Catharsis

Chapter Four - Cyrus

Cyrus looked down at the girl, her auburn hair spilling out around her head. Even in unconsciousness, she hardly looked peaceful.

"So this is the runner?" Isaac said, looking down critically at the girl. "How'd you find her?"

Cyrus knelt down beside her, feeling the steady pulse in her neck.

"Luck," he said, or lack thereof for her. "She ran down the street I was patrolling."

Isaac frowned. "Poor thing."

Selene looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

The boy gave her a small glance before looking away.

"Nevermind."

It was obvious to Cyrus that Isaac had a thing for Selene — of course he'd be able to empathise with the girl's fantasy for escape. Arranged marriage meant his attraction would never become anything more than just that. A dream.

"You got her?" Jack appeared from inside the watchtower, followed by the final member of their team, Elaine — a tall girl with a permanent scowled.

Jack looked extremely angry to have missed out on the action. Cyrus, however, felt satisfaction settle over him.

He nodded. "We handled it."

Elaine's eyes fell onto his bleeding fingers. The adrenaline had taken away from the pain for a while, but now, they were starting to sting.

"Damn, Cyrus," she said, smiling, "it seems like it was quite the struggle for you."

A coldness settled over him and he glared at her. She was insufferable, just like Jack.

"She put up a decent fight," he said, "you're in no position to judge when I was the only one out of all of us to notice her in the first place."

Isaac stood, and spoke before Elaine could retaliate.

"Cyrus is right." He said. "He's the only reason she didn't escape. In fact, the rest of us should all be ashamed."

Jack scowled.

"It's a big city. By your logic every team on patrol tonight has failed." He sneered. "Besides, there hasn't been an escape attempt for years."

Selene sighed, "Let's stop bickering and report this before she wakes up."

Cyrus agreed, and begrudgingly, the arguing died out. He watched as the girl pressed a button that switched their channel straight to the main headquarters.

"Excuse me, this is Unit J-24," she said, "we have just intercepted a civilian who tried to escape."

As she continued to explain the details, Cyrus felt his gaze drift over toward the centre of the city, where a tall, white tower stood pride of place, dwarfing everything else. Somewhere at the top, someone received their message, and just below were the dormitories and training areas that housed every guard. A tug grew at his heart, and suddenly, looking back over the expanse of forest beyond the city, he couldn't really fault the would-be escapee's desire for freedom.

But there was really no way to know that life beyond the city would be any better.

***

Cyrus hated elevators. Something about being trapped in a small box with no way of escape or control made him uncomfortable. It was a thousand times worse, however, when he had to share. And this time, he was surrounded by his entire team, plus an older guard.

They were being taken to the main headquarters, where they would explain everything that had happened in detail. Cyrus hadn't expected it, but the entire case was much more of a big deal than it had seemed on a surface level. He supposed, though, that if he hadn't intercepted her when he had, the girl would've escaped. It had been a close call. As far as he knew, nobody had ever succeeded. Or, if they had, he'd never been told so.