“And just what happened to you Missy?”
A man in a smart earthy green uniform had a young vagabond pulled to the side of the road away from the steady stream of cars and trucks. The two were walking towards a small building that served as a guard station.
Entering the refreshingly air conditioned room, the man turned to look at the young woman.
She was the very picture of shady. To start with her eyes were a deep amber color, that in of itself while not unheard of was very suspicious… but even more so her clothes looked like she’d crawled through several miles of barbed wire.
As he looked her up and down he noted that she didn’t seem injured despite the several ominous dark stains that caught his eye, particularly on her eviscerated sleeve.
The girl herself was scowling with a frustrated yet resigned air about her. Thinking back, the moment he’d come up and stopped her as she was making her way towards the city he could have sworn he’d heard her make an annoyed ‘tch’ and swear under her breath.
As they sat down in a cramped room for questioning she still hadn’t said a thing. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with disgruntled travelers, they all acted like he had done it personally to piss them off. Depending on how uncooperative they were sometimes he’d be stuck in this coffin of a room for hours on end.
Silently hoping that would not be the case this time he decided to break the stoney silence.
“Well? Can you tell me what happened to you?”
“Ran into some trouble on my way here.”
He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prick up, he’d never seen someone show up in her condition and downplay the encounter as ‘some trouble.’
“Are you alright? There’s some blood on that sleeve of yours, if you need help I’ve got a first aid kit in the other room.”
Her ears seemed to twitch at the word ‘help’ and she glared at him warily before finally relaxing and going back to staring at the clock that was hung on the wall to her right. She seemed to be hoping he’d move on from the topic, but after that kind of reaction there was no way in hell he was going to let it go now.
Ten minutes passed like this before she finally heaved a sigh and turned her eyes back to him, waving her hand in a dismissive manner.
“I’m fine, don’t worry that blood isn’t mine.”
He wasn’t getting anywhere with her, it was like whenever she opened her mouth the amount of paperwork he’d have to fill out later grew exponentially.
Slowly, he slid his hand to a black holster on his hip. This girl didn’t seem entirely human, worst come to worst he’d have to draw his weapon in order to keep up with whatever she might be capable of. He mentally went through the few imbue spells he was authorized to use in self defense, most were very destructive so using them in an enclosed space wasn’t wise.
Although he’d attempted to hide his alarm behind a mask of professional calm she seemed to sense the change in him, glancing casually up and down him she spoke again keeping her nonchalant manner.
“Animals, I was attacked in a clearing near one the forest down the road.”
It didn’t help his suspicion of her in the slightest, but he took solace in that at least this answer was somewhat plausible.
“The government has given plenty of notices about how dangerous traveling the roads by foot is, you’re lucky you came away with just some torn clothes.”
Relaxing a little he nevertheless kept her square in his sights.
“Why didn’t you drive? Or at the very least take a bus?”
“Do I look rich? Between food and now clothes I’ll barely be getting by. On top of that you want me shilling top dollar to ride in one of those tanks the government calls ‘intra-urban transportation’? No thank you.”
She gave him a look like he’d insulted her intelligence before going back to looking at the clock and watching the minute hand slowly shift to the 3.
The man had to bite his lip to keep from shouting ‘what’s wrong with you young lady!?’ He didn’t have any kids of his own but he couldn’t help but think to himself ‘ah so this is what it’s like to raise a rebellious teenager.’
“I understand they’re not the cheapest way to get around, but nothing is too cheap if it’s to ensure your safety. I know you’re young but life is precious, take better care of the life your parents gave you.”
“Yea, yea. Keep your sermons to yourself Mr. Preacher.”
She replied with a derisive tone sneaking its way into her words. The apathetic manner of speaking was noticeably gone. Her reaction struck him as more than a little aggressive, but given what she was, he figured he had more than likely touched a sensitive topic.
“I’d like to confirm, are you an Unshaped?”
The man leaned forward as he spoke, his tone letting her know that pleasantries were over and it was time to get down to business.
“I am.”
She said relaxing back in her chair, rocking it back on its hind legs as she reclined until she’d began a delicate balancing act.
She’d admitted it, he was silently thankful she’d done that at the very least. He had seen plenty of other Unshaped desperately lie when asked that question. No matter the deformity they tried to hide it and pass themselves off as a normal person. It made him sad, but regardless of their intention if they did so he’d be forced to detain them till they were investigated or possibly even just send them away right there. It didn’t mean much as there wasn’t exactly any walls but it did mean if they were found inside the city they’d be arrested on sight.
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“I’m sure you know the drill, show me your abhuman translocation permit.”
She fished around in the inside of her coat before producing a small rectangular piece of laminated paper and tossing it his way. It was bent and worn, most Unshaped he’d met seemed to go out of their way to take good care of the permits. He wasn’t sure if it was youthful recklessness or just apathy but she didn’t seem to share their sentiment.
Picking it up, he used his hand to try and press it against the cool surface of the table the two were sharing, however not only did she seem to pay his courtesy no mind but his efforts at straightening were ultimately in vain. Sighing, he finally started inspecting it:
Name: Edea (no last name given.)
Aged: 20
Birth date: Not given
Card ID: 99627542 – 5
Mutation: Somatic/Goetic
Danger Assessment Rank: C
Travel Permission: B rank alert and below
As he scanned the card and confirmed the serial number he couldn’t help but notice the five tacked on at the end of the eight digit code.
