Steampunk CTs

We all chased after her as she ran down the lone dirt road and turned into a slightly worn path. We kept following until we caught up with Anna. She stopped right in front of a river that seemed to flow very softly.

“Guys…WAIT!”

Rono was the last person to keep up. With his hands on his knees, he caught his breath before saying. “That was real noble of you Anna, but where are we gonna stay now?!一”

He was immediately clobbered in the head by Gollie. “There’s a time and place for everything, man.”

“It takes a lot to stand your ground on your beliefs when it comes to family. You’re pretty badass for that, Anna.” Derris said.

“She just wasted everyone’s time with that little stunt.” I said.

I understand how she feels, but we can’t let our feelings guide us. If I let my feelings go wild, I would’ve shot Terrance that day. It’s important to simply step back and see the bigger picture. We’re gonna be doing things in a big way soon enough, so an interaction like this isn’t even gonna matter.

“Why are you even so passionate about us all of a sudden? You think this is our first time getting discriminated against?”

“Because I told myself I won’t stand by and let it happen anymore.” She stared at the other side of that river and into the horizon that laid before her. “Not since that day…”

“That…day?” I asked.

“When I was little, I would come play by this same river…” Anna sat down and hugged her legs as she began her story.

===

When she was a child, she would come to this river every day to skip some rocks and play with some flowers. It was her comfort zone, in a way. But one day when she came here, she saw a little Haustorian boy around the same age at the other side of the river. Anna’s family hated Haustorians, but she could never understand why. Not a single one of them actually met one. So this chance meeting at the river was the first time anyone from her family had seen a Haustorian.

What she was feeling in that moment wasn’t hate, but curiosity. He looked sad and scared as he stared at his reflection in the river. What could be so harmful about this little boy? Anna decided that she was going to cross the river and talk to him. She took one wary step after another as she attempted to cross the river.

“Ah…” Once the boy took notice of Anna, he fell on his rear end and scooted further and further away from her. When she noticed, she stopped in her tracks and retreated back to her side of the river.

I guess he’s scared of me too. She was trying to hide it, but she was scared as well.

She stayed on her side of the river for a couple of more minutes before the boy rose and began to walk off. She began to get annoyed. This boy sat here at her private river and didn’t even say hello or introduce himself! And when she tried to talk to him, he looked like he was going to run off.

“The least you can do is say goodbye! Your mommy and daddy taught you manners, right?!” She yelled out, which made the boy freeze in place. He turned around slowly, cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and said “I’m sorry. Goodbye…” He waved before leaving.

After that interaction, she went home and decided not to speak about it with her family. They would probably get mad at her for talking to a Haustorian in the first place. Besides, there’s no need to, right? The boy was an anomaly. An exception. There’s no way he would be there again.

“Hello…” The boy was on the other side of the river. This time, he greeted Anna.

“H-Hi…”

To avoid scaring him, Anna stayed on her side of the river and chatted with the boy. Although neither of them were very talkative. The most they got out of each other was their names: Anna and Jabari.

It almost became a routine for Anna. At the same exact time of day every day, she would go to meet Jabari and talk. Even though their connection grew, she didn’t cross that river. Most likely because of the reaction she got from him the day they met. Regardless, they still always met at that river.

“This Bountfest is gonna be soooooooo good! Aunt Therese is gonna come over and cook casserole!”

“Bountfest?”

“Yeah! It’s a holiday where people cook a bunch of stuff and eat together! My family holds the biggest party in the zone!”

“That sounds fun…”

“What are you doing for Bountfest?”

“I don’t think my family celebrates that holiday.”

“What holidays do you celebrate?”

“We don’t…we just work our butts off...”

Anna could immediately tell he wasn’t in a good mood today. Now that she thought about it, she never asked what he does for work. When she asked, he explained that he and his family picked and planted crops. They do an acre of land by hand together every other day. When she heard that, she couldn’t help but feel bad. The most she has to do is clean her room, but this boy had to do the job the grownups do.

“I wake up, come here, and work all day. The only time I’m allowed a break is when I eat. My parents want me to get more free time though, so they make up for my quota while I run off. But it isn’t fair! Why can’t I have a Bountfest? Why can’t I play in a big house? What’s so different about us?” He stared at the palms of his hands as he began to tear up.

Anna knew the answer to his question. But should she accept that answer?

No…it wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair and she knew it.

“I-I’ll bring you some yummy food from the party, so…hang in there!” She shouted across the river. When she said this, Jabari gave her a warm smile. This was the most she could do and he knew that, so he’ll gladly accept it.

