Soldier of Time

XXV - One More Month (2)

Everyone was silent for a second, and Simon asked while looking at Slevin curiously, “Are you saying that the robot we destroyed is a machine made in Jericho?”

“Well, it wasn’t made here...”

Karen was looking directly at the Deer, and he looked back at her when she said, “If we can prove that this robot is from Jericho, it could give us an idea of where Hanibal got the information from the chancellor, and we could give that information to the government of Jericho to lessen the damage.”

“Exactly. Do you have any contact that can help you with that?” Slevin questioned with a raised brow.

“Actually, yes,” Karen answered with more encouragement this time. She took out her phone, looked for a number, and began to call.

Simon walked over to Slevin and said with concern, “I know Johan can track Hanibal, but you know he won’t get involved with him. You know he won’t.”

Slevin released a sigh, “I know. That’s why I didn’t call him before.”

“What changed?” Simon questioned with concern.

“Now that war is an almost imminent possibility.”

“Still, I doubt that he will accept.”

“I know, but ask him just to track him. He will not face him, he gives us the location, and we will take care of the rest, that’s all.”

“I’ll try….”

Karen had finished talking on the phone, and now she was approaching the young people. They looked at her with interest, and she, with a confused expression, said, “The remains of the robot. They disappeared.”

Simon cursed under his breath as he hit the table. Karen watched the Deer with interest waiting for him to add something. The Deer had lost his gaze on the ground, and a message reached his cell phone.

He checked it and said as he read the text, “This is very strange. Listen, we have to focus on the things we know. For now, Simon, you must find Johan bring him here to track down Hanibal. He insists if he says no. Karen, try to find out what you can on what happened to the robot’s traces.”

I will talk to Nasuma, and perhaps the visionary has information about the people who collaborate with Hanibal. The one who nullifies powers and the one who attacked you, Simon. We will meet here in the evening to calmly plan the next move,” Slevin continued while looking at them sternly.

Karen watched the Deer curiously, and he got up to leave the kitchen, but before he could leave, Simon asked curiously, “Will you involve Nasuma?”

The Deer turned and looked at Simon with a half-smile and said, “That’s right, and I’ll see if I can get help. Also, he would like to know that there are new players in this.”

After that, the Deer got ready and began his trip to El Morro. A military vehicle took him to the train station where he bought his ticket to board the train, and he had a strange feeling that someone was following him, but no matter how much he used his ability to see every place, he couldn’t see anyone behind him.

The trip was filled with thoughts referring to the strange way he was acting, how things had led to a strange event and how he would explain to Amber that he would spend much more time away from her chasing danger. The train traveled all the way normally, and when the Deer arrived at El Morro, he felt the sea air hitting his face.

People continued their course with total normality. People were ignorant of the crisis that was coming to the country, and everyone was calmly immersed in their daily lives without thinking about the terrors that could be unleashed on them if the Deer did not act.

Walking through El Morro always left him that sense of nostalgia when years ago, even before the civil war, he had a normal life in that place, long before El Morro became the market for renegades, it was a prosperous city where families lived happily, like his.

The young man walked through the dilapidated streets that were once full of life, and he remembered that time when nothing mattered more than fun. He remembered his father explaining to him why an armed conflict was necessary and why he had to leave him and his mother alone to go fight.

He remembered how that fight came to him later. He remembered the pain and the corpses surrounding him. He remembered what they called him “Child Soldier” lost in his memory coming to the building.

He looked to the side as, in the distance, the waves crashed against the rocks. He felt a strong feeling of nostalgia and began to climb, thinking about how things were transformed from one day to the other.

Upon reaching the top, he entered the apartment and found Amber watering the plants in the sunbath in the center of her apartment.

The girl saw him and smiled as she walked quickly towards her room. The Deer entered the room and looked at the living plants like never before, and he felt a lot of relief.

When he saw that, he commented brightly, “They look great!”

The girl said something that he couldn’t hear from inside the room, and she appeared in the doorway with a chair that she dropped instantly with a terrified expression.

Slevin saw her face and could see how a strong wave of fear enveloped her. She raised her arm and pointing a finger towards the door. The Deer took a second to understand what was happening and turned on his heel to see a young woman holding onto the doorframe to avoid collapsing on the floor.

The Deer recognized the young woman instantly. It was Karen who, while she lost her consciousness, tried to hold on to the door. Behind him, he heard Amber’s delicate voice saying in a strangled cry.

“Get her out…!”

Slevin wasted no time and quickly took Karen in his arms to start going down the stairs at all the speed his legs allowed. He ran while he spoke to the young woman to keep her awake. He left through the front door of that building, where a strong blow of fresh air made Karen’s eyes widen.

