The Traveler of Knots and Smiles

Chenda stabbed her fork into her mashed potatoes, rewinding the talk she had with her sister before dinner.
        "You could've at least told me!" Chenda waved her arms violently, almost hitting a family walking towards the canteen'. Her sister had gotten back from her supply run/ tour with Cody and Marquisha and was on her way to put her guns up. People bustled around, packing manufactured goods into crates and loading them into trucks parked at the back wall. The building was a factory, but Chenda still had yet to know who they were sending the goods to. The building was cool, and from what she observed most of the factory's population was families. Children ran around tagging each other and hiding behind the crates. When they giggled, Chenda's heart swelled.
    In San Dolores, she never saw the kids playing. Everyone stood stiffly in line, without color. Their arms were placed where they always were except when awnsering a question. Being void of feeling was a gift, but to outsiders it would be seen as dull. And it was. Chenda remembered nothing of being unfeeling, like her life started at that moment. As though she was trapped in a capsule ready to heal herself, she could sense movement and blurry slotches of color, but couldn't move her jaw, her arms, her body, her brain as herself. The feeling was that of having as piece of wood tied tightly to your arm. Limited movement. Each way you'd bend tightening the wood's hold around your arm.
        Her sister scrunched her nose and rolled her eyes,"Chenda, you don't understand I-"
        "No, you don't understand! Do you know how painful this is for me!" she interjected.
        Her sister stared at her, exhausted from her little sister's stubbornness, "Do you know how painful it was for me! I had to never recognize our parents were dead! I had to hide their ashes in the closet, goddammit! I had to dance around every single potential for us to be found out, without revealing to them that I could feel!"
        Chenda watched, awed by her ferociousness. Her heart sunk with gilt. She had never thought about what her sister had gone through to protect her. How could she be so selfish? Wait... Cheri hid their ashes in the closet?
       "Our whole family has been resistant to the implants! How was I supposed to know how to care for baby who couldn't feel! I killed people to protect her and this is how she thanks me?!" Cheri was rambling to herself now, adjusting her pack and stumbling through the hallways of the compound's basement. She was twenty-nine years old- too young to be taking care of a child. Their parents were twenty-five when they had Cheri, her sister told her. This disgusted Chenda; it was taboo to have a child before the age of thirty. She guessed she couldn't blame her sister- it wasn't her fault that she was born as she was and that their parents died. It would be hypocritical.
        Chenda grabbed onto the back of the older girl's shirt, "What do you mean?" Her eyes widened. If killing her stand-in father wasn't bad enough this sealed the deal. Her heart sunk thinking of all the innocent lives she had unknowingly taken away.
        Her sister groaned and jerked herself out of her grasp, continuing to walk forward into the weapons room. Chenda stopped in the threshold, watching her sister turn in the guns. She was content with waiting until her sister never responded. She decided to keep off of her sister's bad side, "Okay, could you at least explain to me what this place is?"
        She sister pulled back from where she was hanging up her gun on a rack with her name posted above it, scratching her forehead. She faced her younger sibling and sat on a crate, patting beside herself, "C'mon sis."
        Chenda awkwardly sat herself down, thigh to thigh with her sibling. Her sister hunched her back, clasping her hands. Cheri swallowed, "This is a manufacturing plant outside of Adora. The leaders casted out the poor, making them reverse engineer and recreate Japan's tech and selling it to Adora for food and money. We created a kind of passive resistance here- a refuge. We have farms out back, and basic tech to get us through a power outage and boot up computers and labs. Adora relies on us to make Deer-boxes, the things that are implanted in the back of the neck to preventing feelings. Way better than the other groups I'll tell you-" she covered her mouth.
        Chenda nodded at her sister to continue. Her sister knew she wouldn't back down. She had apparently inherited her perpetual determination.
        Cheri held her face in her hands, "Fine, since I'm a dunce...There's another group roaming the streets their name's the Maids of Akhilleus, some girl from an old story. They've kinda derived their message from champions of Artemis, a hunting goddess in Greek myths? They're delusional - thinking that they can reform Adora with spies on the inside and violence. We save people and they recruit our people from the inside. We used to let them advertise here, but since they've been taking our man power we've banned them. They've started to send spies to convince young girls to join. We were on their trail for a while until all evidence for their being a maid disappeared..."
