Chapter 1
Genesis’s Pov:
“Hurry the hell up Gwen!” I yelled through the ear piece, I raced through the snow running away from multiple giant corruptions, 10 foot taller than me, Gray bodies, Sharp teeth, battered skin, they dashed after me swinging their arms, shaking the ground and shrieking at me.
I rolled over dodging one that tried to grab me as I led them across a field full of snow and ice, Snow continued to fall from the sky gently grazing our skin. Its cold, freezing and I’m so irritated. “Gwen!” I yelled again, sliding under a fallen tree heading into the forest side.
“Patience” Gwen yelled back at me, “I don’t have time for that” I yelled out in frustration, My cheeks were read, I’m losing my breath, hopping over logs and dodging branches sliding under fallen trees. I’m at my limit now, just a little more adrenanline and I’ll go into a frenzy, And I’ll get caught and possibly tested on-
I can’t let that happen. I can’t let anyone find out the secret my mother always forbade me to speak about. Gwens not speaking and I’m about to lose my mind.
Fuck it.
I jumped up and stopped myself from running, my feet slid across the ground, I pulled out my guns and started loading them, “Genesis what the hell are you doing!?” I heard Gwen shout,
“Playing a their game cat and mouse” I said my eyes roaming all the corruptions that were running and scrambling up to get close to me, each one mouth waterings and blood thirsty pushing and trampling each other to get to me.
“Their almost a hundred times your size don’t-” before she could finish, I shot a flaming blue bullet to see where they were, the forest became dark and eerie, and the blue light fell into the darkness. They know I am here to kill them but they also know they can easily kill me, this isn’t my first game of cat and mouse. Will the mouse live, or get torn apart by the bloodthirsty feral cat?
“Gemma glow” I said to my gun as the forest grew silent, I tapped the button on my ear-set causing it to release a shade infront of my right eye, I searched my surroundings the screen on my eye didn’t detect anything over on the left, I looked slowly around me the screen searched, my ear twitch as a sound vibrated my drum coming from behind me, I whipped my head around and twirled my gun in my hand and released dozens of blue flaming bullets which flew into the eye and chest of one of the tall corruptions.
Another peeped from infront of me. Running on all fours like a dog with its mouth wide open, I quickly pressed a button my gun turned into a staff, I tugged my arm back and threw it into the corruptions neck, the corruptions head jerked backwards and caused it’s head to be torn from its body, I used my other gun to shoot the two corruptions running towards me from the left, their bodies were shot but they continued to run with a golden yellow liguid flowing out of them onto the snow, I threw my gun up, “Extend” I yelled and it came back down as a large bazooka like weapon, I got on one nee and blew a giant crimson flame out of it. Their bodies bubbled then exploded their yellow blood getting everywhere and pieces of them rained from the sky.
I ran, lifting my hand up to use a magnetic pull for my staff to come back to me.I jumped onto a corruption and stabbed it in the forehead, I used my weight to swing off the staff and throw popping blue darts at another corruption, blowing its face off and making another fall on its feet, Its nee’s broke off causing it to tumble and I shot it in it’s already gold dripping metling face, I tried to run again but then my left boots heel slipped and clacked and clashed with the right causing me to fall flat on my back.
How did I- Shit the Ice, I forgot about the damn ice!, fuck, Fuck, FUCK I thought as some of the tall corruptions surrounded me but a larger one started to bash their heads and rip their bodies, I closed my eyes trying to focus on moving my back, I felt a liquid on my face, it was cold and sticky. I opened my eyes to see the large corrution over me, The blood of the others oozing out of its mouth. Its hand scrapped the ice as it picked me up and held me. It looked at me with it’s big soulless eyes, I wiggled and tried to get my weapons but it clutched me tighter so I couldn’t move, I saw other corruptions walk from behind it, they all stared from afar as if they weren’t allowed to come closer.
“FR-” The words were loud and it was trying to say something, the voice was deep and distorted
I tilted my head at the misunderstood monster, “Fi” it said, “Poor thing, your anger and sadness really got to you huh” I said quietly, shit no I’m feeling empathy for them, Mother always said not to feel for them, that their poor ruined souls and the organization would be quick to kill me or get suspicious if I started caring for the creatures that destroyed the world.
It looked at me bringing its face closer to my tiny, fragile, body, The word “FrIeNd” Tore from its mouth, showing all of it’s sharp, deadly teeth, as a red dripple of golden blood fell from it’s distorted jaw. It craddled me to its cold gray chest, suffocating me unintentionally in the process, I controlled my breathing, “I am not yer friend” I say but it was all muffled, It pulled me away from its deadly cold hard skin as if it heard me. Tears started to well in my eyes, This poor thing if only I could….save it, restore its life. It knows my secret and it thinks I’m its friend, I couldn’t stop the warm, salty, guilty tears from running down my cheek. “I’m not your friend” I say louder.
“Friend!” It shrieked, Squeezing my body in its large hands, “No” I yelled in a tiny voice taht wasn’t going to be heard. I have a mission to do, I don’t have time for empathy I chose a side and I have no choice but to stick to it.
The corruption started screaming hysterically, it flung me out of its hands as if I were the most disgusting thing it had ever held, I flew back my back slammed into a tree, I slid down the tree back onto the cold icy ground. Shit, I can sway my arms up but my back is possibly fractured, It hurts so much to inhale. I try to not focus on the pain by closing my eyes I opened them when I heard the sound of scattering hungry beasts behind me.
Oh for fucks sake.
They started running towards me, I slowly gained strength in my torso and it was enough to flip myself off my back. My locs all draped over my face. I groaned in pain, I slid my body across the ice, crawling towards my weapon, Looked back to see one almost near my feet, I reached my hand out to activate the magnetic attraction of my weapon to my glove, My weapon flew towards me and the corruption was on top of my leg but I used all the strength I had in my arms to break my weapon through the corruptions skull causing it to free out a loud bellow and it tried to get closer to me, I didn’t want to but I pushed my weapon deeper into its head and shot inside of it causing its head to explode into a million tiny pieces the gold and the force of the explosion pushed me back up, I let the air carry me as I caught my balance and had both guns in my hand, The other corruptions started crawling towards me and I was prepared and finally painfully back on my feet, Right when I was about to start possibly fighting for my life purple glared from above me. Bullets. And they came raining down, killing the corruptions, their bodies being obliterated and lasered, they cried out as their skin was burned from their bones. A latter finally came down and sheilded me from the bullets that almost grazed my skin.
“Time to go tough guy” I heard Gwen say sarcastically through my ear piece, “It’s about damn time” I replied holding the ear piece, while climbing the ladder, she dangerously moved the helicopter as I climbed it as a joke, while the bullets fell. I huffed and could feel all the pain coming to me as I climbed inside. I probably did break my damn back, I thought rubbing it. I saw the back of gwens head peeping from the driver seat of the helicopter, I quietly walked up behind her, ignoring my bosses glares and smacked the back of her head, “You play too much” I said scolded, she only laughed and shook her head, “Well maybe hide next time instead of fighting”
I heard someone clear their throat, i finally turned my attention to my Boss but There was another woman sitting beside her with a tea in her hand. She had a follower next to her, holding a napkin for her. I quickly recognized her pale, icy look from anywhere, Madam Aquilo. Leader of the Frost dragon branch, The world has changed alot since the apocolypse, It splint into five and the seasons are year long in different places. In this place crystal valley, Its only ever winter the ice never melts and it snows everyday.
