartment. Aside from the fact that it was twenty meters above the ocean.

There was also a bedroom whose furniture, a queen sized bed, a closet, and two night stands, followed a calm blue aesthetic. Jake noticed right away that something was off about the bed. When he sat down on it he realized that it was his bed. The one from the house he had left back in the GNA. Down to the blankets and pillows it was a near perfect replica. It was just as firm as Jake liked it.

“Is this my bed?” Jake asked. He tossed his heavy orange coat onto the bed.

“Oh you noticed,” Xye said cheerily. They clapped their hands together, it made the strange fleshy slap sound such an action always made. “Yeah man! It’s a perfect replica. Sorry we couldn’t get the real thing. Your boss had your house burned down after you left,” they admitted sheepishly. “But, remember when I broke into your house?”
“Vividly,” Jake said. He laid down on his bed.

“Well, I scanned your room. It’s standard procedure,” Xye announced proudly. “Ok, it’s really just my procedure. It helps targets settle in to HQ pretty well, I find.”

“It’s…nice. Thank you Xye.”

“It’s a good birthday present,” Alex commented absent mindendly from the kitchen. He was examining the stove thoroughly.

“Birthday present?” Jake asked. He sat up slowly.

“It’s your birthday,” Xye said.

“May thirteenth, 2322,” Alex added. “You’re thirty three.”

“Same age as Fear. I’m only twenty eight, still young. Unlike you,” Xye teased.

“How does Alex know it and I don’t?” Jake asked. He swept over his entire mind trying to track how long is had been since he left and how long before his birthday that was. It didn’t seem to line up to him, but he didn’t think he could really trust himself.

“Xye let me read your file,” Alex said, still echoing in from the kitchen. His voice was more hollow and sharp, as he had stuck his head into the oven to inspect it.

“I did do that,” Xye confirmed, their voice more normal sounding.

“Oh,” said Jake. “Well, thanks for the present Xye. It’s kinda weird, but I guess that tracks with you.”

“Of course, dude. Have fun with it.” 

Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from the kitchen. Pots, pans, several plates, and a few glasses fell from cupboards and clattered around or broke on the ground. Alex stood up straight and jumped back. 

“My bad!” he shouted. “I tripped.”

“I’ll go help Alex with that. Why don’t you stay here and enjoy the bed? You’re the birthday boy afterall,” Xye said, already half way to the kitchen, the mess, and Alex.

Jake nodded in confirmation and laid back down. He nestled his head into his own pillows like a puppy into the body of its mother. He looked to the right and saw a framed portrait of Xye, Coeus, Alex, and Fear all waving and smiling wide to the camera. They were standing outside on a balcony at HQ. They all had birthday hats on. Xye’s coat had a new patch on it that had a small photo of Jake making a grumpy face along with text reading “Guess who’s thirty three?” along the bottom. Jake hadn’t noticed it before, but when he looked across the apartment from his bed into the kitchen he saw that it was still on Xye’s shoulder. He smiled and closed his eyes.

Let’s Learn Hangul

A while later, Jake was barely conscious and couldn’t judge how much time had passed very well, Jake felt a shape slide into his bed next to him. He assumed it was Alex and so sat up and opened his eyes to see. It was. Alex was looking right at Jake, and, because Jake opened his own eyes, was making direct eye contact. Jake noted how the afternoon sun looked very nice on Alex’s calm skin before he noticed the eye contact.

“Oh, hi Jake,” Alex said in a voice much like the gentle sound of the waves down below. “I didn’t expect you to be awake.”

“I’m not really,” Jake said. “You sort of woke me up.”

“I wanted to give you my gift,” said Alex. He picked a small square object off the nightstand next to him and pushed it out towards Jake. “Here.”

Jake took it and looked it over. It took a moment for his eyes to fully adjust. But after they did he was able to make out that it was a small book. After that, he managed to read the title. “Pocket Korean Dictionary.” 

“Oh,” he said. “Wow. Thank you. I’m not very good at learning languages though. I don’t know if it’ll be much use.”

