Ghost Black by Matthew S. Cox

Author:Matthew S. Cox [Cox, Matthew S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949174403
Publisher: Division Zero Press
Published: 2018-08-24T05:00:00+00:00

16

Autonomous

Death Row already felt different, as though Risa lugged an empty plastisteel cargo box down the corridor of someone else’s home toward the private room that she’d been assigned to, but had never truly felt like a place she belonged. Despite being two inches longer than a standard footlocker, and made entirely of metal, the container weighed two-ish pounds. At one point, it had held medical supplies, stimpaks mostly, which the MLF had ‘liberated’ from a military shipment. In retrospect, she wondered if that cargo had left the base with the intention for it to wind up here.

Probably.

She butt-bumped the door open and set the box on the floor near the bed. Within seconds, Kree stood inside it, gawking at Risa’s matching glittery skirt.

“It’s like mine!” squealed the girl.

Risa grinned. “When I was your age, I liked girly stuff.”

Kree folded her arms, eyes narrowed in doubt.

She twisted side to side, modeling it. “I had to get dressed up to meet someone.”

“Pavo?” Kree tilted her head.

“No.” She laughed, picturing his reaction to her ‘gang teen’ outfit. At least disabling the CamNano let her into the safehouse without being teased. “Just someone I had to talk to.”

Kree nodded and sat in the box.

“What are you, a cat?” Risa picked her up and set her on the bed. “All these clothes have to go in there.”

“All of them?” asked Kree.

“Yep. The entire floordrobe.” Risa grumbled in her head. As long as she crashed on her old cot in Garrison’s office, she’d have nowhere to put them. Not like she could ‘explode’ all over that room. “We can’t stay in this room anymore.”

Kree flopped on her side. “Why?”

“Because I am not going to hurt people with bombs.” Risa sat on the floor, grabbed the nearest bit of clothing, and folded it. “Down here, you have to do bad things to have your own bedroom.”

“I don’t like bombs.” Kree stared down at her chest.

Risa burst into tears before her thinking mind processed all the guilt she felt at those words. Two seconds more and I’d have killed her. I knew there’d always be casualties, but kids? And that was one bomb… how many innocent people did I catch in the blast zones of all the others? Street rats? Citizens? Workers? The cleaning people weren’t part of the war effort. Kree climbed out of the box and put a hand on her shoulder. How did I ever justify this?

“I’m so sorry, Kree…” Risa wrapped the girl in a hug, clinging to her as if she were a giant doll. “I didn’t know you and your friends were in that tunnel. I didn’t know…”

Kree waited for her sobbing to quiet. “I believe you.”

Risa leaned back and looked her in the eye.

“If you wanted to hurt us, you wouldn’t have gone back to turn it off.” Kree squirmed into a hug, resting her cheek against Risa’s neck. “It was a accident.”

“I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” Risa squeezed her.

“I know.” Kree stepped back and smiled.

Sniffling, Risa wiped her face on the back of her arms, before resuming packing.

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