Markom

8: The Physical | Perri

The Placement shuttle stalled down the snaking paths of the Lower Territories, finally pulling up beside dilapidated signage by the Edge. As with much of the Low Lands, nature reclaimed what man tried to provide. Perri entered first. Like the rest of her peers, she wore the black utilitarian blouse, jacket, and pants that Placement demanded of her class. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun as the uniform dictated, the fresh crust of her new Mark on full display.

A much taller boy snickered as he boarded behind her. "Fresh Mark, Viate." Rydel Crewe mused. The tallest and widest of her peers, Rydel could always be counted on to be an insufferable chunk of human garbage. She heard his impatient stomp behind her until Perri claimed a seat in the very last row of the vehicle. She refused to let anyone else stare at her fresh Mark of shame.

"Well, Viate, someone's got to shovel the shit of the underclass." Rydel and his crew of unmentionables followed suit with snide remarks. It was easier to laugh than think about the powers that be who would shortly seal their fate.

Perri's lips moved before her brain caught up through the fog. "Funny. I didn't know Fives could find careers in Entertainment." It took a moment for comprehension to mark Rydel's hardened face, but his scowl was beyond satisfying. As far as Perri was concerned, Rydel Crewe could eat his own shit. 

"Watch it, Viate." He finally retorted.

Perri had half a mind to exchange another question. Her curiosity was a sickening compulsion and she yearned to see his pathetic little brain try to answer her, try to answer anyone. After all, there didn't seem to be much of a difference between two Marks or even three...

"I have nothing left to lose, Crewe," she threatened. The cacophony of voices within the shuttle faded to nothingness. "You don't want to know what a woman with two Marks is capable of." Her eyes stared daggers into the empty cavities of his skull and after a quick exchange of expletives, Rydel Crewe took the seat five rows before her.

What she thought. No one was more dangerous than a Five with nothing to lose.

Perri cursed herself just as much as she finally pulled her knees to her chest and stared out at the ramshackle cottages lining the street. She wondered if the knots in her stomach would ever come undone. Her body, her head... everything felt so wrong.

It seemed like hours before they reached the next stop. Benja... She hardly had the strength to face him but was comforted by the routine of it all. Perri watched as they entered Benja's neighborhood and she saw him make his way down the aisle, a quiet silence as he took the seat next to her.

He looked as if he had seen a ghost. In a way, he had: Perri was a ghost of her former self. "Don't--" She pleaded with him, already near the brink of tears.

"You look good." He said simply. Perri smirked. Her sister's salve had done miracles to the bruises and cuts on her face. Still, she supposed, bruised and Marked was far better than Taken or dead. Though there was still time for that. "I hope it was a good question," he said quietly, the memory of last night filling the empty space between them.

"It was," Perri replied. "And I got Answers." She dangled her one victory, pushing away the feeling of ecstasy that followed as she remembered the power of asking such a question. It was a surprise to all of them that she wasn't punished further.

And that Iurer... She had the faintest memory of him feeding her fire, coaxing out her own desperate curiosity. But it was impossible. The Iurers were law and order in a world where nothing was more dangerous than an inquisitive Five. Perri pushed away the hazy memories of her former life.

***

It was utter pandemonium as Perri and Benja exited the shuttle. They made their way through a sea of their peers in various shades of black, grey, and even white. Perri couldn't help but gape at the elites in their crisp white uniforms, her own darkness threatening to contaminate the lot. She knew that Placement was chaotic, but this was something else. Fives, Fours, Threes, Twos and even Ones sharing the same air? Who had ever heard of something so crazy? Science has its reasonings.