Imperfect Fear

Four

When I wake the next morning, I'm feeling lifted after the conversation I had with Reese in the early hours in the darkness. Reese is asleep when I leave for a morning patrol duty but she is smiling so I know she isn't immersed in nightmares, which is good.

It seems like it's going to be a regular day until I get to bp2 and sign in to find that I've been paired on patrol with none other than Talulah Ives.

Otherwise known as Tala, CD ace.

I feel like loudly groaning when she walks in but I don't, simply because that would probably be satisfactory for her. Instead, I just take the gun the guy at the checkpoint hands me and listen to him give the mandatory instructional lecture about it.

They give it every time, so I know it off by heart.

"This gun is complex council property, and so are it's bullets. The trigger is only to be pulled in a situation in which the threatening civilian has a gun also and is firing. Any false shots are fired and you will be given a mark against your tally. That includes shots fired against yourself."

To begin with I hadn't known what that meant exactly, but I soon figured it out. There were usually at least 5 false shots against themselves each month. Black life wasn't for everyone.

After the lecture, I wait by the black door for Tala to collect her gun. All black points were set up the same way, with a door at the front for whites, and a door at the side for the blacks. Generally there were at least 6 patrols from each black point, depending on the time of day. More in the darkness, less in daylight, so as not to scare the whites too much.
Tala stands by the counter while the bored looking guy behind it delivers the same message to her. Then she turns and we both leave.

Outside, I look at the route we are supposed to take. It is a long one, sweeping the side streets, searching for any strange behaviour. It is still pretty much dark, but the dark sky above the dome is starting to lighten. We have head torches on until it is light enough but they don't do much, so We are pretty much going off of sense as we walk into the darkness.

We don't talk at all for almost the whole patrol. The first person to speak is in fact me, when I knock into something and swear, then reveal it is a rubbish bin that has been left out on the road after the complex clean up that happens every Tuesday. Tala scoffs at first, and is going to just move on, but I stop.

"Wait." I say quietly. She stops, frowning. "They haven't brought their garbage bins in from three days ago."

She frowns. "You're right. I know! Let's go in them and arrest them for being lazy." She says, sarcastically.

I roll my eyes. "I'm serious Tala. Something could be up."

I cautiously move towards the white and grey house, looking towards the windows. The assigned white curtains on each are drawn shut. When I get to the doorstep, I notice the door mat is crooked. I lean down and lift it up. I shine my head torch on it to find a bent bobby pin. Maybe it was just a coincidence but I had a bad feeling about it.

I stand up and knock on the door. Of course, there is no answer. Tala moves up behind me. She sees the pin and frowns.

"It's probably nothing Mae, let's just-"

She stops speaking as her nose crinkles in disgust. "Oh gosh. What's that smell?"

I frown at her. Then I smell it.

I'm generally used to bad smells, because being a bad grade I'm often put on sewerage checks. But this is something else entirely. This is the smell of blood mixed with something that is definitely not human waste.