Blemished, The by Sarah Dalton Page A

time.
    Another push and I was only feet from the door.  The footsteps gained. I forced myself to move faster; my lungs complaining, my legs like lead. The sliding door loomed ahead. As I approached I slid onto my knees and shimmied through, catching my shirt on a nail. I gasped. The Footsteps were louder now. The shirt was caught fast. I ripped it free.
    “Hey! Stop!” called the man.
    I scrambled to my feet and set off at a sprint, feeling the breeze on my face and tugging at my hair. Behind me the door rattled and I turned and saw the man emerging from the loading bay – the man in the leather coat. He chased me and I put everything I had into getting away. I ran so hard that my calves screamed out in pain. The courtyard blurred past – whores a smear of red and yellow. The huts became a jumble of confused faces, music and the stink of smoke. I twisted and turned. Weaved and ducked. I ran and ran until I was certain he had lost me. Then, with sweat pouring down my back, I stopped and hid behind a hut. After a few moments I peeked out and looked around me. The man was gone.
    Just as I breathed a deep sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from my forehead I heard Daniel’s voice, raised and frustrated. Another voice replied and it was muffled as though through a helmet. I groaned. Daniel was arguing with an Enforcer. Now I had to go and deal with something else. We really should have gone back, like Angela said. I made a note to listen to her in future. I hoped Daniel wasn’t in any trouble and moved out from behind the hut, following the raised voices.
    “I don’t know why you don’t believe me,” I heard Daniel say. “Me and my friend just wanna make some cash, like.” He had put a hard inflection into his voice, imitating the accent of the Slum people.
    “Name,” the Enforcer insisted. “You are clearly Blemished not Slum.”
    I moved quietly through the huts. Daniel and the Enforcer were face to face. Angela nervously hid behind her adoptive brother’s body, her eyes wide and pensive. I looked around for something to move to distract the Enforcer; if I could create a disturbance hopefully it would give us enough time to run away.
    “Name,” the Enforcer repeated. “If you do not provide your name I will arrest you both.” The Enforcer took hold of Daniel’s wrist.
    “Get the hell off me,” Daniel said between gritted teeth. His face turned a shade of bright red. He pulled back but the Enforcer kept a firm grip.
    Daniel hid it well but I knew he was in pain. The thought of him being hurt sent a flash of anger through my mind and I felt my fingers tingle with anticipation. For a split second I actually enjoyed that feeling, the freedom of being able to do what I wanted. I focussed on the tin roof of a hut belonging to a drunk man slumped over a bottle of gin, my eyes narrowing with concentration. The roof began to shake, its foundations rattling. The tin jangled, sounding like a hollow metal drum. I concentrated harder, focussing on the searing heat in my mind and letting it take over, waiting for the release.
    The drunk man woke from his slumber just in time to see his entire roof fly from its foundations. He rubbed his eyes and watched it spin through the air and land three huts down on top of a dancing woman’s bonfire. He swore in disbelief, rubbing his eyes with grimy hands. I clapped my hands together as the Enforcer let go of Daniel. I heard him swear into his helmet and move away from my friends and towards the commotion.
    Daniel took his cue and ran, taking Angela with him. I turned to follow him but suddenly my legs wouldn’t work. They trembled all over and I looked down at my hands, which were shaking violently. I felt empty, as though I hadn’t eaten for days and I doubled over, completely exhausted.
    “Daniel, wait,” I mumbled to no one.
    “All right there sweetheart?”
    The sound of the man’s voice chilled me to the bone but I collapsed to the floor, unable to get away. As I