Anomaly snuck in through the door of the clinic, her pattern burning, the black becoming dominant over the edges, and creeping in further along the purple.
"Rouge Child?"
Anomaly snarled under her breath. She'd been seen, and she knew it.
She turned around slowly, her knife in her hand.
Her eyes widened. "Kierto?"
Kierto chuckled. "I had a feeling you'd survived."
Anomaly glared at him. This night had already been filled with too many reminders of the past. But she still had to ask. "Where did you end up?"
Kierto shrugged. "The Jurassic, I believe. We weren't there for long."
Anomaly nodded slowly. "I figured as much." She looked at him, her eyes cold.
Kierto sighed. "I suppose you've come to finish what you've started…" He trailed off as her pattern came into the light. His eyes widened. "Oh…" his voice became a whisper.
Anomaly looked down. "Thirteenth birthday." She explained. "One month."
If Kierto's eyes were wide before, they were huge now. "And you've held on THIS LONG?"
Anomaly nodded. "A whole year." She swallowed, blinking back tears.
Kierto looked at her. "Rouge Child… You are impossible."
Anomaly smiled darkly. "That's what I keep saying."
There was silence.
Finally, Kierto spoke up. "You know what I have to do, don't you?"
Anomaly nodded. "Will you, though?"
Kierto sighed. "Of course, Rouge Child. My duty is to the city of Artalis."
Anomaly barked out a laugh. "Artalis! What has this lowlife city ever done to save you? What has this city ever done FOR ANYONE?"
"We save lives!"
"YOU save lives, Kierto! That's YOUR goal. Is that the COUNCIL'S GOAL?" She snarled. "See for yourself, Kierto."
"IT IS THE DUTY OF ARTALIS! THEY HELP PEOPLE, ROUGE CHILD!"
"MY NAME IS ANOMALY!" She spat out the words, as though they held an unimaginable venom.
Kierto took an involuntary step back at the fierceness in her voice. For a long time, no one said anything.
Anomaly looked into Kierto's eyes. "I don't care who you are or what you've done. But your decisions now matter. And they always will." Black ink dripped down the side of her face, already becoming dominant in her pattern.
Kierto looked at her for a long, tense minute. Finally, he sighed. "You think you can get everyone out in time?"
Anomaly smiled. "Definitely."
Kierto nodded slowly. "Artalis will rebuild, you know."
Anomaly shrugged. "Then let it. I'll have done my part."
Kierto nodded again and sped away from her, getting out of the building as fast as he could. Whenever he saw anyone, he would shout to them, telling them that there was a crazy person about to blow up the entire building.
Not surprisingly, everyone believed him, and started running out the door.
Anomaly gracefully snuck into the room. There, a Loch Ness Monster was moaning softly.
"It's ok." She whispered. "I'm here…" She picked the locks on the chains, setting the Nessie free. "Go." She whispered.
The Loch Ness Monster looked at her for a long, grateful moment. She gently tapped Anomaly's pattern, the black ink staining her skin for a long moment, before disappearing. Then, the Loch Ness began crashing through the walls, running out of the building forever, never to come back, and destroying parts of it out of pure hate.
Anomaly sped throughout all of the rooms, freeing creatures everywhere she went. Many of them were Florlics, and it brought her hatred rising back to the surface.
Finally, everyone was out, both human and empath alike.
Anomaly sped towards the control room. The clinic had a large power source in there, meant to keep everything under control.
But now, it would destroy the clinic.
Anomaly pulled her knife out, and electricity danced over it. This ended here. Forever.
She struck out with the knife, straight into the controls. Sparks flew, and flames began their lethal dance around the building. Anomaly watched the fire burn, traveling over to the generator.
The flames licked the sides of the generator, and Anomaly started running.
And then it exploded.
It was a fantastic display of sparks and flames, blooming out in a deadly flower of destruction. These were not the cold flames that had been so key for Anomaly's survival in the desert. These were orange and red, burning across the distance.
Anomaly kept running.
The flames burned at her back, dancing around her, daring her to stop. She ran faster, becoming an invisible blur against the fire.
Finally, she made it out of the building. The flames followed for a moment, then simply flared upwards in the explosion. They danced against the cold moonlight, lighting up the dark in their fury.
Anomaly collapsed to the ground, panting. Each breath burned like the fire she'd caused. Black ink trailed off of her pattern, staining the sand. A small area of purple tried desperately to hold on, to stay alive. Anomaly still had her promise…
Watching in the distance, Kierto gazed at the fire grimly. Anomaly had given her life, but for what? A minor setback in the council's plan? They could rebuild the building in less time then she could ever imagine…
Anomaly took a deep breath, and the black began to creep further in her pattern. She let out a long scream that rang soundlessly through the night. She couldn't find the air to scream out loud. Nothing but silence came from her, silence that danced across the full moon, seeking out one person, and one person alone…
Kierto winced, and the edges of his pattern began to turn dark. Purple ink began to drizzle down his arm. He smiled. So, Anomaly was more capable of survival than he'd thought. She was still out there, her promise alive inside her…
Anomaly took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Her pattern BURNED. Slowly, carefully, something came over to her.
