Run

  Upon entering the cafeteria, I headed towards the serving station; it was buffet-style.

  They were serving corn soup, eggy vénù*, and sharh salad* for appetizers.

  For the main course, there was Coconut Chicken Curry, Beef bourguignon, and Loca Lock*.

  There were all kinds of bread from different parts of Earth — most of which I still didn’t understand.

  There were many varieties of flavor juice cartons and fruit in the baskets for dessert.

  I added the sharh salad, Loca Lock. These were the only vegan options today, so I had to stick with them. And a pack of strawberries; these were my favourite fruits on Earth so far.

  I added a strawberry milkshake carton to my tray before walking over to the GOU table.

  There were certain unspoken rules of the arena. One was, sit with your own kind — or in this case, your group members.

  The cafeteria was divided into sections — not physically, but socially. There were four main tables, one for AVA, one for ZK, for GOU and lastly for Earth Protectors.

  And the surrounding was for the staff.

  I walked past the ZK table and AVA’s before settling down next to Agile. Across from me was Aureolo. And next to him were Red Coope and Toxic Doxie. Sitting on the other side of Agile was Night Coven.

  They had their own tray of food, eating and chatting with each other so casually as if what happened just an hour ago was just a fading memory.

  The scene of blood and horror from earlier today still planted itself in the forefront of my mind.

  “Tig…”

  The soft whisper in my ear almost pulled me into a soft slumber.

  I parted ways with my thoughts, snapping my head towards Agile.

  “Yes?”

  “Is everything okay? Lately, you seem lost. Your mind keeps wandering somewhere.”

  I stared at her, pupils dilated slightly larger.

  “You’re doing it again.”

  “Doing what?” I said defensively.

  She gave me a look. I let out a sigh, picking up the fork and shoving the sharh salad in my mouth. Better to keep my mouth stuffed so Agile won’t ask anymore stupid questions.

  It was still so difficult to get used to this new life.

  A new beginning.

  Away from my brothers, sisters and Ma back on KEP-452-A.

  Agile finally gave up — not before she nodded at me, which I was accustomed to. That meant she was going to eat at me until I gave an answer.

  I will deal with it later.

  While the people around the GOU talked, my gaze drifted to Earthian’s table. It was empty; Not a single soul in sight.

  The incident with White Watch must have taken a toll on them.

  Then, my eyes scanned the room for ZK members.

  There they were, sitting at their reserved table, laughing as if those three talltano* have done nothing wrong.

  I bet they were not even going to be punished.

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  Of course they weren’t.

  They act as if they are superior to everyone else in the arena just because they are the strongest among us.

  Still, what they did to the newcomer was just cruel.

  Their actions broke her body so badly that calling them cruel would be too mild.

  As soon as the food from the tray disappeared, and while Agile was focussed on her cute banter with Coven, I took off my seat with the tray.

  I didn’t want her to question me about anything.

  There was nothing to talk about. Not with her. Not with anyone. Not right now.

  I dropped my tray at the appropriate station: empty tray, disposable and headed out of the cafeteria. The halls were mostly empty, with few staff members heading towards the cafeteria, which I left.

  Silence.

  Silence settled over the empty hall.

  My steps — too quiet to make any noise.

  I made my way over to the nearest elevator and got inside.

  The button was pressed to take me to the third floor. That is where individual training takes place.

  I leaned against the silver inside, pondering back to the mission I had been on.

  The elevator hummed around me — too similar to the buzzing scream of those bug-creatures that day.

  “Tig!”

  Aureolo shouted, grabbing my arms and yanking me away from the horde of bug-like organisms.

  “You are getting in the way, Tigeralla!”

  Toxic shouted in my face. Her hands clenched her taser gun.

  “Tagjwana*.”

  “Sorry? What does that mean? You cussing at me? I can do that as well.”

  She shoved herself into my space. My pupils widened—instinct, not permission. I just said sorry in my native tongue. Not anything bad.

  “That is not what I meant. I just wanted to say sorry.”

  “Sure. Sure. Just get out of the way, new girl.”

  I grounded myself as she walked away, hustling me.

  The elevator dinged, and the door slid open.

  I forced myself onto my feet, heading out of the elevator.

  The hallway was empty once again. Despite how many people worked here, the arena often felt empty because of the sheer size.

  There were multiple private training rooms I went by. Most seemed empty though.

  In between room 39 and room 40, a narrow hallway split off to the side. Easy to miss if one wasn’t paying attention.

  Luckily, I was paying attention and entered the narrow and almost cramped hallway that stretched as far as my eyes could see. And I had excellent vision. It was a more recent addition to the arena from what I was told by Agile. Still made previously before I came here — down on Earth.

  Room 39-1.

  Room 39-3

  Room 39-5

  Room 39-7.

  …

  The specialized speed training room was at the other end of the winged hallway. People often used the split-way hallways as a shortcut, so they did not have to walk in circles to reach a side of the rounded arena.

  Room 132.

  I pressed my palm against the screen to unlock the door.

  Click.

  I entered the darkened room and turned the lights on.

  There was no one in sight.

  No one’s eyes on me meant I would escape odd looks I often got, no matter where I went.

  I headed towards the nearest treadmill and turned it on. The machine’s speed was set to 83kmh, and I elevated it just a bit.

  “Here,” the device was shoved into my hands — the bomb-disabler, whatever its official name was.

  “Take this and run.”

  Agile said.

  “Just run already. You’re only good for that.”

  Toxie said.

  Run.

  Run.

  Run.

  Run. Run.

  Run. Run. Run.

  I gasped for air, gripping the handle of the treadmill. Beads of sweat ran down my temples behind the black mask.

  Argh.

  I took off my mask, the cold air touching my damp yellow-tinted skin before wiping the sweat off with my forearm.

  I was sweating more than I ever had.

  My home planet was scorching — always. My ancestors adapted. I adapted. But sweating this much after only thirty minutes? Something was wrong.

  Despite living on Ma-Oktava since birth, a place with smokey ash clouds covering the sky and lava running down its valleys, I never sweated as much as I have since I came to Earth which was cooler.

  I should have Tania look into this, eventually.

  Later.

  I didn’t want the other members of GOU to think I was already faking something to get out of doing missions.

  I recently joined the group, and I was already finding ways to be sick.

  The door opened, and I pulled myself out of my thoughts. My head snapped towards the person entering, and I put on my mask as quickly as one could. My pupils dilated ever so lightly.

  It was…

  Skarvek.

  ?

  Food Glossary

  Eggy vénù: Derived from Madilles. A purple plant-egg produced by the Issepian — a fully plant-based organism that only resembles an animal. The “egg” is actually a nutrient-dense seed pod.. Cooked with the purple egg called Var and egg plant.

  Sharh salad: A salad made of yellow tomatoes, kale, kidney beans.

  Loca lock: A traditional Konbakto dish from Kankarvis It consists of plant based meat and a kale gravy to the side.

  Txetia Glossary

  Talltano (Tal-ta-noh) — a curse word meaning “asshole”

  Tagjwana (Ta-ju-wa-na) — means “Sorry”