Echo Hemisphere

Welcome to Fight Club

I pull up in the silver rental car. It would have been obvious that I was the 'Red perpetrator' to swap out the car after the first Green scare news report, so I kept it. But it would still beg others to look inside, so I tried keeping Hanko out of the car as much as possible.

Kuri'Shii taps on the window. I roll it down and he starts his explanation. "Okay, he doesn't know anything about... what do we... ffight club girl. Is she... is she doing okay with Mia?"

I can see the stained streaming tears on his face and a blue kid sitting on the ground, clearly willing to be a hostage without any bindings on him. "Last I saw her, she was talking to someone that wasn't there. I think the pain of her arm attachment is making her hallucinate. Other than that, she's perfectly fine."

"Alright."

"Anything I should know?"

He thought about that for a second. "He knows military strategy without... the fighting part. He has a stalker, who may be coming here right now," that's not too concerning, "and I think he said he's a servant."

That's too far. "We're going now, get him in."

He paced over to our willing captive and pulled him into the back of the car.

"You got your walkie-talkie?" I asked Shii.

He sighed, "I'll go get it."

I shifted in my seat to face our captive. "Your name is Murphy? What's it short for?"

He looked up at me, uncertainty in his eyes. "Nothing. That's my name." I loved his upstate accent and the quality of his clothes; a sparkling indigo vest, a stark white button-up shirt, custom-fit pants of the perfect shade of grey and spotless periwinkle loafers.

"I've never heard of anyone with the name Murphy."

He gazed down at his twiddling fingers, "my parents aren't creative with names, so they alliterated."

Shii opened the passenger's car door and sat down next to me. He held up the walkie-talkie, "got it."

"You go to the backseat and make sure he doesn't try anything. Blindfold him, too." He complied with that and tied his scarf around Murphy's eyes.

"Seatbelts, everyone!" We buckled our seatbelts and I drove us out of the docks, headed towards the fundamental school.

Kuri'Shii caught on to my reference quick, "please don't let this be a normal field trip."

I continued with a giddy smile as I said, "with the Friz, no way!" Before we burst out into song, I saw Murphy silently grimace in the rearview mirror.

I couldn't stop thinking about the tiny hidden cameras that could be anywhere on Murphy. Our visit to the internet store right before we met Hanko kept invading my thoughts. One of the buttons on his shirt might as well be a camera that has already seen both of our faces.

I can't go back to jail and drag anyone with me. But we're dealing with keeping a taboo person alive, so of course, we would all be executed.

We reached the end of the car ride at the fundamental school. To avoid looking suspicious, I've been parking across the street and entering the school through a back entrance we busted near the gymnasium.

We did the same today.

Shii untied his scarf from around the young boy's eyes and led him by the arm. They walked side by side, and I in front as we led our hostage into the building.

Fridae and Hanko were in the gymnasium, for once. He was helping her build up some muscle and endurance as some sort of personal trainer. They were jogging along the walls of the expansive room, she at a notable distance behind him. She was looking much better than before we ever came to the school to hide.