“You’ve had your card reissued four times?”
“Yep yep.”
He had to bite his tongue to keep from lecturing her again, he’d only heard of a few Unshaped who’d had their card reissued once… and that took days of paperwork and processing. But she’d had it reissued four times? He had trouble wrapping his head around the idea of all the bureaucracy one would need to navigate just to have it reissued a second time let alone the two more after.
“I know I’ve said it before, but you need to take better care of your things.”
“Duly noted.”
She was giving clear signs that none of his words were reaching her. Swallowing his indignation he went to return the poor card to its careless owner when something caught his eye, a yellow star in the lower right hand corner.
“You’ve aided the government in abhuman related matters quite a lot in the past it seems...”
It wasn’t rare for Unshaped to court favor with the government by aiding in matters regarding dangerous individuals. It goes without saying that that it wasn’t uncommon for the helper to lose their lives in the process. He couldn’t help but feel a mote of sympathy for her, the idea of someone so young being thrust into such dangerous situations just to prove themselves as a citizen of this country didn’t sit right with him.
“It’s the fastest way to get one of those permits to travel around. Plus it just kinda happened to coincide with some business I had in the area.”
He couldn’t begin to fathom the kind of life she’d led till now. She seemed to liken aiding the government in apprehending dangerous individuals with stopping by the grocery store on your way home from work.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been an Unshaped?”
His tone was lighter than before, he was relatively familiar with the concept of Unshaped and from firsthand experience he knew there was a high chance of there being a story behind becoming one. It wasn’t something you were born into like race or sexual orientation, but rather something akin to radiation poisoning.
“Not sure, for as long as I can remember I guess.”
She’d taken her attention away from apathetically staring at the clock and was looking at him with the intensity of someone trying to discern the difference between two almost identical shades of red.
“I see, it’s a terrible thing to happen to someone so young. I can’t really do much from my position, I understand there’s a lot of tension in the cities but please try to hang in there. I’m sure you can make something great of yourself given your accomplishments so far.”
She let out a soft sigh before meeting his gaze,
“Listen here old man, you’re too soft. There’s a reason why Unshaped are so widely monitored and restricted by the government. Unshaped can pose a threat regardless of age or gender. I know you’re not with the military but try to at least try to keep your wits about you.”
An awkward silence filled the room. He wasn’t quite sure how the conversation had turned in this direction but while she looked annoyed she didn’t seem hostile.
Before he could come up with a reply there was a loud beeping noise from the scanner in his hand and an image identical to the card he’d scanned popped up on the screen. Double checking it, he returned the abused card to its owner and placed the scanner back at his hip.
“Alright, it seems you’re clear to enter. The city alert has been raised to B and immigration and emigration have been restricted accordingly.”
“Raised to B?”
She asked putting her full attention to the matter for the first time, her chair groaned and made a loud clack as she ended her balancing act and sat up straight again.
“Yes, please be careful during your time here…”
She may have rejected his sympathies, but he wasn’t about to let her enter the city without understanding what has been going on the past few weeks. This was neither pity nor sympathy, the man was just tired of seeing corpses.
“What’s been going on? It’s pretty uncommon for a city alert to be raised like this.”
“Well Miss… there’s been a string of mass murders lately.”
“Mass murders? Shouldn’t the military responders have dealt with the things by now if something as flashy as mass murders are going on?”
“It happens too fast, by the time responders arrive the bodies are all that’s left. It takes place in broad daylight even in crowded places… yet either eye witnesses were too busy running or their descriptions don’t match up.”
“So we’re probably dealing with an Unshaped then.”
“Oh, that was apparent from the start.”
“What do you mean…?”
A sliver of tension had found its way into her voice.
“It was the same MO, all crime scenes were found drenched in blood… not just that, the victims all were bloodless… it was like someone had tore it all straight from their veins.”
The man couldn’t help but feel a shiver go up his spine… he’d never had to enter combat with an Unshaped and he prayed he never did…
“Should you really be telling some random person all this?”
She glanced at him incredulously.
“Well, you’re cleared for B alert and below. Which means you’ve aided military responders enough that after the background check the government has deemed you trustworthy. Plus as much as they try and hide it, it’s common knowledge around here these days anyway… all you’d have to do is read the paper.”
“Fair enough I guess, ‘s a good way to scare off tourists though.”
She gave a noncommittal gesture and stood up from her seat, jamming her card into her pocket she turned on her heels and began making her way to the door. At that moment, he didn’t know why but a part of him wanted to stop her. To tell her it’s safer just to go back the way she’d come. Maybe it was the air conditioning, but he could feel himself breaking out in a cold sweat.
But as he found himself reaching out for her, he remembered her piercing golden eyes. She was one of them and she’d made it more than clear enough. Hadn’t she told him as much? That his sympathy was more than misplaced, if that was how she was drawing the line then what more could he do? Biting his lip, he found himself contemplating whether to send her away or not… after all he had the final say for who enters the city.
However, he took a deep breath and recomposed himself. The murders had been getting to him, it had been a good while since he had slept soundly through the night in fact. This must have been a byproduct of that. With those half-hearted sentiments in his eyes he let her leave the small building and continue on her wayward journey.
It is small actions like those that tend to affect the greater world in which they take place.
The act of letting a single individual in or keeping them out, the act of reaching out to a young lady who may be in need. These small things can make the biggest differences. After all, how could he have known of the chaos and destruction that would result from that one simple choice.