Queen of Diamonds

One and a Half Days After The Sorting (Part One)

Somehow, I had underestimated how much worse this could get. I had seen the guns, but some part of my mind that wanted this to feel normal sorted this into the same category of nerves I would get before one of Chris's games. But it's so much worse. Apparently, the border (whatever that means) is close enough that we can walk, cutting through grimy alleyways and bustling streets. Felix leads the way, his hard eyes focused straight ahead. He didn't have to move around people. He didn't even have to push through them. They saw him coming, decked out in all black, eyes blazing and toned muscles shining with sweat in the heavy humid air, and they moved. Sonya followed closely behind, one hand on her guns. Me and the two younger kids, Alice and Remy, take up the middle, following dutifully. Alice stays staring at the ground, but Remy jumps around, the white leather pack on his back bouncing. Hugo takes up the rear, glancing over his shoulder furtively. He reminds me of the popular girls, the girls who would make fun of me in middle school until I got a growth spurt and started wearing makeup, and put them all in their place. 
"Scared of something, Princess?" I ask mockingly. He looks me dead in the eyes. The princess insult is lost on him, I guess, but my snide tone isn't. 
"Trust me," he says, "I would love to let you get shanked. But Felix said orders are orders." I looked up at Felix, still proudly leading us through the winding streets. He seemed so cold and tough. The idea that he wanted to protect me, for whatever reason, made my heart skip a beat. I dug my nails into my arm, where my Soul Mark was. I couldn't be falling for some vagrant boy in the Spade sector. I had to...had to what? Get back to the Heart Sector? Impossible. The only thing to do was try to bear my new life. 

Finally, Felix drew to a stop, in front of a rusted metal ladder, bolted to the side of the wall. He doesn't even have to say anything for Alice to start climbing the wall, the heavy machinery strapped to her back not seeming to weigh her down at all. Remy watches her go, then turns back to Felix.
"You know the sight lines from that building?" Felix asks, sounding a little like a teacher. Remy nods mutely. "Alright. Princess, go around to the other side to the Left Tower, take Greenie with you. We'll go through the front." It takes me a second to realize that Greenie is me, and by that time, Hugo has already stalked off down the street. I take one last glance at Felix and Sonya, both fiddling with their guns. Sonya offers me a grim smile, which I try to return. Felix doesn't look up at all. Some part of me is disappointed. Before I have much time to think about it, though, Hugo grabs my arm. 
"C'mon, Greenie," he sighs, shoving me in front of him. "As much as you might be enjoying the view, I'm gonna make you walk in front if you're gonna be that slow. Just follow the alley. I'll tell you to duck when you need to." Behind me, I can hear him taking something apart, and I risk a glance back to Hugo. He's holding some of the canisters from his bandolier in his hand, and is somehow opening them or something with his mouth. When he sees me looking, he nods forward, encouraging me onward. I sigh and keep walking. 

By ducking when Hugo tells me to, stopping when he grabs the back of my shirt, and sticking to the shadows, we get to what must be the Left Tower eventually.  From this side, it reminds me of the tall water towers out in the countryside, a tall pillar leading to a rounded container. Thinking of our house out in the countryside makes me miss hime more, so I shake the thought away. Hugo shoves me out of the way, the edges of his lips stained black from whatever he was doing. He enters some kind of code, and the heavy metal door swings open. Inside, there's nothing but a ladder stretching up into the darkness. 
"Ladies first," Hugo says, making himself laugh. I frown at him, then put one hand on the ladder and start hauling myself up. The climb takes far less time than I anticipated, and soon enough, I'm hauling myself into a small closet-sized dome, one side vaguely foggy plexiglass that I think might be a one sided mirror. There's one seat, facing out the plexiglass side, and controls that remind me of an airplane. Hugo pulls himself up a second later, shutting a hatch to the latter with his foot, but I can't stop looking at the city in front of me. We're perched over a little city square that's been repurposed to a junkyard, cobblestoned and filled with strange machinery. From here, it looks like a painting, all neons and geometric shapes. Hugo notices my awed expression. 
"You like that view?" he asks. "So do the boys." He sits down in the chair, throwing the thick bandolier off his chest and pressing something to boot up whatever kind of machine this is. Although I'm getting a better idea. Across the courtyard, I see Alice, lying flat on her stomach, and I've seen enough movies to recognize the sniper rifle in her hands. The others are nowhere to be found. 
"Ready for your first fight, Greenie?" Hugo asks, loading the bandolier into what I'm now realizing is the cartridge of this giant gun. I am not, in fact, ready for my first fight.