Street Duelist
Chapter 1: Darkness
Darkness. Isolation. Pain. I felt all of it as I sat against the cold wall of my lightless confinement. Only the light from under the steel door taunted me by gracing the floor in front of it with its luminance. The jagged mark that traced below my left eye stung, reminding me it was still there and always would be. It would always mark me. It marked who I was. Who I would be. Who I wouldn't be.
I pulled my knee up enough to rest my arm on it, noticing once again the scratches and scrapes down my forearm. A blackened streak of concrete burn was what hurt the most. I didn't dare touch it, but the guards always seemed to find it with their rough grip. I didn't care that my tangled strands of blond hair escaped the green hair tie and got in my face. I didn't care that my blue jeans had tears in them. I didn't care that I was locked up. I just didn't care. I didn't!
My chest constricted and I closed my eyes, gripping at my shirt. The pain throbbed with each heartbeat, slowly beginning to accelerate as the seconds went by. I gasped desperately for breath as the agonizing pain continued and I began to shake. My hands became numb, trembling and unable to keep a grip on the light blue material. I struggled to breathe as much as I could, my head starting to become just as numb. All I could feel was the cold and the pain. Until my vision... Finally... Went... Black.
"Get up, Wheeler." My eyes opened and I groggily sat up from the concrete floor, groaning at the headache coming on. "Get up!" The guard's boot kicked my stomach. I gasped, holding my stomach, but still standing as ordered. I finally looked up at him to see his cold stare watching me, waiting for me to start walking. I bent my head back down before walking out, the guard's strong arm finding my concrete burn to hold onto as if I would attempt escape. I winced, but said nothing to provoke him more.
I had been escorted to the cafeteria, finally pushed towards the small group of women sitting at one table. I was left, and did nothing to make acquaintance with them. I felt their stares, making me feel vulnerable, but what I got wasn't what I had expected.
"Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation?" I glanced up at the loud woman. She was rather tall with short hair and pointed features. Her criminal marker slithered up under her bangs. "Take a seat, Buttercup." The nickname wasn't meant to be an insult, but it wasn't endearment either; it was just how she addressed others. I sat among them at the round table, acknowledging them with a slight nod.
"What's a young gal like you doin' here, huh?" I was asked by another of the group.
"She must still be a bit frightened by her change in scenery," a short girl with red hair snorted. "What'd you do, Princess? Steal someone's puppy?"
Their appearances and demeanor spelled out dangerous, but they seemed joking and curious rather than threatening. I still felt pain from the comments said though. It was all still such a shock to me to realize what was really happening to me. Instead of accepting it, I just didn't want to care.
I pulled my heavy head up to meet their faces for the first time, finally finding my voice that had run away for the past two days. "My name is Sandra," I watched them all. Some of them ate quietly, while the rest looked me up and down.
"Well Sandy," the outspoken woman made her voice heard again. "You look pretty roughed-up. I'm sure the rest of the gals here would enjoy a nice story." The others nodded and spoke in agreement, making it seem that a new inmate was the biggest news to hit the area.
"Your marker looks pretty new." The redhead poked it and I pulled away from her finger, shielding the mark with my hand.
"Don't worry, girl," a thin woman laughed, some of her teeth discolored. "We're all the same here. We'd like to hear your tale. From the looks of you, it may be quite entertaining."
I didn't like the idea of sharing what happened, and decided to make it short. The rush of it all still had me on edge, and I hoped that I could forget it after telling them about it.
"Well... First I had an illegal duel runner," I pulled my hair tie out and resumed to tying my blond hair back into a thick ponytail. The older women seemed a little bit impressed.
"So you're good with machines?"
"Only a little," I went back to my story, "and I was raiding deck storage." They all watched me with their eyes, that had probably seen more exciting things than I could imagine. "I had done it before, but this time they were smarter than I expected. Everywhere I went I was met with a blockade. I was constantly turning, losing track of where I was. At the last blockade, I tried to stop my runner. I went flying off and skidded across the pavement," I showed them the burn marks on my arms.
"I decided that I had to ditch my ride to escape and started to run on foot. Sector Security blocked me off on the next street, and I turned to go to the last open one. I was cut off. I was surrounded in the middle of an intersection with nowhere to go," I gave a short, humorless laugh to myself. "I still tried to get out and I was tackled down. I always wanted to come to New Domino someday, but this isn't what I had in mind."
"Aren't you a tough cookie," the oldest woman ran her bony hands through her gray hair.
"Isn't that a nice little story." Everyone looked up to a see a strongly built man, his eyes watching me alone. Those steel eyes held a challenge and I looked away, not up to anymore trouble.
