The Imperial Warrior

Chapter 9- Idle Town

"Kyle!"

"Kyle, wake up! It's just a dream."

Kyle could feel a hand on his shoulder, shaking him violently. He opened his eyes and immediately winced. It was too bright to be his room. It took him a minute to take in his surroundings as he remembered where he was. He had fallen asleep in the backseat of Derek's car.

Once he realized that, he also realized that someone wasn't shaking him, but instead he was the one trembling and the hand was keeping him steady. A girl's hand. Khia.

He blinked to clear his eyes and saw her looking at him.

"What happened?"

Her hand was still placed on his shoulder, but its grip had loosened significantly. Her hand was cold. Cold enough that it had drained whatever sleep was left within him completely. He didn't know why he was shaking though. It was the strangest of feelings. Having his conscious mind so detached from his body. He did feel panic, he just didn't know why.

"You must have had a nightmare." She was telling him and Kyle felt his defenses build up. He didn't want her to sympathize with the poor new Imperial who didn't even remember his own nightmares. Yet when he looked at her, there was no pity in her eyes. Instead, there was understanding.

At that moment, Kyle understood what people meant when they talked about having a sense of belonging. All his life, he had felt at odds with himself, always struggling to find his peace with where he was. He loved his friends, more than anything, and he was so grateful for whatever time he had with his father but it never made him feel whole, not whole like he felt when Khia was telling him that he had a nightmare which he didn't even remember, sleeping in the backseat of a boy whom he had just met. He couldn't stop marveling at life's weirdness.

He knew that his first thought after being shaken awake from a nightmare shouldn't have been about the peculiarities of his life so he asked her, "Why don't I remember anything?"

Derek answered this time, "That happens in the beginning. It'll become worse before it gets better."

Kyle had almost forgotten that Derek was still there; he had an eerie ability to go unnoticed until he wanted to be seen. At the same time, Kyle's stomach growled loud enough that Khia chuckled. Her laugh was soft, warm even, and perhaps the only time there wasn't a bitter tinge to her words.

"Derek, pull over when Jeremy's comes."

Kyle gave her an awkward smile and resumed staring out the window. He knew asking questions was futile so he just had to wait. Unfortunately, patience wasn't his best suit. He figured he could at least try asking the harmless questions.

"How long have we been on the road?"

"Six hours, give or take."

He must have fallen asleep as soon as they had left town because he didn't remember seeing anything on their way. That also meant that he probably wouldn't be able to find his way back home if he needed to. No. He couldn't go back home. Not now, not ever. He gulped. He wished he would have said goodbye. No matter how much he had hated that town, he owed it a goodbye, and possibly, it owed him one too.

"Is the hunger a part of... whatever is happening to me?" He had genuinely been waiting to ask that question. He was constantly hungry nowadays and that just added to his headache.

Khia was still smiling, but her smile never seemed to reach her eyes, "Yea, yea, the hunger, the headaches, the night terrors, the day terrors... blah blah blah- it's a whole racket."

Kyle couldn't match the nonchalance in her voice and was going to press her for more details when Derek interrupted, his voice sharp, "You can at least say it."

"Say what?"

"'Whatever is happening to me' You need to stop acting so disgusted over it, Jones." Kyle didn't know if he was imagining it but he could have sworn that Derek sneered over his last name.

"Fine. By Imperialism."

"There you go. And do me a favor, stop lying to us and yourself by acting like you didn't want this to happen."

Kyle had had enough of Derek by then so he let go of his temper too. He had been nothing but patient with Derek and all he had gotten were snarky comments in return.

"I didn't b****y want this to happen, Aukland." He yelled at Derek.

"You love the power, Kyle, there is no shame in admitting that." Khia again had that bitterness in her voice. Kyle was going to yell at her too but he saw himself in the rear-view mirror of the car. There was a black vein bulging on his forehead.

