Splinter (Whisper Walker Series) (2 page)

I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom to make sure I had everything on. For a moment I wished, for perhaps the millionth time, that I had even a single hint about where to look for Drake. All he had said was that he was going in deep to get a load of rare, processed charcoal for the air filters we needed for Ash season. Said he had stumbled onto a stash of it once, but this was the first chance he’d had to retrieve it.

I absentmindedly fingered the jewelry hanging around my neck, pendant hovering just at the top of my cleavage. It was a silver creature. I think it was called a dolphin, but couldn’t be sure. All creatures like that were long since extinct. Drake had given it to me a couple of years ago. He’d gotten it in one of the waste cities. I had worn it every day since, especially when I went outside the Gates. It was my lucky charm. Anytime I got myself into a bad situation, I would feel it against my chest and it helped remind me of what Drake would do.

I was flooded with worry again. My stomach balled up in a knot. I inhaled a deep breath and decided I was ready. What I needed was to get this out of my mind; filling my veins with adrenaline was the way to do just that. I needed to remind myself that I was tougher than this. I was a skilled fighter. Killing mutants was something I did on a regular basis. I was bad-ass.

Of course, no one else knew that. It was my secret.

After a cautious glance out the back door of my house to make sure no one was around, I stepped out quickly and flattened myself to the whitewashed wooden wall. It was still muddy out from the light acid rain we’d gotten while I’d been at the Development facility, and mud clung to my boots. It probably wasn’t necessary to be this cautious behind my house, since my back door faced the tall wall that surrounded the whole Guild I lived in. No one else wanted their house so near the wall – the strange noises that permeated from the other side at night were disturbing. That meant that the only way that anyone would see me back here was if they were virtually in the backyard. Which would have been cause for alarm in and of itself.

Still, I was very cautious because it wouldn’t be good to be caught.

I slipped silently across the crushed rock path that led around the house. Sticking my head out past the corner of the next house, I checked for people. Figuring everyone was still inside from the rain, I darted out of my cover to cross the narrow path that we called a street. My destination was a clump of small trees on the other side of the street behind a business.

Footsteps crunched as I got to the center of the street. A couple of women’s voices accompanied them. Not good. Thinking fast, I dove for cover under a nearby porch. I quite literally mean
dove.
Rocks and debris dug at my knees through my pants and cut into my bare palms as my head narrowly missed a beam. I hit the side of the house under the porch with a dull thump.

The pair of women walked right on by down the street, apparently having been far too engrossed in their own conversation to notice the sixteen-year-old girl diving under a porch.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, the door above me opened, checking to see what the thump had been, no doubt.

“Hello? Anyone?” a gruff voice asked as I watched through the gaps between the porch boards.

Not receiving an answer, the owner of the voice walked out to the end of the deck and looked around the corner of the house. He “humphed” and headed back inside.

Now I could breathe again. It might seem crazy that I was going to this length to maintain secrecy. But it really wasn’t. Everyone in our two-hundred person Guild had a job. You did the job you were assigned or else they kicked you out of the Guild. Without a Guild, you were pretty much as good as dead.

The only ones allowed outside the Gates were Acquisitions Specialists, or
Hunters
as the general population called them behind their backs in a derogatory fashion. My best friend, Drake, was the best Ackspec in the Sven Guild. Not only was it forbidden for me to go outside the Gates without special permission and an escort from a guard or an Ackspec, it was very much illegal for me to have all of these weapons with me. Oh, and I was pretty sure Drake would kill me if he knew I was sneaking outside to fight
über
-
dangerous
mutants. He was kind of overprotective like that.

Listening for signs of more people and hearing none, I slid back out from under the porch with an ironic grin. When I was younger, in my old Guild – the Briln Water Guild – I’d caused mischief often and had sought cover under porches on many occasions to avoid being caught. Now, here I was, over five years later
still
hiding under porches. I had to admit, it was funny.