She made up her mind that day. She was going to cross the river and give Jabari some good zone two cuisine. That’ll make him feel better even if it’s only for a moment.

But things didn’t quite go as Anna planned…

Members of her family caught wind of Anna’s routine and wondered why she was so committed to it, but didn’t bother to say anything. But when she rushed out of the house with two plates, their interest was piqued. They followed her to that river and watched as she stepped into it to cross over and meet Jabari.

“Annabelle Hotch!” Her uncle yelled out to her, which made her jump in fright. She turned around to see her family gathered, looking down on her and what she was doing.

“Anna, why?! You know what they’ve done! I’ve told you the stories! What did he tell you?! What has he done?!”

Anna wanted to say a thousand things, but froze in her tracks. She couldn’t bring herself to move or speak up because of how embarrassed she was to have all these adults catch her. While she was frozen, her father walked over to her and grabbed her by the wrist. When he did, she dropped her plates.

“We’re going home!”

“Nah. This is a good lesson for her.” Anna’s uncle stepped up and motioned her father to bring her to the other side of the river. When she was dragged over, her uncle grabbed a rock. And the rest of her family stepped down and followed suit.

“Imma show you how we ran those parasites outta town, niece. Imma show you how we kept our way of life preserved…”

That’s when Anna’s uncle cast the first stone. He launched the rock and it hit Jabari in the eye, leaving a scar and drawing blood. Once that rock landed, the rest of her family followed suit. They casted their stones onto the poor child and encouraged Anna to do the same. Although reluctantly, she followed suit. After all, these are adults. They have to be right…

===

“But they weren’t right! Because of them, I lost someone important to me. And I don’t ever wanna lose someone like that again just because they’re slightly different from me!” Anna said as she looked down at the river.

Arno leaned over to me and whispered “do we know anyone like that?”

“No. He must’ve ran away from zone four before we came. Whether he survived after doing something like that is another story.” I said.

“Sorry, Ori. I know how much you wanted to try the food here…”

“Well, there’s no need to give up yet! If they don’t wanna invite us, how about we make our own Bountfest? We can eat here and then get some training in!” Arno proposed a plan and Derris immediately shut him down. “That’s the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Well now I’m on board since Derris doesn’t like the idea. Come on, Anna. Get up. You got any corner stores we can get food at?” I said as I walked over to her.

“There’s the gas station down the street…” She tried to cheer up as she got up and wiped the dirt off of her.

“Then off we go!” Arno began to run off until he was out of sight. He quickly returned when he realized he didn't know where he was and said “Please lead the way!”

Anna began to lead the way until we were at the front of a gas station. I’m surprised that these even exist. There’s only a couple hundred cars that exist in the country and I doubt they’d go here.

“Guys…WAIT!”

Rono was the last person to keep up once again. He’s gotta work out more. His stemata isn’t gonna carry him through missions.

“This gas station has some nice snacks. We can get something to eat before we start training.” Anna pointed at the gas station.

Everyone agreed and we headed into the store. We all split to buy our own separate things and it took every fiber of my being not to purchase every snack in the store. Anna got a basket for me and showed all of the good snacks to take.

"You didn't have to do that back there…" As she was putting honey buns into my basket, I gave her my opinion on her confrontation with her family.

"Of course I did. You're my friend and if they think I'm some sort of deranged person for talking to you, they're no family of mine…" she seemed really saddened letting those words slip, but she said them with a sense of conviction as well.

"I SAID GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR MONEY!" I heard a voice from the front of the store.

I crouched and peeked out my aisle to see who it was and found a masked man with a shotgun robbing the owner. He was an old man that had his hands up in surrender.

Should we help? I don't know…If we step in, it'll be considered vigilante work. That could nail you jail time or worse.

"Psst."

I looked over a couple of aisles down to see Arno, and Derris. Arno made various gestures with his hands that I could only assume meant that he and Derris were going to jump the robber. I fervently said no and even made an X with my arms. Arno decided to ignore it and began to count down using his fingers and Derris readied his training pistol.

Before any of us could react however, we heard a gunshot and another scream. "GRAAAAAH! YOU BASTARD!"

When we looked back at the front, we saw the robber on the floor writhing in pain in a pool of blood. Not even a second after, his body went limp. I guess it all worked out, but damn. Zone two really does take matters into their own hands.

"Damn. Now I gotta clean this crap up." The old man sighed.

At that moment, a man and two other people walked into the store. The man wore a black suit and had a cigar in his mouth. And to top it all off, he had an eyepatch on his left eye.

"Gutter…" the clerk grimaced.

Gutter?!

My knowledge on the zone two terrorist scene is a bit underwhelming, but I remember Gutter being a big deal. What exactly is he doing here?