There are 3 branches, they are the new form of government, their weapons are elemental and based off your blood type and which branch you join, of course there are people not apart of any branch and just defend against corruption attacks. By the way my boss is staring at me I can tell that I’m introuble, I was only ment to retrive not attack.
The branch leader looked me up and down as her follower stood at her side, I raised and eyebrow and walked over to grab my jacket.
“What?” I ask, Not understanding why a branch leader was here and why she’s stressing out. The boss shook her head.
“Show some respect!” she yelled at me, I rolled my eyes and sat down un-zipping my suit, exposing my shoulders and the bruises and scratches I had gotten from the attack, “Can’t you see I’m bruised you should show me some respect” I say mocking her.
“Stop joking around!” She yelled, “Give me peace” I turned around, my back facing them, My undershirt tightly hugged my body but felt loose. I pulled my pink badazzled medicine bottle out and poured three pills in my hand, and tossed them down my throat. Then I felt a pair of cold hands on my back, freezing hands. My spine became more relax and the pain seemed to have dissapeared I turned around and quickly faced Madam Aquilo, Her follower was still standing by her seat.
“What did that corruption say to you” she asked, her voice was soft, quiet but stern. I I lokked her in her eyes, though I wasn’t completely unphased by her closeness, Being close to her puts me at rick of being discovered. I heard her that she can freeze your heart with one tap of her finger, one jolt and that it can freeze your insides. People describe her as terrifying and with an icy, serene vibe. She’s lives up to her title. I slowly distance myself from her hands, and from her body as a whole.
“I couldn’t understand it” I lied, making intense eye contact, “You seemed to be having a conversation with though, are you sure you couldn’t understand it?” she asked me again with more curiosity in her voice. The helicopter grew silent, the boss didn’t mutter a word as I stared into Madam Aquilo’s eyes and she gazed back into mine with her crystal white eyes.
“I couldn’t understand it” I say again, she stared into my eyes for a little while longer before nodding, “Your very impressive” She walked back over to where she was sitting, she held out her hand and her follower placed two white gloves with the symbol of a white dragon on it. “Well Genesis is one of our S class defenders, she’s more suited for missions though so I-”
“So you sent a defender that could possibly die from corruptions into a level Ace mission” Madam Aquilo said as if she figured it all out on her own, “I knew she wouldn’t die I-…she was only suppose to retrieve something she wasn’t supposed to-”
“No you didn’t know if she’d die or not you took a risk, a dumb risk you should have given us the mission and let us handle it” Aquilo said cutting her off.
My boss dropped her head, “My apolo-” I interrupted by loudly sighing, “How annoying” I muttered pulling my jacket over my arms and zipping my jacket back up. The madam looked over at me, her lips pulled into a little smile. “Annoying?” She asked with a little smirk on her face. her follower seemed to be disturbed by the smile, a little fear wavered in her eyes. “Yes, Annoying…I’m not dead I’m fine and I’m capable of taking care of myself when I’m in danger” I said sitting down across from her, I crossed one leg over the other and took my pony tail out. All my locs fell down my back and layed along the seat with me. I pulled two pieces from the sides of my face to tie them together so they could hold my locs out my face. She smiled and started laughing a little. Her eyes were fixated on my body, “Your a good one” She said reverting back to her icy, vibe.
I could feel Gwen tense up, looking at me through her top mirror as she flew the plane. Her hand clutched hard onto the control stick, I was sure she’s gripping it so tight it was going to leave dents. I glanced away from Gwen back at my boss. My boss looked nervous and scared, I sighed before I spoke again.
“Forgive my rudeness, I’m just irritated and in pain” I said in a more appropriate way of speaking to an higher up. She looked at my boss and nodded her head. “I think she’ll fit just fine, I’ll let you know tomorrow” She said, I scrunched my eyebrows. What are they talking about?
“Well thats a relief” my boss said timidly with a weary smile on her face. The helicopter was about to land, I looked out the door. The giant 890 foot wall wasn’t welcoming at all the gloomy way all the dead corrution bodies and Human bodies were meld together, brought back throbbing memories of the apocolypse. I close my eyes as we land on the wall, Gwen cuts off the helicopters engine everything goes quiet, only thing that can be heard is Madam’s pearly rose white heels clacking on the floorboard, exiting the helicopter and her follower trailing behind her. Gwen got up and picked up her bag, she hopped out and leaned against the helicopter waiting for me, I got up straightening my back out and rubbing my sore sides, but before I could walk out the boss grabbed my arm. I winced in pain, and snatched my arm away from her. “What the hell” I say turning to her and rubbing my arm. “Look, I know your respect for me is low” She starts, “Its nonexistant” I corrected her.
“Genesis, Listen” She says in a concerned voice, I concentrate on the wavelegnth of her body and she feels really worried. I inhale deeply and exhale softly. “I’m listening” I say softening my voice.
“The Branches want you to start something with them, I’m not quiet…um..sure what But i know anything dealing with them is….dangerous” She exclaims, as if she’s finding out the best way to tell me that life is about to get a whole lot harder. “And-”
“Michelle, I’m going to be fine don’t worry about me okay” I say stepping toward the doorway, “Worry about your other agents, but not me” I stepped out the helicopter. Gwen banged her hand on the helicopter pushing herself off of it. I took out my telepad and started scrolling through my feed and news as i began walking down the stairs. “Bet your ready for a cold shower” Gwen said moving my locs from over my shoulder.
“And my bed” I said, wincing with every step I took down and gravity was practically begging me to lie down or fall out. Gwen grabbed my arm and shifted my weight onto her to make it easier for me to walk. “Thanks” I said smiling a little.
When we got to the bottom the gaurds were standing around playing chest and drinking. I stepped off Gwens side and cleared my throat. They all looked at us and started scrambling to hide their ciggerettes and vodka. I shook my head, with a sarcastic smile on my face.
“You owe me nothing” slips out of my mouth and they all look at me. The leader walks over and stands infront of me. “You got a problem?” He asks trying to intimidate me with a feral look in his eye.
Gwen, Steps infront of me trying to protect me because of my injuries, But I lift my arm and push her to the side. “I’m out there bussing my ass, and your all here drinking…and smoking?” I say in a louder voice. “What does it matter, we didn’t ask you to” One of the gaurds say.
The Leader, lifts his hand up at the guy behind him to shut him up. “Yes we are” He says with a chuckle, an annoying chuckle and it pisses me off. All the anger I have built up in me is about to cause me to do something I’m going to regret. Before I can think on it even a little more, My arm is moving on its own and I’m punching the leader in the face, with a force behind it so strong it knockes him back and onto the ground. Gwen grabs my arms and pushes me away fro m the now angry gaurds.
