Banished

The plan is simple. Gather supplies (while not getting caught in the process) and escape through an old drain valve Aito had discovered in two days time. Two days is a long time to stay cooped up in a small underground room. I pace restlessly until Aito shoots me an irritated look. I’d tried to help pack up his lab equipment but got my hand slapped for my effort. I am too tall and too well known to help gather supplies. I feel useless and out of place. My usual morning ritual of adding ink to my tat has been disrupted, maybe forever, and that puts me in a bad mood too.

Fish has joined us, spirited away in the middle of the night. Naoaki had refused to wait, afraid the minders would try to use him as bait. I’d laughed when she’d said that. I’d honestly thought it was a joke…. Fish…. Bait…. Now her strange, pale skinned cousin just sits in the corner and glumps. No other word for it. He slouches dejectedly in his odd beige rubber jumper and goggles at me every time I make a sudden move. He is getting on my already stretched nerves.

“So how do you even know what to pack?” I pick up a piece of glass tubing and squint through it, wondering what strange and wonderful things might be waiting for us beyond the walls. It is a game I play with myself. I have struggled for years with the idea of surviving out there, knowing that someday I would be Banished. The only way I can face it is to imagine that it is not hell on earth, filled with terrible monsters, but instead, a utopia that the rest of ‘normal’ society is missing out on. I have just envisioned a fantastic multi-hued flower that seeps honey water when Aito snaps the tubing out of my hands.

“We take everything.” He calmly resumes his methodical packing where each piece seems to have a specific place. I contemplate the mass of tangled wires and oddities that make up his lab. Is he serious?

“How are we going to carry all this as well as food and camping supplies?” I make a hand gesture to include all the items I’d forgotten to mention. Clothes? First Aid? Some sort of shelter?

“As you have pointed out, we are not going on vacation. We are never coming back. Also, we are not packing food or water.”

This statement takes me by surprise. I am sure he is jesting, though it is hard to tell with him sometimes. Not pack food or water? Why not just slit our throats now and save us all the headache of escaping? I watched in silence as he brakes down a complicated assembly of tubes, valves and rubber connectors. It really does fold away quite compactly. He sighs, probably feeling my eyes on his back, and turns toward me. His blue eyes are bright with a calm intelligence.

“Fish can find food and water. That’s his twist. We’ll be fine. The lab is far more important than packing food that will only last a short while anyway.”

Amazed I turn to stare at Fish and am rewarded with a look of startled fear. I sigh and shake my head. He is just too goofy for words. I focus my attention back on the mess that’s Aito’s workbench and stand awkwardly. Small talk hasn’t helped me broach the subject of my patchwork memories. I want to know what Aito saw that morning when I’d come to rescue him but I can’t seem to ask. Am I a freak? Something too horrible to even contemplate? And what had happened to me after? Had my body put itself back together wrong? An eyeball on my cheek? Fingers growing from my chest? My imagination runs away and I fear to follow even as the questions burn in my throat.

My thoughts are interrupted by the door bursting open. Naoaki arrives with the last of the supplies, her small frame struggling with a large synthetic canvas that doesn’t quite fit through the doorway. I go to help but stop just shy of the door, my hand still outstretched.

“What ishedoing here?” I ask her coldly. Khane had been my sparring partner for a very brief time, until he’d put me in the infirmary with a couple of broken ribs. He doesn’t believe in pulling punches and I wasn’t the first to have been laid up by his over zealous training. I have always understood that we were training so that we might have a chance at survival once Banished… but still.

“I ran into him outside the armory. He was stealing weapons.” She says, irritated that I am not helping.

I finally move forward and grasp the front end of the tangled bundle. With a little more effort and some tugging the three of us get the thing inside the small cave that doubles as Aito’s lab and lately, my home. It looks like a giant hairball of sticks and greasy leather that’s been spat out by a giant mutant cat.

“What the hell.” I say to the room at large. Why has Naoaki wrestled this….thing here? It couldn’t have been easy. While she might be able to turn invisible at will, large items like this would not disappear with her. If she is tired you can sometimes make out her clothing, like a shadow, shifting as she passes. This means that she always wears skin colored clothing, even her knives are shaded a dusky olive to blend.

“Brilliant!” Aito ambles over, presses a tiny red button I had assumed was an eye, and within seconds the whole thing has compacted down to a pale gray ball the size of my fist. He walks back to his bench, either ignoring or not noticing the dreadful look Naoaki is directing at his back.

“You could have mentioned!” She angrily scoops up the ball, nods at Fish and joins Aito, leaving me to stare at Khane.

“Why are you here?” I demand. He is outfitted as though he expects to enter the ring at any moment. A pair of throwing knives are strapped to his thigh. A huge ax sprouts from his back and oddly shaped bulges swell the lines of his overcoat. He is dressed all in dark leathers with a mesh top, the straps of his ax harness showing through. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other and I hate to admit even to myself, but he looks good in an arrogant, menacing sort of way.

“Same reason you are.” He cocks his head appraisingly, “Well, not precisely the same reason.”

“Don’t be coy. If you had been tagged as Failed I am sure I would have heard.” I am angry. I don’t like Khane and I really don’t like the security risk he represents.

The jaunty attitude leaves him and he looks away, silver gray eyes taking in the jumble of equipment and Fish slouching in the far corner. He looks troubled and angry.

“Bel is scheduled for Banishment tomorrow. I plan to escape and meet up with her.” His face closes down as he hides his feelings behind a mask of stone.

I don’t know what to say. I have only seen Bel from a distance and have never sparred with her. She is pretty and about as close to ‘normal’ as any of us get aside from Aito. I don’t push further. I assume she is already in custody or he would have brought her along. It is a noble thing he is doing so I let my issues with him slide.

“Keira, can you help Naoaki pack up the rest of the equipment? Not the lab stuff,” Aito shoos me off, “the pile over there. Try and get it all into two backpacks. Someone has to carry Fish.”

I bite back a loud swear at the Fish comment. The guy can’t walk? Perfect, just great. I refuse to meet Naoaki’s eye as I dutifully lend a hand. I am taller than both Naoaki and Aito, stronger too, but the fact that they have obviously just assumed I would be the one with Fish strapped to my back, without even asking me, chaffs. A quick glance toward the corner and I can see he is no happier about it than I am.

We finish packing up in time for a light meal. I can’t believe all of Aito’s lab has fit into one small bag on wheels. Aito, for all his usual calm, seems on edge and insists that we all try and get some rest directly after dinner. He wants to be up early, before the morning routines of the compound start so there will be less chance of us getting spotted. Now that our group has grown to five, it sounds prudent.

I can’t relax, however. I’m not used to sleeping on hard earth and I miss my tiny cubicle. I miss my ink and my routines. Now that the moment is here, the prospect of facing whatever lives on the other side of the thick wall surrounding the city is daunting. All the pretty stories I’ve made up in my mind to get through the years burn away to ash.

It is very likely that we will all be dead twenty-four hours from now. Part of me wonders; What if I snuck away and turned myself in?