Throwing aside a chunk of stone, I paused to wipe the sweat from my face using my t-shirt, terribly aware of how badly I needed a shower.
It was day three of the aftermath and the water in the house Nell and I were using as home base had stopped working. We had made sure to keep the house tidy for when the original owners returned but they hadn’t shown up yet.
A house had partially collapsed and we were helping shift the rubble away. The semi-truck that had crashed into the wall of the house was tipped over and spilled its cargo onto the lawn. Different cuts of wood used as building materials were strewn across the grass and the people we were helping were in high enough spirits to laugh about the irony of the situation.
I walked over to where three men were pushing up a toppled beam and helped them shift it out of the way. A man with a bushy moustache grunted in surprise.
“Stronger than you look,” he said.
I wasn’t sure by his tone if he was suspicious of me being a Shaper or if he was just making an idle comment, so I just shrugged and didn’t respond. Nell and I had decided not to show our Shapes if we could help it. Sometimes people were too afraid to accept help if they knew. A few had gotten violent in a way that seemed pre-emptive, like they were expecting us to reveal our true forms and attack. We learned to be more subtle as long as it wasn’t an emergency.
Nell was watching over the two kids who had been waiting for the house to be accessible. Now that it was, the kids raced over and along with their parents they opened the door. A brown and white dog immediately jumped into the arms of the father who stumbled back a few steps. The kids cheered as the dog barked and wagged its tail while failing to hold still for even a second in the man’s arms.
“‘Preciate the help,” one of the men said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Anything you need? Food? Water?”
I glanced over to Nell who had turned away, phone to her ear.
“We’re good for now, thanks. Hey, do you happen to know anyone who has left the city?” I asked.
The man nodded. “A few of our neighbours got out and made it to the rescue camps set up near the perimeter. It seems like they’re not letting people re-enter the city for the time being. I think it’s reasonable, but some people left early on and now they’re desperate to hear from loved ones that are still in the city.”
I watched the happy family reunited with their pet and felt a tightness in my chest. I’d never had a chance to hold Nip, my cat, one last time. He was with my parents now, wherever they had ended up. I hadn’t tried calling them yet.
Nell touched my arm. She had gotten off the phone.
“The crew is meeting up at the barber shop,” she told me.
“Alright.”
We said our farewells to the grateful family and their neighbours and started on our long walk over to Occam’s Barber. It would take over an hour to get there without buses or the subway running, along with having to take detours sometimes around dangerous areas. There were still remnants of the Rings trying to stake their claim on the city, looting and violently clashing with each other. We were leaving it alone for now, neither of us were keen on getting into fights at this point, instead we chose to devote our focus to assisting Sillwood citizens that needed the extra hands.
As we walked I pointed out stores and restaurants to Nell that I’d been to. It felt funny reminiscing about places that would probably never open again, sort of like I was old, reflecting on decades past instead of just days. Every so often, a sad look would pass over Nell’s face and she’d shut down. It seemed that everywhere we looked was a reminder to Nell of her participation in Sillwood’s demise. She could shake it off, she could be strong, but in the quiet times like this when there were no distractions she was obviously still taking it quite hard.
There was no fix, no magic words I could say that would make her feel better. So I said nothing and let the waters grow deeper.
That sucked too.
When we arrived at the barber shop, we saw that it hadn’t escaped unscathed. Henry was out front, sweeping up broken glass. He looked up and immediately broke into a smile.
“Ah, just what I wanted to see. Two returning customers.”
“Hi Henry,” Nell said with a grin. “I could use a trim.”
“You could use a bit more than that. Your hair grows faster than a weed,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “But that can wait, I know you didn’t come here to see me.”
As we walked into the shop, I saw the jagged remnants of the shop’s mirrors on the walls and the bullet holes to accompany them.
Henry noticed me looking. “Some Rings decided to pay a visit. I sent them on their way without their trigger fingers.”
Nell nodded appreciatively, before getting hit by a running hug. She laughed and wrestled with AJ for a moment before picking him up and holding him upside down. AJ’s hood fell down and he smiled at me excitedly. “You’re back! Please you guys, you have to tell me what happened.”
He puffed out his chest, which looked kind of funny while hanging upside down. “I talked the Goblin into coming to you.”
Nell’s arms started to shake so she let AJ down. Henry rolled him over out of the way with his broom and walked to the back of the shop where Graham, Zola, Vanessa, and Richard were talking. Vanessa was in a wheelchair and she wasn’t wearing her prosthetic leg.
I helped AJ to his feet and he gave me a hug.
“You really helped us out,” I told him. “That was hella brave.”
“I tried to come back but then I ran into Spike and he needed my help to get out of the Old Town.”
“Is he and Jess doing alright?”
AJ nodded. “They found a H.E.S.P. squad who got them out safely.”
“So you saved more than just my ass that night. I don’t think I can thank you enough, AJ.”
“So what happened?” he asked insistently.
“I’ll tell you in a bit,” I said as Graham approached us.
He looked tired but happy. His typical formal attire had been replaced by a large t-shirt and gym shorts. He came up and embraced Nell.
From the very little I could see of Nell enveloped by Graham’s arms, she looked as stiff as a board.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t reach you sooner,” Graham told her. “Don’t blame yourself. Take it from someone who knows how the past can haunt the present.”
Vanessa drove her electric wheelchair up beside us, snapping a picture of Nell looking uncomfortable in Graham’s hug. She leaned over to me. “I saw one of the Aleks choking on tuning forks while getting cornered by H.E.S.P. That bastard is getting his just desserts.”
An annoyed look crossed her face. “Terry skipped town on us. Said he didn’t want to be here when the city gets locked down. Looks like he was wrong though, they’re evacuating people.”
Graham’s brow furrowed. “I suspect they aren’t free to go. The events at Sillwood are world-changing. The global powers will have questions and Canada will have to answer. There’s no predicting how things will end up for Shapers, especially involuntary or unwitting ones.”
“Are you okay?” I asked Vanessa.
“Hm? Oh this?” she asked as she made the wheelchair do a quick spin, making her earrings jangle. “Nentech pushed out a security patch to all their tech after their headquarters in Sillwood got looted. The patch locked out my leg ‘cause they detected that I’d modded it. It was a knee jerk desire to protect their company secrets I guess, but they’re getting lambasted online for it. For good reason, they almost definitely got a few Sillwood residents with disabilities killed due to it.”
She shrugged. “As for me, it shouldn’t take me long to get past the new security and then I’ll be back to kicking AJ’s ass in no time. And in the downtime, I can enjoy a new freaky video popping up on my feed every two seconds. I’m not kidding when I say that the internet is having a collective meltdown. Shaper vids have been circulating for ages now, but this degree of influx? Next level.”
She showed me a shaky video on her phone. It was taken from the window a few stories above street level. It peeked down to where a thin bone-white figure, all sharp angles and a skull-like head raced down the alley. I winced, realizing it was a video of me.
Vanessa continued, “This deluge of content has the internet split in two. The deniers have fallen to pieces, some still desperately trying to say that this is a rogue A.I. pumping out dozens of fake videos every hour. The believers that had been grouped in with conspiracy theorists up until now suddenly have more vindication than they could ever want. Everyone’s focus is turning to those in power. Asking if they already knew. And survivors from Sillwood are asking for answers and justice. Although ‘justice’ for some is wiping out every Shaper in existence.”
Nell finished smoothing out her clothes after the hugging and turned to Graham. “I want to know that too. How much does the government know? And what will happen to us?”
Graham scratched his chin. “I wish I could give you an answer. The existence of H.E.S.P. tells us they know some things, enough to combat Shapers. My only hope is that they are seeking understanding rather than bloodshed.”
“Ugh, something tells me that their intentions aren’t going to be that clean,” I said while wondering if Mac and Claire were alright. “Actually, speaking of, do you have a shower or anything here?”
“Just the hair-washing sinks, dear,” Henry called out from the back.
“Hmm.”
“Oh! I know!” AJ exclaimed. “There’s a pool nearby. We can go swimming!”