"Leave the girl alone, Tanner," the loud one shook her large fist at him. He only chuckled and walked over. I kept my gaze away, and I knew the other women tried to stop him from getting near me, but they knew they could only do so much. He placed his foot on the seat next to me, resting his arm on his knee.
"So then," he started, "I'll introduce myself, and you'll introduce yourself. My name is Bolt Tanner."
"Sandra Wheeler," I looked up at him with my blue eyes.
"Jesse's little girl?" He let out a laugh and a group of guys joined him. "It's been a long time since he first mentioned you. Back when he wasn't a marked criminal. I thought you were in some orphanage or somethin' in the Satellite."
"I was taken in as a foster-child," I told him, unnerved how much he knew about my father.
He seemed amused and continued on, "Wheeler always said you'd be just like him, having the blood of a street duelist and all."
"I'm not like that!" I stood up.
"You're a criminal now. You're just like the rest of us," he stood up straight, "except for me. I run these parts. Only respect you get here is through a duel- which you owe me one."
"She has nothing to prove to you." The women all stood up, backing me.
"Refusing to duel is a forfeit," one of Tanner's little gang said.
"Come on," he urged me, "let's see if you're just like your daddy."
It was hard to refuse the challenge, but I didn't have it in me to take it. "No," I looked him in the eye as I told him. I couldn't accept a duel. Not then.
"Alright Wheeler," he backed off. "But don't expect any mercy in this place. There's plenty around with a grudge on your old man." He walked away, a smirk on his face.
Within half an hour, I was escorted back to my secluded cell. Back to the darkness. But I didn't care. I couldn't care. I just couldn't. This must have been how it was for Kalin. So alone. He must have been so broken with none of us here. I wished so much that I would have been taken too; then we would've suffered together. But no... I was held back. None of them would let me.
I blinked when I realized that warm tears were streaming down my face. They rolled down my cheeks and even down my neck. The light from under my cell door went out and I was left in complete darkness. No sound. No light. No hope. I didn't care that I cried there. There was no one to see. No one to tell me it was okay, when it clearly wasn't. Nothing was ever okay and it never would be.
"Hey now," a pale hand touched my face, catching a falling tear on its finger. "There's no reason to cry," that voice told me. I knew that voice, but it couldn't be true.
I looked up, shocked to see him there in front of me. His long blue hair came down over his forehead, his darkly colored criminal marker zigzagging up the side of his pale face. His eyes were black, but I knew it was him. "Kalin..." I was so happy to see him, the tears I had locked away those years ago for him finally coming out.
"Yes, it's me," he gave his small smile. "I've been waiting so long for you to come visit me, Sandra. Where have you been?"
I sniffed, "I'm so sorry, Kalin!" I tried to cover my eyes with my hands, but they were caught by his.
"Shh," he hushed me, "you don't want those guards to hear you." I nodded, biting my lip to keep from crying out loud.
"I- I'll do anything to make it up to you, Kalin..." I pleaded.
"Just don't give up, Sandy. That's all I ask," he put his hand on my shoulder.
"How Kalin?" I looked down at my lap, "I'm stuck in the Facility. I got the same sentence as you did..."
"Then you have nothing to lose, right? This is good," he smiled.
I thought about what he said, and he was right. I didn't have anything else to lose! I smiled back, listening to what he was about to say.
"They think they have you broken, but you need to show them that they don't," he told me. "You're an Enforcer, right?"
I nodded, "I'll do anything to help."
"Good," he patted me on the shoulder and sat next to me. "You know the warden?"
"Armstrong..." I recalled the conversation he held with me when I had first arrived that morning. "Yeah."
"That's our main target," he stated. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. You need to get close enough to him before we can continue with our plan."
I nodded, "so what should I do?" I was eager to listen to instructions from the gang's leader and my best friend.
"Here," he placed in my hand a deck of cards.
"A deck?" I asked.
"Not just any deck." He smiled knowingly.
I looked back down at them and fanned them out in my hands, nearly squeaking from surprise. "I never thought I'd see these again!" I hugged him.
He chuckled, "they're all here. I even added a couple more." He took the deck from me and flipped through them, showing me all of my first cards. I was so happy to see him, and was even happier that he had found my deck for me. Suddenly it didn't feel like the dark room was so bad. Not when I had a friend.
"Show all of them who's boss," he encouraged me. "I know you can do it."
"Thank you, Kalin," I whispered, "I'll make you proud."
He seemed happy with that. "Now get some sleep for tomorrow. 'Kay?" I nodded and laid on the hard bed, stashing my deck under my pillow. I looked over at him sitting against the stone wall. He looked so different there, a black cloak around his shoulders. He sat there, staring in front of him in thought. I felt comforted in this room knowing that I had him. I closed my eyes, falling asleep quicker than I normally did.
