Contract City by Mark Falkin

Author:Mark Falkin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult, dystopia, fiction, science fiction, action, adventure, strong female lead, film
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Published: 2015-02-21T17:16:48+00:00

A car rolled slowly across the grass, and out stepped two figures, the first one appearing in the dim light to be a tall, lanky boy with glasses and retro print T-shirt. Tim. The other was a tall, mixed-race Richard Hell with dreads and huge, vacant, faraway eyes full of fire. As Sara sat up in her folding chair, her temples pulsed for a cigarette.

He was this . . . presence. This larger-than-life figure. And, because of this, she suddenly felt relieved to be outdoors. The firelight caught his frame and the statement of his chin. He came partly into the light, half of him remaining uncommitted in the penumbra beyond.

“Tim!” Nikki said. “Hi! You guys came! I didn’t know if you were kidding or . . .” Tim’s face broke into a smile. He stepped over and kissed her. “What’s that about?” Nikki brayed. “That was like I’m a cousin your mom forced you to say goodbye to.”

“Sorry, I . . . Listen, are you guys okay?” Tim looked at them both.

“What’s this all about, Tim?” said Sara. “All the texting and spookiness?” Billy stood up straighter than Sara thought possible. He took a step forward into the full light of the fire. “Hi,” said Sara, waving at Billy, her voice singsong and mocking. “Who are you? Tim, who’s your friend?”

“You remember me, girl,” said Billy. “Don’t play.”

All she could do was be coy and abrasive. “Don’t play?” Sara’s eyebrows arched.

“C’mon now. At SubSpace? We talked? You were kind of drunk, I guess.” He looked at her hand, which she covered and rubbed. He stifled a smile.

Sara loved even his suppressed smile but wondered why he felt he had to contain it.

“Ohhhh yeah! You’re the guy with the WHITEY T-shirt. Yeah, yeah. Okay, right.” She proved to herself yet again that she was no actress.

“And you wore the Tulsa Police Department shirt. Yes.”

“Yes! Wow. Good memory. How are you? Wait. I never got your name.”

Nikki shot her a look, but then Girls’ Code kicked in. She dropped her head, apparently realizing that Sara was attempting to flirt.

“It’s Billy.”

“Billy.”

“Yes, Billy. You’re Sara Paige. We’ve met. We’ve done this.”

Sara caught Nikki’s bemused look and cracking smile.

“Sara Christie,” Sara snapped. She was embarrassed. That superfluous middle name was to remain in check until she left Tulsa. She would unveil it in college—part of a planned personal reinvention. Sara gave him a look which she hoped managed to say that’s between us. Billy accepted with a nod and airy chuckle. They locked eyes, and Sara let him draw her in.

Tim broke it off. “You guys have no idea, do you?”

“Why don’t you tell us?” Nikki said, stepping up to him and touching his hand. Tim’s face attempted to hold its sternness. But then it relaxed, and he exploded with laughter—nervous laughter, clearly. Almost as quickly, Tim’s face dropped into seriousness again as he glanced at Billy. Sara looked at her friend, but Nikki’s head was tilted back, sucking the dregs from her beer. She tossed the can into the fire, which accepted it with a hiss.

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