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About an hour after all the students left, I waited for Roan while he changed. He’d stayed through my intermediate and advanced classes to spar with me, sans padding. It was nice of him, especially since he knew I was going to kick his butt every time. It’d been good, but I was still on edge. I needed a second to relax. I needed to let my body really move, but I couldn’t do that, even with Roan. He could barely keep up with me at half-speed. I needed to actually unwind for one goddamned second. But now that everyone was gone and Roan was changing, all I wanted to do was go home and hide.
It was getting harder and harder to hold myself back, and I felt like I was fighting a losing battle. One of these days I was going to slip up—I was going to do something I couldn’t talk my way out of—and that one slip up was going to be the death of me and everyone I loved.
I sat at my desk in the dark and watched the news on the vidscreens. I could always tell my mom I was sleeping here if there was a riot or the police were out searching for their latest target. She wouldn’t love it, but spending the night in this shithole of a warehouse was better than risking my life to get home.
Supposedly, it hadn’t always been this dangerous. Way before I was born, SpaceTech—the biggest corporate conglomerate—took over all of Earth’s government. I didn’t know the specifics of it, but I hoped whoever thought that was a good idea was rotting in hell because it was an unmitigated disaster for everyone on Earth. As long as it didn’t hurt SpaceTech’s bottom line, they didn’t care what happened to us. Which meant we lived in a world with too much violent crime, corruption, and poverty.
But SpaceTech was good at one thing—expanding to grow a stronger power base. Their colonization and trade routes spread across the galaxy and they’d found dozens of other species to exploit along the way. But in all their greed to find more profits and colonize more planets, SpaceTech finally met a race that was stronger, smarter, and had better tech than them.
From all the stories, it had been nice between Earthers and the Aunare for nearly a decade, but when I was three, SpaceTech assassinated all high level Aunare officials living on Earth, and then started hunting everyone else on any of their colonies with ties to the alien race. In less than two weeks, most Aunare or part-Aunare people living on a SpaceTech controlled planet were murdered. Except the few of us that got away.
That was why I forced myself to watch the news multiple times a day. I couldn’t get caught. Especially since me and my mother were the only two high level Aunare targets that managed to get away before SpaceTech could murder us. But there was a hefty reward for anyone who had information on us. And if someone actually turned us in, their whole family would be set for life and then some.
If things could get worse, I wasn’t sure how.
The news tonight was normal. One image caught my eye. A massive SpaceTech warship was landing on Terra 10—one of the colony planets on the edge of SpaceTech’s official empire. A report of increased Aunare activity in the area had more of SpaceTech’s IAF—Interplanetary Armed Forces—landing to secure the area.
If they said the Aunare were dangerous and they needed more forces in the area, then it had to be true. Right?
Except it probably wasn’t. I’d bet my day’s wages from the double shift I’d pulled at the diner that the Aunare weren’t even close to that colony. SpaceTech just wanted the humans to feel the alien threat all the time and used it to justify all the crap they did.
Slowly, all six channels—including the off the grid ones—changed to cov
er a new story happening on Earth. I flicked the button, linking all the vidscreens to show one large image: a half-Aunare guy, maybe a couple years younger than me, being dragged into an execution arena in Ohio.
Damn it. I looked away for a second but then made myself watch.
He was bleeding, dirty, beaten up. Whoever had found him and turned him in had clearly done a number on the guy. SpaceTech liked to make a big spectacle of murdering any person with Aunare blood or ties left on Earth. There was a sizable reward for whoever turned the enemy in. It wasn’t nearly as big as the one for me and my mom, but it was a game changer for most people. And they got the added bonus of having the best seat to watch the execution. I whimpered and squeezed my eyes shut, but that didn’t stop the sound coming from the screens. The guy pleaded for his life and the crowd yelled. Calling him names that should never be uttered. Not ever.
It wouldn’t be long before a pack of rabid dogs would be let loose in there. They liked to remind everyone that Auanre weren’t human. When this kid started fighting for his life, he’d move with his true, in-human speed. His skin would glow like it was lit from within. And, if he was from a strong Aunare bloodline, his tattoos would appear along his skin.
Once it was over, SpaceTech would come on the screen and tell Earthers here and across all of the colonies how the Aunare were the problem. The Aunare were the reason our lives sucked ass. The Aunare were why there was so much crime and poverty.
What a crock of shit.
“Hey,” Roan said as he gripped my shoulder. He’d changed into a pair of black pants and a bright blue button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a shiny pair of Kicks I hadn’t seen before. He looked a little more dressed up than usual. “I’ve been calling your name.”
I shook my head and pointed to the screen.
“I saw the alert and hurried. How many times do I have to tell you not to put yourself through this shit?” Roan shut down the screens with a flick of his finger. “You okay?”
I nearly laughed at the absurdity of his question. “Is any of this okay? That kid will be dead soon and for what?”
“It’s not okay, but—”
“But nothing.” I snapped. “There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s done. That kid did nothing wrong except exist and that’s how it is for all halfers. I have to hide or that’s happening to me. And if SpaceTech ever finds me, I’ll be wishing for the end that poor bastard is about to get right now. I haven’t even heard from my father since I was three, but that won’t fucking matter to them when they make an example of me in some horrible way. Or worse. Use me to start the war they’ve been wanting to fight for the last fifteen years.” The air was rushing in and out of my lungs in quick gasps and I knew I had to calm down. Roan wasn’t the one I was upset with. This wasn’t his fault. I shouldn’t be yelling at him.
I wiped a hand down my face as I tried to get it together. The mad started to fade, and a bone-deep exhaustion took its place. I wanted to break down. So badly. But if I started crying now, I didn’t know when I’d stop.
A searing pain ran through my finger and that was it. I was done. My eyes burned and I struggled to keep the tears from falling. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s been a long day. I worked a twelve-hour shift at the diner before coming here to teach and I need to get home and—” My voice broke and I cleared my throat, trying to cover it up.
He reached a hand down and I took it, letting him pull me out of the chair. “I’ll walk with you,” he said.
I took in his outfit again and remembered… “It’s gamer night at Starlite, right? That’s where you’re heading?”
“It is.”
“Then go. Have fun and forget about me and all my problems.”