He placed her on the ground and looked at her. The girl was going into shock and could not breathe, she made efforts to try to take the air, but everything seemed to get worse. The young woman lost her consciousness which led the Deer to have to revive her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The Deer did everything in his power to resurrect her when in a strangled sound, Karen received a strong breath of air and woke up coughing loudly.

Both of them stayed where they were for a few seconds. All that could be heard was the breaking of the waves. Karen looked at Slevin and tried to speak but could not, her eyes closed, and her head settled on the legs of the mercenary. The young woman lost consciousness, but her breathing was now much more stable.

After several minutes the young woman woke up. When her eyes opened, the first thing they glimpsed was Slevin’s face, who was looking at the ocean. The girl got up with difficulty and looked directly at Slevin, who was looking at her with interest.

“Are you okay?” The young man asked as the girl made an effort to sit up.

She nodded as she took deep breaths. He looked at the girl curiously and asked curiously, “What was that?”

The Deer looked at the ocean again, and with a half-smile, he said, “That was Amber...”

Karen looked at him curiously and continued as if muttering more to herself, “She’s… She is a person like us, but her abilities are much more complicated than ours….”

“What happened to me? Did she do it?” She asked while looking at him.

The Deer smiled again and said, “Yes, but she didn’t do it on purpose, obviously. She can’t control her power.”

Karen tried to assimilate what he was saying, but the Deer got up and then continued to speak, “It is a very long story, and now I am more interested in knowing what you are doing here.”

“I wanted to see where you were going….” Karen said with unmasked embarrassment.

“For what?”

The girl looked down with a little embarrassment and said, “I thought maybe...”

“That maybe I was with Hanibal. That’s very stupid Karen, your trust issues are terrible.”

“I didn’t think Hanibal. But you are a mercenary...”

The young woman left that word in the air as if it explained everything by itself, she looked at the Deer, and he turned his back on her as he walked towards the building, then he told her.

“Wait here, and I’ll come in a moment.”

Karen, who was still dizzy, nodded calmly and then said, “Sorry….”

Slevin arrived again at Amber’s apartment. The girl was sitting, and the plants that minutes ago were shiny had a terrible look and seemed much less alive than at first. Some of them were even beginning to wither.

The Deer, when seeing this snorted, next to the door, there was a chair in which the young man sat and said, “Amber. Let me see you, please.”

The girl who was hiding behind the door frame showed half of her back, and without looking at the Deer, asked, “Who was she?”

“A girl I work with,” he replied before releasing a sigh.

“Is she okay?” She asked softly.

Slevin nodded, “Yes, she already woke up...”

“Why did you bring her?”

“I did not bring her, Amber,” Slevin said before he stood up and started advancing a little towards her. “She followed me.”

The girl hid in her room again and said, “As if someone could follow the Deer...”

“Of course they can,” said the Deer passing his hand through his hair, “Especially if they turn invisible.”

Amber gasped before she said with unmasked bewilderment, “She is….”

“Yes, like us. She is the girl I was telling you about. She followed me here because she doesn’t trust me...”

“I see,” The young woman’s voice sounded muffled as if she did not want to answer.

Slevin insisted. “Amber, please, I need to talk to you. Can you come out for a second?”

The girl stood in the doorway watching the Deer with teary eyes. He gave her a smile and said, “This is not your fault, she got into this, and nothing happened. Now she is fine. It was just an accident.”

The girl sat on the chair that she had previously left on the threshold of her room and placed her hands on her face. The Deer wanted to get closer, but he knew what would happen if she did, and he stopped.

Instead he told her, “I must hunt down and stop Hanibal, or there will be war.”

The girl who was crying looked up and said in a cracked voice, “Everything went wrong?”

“Terrible, I came to tell you that I will be away for a while longer.”

The girl looked at Slevin and said, “What difference does it make that you are here anyways, Deer...?”

Slevin looked at the ground in frustration and said, “Deer? Will we go back to that?”

But the girl didn’t answer. Slevin stood up and said as he started to leave the room, “I will come later. I promise…”

And he began to walk. His heart was beating strongly, and with loads of anger and sadness, he wanted to yell at her and tell her that she was ungrateful, but he knew that that would only make everything worse. The boy started walking and put his hand on the door frame when he was about to leave and heard Amber say.

“Slevin... I don’t know why you’re still here...”

The Deer stopped to look at her, and she continued, “I don’t know why you keep coming back. I really don’t know why you do everything you do for me. Actually, I still have no idea why you saved me that day. But I swear I see it. And I love you for that...”

Slevin looked at her directly, but when he was about to answer, the girl got up and said, “And I will love you, even if you stop coming.”

And with those words, she disappeared into the darkness of her room.

The Deer stood for a few seconds on the threshold of the door, and before leaving, he said, “I’ll be back, I promise.”