“How dare you!” One of them yells and I stopped letting Gwen push me, I turn around and face all of them. “If something gets in, One slip up, One crack on that wall..” I say pointing at the wall, they all followed my finger and then looked back at me. “We’re all dead and you’ll be the first ones to go” I said leaning on Gwen. “Their lives arn’t in just my hands, Their in your hands. So tighten up and do your fucking job!” I yelled. They all just walked away shaking their head, But they threw their ciggerettes down, they wasted their vodka and whiskey in the grass allowing it to soak it all up and be poisioned by human pleasure.
I roll my eyes and shake my head before turning to Gwen.
“I’m fine, I’m fine” I said patting her shoulder lightly and she looked at me and smiled a little. “Sorry I was acting like a bitch, I’m just stressed and-” ,
“Irritated because of the pain, I know” She says pulling me closer to her. We walked through into the town, looking around. People glanced but none of them dared stare or speak to us. I wish people weren’t so scared of us. I can only hope in furture, were able to free people of the fear of whats beyond the wall.
The car, With its white fumes lightly visible and its engine quietly rumbling. The ground beneath it slightly vibrated, and the wheels gripped the ground as it was parked to the side of a store, out of the way of people walking, doing chores outside and children playing. We walked up to the vehicle, Gwen opened the door for me and helped me sit down. I let out a loud grunt when I sat in the soft seat, The other door closed as Gwen sat beside me and buckled her seat belt on. She looked me as the car started moving forward.
“What?” I asked looking back at her, “Put your seatbelt on” She replied shaking her head.
“No, if something happens I don’t want to be stuck in my seat” I say and she looked me with a sad smile on her face, She didn’t speak for a bit and turned over to look out the window. “Your always with you gaurd up…..always” She said quietly closing her eyes to take a short nap.
***
There was a knock on my door, it after being hit once my door was hit again. It left a eerie quiet vibe floating around in my home. I sighed getting up from my digitalbook, the floor was warm and my living room was dimly lit. I looked through my peek hole and saw a stressed out gwen and peter standing outside my door. Gwens face was red, her eyebrows were scrunched up and her forehead all wrinkled I could tell something was wrong. Peters arms were crossed and I could feel him taking deep breaths out there. The lock clicked when I twisted it, I turned my knob opening the door.
“Yall okay?” I asked, Peter dashed in my house and immediantly walked into my kitchen. I followed his movements in my kitchen, Gwen, unlike peter, walked in slowly and looked as if she was taking everything in. She turned me and looked like she was trying to relax.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re good” She said sighing out. “So….what happened?” I asked turning around and facing them. Peter was gathering ingridents to do what he always does when he’s stressed, Cook. and Gwen shut my door for me. I crossed my arms and death stared Gwen as she turned her back to me and walked to sit down on my couch. “I can feel your eyes on me” She said moving the scooting the pillow over.
“Yall are stressin and its irritating me because your not telling me why” I looked at her and got closer to her, whispering “You know I can physically feel your emotions and its pinching my skin”, gwen let out a breath. “Their pairing you up someone!” Peter yelled before gwen could open her mouth again. Really. They’re stressing over this, I’m not much of a team player but I don’t mind working with someone.
“So..?” I inquire, “Your gonna be going on Ace missons from now on and she has to tag along…..She’s still in training” Gwen whined, her voice with every drop of this is a bad idea leaking through it. She has all sorts of worry in her voice. I get it, I understand. They want me to work with a trainee and go on Ace missions for the branches. Gwen got closer to me whispering, “She’s gonna be working closely with you, She could be spying on you, you saw the way the branch leader was looking at you-”
“I’ll be fine, Calm down” I say pinching her cheek. Gwen jerked back and rubbed the cheek that I pinched. “Well you’re still going to have some time to spend with her, And she’s gonna be there everytime we go out there, So you better not fuck it up” Gwen replied pointing at me. “Why are you worried about this though pete?” I asked Peter, he stood in the kitchen still cooking. “And what are you cooking?” Gwen turned around to face him.
“I’m cooking chicken Alfredo” He replied as the grease on the pan popped and cooked the kitchen. “And the girl your gonna be training with is little cousin”
Me and Gwen looked at each other. Peter doesn’t talk about his family much, so this new. I always thought they were all murdered like the rest of us. Lost to monsters who couldn’t even understand their own blood lust. I got up and walked into the kitchen cleaning up the dishes he used. “If your cousin is anything like you then we’ll have no problems” I smiled at him. Peter is kind, empathetic but when he is on battlefeild, he’s a ruthless, cold hearted killing machine. Something corrupts hate fear probably more than me.
“She’s a fool” He says with a sad smile on his face.
“What?” I ask confused, “You’ll see” He waves the spatula at me, the grease makes the chicken pop more violently and sizzle when he adds more. I smiled at him. “Well as long as she’s with me, She’ll be fine” I say walking back into the living room. Gwen layed on the couch, dead asleep, her nose twitching slightly. I grab the blanket that is folded neatly on the armchair and placed it under her head, smoothing her hair out of her face before I sat down next to her. Peter walks over carrying two plates of food in his hand. He places one plate on the coffee table and sits down.
“Eat” He commanded. “I know that you’re starving, I can practically smell your hunger” I smiled at him.
“Fat ass” I say as I pick up a fork, He looks down at his body and then laughs at me. “Where?” He asks sarcastically and I roll my eyes.
“Good mission today?” He asks, twisting his fork in the plate of noodles pulling them all together noddle by noodle. I shake my head as I chew, trying to clear my mouth out before I speak. “It was okay” I mummble not really wanting to talk about the corruptions. He gives me a curious look, and takes another bite before saying, “They weren’t very pleasant…the ones we took care of last week….they almost killed me” He sighed.
“What did you expect Pete, To play a game of hide and seek?” I ask, He shakes his head. “No but haven’t you noticed…Their being more aggressive than usual.. and the attacks are getting larger and more concerning” He has a point. The corruptions today, they wouldn’t have really bothered me, Had they not seen me.
It’s not like them to chase when they can’t keep up, but they did for some reason today. Forest corruptions are very lenient in their territory they don’t usually hunt humans of they smell them but they will attack you if they spot you. It’s like the more free they are the less violent they are.
They have become lazy in their ways, but if you’re not careful you could accidentally step into their territory.
They were more aggressive than they usually were, and they had increased the number of kills they had made recently. “Hey, Are you listening?” Peter snaps at me snapping me out of my thoughts. “yeah sorry” I reply looking down at my empty plate.
“Did you eat my Alfredo?” I ask turning to him. “No you did and you just kept nawing on the fork just now” he says taking my plate from my hands. “Here I’ll leave you the rest of the Alfredo in the pan” I heard him say as he started cleaning the dishes in my sink.
I turn and look at Gwen who still lays, asleep on my couch. I move her hair out of her face before going to my room.
“Hey, Pete lock my door when you leave” I say as I stretch my arms out in front of me. He nodds and I walk in my room, the door echoing closed behind me. I flop down on my bed, No shower, No changing my clothes just laid right down on my bed. I didn’t even take my shoes off. I just wanted to go to sleep. I pulled my pillow onto my chest and hugged it tightly.
***
My ringtone. I can hear my ringtone trying to wake me and break me away from my sleep. The blackness and darkness of my eyelids is comforting but I don’t mind getting up. I blink open my eyes and when I turn on my belly to look out my window, I can see the night sky full of twinkling stars in the night sky.
