To Be A Killer

Chapter 14: Give Me Your Eyes

I push myself to make that final lap around the training yard, wiping the sweat off my face and ignoring the burning of my lungs.

Just a little more. Just a little more.

When I finish the lap, I nearly drop to my knees as exhaustion floods over me, but I resist the urge to fall since people are staring and collapsing in front of my fellow runners would be pretty embarrassing. Instead I just place my hands on my knees as I gasp for breath. After taking a moment to catch my breath and get close to normal, I trudge over to a nearby bench and grab my water bottle that I placed there earlier. Putting it to my lips, I drink almost the entire thing in ten seconds.

I've been here for quite a while, doing running and stretching and other exercises. Seeing that it's an off day, and I surprisingly had no kitchen duty, I decided I might as well do something useful. Well, it's somewhat useful, since I have to keep my stamina up. Plus it keeps Milo away since he sees that I'm here.

Stubborn boy. He's a lot like me for someone who isn't my biological kid.

But I'm too tired to go on any longer. Right now I just want to take a shower and rest, which is exactly what I'm going to do.

I finish drinking the last bit of water I have, before throwing it away in the waste bin. Since it isn't a cup or glass, it's not something that we reuse, and sadly we haven't found a way to recycle plastic yet, so it's going to be burned.

This, along with other things that are considered trash, are usually burned at the burn site out on the edge of the township. It's not great for the environment, which is why some things we take out to the dump a few miles out (although that's still not all that great for the environment). But some days, when we have quite a bit of trash or things too big to be safely moved from Abel, we burn it.

I head back towards the sleeping quarters to grab a pair of clothes to change into after my shower. There's not many people walking about, but I guess that's because the younger children are doing their after school chores and the teenagers are off doing whatever it is normal teenagers like to do. I don't hang out with people my age, so I wouldn't know.

The only person who was closer in my age group who I regularly talked to was Caleb, but he turned twenty a month after he disappeared.

A heavy weight settles in my stomach as I think of him. I miss him, a lot.

Milo and Penelope do too. Penelope still asks rather frequently when he and Ed are gonna come back. Milo doesn't ask, but he still thinks it. He still misses him. I see the way his eyes widen in interest when someone mentions us finding a lead on Comansys.

When I reach the sleeping quarters, I head right for my bed. Underneath it is a small container I use to store the few pairs of clothing I have. I pick a pink shirt that's color is fading and some sweatpants with holes in them, and then my undergarments.

But as I stand back up, my eyes fall onto the picture on my bed. I found it after we got away from those cultists. I remember because we'd asked Moonchild if she was going to come back to Abel with Louise and me. She told us no, and said some weird stuff about auras and other hippy related stuff that I couldn't understand. She also kept looking at me weird, but that might be some other hippy thing that I have no clue about. It was after she ran off that I spotted the photo.

I don't know why I picked it up, but I did. It's the a picture of two people-a young woman in a cap and gown, and an older man. They both have dark skin and hair. The young woman is wearing a small bit of makeup and her long hair is sleek and shiny looking, and the man has a beard which is nicely trimmed and is wearing glasses that have both lenses.