You put your faith in dreams that kill…Julia…Lying with beauty, breath so still, she couldn't be trusted…

Four: Running from Shadows

Julia spent most of her afternoons with Annie, sweeping up the dingy shop, ignoring everything and everyone who were not there for the old porno magazines or warm soda. As it happened, there were a lot of people like that. Julia didn't really know what was going on, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know. She had a job and Annie let her stay in the room above the shop that was all that mattered. She would do all she could to keep said job and place to live and if that meant being blind, deaf, and dumb, she'd do it without question.

She occasionally saw Spike saunter in the shop and he and Annie would talk a while, usually ending their conversations with Annie kicking Spike out good-naturedly, or warning him to be careful. Julia was curious about who she was associating with, however her curiosity was so strong as to jeopardize what could be considered a good thing.

"You've swept that same spot about twenty times," Spike's familiar jeering drawl interrupted her thoughts.

"It's dirty," she replied, pausing her tedious sweeping to look at him. Every time she saw him, there seemed to be a new mystery about him. A new aspect about his already unknown personality that intrigued her more than what kind of establishment Annie was actually running. She knew that nothing about Spike was any of her business, but that fact didn't stop her from wondering, imagining, and guessing.

"Or you're neurotic."

"I'm doing my job."

"And what a good job you're doing. Oh, by the way, those kids were here and stole three candy bars again." Spike winked at her and sauntered out of the shop. Julia watched him leave before dropping her broom and leaping over to the candy display. Sure enough, three bars were missing from their places.

"Shit. That comes out of my pay," she moaned, picking up the inventory sheet and marking down the three missing bars. Whenever Spike came around there always seemed to be something missing. She knew it wasn't him, for she watched him more carefully than she watched everything else, and that was the problem. When he was around, she didn't pay attention to loitering customers and that led to theft. "I'm going to hear it from Annie again."

"Here what from Annie again?" Annie questioned, coming out of the back room. Julia sighed, sliding the list over to her boss.

"Those kids came again."

"If I were you I'd find them. They owe you a lot of money." Julia frowned, picking up her broom to resume her idle work. Annie was nice enough, and Julia was beyond appreciative for being employed, however sometimes she wished Annie would lighten up. It wasn't Julia's fault that those kids felt the need to make her already low pay lower. "Julia?"

"Hm?" Julia replied distractedly. She was thinking about what she would do to those kids if she ever caught them.

"How do you feel about Spike?" Julia swallowed but did not look up. What did Annie think? Was she going to blame the thefts on something stupid, like Julia having a crush on Spike? That was ridiculous. Spike was merely a distraction. And she could easily give up her interest in him to focus on her work. It was just, he provided entertainment during an otherwise uneventful day, that's all. And he was so intriguing. Who else would rob one store and frequent another?

"He's okay, I guess. Why?"

"Would you mind going with him to run an errand for me tomorrow?" Julia raised an eyebrow. This could have been the perfect opportunity to prod into Annie's second life of sorts, yet Julia kept her questions at bay.

"Will I get paid extra? I don't usually work on Saturdays."

It perhaps could have been in Julia's best interest to ask Annie what exactly she would have to do while working closely with Spike. That way, she could have disagreed to it before she found herself waist deep in garbage.

"Big bonus," Julia grumbled, shoving her hands up to her elbows into the filth. "And I want to be paid for every candy bar those disgusting kids stole."

"What are you mumbling about?"

"This is nauseating, Spike. Did you know this was what we were going to be doing?"

"Can't say that I did. I'm sure Annie didn't elaborate specifically because she knew we wouldn't do it, obviously. I thought I would be doing something a lot more…dangerous."

"This is dangerous to our heath enough as it is. How much more danger do you want?" Spike snorted and continued to search, keeping his back to her. She dug around her own little corner wishing she was anywhere else but there. I would even go home. Hell, I would love to go home rather than do this.

They worked in silence for a few moment, Spike covering his usual sarcastic smile with a look of utter contempt, Julia berating herself for not asking questions before agreeing to this nasty little job. It's all because of him. He has to be so damned appealing. I wouldn't be up to my armpits in trash if he weren't so interesting.

"Has Annie told you anything about what's going on?"

"Going on where? Here? I know just as much as you do."

"No. I mean with the shop. You can't be so blind that you can't see what's going on."

"I try to be as blind as I can. There's no sense in getting involved with things bigger than I am."

"That's pretty smart of you." Spike paused and lit a cigarette without touching the stick with his repulsive hands. He offered one to her.

"I've told you a thousand times I don't smoke, Spike."

"It's never too late to start."

"Or quit." He chuckled lightly, dangling the cigarette from his mouth to continue the search. They were looking for a ring that Annie claimed she lost. She said it was given to her by her husband and she loved it as much as her wedding ring. Julia had the sneaking suspicion that they were not going to find anything, and she wondered if Spike felt the same way.

"Do you want to know?"

"I don't want anything to be told to me that could potentially shorten my life."

"All right." They continued to work in silence, but the silence was killing Julia. She did want to know, she really did, she just didn't want to know something that would require utmost secrecy. She didn't know how she would react if she was tortured for whatever information she had, which could happen if what she thought was happening around her was really happening.

"Okay, fine. Tell me."

"You said you didn't want to know anything that would potentially shorten your life."

"Stop being dramatic." Spike snorted in amusement. Brushing his hands together he hopped out of the garbage pile. He reached his hand up, apparently to help her out as well. Without taking his hand, she jumped out the same way he did. She wasn't used to a boy helping her, and she wouldn't start getting used to it then.

"You're an interesting kid," Spike remarked, cleaning his hands off on the towel they brought.

"Kid?"

"What do you know about syndicates?"

"Not a lot. Just that they operate all over the universe. And that the ISSP is so useless to stop them that some of the officers are joining them undercover."

"Pretty much the most important stuff."

"So is Annie part of a syndicate?"

"Not part of exactly. Just…well I don't really know the particulars about Annie. What I do know is most of the time it's syndicate guys that go in her shop."

"So? I'm sure syndicate guys go in and out of shops all the time. That doesn't mean Annie has anything to do with them." Spike sighed almost condescendingly.

"It's that kind of ignorance that won't get you far in the world." Spike lit up another cigarette and began walking back to Annie's. Julia wasn't sure if she wanted to follow. "And I knew we weren't looking for anything real. Annie wanted us out of the shop for the afternoon."

Never had she thought she was ignorant of the world. Spike's rude awakening struck her hard. She would spend her nights awake and wondering how she could stop walking through the world knowing nothing but what she was told. She was observant, but apparently not enough to learn everything.

After spending a year with her head down and her broom constantly moving, Julia decided there had to be more. She got that familiar itch to move on again, though this time it wasn't an itch to change scenery; she liked Mars a lot better than Ganymede. She wanted a new job.

"Have you worked in a hospital before?"

"Once. Back home."

"For how long?"

"Two years." Julia would never know how it came about that lying was so easy for her. It was like a sixth sense that almost always came in handy.

"Well, you seem qualified enough to candy stripe. But I must warn you," the man who was interviewing her leaned forward and Julia did the same out of impulse. He looked nervous about what he was about to say and that intrigued her. "This is the man hospital that the syndicates use, mainly because of our don't ask don't tell policy. We don't care about how the injuries were received; we only fix them and get our money. And the syndicates like that. Do you think you can stick to the philosophy?"

"It's been my philosophy for my whole life, I think I can handle it."

"Good. When can you start?" She didn't know that getting her first real job would be as effortless as adding a year to her life and fudging some work experience. Her luck still surprised her sometimes.

It was a great decision on Julia's part to work at the hospital. Not only did she learn valuable medical information, such as the fact that giving someone sutures was about the same a sewing a shirt, a skill she had since she was able to walk, but she learned different things about the syndicates that had people end up there. Mostly it was the Red Dragons and the White Tigers that came and went, however occasionally she would treat a Blue Wolf or two.

She discovered early on that Spike was right: there was a lot about life that she didn't know.

"Julia, big car accident coming in, get two rooms ready." Julia hopped up from her seat at the receptionist's desk and hurried off to do as she was told. It was times like these when the hospital got really exciting. Everyone rushed around making preparations and then the victims would come and there wouldn't be a free nurse in the entire place. Julia liked being busy; it stopped her from thinking about things—or people—that would otherwise distract her.

