The Many Regrets of a Cyborg Werewolf

Unexpected Snowfall - V

Luke felt agitated with nothing to do. He disliked public transportation enough as it was, but the bus ride to Joan's office was particularly stuffy. The only thing compelling Luke to take the bus over walking was that always taking the same route risked any possible recon from Celestial deducing their new living space. The last thing they needed was another home invasion, especially if Luke wasn't there next time. So he swallowed his pride and took a route away from the apartment, followed by multiple bus rides. He'd take a similarly non-linear trip back, and tried to ignore the cramped confines of the vehicle. Difficult, given how packed the bus was, but apparently the sudden onset of snow and cold was discouraging people from walking. He diverted himself by glancing among the bus's passengers. There were a few students, as well as some adults who looked like office workers, and one or two elderly. It was the potpourri of scents that made Luke dislike confines like this. Too much information, too many stories. The sounds didn't help, either. Everyone muttering, chatting, shifting, and more. Oftentimes Luke felt his memories shuffle to the surface, spurred on by the superficial similarities. Cramped trucks of perspiring men, followed by the recollection of dense jungle foliage, the smell of gunpowder and cigars mixed with dried blood and ash. Memories best forgotten.

Luke glanced at the man seated next to him. It was an older gentleman, morning paper in his hand. Luke could still smell the ink, and he caught a glance at the front photo as the man turned the pages. It was a picture of Luke himself, transformed, in the street. It was grainy and a little over-exposed, but obviously taken yesterday following the unsuccessful raid on the convoy. Luke silently swore that if he ever met who invented disposable cameras, he'd break their arm. Surveillance was his natural enemy and it was becoming worse each passing decade. As the pages turned he caught a glance at the heading and bits of the article. Once again Erin's moniker of "cyborg" annoyed him, regardless of its accuracy. Made worse was the souring public opinion, not helped by Celestial's proclamation. Luke hated the attention.

The bus came to a stop. It wasn't his, so Luke remained seated at the back, watching as people departed and boarded. The new passengers consisted mostly of students, but the last to board were a mother and her small child. She helped the toddler make the steps, heaping encouragement onto the small boy until he made it up, and continued to guide him by the hand as they took their seats. Luke watched the mother as she kept her fingers clasped around his even after the bus began moving again. Luke saw two students holding hands as well. The likely couple simply sat in kind, conversing, their hands held between them. Luke glanced down at his own hands. The facsimiles of human anatomy hung in his lap as his arms rested on his knees. They were mere tools to him. Weapons, mostly, and were one of the few things he had in common with humans, even if they weren't quite the same. The five-digited appendages were indicative of intellect, at least that's what Luke had always understood. He wondered about the last time he ever held another person's hand for any reason.

The bus stopped again, this time where Luke wanted. He followed the shuffling of students as they departed. The stop was near the high school, the building itself in the center of a campus that broke up the many tall buildings around it. The layout, with its modestly sized grass fields, parks, driveways and lots all arranged radially around the structure which elevated through several inclines of stairs, reminded Luke of the old churches. Towns in his day would be built around the church, so everyone was an equal distance. It had been a while since he last saw a church, though he did often pass the school. Luke had never been inside of one, though he had a good idea how they worked from books and television, and the idea that humans taught other humans often percolated his brain. They weren't family, but somewhere along the way humans decided to teach one another's young, to share their knowledge and experience to more than just their own offspring. It wasn't behavior unique to them, but humans were the first to institutionalize it. A novel, if foreign, concept to Luke.