Group Z

Chapter 7

Walking out of the house I am shocked by the brightness surrounding me. My experience of Sectors often consists of visiting them at night and then travelling through the forest to get back to the Hub. I can't remember the last time I saw a Sector in the daylight. The streets thrum with life.

The family's house is clearly the largest by quite a margin. Here all the houses are crammed together with no real spaces between them. Whilst there isn't abject squalor as there is in Sector 5 there are still some places with filth on the cobblestones, beggars in the streets. I'm on my guard as we walk through the streets prepared to defend myself and the people, I'm with. I need to keep them alive until I can get the information I need.

At least that's what I keep telling myself, although if I were being honest, I'd admit there was another reason that has everything to do with the electricity that flows through my body whenever Sapphire flashes her brilliant smile in my direction. We end up in the centre of the sector, a large circle with streets branching off in all directions, from overhead, as I saw when I flew in on the helicopter, it looks like a clock face. In the centre stands a large stone pillar and around the centre crammed with barely any room for movement are hundreds of stalls selling everything from fabric to food.

The assault on my senses stuns me, there are so many colours, so many smells, so much noise. I stand still and just allow myself to take it all in. Never have I seen such vibrancy, such life. Sapphire and Damon notice I'm no longer with them and search over the heads of the many strangers before spotting and coming back to me.

'You ok?' Sapphire asks softly,

'I'm fine. It's just... busy here, there are so many people.' They look at me with concerned faces, so I repeat with more conviction. 'I'm fine.'

I stride toward and past them, continuing on into the rush of people. They catch up to me and we walk around, stopping at certain stalls, Damon and Sapphire have some money on them, Sapphire buys some colouring pencils and Damon buys a pair of sunglasses that he claims. 'Makes him look hardcore.' A fact Sapphire clearly disagrees with judging by her hysterical laughter.

They both pool their remaining money and buy a green bouncy ball for Benny. As they walk, joking and laughing over their purchases I see out of the corner of my eye a flash of green, I walk over to the stall as if pulled by some invisible thread. There nestled on a maroon satin cushion is a necklace, a simple, brown leather band holds a circle shaped gem that has been beautifully crafted so that, half of the circle is a deep blue gem, one of the most beautiful colours I've ever seen, and the other half is a bright green gem, a green that I've only seen before in mine and Z-2's eyes. It forms a sphere in which the two colours bleed into each other, mixing in the middle into a colour I couldn't put a name to but that draws my attention. They shouldn't work together, but they do. Becoming more beautiful when they blend together.

I yearn for it as I have never yearned for anything before. In the Hub we weren't permitted any belongings, the closest thing I had was the daggers and that was only because I'd fought tooth and nail for them almost my whole life.

But I have no way of paying for it and whilst I could easily steal it I don't want to blow my cover so, with a last look over my shoulder I walk away, re-joining Sapphire and Damon not noticing Sapphire herself looking over at the necklace and slipping away for a few minutes, when she returns she won't say where she went, just that she was looking at something.

Just as she re-joins the group, I hear a hideous, nasally voice. 'Well well if it isn't Malcolm's little brats. How come you're out all alone then?'

I spin around and see a group of five men swaggering towards us, they wear filthy ragged clothes, have unshaved faces and up close they have the yellow skin and eyes that mark their lack of care in their bodies. The one in the centre, with shoulder length, greasy blonde hair is clearly the leader, he walks slightly in front, however I note that he favours his left side maybe from a childhood injury, but it definitely could be an exploitable weakness. I take all this in in less than five seconds, in which time Damon steps in front of Sapphire and myself with his arms loose by his sides but his hands curled into tight fists as if he's going to fight.

Sapphire grabs my arm as the circle of men surround us, but instead of her trembling as the men move to barely an arm's length away trying to intimidate us with their size she stands, proud, defiant, strong. She all but hides the small amount of fear in her eyes. I admire her in this moment, no training yet standing strong against them.

With my years of training by my side I feel no fear towards these men and have already decided how best to eliminate them.

With this knowledge I step forward. 'If I were you, I'd turn around and walk away.'

I make sure to keep a pleasant smile on my face and my tone of voice light, plastering a smile on my face in an effort to unnerve them. The leader looks around as if noticing for the first time where they are. Surrounded by people.

His shoulders tense and he points a filthy fingernail in my face and snarls. 'You'd best watch your back sweetheart.'
I smile sweetly at him. 'I'll bear that in mind.' I can tell my attitude unnerves him as he breathes deeply a few times before slouching away beckoning his group to follow him with a jerk of his chin.

An hour later, walking home, after we'd gotten some things Sofia had asked for, eaten and seen our fill of stalls, Sapphire and Damon are still gushing over what I did. Sapphire now has her arm linked through mine.

I get a thrill out of the contact which is the only reason I don't move my arm away, whilst she keeps up a stream of. 'You were just amazing. I'd never have the guts to do what you just did.'

'It was nothing.' I repeat for the 5th time. 'I just did what felt right. Who was that guy anyway?'

'Well, Dad leads the Sector and that brings a lot of hate on us. He's a good man really, some people just hate the label, they don't get that he tries to help those in need.' Sapphire says looking down as she speaks. It makes me wonder how many times she's had to go through this.

Up ahead I notice Damon keep shooting pointed glances at me over his shoulder, I can't stand it, for some reason it irks me but I don't snap at him to cut it out as I would if he were a member of my Group. I want to keep my cover, getting angry would only be suspicious. We turn down an alleyway with buildings stretching up to the sky casting a permanent shadow to take a shortcut to get home.

We only make it a few steps before we hear a terribly familiar voice. 'Well, hello again.'