        She sighed and looked sternly at Chenda. "If they ever find you, don't go. You're the only family I have left." Her voice cracked, but she managed to hold back tears. "I know their message is tempting, especially if you have a bone to pick with Adora, but in the long run do you really think that overthrowing the only order that holds our society together will fix everything? I agree that people should get to think for themselves- that's why I removed the transplant from you-but we feel that cutting off technology from Adora, when the time is right, is best. Then, they'll surrender, and we'll force them to act as figureheads as we run things in the background. We want to keep peace, but Adora wants order and The Maids want order from chaos, cohesion from boundless freedom."
        Chenda nodded, understanding where her sister was coming from. She saw that the best way for them to have a habitable place to live they would have to go with the peaceful route, but it didn't keep her mind from wandering to the possibility that they could convince The Maids to work for their cause while keeping their unruly violence. What has the group ever done to threaten lives? How far have they gone? Her sister was sure to hold bias towards them, so what was the full story? What were they true intentions?
        A snort and a waving hand tore her away from where she was stabbing her food. She looked over to Irene who was smiling worriedly at her. Irene insisted that she ate and spent her own money to get her the premium meal for workers, occasionally taking a green-bean from Chenda's plate.
        "You okay?" she spoke with her mouth full. Chenda knew that she could see through her easier than Chenda could see through her. While Chenda was predictable, Irene, as kind as she was, was partially so. She was loyal. She would do anything for her friends- close acquaintances even. But she had a tense air around her- like she was anticipating something.
        Chenda replied meekly, "Yeah I'm fine..."
        Irene smiled, stretching, "Well, my prickly friend I suppose you would like to hear some good news for once?"
        She raised her eyebrows and responded jokingly, "What is this news you speak of?"
        The other girl laughed and lent in close to whisper in Chenda's ear, "I may have found another way to run the streets at night. I thought that since you haven't seen outside, I could give you a tour before your sister snoops around and blocks it again."
        Chenda faltered her excitement, so it could be replaced by apprehension,"I don't know about this."
        Irene punched her arm, "C'mon man! I haven't been outside in months since Cheri put me on house arrest!"
        "I didn't expect you to want to disregard rules."
        What had happened to that straight-laced girl that checked on her while she was recovering?
        The girl was ruffled by Chenda's statement, but returned to her relaxed state, "I want to explore... and since I can't go on retrieving missions this is the only chance I get. Plus, if I find herbs out in the wild I can use them to benefit you if you end up in the infirmary again." She begged with her eyes for Chenda's consent. How does this girl think she can break Chenda with a stare? How could that possibly happen-
        "Fine," she gave in, her concrete walls collapsing.
        Irene hummed in content, "I knew you would agree."
        _________________________________________________________________________
        The two girls had walked up the left tower of the compound- where the female housing was placed. According to Irene, the top layer of the basement was for families while the right tower was for the males. The top two layers of the tower was uninhabited, but held one hundred rooms each.
Chenda was uneasy, every squeak of a floorboard was causing her brain to play tricks on her. On the way up she had seen a shadow that had look eerily like a human, making her freeze and hiss at Irene to find them a closet to hide in.
        Irene carried a bag full of snacks and a first-aid kit. Chenda was given the other's sweater to keep herself warm along with extra clothes, tighter than she would've preferred. The jeans had an uncomfortable texture compared with her linen pants, and the shirt was pink and tight around her stomach area. It was probably meant for a younger girl.
        Irene led her up a metal staircase, and onto the roof. The air was fresh, and the wind smelt of berries and citrus from the greenhouses. Huge solar panels sat in the distance supplying the factory with power, and wind turbines were slowly turning to power the back-up generators in case of emergency. Snow-capped mountains loomed in the distance, and the land was a dead grassland. It was probably fall seeing as it was chilly. In Adora, she learned about this weather, but never experienced it herself. She suspected that Adora had some sort of armor that protected them from the elements. Behind her sat the decrepit buildings of a lost city- Denver, Colorado apparently.
        "I don't see how exiting from the roof is exactly a secret. I mean- How do we even get to the buildings? We can't exactly jump from here," Chenda questioned. Had Irene failed to think this through?
        Irene pointed to a pole that was at least twenty feet tall, while looking to Chenda for conformation, "The roof's usually locked so nobody can sneak out, but for those who have a higher rank they can use this to preform diplomatic matters with The Maids or representatives from Adora. They use the Zip-System to get to the location of the meeting. We use it for supply runs."
        She jumped up to hit a thick black cord- the zip-line, and smiled at Chenda, "Can you get the sling and the stool? Its behind you."