“You can at least get this one use out of it,” Alex replied. “Salang. Look that one up.” He guided Jake’s hand on the pages and flipped to a certain one that was marked. He pointed to one jumble of strange geometric looking symbols Jake did not understand. “Salang. That’s what that spells. Read the definition. Don’t worry, it’s in English.”

Jake looked at the English text underneath the strange symbols. The definition of salang was love. Jake looked up from the small white book to Alex. Alex was looking back with a serious expression Jake had never seen on him before.

“Do you get it?” Alex asked. He picked at one thumb with the other and looked between Jake and the book over and over.  “It’s not very subtle, but you can be oblivious to things like this. Coeus suggested I be upfront. He’s not great at this stuff, though. I don’t know why I listened to him, honestly. Sorry, do you understand?” Alex rambled in a low small voice.

Jake stared back at Alex. He tried desperately to remember how to speak, but couldn’t so much as open his lips. His already tight clothes felt exponentially tighter. He just nodded, slowly and deliberately, and then put a hand on Alex’s leg. He dropped the Korean dictionary down onto the bed. Then, he leaned over and kissed Alex on the cheek. Only then did he remember how to use his vocal chords.

“Yeah,” he said simply. Then, he followed it up by saying: “I think I feel the same. Salang.” Jake butchered the pronunciation of the Korean word horribly. It sounded like he was saying “saling” instead. Alex choked down a laugh, trying not to ruin the mood of the moment.

“Happy birthday, Jake,” Alex said cheeped out under a sigh of heavy relief. He smiled at Jake and put his hand gently over the spot Jake had kissed him. “Oh, right. I should get you a cake. Wait right here. Thanks.”

Alex stood up and walked to the door. He turned around to face Jake and blew a kiss to him. Jake did not know how to react or what blowing a kiss was so he just made an odd face. Alex didn’t mind. He left the apartment. Jake laid back down in bed and waited for him to return. He smiled into his pillow the whole time.

Fear Murders A Cake

Alex came back with everyone Jake knew on the boats. Xye and their sister stood in the door way behind Alex, towering over everyone like the absurd giants they were. Coeus stood next to Alex with his hand resting on Alex’s head. Lucien Greene was leaning against the wall with a warm smile. Flynn, Rowan, Luck, and Carvon stood in the front. Flynn held a large elaborate white cake with an unsafe looking amount of, thankfully unlit, candles. Even the perpetually busy Dom made an appearance, standing just behind her daughter and trying in vain to reach over to light the candles.

“Happy birthday Jake!” they all shouted at once, alerting Jake to their presence and causing him to shoot up from his bed. He was panicked at first, but quickly became soothed upon seeing his loved ones’ faces.

Flynn walked over to the kitchen table and placed the cake down. Her mother followed and again attempted to light the candles with her old and nearly spent lighter. Xye came up behind her with their left palm facing the cake. In a flash they snapped the jet in their hand on and lit all the candles. Dom huffed jokingly and slid her lighter into her pocket to attempt to use another time. Everyone else approached the table, cake, and numerous lit candles. They stood in a semi circle on one side with Alex in the center. Alex beckoned Jake to take a seat opposite him. Jake did.

“We know you’re a little…antisocial,” Coeus said as Jake sat down.

“So we’re not going to sing you a song or anything,” Xye added.

“But we just wanted to tell you we’re glad you’re here,” Lucien finished. 

“Who’s got a knife?” Flynn asked.

“Me,” Fear answered. She reached down to her boot and quickly returned with a large hunting knife. She smiled as if she was ignorant of its previous uses and quickly cut the cake into twelve pieces with alarming speed and efficiency.

“Cut a lot of cakes, Fear?” Lucien asked.

“Not really,” Fear said. She licked some frosting from her knife before dropping it back into the boot. 

Slices of cake were snatched and devoured at different speeds. Xye, Coeus, and Lucien engulfed theirs rapidly as part of a competition between them. Lucien seemed to win, as he performed a small shuffling dance in the end. Dom and Flynn sat next to each other and picked at their cakes slowly while talking about the new movie from The Celtic Union they had watched the night before. Carvon and Rowan barely touched their pieces, and eventually ended up handing them off to Luck who had frosting smeared across most of her face. Alex took his piece and one extra and walked to the other side of the table where Jake was.

