Enhance 2: Chapter 6

Closing her fist and then unclenching them. Closing and unclenching them. Over and over again. She kept her head down trying to avoid walking into the few people that were on her path but thankfully there weren’t that many people out this early in the morning. In the back of her head she regretted storming out without at least grabbing her hoodie.

Shivering in just an old t-shirt and sweats she raised her eyes and brushed her hair from it. She had run enough of a way away from the house that the buildings had changed. Shorter, closer to the ground. Way more graffiti and broken windows and iron bars. She looked down a street and she saw an officer collecting a roll of police tape.

Crossing the street, she joined a few other onlookers nearby. “What happened?” she mumbled keeping her hands deep in her pocket. The man she stood beside glanced at her then looked back at the house, his head shaking.

“What didn’t happen? Drive by early this morning. Shot at the wrong house. Thank God no one was hurt. But this isn’t the first time this has happened,” he shook his head. “But it’s the third one this week. “I don’t know if there’s some war going on or it’s just a bunch of kids trying to prove something. The police showed up and started making things worse. We’re lucky they didn’t shoot someone.”

Yumi listened but she had stared at the house the entire time. The paint was weathered but still solidly colored. One of the windows was broken and she could trace with her eyes the line of bullet holes where it had been shot up. She’d seen something like this before, A long time ago when a kid got shot just to prove a point.

Clenching her fist, she shook her head, “It’s fucked up.”

“Right? What’s the world coming to?”

He kept talking for a bit longer but she wasn’t hearing him anymore. Her heart ached just staring at the place. She saw a woman talking to a pair of children, they were still wearing their pajamas. She was holding onto them in a vice grip but they were okay. They were looking around just confused as to why they were out of the house so early. But Yumi could see the terror in the woman’s eyes as she saw the police car down the street.

Going back to the corner of the street she looked toward the traffic light waiting for it to turn. A man stumbled past her wearing heavy jacket. Several heavy jackets actually and ripped jeans. She looked at him and saw in his hands was a beaten-up old sign on a piece of cardboard. A sign that she’d seen a bunch of times. ‘Down on hard times’. ‘Lost my house’. ‘Need any amount of money just to make it to the next day’. His head was hunched down not even looking at her.

Looking over her shoulder she turned and watched him go, watched him keep going. “Hey,” she finally said and he stopped. He looked at her confused as she approached. She reached into her pocket and found her wallet taking out a bunch of twenties and shoved it into his hand. “Take it. Do what you need with it. Please.”

Looking away from him she turned and just went the other direction instead of crossing the bridge. It didn’t matter how long the day wore on the highway would always have some matter of traffic. Cars speeding around on and the loose echo of construction. The buildings on her right gave way to fenced off overgrown fields.

All manner of trash was littered in it, tires, cups, glass, and broken boards. Taking a breath, she jumped clearing over the fence, clearing it easily. She landed softly in the grass and walked through it kicking through the trash. She ended up next to the dilapidated building bordering the field.

Huge swaths of bricks taken out or just having plain fallen into the field. Another section had gone down on the ground floor. The chill air hit her hard. She rubbed her arms quickly and ran inside. It smelled of mold and dust but it blocked the wind so she had that much going for her.

Inside it looked like it was once a kitchen. She could see the marks on the ground from where things like fridges and stoves had been before. The cold concrete of the ground had layers of grass trying to push its way through, causing major cracks in the foundation. But the supports were still in one piece.

Giant metal beams where the brick had been stripped away by time and effort. Going over to one she knocked her fist against it listening to the echo on the bottom floor. “Neat,” Her voices echoed as well when something else echoed back at her. Something metal tinkling against the ground.

She tensed raising her fist when another one echoed after it. Quirking her eyebrow, she went after the noise leaving the room. From this kitchen she went into a cafeteria. The ground was scraped all to hell. The ceiling was a lot taller in this room the last. Going at least two floors high. She reached her hands up to it like she was going to touch it. The entire place looked like an old abandoned soup kitchen or a shelter.

