Hexus

)19( Corner

[6:09PM, July 17, UTC ±00:00]

Esther stared up at the security camera and smiled. The blinking red light went off momentarily as she slipped a few provisions into her coat. She wondered for a moment how she had become so morally lax that she could steal without even a hint of guilt or shame. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked out of the shop, ensuring that the electrical impulse never made its way to the alarms. She smiled wryly as she considered that she could control basically everything that ran on energy, and yet for some reason she was pilfering from a shop when she could easily hijack an ATM and walk off.

Guess there’s still some goody-two-shoes left in me.

She pondered it as she walked casually through the street, a practiced ruse to avoid suspicion. Though she’d often asked Linus not to go through with his grand theft schemes, from a moral stand point, there was really no difference between nicking a candy bar and robbing a vault.

A lot of people would lose their money though.

But most of that cash is insured.

She turned the street corner and into the path of the sun’s rays, still beaming at 6 PM as bright as at noon.

“Fucking summer,” she cursed, squinting.
“Hey!”

She heard the voice, but with the number of people on the sidewalk there was almost no chance that it was meant for her. She barely knew anyone in Edinburg. There was the sound of a car horn and an angry shout from some other driver but she walked on; she was used to those already.

“Esther!”

She stopped and glanced back. A tall man with dark blonde hair streaked and peppered with gray stood beside his silver Jeep across the road. He looked so out of place, parked awkwardly beside the type of grocery store a man of his caliber would probably never be caught dead in. She took a few seconds to study his face, its details slightly distorted by the shadow of an overhead shop sign, before her eyes widened in recognition.

No.

She turned and ran. After a minute, she wondered why she did, but she decided to abandon logic and move. She ignored the stares of other people who moved out of her way as she rushed through, heading for a side street that would take her out of view, just in case he decided to follow.

“Hubs of the Hexus, a Summons would begin in six minutes. Please secure a location for your body in this timeframe.”

Bloody hell.

She turned sharply into the alley and continued running. It was one of the many small walkways situated around the block of identical, yet recognizable, council flats. Her apartment was somewhere nearby, if only she could remember how to get there. She spotted a group of lads somewhere down, leaning against the wall and smoking cigarettes. I hope those are cigarettes. Crackheads were the last things she wanted to deal with. She maintained her speed, cursing silently as they moved away from the wall and into her path, probably aiming to block her off.