“Hi Alex,” Jake said, swallowing a small bite of cake. 

“Are you enjoying the party?” Alex asked.

“I am, actually,” Jake replied. “I never thought I would. But this isn’t so bad.” 

“Well there’s one more part. We all got you something nice.”

“What is it?”

Alex pointed to where he had just come from. Jake looked up from his cake. He saw everyone standing around again. Xye held out a small wrapped package to Jake. Jake took it and slowly peeled off the crinkly red paper. What he found inside stopped him for a moment. It was a euthanizer like he had used at his old job. The shiny button  laid into the sleek red metal shouted at him. The world went gray for a moment. Jake felt another episode like the one he had experienced at the spa coming on. He reached for the button gingerly with his eyes closed and pushed on it. He waited for the harsh clink of its needle, but it never came. Instead, a small jingle like from an infomercial or GNA propaganda ad played and a stick of gun was dispensed from the end. The gum wrapping had “Fuck the GNA” written on it. Color returned to its rightful place in the world.

“Thanks, guys,” Jake said happier than he had ever been holding a euthanizer. 

“I told you he’d like it,” Xye whispered to Coeus. They punched him as gently as they could on the arm, but still left a bruise.

The rest of the party continued without a hitch. Jake sauntered around his apartment and talked with every guest. Fear had brought several bottles of liquor mostly for herself, but eventually everyone, except, willingly, Jake, was able to drink their fair share. Many confusing songs and jokes that Jake had never heard before were slung back and forth across the apartment. And finally, when the sun began to set, the guests started to rhythmically file out through the door. Jake and Alex stayed behind and cleaned the dishes together. 

What A View

Placing the last cleanly scrubbed plate in a cabinet above him, Jake stepped back from the sink to change over to cleaning the rest of the mess the party had left behind. He tugged at his collar and peeled off his tight, glamorous shirt. 

“Looking good, hot stuff,” Alex commented from across the kitchen where he was dumping a handful of empty beer bottles into a bag.

“Shut up,” Jake whined. “It’s really hot in here. We just had like thirty people over.”

“It was closer to eleven, but, yes, it is very hot. Why don’t we open a window? Come here,” Alex said. He trotted past Jake to the nearest window, a large square and very window looking thing. He slid it open and stuck his head outside into the wind. “We’re high up, so we’ll get a good deal of wind and cold air!” he shouted over the wind with his head outside. “Come look!”

Jake slid over to the window. Alex stepped aside and allowed Jake to look through. Immediately, the wind took his hair. It flung it wildly around with no clear direction or motive. It snapped at him lovingly one moment and with malice the next. The cold sting of the sea air accompanied it, making Jake feel like he was stuck inside a bottle of water being shaken around. Alex’s head appeared next to his with its own hair being attacked with equal force. 

“Do you see that?” Alex’s head shouted to Jake. Alex’s slender, gentle hand reached out in the air and pointed far ahead. Straining his eyes to extremes, Jake could make out a subtle and very large shape in the distance, shrouded in fog. Tiny pinprick-like lights danced gently on top of it.

“Barely!” Jake shouted back. His voice battled with the wind for dominance in Alex’s ears.

“It’s the CESH!” Alex shouted again. “That’s the shores of what used to be France! They have some fancy name for it now! I don’t know! But it’s right there! Right there! Couldn’t you almost touch it?”

“That’s really it?” Jake asked.

“It is! And it’s right there, Jake! It’s right there! We can go whenever we want! There’s people there to receive us! But, I’ll only go with you! Once you’re ready!” 

Jake pulled his head back into the apartment. He spent several seconds pointlessly trying to push his now rather unruly hair back into place. Alex slid back into the room and assisted him.

“I’m not ready yet,” Jake said, pushing a stubborn strand of hair into its position for the fourth time.

“That’s okay. Like I said, only when you’re ready. There’s plenty of things to do here while you prepare,” Alex replied. He leaned closer to Jake and fixed the rebel hair permanently. 

Jake leaned in as well and kissed Alex on the lips. Alex smiled and kissed Jake back. They both then turned to the window and watched the new continent bob up and down with the water surrounding it as the boat rocked. After a while they grew tired and went to bed together.

A Very Fortunate Stowaway

The next morning Alex made Jake and himself coffee. Jake changed into his regular clothes: old jeans, a tee shirt and his Xye-given coat. They sat at the kitchen table together and drank Alex’s coffee. Alex was hungover from the party the night before, and so was barely able to hold a conversation. Because of Jake’s general aversion to alcohol, he was fine. He took his mock euthanizer and kissed Alex goodbye. He set out to find Xye, as Xye could rarely drink themselves anywhere interesting, or someone else.

As he walked, Jake dispensed himself several sticks of gum. They were cherry flavored. He hated cherry, but he chewed through them as if the world would end if he stopped. He also thought about when he would be ready to go to shore. Not too long, he thought. But, also, no time soon. He reasoned that something big would have to change. Something would have to force him out of HQ at gunpoint really. The new countries, laws, and languages were scary. He’d be an outsider in a strange land that he had been told was full of demons and crooks all his life.

He asked various people in the hallway where he might find his friend. Most shrugged or simply said they didn’t know. Several claimed to have never heard of the strange, tall, orange haired person. One man even said he didn’t know where he himself was. Finally though, Jake met a person on a random balcony having a smoke break who told him Xye could be found down the hall in the interrogation room. 

“What’s the interrogation room?” Jake asked.

“Well, it’s in the name,” the woman scoffed rudely. 

Jake found the interrogation room with little trouble. Though, as it turned out, it was really two rooms. There was a room to Jake’s left and a room to his right. Both were labeled as the interrogation room. Jake entered the one on his right. Whether he knew it or not, he was heavily biased against the left. His mother had once told him: “the left is wrong for both hands and politics, Jake. Don’t you ever use it. Or else someone will come and slam a needle so deep in your brain even God won’t fix it.” 

The room on the right Jake entered was barren and gray. It consisted of two metal chairs and a massive window looking into the other room. A small lazer light hung from the ceiling and buzzed angrily. Through the massive scratched window Jake could see Xye walking in circles around a man tied to a chair. Upon further inspection, the man turned out to be the person Coeus and Xye had dropped over the side of Ferry. He was in an equally terrible condition to the one he had been in when he was supposedly killed last.

“Tell me again,” Xye said gently to the man, as if they were talking to a baby. “How the hell did you survive? I mean, come on. You should have drowned.”
“I got lucky,” the man spit up. He laughed and coughed up clots of blood.

“Look at you!” Xye shouted. “You’re dying. You should be dead now, and then. Are you a cyborg? Like that bitch who followed me and my friend all the way to Cedartown?”

“Tiffany?” the man asked.

“Is…was she really named Tiffany?”

“Yeah, the super soldier. From way, way before. From 2031.” 

“Jesus, she did not strike me as a Tiffany. But anyway, are you like that too?”

“No. Like I told you, I got lucky.” 

Xye slammed their natural arm into the side of the man’s head. A small black chip fell out of his hair. Xye picked it up and examined it for several seconds. Then they crushed it violently.

“Are you…are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope,” the man said cheerily. 

“Oh shit!”

Suddenly an explosion went off somewhere far off in HQ. It was massive, and shook the whole structure. People screamed in the distance. Jake and Xye burst out of their respective rooms into the hallway.

“Jake?” Xye shouted. They turned around swiftly, pulling a gun from their coat and shooting the man behind them dead.

“Xye?” Jake shouted back.

“Get Alex! Now!” 

Xye rushed off down the hall. Their coat swayed behind them like a cloud. Their heavy footsteps faded into nothing as they turned a corner with the speed of a rabid animal.

Jake rushed back to his room. He found Alex staring out the window. He explained the situation. Alex nodded and ran out of the apartment with Jake. Xye was waiting in the hall way with a gun drawn. Another explosion went off even closer.

