Free Masked by Nicola Claire Page A

mine and starting to jog towards the war zone. "Look out for Masked," I instructed. "Confront them if you can, but the main goal is saving lives."
    We needed to know who these fuckers were. We needed to find out why they were doing this. But none of that was as important as saving Wánměi lives.
    "And if we catch one?" Alan asked, ever the optimist.
    I smiled.
    "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Citizen," Lena drawled at my side.
    "What, you think you can't do it, Elite?" he shot back.
    "Oh, I'm pretty sure there's more to them than you realise."
    "And you've got them all sussed out, then?" he pushed.
    "I've been waiting for you to meet your match, Alan," was all she said in reply.
    He snorted. "'Bout time, 'cause there sure as hell hasn't been anyone else up to my standard."
    My smiled spread the closer we got to ground zero.
    "Care to place a bet?" she offered with Elite sweetness.
    "Honourable," he drawled back. "You're on."
    And then we were there. And all thought of laughter and camaraderie and wagers and arguments were lost. In amongst chaos and shock and utter, utter devastation.
    The Pherres had been bad. The Sky Tower was the equal to an atomic bomb going off. People staggered around wounded, blood pouring down their faces, dust coating their ripped and torn skin. Burns glistened in the heat surging out from the rubble. Screams and calls for loved ones went unanswered. Gas pipes burst, sending blue-red flames up into the sky. Buildings lay crushed, concrete pulverised into an acrid dust. Cars were flattened to no more than a few inches. A hand or a leg or a shoe sticking out from beneath them.
    The sound all around us was the roar of a dying tiger.
    We can't fight this.
    And then Lena was helping someone. And Alan was climbing over rubble, digging with his bare hands. And I fell into the role of organiser, shouting directions for people to follow, giving them something to focus on, other than their desperate plight. Other than death.
    I didn't think about the Masked, but I saw them. Doing the same as us, but in greater numbers.
    I didn't think about what Si and Tan were doing back at the base. Or about Calvin possibly being discovered by Wánměi's new President and his Cardinals.
    I didn't think, but to offer direction. To help those who needed the help.
    Hours passed. Days it felt like. Someone brought water to drink. A wet cloth to wash our faces. Even the odd bit of food to keep us going. But there was no stopping. No pause for breath. The sun sank. The stars came out. But we kept going.
    Kept helping, until there was no one left to help.
    I stretched my back and aching shoulders, dusted my blood stained hands off on my pants.
    My eyes searching for Lena.
    She had her arm around an old Wáikěinese man, offering him a bottle of fresh water, speaking softly to him as she held him while he cried.
    She was the last thing I saw. This miraculous Elite, in a shredded linen dress, white hair streaked with dust that had turned black.
    My zebra.
    I smiled to myself and then turned to a sound at my back.
    And everything went dark.

Ten

But Why?
Lena
    D eath was no stranger to me. I'd seen my fair share; experienced the loss of that final calling; survived the fallout of that fatal blow. But I'd never seen it on such a scale as this.
    Wánměi, for all its brutal history, is a peaceful nation. Controlled in its grief. Graceful in its heartache. Serene in its lack of remembrance.
    For what was wiped if not a death?
    I knew differently now. I'd seen with my own eyes just what being wiped had meant. And it haunted me. Daily. My dreams were filled with those we'd loved and lost. And yet the thought that they still lived plagued me.
    We were very good at forgetting.
    We should not desire for more than we have. Wánměi provides all that we need.
    It had provided a form of death.
    Even that had been clean.
    No blood or loss of limb. No crushed legs or punctured lungs. No broken arms or caved in skull. No horrific injury... at