There wasn’t much light coming in from my window and the curtains only covered my view so it looked like I was sleeping inside. I sat up when my ringtone stopped and grabbed my telepad from my night stand. “Yellow” I answered. A huff and a puff and I heard Michelles reckless, nervous voice through the speaker. “Genesis, I need you to come down to Headquarters” She says.
“Oh really?” I ask, a yawn escaping my lips as I spoke. “Yes, I need you here now and in my office” She says.
“What for…at this time of night…at three A.M” I smirk. There was silence, it made me snicker a little. It’s so easy to mess with Michelle, she’s a good leader, a good boss and overall I have a lot of respect for her. But I love to bother her. I walk through the door and can see Gwen watching Tv on my couch. I squint and scruntch up my eyebrows at her. She seriously didn’t leave?
“Should I prepare myself” I try to say without laughing, “For what?” Michelle asks,
“For tonight, in your office should I wear something loose” I giggle even louder now.
“Genesis” I hear Michelle say, “Michelle” I say her name coyly.
“Stop that and just get here” She sighs. I laugh a little and reply, “If you don’t give me anymore context I’m gonna think that this is a-”
“This is not a goddamn booty call, get your ass to Headquarters now!” She yells even louder and Gwen whips her head around at the sound. I laugh so hard I nearly drop my phone, Gwen shakes her head. “Alright alright geez” I said laughing again. “I’m on my way” I say. “Thank you” Michelle replies quietly. I sigh and hang up the call.
Gwen walks out the door with me as I walk up to a company car that was sent to my address.
“You coming too?” I ask her, she nodded. I opened the door and typed the GPS on the pad of the car. It started off slowly then the car started to pick up the pace. It was smooth ride, no one was on the streets. You could see a couple of lights on but it was mostly dark in the town as we rode. The moon was bright red and the sky cracked. I trailed my finger on the window along the cracks I could see. The apocalypse really ruined the earth. The moon is red the sun is silver. The sky is cracked at night as if it was a peice of glass that had been broken into.
“Why are you always bothering Michelle like that?” Gwen asked, she was smiling. Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“It’s fun” I shrug, “Your a bitch” She nudges me. “So? Michelle needs to get that uptight pole from up her ass” I say looking out the window. The rest of the ride is silent. It’s not a bad silence its a comfortable silence. We pull up outside of HQ and I jump out the car. I slam the car door shut and start walking towards the building and she follows me. We enter the elevator and press the button for floor 6. I glance at Gwen every now and then. Mainly because I can feel her fear, “Gwen stop that” I say pinching my nose.
“What?” She asks, shifting over to me. “What the hell are you afraid of” I asked her as the elevator stopped. The door didn’t open, I started her in the eyes. My new formed attitude from her nervous behavior is seeping through. “What are you scared of?” I repeat.
She stares at me as I stare back, and then turns around to stare out of the elevator. I roll my eyes and turn to walk out of the elevator. When we walked in the room everyone looked at us, from the seats where they sat.
All three branches leaders, and a girl who stood with her back facing me. She didn’t turn around as the door clicked shut behind us. I crossed my arms at the silence, Gwen and Michelles Nerves were now pinching me all over. Madam Aquoli looked my way, her cold eyes froze all the hairs on my spine.
“Are you gonna say something or am I that mesmerizing to stare at” I say rolling my eyes. They didn’t say anything, the silence was suffocating, Supisingly enough Madam Aquoli destroyed the silence with her laughter. “Cheeky one you are” She sighed, the other branch leaders looked at her.
I shrug and walk up beside the girl who stood at the table. She had white skin, she has a slim waist and her hips meets her with thick round thighs. She wore ripped jeans with a tight turtleneck. Her short brown hair was put in a low bun. She didn’t say anything just glanced up at me. Michelle clears her throat and we both turn to face her.
“Genesis meet your Trainee, Cinzi” She claps, I glanced down at her as she glances up. I can feel curiosity, from Cinzi but nothing else. Her curiosity soothes down Michelle and Gwens nerves. “You’ll be going on Ace level missions for the Branches now”, I could feel Michelle’s voice as it trembled.
“With a trainee” I pointed at Cinzi, she stared at my finger. “Yes Genesis.” I raise an eyebrow at the tone in her voice. I turned to Michelle. “Didn’t think I’d get a trainee this soon” I say sarcastically. Michelle looks down at her feet. “I’ve spoken to the other Branch leaders and we think your qualified” Madam Aquoli say, returning to her cold demeanor and freezing voice.
“We know what were doing” Polars sun, says. Her deep voice nearly makes me lose my footing. She is just as intimidating as Madam Aquoli, she has brown skin, golden eyes and golden marking down her neck. She wears her lip stick bloody read and her hair curly with two braids complimenting them on the side. She is so…beautiful. I lean on the desk.
“I won’t risk my life to protect her” I say coldly, Cinzi looks at me for a little but then quickly turns back around and looks back towards the Branches and Michelle. Her curiousity is just growing within her. Gwen smacks the back of my head, “What she means is, Will Cinzi be able to protect her self when the time comes”, I rubb the back of my head. Cinzi keeps glancing over, her gaze flicking between the two of us. I watch as she crosses and uncrosses her arm before settling it in her lap.
Her curiosity, it’s like a firework show. It was bursting, shooting and exploding all at the same time. She looked like she wanted to talk to me. “yes?” I say turning towards her. She looks a bit surprised but begins to speak.
“You won’t have to protect me, I’m capable of protecting myself” She says, “Oh and here I thought and was told you were a fool” I tease. A smirk forms on her lips, “A fool that could whoop your ass…and…peters” She adds. Her eyes are ignited, and she seems excited. It made me smile.
“Your right, Po you must know what your doing” I sighed with a smile on my face, Polaris sun looked at us a quiet chuckle left her lips. “I like her” She said turning towards Mother pearl. “She is quiet the character” Mother pearl smiled. “Your first mission is tommorow, Meet infront of headquarters I’ll give you the run down” Michelle sighed. She has wry smile on her face, she’s no longer nervous but worried.
“Your dismissed” Michelle says and the gaurds open the doors to let us all out. Gwen grabs my hand and practically drags me out of the room. The sound of Cinzi’s footsteps follow us out.
“What the hell was that on there” She groans, “All of the branches in there an your acting like a fucking flirt” She adds. “Gwen I can say what I want and act however I want-”
“I know but what if…what if they took you behavior s as….I don’t know unreliable” She whined. Cinzi, walked up to me, I looked down at her. She’s only an inch shorter than me. “Yes?” I asked her, being able to feel the questions within her started to really cause my own curiosity to rush off the leash. “Are you as strong as everyone says you are” She asks me. “I don’t know, are you much of a fool your cousin said you were” I reply crossing my arms. Her eyes widen for a split second, but her expression changed. She looked away quickly. “Don’t worry about your cousins opinion…” I shrugged leaning against the wall of the hallway. I felt her stare at me. Her eyes narrowed on me. “I’ll gain my own one of you” I said waving her off and walking away. Gwen trailed behind me.
Cinzi…She’ll make an interesting trainee I’m sure.
