Naraka - Ch.10

 It's been three weeks since Alexis has brought me to the safe house. Not much has changed. Serious training still hasn't begun. But it will soon, since we're with ninety-six recruits already.
 After the incident we had with the vampires – the incident we told none of the other recruits about – nothing else like it has happened. I'd be lying if I said Kate and I didn't wander through the halls, looking for secret places, more than once. But we never found anything. No vampires, no prisons.
 They probably hid them well, which seems logical. We weren't very thorough while seeking either, though. The dark eyes of the vampire who tried to kill me, don't just haunt me every night in my sleep. In the day, the image also pops up every once in a while. It makes my courage grow less, considerably. And it makes me less daring to go through every room and corner in this house.
 I don't even know why Kate and I go to look for them at all. We're both scared, that much is obvious. And we both wouldn't have any idea what to do if we found them. I guess it's just a matter of blind curiosity. Something we both seemed to have lots of. It's probably one of the reasons we've grown so close in so little time. After just three weeks, I can honestly say Kate is the best friend I've ever had – though, I know, that really isn't as big as it sounds. Not when it comes to me.
 After a week or so, Kate finally told me her story. And it was nothing I had expected to hear – from anyone.
 Kate was born in the wasteland, just like me. She was the youngest of five children and for the first years of her life they'd travelled only with the seven of them. Later – she told me – they'd started to group with other travelers, but that didn't stick for long.
 One day, when Kate was nine, a message from one of the safe cities came. Apparently, some kind of plague was threatening the city's citizens. They were in bad need for doctors for the thousands and thousands of victims. Kate's father and her oldest sister were doctors, and her mother a nurse. They'd been banned from a safe city before Kate was born, because they'd refused to put their medical abilities in service of the state. If they had, the state would have taken them away from their family and friends, to put them wherever they'd seen fit.
 But the messenger who said – another – safe city needed doctors because of it's plague, promised they would be able to live the life they wanted to live. And Kate's family believed the promise. They went with the messenger, finally going back to a peaceful place again.
 At first, the promise was well kept. But after the plague was contained, Kate's family started to notice discrimination directed toward them. Because they were from the wastelands, and the safe city had so 'kindly' accepted them, some believed they had more right to be enslaved than to live like free citizens. It never actually came to that, but they were always treated like outcasts among the other people.
 As Kate became older, ánd more rebellious, she started to fight this system. She started to rebel against the state in any way she could: hiding fugitives, helping outcasts, disobeying the state's general rules.
 She got caught multiple times, but never on anything mature. Nothing big enough for the city to ban her – though that also had to do with how much the city needed her family's services, still.
 At last, it was Kate self who made the decision to leave the city. With Tess and her brother. She'd met Tess at one of the resistance's gatherings. And at the same time Tess and her brother were casted out by the city, Kate had decided it was time for her to go. So she went with them. Though they barely knew each other back then.
 Tess's brother died a few weeks later during a vampire attack, as he was trying his hardest best to protect his sister. Kate told me that this is the reason why Tess blames herself for her brother's death. And that is the reason why she would do anything, give up anything, to fight the vampires.
 Kate on the other hand, just really wants to become a 'badass ass-kicking monster fighter' – as she puts it herself. I had to laugh very loudly at the grin she wore when she said this. I don't think I've ever laughed that loud. It felt strange, but also good.
 And I kind of feel the same way as Kate does, I discover after I've mulled it over many times, lying awake in bed at night. I want to be a badass ass-kicking monster fighter, too.
 My heart flutters when I think about serious training starting soon – overloaded with just as much excitement as fear. Right now, I wouldn't stand a chance – I know that very well. I mean, I'm not an idiot; I know I didn't stand a chance against that vampire on the balcony, only weeks ago. And I also know I was practically peeing my pants out of fear.
 But I'm young. I can change, right? I can become stronger, tougher and more daring – I'm sure of it. At least; that's what I tell myself for confidence – that I'm sure of it.
 I hope it helps . . .
