The Global Fellowship: Prelude to The Infinitus Saga

1 - Gone

They'll never see this coming! Well, Gina might, but not Mom and—

A crash of twisting metal and breaking glass echoes outside my window and my finger draws a huge smudge through the monstrous creature's right leg.

"Dammit." I shouldn't have done the shading in the same layer. I start to toss the easel aside but force myself to slow down and take a deep breath—tech this old can break easy.

I'm lucky my sister, Gina, found this one intact a few months ago. She should have sold it with the other off-GRID workstations she'd scrounged, but she gave it to me. She could've found a buyer. Being able to draw into a computer using only my hands is a pretty wicked concept for something so primitive.

What the hell was that, anyway?

Setting the easel down carefully, my bed railing creaks a complaint as I pull myself upright. That crash sounded really bad but kind of muted. It must have come from a couple blocks away. There's still a maintained road that close in District T, so it could have been an autobus or drone. I'd worry about squids, but that sounded more like a collision than an explosion.

Jeez, I wonder if anyone's hurt? Some of the shirkers near the barrel fires below my window begin shouting back and forth. A clear, soft siren's wail adds itself to the commotion.

Stumbling to the window, I grab the sill and hang on tight to keep from falling as the blood leaves my head and my eyesight dims. A dull headache starts as my heart pounds loudly in my ears. It passes in seconds like it always does, so I stick my head out the open window to try and see what's going on.

Hosni is jogging with Byron and Meadow up the street toward District T. The little girl is slung on Hosni's back atop his short, boney frame while her brother races ahead. They and a couple of guys I don't know leave the burn barrels and run right past Crazy Rob.

Man, you can tell nothing interesting ever happens around here.

Rob is staying carefully close to the buildings and ducking into every hiding place. I chuckle a little as he slips behind an old shipping crate. Mom always says to mind my manners, but it's stupid funny that Crazy Rob thinks they're after him. He's got nothing the Community would want. He's in more danger of the people around here grabbing his stash of MREs.

Gina says he messes up the Community's GRIDtech when he's around, but that's just another one of his stories. He's got enough of those for someone with two lifetimes. But as Dad always reminds me, he's harmless, and he helps out sometimes. We're poor enough he must've decided we're not Community spies.

After he disappears from sight, the street returns to the boring hum of normal activity. Old Yeon-Jae is hanging some clothes on a line and occasionally scolding some of the little kids whose parents must've run off to check out the noise. One of the new guys is manning the barrel fires. Gina hasn't found out what his name is yet.

The ache in my legs intensifies steadily as I stand until it's gnawing its way into my bones. I'll head back to bed and leave the window open so I can hear when news comes back to the camp below. On the way, I pour myself a cup of warm water from the glass jug by the door. Damn, it's almost out. Soon I'll have to refill it from one of the rain barrels outside and lug it back up those freakin' stairs. No way I can manage that right now. I'm already trembling too much. I drop back down into my nest of pillows and blankets on the musty old mattress Dad found at the recycling center.

Mom and Dad left this morning before I woke up, but I don't remember who they were meeting. Gina went out to close a tech deal about an hour ago. When they get home, I'll ask if they saw what happened.