“Hurry the hell up Gwen!” I yelled through the ear piece, I raced through the snow running away from multiple giant corruptions, 10 foot taller than me, Gray bodies, Sharp teeth, battered skin, they dashed after me swinging their arms, shaking the ground and shrieking at me.
I rolled over dodging one that tried to grab me as I led them across a field full of snow and ice, Snow continued to fall from the sky gently grazing our skin. Its cold, freezing and I’m so irritated. “Gwen!” I yelled again, sliding under a fallen tree heading into the forest side.
“Patience” Gwen yelled back at me, “I don’t have time for that” I yelled out in frustration, My cheeks were read, I’m losing my breath, hopping over logs and dodging branches sliding under fallen trees. I’m at my limit now, just a little more adrenanline and I’ll go into a frenzy, And I’ll get caught and possibly tested on-
I can’t let that happen. I can’t let anyone find out the secret my mother always forbade me to speak about. Gwens not speaking and I’m about to lose my mind.
Fuck it.
I jumped up and stopped myself from running, my feet slid across the ground, I pulled out my guns and started loading them, “Genesis what the hell are you doing!?” I heard Gwen shout,
“Playing a their game cat and mouse” I said my eyes roaming all the corruptions that were running and scrambling up to get close to me, each one mouth waterings and blood thirsty pushing and trampling each other to get to me.
“Their almost a hundred times your size don’t-” before she could finish, I shot a flaming blue bullet to see where they were, the forest became dark and eerie, and the blue light fell into the darkness. They know I am here to kill them but they also know they can easily kill me, this isn’t my first game of cat and mouse. Will the mouse live, or get torn apart by the bloodthirsty feral cat?
“Gemma glow” I said to my gun as the forest grew silent, I tapped the button on my ear-set causing it to release a shade infront of my right eye, I searched my surroundings the screen on my eye didn’t detect anything over on the left, I looked slowly around me the screen searched, my ear twitch as a sound vibrated my drum coming from behind me, I whipped my head around and twirled my gun in my hand and released dozens of blue flaming bullets which flew into the eye and chest of one of the tall corruptions.
Another peeped from infront of me. Running on all fours like a dog with its mouth wide open, I quickly pressed a button my gun turned into a staff, I tugged my arm back and threw it into the corruptions neck, the corruptions head jerked backwards and caused it’s head to be torn from its body, I used my other gun to shoot the two corruptions running towards me from the left, their bodies were shot but they continued to run with a golden yellow liguid flowing out of them onto the snow, I threw my gun up, “Extend” I yelled and it came back down as a large bazooka like weapon, I got on one nee and blew a giant crimson flame out of it. Their bodies bubbled then exploded their yellow blood getting everywhere and pieces of them rained from the sky.
I ran, lifting my hand up to use a magnetic pull for my staff to come back to me.I jumped onto a corruption and stabbed it in the forehead, I used my weight to swing off the staff and throw popping blue darts at another corruption, blowing its face off and making another fall on its feet, Its nee’s broke off causing it to tumble and I shot it in it’s already gold dripping metling face, I tried to run again but then my left boots heel slipped and clacked and clashed with the right causing me to fall flat on my back.
How did I- Shit the Ice, I forgot about the damn ice!, fuck, Fuck, FUCK I thought as some of the tall corruptions surrounded me but a larger one started to bash their heads and rip their bodies, I closed my eyes trying to focus on moving my back, I felt a liquid on my face, it was cold and sticky. I opened my eyes to see the large corrution over me, The blood of the others oozing out of its mouth. Its hand scrapped the ice as it picked me up and held me. It looked at me with it’s big soulless eyes, I wiggled and tried to get my weapons but it clutched me tighter so I couldn’t move, I saw other corruptions walk from behind it, they all stared from afar as if they weren’t allowed to come closer.
“FR-” The words were loud and it was trying to say something, the voice was deep and distorted
I tilted my head at the misunderstood monster, “Fi” it said, “Poor thing, your anger and sadness really got to you huh” I said quietly, shit no I’m feeling empathy for them, Mother always said not to feel for them, that their poor ruined souls and the organization would be quick to kill me or get suspicious if I started caring for the creatures that destroyed the world.
It looked at me bringing its face closer to my tiny, fragile, body, The word “FrIeNd” Tore from its mouth, showing all of it’s sharp, deadly teeth, as a red dripple of golden blood fell from it’s distorted jaw. It craddled me to its cold gray chest, suffocating me unintentionally in the process, I controlled my breathing, “I am not yer friend” I say but it was all muffled, It pulled me away from its deadly cold hard skin as if it heard me. Tears started to well in my eyes, This poor thing if only I could….save it, restore its life. It knows my secret and it thinks I’m its friend, I couldn’t stop the warm, salty, guilty tears from running down my cheek. “I’m not your friend” I say louder.
“Friend!” It shrieked, Squeezing my body in its large hands, “No” I yelled in a tiny voice taht wasn’t going to be heard. I have a mission to do, I don’t have time for empathy I chose a side and I have no choice but to stick to it.
The corruption started screaming hysterically, it flung me out of its hands as if I were the most disgusting thing it had ever held, I flew back my back slammed into a tree, I slid down the tree back onto the cold icy ground. Shit, I can sway my arms up but my back is possibly fractured, It hurts so much to inhale. I try to not focus on the pain by closing my eyes I opened them when I heard the sound of scattering hungry beasts behind me.
Oh for fucks sake.
They started running towards me, I slowly gained strength in my torso and it was enough to flip myself off my back. My locs all draped over my face. I groaned in pain, I slid my body across the ice, crawling towards my weapon, Looked back to see one almost near my feet, I reached my hand out to activate the magnetic attraction of my weapon to my glove, My weapon flew towards me and the corruption was on top of my leg but I used all the strength I had in my arms to break my weapon through the corruptions skull causing it to free out a loud bellow and it tried to get closer to me, I didn’t want to but I pushed my weapon deeper into its head and shot inside of it causing its head to explode into a million tiny pieces the gold and the force of the explosion pushed me back up, I let the air carry me as I caught my balance and had both guns in my hand, The other corruptions started crawling towards me and I was prepared and finally painfully back on my feet, Right when I was about to start possibly fighting for my life purple glared from above me. Bullets. And they came raining down, killing the corruptions, their bodies being obliterated and lasered, they cried out as their skin was burned from their bones. A latter finally came down and sheilded me from the bullets that almost grazed my skin.
“Time to go tough guy” I heard Gwen say sarcastically through my ear piece, “It’s about damn time” I replied holding the ear piece, while climbing the ladder, she dangerously moved the helicopter as I climbed it as a joke, while the bullets fell. I huffed and could feel all the pain coming to me as I climbed inside. I probably did break my damn back, I thought rubbing it. I saw the back of gwens head peeping from the driver seat of the helicopter, I quietly walked up behind her, ignoring my bosses glares and smacked the back of her head, “You play too much” I said scolded, she only laughed and shook her head, “Well maybe hide next time instead of fighting”
I heard someone clear their throat, i finally turned my attention to my Boss but There was another woman sitting beside her with a tea in her hand. She had a follower next to her, holding a napkin for her. I quickly recognized her pale, icy look from anywhere, Madam Aquilo. Leader of the Frost dragon branch, The world has changed alot since the apocolypse, It splint into five and the seasons are year long in different places. In this place crystal valley, Its only ever winter the ice never melts and it snows everyday.