 After three weeks, though, there's something else that gives my confidence quiet a boost.
 One morning all the recruits are assembled in the library. It was in the hour we actually should have had physical training, so everyone stands confused and wondering what's going on.
 ''Why do we have to be here?'' I hear a girl's voice behind me ask.
 ''No one knows! So shut up and wait,'' Kate snaps after having heard that question for the hundredth time.
 I purse my lips together to keep myself from laughing, which takes quite an effort. Kate stands next to me, on my left, and when she turns her head forward again I catch a glance of her annoyed look. A giggle escapes from my tight lips. Kate's eyes flash to mine and her expression turns jokingly instantly.
 She's pursing her lips now, too; putting much effort in keeping herself from laughing.
 A door opens. My face relaxes, turning expecting and eager.
 A man with dark hair and warm eyes appears. And a woman walks behind him, her hair and eyes also dark. I've never seen them before, but I can guess immediately that they're immortals. They look too beautiful, to strange, and move to swift and gracefully for them to be human.
 They stop before us.
 My mind doesn't have much time to wander, because the man speaks up only a second later.
 ''Good morning, to you all. My name is Amos,'' he says, his voice and face genuinely kind and warm.
 He invokes a trust in me, so instantly and pure, I cannot doubt it. Which makes me want to doubt it – the cautioned person that I am. But I can't. Which makes me slightly paranoid. Though I can't really feel it. I really don't feel anything, beside calm. And even that, I cannot doubt.
 ''This is my wife Emily,'' he says as he gestures behind him, to the woman, even more beautiful than he. ''And we are the founders of this operation. We are the reason you are here,'' he explains.
 My heart swells with promise.
 ''Now, you all know that your serious training doesn't start until there are a hundred of you. But I'm happy to tell you more about it already and answer your questions if you have them.''
 Answers – did I just hear him say answers?!
 Oh please, let him be a man of his word! And let his words be true and forthcoming, please! I beg to whatever power it out there that decides over my fate.
 ''All of you,'' he starts, ''have been selected carefully before you were recruited. But all for different reasons. Some of you were chosen because of great courage and survival strength. And some because of cleverness; of their quick insight in how to handle a situation, or an original invention that help their survival. All of you for something different. But also – and that is what it's about, the one thing you've all got in common – because of your own way of surviving the wastelands.
 ''Yes, you have all battled the many dangerous in these lands, and lived. Some for a few years, some their whole lives. But all surviving.
 ''Now, we,'' he gestures around him, to the other immortals in the room, ''want to cooperate with you, in fighting the monsters out there – fighting them effectively. Together, combining all our different kind of strengths, I believe we can make a difference and turn this world in a safer place.''
 Well . . . he sure is ambitious! But I'm not sold: unrealistic optimism is not really my thing – so I find it hard to let myself get carried away by his enthusiastic speech. Don't get me wrong; it sounds good, really good. But is it possible? I'm not entirely sure. Or better said; entirely not. If it were this easy, wouldn't other people have done it already?
 It's only been a few seconds since the man – Amos – has stopped talking. He's let the words hang in the air for a while, giving us the time to mull them over. As I have done. And when his words have dawned on everyone, people start to clap. Just a few at first, but than others begin to join them. Before I know it, everyone – even me – is applauding for Amos's little speech.
 Yes, Amos's words seem genuine and heartfelt. I think he really wants to help. That that is why he's doing this. I really believe that when I listen to him, and when I look at him. But the second I don't, every experience I've had with other people's reasoning, speaks against it. Why wouldn't the immortals just get rid of the vampires on their own? They are, for a fact, stronger and faster. And very probably: much smarter. So why not do it themselves? Why involve humans?
 Before I'm conscious of what I'm doing, my hand is up in the air. The applause has died out, and Amos has just opened his mouth to speak again. But he detects my hand instantly.
 He smiles to me warmly, and indicates for me to proceed. So I do. As a hundred people stare at me with faces, mixed by expectation and a certain amount of surprise. I try my hardest best to block them all out.