I made it the rest of the way to the clump of trees without seeing another soul. When I got there, I climbed up the one closest to the five-meter-tall wall. Once I was at the top, or at least as high as I could go without breaking the tree top, I was barely above the top of the wall. The top of the wall was roughly half a meter wide and would be easy to land on for me – aside from one major issue: there was broken glass and other sharp things shoved into the mortar on top. Each piece with the pointy side up. It didn’t look
that
bad. But, as my left foot could attest from the time I’d nearly severed it by landing on top of the wall wrong, it was actually very dangerous. That had been a very painful and bloody day.

That meant I had to land on a six-centimeter-wide strip at the far edge of the wall that was clear of pointy objects. It was either that or jump clear over the wall and try to survive a five-meter drop to the ground without breaking anything.

I didn’t want to try that option.

Leaning back, the thin treetop bent with me. I shifted forward, then back again, getting the tree top swaying a good meter in either direction. With a deep breath, I jumped off as it swung forward again, right before it lost its forward motion. I needed the momentum of it still going forward to launch me as far as possible.

My right shoe caught the rim of the wall, the gum sole sticking to the porous surface like glue. My toes stuck out over nothingness as I strained to halt my forward momentum and gain some semblance of balance on my heels.

Perfect landing.

Crouching, I looked down from my perch high on the wall at the worn path that circled around the whole Guild. Seeing no one, I twisted and dropped off the wall, catching myself with my fingers on the narrow “safe” strip. Bending my knees slightly and pushing the toes of my shoes against the rough blocks of the wall, I dropped, using my toes to press against the wall for friction to keep me from falling fast enough to hurt myself.

I missed my chance to push off from the wall right before the ground so as to position myself far enough away from the wall to allow me to bend my knees better without smacking my forehead against the wall. The resulting impact jarred my knees painfully when I landed. So much for that going smoothly.

It was astonishing how wild it felt outside the Gates. Inside, there were crushed rock streets, buildings with windows and plumbing, and plenty of other things that spoke of civilization. Outside the Gates, however, overgrown trees and dense foliage everywhere you looked. Lots of things were alive, too. Most things wanted to eat you. Even if it was just the massive carnivorous flies – one of which was currently circling my head and randomly diving in to try to get a bite – or the pretty needle-beaked birds that wanted to suck your blood. My father had once told me that those birds used to be sweet and gentle. They’d fed on flower nectar, but had adapted through necessity.

I started off down the trail, not wanting to venture far so I could get back before Drake did. It would be hard to keep this a secret if I showed up wearing this get-up and carrying a sword. After a few dozen meters, I stepped off the trail. Everything grew instantly darker as the tall bushes and trees cut out most of the light. Even the fly left me at the edge of the shadows.

I drew my sword, enjoying the metallic sound it made as it lifted free from the scabbard. With the hilt in my hand, I couldn’t help but grin. It probably would look a little sadistic if anyone had been around to see it.

I had to have the sword out, just in case. You never knew when something was going to pounce on you. It happened when you least expected it.

I pushed aside a large leaf and stepped past, only to instinctively duck as my body reacted before my mind could. There were a couple of short mutants sitting around a rotting animal carcass. They were about a meter tall and ugly as anything in this world.

Quick too.

They were both on me in the blink of an eye. One had a primitive knife that it had been using to cut up the meat. It tried to stick the bone blade into my leg, but I parried with my sword. The other came at me
au naturel
with only its claws and astonishing strength.

I slammed it down with my elbow. Its teeth snapped at my forearm, and it felt like it had scraped through the leather wrappings. I kicked at that one while the one with the knife came right back at me. It swung wildly, missing me on the initial arc, but threatening to get me on the return swipe.

I ducked low and swung, thrusting my blade back between my arm and side. I felt it strike home as I spun, but not before a burning sensation hit me as the creature’s blade sliced into my shoulder muscle.

The adrenaline was blazing through me. Hot in my veins. I registered the wound and then moved on. I turned to see the creature impaled upon my blade and gushing dark blood. I started to pull my sword out when I heard a noise behind me. I whipped around, yanking a knife out of my thigh sheath and letting it fly before I even saw what I was aiming at. It was thrown on pure intuition. Feeling where the creature was more than seeing it.

