Bloodless: Origins

Chapter 3 - Leash

Adrian started down the hill, walking toward the school. The heavy guns and the rondel blade jostled awkwardly against his thin frame. He walked with immense confidence, endowed by the watchful glint of Yolanda's scope.

He checked his watch - a bright blue children's wind-up toy that only stayed accurate for a day at a time. He still had fifteen minutes before the scheduled meet, and Adrian chose to hide, fundamentally unwilling to take the risk of being seen. He wasn't nearly as Bright as Yolanda, but he was more than Bright enough to stand out to any passing Hurk crews.

The building's brutalist style didn't offer much cover. The one functioning light shined on the inner corner of the L, eliminating the most obvious choice. Adrian considered knocking out the light and hiding there anyway, but decided against it. Not because it wouldn't work, but because that kind of selfish destruction crossed a line. It was important - Adrian thought - to not be a part of the problem, even if that part was small.

Adrian picked a spot on the north wall where the corridor was close to one of the tables. He crouched there in the shadow of the building, waiting for Randall, meditating on the lonely rumbles of passing cars.

He imagined families fleeing their beautiful suburban homes in minivans under the cover of night, escaping the wrath of some local Hurk. He imagined Hurks - soldiers twisted and bloated from their time overseas - patrolling the neighborhood in heavy trucks with crews of sycophants hungry for violence. He imagined Randall - a mousey pale office worker quivering in fear as he soaked in the destruction that had infected the world.

After nearly twenty minutes a car pulled up to the school on one of the access roads - parallel to the north wall. Adrian couldn't see what kind of car it was, but he heard the opening and the closing of the car door.

A suspiciously muscular man wearing khakis and a baby blue button-down shirt walked through the northern corridor - right past Adrian's hiding spot. Presumably, that was Randall. His hands were shaking, and he had a canvas duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. His hair was a greasy, dirty blonde tossed in tangled locks down to his shoulders.

Adrian was immediately suspicious of the bag. Guns? Not a threat. Explosives? Last I checked the DHS doesn't use suicide bombers. A wire? No need for something so bulky. Adrian contemplated calling everything off right then, but Yolanda's disapproving face loomed in his mind's eye.

Randall strolled into the center of the courtyard - sweeping his head from side to side as he walked. Adrian stood there watching him for a full ten count.

Calm down, be nice. It's just a bag.

"Welcome back." Adrian stepped forward, out of the shadows.

Randall jumped, something heavy in the duffel bag straining against the straps as he landed. Randall spun around on the balls of his feet, his face filled with surprise and confusion, but not a drop of fear.

Randall's ochre eyes glimmered in the last remaining light of the school. They were constantly shifting from side to side, like they had forgotten how to look someone in the eyes.

Adrian pulled his hood off, hoping that the black and white patterns that ran over his body would be enough to confirm his identity.

"Ah!" Randall yelped when he first saw Adrian's face. "Ah... it's ah... Adrian, right?"

Adrian nodded, slowly walking toward Randall, trying his best not to put him on edge.

"Have we met? Before... before all this?" Randall gestured to the crumbling suburb around them.

"No, well, I don't think so. Pretty unlikely all things considered. I just... remember what it was like. Coming out after all these years... well there was nothing waiting for me when I came back out."