Scalamandre
Chapter 9
Many thanks to my #OOT betas – you are all the best!
The woman rose slowly from the futon, unwrapping
herself from the threadbare blanket and tossing it over the back. She pulled a
hair tie from her wrist and twisted her hair into a loose ponytail. Her cat
arched his back and rubbed his head against the woman’s shin, receiving a light
scratch upon his head for his efforts. Dawn had come, and with it the orange
glow of impending day cut through the thin gaps in the curtains. The room was
heavy with dust and unaltered paths worn into the rugs from futon to desk to
bathroom, a dark tedium in dark times.She dropped heavily into the desk chair and
flicked on the monitor, squinting as the glow assaulted her tired eyes. Her
mind wandered, not yet ready to face the day’s work and her attention fell to
the metal shelving behind her desk, to the spare drives and bundles of cords
and the stacks of tracking receivers that no longer blinked with the movement
of the field agents. Most of the agents were long gone, likely dead. She should
get rid of them. Send them off for disassembly, strip away the clutter of
what’s been lost.The pushed away from the desk and walked to the
shelves, pulling down a small box of cords and dumping the contents on the
ground. She began to drop the receivers into the box, one by one. Six, seven…
so many good agents gone. She stopped, her hand trembling at the impossible
sight before her. A receiver, hidden behind the others, it’s small red tracking
light blinking dimly.She grabbed it and rushed back to the desk,
wiping away two years of dust from the ID sticker on the bottom. Her fingers
flew over the keyboard, eyes darting across the screen. The thrumming, nervous
energy she had once felt every day, but that had disappeared of late, came
roaring back and a grin broke out on her face. “Randall. Holy shit.”
Tori