“Attention everyone!” Dom boomed over a PA system. “The GNA is onboard! This is not a drill! Get ready to kill and/or be killed! Lifeboats are being distributed to those who cannot fight!” 

A gunshot went off over the PA system and Dom fell silent. Xye shuddered, unaware if she had killed or been killed.

Xye Arlott’s Big Break

Xye grabbed Jake and Alex by the back of their shirts. They threw the two of them into a nearby closet and slammed the door shut behind themselves when they followed the couple inside. The slam accompanied the symphony of gunshots and explosions firing off all around.

“Jake…Alex…I’m going to be honest. It doesn’t look good,” Xye choked out, “And it’s actually…looking really bad.” Xye was obviously holding back tears. Jake was shocked at such a concept. Alex was terrified.

“What’s happening?” Alex asked tentatively. He twiddled his thumbs.

Xye sobbed a little. “Not a lot of us are gonna make it out. And they, uh…they killed Fear.” 

“Oh, god. Xye, I’m sorry I-” Jake started.

Xye interrupted him, “No it’s okay. She went down a hero. Probably took down more of those bastards than I ever could have even claimed to. She was backed into a corner. They shot her. Right in the fucking head. She set off a bomb, killing every son of a bitch surrounding her.” Xye fell silent for several moments. “At least it was quick.”

Xye reached for the compartment in their arm that contained their adrenaline sticks. They took one out, yellow and bright as ever, and brought it to their lips where it sat. It never passed the lips. Xye began to crush it with their fingers. They ground it to a pulp, the thick yellow liquid flowing down their human arm and leaving behind a sludge like trail. They tossed the stick’s corpse to the floor and turned back towards the door.

“Xye…” Alex spoke softly. He placed his hand gently on Xye’s shoulder. Xye shrugged it off. They pulled their gun out of their holster and pretended to observe and paw at the moving parts. 

“Don’t leave this room unless I’m dead,” Xye whispered softly.

“What?” Jake took a stand next to his boyfriend. “Are you going to die?”

“Probably. I told you I’d die doing what I do.” Xye laughed a little and turned around to face their friends. They wiped their electric eyes, although, their eyes weren’t puffy or red, they weren’t capable of being so after a previous surgery. But they were crying nonetheless. Infact, Xye was weeping.

“Wait-” Alex tried to hug Xye in an attempt to calm them down and keep them from leaving. But Xye was strong. They pulled away and swung the closet door open wide. Their shoulders were hunched and their hand free of a gun was balling up and unballing rapidly. Bullets sprayed down the hall with devilish laughs. Xye jumped out into them. They held up their arm to their face and blocked most of the bullets, but one hit them in a shoulder. They began to fire wildly down the hall, laughing as they did. The bullets that missed hit Xye’s coat and caused it to ripple out behind them in a strangely heroic fashion. 

“You mother fuckers never give up!” They screamed, “20,000 men just for one queer like me! I’ll see you in hell!” The blood from their shoulder was pooling quickly. It rolled down their arm and mixed into a horrendous, infected looking orange color on contact with the yellow sludge left behind by the adrenaline juice. “I’ll see all of you in he-!”

A bullet ripped past Xye’s arm and struck them through the center of the forehead with a sickening squish. They stopped speaking and swayed back and forth. Then, they toppled backwards onto the ground and fired their gun into the ceiling. As their life drained from the hole drilled through their brain Xye managed to turn their head towards the closet’s open door. They looked into Jake’s eyes and smiled a little. Then they tried to mouth something, and their body went limp. Their eyes stayed wide open, staring up through the ceiling and to the sky. The brilliant and illuminating pastel purple drained from their pupils until, as though a switch had been flipped, the eyes went completely black like an unpowered screen. The eyes that saw spectrums of colors regular humans couldn’t even begin to imagine faded away, and with them followed the mind that held those images. Xye Arlott, the freedom fighter, sibling, amateur poet, sailor, artist, and a thousand other titles they never had the chance to explore, was dead and would be forever more.