"Derek, we have a problem." Khia said at the same time and Derek grasped what was happening. Kyle could feel that slip happening again, losing himself to his instincts, so he tried to control his breathing. He was heaving for air already so he took a deep breath and held it until he fidgeted through his pocket and found the pen. He removed the cap and thrust it hard into his arm as he let go of his breath.

"What the hell!" Derek swerved the car to the side of the road and pulled it to a stop. It was sudden enough that Kyle banged his head against the seat in front of his but by then he had regained control. He checked in the mirror just to be sure and saw that the vein had faded to a dull grey.

"I-I—" He was stammering but at least now he was in control of himself. The familiar burn in his chest that he used to get due to his asthma had come back and he let out a breath of relief. It was a theory he had been waiting to test out.

All this aside, his hand was burning like hell. He had managed to get the pen deep enough that blood was rushing out of it. He thought about pulling the pen out but he knew enough about wounds to never pull out an object without medical supervision.

"Don't even think about pulling that s**t out now." Derek told him. He just nodded. Khia was looking at him with a bewildered expression.

"The pain," he told her, "It keeps me human."

"It'll also keep you dead, if you continue on these lines." Derek seemed much calmer now. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he was almost worried about him a minute ago.

The sight of his hand made him quite queasy. Derek and Khia seemed to be arguing amongst themselves about something but he couldn't make out their words over the ringing in his ears.

"Hey guys!" That seemed to get their attention. Khia's eyes were still wide as she turned towards him but it didn't seem like she was worried.

"Right. Well, we are at Jeremy's anyway so, Khia, why don't you take him in through the back while I order myself some pancakes."

Kyle didn't know what to find more incredulous. The fact that they were taking him to a creepy old diner when he had an open injury or that Derek was actually thinking about eating b****y pancakes then. "What? Shove your judgment, Kyle. I drove 6 hours to get here."

Before he could explain to Derek how it was not alright to leave Kyle at the hands of a stranger when he was bleeding, Khia took his other hand and pulled him to the diner's backside. She seemed to know her way around the place because she took him through an alley down from beside the diner. Garbage were cans lined up and bright red graffiti was scrawled all over the walls. A part of him wanted to stop and read what was etched with such fervor but the rest of him was tempted to pull that pen out then and there itself. So, he urged himself to continue following her. It was narrow enough that he had to walk behind her.

Khia walked with a touch of grace. She was confident enough in her strides but not so much that it would seem arrogant. Even with her pixie short hair, black leather jacket and mud boots- there was something elegant and almost ethereal about her Kyle couldn't help but notice it even in his present state.

Khia opened a black metal door and Kyle found himself in a lounge room of sorts. He didn't know what he expected but it definitely wasn't a room with leather couches and a neon sign reading only two letters: IB. At the corner of the room, there was a countertop latched to a wall and two bar stools in front of it. Khia asked him to take a seat there.

She took out a big plastic box from a cabinet and started removing the supplies she needed from it.

"Wait, you are going to remove this?" Kyle didn't want to sound so suspicious but he just couldn't trust her to do the job either.

"Don't worry, darling, it won't be my first time cleaning up on self-mutilating teenage boys." She said grimly.

"You know what, Khia, I have grown rather fond of this pen now. In fact, look, my hand and he have become buddies. I'd leave it in there, okay." He knew he sounded ridiculous but Khia wasn't being entirely forthcoming about her medical career either; if there even was any.

She didn't seem to be listening to him. Once, she was satisfied with the things she had lined up in front of her, she gestured to him to straighten his hand. Kyle looked at her and saw that she didn't seem even slightly fazed by the idea so he stopped codling it and extended it to her.

Sunlight poured through the window making his wound all too clear to him. He was never the one for blood, so he turned his head in the other direction and decided to let her do what she could. As he darted his eyes over the room, he realized that somebody lived there. Clear signs of inhabitation stood out. The bed was made but a book was kept upturned on it. He thought how Anya would have chided anyone who kept a book that way and then proceeded to give them a good number of bookmarks. The thought seemed right on time as Khia must have pulled out the pen at that very moment. He didn't want to seem scared in front of Khia so he tightly closed his eyes and pursed his lips to suppress his yell and only opened them once the pain resided.

