The Law and the Codas

Chapter Thirteen

The knock at the door can't come fast enough. Izzer gives me one last look before he turns and opens it.

Seven. Izzer had been the 89th Council's David. My gaze drifts to the boy I know. How much alike were they? Did Izzer have a love of prescription pills? Did he joke, did he-- I gulp-- flirt with the previous Ten? If we graduated and became the 91st Council, would David's career end like Izzer's? With a noose around his neck and a forged death certificate?

"You brief them?" Della's brusque voice causes my thoughts to scatter. Both the commander and her second stand in the doorway, clothes piled to their chins in their arms.

Izzer nods.

"Good." Della tosses the clothes onto space between us. Keran's all too happy to follow her commander's lead. "Grab whatever floats your fancy. Meet us in the main room when you're done."

Della turns to leave. "Leave your uniforms on the floor. Izzer will dispose of them when we're done."

Rima folds the bottom of her shirt over her hands. "Dispose of them how?"

"Burn them," Izzer replies, matter-of-factly.

Rima frowns.

"Don't take long," Keran says. "You dawdle, you get left behind."

Della claps Izzer on the shoulder. "And he hates company. Liable to burn you alongside those uniforms."

One by one, they file out of the room. The door clicks close behind them.

I pick up the clothes nearest to me - a crumpled purple t-shirt with a smattering of glitter stars across the front and a ripped pair of baggy denim.

Sam blushes. "So how are we-" his eyes flit about the room. "There's nowhere where the-" he gulps as a bead of sweat treks down his forehead.

Marava grabs a flouncy tunic and jeans off the floor and yanks Rima free of Sam's grasp. "Girls along this wall. Boys over there," she points to the wall with a holographic player that's still projecting the Tramway tunnels.

after everyone gets clothes, My gaze drifts to David. He's got his hands shoved in his denim pockets. A long-sleeved black and grey striped shirt skims his frame. When he moves some blond hair out of his eyes, he notices me, noticing him, and gives a little nod. The corner of his lips turn upward, and his eyes sparkle like he's just discovered a new prescription pill. It's too much, and I quickly turn away.

Sam coughs and rubs the back of his head, just above the incision. "I think you look nice."

I chuckle. Leave it to Sam to breathe fresh air into a room. "A new pair of clothes is all it takes to make you go from wolf to lamb?" His face flashes bright red. "If only the Doctors had figured that one out, would have been easier for them to get you to do what you were told." I pat him on the back. "But all joking aside, thanks."

"We should go," Sin says. He points to the door. "They're waiting."

...

Sin's never wrong. The majority of the Codas fill the main room. Most wear civilian clothes, though they look newer than ours. They still have combat boots on, like Della, and the outlines of concealed carry holsters bulge under their shirts, but aside from that, they look fairly normal. Guess that's the point.

There's a table in the center of the room, metal, foldable, and a few Codas scurry around it, lifting packages and putting them into the back of a black van. It had tinted windows, and tires - an old model, used by people too poor to lease a high-end hover model.

David eyes the packages with curiosity. "This all you have left?"

Della nods. "The El Accostas attacked a warehouse of ours. We managed to get our guys out, but most of the Elysium got caught in the blaze."