Quick (7 page)

Cam grabbed one of the men and hauled him to his feet, propelling him to the police vehicle.

They were ten feet from the barricade when her suspect’s head exploded.

She acted with speed, dropping the dead body and looking for the killer in the crowd. The young girl was standing with one of the weapons in her hands; the expression of fear and hate on her face was unmistakable. Her relative was not going to be able to hurt her again.

Cam removed the gun from her hand and picked her up, sweeping her away from the crowd.

When they were a few kilometres away, Cam put her down and asked, “Why did you do that?”

“He was my dad. He was supposed to love and protect me. He told me he would shoot me first because I was a useless girl, so I shot him.”

Cam nodded. “I understand. When we get back, say that you thought he had a weapon under his clothing. All right?”

“Why?”

“Because I have been studying the law here, and that means that you will get to see your little sister grow up and your mom will be able to start over.” Camile didn’t say that shooting in cold blood was an offense that could gain the death penalty, even for a child. It didn’t need to be said.

The little girl nodded. “Right. Can I have the gun back? My uncle is coming out next.”

Cam blinked and sighed. “Probably not a good idea. I will take you back and explain things to the police. Please don’t kill anyone else.”

“Yes, Guardian. You are very pretty but very pale. Are you sick?”

Cam paused. “No. I am not from this world. Namkor Gifted me with speed, so I am trying to be smart with it.”

“I want to be Gifted when I grow up. Then, no one can threaten me again.”

“Oh, honey, they will say what they like, but as long as you know what you are and what you can do, you can always recover from anything.” She smiled. “I get threatened all the time.”

“But... you are a Guardian, you help people.”

“I am an alien, and some folks think that I stole the Gift of Namkor.”

“That is stupid; you can’t steal a Gift.”

Cam lifted her in her arms. “Adults forget that sometimes. Come on, back to your mom.”

“Thank you for protecting us.”

Cam moved fast but not fast enough to make breathing difficult for her passenger. “Thank you for reminding me that Namkor picked me. I forget that every now and then.”

Her passenger wiggled to get down and embraced her mother. Everyone was crying with relief.

Cam spoke to the police and explained that the dead man had had a gun in his waistband inside, and the little girl thought she saw it again. Her trauma could explain a number of scenarios, and the police officers nodded wisely as they wrote down the details.

Mordem came up behind her and put his arm around her. “You are covered with brains and blood.”

She looked down at his silver skin covered with glossy red blood. “Right back atcha. I need a lot of food and to sleep for a week.”

“How about an energy bar and a night in my arms?”

She leaned back against him and raised her chin for his kiss. “Sounds delightful.”

He kissed her, both of them covered with gore and grime. It was not the most romantic of situations, but it was her new normal. She could get used to it.

Kelmin rejected the Gift. He had never gotten used to the duality that had been forced on him.

As the newest Guardians, Vendiuk and Camile had to take on the public speaking and community education portion of the duties. He was over at the boys’ school and she was at the girls’ school talking to an assembly of eager, young faces.

After walking through the Guardian program on Namkor, she was taking questions.

“What did it feel like when the Gift took you?” The earnest, young woman looked to be in her early teens.

Cam smiled. “Because it is different for everyone? Right. Well, for me, the Gift was like giggles.”

The room with two hundred girls giggled.

“Yes. Like that. Each tiny impact of a piece of the Gift was like the brightest, happiest laughter you could imagine. It stuck to my skin, and I tried to brush it off, but it came faster and faster, leaving me covered in a roar of light and giggles that were filling me with energy.”

She closed her eyes. “The sound and light pulled at me, hauled me upward, and the urge to move became overwhelming. It wasn’t like I wanted to run from the sound, I wanted to take it for a ride.”

She opened her eyes. “It set me on my feet, and I ran. Across fields and over water, I ran. When the first burn was over, I turned and went back into the party where Guardian Mordem caught me because I couldn’t properly stop. I was going too fast.”