There are 3 branches, they are the new form of government, their weapons are elemental and based off your blood type and which branch you join, of course there are people not apart of any branch and just defend against corruption attacks. By the way my boss is staring at me I can tell that I’m introuble, I was only ment to retrive not attack.
The branch leader looked me up and down as her follower stood at her side, I raised and eyebrow and walked over to grab my jacket.
“What?” I ask, Not understanding why a branch leader was here and why she’s stressing out. The boss shook her head.
“Show some respect!” she yelled at me, I rolled my eyes and sat down un-zipping my suit, exposing my shoulders and the bruises and scratches I had gotten from the attack, “Can’t you see I’m bruised you should show me some respect” I say mocking her.
“Stop joking around!” She yelled, “Give me peace” I turned around, my back facing them, My undershirt tightly hugged my body but felt loose. I pulled my pink badazzled medicine bottle out and poured three pills in my hand, and tossed them down my throat. Then I felt a pair of cold hands on my back, freezing hands. My spine became more relax and the pain seemed to have dissapeared I turned around and quickly faced Madam Aquilo, Her follower was still standing by her seat.
“What did that corruption say to you” she asked, her voice was soft, quiet but stern. I I lokked her in her eyes, though I wasn’t completely unphased by her closeness, Being close to her puts me at rick of being discovered. I heard her that she can freeze your heart with one tap of her finger, one jolt and that it can freeze your insides. People describe her as terrifying and with an icy, serene vibe. She’s lives up to her title. I slowly distance myself from her hands, and from her body as a whole.
“I couldn’t understand it” I lied, making intense eye contact, “You seemed to be having a conversation with though, are you sure you couldn’t understand it?” she asked me again with more curiosity in her voice. The helicopter grew silent, the boss didn’t mutter a word as I stared into Madam Aquilo’s eyes and she gazed back into mine with her crystal white eyes.
“I couldn’t understand it” I say again, she stared into my eyes for a little while longer before nodding, “Your very impressive” She walked back over to where she was sitting, she held out her hand and her follower placed two white gloves with the symbol of a white dragon on it. “Well Genesis is one of our S class defenders, she’s more suited for missions though so I-”
“So you sent a defender that could possibly die from corruptions into a level Ace mission” Madam Aquilo said as if she figured it all out on her own, “I knew she wouldn’t die I-…she was only suppose to retrieve something she wasn’t supposed to-”
“No you didn’t know if she’d die or not you took a risk, a dumb risk you should have given us the mission and let us handle it” Aquilo said cutting her off.
My boss dropped her head, “My apolo-” I interrupted by loudly sighing, “How annoying” I muttered pulling my jacket over my arms and zipping my jacket back up. The madam looked over at me, her lips pulled into a little smile. “Annoying?” She asked with a little smirk on her face. her follower seemed to be disturbed by the smile, a little fear wavered in her eyes. “Yes, Annoying…I’m not dead I’m fine and I’m capable of taking care of myself when I’m in danger” I said sitting down across from her, I crossed one leg over the other and took my pony tail out. All my locs fell down my back and layed along the seat with me. I pulled two pieces from the sides of my face to tie them together so they could hold my locs out my face. She smiled and started laughing a little. Her eyes were fixated on my body, “Your a good one” She said reverting back to her icy, vibe.
I could feel Gwen tense up, looking at me through her top mirror as she flew the plane. Her hand clutched hard onto the control stick, I was sure she’s gripping it so tight it was going to leave dents. I glanced away from Gwen back at my boss. My boss looked nervous and scared, I sighed before I spoke again.
“Forgive my rudeness, I’m just irritated and in pain” I said in a more appropriate way of speaking to an higher up. She looked at my boss and nodded her head. “I think she’ll fit just fine, I’ll let you know tomorrow” She said, I scrunched my eyebrows. What are they talking about?
“Well thats a relief” my boss said timidly with a weary smile on her face. The helicopter was about to land, I looked out the door. The giant 890 foot wall wasn’t welcoming at all the gloomy way all the dead corrution bodies and Human bodies were meld together, brought back throbbing memories of the apocolypse. I close my eyes as we land on the wall, Gwen cuts off the helicopters engine everything goes quiet, only thing that can be heard is Madam’s pearly rose white heels clacking on the floorboard, exiting the helicopter and her follower trailing behind her. Gwen got up and picked up her bag, she hopped out and leaned against the helicopter waiting for me, I got up straightening my back out and rubbing my sore sides, but before I could walk out the boss grabbed my arm. I winced in pain, and snatched my arm away from her. “What the hell” I say turning to her and rubbing my arm. “Look, I know your respect for me is low” She starts, “Its nonexistant” I corrected her.
“Genesis, Listen” She says in a concerned voice, I concentrate on the wavelegnth of her body and she feels really worried. I inhale deeply and exhale softly. “I’m listening” I say softening my voice.
“The Branches want you to start something with them, I’m not quiet…um..sure what But i know anything dealing with them is….dangerous” She exclaims, as if she’s finding out the best way to tell me that life is about to get a whole lot harder. “And-”
“Michelle, I’m going to be fine don’t worry about me okay” I say stepping toward the doorway, “Worry about your other agents, but not me” I stepped out the helicopter. Gwen banged her hand on the helicopter pushing herself off of it. I took out my telepad and started scrolling through my feed and news as i began walking down the stairs. “Bet your ready for a cold shower” Gwen said moving my locs from over my shoulder.
“And my bed” I said, wincing with every step I took down and gravity was practically begging me to lie down or fall out. Gwen grabbed my arm and shifted my weight onto her to make it easier for me to walk. “Thanks” I said smiling a little.
When we got to the bottom the gaurds were standing around playing chest and drinking. I stepped off Gwens side and cleared my throat. They all looked at us and started scrambling to hide their ciggerettes and vodka. I shook my head, with a sarcastic smile on my face.
“You owe me nothing” slips out of my mouth and they all look at me. The leader walks over and stands infront of me. “You got a problem?” He asks trying to intimidate me with a feral look in his eye.
Gwen, Steps infront of me trying to protect me because of my injuries, But I lift my arm and push her to the side. “I’m out there bussing my ass, and your all here drinking…and smoking?” I say in a louder voice. “What does it matter, we didn’t ask you to” One of the gaurds say.
The Leader, lifts his hand up at the guy behind him to shut him up. “Yes we are” He says with a chuckle, an annoying chuckle and it pisses me off. All the anger I have built up in me is about to cause me to do something I’m going to regret. Before I can think on it even a little more, My arm is moving on its own and I’m punching the leader in the face, with a force behind it so strong it knockes him back and onto the ground. Gwen grabs my arms and pushes me away fro m the now angry gaurds.