"Tertelio." She whispered.
The Florlic, Tertelio, was small for its kind. It had been one of the few Florlics who hadn't been picked, years ago, by anyone. He whimpered and pressed his cold nose against her pattern.
"Tertelio…" she whispered again.
Tertelio whimpered again.
Her eyes widened. "Nierta. Fortro malkta…"
But Tertelio wasn't listening. She felt his emotions gently press against hers.
And the pattern slowly grew lighter. Purple infiltrated the black, and blue infiltrated the purple.
"Nierta, Tertelio…"
But the Florlic just looked at her with deep, pained eyes. He whimpered and lay down.
Anomaly stood up, tears in her eyes. "Don't do this." She whispered in English.
The winged dog's eyes locked on hers, as though to say, Too late.
Anomaly sobbed as the Florlic took a deep breath, and let it out in a gust. His last breath. Tertelio's eyes closed.
Tears drizzled down Anomaly's face. She pressed her face into his fur. She'd thought about choosing him, long ago.
A whimper brought her head above the dead Florlic. Anomaly gazed at the small pack of the winged dogs, their eyes pleading with her.
She sighed. "Setra, Nortor, le Tratra." The three dogs stepped forward. It amazed Anomaly that she remembered all of their names. "Itra nortoroa."
They gazed at her for a long moment, before obeying her orders and heading off.
"Terta, Irfla, Tornalo." She said. "Grala Nortoroa."
The dogs did as she asked. Anomaly continued, until all of them had disappeared from her sight. Florlics were empathic creatures; they needed someone there. Three should be enough for each of them not to go insane in that cold desert. And enough to protect each other from the creatures that lay in wait for them…
She sighed, and began digging a hole for Tertelio. The Florlic was gone, and to her, it was all her fault.
When she had finished, she sighed. It was over. The reason she hated Artalis was, for now, destroyed. And Tertelio had saved her life. She could still keep her promise.
But now she had more time.
She glared at the city, shining in the distance. Artalis had done so much damage…
She sighed and ran to her anomaly. It flared open, dancing and shimmering with its unnatural light.
She stepped through, and it closed behind her.
Sam kept running. "ANOMALY!" he called. His voice cracked, his throat too sore to scream to his sister. "NO!"
Too late. Anomaly had stepped through the shimmering distortion, and it had closed behind her.
Sam collapsed to the ground, his blood staining the sand red as he sobbed. He was so close, so close…
He tried to keep his breathing even, but it was too late. Already, black was beginning to taint the edges of his now-purple pattern.
Slowly, he got to his feet. He had to find Anomaly. There was nothing else.
"Where were you?"
Lester's question rang in Anomaly's ears. She winced. "Out."
Lester glared at her. "You were gone for almost a day. I can't have you running off whenever you feel like it."
"What does it matter?" Anomaly tried to keep her voice calm.
"It matters." Lester replied.
And may very well matter to you now, Rouge Child. For we hold your life in our hands…
Anomaly didn't know what happened next. All she knew was that she found her hand at Lester's throat, pinning him to the wall behind him.
"SHUT UP!" She snarled. "NORTALO FRITARA!"
"PUT HIM DOWN!" One of the guards snapped, loading his gun and aiming it at Anomaly's head.
Anomaly's eyes had glazed over. For a long, tense minute, she looked at Lester. Slowly, the clarity began to return to her eyes, and she began to lower him, slowly, gently, to the ground.
She looked at the ground, trying to keep calm, panting. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry…"
She sped out of the room, into the area she'd claimed as 'hers,' and collapsed to the floor, sobbing.
Connor found her like that an hour later.
"Hey." He whispered.
"Hi." Anomaly's voice was soft. The tears had long ago dried, and her gaze was distant.
"Wanna talk about it?" Connor asked.
"No."
Connor nodded slowly. She would tell him if she wanted to.
There was silence for a long time.
Finally, Anomaly sighed. "How would you feel, Connor?" She sat up and turned to face him. "How would you feel if you were me?"
Connor shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know anything about you, Anomaly."
Anomaly sighed again, and there was silence.
Finally, she spoke again. "Can I trust you with something?"
Connor nodded. "Sure."
"You won't say anything?"
"Promise."
Anomaly nodded slowly. "Con, I was banished from my city." She looked at him. "You knew that." She sighed. "But, what you don't know is that I was banished… when I was eight years old."
