Truancy Origins (58 page)

Suddenly, as Umasi ducked one of Zen's fiercer attacks, the traffic lights flickered to green. All around them cars whooshed again, some honking indignantly at the children playing in the middle of the street. The brothers continued to struggle, as if safe in the eye of a swirling metal hurricane. As Umasi dodged Zen's umpteenth strike, Zen let out a roar of frustration that was lost to the noise of the cars, then slammed into Umasi, hoping to shove him into the path of the oncoming traffic. Umasi fell, but managed to twist aside to avoid certain death by mere inches. As he hit the ground, Umasi lashed out with his legs, catching Zen in the chest. Now it was Zen's turn to narrowly escape death as he stumbled backwards and was nearly crushed by a truck. As Zen regained his balance, Umasi leapt to his feet and dusted himself off, ready to continue the fight.

The light flashed red, and chaos gave way to calm. Zen swung his crowbar, and again Umasi dodged, this time leaping backwards onto the hood of a halted taxi cab. Zen brought his weapon crashing down, and Umasi jumped off the hood just before the crowbar smashed it, causing a sizeable dent. The cab door swung open, its red-faced driver beginning to yell. Zen calmly swung his crowbar back to hit the man upside the head, and then leapt over the cab to pursue Umasi, who ran not to the sidewalk, but to the pedestrian crossing at the edge of the intersection. As Umasi halted, Zen
lunged, but Umasi merely caught him by the arms, fell onto his back, and then shoved Zen's body off with his legs. Umasi could hear Zen curse as he was thrown straight into the intersection.

What happened next occurred too fast for even Umasi to see how it happened. There was a series of loud noises, and by the time Umasi had returned to his feet, the intersection was consumed by a twisted, flaming wreck of metal, glass, and bodies. An eighteen-wheeler truck was overturned on its side, and cars were piled up like recycled cans, the lucky drivers struggling to extricate themselves from the mess.

For a moment Umasi held his breath, certain that his brother had perished in the wreckage. Then he saw a dark figure fleeing the carnage towards the sidewalk, and he knew. Umasi plunged after Zen, weaving his way around and through the devastation, ignoring the shouts all around him. Then he was on the sidewalk, the fire behind him casting him into shadow as one of the car's gas tanks exploded.

“Is this your answer?” Umasi shouted at the shadow on the sidewalk. “Tell me again how much of this City you're willing to watch burn!”

“As much as I have to, Umasi!” Zen roared, his face eerily illuminated by the flames. “Nothing in this City is indispensable! Not me, not you, not anyone!”

There was something unsettlingly familiar in Zen's tortured voice. It took Umasi several moments to recognize it, and he was shocked when he did.

“You're hurting,” Umasi realized, his words startling Zen. “You hide it well—perhaps you haven't even noticed it yourself. But I can hear it, the silent screaming.” Umasi closed his eyes. “You may yet discover your conscience before the end. I hope to spare you that pain. Just hold on, Brother, I will bring you the rest you need.”

With that Umasi darted forward, ducking Zen's swing and striking his chest with a flattened palm. Now it was Zen's turn to be driven backwards as Umasi landed blow after blow, striking from such close quarters that the crowbar was nearly useless. Zen fought back fiercely, swinging calculatedly as he hopped backwards, blocking as many of Umasi's hits as he could with his free arm. Still, he could not halt Umasi's advance, and soon their fight took them down the entire block and under an overpass for pedestrians. Some adults scolded the two as they passed, but most were focused on the traffic pileup that the brothers had left behind.

As Umasi and Zen drew out from under the overpass, both had finally begun to show signs of wear and tear. Aside from the scratches and bruises that each one sported, sweat glistened on their brows, and their breaths had noticeably quickened. But they moved as fast as ever, and fought even
harder. The two brothers were locked in mortal combat, focused on nothing now but their own struggle.

. . . And so neither of them noticed the young girl crouched on top of the overpass, pistol in hand. She brushed a lock of black hair out of her piercing blue eyes, and raised her gun. Noni carefully aimed the weapon at the unsuspecting Umasi, prepared to kill to protect her savior.

