❝how do you kill a monster without becoming one?❞
In the last city ruled by man, fish soar in the skies above and monsters lurk in the alleys below. Ten years ago, Jase lost both his legs and his mother to one such monster. However, tragedy couldn't...
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Huraira hadn't left the room in two weeks.
She refused to think of it as her room because that implied some sense of permanence, but it was the room that Lilja had told her she could stay in for as long as she wanted. And if she wanted to stay in it for two weeks straight, with the curtains drawn and the lights off, then she would. Because in those two weeks, Bonnie hadn't woken up. Half-dead and half-alive, Bonnie slumbered on. Huraira had done that to her. It seemed... wrong for Huraira to experience the world without Bonnie.
So instead she stayed in the room, counting the petals of the purple flowers painted on the bedposts.
At least until someone knocked on the door.
Huraira didn't respond. She never did. Lilja would bring her food and take the dishes away and neither of them would speak to one another. The door opened as it always did but Lilja did not appear.
"Up," Kova said. No greeting, no kindness. Just a simple command.
Huraira found herself following it despite herself. She'd always been good at following commands.
Kova squinted at her. Huraira wondered what he saw. Unmade face, too gaunt. Unwieldy eye bags, too dark. Unkempt hair, too long for its own good. She wanted to cut it, but never could. Her mother had loved her long hair, back when she was still in the right mind to love things. Unsatisfactory Huraira King.
Kova made no comment.
"Come," he said. He didn't even seem to be phased by Huraira's unruly appearance. Probably wasn't, the emotionless bastard.
"Where?" Huraira asked, just as sharply. She wasn't going to just let Kova bark orders at her and then blindly follow them. She was done with that.
"Mission."
What one-worded fools they were. Kova closed the door and somehow Huraira managed to get out of bed and - this was the real icing on the cake - change clothes. No make-up. Huraira's old self would scowl at the mess she'd become.
Kova was waiting for her by the front door. He wasn't wearing anything nice either. Just sweatpants, an oversized t-shirt, and a jacket. Huraira took a steadying breath. This wouldn't be bad. She wouldn't have to kill anyone. This was just a daylight mission. Whatever that meant.
Without a word to one another, they walked out the door. Just beyond the metal gate, however, there was the strangest vehicle Huraira had ever seen. It was an abomination of a hybrid of a car and a bicycle.
And standing by it was a semi-familiar woman, though Huraira wasn't sure where she'd seen her before. She had dark skin and dark eyes that seemed to glitter from behind a pair of blocky glasses that rested on the tip of her nose. Her bleached locs were tied up in a messy bun and Huraira was trying to figure out how she managed to get it both so perfectly stylish and simple when she handed Kova a set of keys.
