The Golgotha Initiative

Chapter 16: Chika

I'm running. A lake nestles in this valley, mountain peaks crowning its shallow bowl. Greens and browns cover the landscape in serene patchwork and cool breeze stirs the air, the grass, the water. I run for pleasure, this time, earbuds and tennis shoes shaping my pace, breath simple with the easy jog.

"Chika!" A young woman, Hallie, dark curls swinging, bounces into step beside me. I slow down out of courtesy- she hasn't had years of ninjutsu training and won't be able to run at my speed for very long.

"Hello, Hallie."

"Hey! I just wanted to ask- have you finished your essay on Ancient Asian Civilizations? Because I'm stuck on-"

"Oy." He comes from the air. This man, sprouting suddenly in the middle of the path. I stop, grabbing the back of Hallie's shirt so she doesn't skid into him.

"Caleb."

He grins and stretches out a hand. When I reach for it, carefully, fingers brushing, he wrenches me into a hug.

"Chika?" Hallie asks. "Who is this? Is he at uni with us?"

"I'm not exactly the uni type," he says. "Do you mind if we talk? Chika?"

I nod. I've missed him, this brawny boy with the pockmarks that match mine. A fading bruise purples one of his eyes and there's a new scar on his neck. It's hard to see him like this- it's hard to see him at all.

I have a dorm room, but my roommate may be there, so I pull Caleb towards a small park annexing the lake. We sit under a tree, its branches spread over is like a big-top circus tent.

"I'm surprised to see you."

He acknowledges this with a nod. "We've been busy. Screwed with Compass a bit. Kyle was right- there's still a lot to do."

Kyle found us six months ago. We did what Sensei said, went off the grid. There are plenty of people who will hire cheap cleaning ladies and moving men without asking too many questions.

Kyle said he was captured by Compass but his contacts helped him escape. He said he found us with a tracking device, but he's the only one with access. He said Baahir is dead. He said Logan, Ave and Eric are dead too. He wouldn't say much else.

Except- he asked for our help. When Ave, Logan and Baahir died they took a lot of Compass out too, including (Kyle thinks) Director Charles. He wants to finish what they started and he asked us to go with him.

We didn't answer at first. Caleb hadn't said anything since hearing of Eric's death, and I hadn't said anything since leaving Compass for the last time.

"If you need a minute-"

"More than a goddamn minute, Kyle," Caleb snapped. His breath was stifled and strange. We'd known they were dead for over a year- thought it, anyway, theorized the only realistic outcome- but seeing Kyle and not the rest of them twisted my heart in places I'd thought died a long time ago. Can monsters feel pain?

I pick up Caleb's rough hand and run my fingers down the scars there. This narrow white one across his palm is where he grabbed Ave's katana when I was eleven. This angry slash on his index finger has a more recent, jagged edge. Caleb has monster hands, but they are gentle as he brushes a strand of hair behind my ears.

"Short cuts look good on you."

I nod. New hair, new me, no monster.

I told Kyle I was done fighting. Actually, no- I didn't tell Kyle- I haven't spoken to him at all in almost two years. Caleb told him, after I'd whispered a dream in his ear by lamplight. I don't know how their conversation went, exactly, after Caleb snuck out to a payphone to call the number Kyle left on a business card. But the next day I had a forged high school diploma and a fake SAT score.

"You like it here?" Caleb asks.

"The classes are interesting. The people are strange."

"Of course. They're the strange ones."

I nod. Their normalness is strange to me. The bland world of the university is surreal. I like the calm of their days and the loud buzz of these nights, the people who aren't monsters, who just are. I like floating without hating or loving anything too much.

Caleb sighs and stretches out on the grass. "Me and Kyle and his crew- we're going to take out Compass. But you, Kiko-chan? You're going to save the world."