Xye’s hand detached from its body suddenly. It scampered down the hall towards the gun shots, completing its final objective. When it reached the men who had killed its master it imploded in a flash of purple like Xye’s eyes, killing them all. There their body lay, with one less hand. For a second Jake and Alex waited for Xye to get back up. They waited and watched as the blood ran down Xye’s head and mingled with their hair. Their hair ran heavy and stuck to their head. Jake’s eyes went wide and he ran for the door. Alex held him back.

“Xye!” Jake screamed. “Xye no! Xye please! Xye!” He screamed louder than he ever had. So loud it shredded his vocal chords raw, so loud his mouth began to taste of bitter blood. If he was self aware enough he would have found it odd that he felt stronger about this than the passing of his own parents, but in that moment he was anything but self aware. He was barely aware to begin with. He had started crying so hard his eyes were blocked with tears, his body shook wildly, his nose was blocked, and his ears were flooded by nothing but the sound of his own sobs. “Xye please come back!”

“Jake we have to go! Now!” Alex shouted, trying to reach his lover. “Now! Right fucking now!” It was one of the only times Alex ever cursed. His eyes reflected Xye’s red blood like evil flames.

Alex and Jake ran down the hallways with a mad fury. All around them GNA soldiers and HQ residents fell dead and fired guns of all kinds. They reached the deck of one of the aircraft carriers and stared out at the CESH. Flynn spoke over the PA system.

“Dom is dead! Xye and Fear Arlott are Dead! Coeus is dead! Lucien Greene and Sarah Wilson are still fighting. There is another bomb being planted by the soldiers right now! Get out of the bowels of the ship! Run!”

A stray bullet whizzed past Jake’s head from an unknown location. It struck Alex in the temple. Alex looked over at Jake, half of his forehead missing, and smiled gently before collapsing to the ground in a strange, broken heap. Jake barely had a second to recognize what happened before the boat deck beneath him became little more than one massive, glowing fireball.

Into the wild blue yonder

Jake was flung from the side of the boats. The massive explosion carried him straight over the railings on the side and into the air. There he had a half a second of air time in which he watched the same explosion that had just thrown him wildly into the air engulf the rest of the ships. The boom of the explosion seemed to push Jake even farther away. It was a terrible sound. A sound so monstrous and bombastic Jake felt it in his bone marrow more than he heard it. The air rushed through his hair and whipped it around his face stinging it lightly much as it had done on Jake’s motorcycle rides with Xye. Jake smiled a little during the split second he was in the air at the familiar feeling. He felt water splash his skin. Then he felt his back smack against the surface of the ocean with a shocking sudden pain. He tried to scream out, but water filled his mouth. Jake sunk underneath the surface as his eyes began to close slowly. 

Before he could drown Jake forced his eyes back open. He panicked and began to thrash around violently. His shoes, clothes, and coat filled and bulged with the sharp, cold water. Jake kicked off his shoes sluggishly. He ripped off his coat and then his shirt. He flung himself to the surface of the water where he gasped for air violently. His coat, shirt, and shoes floated up next to him. Jake bobbed in the ocean peacefully and looked at the letters on the back of the coat. He stared at “FED” for a long time. It no longer meant anything to him. Then he moved his eyes down to his name, “Jake Kim.” He thought about what Xye had told him a while ago. About how Kim wasn’t an American name. About how it wasn’t even a white name. He looked vacantly at the shining golden letters now wetted down with water. He stared longingly at the names of his now missing friends. He attempted to sigh, but mostly coughed up water. He wiped Alex out of his unruly hair with the cold ocean water.

Just then another massive explosion went off behind him. Jake turned around as fast as he could to see what had happened. Another one of the ships, the one in the dead center of all the others, had exploded. It sent out another shockwave to accompany the brilliantly bright flames that reached towards the sky like the arms of dying men. Various pieces of debris were sent soaring high into the air. Lifeboats, bodies, and chunks of twisted and scalding metal flew upwards where their darkened figures stood out against the pale blue sky. They went flying in all directions. Including towards Jake. Jake began to panic again as the debris flew towards him. He tried to swim away, but ultimately didn’t get far. A small piece of wood hurdled towards Jake and slammed into his head knocking him unconscious immediately. His body floated in the ocean silently. A stream of blood leaked from his forehead and was lost in the seemingly endless deep dark blue beneath Jake. The waves began to push Jake away.

