Immunity Hunter

Chapter Forty-Two - Sasame Kai

The next day I wake up to the sounds of birds on my balcony. I roll over to look at my clock: 11:33 am. I would've liked to have slept in a little longer, but I may as well get up now.

"Good morning, Sasame!" Lynn bursts into my room holding a laundry basket and sporting a smile. I groan and throw my blanket over my head. Why is she so cheerful?

The blanket is pulled off my head and I'm stuck looking at Lynn's face.

"Get up, Sasame," she says smiling. "You have a mission to complete, remember?"

"What mission?" I moan trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes.

"The hunts, remember?"

I remember. I still have thirteen left unless they updated the list again. I roll out of bed and walk to my desk picking up my notebook. Lynn hovers over me as I flip through the pages. I stop on a photo of a girl around my age. I've seen her before at Monanie, although I've never spoken with her. It looks like she's my target today.

I close my notebook and shove it in to my backpack. "I have a target, Lynn. But next time could you let me sleep in?"

Lynn smiles and walks to my door. "Try to make sure you don't get distracted by that cute muscular boy again. Okay?"

I swallow hard. How did she know about Ronan?

She must be able to read my mind. "A mother knows, even if I'm your replacement mom."

Lynn walks out of my room and closes the door, leaving me to sit here alone looking stupid. I wait until I can no longer hear her footsteps before pulling myself together. The only thing I can do is get back to being the person I am. I'm not some boy-crazed teen, that's for sure.

I log into The Organization's database to see if there's any information on my new target. Her name is listed as Catrine Fiend, sixteen. Turns out she lives a few buildings down from me and enjoys spending her day at the park.

After a long, hot shower I get dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans and head out the door in search of my new prey. She shouldn't be too hard to find. The bright pink braids going down either side of her head will stand out of the crowd.

I jog down the front steps of my townhouse and head toward the nearby park. Some woman wearing a long bright colored dress and brown boots is standing a building down from mine handing out flyers. It must be another recruitment event for the Eradication Squad. They did lose a lot of good people during the sweep.

"Please take this." She shoves a flyer into my hand as I walk by. "If you know anything, please let me know."

I look up at her face. She has tears in her eyes.

"Please."

I look down at the flyer. It's a missing person poster featuring Lin Ming. This woman must be her mother. I dart around the corner out of the woman's sight and crumble the flyer.

I thought she was deemed dead. I can't think about that now though, I need to complete this hunt to get Lynn off my back. Who put her in charge anyway?

I put all my focus into my mission. I need to find Catrine.

Luckily for me, I end up finding her sooner than expected. She's sitting on a bench a block away from the park singing.

I walk up to her, trying to figure out what song she's singing. Not that it matters, though but the tune is familiar. That's when I realize she's singing that eerie song that can be heard throughout the city late at night. It's a chilling reminder that at any time we could all die.