        Chenda looked back at the items, "Yeah."
        She bent forward and grabbed the items in each hand, shifting over to her left foot to turn around and hand them to Irene. She tripped on her footing, catching herself by putting her right leg in front of her.
        The blonde girl busted out laughing," Oh- oh my god!" She placed a hand on her stomach and mouth trying to hold back her hyena-like laughter.
        Chenda blushed, but after the initial embarrassment she began to laugh along with her friend- so hard that she fell down onto the concrete roof.
        Irene wiped fake tears from her eyes, and Chenda picked herself up. She handed the stool and sling to Irene. Chenda stepped back while he medic stood on the stool and handed her bag off so it didn't end up dropping. She got the sling prepared and stared back at Chenda who had her arms crossed, watching Irene. Irene met her eyes, "I'll go down first. Even though the friction from the zip-catcher slows it down, it could not catch you enough and you could end up being slung into a wall...or you could go into shock."
        "Thanks for the reassurance," She stated sarcastically. Chenda was already on edge; she discovered that she was scared of heights. She felt that she was safe in the middle of the roof, but on the outskirts the world curved out in front of her, making her legs wobbly.
        Irene grinned and spoke teasingly while strapping herself into the harness, "Oh, I see. Someone is scared of heights~"
        Chenda narrowed her eyes and tightened her arms defensively, "It's evolutionary! Not my fault high drops can kill me!"
        "Don't worry! I'll catch you!" Irene pressed a button on the metal that held the sling on the cord and she shot forward. The metal must've depressurized allowing her to move.
        "Wait what?" The moment she would have to zip down was coming soon. She remembered that Irene had given her the bag, so she would have more weight on one side. What if the sling broke? What if someone-particularly her sister- caught them? What if Irene died on the way down?
        She shook with anxiety until the sling returned with a metallic snap. She stepped up the stool tightening Irene's jacket around her, gripping the cloth handles of the other's bag. She turned the sling so she could jump into it. She tugged herself up by the sides, and pulled her legs up, sliding them into the seat of the sling and lent back where her back should be. Once seated in the rickety cloth, she felt around for the belt to keep her in. Had Irene even used them? She fastened the belt as tightly as she could, breathing slowly. Who invented this godforsaken device and how swiftly could Chenda murder them?
        She raised her hands unsteadily to click the button, clenching her eyes shut. She gently pressed the button.
        "Huh?" The sling didn't release, but she did feel it lurch forward some.
        "Hi."
        She whipped her head around to stare into the purple eyes of Deuce. How did he know they would be here? She thought he was recovering from surgery. What would happen now that he caught her? She thought of her sister's grey hairs becoming greyer, and the frown lines becoming deeper. She feel an apple accumulate in her throat choking her.
        He pulled the sling back so that it locked back in place, "So you and Irene want to go out? Why didn't she come to me?"
        Irene knew Deuce? When she spoke of him he seemed like a stranger to her. From Deuce's wording she could argue that they were related in some way. Maybe brother and sister? Cousins?
        Chenda stuttered out, "I-I don't know. A-are you and her friends?" Deuce intimidated her no matter how short and feminine he was.
        He stepped back to study her, "Yeah. She's my adopted daughter. When she was younger she was my best friend."
       Chenda looked at him to elaborate. How could he possibly be a father- an adoptive one at that? He was at least fourteen years old.
        He rolled his eyes, "I'm older than I look 'kay?"
        She gulped and nodded. The male made her bones freeze and her limbs shake. How could someone be able to do this to her? She thought she was stronger than this.
        "Anyway, I'm not just here to waste your time. Come by my room tomorrow: I need to ask you something."
        "Um...okay?" She hardly knew Deuce, but she had a feeling being cryptic wasn't his type of thing. He was blunt. He liked for people to cut to the chase. There was no gain in lagging the team by being subtle and discreet.
        "Don't tell your sister though Chew-Toy. She's a snitch- won't tell ya anythin' good." Chenda recoiled at the nickname, but her brain burned with another question. Deuce didn't like Cheri? He was double-sided like a card. She wanted to explore these two sides of Deuce more. He was an intriguing character.
        Chenda watched him as he stepped back up on the stool to press the button with a farewell, "Hope your sister hasn't brainwashed you, yet."

Author's Note

I'm still fleshing out Deuce's character so any advice on which direction to go with him would be great.