Hades woke to the sound of the world waking up with him. The newly risen sun filtered its light through the old mortar, wooden planks and beams that still held the crumbling ruin together. Birds chirped as they flew between the rafters of the old building and the small mammals that lived in the roofs and walls began to scamper around excitedly.
Hades ever so carefully shifted his head to look at the girl who had latched on to him like a sloth on a tree branch, her small arms barely wrapping around his chest. He watched her small figure rise and fall as she took small breaths; her mouth lay slightly ajar leaking drool on to his arm which she was using for a pillow.
He decided not to wake her just yet, she’d need as much sleep as she could get. Instead, Hades lay on the cold floor, gathering his thoughts.
First on the agenda was trying to figure out where they were in this damn place, the map of the city he had vaguely memorized before he and his sister had to leave, showed the full city but no detail of streets and had few landmarks marked on the map.
The city of New Haven itself, not including the farmland surrounding it, had roughly an area of 680,000km2. New Haven is built like a crescent, wrapping around the Red bay facing east.
The city had a large slum area shoved off to the south side of the city, the slums were mostly filled with old apartment buildings or houses, some in better condition than others. The main city and the residential area where the wealthy or at least financially stable live, are collectively larger than the slums.
Hades’ frown deepened. The slums, they were a labyrinth. Every building was placed arbitrarily like a giant’s toy blocks, there were random alleyways that could be wide enough to be a street of its own or just small enough for a child to squeeze through. Worst of all the streets had no names and there were no significant landmarks in the damned place just a maze of brick buildings and cracked asphalt roads!
If he had to be honest, he was lost, not only that but he had no idea of what or where this haven was. But if Hades told his sister, he would snuff out the last hope she had and he had no wish to do that, she already struggled to convey emotions due to her abnormality, he would hate himself if he caused the light of hope in her eyes to die out.
He hoped that she would remain oblivious to his failure until he could figure something out. Although hiding the truth wasn’t going to be easy, especially since his sister had ridiculous telepathic powers. Even when her tendrils were disguised as a hair accessory, she could tell if a person was lying or even discern if they were telling half-truths and that was when her tendrils weren’t being used, if she unfurled those things she could force the information out of him, granted she’d have to be touching his head with them to do that…such were the rules of an Abnormal’s powers.
Abnormals began appearing a few years ago when an incident at a Federation laboratory took place. Hades’ parents knew more about it than he did yet they hadn’t exactly explained how people got infected or what the incident was, it wasn’t information he particularly needed, as such he was not privy to it.
Abnormals came in all shapes and sizes. For some being abnormal just meant that their muscles and bones grew differently, effectively making them two to three times stronger than they should be. Others might grow something called an Anomaly which is a perceivable mutation that grants a unique ability, although this happening is rare.
Animals could become abnormal as well, although this happening is even rarer than a human gaining an ability and if they do, these creatures are terminated as soon as the government catches wind of them because in most cases they are extremely deadly and tend to be many more times intelligent and bloodthirsty.
What Hades feared about them is that they were unpredictable, there was no telling what ability an Abnormal might receive or what they might do with it. That was one of the reasons Hades didn’t want to rely on or use Reina’s abilities unless needed, there was no telling who could highjack their conversations or locate them through it.
Hades sighed ‘no use overthinking things, we just got to keep moving. I’m sure we’ll find a clue to where this “Haven” is supposed to be. Before that, we’d better find out where in…goodness name we are.’
Hades with his free arm he reached into a plastic bag full of his belongings and brought out a small book, one of those pocket notebooks. It was his father’s and it was one of the few things he had of his parents.
The notebook contained his father’s notes and a few of Hades’ notes, maps and a hobby of his that he rarely indulged in. Hades rested the book on his chest and opened it, flicking through the pages, he had never read his father’s notes as it wasn’t a priority. He continued flipping through them until he came to a map of the slums he was slowly filling in.
He could have just left his sister here and scouted out the slums, but he didn’t want to leave her alone for too long or be too far away from her, there were always unsavoury characters lurking about these parts and they might get extra horrid if they learnt that Reina was an Abnormal.
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He never went out of her 3-kilometre contact range and always “worked” close to the place she was hiding. He lay there staring at his incomplete map of the slums, his eyes drifted to the place they started on this horrendous pilgrimage, the place he was born and raised.
An old manor that his father had received from Hades’ deceased grandfather. The manor was marked by a simple X. How he wished he could go back, such simple times they were. ‘go back to what?’ he internally snorted at himself for the illogical and unrealistic ideal that popped into his head ‘all that’s left of that place is smouldering ruins’.
With that Hades gently nudged Reina, “Hey Reina it’s morning, time to get up” he said softly to his sister. The girl groaned before turning over and mumbling something to the effect of: “A bullet in one of six chambers, who will survive?” then returning to her sleep.
Sighing, Hades prodded the girl’s side with a quick jab, which caused Reina to yelp and shoot up in an instant throwing the old blanket off herself. “Morning Reina.” Hades greeted, his lips cracking into a rare smile.
