01 The Prisoner

         The moment she'd seen the sky burning, Alva Donnaly knew what had happened. As the neighbors began poking their heads out their  windows, pointing at the orange-gold spectacle above them, she left her room and ran down the stairs towards  the front door. Her fingers fumbled to fasten a leather belt with a sheathed  knife as she hurried down the stairs to the first floor. Without a second to spare, she snatched a traveling cloak from its hook but she couldn't throw it over her shoulders until after she left the warm comfort of the building. Her breath rose as she walked quick as she could through the narrow, stone streets of the residential districts-- only partially paying attention to those too busy watching the sky to know they were in the way of traffic. 

Keeping her head low and her hood up she turned down an alley. The air was heavy with the stench of urine and other strong and unpleasant odors were strong here but she barely noticed it as she passed through. An older man sitting in the middle of the way called out to her but he was too out of it to be considered an obstacle, much less a threat. Still, she kept a hand on her weapon as she walked around him. Any suspicious movement and he wouldn't hesitate to retaliate. When it was clear she would not stop for him, his drunken flattery turned into obscenities but he did not move.

With enough distance she relaxed her guard but barely five seconds passed when a new sound caught her attention. Faint footsteps with the the scrape of metal on stone. Whoever it was was close and, at this pace, she would be able to block off their exit the moment she left the alley. Perfect. She ran ahead and broke free of the buildings with just enough time for her target to stop.

 The man backed up, his mouth wide with an exaggerated frown that showed yellow teeth. His thin, limp hair hung over his eyes but he made no effort to move it out of the way. She thought he looked old-- at least forty-- but nothing aged a person like some time in the prison; the pale beige uniform and tattoo that was only half hidden by the collar showed proclaimed his guilt to the world.

Alva's hand went to her weapon but she didn't think she needed it just yet. 

"Please go back the way you came," she said in a clear, even voice. "If you return, your punishment for this escape  will be severe but as long as you are out here, you will be hunted  down. Do you understand?"

"Shut up! You're just a child-- a young, foolish child protected by the system. I'm never going back there. Ya hear me? Never!" He pulled back his arm and a wave of heat ripped through the small area where their two paths joined. A fireball exploded from the unnatural heat wave and rushed towards Alva. 

She raised her right hand and a translucent golden circle of light scrawled  across  the air in front of her palm. When the fire hit the barrier, the impact created a blast of hot air that ripped the hood back from her face. The sudden change in temperature burned but she wouldn't back down. She couldn't. For a few moments, the fire had remained there, pushing against the shield but there was nothing for it to burn. Both the fire and the circle quickly faded away.

"'Just a child'?"  She gave him a humorless smile before letting her expression fall back to one of apathy. "I won't tell you again.  Return  to the facility or I will hurt you."

"An Enforcer?" the man said, taking a few steps back, his eyes wide with surprised  confusion. Then he gritted his teeth and hunched his narrow shoulders. He tilted his head forward so his hair completely covered his eyes. He pulled his arm back once again but this time he released a series of quicker, smaller attacks. He didn't look up to see if any of them landed but with trembling hands, he threw one after another.

As Alva moved her hands,  the same golden light that had created the circle trailed behind them and disappeared  as each attack hit. She walked towards him. 

"No. S-stay back!" Finally he looked up, fear flickering in his faded eyes but there was nothing that could be done. He backed away, his attacks becoming more desperate and less focused the closer with every step. "STAY AWAY!" 

                                                                                                                     ************ *******

"Rick, we should get back inside. The shields could break and we haven't even been called yet."

"That's precisely the reason why we should investigate. There's no point in keeping us around if we can't take action during emergencies. I don't know if you're aware of this, Eric, but this is an emergency-- a major emergency. I'd say I have never seen an emergency quite like this one in my life," Rick said, pointing at the sky with an unappropriately gleeful expression on his face. His eyes gleamed. Not only had the barrier that had protected the residents of the city for neary two centuries been weakened until it was visible to the ungifted, but faint ripples were starting to appear coming from the far west side of the city as well. It almost looked as if something was trying to break through it from the inside.  "Let's go."

Without warning, Rick grabbed the other boy's wrist-- making Eric drop the vegetables they had been collecting-- and pulled him out the front gate of  one their host family's many summer homes, down the narrow staircase that led to the business district, and up the main road towards the disturbance. Although Eric was bigger and a few years older, Rick was stronger and  able to force his caretaker through the city with some success. 

Eric resisted the entire way. That is, until a tornado of fire and golden light shot up from somewhere behind the long, three-story  inn that lined a good secton  of the road to their right. On instinct, Rick dropped Eric's arm and both  boys stopped to shield their faces. The blast of heat only lasted five seconds; as soon as the fire touched the barrier, it disappeared into the darkening ripples. 

"At least we know the the barrier still works," Rick said. He lowered his arm down from his face, took a few steps away from Eric and laughed. 

"For now, but what will you do if it does break? It's you're job as an Enforcer to prevent an Infestation from happening, right? your family and unit will be compromised." 

Rick stopped laughing and crossed his arms. "What about you? You're part of the family as well."

"As a servant. Despite my training, I have no ties to the military nor responsibility for anyone but the house I've been assigned."

"Then why are you here?"

Eric looked surprised for a moment then his expression settled into a casual smile. "Because we're friends. And you dragged me through the city against my will." 

"Right....Anyway, I'm going to find out what that light was all about. Stay here if you want." Rick said as he turned away and started walking into the closest alley.

"You know I couldn't do that," Eric said as he followed Rick. "Someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble."