Enigma Fenn (13) D1F
Finally having gathered myself to my heart's content, I left the bathroom. There was too much fuss there for me to stay; a cannon had fired in it and there had been a lot of commotion in the fight. I had to move somewhere, but I didn't know where. I hardly knew where I was after my mad dash from the undead bear. But, with no destination in mind, it didn't matter which route I took. It only mattered that I took a route, which wasn't really a struggle once I thought of it that way. I did something new to myself. I was spontaneous.
I had to decide if I should go left or right. I played eenie-meenie-miney-moe. I had to decide whether to stay downstairs or go upstairs. I stayed downstairs because it was pretty. I had to decide if I should go to the section labelled "Pre-historic times" or "Earlier Pre-Dark Days times." I chose even, then counted the letters. "Pre-historic" had an even amount, if you counted the dash, so I went there. My decisions seemed to be neither good nor bad, so I let them happen that way. Then one broke the pattern.
A large, reptilian-looking creature was stuffed in the room ahead of me. There was a similar-looking skeleton, except it didn't have flesh. It did, however, have claws, and I prayed that it wouldn't come to life. More pressingly, though, there was something already alive in the room with me. On top of the stuffed creature was a girl. I had no idea how she could have possibly dragged herself up there, but I could see why. Blood was dripping from the animal. If she had been attacked, one way to get away would be climbing the impossible.
"Hello?" I called out to the girl. She started, then looked down at me. I remembered that I was a Career; I walked quietly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," I said to the quiet girl who was looking for revenge. She had that look to her that said that she wasn't going down without a fight. I would be surprised if she went down at all.
"It's okay. Just don't come up here. I have one of the claws from this thing, and I'm not afraid to use it!" the girl yelled down to me. I believed her. Her voice didn't tremble, I could see the claw, and she spoke with a passion and power I rarely heard. She was dropping every sign there was that she was a fighter. That meant she could make a good ally.
"All right. I'm not going to hurt you or anything," I said, sitting down on the ground. The girl nodded when I did that, so I continued. "I'm Enigma Fenn. I'm kinda a Career, but not really. I'm too young to really do much." I realized that lying about my strength was probably a good idea here. I was easily underestimated, and this girl wasn't someone I wanted on my bad side just yet.
"Go away. I don't want anything to do with Careers," the girl yelled, glaring at me with a new rage. My guess had been correct. The dripping blood on the animal and on her shirt had come from a Career-induced wound. That meant the girl was just what I needed.
"Oh, don't worry! I'm not in the Pack or anything. They wouldn't take me. Fancy that, huh? So I'm pretty mad at them. I'd love a chance to take them down," I said, pretending I wanted revenge on the Careers just like she did. I wanted them taken down just because they were competitors, but everything I had in common with the girl was a reason she might be interested in allying with me.
"Why should I believe you?"
"If I was a Career, would I have listened to your threat about the claw?" I said, not moving an inch. She was taking the bait, little by little. I wasn't going to lose her now.
"Come up here and we can keep talking," the girl said, seeming to approve of me. "I'm Heidi, by the way. Heidi Heidi."
I looked at the animal for a long time, trying to figure out how on Earth Heidi had climbed it. Then I saw some tears in the fabric, and it clicked. I stuck my hand into the hole she had ripped using a claw from the other corpse, then into the next, then the next. I had a makeshift ladder to help me up, and it took me so long to climb it that I could have easily been killed. It was a beautiful defense system.
"Nice to meet you, Heidi! What's up between you and the Careers?" I asked, feigning more stupidity than I thought was believable. Heidi eyed me suspiciously, then replied.
"They're the ones that stabbed me in the stomach and left me for dead. A fatal underestimation," Heidi said, seemingly very proud of herself. I nodded. Strengths: Never gives up. Weaknesses: Honestly believes she can fight a Career, I noted to myself. "Anyways, I know exactly where there are now, and I will not die until they do. Are you in?"
"Well, I don't know the plan yet, but probably. Do you have any more of those claws?" I was without any weapon except the shattered glass I had left in the bathroom, which was a gross place to be.
"Well, here's the thing: None of the Careers are dead yet. However, nobody will expect us to attack them. Here, take a claw," Heidi said, absentmindedly shoving a claw at me while continuing her plan. "If we run in, we can probably kill one of them together and then run back out. We're both tiny, so we'll be hard to hit. Like I asked earlier, are you in?" Heidi had leaned in while she spoke, and she was now staring at me eagerly.
"Yeah, of course! They'll regret not taking me in," I said, nodding along eagerly. I was lying like a rug. That was an idiotic plan. But I would know where the Careers were, and I just might kill two birds with one stone.