The blade flew true and pierced the mutant’s throat. This one was tough, though. It pulled the blade out and had the gall to start brandishing my own knife at me, blood gurgling from the wound in its throat.

I whipped around and yanked the sword out of the other mutant’s chest. As I pulled, I jumped and rolled to the side, narrowly missing a charge by the wounded mutant with my knife.

It tried to growl, but it came out as a twisted, forced, sputtering sound. It was about to die and knew it. But it sure wanted to take me down with it.

We were standing a couple of meters apart now. Both of us waiting on our opponent’s move. I was in no hurry. We could wait all day. The mutant would die of blood loss soon anyway. The creature seemed to realize my plan and attacked. It sprinted at me, full bore. Like an ugly battering ram with a super-sharp knife.

I needed to take away the advantage it gained by being on the offensive. I lunged at it, sword singing. I jumped to the side, swinging at it as the knife clipped my leather shirt.

I cleaved straight through the neck of the mutant, the head rolling down the slight incline we were on. I snatched my knife up out of its hand. As much as I hated to have contact with something it had touched, good knives were hard to come by.

The excitement was starting to wear off and, with it leaving, came the pain. I couldn’t see my back to examine the injury, but I didn’t think it was too bad. I figured it was mainly a flesh wound that stung like hell but wasn’t dangerous.

I picked my way back through the forest to the Gate. Normally, I would’ve gotten back inside in a similar fashion to how I’d escaped. I could only hope this one girl was on guard duty that I got along with.

As I approached the Gate, she peered through and rolled her eyes. Then she pulled out her corona-card and slid it into the lock, pulling open the small door to the side of the main Gate. That was another reason I didn’t go out the Gate; I didn’t have a corona-card, which was a brass card exactly four centimeters by six point two centimeters. I knew that was the exact measurement because I’d tried, unsuccessfully, to duplicate Drake’s card once. The cards had a series of holes in them of varying shapes and sizes. The guards each had cards that could open any lock in the Guild. I’d heard Drake’s could, too, but didn’t know for sure.

So, even if I’d been able to catch a guard when they weren’t looking and snuck up to the Gate, I still couldn’t get out.

The guard sighed. “If my commander shows up and you’re here looking like this, we’re both in serious trouble.”

I grimaced, partly from my shoulder wound, partly acknowledging that I knew what she meant.

Seeing my bloody shirt, she led me into the guard house and shut the door. There were alarms set up to ring inside the small building if anything got within a certain proximity on either side of the Gate without a key. She motioned for me to pull my shirt off. “So, any luck?”

I grinned a little with pride. “Yeah, two of the Shorts.”

Her face properly reflected amazement. “Whoa. Nice. Shorts are nasty little ones. They get a lot of people because they’re so fast.”

I nodded in agreement, wincing as she wiped the wound.

She continued. “I remember that time, where we had that little band of them, eight, I think. They were separated in pairs, one outside each Gate, waiting for anyone to venture near. They killed a bunch of the merchants. No one here would deal with them; all of the Hunters were afraid of them because they killed one of the Hunters like it was nothing.”

I couldn’t contain a smirk when I heard her use the derogatory term of “Hunter.” I did it to Drake’s face periodically just because it was so much fun to make him mad, though most only used it when the Acquisitions Specialists weren’t around – which is something I never really understood. After all, the Guild relied on the Ackspecs for nearly all materials and parts for repairs. Why be rude to them when they were so necessary? It seemed to just be one of those little things that societies do that is bad for their health.

She seemed to be lost in her memories and dragged a piece of gauze down my shoulder like it was sandpaper. I inhaled sharply at the pain, only half listening to her talk.

“But then Drake got back from a long trip to the waste cities. A pair of the Shorts jumped him outside the Gate, and he killed them both without getting a scratch. He came inside and found out about all the people who had been killed and that all the other Gates were surrounded, too. So he tried to get other Acquisitions Specialists to help, but no one would.