"All done."

Kyle hated to admit it but Khia clearly knew what she was doing. A neat bandage was wrapped around his hand and the pen was discarded in a dustbin. She was throwing the rest of the things and she told him to look out for signs of infection. He didn't want to seem stupid by asking her what they were so he decided to google that for himself later.

He was about to thank her when Derek walked in with two plates in his hand. He set them down on the coffee table and gestured them to come over. As Kyle was walking, he realized the room was even bigger than he'd first noticed. There was a kitchen-c*m-lounge area where Derek was now sitting and a bedroom and work area on the other side. Abstract posters hung below the neon sign which was switched off. Kyle once again wondered what the letters IB stood for.

"You didn't bring any for me, did you?" Khia asked as she was washing her hands. Derek smiled an unusual grin and chuckled.

"Asshole," Khia mumbled as she walked out of the room. Kyle was checking the mobility of his hand as he went to the kitchen counter and looked for glasses. Through one of the glass cabinets, he could see a small photo frame. He moved closer and saw that it was a picture of Khia and Derek. Derek was smiling freely and had one hand slung around her shoulder and Khia's face, for once, didn't look so haunted.

He quickly took out the glasses and sat in the chair in front of Derek.

"Kyle, will you tell me why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Derek pointed towards his hand. "In the school, that first time..." said Kyle rubbing the back of his neck, "I was getting one of those 'urges' when you guys had pulled me into the locker room."

Derek nodded, remembering the day Kyle was referring to.

"That day, I didn't know what was happening to me. I just had this urge to hurt you. To hurt everyone who got in my way. That day, I could only stop when you hit me back." Derek didn't say anything so he continued, "Since then, I had been thinking about a way to keep Anya- to keep everyone safe from me. So, I had a theory that pain was what had snapped me out of that urge. And today, I verified it." He shrugged.

Derek was about to tell him something when Khia walked in. She deposited her food on the table and looked at Kyle with that same weird expression. As if she was trying to figure out all his secrets. Not that he had any from them. Derek took that as his cue and began talking,

"So, Kyle, remember what I told you at the cemetery?"

He was about to respond when Khia interrupted, "The what again?"

"Don't ask," Derek told her.

"Yeah, the whole we are cursed and my 25 chromosome-d body is going to destroy everyone I love montage. Yes, I remember." He thought Derek would yell at him again for being so loose with his words but Derek didn't seem to mind. He seemed more grounded today and Kyle wondered if Khia was the reason behind this new change in behavior. He definitely didn't mind it. If anyone needed to let lose a little bit, it was Derek. That guy walked with a constant chip on his shoulder.

"So, like I told you. We trigger very young. In a way, you can say that the moment our brain reaches its full functioning, we trigger. Sort of like the moment we become angry at an age we are old enough to understand why."

Kyle didn't know what to respond to that, "Are you calling me dumb right now, Derek?"

He thought that would earn at least a chuckle from Khia but even her expression remained somber.

"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't have lasted so long. I triggered when I was seven, Kyle. Seven. You triggered ten years later than that. I can't even begin to make you understand the repercussions of that because honestly, we haven't had one trigger so late since- well, ever."

He still didn't understand why that was such a big deal. So, he triggered a few years late. What difference did that make? As if reading his mind, Khia spoke up, "That's why we needed to get you out of town as soon as possible. Everyone at the compound is waiting for you."

"The compound?"

"It's a safe zone, for Imperials. Especially, Imperials who can't control themselves. Most of us live there and only those who have truly learned to suppress their urges go to live out among the humans."

"But what about you guys? You, Liam, Drake, Drew- all of you come to school. And don't tell me Liam has mastered controlling himself. That guy is a hot-head if there ever was any."

Derek exchanged a glance with Khia and she just nodded her head. It seemed to be his lucky day as he was getting answers to all his questions.