An office worker of greater consequence

On the western shore of the country that was known many years ago as France but had taken a new name, the name of “Anchinador”, after joining with the country that used to be known as Spain, an old fisherman sat in his kitchen. He was a man of around sixty. He had a gray beard that matched his gray face. His cheeks were slim, but always red from the harsh cold of the ocean. His face was wrinkled from a lifetime of laughter and smiling. He constantly smelled of salt and fish. His wife had gotten used to the scent and was thus able to sit near him as she then did. They spoke together, in the language someone used to communicate with a coyote many weeks before, of the previous day and the day that lay ahead. The sun had not yet fully peeked over the horizon and the day was cast in a strange grayness that matched the fisherman’s skin tone. 

The fisherman turned away from his warm wife briefly to look at the ocean. He often checked it early in the morning in order to get a good sense of what his sailing would be like. As he scanned his old eyes across the glassy waters and green sands he noticed something odd. He noticed a soaking wet man with a head gash laying on his beach. So the fisherman stood up, excused himself, and headed out the back door. He trudged down his rickety back steps and then across the sand. The man on the beach stirred at the sound of the fisherman’s heavy rubber boots crunching towards him across the beach. Then the man suddenly sat up. He looked around frantically and staggered to his feet. He had no shirt or shoes on, and his pants were so soaked through that they clung to his legs in erratic patterns.

The fisherman tried to speak to the man, but it didn’t seem to get through. If anything, it seemed to upset the man more.

“What?” The man said. The fisherman didn’t understand him either. “Where am I? Where…”

The fisherman sat down on a nearby bench and gestured for the man to sit on a log across from it. The man shivered as he did so. The fisherman spoke to him and the man spoke back. Neither of them understood the other but they talked for almost an hour. The thick scent of petrichor felt nearly physical.

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” said the man, “Although, I used to know a guy who talked like that. Well, they weren’t really a guy so to speak. They’re dead now. Shot in the head. Maybe they could have helped me here.” The man sniffled a little. The fisherman assumed he was cold, and he was, but he was also newly in mourning. 

A cool fog had settled around the pair. It engulfed them and clouded their vision of anything more than a meter away. Underneath the fog lay the morning dew that the light shimmered through to create a special light show that reminded the man of how the sun used to dance through their friend’s orange hair. He sniffled again.

“This isn’t the GNA,” the man spoke again, “I know that for sure. No one speaks like you back there. That’s where I was from. The GNA. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.” The fisherman recognized the name of the man’s country and nodded in recognition.

Then the fisherman’s wife came out. She followed the same path her husband had taken but stopped right next to him and the wet man. She handed both of them a cup of hot coffee and wrapped a blanket around the man’s shoulders. She spoke in hushed tones to her husband for a minute and then walked back inside. The man pulled the blanket tightly around him and stood up. He downed his coffee quickly, despite its scalding heat. He put the cup down on the sand and handed the blanket over to the fisherman. He thought to himself about whether or not anyone had survived the explosion that had sent him where he was. He decided that he would never really know.

“I have to go,” he said, “Bye then. I’d ask if you knew of somewhere I could go, but I don’t speak your language. Maybe one day if I find myself in a room full of books and plants and comfortable couches I’ll learn it. That and Korean. I think I’ll do ok here, I’ve heard these countries are more helpful to people in my situation. Maybe I’ll get a job as a mechanic. I always thought I’d like that.” He looked off down the road that led away from the fisherman’s house and sniffled again. “Good fucking lord it’s early. A month or two ago I’d be getting ready for work at this hour.” With that, the man rubbed the gash on his head and took off running. He flung his still damp hair back as he ran off the fisherman’s property and down the dark road into whatever lay ahead. From the fisherman’s perspective he simply disappeared into the early, sad, morning darkness.