Myrikal Read online

  Branch met her out front, his hands held behind his back, just as she exited the alley. “Not bad,” he said. “What’d you do with that red thing you always wear?”

  She lifted the hoodie up to show him the suit underneath. “I didn’t want to carry it around all day.” Myri smiled. “Thanks Branch. I feel more normal now.”

  “You’re welcome. Consider it your first birthday present.” He brought his hands around to the front. “And this is your second.” He held out several small, red fruits of some sort.

  When she reached for it, he said, “They’re kinda soft, so don’t squish ‘em.”

  “What is it?” she asked as she held the fruit in her palm.

  “Strawberries.” He cocked his head to the side. “Haven’t you ever seen a strawberry before?”

  Shaking her head, she poked at the fruit with her finger. “My dad isn’t much for taking the time to find fresh food. We almost exclusively eat freeze dried goods that are over twenty years old.”

  “That’s just sad.” He shrugged. “That’s all we used to eat, too. That’s why the leaders decided to try growing some stuff. Not everything we try grows well, though. Not enough sunshine.”

  “They’re kind of pretty.”

  “They’re delicious. Try one. Just don’t eat the green part.”

  Holding one of the strawberries by the leaves of the stem, Myrikal bit into the red part. It was sweet and tangy and delicious. She hurriedly ate the rest of it, biting as close to the stem as she could without getting the leaves in her mouth. “Branch! These are awesome!”

  “I know, right?”

  She held her hand out to him, the three remaining berries resting on her palm. “You should have one.”

  “Nope. I get to eat them whenever I want this time of year because they’re in my garden. Plus, it’s your birthday present. You eat them.” He grinned.

  This time she pulled the stem out and popped the whole strawberry in her mouth. “Thank you so much! This is the best birthday month ever!” She grabbed him in a fierce hug.

  “Squishing me…” Branch panted.

  She released him, face turning a shade of pink. “Sorry.”

  Branch shrugged. “You can hug me anytime. Just try not to kill me when you do.”

  She ate the last strawberry and licked the juice off her fingers. “What do you want to do now?”

  With an excited gleam in his eyes, Branch answered, “Let’s go fishing!”

  Myri raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you need, like, special stuff to do that? Like a fishing pole?”

  He patted his pocket. “I have everything we need right here.”

  As they walked, she asked, “When’s your birthday?”

  “Oh, I turned fourteen in July. I saved some of the small birthday cake one of the mom’s made me for you. But you didn’t come see me that week, so I ended up eating it.”

  “You had cake? Like, real cake?”

  “Yeah. Who knew wheat grows well in the shade? We just got our first harvest this year.”

  “Awesome.” Myri looked down at her new clothes. “Why did you decide to get me some clothes?”

  “Well, I was looking through the comic books again and noticed that most of the superheroes have disguises. They don’t want people to know who they are when they aren’t doing superhero stuff. They especially don’t want their enemies to know who they are.” He looked at her. “Your red stretchy jumpsuit kind of stands out.”

  “But I don’t have any enemies. At least that I know of. And they can’t kill me anyway. And forget the jumpsuit—my hair stands out. Not many people have a streak of silver in their hair.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think about that. I might have to get you a hat or something. You will have enemies when people see what you can do. Maybe they can’t kill you, but they’ll keep trying to. Plus, you don’t want people bugging you all the time, asking for your autograph and stuff.” He ducked his head. “Plus that red suit is hideous. Which reminds me, I got you one more thing.” He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out some sleek, black goggles that looked more like sunglasses and less like the swimmer’s goggles her dad had given her.

  She took them from him and turned them over in her hand, inspecting them. “These are great, Branch. Really great.”

  “Try them on. I found them in one of those abandoned stores you’re always telling me to stay out of.”

  She stopped walking and closed her eyes as she pulled her old goggles off and replaced them with the sleek new ones. She adjusted the straps to fit them snugly to her head. The soft cushion around her eyes blocked all light and felt as soft as a kitten’s fur against her face. “These are the best, Branch. Thank you so much.” She left the old goggles hanging around her neck, tucked under her hoodie.

  “Hey, it’s the least I can do seeing as how you saved my life, like, three times.” He turned and walked backwards while facing her. “Speaking of that, I think the clothes, goggles, and strawberries earns me a point. What do you say?”

  Myri smiled. “Yeah. At least a point, maybe two.”

  “No, I don’t want to be greedy. I’ll take one point for saving you from a fashion disaster. That makes the score: Myri-3 and Branch-1.”

  They sat on the edge of a bridge, their legs under the bottom railing, and dangled their feet a few inches above the water. Branch pulled a length of fishing line with a homemade hook on the end out of his pocket. He found a thick stick and wrapped the line around it. “See? No need for a fishing pole.” He skewered a wriggling worm onto the hook and dropped it straight down into the water before handing the stick and remaining line to Myri.

  “Do you have another one?” she asked.

  “No, but we can take turns. If you feel a fish bite, jerk the line up then start wrapping it around the stick to pull it in.”

  “Have you done this before?” She stared down into the water, remembering her encounter with the river creature.

