“What are you looking at?” Truck yells.
Nena quickly moves away from Truck after getting caught staring at the guy. There’s not a day that goes by without Nena getting scolded for not paying attention. She quickly gets distracted. Nena searches for members of her family—an aunt perhaps, a distant cousin? As Nena tells it, she woke up one day and her parents and younger brother were gone. A note was left with the word “Cemi.” Nothing else. How can a family just pack up and head toward violence and uncertainty in Cemi Territory when Déesse provides us with everything? Nena’s family is probably dead by now.
I went through a similar period when I was Nena’s age. My sister did the same thing to me. She left without so much as a word when I was six. I didn’t even get the courtesy of a note. Ten years ago. I don’t feel the loss. Once a person crosses the border, they are as good as dead. The crew is Nena’s only family and mine.
Nena snaps a picture of the ANT. I watch as she taps with frustration at her Codigo5G, cursing how the equipment isn’t working right. The Codigo will scan faces of Mega City residents and see if there’s a match. I listen for noise. Any person hiding might be connected to him. It’s deadly quiet. We are alone on this street. Truck twirls the necklace. A slight feeling of anxiety grows inside of me. I can’t place the fist.
“His name is drawing up blank,” Nena says. She cocks her head to the side. Nena has the tendency to end her sentences as if she’s asking a question and not answering one. “Searching the other libraries? I’m not having much luck. He has no people. I’ll do a search on the necklace.”
Nena takes another picture. I adjust my choker and stroke the embossed LMC lettering, a gift given to me by one of Déesse’s assistants after our last throwdown. I study the ANT. His appearance holds no clue, just dirt and blue lips cracked from dryness. His body jerks from sueño withdrawal. Most men will show their preferred gang with ink on their right arm. His arms are bare.
“Whoa,” Nena says. “You’re not going to believe this. Seriously? This is crazy.”
“Spit it out,” I say.
“The necklace belongs to the Ashé Ryders.”
My heart sinks.
“The Ashé Ryders,” Truck says. “There’s no way this skinny mocoso is associated with the Ashé. No way.”
“Have you ever met an Ashé?” Nena asks. “In the flesh?”
Nena instantly regrets asking the question after the scowl Truck throws her way for trying to start a conversation. No one in my crew or anyone we know has run into an Ashé Ryder. The stories on the Ashé are legendary, from conjuring natural elements to destroy their enemies to burning their dissenters alive. The tales are bogeyman stories, though, told to keep people in check. Apparently, the Ashé Ryders were a regular crew until they started to get too big. This happened way before I was born. I learned about the Ryders history while training in the camp to become a soldier. Greed is what Déesse said was the root of their collapse. They were run out of Mega City many, many years ago for going against the people and starting a riot. Now they’re in Cemi Territory, or what’s left of them. No one ventures outside of Mega City for fear of running into an Ashé. Déesse’s army has kept the borders tight and everyone in Mega City safe within. The degenerates who live outside in Cemi Territory serve only as reminders of how lost they are in their brutality. There is no sense of community, only violence. The same violence almost destroyed Mega City. Ashé Ryders are no different from the hundreds who chose anarchy over order.
“We should try to wake him up,” I say. “Ask him where he got it.”
“Why?” Truck says, annoyed. “He probably stole it.”
“Are you questioning me?”
Truck steps down while Nena stares nervously at her boots. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Truck walks over to me, speaking quietly so that Nena will not hear.
“Nalah, we are both beat. We need to chill,” she says. “This ANT probably found the necklace and wanted to trade it for more sueños. I’m telling you, he’s not worth it. Right now all I see is an addict. We follow Déesse’s orders and slip him a tab so he won’t crash too hard from withdrawal. Okay?”
I take a deep breath and slowly exhale. I’m letting my emotions cloud the correct action to take. Truck is right. But I can’t seem to shake that I’m missing a sign. Why is this silly necklace stirring doubt in me? As if this addict holds information I should know. It’s dumb. I must be tired. It’s been a long night. The sun will soon rise. Breaking night will be over. I need to check in on Shi and Smiley.
I study the ANT again. His grimace stays plastered on his face. I’m being paranoid. It’s a simple charm representing a crew that no longer holds any power in Mega City. The old-school ways of doing things were destroyed in the Big Shake. The past is truly dead. There’s only Las Mal Criadas, our leader, Déesse, and my goal to make it to the Towers.
“Okay,” I say. “Mark him.”
Nena takes out her cap and tags our letters on his left arm, our normal procedure whenever we run into a guy with no allegiance. When he comes to, he’ll forever bear the mark of the LMC on him, an indicator to everyone we crushed him first.
“I’ll take that.”
Truck sulks as she reluctantly hands me the necklace. Although the black fist charm is small, it weighs heavily in the palm of my hand.
This is my city, and I intend to defend it to the end. There are throwdowns to bet on and boydegas to party in. No one goes without, not even the addicts. There is a citywide distribution of food pellets. An abundance of underground stations for families to live in. You cobble together a crew of strong girls and create a life worth living. It’s simple. This is due to Déesse’s vision. We owe her. Maybe this necklace will prove valuable.
Nena creeps over with a shy smile, the remnants of her assault already forgotten. Her eyes are large and green, almost alienlike. She’s tiny for an eleven-year-old. I want to protect her. Her skills for soldiering are sorely lacking. I’m giving her a chance because I believe, in time, she can be a strong LMC. It’s probably a weakness on my part.
“It’s pretty,” she says. “You think Déesse will want it?”
I rub her shaved head, feeling the tattoo still raw from when we branded her last week. Her green eyes pop against her sunburnt skin.
“He didn’t hurt me,” she says when I inspect the emerging black-and-blue marks around her neck left by the ANT. The bruises will only get worse by tomorrow. At least she’ll have a good story to tell the others.
“Sure he didn’t,” I tease. “It seemed as if you were handling the situation, especially when he had his arms wrapped around you.”
I’m reluctant to walk away.
“Do you think it’s enough to get us to the Towers?” Nena asks. “We’ve beaten those other crews. That’s got to be enough.”
“Stop asking Chief Rocka stupid questions,” says Truck. “You’re never going to live in the Towers. You can’t even follow orders. Keep quiet and move.”
Nena scurries to gather what’s left on the ANT to sell. I remember when I was as young as Nena, a skinny thing trying to roll with the big girls. I got beat down so much when I spoke out of turn. I soon learned to punch first and punch hard.