"To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing zone two's most notorious gangster?"

Gutter poked the dead robber's body with his foot and sighed. "You see…you and the rookie here had an existence that was…what's the word?" Gutter started snapping. That was when one of his men spoke up.

"Codependent."

"Codependent! If you had just let him stick you up, he would get a promotion, and you would get to live and not have your establishment burnt to the ground…" He said in a deep, raspy voice.

Okay this situation is getting bad. I still don't want to step in. Especially since no one here wants help from a CT. But I’ve got an idea…

I ran out with a handful of chips and laid them on the register. Gutter was both confused and appalled at my sudden entrance and the cashier shared in that confusion.

“Maaaaaan! I sure love all of these treats you have, sir! I was wondering if you had any soda in the areaーOh wait, am I interrupting something?”

“Of course you are, parasite!” The first goon shouted at me and began walking towards me.

“Yeah, where the hell’s your overseer?!” The second goon approached me as well and was about to put his hands on me.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP MEEEEEEE!” I let out a fake shriek and Arno and Derris rushed to my side and took out the goons with ease.

“Are you some kinda cops?!” The clerk finally processed what was going on.

“Of course we aren’t!” I forced a smile as I presented my excuse. “Me and my husbands and wife just happened to be in the area!”

As the two goons laid on the floor, Anna walked out of the aisle and stood with all of us. Now that I think about it though, where’s Rono and Gollie?

“Please don’t make me fight this guy! He looks like the real deal!”

Gollie was pulling Rono by his collar onto the scene. Ok…that’s where they were. Rono must’ve been hiding and Gollie had to spend time dragging him out.

“Looks like you’ve got some good citizens in your store…”

“Please…if you’re gonna fight, don’t do it in my store!”

“Sure thing!” Arno began rushing towards Gutter. It looks like he was going to throw him out of the store. The problem is that Gutter moved his eyepatch from his left eye to his right eye and sidestepped Arno. This caused Arno to fly right past him and outside of the store. Derris didn’t want to take the chance of close combat and drew his training pistol.

“BULLDOZERRRRRRRRR!” Arno came running back into the store as Derris fired his weapon. Gutter sidestepped Derris’s shot and made Arno take the hit instead. Luckily he had just enough time to dodge being hit at a vital point.

While Arno was recovering, Gutter tried to dash towards Derris but stopped in his tracks for a moment. Not even a second later, Gollie came in with a swing to his stomach, almost knocking the gangster out. He gritted his teeth so hard though, that he bit right through his cigar and made it fall to the floor.

“Not bad, kid. Let’s see what you’ve got!”

The both of them put their fists up and went blow for blow with Gollie landing less and less hits as the exchange went on. For a brief moment though, he was able to hold him off longer than anyone else…before going down himself, beaten and bruised.

Derris fired another shot and Gutter immediately dodged it and pinned him to the ground by his neck and arm.

“Everyone drop your weapons or I’ll take his life here…”

He’s…bluffing. He has to be. Him and his gang have been running rampant because the government has been overlooking him. He thrives off of moving away from the eye of authority. If he kills the governor of zone one’s son, he’ll be caught and executed in three days at max—

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” That’s when I heard Derris’s scream and saw his arm moving more and more into a direction it shouldn’t.

We have no choice. If we try to resist, he’ll kill Derris. With that in mind, everyone dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrunder.

“The government and making everything worse by butting in. Name a better combo. Look at all of these resources and merchandise you ruined. Running a business aint cheap. The man’s gotta make a living somehow.” Gutter reprimanded us.

“You were going to rob him…” I pointed out.

He had a point though. A quick glance in the store could tell you everything you needed to know. Windows broken, Bags of chips and candy all spread throughout the floor, and coolers with drinks spilling out of them. The fight resulted in the store being in a terrible state.

“No… fair…” Arno completely recovered from the blast and was glaring at Gutter.

“Terrorists are always fighting at a huge advantage. What’s wrong?! Too scared to fight one on one, so you take a hostage? It’s because you know you’ll lose on an even playing-field!” Arno began to mock him.

Gutter looked at Arno with a cold, dead, stare. When he noticed that Arno wasn’t flinching in his assertions, he ordered the clerk to grab all of our weapons. The store clerk moved slowly and very visibly so that Gutter didn’t think he was making any suspicious movements and grabbed our pistols. Once he did, Gutter threw Derris to us and met Arno face to face.

“We’re taking this outside. I’m not like any of these dimwits. If another man challenges my integrity, be it Holian or Haustorian, they’re getting their teeth kicked in.”

“I’d like to see you try!”