"We had come for you." Khia had begun to dig into her food and Kyle's hand urged towards his own plate but he had to let Derek tell him everything first. Food deserved all his attention, so it could wait some more.

"We knew the Jones offspring was out there somewhere. Once, we found out your father's location, we were sent there to keep an eye out for you. We didn't know if you were an Imperial for sure until I saw the vein on your hand that day at school but we figured your father must have taught you control somehow."

"That's why you thought I already knew everything about Imperials?"

Derek nodded, "Yes, and to be completely honest Kyle, I still don't buy it. After everything that went down with your parents, he still didn't tell you a word about us?"

"If I knew anything, wouldn't I be more prepared, Derek? You think I would put Anya in danger like that if I had any clue about all of this?" Derek seemed to believe him after that.

"Alright." That seemed to be the end of that argument at least for then but Kyle wasn't done.

"So, you keep an eye out for all Imperials?"

Khia answered this time, "We look out for our own, Kyle."

"You are one of the lucky ones. Due to our condition, most of us are born into poverty. Families don't last long anymore; so, the compound is all we have."

With every answer he got from them; more questions popped up in his mind. What did they mean by everything with his parents? Until then, all he had heard from everyone was about his father. Even now, Derek didn't say anything about his mother but the words parents usually implied both of them. Unless of course, they knew his mother was dead and so, it applied to the only one left alive.

"Yesterday, how did you control yourself after everything you said to Anya?" Shame immediately engulfed him but he tried to not think about the memory of her face but what happened after.

"I just knew I had to get away from her. So, I ran."

"Yes, but ever since we found out about you, Liam came prepared to school every day."

He tried to remember everything that had happened but the details were still murky. The only part that stood out was Olivia. He wondered what she would make of this whole situation. If anyone could handle something not-so-ordinary in their life, it would be Oli. She always had a supernatural air about her. Not that he was supernatural. From everything he had heard, he should be called unnatural.

"By prepared, you mean that weird cult-y circle you had made around me? I just figured you wanted to contain the fight that I would let loose."

Derek had also picked up his food by then and he decided to give in too. The fries had gone cold but even they were heavenly at that moment. "We did, but it was more than that. We blasted you with a beam. It was supposed to blind your heightened senses but you were unaffected by it." Derek was shaking his head as if he was disappointed in Kyle for that.

"Does that happen often?"

"No Imperial is unaffected by the beam. It was devised for us when we gave in to our urges, as you so wonderfully put it."

Khia seemed shaken by that fact too but you couldn't see it on her face as easily as Derek. Kyle realized that even after spending only a day with her, there was something different about Khia. She never showed her emotions directly; the most he got out of her was the narrowing of her eyes. It unsettled him how much he was observing her.

"So, what makes me different?"

"That's what we need to find out."

"We'll run some tests on you the minute we reach," Khia said more to herself than to anyone else but Kyle took that a positive sign anyway. They all wanted answers. He just hoped needles weren't involved in getting them.

***

Was he running away? Anya wondered. Alex leaned back to see her face, snapping out of a daze. His lips looked puckered and Anya wanted to get back to them but seeing Kyle had sapped the energy out of her. She thought Alex had asked her something so she just mumbled "Kyle".

"Excuse me?" Alex sounded offended then and Anya realized that she had just said Kyle's name while kissing her boyfriend. She was still in his lap, so she gingerly climbed out of it and pointed Alex in the direction she was looking in.

Kyle was definitely running away. He had jumped out of his window for god's sake and after everything that had happened the past week, she was sure he was on steroids or some other sort of drugs. Kyle had always been lanky and she hadn't seen him lift a weight all his life. Even after Alex had begged him to join the gym with him, he had refused, saying fitness wasn't his thing and suddenly he was breaking doors and jumping out of windows. She already had a hunch about who was his dealer too. No wonder he was getting so chummy with that lot.

