The reason we kill

Chapter 4

“No! We’re not going any further. Wake up!” Something in her subconscious screamed, and Cara’s eyes snapped open. She jolted up from the memories that flooded down over her whenever she fell asleep. She didn’t know what it was like to dream, since she never had. She only remembered. Cristal clear images of her past haunted her sleep every night. When she was younger she had tried to escape the memories with sleeping pills, drugs or not sleeping at all, but none of that had been sustainable. She had gotten used to it over time. It was icy cold in the room. When she had gone to sleep in the evening, the warm sticky air of an east wind had lingered over the small town, but now the fog and cold air that made up the winter weather in these parts had returned. She sat and pushed the thin blanket that had covered her away. She looked over to small shape of her sister in the bed next to her. Ana was covered in about fifty blankets. Cara sighed and got up. She went over to the big wooden closet in the corner of the room and got dressed, in a warm, long-sleeved cotton top, jeans, sneakers and a jacket. She touched the little white tracking bracelet on her ankle- she never had gotten used to it. When she was done dressing she opened the door of her and Ana’s room and stepped out onto the long corridor. She knocked on the door three rooms down, and as she opened it a small crack of light flooded down the corridor.

“Can I come in?” Cara asked. Mackenzie was slumped on his bed wearing jeans and a tank-top, reading a book bound in black leather, while Josh was painting a picture onto the wall. His tracker was black and didn’t look as out of place as Cara’s did.

“Sure.” Mackenzie murmured. She sat down on Josh’s bed and kicked her feet up. A little heater in the corner was running full on and Cara thankfully pulled off her jacket.

“What cha’ painting?” She asked Josh.

“What does it look like?”

“Looks kinda… hairy. Spider?”

“Not as hollow as you look.”

“You want to get that as a pet?”

“Sure.” He said sarcastically. “Because as the most deadly spider in the world, it’ll be such a cuddly companion.”

“Cranky, are we?” Cara laughed. She looked up at Josh. He was cute for a guy, with dark curls and brown eyes. He had a tan, square face with high cheek-bones and full lips. He was tall, broad shouldered and well-built like all the boys in the organization, maybe even a bit better. He wasn’t wearing a shirt witch emphasized the muscles on his body. Josh was British, with a slight accent and a corny sense of humour. Ana was about seven years old now, and ugly little Abigail would have been nine. Cara looked at the clock on Josh’s bed-side table. It showed four in the morning. It was handy to live in an organization like this one. Sure, they had a strict training program, she had to attend school, training and work, but in return she got a safe place to stay and food every day. “What day is it today?” She asked.

“Monday. We have training in the hall and the little kids have training on the practice field.” Mackenzie mumbled. Mackenzie was a black 18-year-old. He had dreadlocks with colourful plastic beads in them, and a hard, square jaw with round, heavy muscles. He was a computer genius, even though he looked more like a high-school bad boy. Cara liked the two boys best from all the Peak Clover kids, except Ana of course.

“This time I’ll beat you.” Josh said, stepping away from his painting that now showed a huge scary-looking spider, and lying down on the bed next to Cara.

“Keep dreaming.” Cara replied. “I shoot way better than you do. Besides,” She grinned at him, “I have way more practice than you do. And I don’t have a conscience.”

“Well I’m better with a knife.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that. But who uses knives? I mean, they’re so out.”