Connor's eyes widened. "EIGHT?"
Anomaly nodded. "In my time, that's the equivalent of your eighteen. Everyone…" Her voice broke, and fresh tears began to form." Everyone wanted me gone. As soon as possible." She sighed. "I've been in that desert for six years, Con. SIX YEARS. I've been alone for all that time, and every day, I couldn't…" Her voice broke again.
Connor's eyes couldn't be wider. "Six years? H… How could you STAND it?"
Anomaly shook her head. "It wasn't easy." She sighed again and looked down. "And it got worse."
Connor looked at her. "Worse how…?"
Anomaly sighed. "There was someone on the council that banished me. He…He was the only person who could have, or WOULD have, done something. Kept me from being banished." She swallowed. "His name was Sam."
Connor's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Sam? But…" Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Oh…"
Anomaly nodded. "My brother. My own brother voted me out of the city."
If Connor's eyes were wide before, it was nothing compared to how huge they were now.
Anomaly swallowed and tried to brush away the tears that were threatening to break through. "And then…" She sighed and told him everything that had happened to her since that day. Connor listened in stunned silence. He never interrupted her, simply sat there, nodding and listening carefully to each word.
Finally, she'd finished. Connor looked at her.
"Anomaly…" He trailed off, looking at her pattern, which she'd allowed to go purple on the edges. "So, you're dying?"
Anomaly nodded. "I found out on my thirteenth birthday. I was given a month to live." She smiled, triumphant. "I'm still here."
Connor raised his fingers. "May I…?"
Anomaly nodded, and Connor gently touched the pattern. Purple ink stained his fingers for a moment, before it disappeared.
"What is it?" He asked.
Anomaly sighed. "I heard that Nessie's pain, so long ago." She looked down. "I never told you, Con. But, our species…" She looked into his eyes.
"We're empathic."
"Empathic?"
Anomaly nodded. "Very slightly. Hardly at all. And, for the most part, it's internal. We aren't senders, we're receivers." She sighed. "That's why Artalis was creating the empathic eliminators in the first place, Con. Because we're very sensitive to the Florlic's emotions." She looked down. "And that's why their emotions can kill us." She sighed again. "That's why I was so hurt by that Nessie. When I found out, back at the clinic. Because I'm empathic. And so was she."
Connor's eyes were huge as he stared at her.
A single tear fell from Anomaly's eye. "But… I told you that if someone thinks their in pain, sometimes, it can happen, right? Well, that's exactly what happens with my species. When we're in pain, emotionally, sometimes it transfers and becomes actual, physical pain." She tapped her pattern lightly. "And, most of the time, it transfers to our microchip."
"Microchip?"
Anomaly smiled. "The one word you hear." She muttered before explaining. "We're cyborgs, Con."
Connor's eyes popped. "Cyborgs?"
Anomaly nodded. "In a way. That's what the patterns ARE. They're birthmarks, but then we have millions of microchips added. That's why I can do all that stuff with certain pieces of technology. That's why I can do this." She raised her hand, electricity dancing around it. "Because of the microchips." She sighed. "But there's one in particular. It's the one responsible for keeping the others working." She sighed. "And that's the one that fused. When that happens, we die unless we get a replacement."
She looked at him. "And that's what happened. It started with the Nessie back at the clinic. Then, with being alone, and what happened with Sam…" Her voice broke.
Connor looked back at her. "Oh…"
Anomaly wiped tears from her eyes. "Yeah. My pattern started turning purple on my thirteenth birthday." She snorted. "One heck of a birthday present." She shook her head slowly and sighed.
"I'm sorry…" Connor whispered. "I mean, I know that doesn't begin to cut it, but…"
Anomaly smiled. "It's ok, Con. It's just good to tell someone at last."
Ikesa, sitting next to the two of them, snorted, indignant.
Anomaly's smile widened. "No offence, Ikesa. But sometimes I need to talk to a human."
Ikesa placed his head on his paws, and let out a long, deep sigh.
Anomaly turned back to Connor. "Don't say anything."
Connor nodded. "No problem."
Anomaly smiled. Connor sometimes seemed like an incompetent idiot, but often, the incompetent idiots were the ones who understood.
Sam took a deep breath, and then coughed. Crimson stained the sand, pouring from the dark red wound on his back. But that wasn't the only wound he'd acquired.
Three Predators. At once. It was a nightmare out here! Sam was beginning to wonder how Anomaly had gone through this…
He chocked, and stumbled along the ground, unable to run anymore. He took a deep breath, and blood flowed down his arms. Three Predators. And he'd destroyed them all.
He tried to keep his breathing steady. He had to find Anomaly.
There was nothing else left…
