tucked in all the way up to my chin. “Aura, open your eyes. Look at me.”
I hadn’t even realized they were shut, but getting them to open was nearly impossible. Sandpaper scored my corneas as I peeled back my eyelids, revealing a blurry room and one very up-close-and-personal face. Man, was he handsome. Hunter green eyes shone with worry, hidden only partially from view by his unruly brown hair. The whole time I’d known him, he’d kept it short and orderly in accordance with Legion standards, like everyone else in their employ, but since we’d been on the lam, he hadn’t exactly had time for regular trims. I liked it. I thought the wild look suited him.
“Hey. There you are.” His lush pink lips tipped up at the corners, but the stress lines creasing his tanned forehead didn’t disappear.
The only part of my body not wrapped up like some kind of burrito was my hand. Firmly encased in Sayer’s, it felt like it was submerged in an open flame, but I didn’t pull away. If not his warmth, I needed his strength, his support. I had no idea what was the matter with me, but I wasn’t naïve enough not to realize how serious it was.
“I—I—”Breathing was more of a challenge than if I’d just run a five mile sprint. Simple speech emptied my fragile lungs faster than I could fill them. Or maybe I didn’t have lungs anymore. Maybe they’d been flushed along with the rest of me. That might explain it.
“Shh. Don’t try to talk. It’s alright. You’re gonna be okay, Aura. Just hang on. I’m going to get you help.”
I wanted to ask who the hell he thought would help us, but I couldn’t. My eyes were already sliding shut again and I welcome the reprieve of oblivion.
><><><><
“Come take a look at this, Aura.”
“At . . . what?” I was in the middle of trying to fasten my hair and knot my boot with my teeth at the same time. Not the world’s most impressive display of coordination, but I was running late and the Legion didn’t take well to stragglers.
Sayer, of course, was no help at all, sifting through the file of papers in his hands.
“You know we’re going to be late for work.”
“Just a minute.” He held out the file as I spit the lace from my mouth.
“What is it?” The pages looked like work orders . . . of the classified variety, all put forth by the Legion. “Why do you have these?”
“I’ve been collecting them for a while.”
“Why?” They weren’t our orders, that much I knew from the brief scan I gave them. Why would he care about someone else’s orders?
“For evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Did you read any of it?”
Now was so not the time for this. “We’re late! Can’t I read it after our shift?”
“No. This is important or I wouldn’t be involving you in it.” His genuine distress stopped me in my tracks. Screw the Legion, my partner obviously needed me.
“Alright.” I settled down on an abandoned crate on the sidewalk and flipped open to the first page.
I could hear the evening meeting being called to order in the center square, but I tuned out as orders were issued and the day shift debriefed. I’d been trained to follow the Legion’s commands my whole life, so it wasn’t easy to focus on what I was reading and ignore the voice at the back of my head screaming that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. But I did it. For Sayer.
He squatted beside me, carefully watching my face as I processed what was in front of me. It was a kill order. They were rare, but not unheard of. Crime wasn’t the problem for us as it had been for past societies, and so punishment was not as prevalent. We had the Legion to thank for that. But there was something off about this order.
I flipped the page. Another kill order. And another. Several imprisonment orders . . . “What is all of this?”
“Proof that the Legion is abusing their power.”
“I—” Turning another page, I studied yet another kill order. “I don’t
I hadn’t even realized they were shut, but getting them to open was nearly impossible. Sandpaper scored my corneas as I peeled back my eyelids, revealing a blurry room and one very up-close-and-personal face. Man, was he handsome. Hunter green eyes shone with worry, hidden only partially from view by his unruly brown hair. The whole time I’d known him, he’d kept it short and orderly in accordance with Legion standards, like everyone else in their employ, but since we’d been on the lam, he hadn’t exactly had time for regular trims. I liked it. I thought the wild look suited him.
“Hey. There you are.” His lush pink lips tipped up at the corners, but the stress lines creasing his tanned forehead didn’t disappear.
The only part of my body not wrapped up like some kind of burrito was my hand. Firmly encased in Sayer’s, it felt like it was submerged in an open flame, but I didn’t pull away. If not his warmth, I needed his strength, his support. I had no idea what was the matter with me, but I wasn’t naïve enough not to realize how serious it was.
“I—I—”Breathing was more of a challenge than if I’d just run a five mile sprint. Simple speech emptied my fragile lungs faster than I could fill them. Or maybe I didn’t have lungs anymore. Maybe they’d been flushed along with the rest of me. That might explain it.
“Shh. Don’t try to talk. It’s alright. You’re gonna be okay, Aura. Just hang on. I’m going to get you help.”
I wanted to ask who the hell he thought would help us, but I couldn’t. My eyes were already sliding shut again and I welcome the reprieve of oblivion.
><><><><
“Come take a look at this, Aura.”
“At . . . what?” I was in the middle of trying to fasten my hair and knot my boot with my teeth at the same time. Not the world’s most impressive display of coordination, but I was running late and the Legion didn’t take well to stragglers.
Sayer, of course, was no help at all, sifting through the file of papers in his hands.
“You know we’re going to be late for work.”
“Just a minute.” He held out the file as I spit the lace from my mouth.
“What is it?” The pages looked like work orders . . . of the classified variety, all put forth by the Legion. “Why do you have these?”
“I’ve been collecting them for a while.”
“Why?” They weren’t our orders, that much I knew from the brief scan I gave them. Why would he care about someone else’s orders?
“For evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Did you read any of it?”
Now was so not the time for this. “We’re late! Can’t I read it after our shift?”
“No. This is important or I wouldn’t be involving you in it.” His genuine distress stopped me in my tracks. Screw the Legion, my partner obviously needed me.
“Alright.” I settled down on an abandoned crate on the sidewalk and flipped open to the first page.
I could hear the evening meeting being called to order in the center square, but I tuned out as orders were issued and the day shift debriefed. I’d been trained to follow the Legion’s commands my whole life, so it wasn’t easy to focus on what I was reading and ignore the voice at the back of my head screaming that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. But I did it. For Sayer.
He squatted beside me, carefully watching my face as I processed what was in front of me. It was a kill order. They were rare, but not unheard of. Crime wasn’t the problem for us as it had been for past societies, and so punishment was not as prevalent. We had the Legion to thank for that. But there was something off about this order.
I flipped the page. Another kill order. And another. Several imprisonment orders . . . “What is all of this?”
“Proof that the Legion is abusing their power.”
“I—” Turning another page, I studied yet another kill order. “I don’t
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