Beast - The Soldier

I hear the children screaming:  "Killer!  Killer!  Killer!"

Groups of them run down the hallway, hands in the air, voices rough and loud.  Their shoes clack against the floor with every step.  Some of them carry sticks or rods, the kind that the professors use to punish us when we misbehave.  I dart into the hallway and grab a small blonde girl by the shoulders before she can pass me.

"What happened?" I demand.

"I don't know, let me go!" she whines.  She is younger than me. 

"What happened?" I repeat.

"One of the kids got in trouble and ran off.  That's all I know!"  She spins out of my grasp, squirming until my fingers are dislodged from her coat, and runs again down the hall.

I follow the crowds streaming through the hallways.  I want to know what happened.  I need to know what happened.  What if someone is hurt?  Do they need help?  We never have ruckus like this.  Never. 

Just before I reach the last turn in the hallway I see something through one of the outer windows.  I skid to a stop and look closer.  The door makes the view blurry; the glass is not very clear.  I open it and push into the lab room, and then walk to the outer wall to get a closer look. 

A group of kids outside, most of them older than me, have someone pinned on the ground, hands over his head, and they are throwing rocks at him!  What are they doing?  I run back into the hallway and find another window closer to the group.  I look at the one on the ground.  It is a boy.  I don't know him, but I have seen him around before.  He looks like a teddy bear, all brown and furry and warm.  There are a few others like him around the base, but most of them are older than me so I don't talk to them very much.  I can tell them apart, though.  This is the boy with the green vest.  I have seen him in the art wing before. 

And they are hurting him.

I scurry through the halls to the nearest exit.  I know my way around the base very well; Mother says I am hopeless.  It takes only a moment to navigate to the nearest door, and then I am out on the dirt, among the small round pebbles that dot the grounds inside the fence.  One of the bigger boys throws a big rock at the boy in the green vest, and it hits him very hard, making him cry out.

"Stop that!" I scream.

Three more strides and I have thrown myself in front of the boy in the green vest.  If they want to hurt him they will have to hurt me first.  A rock comes sailing at me.  In defense of the boy that threw it, he let it go before I was in the way.  It pounds my shoulder, bruising, but I don't move.

"Nyiri, stay out of this!" one boy yells.

"Leave him alone," I scream back.

"You don't know what he did."

"It doesn't matter.  Leave him alone."  I am in medical school.  I can't allow this to go on.  It is wrong.  They are hurting him.

"He killed Mae!"

I know Mae.  She is a little girl in art school, with yellow hair and pretty dresses.  She lives in my hallway.  Her parents are technicians.  They work on the engines that keep the base running.

No one would ever hurt her on purpose.

"It doesn't matter what he did," I say.  "No one's perfect."

One of the older boys, a frightening monster with eyes like coal, steps forward, sticking his chin at me like an angry cat.  His hands are tight fists at his sides, and his arms shake like they might fall off.

"If you weren't a Koda, we'd take you down too," he growls.  His eyes glow bright orange in the middle, like fire.

I stand my ground and clench my hands into fists to match the angry boy's posture.  I grit my teeth and make it clear that I have no intentions of moving.

"No matter," the boy snarls. "The MP's will be along for him soon enough."

He slowly turns around, and the others follow him, all growling at me under their breath.  I watch, frozen, until they are gone, swallowed by one of the doors leading inside.  As soon as the door shuts, I un-clench my fists and work the kinks out of the muscles in my jaw.  I slowly turn around and look at the boy in the green vest to see if he is injured.

He is awake, at least.  His yellow eyes are open wide, and he stares at me with his jaw hung down to his chest.  I hunch over him to check for bleeding, but he has to get out of here soon or they will come for him.  He doesn't appear to be hurt.

"I know you didn't mean to," I say.  "You have to run before they get you."

I tug on his arm to help him up.  He is huge compared to me, so I'm not much use.  Judging from the way he moves, he has a few broken ribs and a lot of bruises, but he can move.  I take his hand and try to steady him, but he almost falls on top of me.  He manages to keep himself upright, and I lead him to a spot in the fence that I have used to escape before.  No one else knows it's there.  I look behind us every few seconds to make sure no one has seen us, but the yard is empty.  Probably everyone is trying to find out what happened still.  Maybe they are looking for Mae.

The teddy-bear boy can't help it that he is big.  It is not his fault.

We reach the fence, and the boy is limping badly.  I think he has a broken foot, but he hasn't made one sound of complaint during our run.  In fact, he hasn't made one sound at all.  Which is concerning.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

He nods.

"Can't you say something?"

"Thank you," he whispers.

I smile and lift the bottom of the fence for him.  I can't get it up far enough to keep from cutting him, but the damage won't be too bad, and he'll be much better off with a few cuts than if the MP's get a hold of him.

"You should go before they find you," I say.

"Did you know that girl?" he asks.

I nod.  "She lived by me.  She was nice.  Did you really kill her?"

The boy's lip quivers and he looks down.  "I didn't mean to.  It was an accident."

I nod.  That's what I thought.  "Is your foot hurt?"

"It's alright.  I don't think it's broken.  I can walk on it."

"You better go, then.  They'll come looking for you in a minute."

"If you see her family, tell them I didn't mean to," he says.

"I will.  Go."

The boy wiggles under the fence, scraping his back and tearing the green vest, but he makes it.  He stands on the other side and looks through the links at me.

"You've saved my life," he says.

I smile and run off, hoping he'll do the same before somebody sees.  I know I'll be in trouble if they realize I helped him escape.  I might be in it anyway, since the kids throwing rocks saw me with him.  They'll probably tell their parents.  I'll play dumb if they do.

I step back through the door into the big wheel and watch the people rushing about.  MP's in dark uniforms with big guns hanging on their hips try to force everyone into order, to make the frantic running stop.  Some of them have rifles crossed against their chests.  They stand on either side of the doors where important officers live or work, keeping the crowds away.  I have an idea.  I walk up to one of the MP's with a rifle, hoping I look innocent and hoping this particular soldier hasn't caught me doing something I shouldn't in the past.

"What happened?" I ask.

He glances down but doesn't say anything.  He is on duty, therefore not allowed to talk.

"Is something wrong?" I continue.

The man looks at his twin on the other side of the door.  The twin nods and looks behind him, then down the hall.

The first MP turns back to me and whispers, leaning over so he won't have to talk as loud.

"A little girl was killed.  Crushed, apparently."

I gasp.  "Who?" 

"I don't know her name, honey.  Sorry."

"Do they know who did it?"

"Yeah.  The officer in charge said it was one of them 'Beasts'.  You know, the hairy people?"

"I think I better find my mommy," I say, walking slowly away. 

I hope I look dazed.  I feel dazed.  I wrinkle my nose.  Beast?  That doesn't seem to fit the walking teddy bear in the green vest.  I wonder what his name was.  Beast.

Beast.