“How dare you!” One of them yells and I stopped letting Gwen push me, I turn around and face all of them. “If something gets in, One slip up, One crack on that wall..” I say pointing at the wall, they all followed my finger and then looked back at me. “We’re all dead and you’ll be the first ones to go” I said leaning on Gwen. “Their lives arn’t in just my hands, Their in your hands. So tighten up and do your fucking job!” I yelled. They all just walked away shaking their head, But they threw their ciggerettes down, they wasted their vodka and whiskey in the grass allowing it to soak it all up and be poisioned by human pleasure.
I roll my eyes and shake my head before turning to Gwen.
“I’m fine, I’m fine” I said patting her shoulder lightly and she looked at me and smiled a little. “Sorry I was acting like a bitch, I’m just stressed and-” ,
“Irritated because of the pain, I know” She says pulling me closer to her. We walked through into the town, looking around. People glanced but none of them dared stare or speak to us. I wish people weren’t so scared of us. I can only hope in furture, were able to free people of the fear of whats beyond the wall.
The car, With its white fumes lightly visible and its engine quietly rumbling. The ground beneath it slightly vibrated, and the wheels gripped the ground as it was parked to the side of a store, out of the way of people walking, doing chores outside and children playing. We walked up to the vehicle, Gwen opened the door for me and helped me sit down. I let out a loud grunt when I sat in the soft seat, The other door closed as Gwen sat beside me and buckled her seat belt on. She looked me as the car started moving forward.
“What?” I asked looking back at her, “Put your seatbelt on” She replied shaking her head.
“No, if something happens I don’t want to be stuck in my seat” I say and she looked me with a sad smile on her face, She didn’t speak for a bit and turned over to look out the window. “Your always with you gaurd up…..always” She said quietly closing her eyes to take a short nap.
***
There was a knock on my door, it after being hit once my door was hit again. It left a eerie quiet vibe floating around in my home. I sighed getting up from my digitalbook, the floor was warm and my living room was dimly lit. I looked through my peek hole and saw a stressed out gwen and peter standing outside my door. Gwens face was red, her eyebrows were scrunched up and her forehead all wrinkled I could tell something was wrong. Peters arms were crossed and I could feel him taking deep breaths out there. The lock clicked when I twisted it, I turned my knob opening the door.
“Yall okay?” I asked, Peter dashed in my house and immediantly walked into my kitchen. I followed his movements in my kitchen, Gwen, unlike peter, walked in slowly and looked as if she was taking everything in. She turned me and looked like she was trying to relax.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re good” She said sighing out. “So….what happened?” I asked turning around and facing them. Peter was gathering ingridents to do what he always does when he’s stressed, Cook. and Gwen shut my door for me. I crossed my arms and death stared Gwen as she turned her back to me and walked to sit down on my couch. “I can feel your eyes on me” She said moving the scooting the pillow over.
“Yall are stressin and its irritating me because your not telling me why” I looked at her and got closer to her, whispering “You know I can physically feel your emotions and its pinching my skin”, gwen let out a breath. “Their pairing you up someone!” Peter yelled before gwen could open her mouth again. Really. They’re stressing over this, I’m not much of a team player but I don’t mind working with someone.
“So..?” I inquire, “Your gonna be going on Ace missons from now on and she has to tag along…..She’s still in training” Gwen whined, her voice with every drop of this is a bad idea leaking through it. She has all sorts of worry in her voice. I get it, I understand. They want me to work with a trainee and go on Ace missions for the branches. Gwen got closer to me whispering, “She’s gonna be working closely with you, She could be spying on you, you saw the way the branch leader was looking at you-”
“I’ll be fine, Calm down” I say pinching her cheek. Gwen jerked back and rubbed the cheek that I pinched. “Well you’re still going to have some time to spend with her, And she’s gonna be there everytime we go out there, So you better not fuck it up” Gwen replied pointing at me. “Why are you worried about this though pete?” I asked Peter, he stood in the kitchen still cooking. “And what are you cooking?” Gwen turned around to face him.
“I’m cooking chicken Alfredo” He replied as the grease on the pan popped and cooked the kitchen. “And the girl your gonna be training with is little cousin”
Me and Gwen looked at each other. Peter doesn’t talk about his family much, so this new. I always thought they were all murdered like the rest of us. Lost to monsters who couldn’t even understand their own blood lust. I got up and walked into the kitchen cleaning up the dishes he used. “If your cousin is anything like you then we’ll have no problems” I smiled at him. Peter is kind, empathetic but when he is on battlefeild, he’s a ruthless, cold hearted killing machine. Something corrupts hate fear probably more than me.
“She’s a fool” He says with a sad smile on his face.
“What?” I ask confused, “You’ll see” He waves the spatula at me, the grease makes the chicken pop more violently and sizzle when he adds more. I smiled at him. “Well as long as she’s with me, She’ll be fine” I say walking back into the living room. Gwen layed on the couch, dead asleep, her nose twitching slightly. I grab the blanket that is folded neatly on the armchair and placed it under her head, smoothing her hair out of her face before I sat down next to her. Peter walks over carrying two plates of food in his hand. He places one plate on the coffee table and sits down.
“Eat” He commanded. “I know that you’re starving, I can practically smell your hunger” I smiled at him.
“Fat ass” I say as I pick up a fork, He looks down at his body and then laughs at me. “Where?” He asks sarcastically and I roll my eyes.
“Good mission today?” He asks, twisting his fork in the plate of noodles pulling them all together noddle by noodle. I shake my head as I chew, trying to clear my mouth out before I speak. “It was okay” I mummble not really wanting to talk about the corruptions. He gives me a curious look, and takes another bite before saying, “They weren’t very pleasant…the ones we took care of last week….they almost killed me” He sighed.
“What did you expect Pete, To play a game of hide and seek?” I ask, He shakes his head. “No but haven’t you noticed…Their being more aggressive than usual.. and the attacks are getting larger and more concerning” He has a point. The corruptions today, they wouldn’t have really bothered me, Had they not seen me.
It’s not like them to chase when they can’t keep up, but they did for some reason today. Forest corruptions are very lenient in their territory they don’t usually hunt humans of they smell them but they will attack you if they spot you. It’s like the more free they are the less violent they are.
They have become lazy in their ways, but if you’re not careful you could accidentally step into their territory.
They were more aggressive than they usually were, and they had increased the number of kills they had made recently. “Hey, Are you listening?” Peter snaps at me snapping me out of my thoughts. “yeah sorry” I reply looking down at my empty plate.
“Did you eat my Alfredo?” I ask turning to him. “No you did and you just kept nawing on the fork just now” he says taking my plate from my hands. “Here I’ll leave you the rest of the Alfredo in the pan” I heard him say as he started cleaning the dishes in my sink.
I turn and look at Gwen who still lays, asleep on my couch. I move her hair out of her face before going to my room.
“Hey, Pete lock my door when you leave” I say as I stretch my arms out in front of me. He nodds and I walk in my room, the door echoing closed behind me. I flop down on my bed, No shower, No changing my clothes just laid right down on my bed. I didn’t even take my shoes off. I just wanted to go to sleep. I pulled my pillow onto my chest and hugged it tightly.
***
My ringtone. I can hear my ringtone trying to wake me and break me away from my sleep. The blackness and darkness of my eyelids is comforting but I don’t mind getting up. I blink open my eyes and when I turn on my belly to look out my window, I can see the night sky full of twinkling stars in the night sky.
