In Praetor

Chapter 8

The next couple of months went by relatively smoothly. There were a couple more attacks, but Zulu took care of them without trouble. The interactions between Rise and Zulu continued to amuse the students, especially when it stopped being an act and was completely their own views of each other. One day, one of the students interrupted class with the question everyone wanted the answer to. 

"What is it Jak?" Rise noticed the student raise their hand while he and Zulu were in the middle of a demonstration that had somehow turned into an argument. 

"How long have you two been dating?" Jak asked, clearly planning to keep bugging them about it until the question was answered. 

"What're you talking about?" Rise glanced nervously at Zulu. "We're not dating." 

"Come on, we can all see it," Jak persisted, the others agreeing with him. 

"No, I'm telling the truth," Rise told him. "We're not da-" 

Zulu held up her hand to silence Rise. She was trembling slightly and inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly to calm herself. 

"Jak, I'm going to tell you this only once, so listen closely. Rise and I aren't dating. We will never start dating. I will never fall in love with someone like him." Her expression was dark and her words were so cold that it made the room feel icy. Quietly, she whispered to herself, "I won't fall in love, I don't have the right." 

For a moment, Rise could only stand there in shock. Then anger and frustration started burning inside him, as well as the pain of being hurt. He slammed his fist on the blackboard, startling everyone. His narrowed eyes clearly on Zulu, he growled, "That's right, nothing like that will ever happen. Not with this emotionally detached woman." 

Heading out the door without looking back, he ordered, "Take care of the teaching for the rest of the day." 

Zulu didn't allow any emotions to cross her face, but she felt a jumble of them inside. She furrowed her eyebrows and went to get a substitute, feeling a little lonely for some reason. 

The events of that day were never brought up for discussion and finally a few months had passed since Zulu had been hired by Rise. It was also the day she had to take care of a separate job. 

"I'm leaving," Zulu told Rise as she walked out the door. "I'll be back later after finishing today's job." 

"I'll be here," Rise grumbled, still on bad terms with her after what had happened. 

"Yeah." She got on her Hover-Cycle and drove off. 

"Have a safe trip," Rise sighed after she was gone. He went down to the basement to do some research. 

Pulling up in front of the building she had visited months before, Zulu got off her Hover-Cycle and went in to meet her employer. 

"Duke Yemen," she greeted him nonchalantly. 

"Ah, I'm glad you came, now my family and I will be safely escorted," the duke shook her hand graciously. 

"I'll be right behind you on my Hover-Cycle the whole way." She glanced at the duke to make sure this was okay and he nodded. 

After walking his family out and making sure they were safely in their car, she got back on her Hover-Cycle and followed them. Everything was fine until halfway to the destination, which was when they were suddenly ambushed. 

"Annoying pests." Zulu switched her Hover-Cycle to autopilot and grabbed her plasma rifle. Taking aim, she shot at the vehicle in the middle of the blockade before them. The explosion caused everything on both sides of the car to go flying away from the road, some on the side that rose into a forest mountain and some on the side that dropped into rolling hills. As they drove through, debris rained down around the duke's family car and Zulu's Hover-Cycle. Zulu pulled out a remodeled SMG and mowed down anyone still standing with a spray of compact, explosive bullets. As the hissing of burning skin and screams filled her ears she nonchalantly scanned the surrounding area. "Some humans are just brainless and arrogant, believing such things as ambushes will work." 

Even as she continued on, wary of more attacks and sensing nothing, Zulu felt a strange uneasiness. Something was going to happen, or even already happening, and it surely had nothing to do with her job here. A dreadful, chilling thought crept into her mind. Rise is in danger. 

After making sure that Duke Yemen and his family safely reached their destination, Zulu left in a hurry, almost forgetting to take her payment. She sped back to Rise's cabin on her Hover-Cycle, the uneasiness she felt clawing at her insides. It was strange, feeling such a thing. It was unusual for her to be affected by such things that were generally nonexistent, yet Zulu's mind and heart both raced faster than even in the most fear filled moments of her life.