章節 12: Freak Part2

Szedra made it over to the guy sleeping on the bench. She watched in disgust as he snored loudly, mouth open and closing with each heavy breath. His head was cushioned by a large beach cap, and brown crumbs were scattered all over him and the ground beneath him. The sight made her cringe leaning over him.

She sneaked out several chips from the open chip bag on his belly while she held one hand over her mouth to prevent bursting out in laughter.

Zino and Tess watched from afar on their bench.They were amused by her sneaky movements, knowing that it was typical of a Sybervirian. Something explosive was coming!

Szedra looked down at her feet after stepping on a few chips that scattered the ground. Suddenly, the boy's eyes popped open, and he sat up so fast that their heads collided.

"Ah!" they yelled out in pain.

Tess, who had been watching from the bench, slid to the edge, wondering if she had seen it right. Unfortunately, she had. "Oh crap," she muttered.

Szedra held her head in agony as she stepped back from the boy, who was now glaring at her with anger. "Watch it, you freak!" she yelled, trying to regain her composure.

The boy's arms were frozen midway from pushing himself up from the bench, and his eyes were wide with surprise as he looked at the girl with the curly black hair. "Who the heck are you?" he demanded, his voice rising. "And who are you calling a freak?"

Szedra was struck with a chilling stillness from seeing him awake and talking to her. Why couldn't she be dreaming? No, wait, she was. She had to be!

He rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping over his own form as the crumbs cascaded off, each touch leaving a tingling sensation. A sudden realization etched its way across his face, causing his brows to furrow with intensity. Filled with anger, he lifted his gaze towards her.

"You were attempting to rob me, weren't you?" he accused, his voice laced with indignation.

Szedra took a step back, her eyes widening as she blinked in rapid succession upon hearing his words.

"Rob?" she snapped, her hand dropping from her throbbing forehead, now positioned firmly by her side. "There isn't a single thing on your body worth stealing."

With one hand thoughtfully resting beneath his chin, the boy nodded, pieces of the puzzle falling into place within the depths of his mind. A realization dawned on him as he formed his suspicions.

"I see, you were trying to kill me weren't you?"

Before Szedra could utter a reply, he advanced towards her, pointing an accusatory finger in her direction.

"I knew it! My father hired you, didn't he?" he bellowed, stepping closer and clenching both hands into tight fists. "I'm going to teach that old man a lesson by killing you first."

Szedra instinctively took a step back, her fists raised protectively before her, her knuckles white with tension. "You're crazy! Don't you dare come any closer!" she warned, her voice filled with a mix of fear and defiance.

Tess knew things were about to get physical and the last thing she wanted was being a suspect in a fight on the first day of Mid-Sentry. That would ruin her record before she even started anything.

"We better go help," she told Zino and they both sprang to their feet and stepped out into the bright sunlight.

The commotion from Szedra and the rag-muffin had reached the guy reading on a device under the tree. He liked reading in complete silence and the noise was a great bother to him. Deciding he couldn't ignore it any longer, he begrudgingly abandoned his comfortable spot and approached the two bickering figures.

Tess noticed the arrival of the black-haired stranger, his departure from the tree drawing her attention. Great, maybe he could stop those two from arguing before they all got reprimanded.

Yes, it was unfair, but that was how the Mid-Sentry officials were. The Mid-Sentry was their playground and the rules only existed when they wanted it to. There was a blurred line when it came to right and wrong.

The black-haired guy stopped behind Szedra. With an audible snap, he closed the device, its sound cutting through the air and effectively halting the argument. Both Szedra and her opponent turned to face him, their expressions a mix of surprise and irritation.

"What are you two married couples arguing about this early in the morning?" he asked, annoyed. "Can't you argue silently so I can finish reading my—"

"Married couple?" Szedra and the ragg-muffin exclaimed in unison, their fury pulsating through their veins.

"I wouldn't be caught dead with this bastard!" remarked Szedra.

The look the rag-muffin guy gave Szedra made Tess know the other guy just made things worse. He nonchalantly slid his device into an inner pocket on the left side of his jacket, seemingly unfazed by the outburst of anger. His attention shifted downward, meticulously examining the dirt that marred the sleekness of his black boots.

Tess stopped behind the rag-muffin but hesitated to do anything. Being in so much uncivilized conduct in the past hit her in the stomach. She contemplated the idea of running away to go hide behind one of the trees.

Her already scorched record from the Academy would only set fire to that. There went her plan of being invisible throughout her two years of Mid-Sentry. Being a good girl was harder than she thought as her mind began to recall the bad things she did at her Academy.

Her contempt for the Mid-Sentry officials was strong. Whenever the ones appointed as guards attempted to impose even the simplest directives—tucking in her shirt, ceasing her trash-kicking antics, stowing away her phone, or attending class—she would find frivolous excuses to defy their commands. She would claim their tone was inappropriate or insist that their gazes were too intrusive, sowing seeds of dissent at every opportunity.

Tess couldn't resist the temptation to deliberately bump into the guards' shoulders as she passed them in the bustling halls and cleverly attributed the collision to their own clumsiness. However, the omnipresent surveillance cameras always exposed her as the true instigator, shattering her feeble attempts at shifting blame.

What was even more audacious was her misuse of her extraordinary eye ability—a talent she possessed without the knowledge of her Academy officials. With calculated precision, she would employ her gift to determine when a guard was isolated and then targeting them.

Despite her frequent exploitation of her eye ability being captured on camera, she was surprised the offs at her Academy had not figured out she had an ability. She alluded they thought she was thinking since she had high scores in all subjects, not just stamina.

In a particularly audacious scheme, she stabbed herself and blamed it on a guard. The cameras did not record the incident and so it took a while before they found out she was lying.

At lunchtime, she was famous for throwing garbage at guards and claiming that her aim was off due to the harsh glare of the sun. Her eyes may look odd but she saw just as clearly as a normal person and they knew it.

She perpetrated these acts of rebellion because she harbored an intense disdain for the guards. Even worse, the Mid-Sentry was crawling with them and they were in charge. At her Academy, like most students with high stamina scores, she never got expelled. In a world with monsters, physical ability was praised over brilliance. No employer wanted to hire someone who will die from a simple Sybervirian attack.

However, within the confines of the Mid-Sentry, there existed only two paths to navigate the treacherous terrain. The first involved ingratiating oneself with the MS officials, essentially becoming their compliant lackeys. The second option entailed enduring a relentless onslaught of oppression for the two years there, with each passing day becoming a relentless trampling of one's spirit.

Stamina held no sway in this twisted hierarchy. In fact, possessing exceptional endurance while refusing to align with their "pack" marked an individual for merciless targeting until they broke you.

Tess harbored an unwavering determination to never succumb to the first option, even if it meant risking her own life. Consequently, she found herself confined to the only viable alternative—option two. She knew once they targeted her she would need good friends to make it through.

Motivated by this realization, she gently placed her hand upon the rag-muffin's shoulder, using her touch to quell the escalating turmoil.

"Hey, that's enough," she admonished, her voice carrying a resolute authority.

The rag-muffin's gaze followed the trajectory of her hand until his hazel brown eyes locked onto the arresting sight of Tess's eyes and hair. The sheer otherworldliness of her appearance struck him with a primal fear, causing him to forcefully slap her hand away before instinctively retreating.

"Wuha holy crap!" he squealed, his voice betraying his shock and unease.

Tess keenly felt the weight of her hand being violently swatted away, the sting of rejection seeping into her consciousness. Soon all eyes turned to her.

"Your hair… It's so white," said the other guy, his words heavy with a mixture of fascination and bewilderment.