  “A couple of times.”

  “Have you ever caught a fish?”

  He perked up. “Yeah! I’ve caught a bunch. Well, three or four.”

  “What did you do with them?” Myri asked.

  “I took them back to the compound and one of the cooks roasted them. They were delicious.”

  “I’ve never eaten real fish before.” Myri bounced the line up and down in the water.

  “Oh!” The line tugged in her hands. “I think I got a bite!” She jerked the line up like Branch had instructed.

  “Good job!” He leaned over the bottom rail of the bridge, eyes on the river. “I see him! Keep reeling him in, I’ll grab him when he gets close enough.”

  “How do you know it’s a ‘him’?”

  “I don’t.” Branch leaned his head and chest between the last two bars of the railing and reached toward the fishing line as the fish broke the surface. “Be gentle with the last couple of wraps, you don’t want to bounce him off the hook.”

  “Okay.” Myri concentrated on her task.

  The fish dangled in the air, its tail fin smacking against the water. Branch leaned as far as he could between the two rails and reached for it. He grabbed the line an inch from its gasping mouth and pulled it up high enough that he could stick his finger in its mouth and out through the gills.

  “Got it!” He turned his smiling face to Myri. “Good…” Whatever he’d been going to say was cut off with a surprised grunt.

  A river creature, similar to the one Myri faced when retrieving the safe in the Hudson, leapt from the water. Its mouth snapped shut around the dangling fish and Branch’s hand. Myri dropped the fishing line and grabbed Branch’s arm and pulled, trying to free it from the monster’s mouth.

  “Ow! Ow! Its gonna’ rip my arm off!” he yelled.

  Myri didn’t know what to do. The creature jerked violently on the end of Branch’s arm, pulling him through the railing to where his body widened in the middle and he became stuck. Branch screamed. Myri panicked. She let go of his arm and climbed the bridge
’s railing, intending to jump in the river and pry the thing’s teeth out of her friend’s arm. She stopped half-way over, legs straddling the railing. She’d never be able to reach its mouth without climbing up it. The added weight might really rip Branch’s arm off.

  The screams of pain and fear coming from her friend’s throat bounced around in her skull like a boulder. She pressed her hands against her head and let out a primal scream of her own. Her chest tingled. Then burned. The tingling, burning extended to her shoulders. Her arms. Her hands. Her fingertips. She held her hands out in front of her and her eyes widened. Her fingers crackled with energy. Little yellow sparks flew from her fingertips.

  Branch took panting breaths between screams. Myri emitted a growl that turned into a roar of rage. She flung her hands toward the creature with an instinct she didn’t know existed and released the energy from her body. Bolts of electricity blasted from her fingers into the river creature. Bits of charred monster guts and other various pieces soared through the air, landing as far as a half mile away.

  The thing’s head still clung to Branch’s arm, his hand stuck out the severed neck hole. Myri jumped back down onto the bridge and grabbed him around the waist. She pulled him back through the railing then pried the thing’s jaws off him and dropped the head into the water.

  Blood poured from the puncture wounds in his arm just above his wrist.

  “We need to clean this out and wrap it in something.” Myri tore a sleeve off her new hoodie and dipped the end in the water. “This water is gross, but it’ll have to do for now. We’ll wash it better when we get to some clean water.” She scrubbed the wounds, holding tight to his hand as he tried to pull away.

  “That hurts!” Branch winced.

  “I’m sorry. But it has to be cleaned. Who knows what kind of germs that thing had on its teeth?” She finished and wrapped the hoodie sleeve around his arm and tied it. “We should get back so you can wash it better.”

  “Myrikal.” He stared at her. “Aren’t you going to say anything about what just happened? About what you just did?”

  “I… I don’t know what happened. I’ve never done that before.” She examined her fingers.

  “Well, that explains why you didn’t tell me you could.” He cradled his injured arm against his body. “C… can you do it again?”

  “I don’t know.” She shoved her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie. “I don’t want to right now. It kind of scared me a little.”

  Branch nodded. “Okay. But you have to try again later. You have to. That’s one more super power to add to the list.”

  She gazed down the length of the bridge. “Let’s go. You need to take care of that bite.”

  He walked alongside her in silence for a minute. When they reached the torn up road, he stopped and put his uninjured hand on his hip. “Dang it.”

  “What?” Myri asked.

  “I just realized you got another point. That makes the score 4 to 1. I’m never gonna’ catch up at this rate.” He hung his head in mock defeat.

  Myri couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that monster with its teeth clamped around Branch’s arm. She hoped he’d done as she’d said and cleaned it better when he got home.

  After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, Myri got up and went to the train car that served as their living area and kitchen, between her and her dad’s sleeping cars. She found the as yet unpacked duffle bag where they kept their bug-out kits in case they had to leave in a hurry. Her dad snored one car over. Myri unzipped the bag and rummaged around in it until she found the first aid kit. She grabbed a package of gauze wrap, some tape, a couple of clean cloths, and a bottle of filtered water mixed with alcohol. She started to put the kit away, then thought about the dirty river water again. She pulled out the bottle of penicillin and counted out fourteen pills before putting the rest back.