From the second floor she could see open spots where windows once were. The walls were once dark blue though there were lines of vines coming in from those former windows. Going across to the other side of the room she kicked at holes in the wall. Wires, old electric outlets, and stains.

The metal noise came again and she looked over her shoulder quickly. A shape darted out of her vision and she narrowed her eyes trying to track them. “Hey? Anyone else here?”

Taking a few steps toward the center of the place she heard footsteps and this time she was sure of it. Whirling around again she raised her fists. A small crash echoed beside her and she looked in the direction of the sound to see dust emanating from a side door. “Look whoever the hell else is here. show yourself. I’m not in the mood for some creepy bullshit. I will kick your ass!”

 Her voice echoed back at her, rotating around the cafeteria like she was mocking herself. Spinning around quickly she kept moving back and forth adrenaline already spiking in her veins. But nothing happened. No one showed up. No one answer her challenge. Lowering her arm’s she sighed.

“Great Yumi. You’re paranoid and piss-“

Her words were cut off by an explosion of light. It was like she had suddenly stared into the sun after waking up in the morning. Her eyes burned and she covered her face shouting. Stumbling back blind as a bat she felt the light on her eyelids pounding on them trying to get back in and scar her retinas.

Suddenly she was falling backwards and rolling across the ground. She hit her head once and the brightness of her vision now had black spots to accompany it and a pounding in her head. Rolling backwards she grunted trying to get her bearings. She felt hands on her pockets none too kindly trying to search through them. She swung her arm wildly hitting only the air and she rolled backwards quickly forcing distance between herself and them. Narrowing her eyes she started to see through the burning in her vision, keeping one hand in front of her face.

“Did you get it?” a girl’s voice said tinged with an accent of someone who spoke Spanish often.

“No I didn’t want to get hit in the face.” A boy’s voice said in response with a similar accent and the girl groaned.

“Seriously? We need money.”

“Just hit her again and I’ll grab it.”

Yumi got to her feet slowly keeping her hand out. She could see shoes and ripped pants but her fingers and the spots in her vision were blocking them from her vision. She raised her other hand ready to throw a punch.

“Great she’s standing up again.”

“Just do your thing sis. I got it this time.”

“You better.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The siblings as well as Yumi looked toward the voice and Yumi finally cracked a smile. “Echo is that you?”

“Yep! I didn’t want you wandering around by yourself. Especially without a jacket or something.”

“Who the heck is this?” the girl said and shook her head. “Alright I’m doing it.”

Yumi flinched on instinct knowing that something bright was coming her way again. Before it happened, she felt something hit her face and knew it was her hoodie. Light flooded the woven fabric but didn’t destroy her retinas.

She could hear a scuffle and then a grunt and a crash followed by a loud groan. “What the hell? She shouldn’t be able to see right now.”

“Is that what that was?” Echo asked raising her eyebrows. “Unfortunately things like that don’t exactly work on me. Now I know neither of you mean any harm. I’d like to just talk. I’m sure Yumi is fine with talking as well.”

“Yeah talking,” Yumi mumbled keeping the hoodie carefully poised atop her head. “As long as you don’t do whatever the hell that was again.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” the boy said. “We know better than to get caught out by strangers.”

“You’re hungry,” Echo said softly. “And you both need.” She grasped for the right word and finally said. “Medication.”

“What are you talking about?” the girl said.

“Neither of you have eaten in almost three days. You’re starving,”

“What the fuck,” the boy said, feet shifting against the ground. “She’s freaking me out. Let’s get out of here.”

“Definitely.”

“No wait!” Echo shouted but they were already gone. Yumi finally put her hoodie on, sliding her arms through the sleeves and just barely saw the backs of the two disappearing around a corner. Rubbing her eyes she narrowed them to see Echo in her traditionally brilliant white clothes. But she was frowning hard as she looked at her.

