Truancy by Isamu Fukui

Author:Isamu Fukui
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781429974882
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

16

WITHOUT MERCY

You cannot count on mercy—yours, Tack, or theirs!

We must act without mercy.

Tack sighed and leaned against the tiled wall. Mercy—it was the only thing that his new mentor and his old seemed to agree on. Tack had spent the past few weeks as if in a trance, spending most of his time trying to sort out the mess that his life had become. In between confused episodes, he felt as though he were a limp puppet made by Umasi, with Zyid now pulling the strings. Ever the master puppeteer, Zyid had spent much time filling Tack’s head with advice and instructions that conflicted deeply with Umasi’s teachings. Tack felt torn on the inside; he had come very close to accepting Umasi’s words before joining the Truancy, but Zyid’s tended to be overwhelmingly persuasive. Tack had spent an entire dazed afternoon trying to figure out how to fit “do not seek to take life” alongside “restraint is a weakness” and not feel some confusion.

Tack looked briefly through the glass front doors of the school; the evening sky was just beginning to darken outside. He shifted restlessly. For the past half hour he had been crouched outside the door of a principal’s office in a school that he had never been to before. Ever since the bulk of the Truancy had grouped together Zyid had been pulling Tack’s strings with increasingly frequency, sending him on all sorts of unsavory missions, most of which involved ending the life of any Enforcer or Educator Zyid might name. And Tack had done so flawlessly.

And yet, every time Zyid told Tack what a good job he had done, some suppressed corner of his mind rose up and asked him why he obeyed.

Tack never could find an answer.

He knew that he wouldn’t be experiencing any less horror if he hadn’t become Zyid’s puppet; Truant parties went out regularly now, and skirmishes with Enforcer patrols were becoming more common every day. Tack didn’t see much of his old Truant acquaintances anymore; Zyid always kept him close. This in particular made Tack feel uncomfortable; the feeble conscious part of him felt like he was betraying Suzie, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop serving the Truancy.

Tack sighed again, his thoughts shifting. His discomfort had been compounded by the fact that Zyid wasn’t keeping Noni as close as he used to, something she obviously blamed Tack for. Not only did she avoid looking at him, but she avoided his presence entirely. Tack really wasn’t entirely sure why that bothered him, especially when it was the least of his worries, but the aftermath of their duel had left him feeling immensely guilty.

Tack suddenly rummaged around in the pocket of his jacket absentmindedly, more for the sake of concentrating on something material than anything else. His hand gripped the bottle inside his pocket firmly when it found it. The particular mission that Zyid had sent him on was very unusual, and Zyid had impressed upon him that it was especially important.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.