A second later, her gun went off.

W
hat's going to happen?”

“Nothing that you're a part of.”

Noni ran, the wind whipping at her face, tugging at the edges of her scarf, threatening to reveal her weakness to a world that was blurred to her eyes. The rejection had sent tears streaming across her face, hot at first, but swiftly chilled by winter. She no longer remembered why she ran, or if she ever had a purpose to begin with.

What purpose could you possibly have?
Noni demanded of herself.
You're useless. You always have been. Isn't that what your mother used to say?

Mother?

The word stirred something in the murky depths of Noni's memory, something she knew should have remained undisturbed. A woman was shrieking obscenities as she beat her daughter. Empty beer cans littered the room. Something was missing from the filthy room. A person, a presence that Noni felt should have been there but wasn't. Was it a father? Did the girl even have one?

The woman hurled something across the room, and suddenly she was not a woman in Noni's mind, but a monster. The beast was accusing the girl of something now. Noni wasn't sure what it was but she knew the girl was innocent. The girl tried to protest. She was beaten for it. Suddenly Noni saw red, and she lunged at the monster in blind fury. Something struck her hard, and then all she saw was black.

She had fled at some point, Noni was sure of that. The girl had escaped from that life, if life it could be called, and had then vanished to the streets. Everything from there was like a long-passed nightmare, lost even to her own recollection. Her first clear memory was of the day she had been saved in an alley by an entirely different monster.

Her monster. Her savior.

Zyid.

In a flash, all became clear to Noni. Her eyes were dry, the world slid into focus, and she remembered why she ran. She stopped and stared. Across the street Zyid was fighting with the boy that he had called brother. Fighting, and losing. That realization shook her to her core, and in an instant she was running again, this time towards an overpass that would bring her right above the fight.

She wasn't supposed to interfere.

She didn't care.

Within moments she had taken her place on the walkway. All that mattered to her now was that Zyid would not die. Noni brushed a lock of black hair out of her eyes, and raised her gun. The time to strike was now. Zyid was on the ground, and some distance away Umasi stood catching his breath, clutching his wounded arm. It would be a clean shot, even from thirty feet at an angle. Noni carefully aimed the weapon at the unsuspecting Umasi, and prepared to kill to protect her savior.

A metallic tinkling filled the air . . .

Noni moved to pull the trigger, and something struck her hands with such force that the pistol flew from her grip. The gun went off from the impact, and then clattered off the edge of the overpass and down to the street below. Whipping around, Noni was just in time to see the weighted end of a chain fly back to its owner's hand.

Its owner was a girl of purest white, with eyes an even lighter blue than Noni's own. For a moment Noni was dumbstruck by the impossible sight, but her hands still stung from the chain and she immediately knew that this, at least, was no monster.

“Who are you?” Noni demanded as loudly as she could through the scarf.

“I'm his lady,” the girl gestured down at Umasi, “and I don't have a name. What about you?”

“I'm Noni. Are you trying to help him kill Zyid?”

“I'm not here to help anyone.” The girl placed a hand on her hip. “I'm just here to make sure that those two get to finish things themselves.”

“I'm not sitting back and letting Zyid die!” Noni said fiercely. “Not even if it means dying myself!”

“Have faith in your boy. He didn't choose to fight alone because he expects to lose.”

“But he said . . . he said that I'd have to take his place . . .” Noni said, her voice cracking. In that moment, she wasn't sure if she feared his death or her responsibility more. “He said that he might die!”

“Their fight is not about you, or me, or anyone else.” The albino shook her head. “Don't you see that this is personal to them? Don't you see that this fight is
sacred
to them?”

“
He's
sacred to me!” Noni shouted, drawing her knife out from her belt. She normally wielded two, but had disposed of the other earlier. “I'm going to go help him, and don't try to stop me!”

The nameless girl blinked, and then took hold of the weighted end of her chain.

“If your heart is truly set on fighting for him,” she said, “then your fight is with me. If I fall, no one will be left to stop you. Come at me, Noni!”