“What’d you do to those kids to scare them off like that?” she asked making a face,

Echo shook her head walking over to her, “I just wanted to help them. I thought if I told them something personal I could get through to them in some way shape or form.”

“You read their minds?” Yumi asked and Echo nodded. “No wonder they freaked the fuck out. Fuck my eyes hurt.”

Echo gave her a small smile as she nodded, “Yes. She called it something like a solar flare. A bright burst of light meant to blind people.”

“Ah. The perfect person got sent out to help me then.”

“Not sent. I followed you because I was worried you’d get into some kind of fight.”

Yumi shrugged, “I wouldn’t call it a fight. I just kinda stumbled into this place and found those kids.”

Echo sighed, a crease forming at her forehead. “They’re a lot like me and Rogue are. Well were. Orphans fighting for scraps. Needing a fix. Need help and not knowing how to find help.”

“That girl had enhance, didn’t she?”

“They both do. And I know what a withdrawal starts to look like.”

Yumi kicked at the ground shaking her head hard, “They were kids. They sounded like they couldn’t have been older than like seventeen. And now they’re fucking screwed for the rest of their lives on enhance.”

She tilted her head back and shouted her frustration laced through it all. She kicked at the ground because there was nothing else for her to hit. And right now she wanted something to hit, something to break, anything. Pressing her hands against her face she sank to her knees exhausted.

Echo walked over to her and sat next to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders. Yumi tried to relax against her but she felt the tenseness in her shoulders. “I helped a kid yesterday night. Was getting jumped by some random guys on the street. He couldn’t have been older than those two. Probably younger than them. I helped him but what stops him from ending up like them. Getting fucked in the ass by enhance.

“I thought after I killed Rook that things would die down. Without the Royals making more enhance it wouldn’t be on the street. That people could just live life and not be afraid to leave their houses. That kids like Nina can grow up without getting snatched off the streets. But there’s always another shadow. If it’s not the Vanguard it’s these new guys. Or the police. And Phase doesn’t get that.”

“You know that’s not true,” Echo said softly. “He cares about you. Just like he cares about all of us.”

 “We have the power to do something though,” she said her distress growing. “Hell we’re like the only ones who really can because of our position.”

She shook her head, “Every time you got involved with them in the past someone got hurt.”

Yumi started to say something but she looked down because she knew she was right. Feint, Phase, Shade and herself. All had been hurt and a few times nearly died because they tangled with the Vanguard or the Royals. Some of it wasn’t their fault and some of it was because of her own choices.

“Phase doesn’t want that to happen again,” she mumbled and Echo nodded slowly.

“That would be my guess.”

“Whys it suck and hurt so much that he’s not on my side,” she said angrily. “Not the first time we’ve disagreed.”

“Because he’s special to you in his own way. He is to all of us,” she said softly.

She looked at her hand and then looked away and whispered, “More than you know.”

Yumi frowned harder as she finally took her hand. Her leg had started to fall asleep and she needed to get the blood flowing again. Keeping her arms folded she fought the urge to sneeze. She was tired of sitting around doing nothing and just watching things go to hell. She was going to go out there and help them on person at a time. 

“Yumi what are you thinking?” Echo asked as she stood, tilting her head slightly.

“You could find out if you wanted.”

“You know that I won’t do that.”

She nodded slowly, “Good.”

Yumi turned to look back at her and though Echo’s eyes seemed unfocused she felt them staring at her. Felt them almost staring through her and for a moment felt that she was going to break her personal rule this one time. But she let her shoulders sag. “What do you want to do Yumi? Not in general but right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to go back home or do you want to stay out. I don’t really care which. I just want to make sure you’re not going to get in trouble.”

“Again.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You thought it.”

“Are you a mind reader too?”

That brought a smile to Yumi’s lips, “No. That would be awful if I had that power too.” Echo giggled as well and a tension went away from the pair of them. Yumi sighed softly and stretched, “I think I need more time away from home for a while. And I know exactly the place to go. You like dip’n dots Echo?”