And speaking of the devil, Derek's car pulled over and Kyle was putting a bag in the trunk of his car. She watched the whole thing silently as they sped away into the dark of the night. More than looking out, Alex seemed to be watching her reaction to the whole thing. She could feel his eyes on her. She didn't turn to him just yet but searched in the air for his hands. Once, they met his, she closed her hand around his and stood there. It felt like she had just lost the train she had been trying to catch all her life. And as much as it pained her to admit it, a part of her forgot all the anger she had towards Kyle and she just wanted to ask her best friend what went so wrong in his world.

She closed her eyes and leaned into Alex's chest. He was so much taller than her but somehow that made them fit perfectly in her mind. Her head fit in his chest and the warmth of his body told her that she would be okay. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Alex was still holding her so that she was looking up at him through his arms.

"Can we please hit pause on whatever just happened and go back to what we were doing?"

"What were we doing, ha?" She thought she was being playful but whenever she said something like that, she just sounded dumb in her head. Fortunately, Alex didn't think so and pulled her hand back to the couch. His hands were at her waist and she was going to stand on her toes to reach him but he seemed to have other plans.

He started tickling her. The sensation of his fingers on her body made her shiver and laugh at the same time. She doubled over laughing whilst trying to swat his hand away but failed miserably and they both ended up twisting into each other on the floor.

"Alex! Alex- stop—" She had somehow managed to get away from him long enough to stop laughing and catch her breath. She could feel the stupid grin on her face as she made her way to get a glass of water. Alex's own face reciprocated that smile and she felt that she could watch that lopsided grin all day long.

They didn't have all day long though. She checked the time and let out a yelp, "Alex!"

"What?"

"It's 1 AM."

"Already? Damn, mum is going to be so pissed now. I had told her that we'd be back in an hour."

Anya cursed herself for being so stupid, "I'm so sorry Alex. I'll tell her it's all my fault and that I have zero sense of time and—"

"Anya, luv, calm down. She'll be a little mad. I'll tell her you needed more time at home and she'll understand."

"Alright," She told him, "I'm sorry though."

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, "I'm not."

That same hint of mischief glinted in his eyes and Anya shook her head even though she was still smiling like a fool. How could everything be so easy with him? Where she was a ball of nervousness and panic, he was so calm and composed. Sometimes, a little too composed, but it was helpful all the same. She knew they were avoiding Kyle's topic but the urge to talk about him was too strong to resist anymore. But she also knew that Alex wasn't the guy to talk about this. She texted Will about what she saw as they made their way to his car.

She was so tired by the time they reached his house that the moment she entered the guest bedroom, she fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up to the sound of voices. She wasn't used to being in a house with so many people. Alex had a full house that morning and she could hear his mother humming along the way. It was a Sunday so she knew she could sleep in but she didn't want to take advantage of his mother's kindness either. She was about to wake up when she heard footsteps coming towards her door. She didn't know why but she pretended to be asleep as Alex came through the door tailed by Will.

"How is she?" She didn't need to open her eyes to know that Will was concerned about her. It was so prominent in his voice.

"Honestly, I don't know." Alex sounded sad for some reason.

"You took her home yesterday?" She thought Alex must have nodded or something because Will was telling him, "She thinks he is on drugs."

"And that makes it okay?" Alex was clearly trying to keep his voice down but his anger was making that very difficult for him. Suddenly, there was a change of tone in his voice, "I made her laugh yesterday." He said with pride and Anya almost woke up at that moment to go and hug him but she wanted a little more time to herself. They were still talking but Anya couldn't make out the words as clearly as before.

"Does his father know?" Will was asking once they were in her hearing range again.

"I don't know. I don't want to say this but I'm worried, Will. I don't why he has been such a jackass to her but I have never seen Kyle like this." Anya knew he would never say that to her but it made her like Alex all the more. She then remembered that there had been a time, the two of them had been so close. It was before they had started dating, she supposed. She didn't hear anything else for a long time and assumed they had gone to another room and opened her eyes.

So, Kyle had really left. Just like that. She couldn't help but think if it had been just to escape her misery. Just like he said. Just like her parents had.

She closed her eyes again.