"Is this room ready?" Julia looked up in time to see three paramedics and two doctors wheel in a patient in a stretcher. There was blood everywhere and she was unable to make out where the person's face was.

"Yes, it's ready," she replied. She helped the paramedics hoist the patient onto the bed and that's when she caught a glimpse of a tangle of green hair. "Spike!"

"You know him?" One of the doctors asked. The paramedics ran out, probably to help with the other victims.

"I do. What happened?"

"There was a high speed chase. Apparently he was behind the wheel and somehow managed to crash into a tree going about a hundred miles per hour. The tree fell and landed on the two cars that were chasing him. Four people are dead and he's damn lucky he and his front passenger are not one of them." The doctor began stripping the layers of blood soaked clothes off of Spike's mangled body.

"Where's the passenger?" Julia asked, hoping it wasn't someone else she knew.

"I don't know. He's in the other room. Okay, he's going to need to be x-rayed. I suspect there's a lot of internal damage, hopefully not to bad, but most likely it will be. Get him on a respirator and cleaned up then we'll take him to the ER." Usually Julia easily followed the doctors' directions, but today she found it difficult to concentrate. Whenever she moved Spike to either place the respirator tube or clean blood off of him, she got a horrible image of her accidentally killing him because she did something wrong. She did not like seeing Spike so helpless and beaten. Even though she wouldn't admit it to him, Spike was her friend. Probably her only good friend on Mars. She did not want to lose him.

"Julia, you're not paying attention. Why don't you go work on one of the other victims," a nurse told her after she attempted to wipe Spikes face with the end of the nurse's dress. Julia would have argued, but she knew it was for the best that she didn't try to take care of Spike when his life was on the line.

"All right." She went next door and found a far less chaotic scene. Another doctor and nurse were looking over a tall lanky man. The nurse was slowly stitching a gash in the man's head while he sat there calmly. The doctor was checking his blood pressure and the like.

"Ah, Julia, good. Can you finish up here for me?" The doctor asked, handing her his clipboard. She nodded and took over, taking the man's wrist to check his pulse.

"All done. Julia, when you're done with that, can you bandage his head and make sure he doesn't need stitches anywhere else?"

"Sure." The nurse left, leaving Julia alone with the white haired man.

"It seems they rely on you quite a bit here," the man observed. She jumped a bit at the sound of his voice, which reminded her strangely of steel. It was cold and emotionless, but nonetheless intriguing. She laughed nervously, taking his temperature.

"It's not that, I'm just one of the only candy stripers on duty today, and it's easier for them to get me to do easy things. Especially in a situation like this when there are so many critical patients at once." She began to bandage his head, covering his newly stitched wound with gauze almost the same color as his hair.

"You seem a little young to be working in a hospital."

"I'm eighteen."

"Are you really?"

"Yes." The man snickered lightly, a sound almost as disturbing as his voice. She fell silent, concentrating on checking for other wounds. After a while the silence and her curiosity got the better of her. "This goes against hospital policy, but my friend is in there in serious condition and I need to know why. Could you tell me what happened?"

"Who is your friend?"

"Spike. Spike Spiegel." The man briefly raised an eyebrow. It was so fast, Julia wasn't sure if she had even seen it.

"Spike. He's a reckless driver."

"He was driving? Why was he being chased?"

"The better question is why isn't he always being chased?" Julia let this go as a matter that was none of her concern. She was okay with that, at least for now. Soon she would want to know why anything Spike did was none of her concern. She didn't think to consider that Spike could have been part of one of the syndicates he so revered and she so feared.

"Were you in one of the cars?"

"Yes."

"How come you're not that injured?"

"Seatbelts save lives."

"Are you friends with Spike?"

"I thought you said is was against hospital policy to ask so many questions."

"It's only against policy if you're asking potential syndicate members."

"How do you know who is a potential syndicate member or not?"

"I guess."

"I see. Are you done?"

"Yes. Are you in pain?"

"No."

"Then you can go." The man stood up and made his way to the door. "Make sure you come back in a week to get those stitches removed."

"Will do. See you around. Julia." Julia wasn't sure why, but when he said her name she got a chill of pleasure and a chill of fright at the same time. She both hoped to and dreaded seeing him again.


-P

Lyrics from "Julia" by Fefe Dobson