Noni didn't hesitate; the other girl was pretty, but she didn't look very tough. With a snarl Noni lunged forward, knife bared. The chain swung through the air in a wide arc, but Noni neatly deflected the end of it with her blade. As the end of the chain flew uselessly to the side, Noni struck, knife flashing from the reflection of a neon sign. With stunning reflexes the girl blocked the strike with the arm wrapped by her chain, and then pivoted to perform a graceful but powerful kick.

Noni was shocked to find herself sent flying backwards, but acted quickly to regain her footing, expecting another lash of the chain that never came. Instead the albino stood there in perfect calm, waiting for Noni to recover. Noni squeezed the hilt of her knife so hard that her knuckles turned white. It seemed impossible to her—even unfair, somehow—that someone so beautiful and delicate in appearance could be so strong.

“You're going to have to try harder than that, Noni.” The albino smiled, toughness suddenly evident in her voice. “I didn't survive in the abandoned districts by losing fights.”

“I'm a survivor too!”

Noni's words sounded childish and pathetic, even to her own ears.

“Survivors don't give up until it's all over,” the other girl said. “Come at me again!”

Heeding the advice, Noni surged forward. This time as the chain came swinging towards her, she managed to snatch its end right out of the air. Feeling a surge of triumph, Noni kept running, the captured end of the chain held in one hand and her knife held in the other. Suddenly the other girl's arm whipped up and around, and before Noni knew what was happening she was falling face-first to the ground. Noni raised her hands just in time to protect her face, but the impact still hurt.

Scrambling to her feet, Noni saw the albino standing there as calm and collected as ever. Brushing the grit off her scraped hands, Noni realized that the other girl had looped the chain over her back, and then used it to trip her up in midstep.

“That was a dirty trick,” Noni accused.

“When is fighting ever clean?” the other girl asked. “It can't be fair, one of us must always be stronger than the other.”

“You're not stronger than me!”

“Prove it.”

Again Noni charged. The chain swung once, but Noni deflected it with her knife. Next the chain shot straight at her like a projectile, and Noni dodged aside. Then before the other girl could reel the chain back in for a third strike, Noni lunged forward over the last few feet that separated them, knife outstretched. The albino moved her wrapped arm to block, but
this time Noni was a step ahead. Noni smoothly tossed the knife from one hand to the other, and before the albino noticed the swap she had already blocked an empty hand.

Noni smiled in triumph. Then she slashed at her enemy's unprotected face. The attack drew blood, and the combatants leapt apart.

A moment later Noni felt a twinge of disappointment as she realized that her strike hadn't had precisely the intended effect. The albino had raised her unprotected arm to shield her face, and a crimson stain now appeared on the girl's white sleeve but nowhere else. Noni's disappointment was fleeting. The shallow injury might have been the only sign of her success, but for Noni it was vindication, evidence that her opponent was not so far beyond her that she was untouchable.

But though the albino was now panting softly, she didn't seem very concerned. She calmly lowered her arm, tore a piece of cloth from its cut sleeve, then bandaged her wound with it as Noni watched.

“I was wondering if you had red blood,” Noni admitted.

“Have I satisfied your curiosity?”

“Not enough!”

Noni lunged without warning, and as she did the streetlights over the walkway flickered on, for the winter sun had now almost completely faded. All over the City, streaks of pale, bright light now undermined the dim aura of the cobalt skies. Tiny festive lights also flickered on, strung over trees and storefronts, but the two girls standing atop the lonely overpass had no time to appreciate the City's abrupt transformation.

The albino blocked Noni's arm with a length of chain held taut between her hands, then kicked to send Noni staggering backwards. She followed by smoothly swinging the chain upwards to shatter a streetlamp high above. Noni raised her arms to shield her face from falling glass, and as she did so the chain swung around again, this time slamming into Noni's unprotected flank. The whole maneuver had been executed in one fluid motion, like a dance.

Noni flinched as she took the hit, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs and elsewhere. Seizing her chance to counterattack, she charged forward, nimbly ducking and weaving around two more strikes of the chain. Noni came within striking distance just as the other girl missed a third time. Seeing the opening, Noni felt a thrill of victory as she leapt and twisted in midair, aiming to plunge her knife into her enemy's belly.