Free Sanctuary by Alan Janney Page B

coincidence, mate,” I grinned.
    “This class is hard. You will fail.”
    “Worth it.”
    All her friends listened and smiled. I wanted to shoo them away.
    “You might need a tutor…” she mused.
    “I’m not that dumb.”
    “I wasn’t insinuating you were dumb. I was hinting that I could help you study.”
    “Every night,” I agreed. “For hours and hours. I’m deeply stupid.”
    “Obviously.”
    “I like to hold hands while I study with a tutor.”
    “I’m afraid my boyfriend is the jealous type,” she winked.
    The cute girl next to Katie said, “I’m available for tutoring!”
    “You’re hired.” I stuck my tongue out at Katie.
    “She can have you when I’m through with you,” Katie whispered. Her eyes sparkled, and she turned back around.
     
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    Our lunch table experienced a population explosion. I walked into the cafeteria and found all the seats taken. A couple of young football players were sitting with Cory; Lee was presiding over a physics discussion with some fellow inventors; Katie had become a minor celebrity after both ESPN and Time magazine featured stories on her and Tank, and so she had a new retinue; finally, Samantha and Croc were new and they had groupies. In a school full of beautiful people who valued physical perfection, those two were royalty. They were athletic and lean and attractive (not to mention they looked like college students, at the very least) and currently a gaggle of girls were laughing at something Mitch said. Samantha had been noticed and admired last semester, but now she was being worshipped.
    In the past, my friends and I had taken up four or five seats at a table for meant for twelve, near the door. Now, extra chairs were brought and there still wasn’t a single vacant spot.
    I was on the verge of demanding a share of someone’s seat when a school administrators hustled in and handed Katie a vase of a dozen short-stemmed red roses. All of the girls ooh’ed and aah’ed and took pictures of Katie blushing.
    “Tank,” I grumbled, and I trudged outside to eat alone at one of the picnic tables in the courtyard.
     
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    Much to Samantha Gear’s chagrin, Croc used his disease-enhanced body to walk onto the football team and earn a starting spot on defense. He was playing linebacker, and playing it so well Samantha and I kept reminding him to take it easy. He was everywhere on the field, as if he always knew where I was going to throw. On the bright side, he’d be able to hit Tank hard when we played the Dragons. Croc wasn’t as big or as strong as Tank, but he was Infected, a Hyper Sapien, and he leveled the playing field.
    During practice, while the special teams unit was kicking, Mitch came over and stood beside me. He made our uniform look super cool.
    I asked, “Have you heard from Carter recently?”
    “Best not to worry about that one, mate, always off on a dodgy walkabout. Could be on the North Pole,” he grinned. “Haven’t seen him in weeks.”
    “I’m surprised he doesn’t stay in Los Angeles, considering what’s going on in Compton,” I said.
    “Carter stirs a lot of pots. He’s a deadly information broker, one of the most powerful men in the world. Hard to pin him down. That’s why he asked me to come. Lend a hand.”
    “Where are you staying?”
    “I don’t sleep much, mate. But I rented a few rooms. One here, one in Compton, and another in Santa Monica.”
    “Compton?!” I yelped.
    “Well, truth be told, I didn’t exactly rent that one. Just broke into an empty room. Thought it might be suspicious, otherwise.”
    “You’re staying inside the Chemist’s territory?”
    “I’ll show ya, no worries. Keep yer voice down. We’ll go soon. Maybe even Samantha-girl will tag along. It’ll be bonza.”
    “What do you do in Compton?”
    “I’m poaching,” he winked. “Or at least, I will be soon. Still getting the lay of the land. But I’mma try to reduce Martin’s special army.”
    “How?”
    “Kidnap’em