  She took everything back to her room and placed it in a backpack. She wrote a note for her dad, knowing he’d be awake before she got back.

  Russ, Going for a walk. Be back soon. M.

  She left the note in the shared car where he’d be sure to see it, knowing he’d still be furious that she left without permission. It didn’t matter. She had a powerful feeling that Branch needed her, and nothing would stop her from going to him.

  The new goggles hung around her neck. The sun hadn’t risen yet and the streets crawled with night people. Myri rarely came out this time of day and never before by herself. The night people always did their nefarious business in the darkness, which was kind of weird, since there were no organized law enforcers… or laws. Some of the clans had tried to start patrols with volunteers. They typically didn’t last long. Not many people were interested in risking their lives for others. And everybody stole from everybody, so no one wanted to enforce that. The old idea of “an eye for an eye” ruled the streets. Myri guessed that was why her dad did so well in the assassination business. Some people didn’t want to get their hands dirty.

  Myri ran through the streets. She didn’t want to be distracted by anyone who would think her an easy target. She didn’t have time to show them how wrong they were.

  She reached the barricaded entry to Branch’s clan’s compound, an old high school, unsure exactly how to proceed. She’d never approached the entrance. Branch had always been out front, waiting for her when she’d come during the day. He had no reason to think she’d be coming at this hour. Maybe she should just wait until daylight, then knock or something.

  The sun peeked over the buildings on the east. Myri put her goggles on and tightened the strap around her head. She knew Branch would be up soon, working in his assigned garden. He preferred to work early in the day, when it was cooler and so he’d be done early enough to go do his own thing in the afternoon. She couldn’t wait that long, though. She took a deep breath and stepped up to the doors, raising her hand to knock. She cocked her head to the side, listening. Faint even to her ears, she could hear someone yell for help… and it sounded like Branch. She listened for another couple of seconds. Other voices, threatening voices, were followed by sounds of a struggle.

  Myri ran around to the side of the building, following the sounds. The top of a ladder stuck up a few inches above the inside of the tall wall. She glanced down at the ground where the ladder had been placed on this side and left marks in the dirt and gravel. They must have climbed up it on this side then pulled it over to climb down into the compound.

  She adjusted the backpack so the straps hung over both shoulders instead of just one. She crouched then sprang up, grasping the edge of the twelve-foot wall. She pulled herself up then jumped to the ground on the other side, eyes scanning her surroundings before she even landed.

  “Hey!” she yelled. A group of five, dressed all in black, including ski masks, spread out in one of the gardens. Two of them had Branch down on the ground, hitting and kicking him as he struggled to defend himself. “Hey! Get off of him!”

  Myri covered the twenty yards between her and her friend in less than three seconds. She grabbed the first black-clad thug by the shirt and flung him ten yards behind her into one of his buddies that was digging something up from the garden. Myri turned and lifted the second attacker a couple of feet off the ground before body slamming her into the hard packed earth.

  “Branch! Are you okay?” She knelt beside him and touched his shoulder.

  Slowly, he uncurled from the fetal position. Blood dripped from his nose and one eye had already started to swell. “Myri? What…”

  A flick of his eyes notified her that someone was coming up behind her. She jumped up to a crouching position and pivoted, sticking one foot out to sweep the legs out from under her would-be attacker.

  Surprise registered on the large man’s face as his feet flew into the air and he landed on his back with a whoosh of breath.

  Myri stood and faced the aggressors, shielding Branch with her body. “You might want to gather your injured friends and get out of here while you
can.” Her voice shook, not from fear but from anger.

  The teen boy nearest her looked at his three fallen comrades then narrowed his eyes at her. “How did you do that?”

  “I’m stronger than I look.” She stepped toward him.

  “Yeah, well, I’m not scared of no little girl.” He charged.

  Myri met him with a flying double kick to the face. He dropped like a dead bug, out cold.

  “What are you?” the big man on the ground said, still trying to catch his breath.

  “I’m Myrikal.”

  A group of people burst out the back door of the compound, armed with everything from baseball bats to rakes and shovels. One woman even had a sawed-off shot gun.

  “What’s going on out here? Branch? You okay?” the woman in the lead asked.

  Branch groaned as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, cradling his already hurt arm across his chest. “I will be. These guys in black attacked me and were trying to steal food. They trampled my garden.”

  “What about her?” She pointed her bat toward Myrikal.

  “She’s my friend. She saved me.”

  “You expect us to believe that scrawny girl did this to them?” another man asked, gesturing to the downed thugs.

  Branch winced as he shrugged a shoulder. “Believe what you want. It’s true.”

  The group of compound leaders encircled the intruders.

  “Did she really do this to y’all?” an older man with a southern accent asked the large man Myri had leg-swept.

  The man growled and narrowed his eyes at Myri. “Yeah. She did. She’s a freak.”

  “Now that you guys have the thieves under control, is it okay if I check on Branch? Bandage his wounds and stuff?” Myri asked quietly.

  “Uhh… yeah, sure, I guess.” The lady with the bat looked around at her armed companions. No one seemed to have a problem with her decision.