 ''Why?'' I only say, my voice just loud enough to hear.
 Amos raises his eyebrows, his eyes confused. ''Excuse me?'' he says, urging me to clarify myself.  
 My cheeks burn. I'm sure everyone can see, but that, too, I try my best to block out. ''I'm sorry, I mean; why do this? Your operation sounds like a nice and well thought out plan, but why go through the trouble of cooperating with humans?''
 Amos smiles knowingly. ''Ah,'' he says, understanding. He takes a second before he answers; thinking through his words carefully. Then he speaks. ''You are right; it is extra trouble. But to me, our cooperation, seems enevitable, you see? It is your world after all. How else could we fight it's dangers, than with humans?''
 Our world – he's not making any sense at all! Yes, of course; once the world was ours. But that's almost half a century ago. And, with this whole species I never thought existed – the immortals – I'm starting to doubt the world was ever truly ours.
 ''What do you mean; 'our world'? There's only one.'' I flap out before I think, my voice joking.
 I grin at him, laughing at my own silly words. 'Multiple worlds' – what a joke!
 But Amos is not laughing. He's not even smiling any more. And that's all he's done since the second he entered the room. But now his jaw seems tense, and his lips are pursed in a straight line. He doesn't look frustrated, it's more like very serious dubiety. Like he's intensely concentrating on outlining a plan, on what to do next.
 Certainly not the reaction I was expecting.
 ''Is there, more than one world?'' Kate asks after a few long seconds of silence.
 Amos looks from me to Kate, and back again. His eyes hold my gaze like a vice, unbreakable and unstoppable. After a long moment of this, he turns his gaze back to the whole entire group again, and speaks.
 ''On this planet we all call earth, there are two worlds; that of the humans, and that of the immortals.'' Holy hell! I can't believe my ears! But I've got no time to stop and think, because Amos keeps on speaking. ''This immortal world is made up out four different lands. One of them – the empire Mitera – is where the immortals here, including me, are all from. But though Mitera is owned and ruled by immortals, that doesn't mean we're the only species there. We are, in fact, one of five. The other four species living on Mitera are; humans, vampires, witches, and another species I'm not ready to mention yet.
 ''Now, many will say that the immortals hold all the power in Mitera. That we are the strongest and most powerful of all the species. And it is true, that if one immortal would fight one witch – the immortal, almost undoubtedly, would win. But witches are at their most dangerous, in their circles. They can do, make and create whatever they want – whatever they can think of. And since they got worried about the overpopulation of the planet, by humans, they worked on a method to solve this problem. By creating this 'illness', that could be past on from human to human, and at the same time reduce their numbers. By creating the infectious vampires, they made sure humanity wouldn't be able to hurt the planet any longer.''
 He holds silent after that; giving us the time to take his overwhelming words in. To mull them over again. But I can't. I need more. I have to know more.
 ''You don't agree with them?'' I ask, my brutality growing wildly out of proportion – but I don't care.
 He smiles at my smart-mouth like a parent would at their rebellious little child. ''It's not so much a matter of agreeing or not – the problem was obvious; humanity was slowly destroying earth. It's a fact that can't be denied.
 ''But the way the witches choose to deal with this problem, their method, I find horrifying and not something humans deserve. I think there are always many ways to solve a problem, as with this one, especially now.''
 ''Now?'' Kate questions when he doesn't continue.
 ''Now human population has been reduced so considerably already that, surely, they won't be able to do any damage to earth in the next five hundred years or so.'' He smiles as if a joke was told. ''So I think, that especially now, the vampires should be fought till extinction.'' A wicked grin appears around his lips as he says that last sentence. And I can see his eyes burn with a passionate fire that tells me there is a lot more to his story – to his reasons for fighting the vampires. Something tells me has been waiting a long time to start this fight, for some kind of personal reason . . .
 Will that help our cause? Or only damage it?
 And will that still be in our – the recruits – best interest?
 I guess we will have to wait and see.