This seemed to peak everyone’s interest, even Richard’s, so we set out as a group with AJ leading the way. While we walked, I recounted to AJ what had happened at the apartment complex. He was an attentive listener, with plenty of gasps and excited comments at every notable turn in the story.
We paused a few times to lift Vanessa’s wheelchair over terrain that was impassable for her and she treated these moments as if she was a queen riding a palanquin, giving everyone a formal wave.
The pool AJ was referring to ended up being an indoor swimming pool. A few people were inside already, laughing and enjoying a refreshing swim. They waved at us as we entered through the propped open emergency exit door, seemingly fine with sharing the space. The warm humid air upon entering felt like stepping into a spa after walking through blustery cold winds to get here.
AJ immediately ran to the diving platform, which had several levels to jump out from, the tallest of which was impressively high and must have been used by professional divers.
It seemed that most people had decided to just swim in their clothes.
A red hoodie and shoes were tossed over the side of the tallest platform before AJ appeared, letting out a triumphant whoop as he fell and hit the water with a loud clap.
Nell laughed as the impact sprayed us with water.
“Wanna give it a shot?” I asked her, nodding towards the platform.
“Yeah!”
We scaled the slippery stairs until we were at the top, peering down at everyone below. Graham and Richard had claimed one of the hot tubs. AJ was making friends with the strangers, tossing a pool noodle back and forth.
“Now that I’m up here, it’s a little high,” Nell said, shivering.
I looked down at the water below. “Nah, this is nothing. I had to drop down the Sill with just a rope.”
“Okay, Mr. Grasshopper.”
I snorted.
“Or would you prefer I said Mx. Grasshopper? Ms.?”
I tilted over the edge and pulled Nell with me. She shrieked as we plummeted. I made sure that I hit the water first. It stung for a second, but then I was left with the tickle of rising bubbles and the smiling face of Nell above me.
We crested the surface and Nell splashed water at me. “Asshole!” she said, laughing.
I pushed wet hair out of my face and then dived down again, enjoying the feeling of all the grime and sweat washing away. Light and shadow danced together on the blue pool bottom. I floated below the surface, cradled by the warmth.
When I emerged again, a shirtless AJ was showing Nell how to dive into the pool from the edge. Droplets of water dripped from his invisible Shape.
I swam over to the side and got out of the water next to Vanessa, who was still on her phone, occasionally looking up in amusement.
“Don’t want to get wet?” I asked.
“Nah. Keeping up with all the headlines is entertainment enough.” She set the phone down on her lap and eyed me. “Speaking of entertainment, why don’t you take your shirt off?”
I raised an eyebrow and hunched my shoulders.
“C’mon. I wanna see some pecs.”
“I’m good.”
“Spoilsport.”
Movement from outside the windows caught my eye. There was a group of people outside. They were all dressed in black.
That can’t be good.
I made sure everyone was still having fun before going to the door. Cold wind on my wet skin was enough to make me shiver as I poked my head out the door.
The H.E.S.P squad stared back with their matte visors.
I stepped outside, crossing my arms for the slightest bit of protection in my sopping wet clothes. “Can I help you?”
One of the soldiers at the front stepped forward and removed their helmet.
My heart beat quicker.
Mac, who I had once called my best friend, watched me with solemn eyes.
“Nick,” he spoke softly.
My throat felt dry. “Hey Mac.”
He looked the same as he had before all of this. Perfect crew cut hair, a confident face with eyes that didn’t miss a single detail. I felt as though he saw me and learned everything that had happened in a second. But he didn’t actually know. It felt like I barely knew him now. A stranger who I had once shared a childhood with. I’d changed and somehow he’d stayed the same.
He cleared his throat, looking behind me. I turned to see that the entire crew had come outside. Nell came up beside me and squeezed my hand.
Mac addressed us in a different tone, authoritative and impassive, “You are all being detained for questioning.”
Vanessa squeaked as the soldiers began to fan out towards us. “For what?” she asked tremulously.
Mac didn’t break eye contact with me. “The investigation of potential participants in an act of terrorism against the people of Sillwood.”