The girl’s back slumped into a slouch once the tension left her body, “Morning?” she greeted back, still half-asleep. Reina rubbed her eyes as Hades moved to fold up the blanket. As he did he threw her two cellophane packets containing the fortune cookies from the other night.
“Eat those as we walk, if I recall you wanted them for a pseudo-breakfast instead of a desert?” he asked.
Reina nodded, “I feel better when I’ve eaten something in the mornings.”
Hades gave her a doubtful look, “I don’t think you will get many nutrients from those paper-thin capsules of pure sugar.”
“it’s more about the effect of the lie than the outcome of the truth,” Reina replied Sagely.
Hades gave her a long thoughtful look then said, “Just because of what you are, doesn’t mean you should say wise things or act regal. Just be yourself, for the time being, mum and dad did what they did so you could have a…semi-normal childhood for the next 12 years. Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up and throw their gift away. Also, if you are going to say something like that, say something that makes sense and is actually sensible.”
The girl huffed “I was…I thought it was a sensible thing to say!”
Hades scoffed “That just proves my point, leave wise words and big decisions to your me and the others. Now let’s go.”
He shouldered the plastic bag and the small suitcase with ease and crawled through the boarded window. Reina gave one last look at the place she had lived in for the past week.
Her emotionless eyes washed over the unfurnished room, the ugly faded wallpaper that was peeling off the walls like shedding skin and the leaky ceiling that in some places was threatening to cave in. Yeah, she was not going to miss this place at all…as long as the next place wasn’t worse.
She followed her brother out the window, “Where are we going?” she asked, Hades tried his best to sound confident “We are going into one of the Communities here…I think that’s what they call themselves anyway.”
“What are these Communities?” she asked her curiosity peaking.
“Well, Communities as the name suggests, are pockets of highly impoverish people that live in these slums, it's mostly where they set up shops and live safely and in better conditions then they would in the “wilder” places of the slums. They gain support and protection from the gangs that control those areas. In return, the people in these places use their trades to serve the gang. Although some communities end up becoming Red Light Districts which attract... rich and unsavoury individuals.” Hades explained attentively.
“Red Light District?” She asked unfamiliar with the term.
“Yes, red light as in the: stop don’t go there red light. Just avoid anything to do with it!” He said rapidly backpedalling, regretting he added that last piece of information.
“Okay,” she said sensing the uneasiness from Hades and dropped the discussion.
They walked in silence for a while, as they did Reina opened one of the fortune cookie packets. She bit the cookie in half, taking out the fortune. As she ate her cookie she silently read the fortune.
[From now on it is advised you pick your allies carefully, your enemies cautiously and remember: allies bring their own enemies with them.]
‘What a strange fortune. It’s less foreshadowing and like a piece of advice.’ she thought. She knew that these fortunes were just words on paper that a person was paid to write down, but it was interesting how relevant the advice was to her situation.
She showed the paper strip to Hades, “Hmm, I hate to admit it, but despite it stating the obvious, it is some sound advice. You might actually want to keep that in mind, especially with the future you’ve got ahead of you. I mean you have us, but making other allies are important as well.”
They continued to walk in silence for a while.
“Hades have you been to this community before?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied a little indignantly “where do you think I get you Chinese?”
“This is where the fast food place is?”
“Yes, the place is owned by what you would call “a lovely old couple”.” He said bitterly.
“You wouldn’t?” she asked.
“You know I don’t trust easily, especially not in this place.” He said scowling at a person walking past them on the same footpath, who nervously shied away under his withering glare.
“You trust me right?” Reina asked tentatively.
The look in Hades’ eyes softened, “Of course I do, I wouldn’t have a reason not to. Besides you’re our…” Hades trailed off.
Reina followed his gaze to a group of burly men herding a frightened-looking teenage girl into a meter-wide alleyway. “Come along, don’t stare, if they see us they might want to get rid of any witnesses.” He said quietly, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her along.
His strides previously small and slow to match her walking speed, became longer and faster, dragging Reina with him. “Aren’t we going to help her?” She questioned.
“Why should we?” Hades asked. “There is no benefit in helping others and I’m not bringing you into harm’s way, I already had misgivings about leaving you alone for hours on end. Plus, those men do not look like gang members, they are too fit, and their movements are expertly executed, they’re probably Federation goons judging by their black and gold attire, who knows what they’ve got up their sleeves.” He growled.
“That’s even worse, we can’t just leave her with them!” She cried on the verge of tears, futilely digging her heels into the ground, her hand trapped by Hades’ Iron grip.
“We can and we will. We cannot afford to alert the federation, we were all supposed to die in the fire and as far as they are concerned we did. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to keep it that way.”
The Reina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Head Member Hades: Stop,” her voice barely a whisper, yet an invisible power pulsed with her words making it seem incredibly loud to Hades, his body automatically froze, “Please help her, I am aware there are risks, but I cannot live with knowing that I could have done something to help, Please Hades in my best interests as well as the girl’s.”
Sighing Hades turned to her and performed a sloppy low sweeping bow and said “Very well, I’ll do it, but to pull this off I need a little help from you, as much as I’d hate to get you involved in this. You also have to promise to not look at the scene after you’ve done your job, it might get a little messy.”