One young woman raised her hand. “Didn’t you break bones against him?”

Cam shook her head. “No, he caught me against his flesh form, jumped and twisted, letting physics do the work of stopping our bodies, rolling us to a stop.”

“What happened on your first day at the base?”

Cam grinned. “I ate everything and had to go and replace it so the guys could eat breakfast. My type of Gift is a direct exchange of calories for energy.”

The girls were scandalized. More hands came up. Cam pointed to one.

“You ate everything?”

“Everything that my alien sensibilities could identify as food. I woke up and felt hollow. To answer your question, if I have use my Gift, I still eat three times what the male Guardians do.” She struck a pose. “Crime fighting—it’s how I keep my figure.”

The teachers laughed.

An older girl put her hand up, and the conversation turned to regeneration as well as top speeds.

They talked about how fast she could move with her engaging in a few demonstrations by zipping over, putting happy faces on their note tablets and returning to the front of the assembly.

When the question finally came, it wasn’t from one of the older girls; it was from a ten-year-old with dark-grey eyes in the front row.

“Why did the Gift choose an alien when there was an entire world of eager citizens to choose from?”

Cam knew that it was coming, but it still was hard to answer.

“My best guess is that Namkor saw something in me that it wanted to add to the Guardian team.”

Another hand went up. “Was it because you were Mordem’s lover?”

Cam was used to the frank nature of the Namkor by now, but her Terran sensibilities still winced.

“Perhaps that is what Namkor was after. Giving me the Gift so that Mordem would have a companion. Namkor isn’t talking, so we are stuck guessing. All I know is that I am content to devote myself to Namkor’s citizens, including Mordem.” She smiled.

Some of the older girls sighed wistfully.

“Yes, in case you have not met him, he really is that nice in person.”

Smiles and laughter spread through the room, and she settled in for the other questions about how fast she could run and for how long.

Mordem was sitting on the riot runner she had flown to the school, and he held out an energy drink. “Here you go, sweetie. I am fairly sure you did a few demonstrations.”

She took the drink and gulped it down. “Thank you, but the girls made me a few dozen cupcakes and wanted to see me eat them. I am actually pretty good right now.”

He took the empty bottle and stowed it before pulling her between his thighs and looping his arms around her waist. “So, Taliak has asked us over for dinner. I think he wants to propose to you.”

She blushed and drummed her fingers on his shoulders. “It isn’t funny.”

In one year, the governor had floated three proposals of marriage her way. She had politely declined each one.

“Well, there is one way to avoid it.” He looked at her with a serious expression. “Marry me.”

She jerked in surprise, but he was holding her tight. “What?”

“Marry me. We are exceedingly compatible, you are going to be here as a Guardian for the next decade, and even if you retire, you will still be Gifted and belong to Namkor, so why not belong with me.”

She blinked and smiled. “So, when you say compatible, you mean...”

“Love. I am in love with you, for you, you make me laugh and keep me on my toes. Every moment of every day, I watch to see if you will elicit my laughter or irritation; I am never sure what is coming. You are my best friend and my lover. Why would I not want to be with you for the rest of my days?”

She kissed him, rocking him back against the runner. “You have used all the words I have had in mind for months, but I am still not up on Namkor social practices. I am pretty sure that sex at the public fountain at two in the morning is still illegal.”

He rubbed his nose against hers. “Not if I keep one foot on dry land.”

She chuckled and nodded. “So, if that was an offer, I say yes.”

He leaned back. “The proposal or the fountain, because right now, I can manage both.”

She laughed brightly and kissed him, still grinning.

“So... yes?”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t what she had envisioned for her future, what she expected, but in every way, it got better every day.

I do love the superheroes, and I have always been a fan of their origin stories.
Quick
means that there are only 2 books left in the Terran Times Second Wave. The end of one series will be the start of another.

This summer—when the Terrans are on their well-deserved break—prepare to
Brace for Humanity
.

Thanks for reading,

Viola Grace

Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.