There wasn’t much light coming in from my window and the curtains only covered my view so it looked like I was sleeping inside. I sat up when my ringtone stopped and grabbed my telepad from my night stand. “Yellow” I answered. A huff and a puff and I heard Michelles reckless, nervous voice through the speaker. “Genesis, I need you to come down to Headquarters” She says.
“Oh really?” I ask, a yawn escaping my lips as I spoke. “Yes, I need you here now and in my office” She says.
“What for…at this time of night…at three A.M” I smirk. There was silence, it made me snicker a little. It’s so easy to mess with Michelle, she’s a good leader, a good boss and overall I have a lot of respect for her. But I love to bother her. I walk through the door and can see Gwen watching Tv on my couch. I squint and scruntch up my eyebrows at her. She seriously didn’t leave?
“Should I prepare myself” I try to say without laughing, “For what?” Michelle asks,
“For tonight, in your office should I wear something loose” I giggle even louder now.
“Genesis” I hear Michelle say, “Michelle” I say her name coyly.
“Stop that and just get here” She sighs. I laugh a little and reply, “If you don’t give me anymore context I’m gonna think that this is a-”
“This is not a goddamn booty call, get your ass to Headquarters now!” She yells even louder and Gwen whips her head around at the sound. I laugh so hard I nearly drop my phone, Gwen shakes her head. “Alright alright geez” I said laughing again. “I’m on my way” I say. “Thank you” Michelle replies quietly. I sigh and hang up the call.
Gwen walks out the door with me as I walk up to a company car that was sent to my address.
“You coming too?” I ask her, she nodded. I opened the door and typed the GPS on the pad of the car. It started off slowly then the car started to pick up the pace. It was smooth ride, no one was on the streets. You could see a couple of lights on but it was mostly dark in the town as we rode. The moon was bright red and the sky cracked. I trailed my finger on the window along the cracks I could see. The apocalypse really ruined the earth. The moon is red the sun is silver. The sky is cracked at night as if it was a peice of glass that had been broken into.
“Why are you always bothering Michelle like that?” Gwen asked, she was smiling. Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“It’s fun” I shrug, “Your a bitch” She nudges me. “So? Michelle needs to get that uptight pole from up her ass” I say looking out the window. The rest of the ride is silent. It’s not a bad silence its a comfortable silence. We pull up outside of HQ and I jump out the car. I slam the car door shut and start walking towards the building and she follows me. We enter the elevator and press the button for floor 6. I glance at Gwen every now and then. Mainly because I can feel her fear, “Gwen stop that” I say pinching my nose.
“What?” She asks, shifting over to me. “What the hell are you afraid of” I asked her as the elevator stopped. The door didn’t open, I started her in the eyes. My new formed attitude from her nervous behavior is seeping through. “What are you scared of?” I repeat.
She stares at me as I stare back, and then turns around to stare out of the elevator. I roll my eyes and turn to walk out of the elevator. When we walked in the room everyone looked at us, from the seats where they sat.
All three branches leaders, and a girl who stood with her back facing me. She didn’t turn around as the door clicked shut behind us. I crossed my arms at the silence, Gwen and Michelles Nerves were now pinching me all over. Madam Aquoli looked my way, her cold eyes froze all the hairs on my spine.
“Are you gonna say something or am I that mesmerizing to stare at” I say rolling my eyes. They didn’t say anything, the silence was suffocating, Supisingly enough Madam Aquoli destroyed the silence with her laughter. “Cheeky one you are” She sighed, the other branch leaders looked at her.
I shrug and walk up beside the girl who stood at the table. She had white skin, she has a slim waist and her hips meets her with thick round thighs. She wore ripped jeans with a tight turtleneck. Her short brown hair was put in a low bun. She didn’t say anything just glanced up at me. Michelle clears her throat and we both turn to face her.
“Genesis meet your Trainee, Cinzi” She claps, I glanced down at her as she glances up. I can feel curiosity, from Cinzi but nothing else. Her curiosity soothes down Michelle and Gwens nerves. “You’ll be going on Ace level missions for the Branches now”, I could feel Michelle’s voice as it trembled.
“With a trainee” I pointed at Cinzi, she stared at my finger. “Yes Genesis.” I raise an eyebrow at the tone in her voice. I turned to Michelle. “Didn’t think I’d get a trainee this soon” I say sarcastically. Michelle looks down at her feet. “I’ve spoken to the other Branch leaders and we think your qualified” Madam Aquoli say, returning to her cold demeanor and freezing voice.
“We know what were doing” Polars sun, says. Her deep voice nearly makes me lose my footing. She is just as intimidating as Madam Aquoli, she has brown skin, golden eyes and golden marking down her neck. She wears her lip stick bloody read and her hair curly with two braids complimenting them on the side. She is so…beautiful. I lean on the desk.
“I won’t risk my life to protect her” I say coldly, Cinzi looks at me for a little but then quickly turns back around and looks back towards the Branches and Michelle. Her curiousity is just growing within her. Gwen smacks the back of my head, “What she means is, Will Cinzi be able to protect her self when the time comes”, I rubb the back of my head. Cinzi keeps glancing over, her gaze flicking between the two of us. I watch as she crosses and uncrosses her arm before settling it in her lap.
Her curiosity, it’s like a firework show. It was bursting, shooting and exploding all at the same time. She looked like she wanted to talk to me. “yes?” I say turning towards her. She looks a bit surprised but begins to speak.
“You won’t have to protect me, I’m capable of protecting myself” She says, “Oh and here I thought and was told you were a fool” I tease. A smirk forms on her lips, “A fool that could whoop your ass…and…peters” She adds. Her eyes are ignited, and she seems excited. It made me smile.
“Your right, Po you must know what your doing” I sighed with a smile on my face, Polaris sun looked at us a quiet chuckle left her lips. “I like her” She said turning towards Mother pearl. “She is quiet the character” Mother pearl smiled. “Your first mission is tommorow, Meet infront of headquarters I’ll give you the run down” Michelle sighed. She has wry smile on her face, she’s no longer nervous but worried.
“Your dismissed” Michelle says and the gaurds open the doors to let us all out. Gwen grabs my hand and practically drags me out of the room. The sound of Cinzi’s footsteps follow us out.
“What the hell was that on there” She groans, “All of the branches in there an your acting like a fucking flirt” She adds. “Gwen I can say what I want and act however I want-”
“I know but what if…what if they took you behavior s as….I don’t know unreliable” She whined. Cinzi, walked up to me, I looked down at her. She’s only an inch shorter than me. “Yes?” I asked her, being able to feel the questions within her started to really cause my own curiosity to rush off the leash. “Are you as strong as everyone says you are” She asks me. “I don’t know, are you much of a fool your cousin said you were” I reply crossing my arms. Her eyes widen for a split second, but her expression changed. She looked away quickly. “Don’t worry about your cousins opinion…” I shrugged leaning against the wall of the hallway. I felt her stare at me. Her eyes narrowed on me. “I’ll gain my own one of you” I said waving her off and walking away. Gwen trailed behind me.
Cinzi…She’ll make an interesting trainee I’m sure.
