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Chapter 1: The Darkest Day

Seventeen year old Karly Hunt stood before her locker, fiddling with the lock when a hand was laid upon her shoulder. With great force the hand pulled her around to face the owner. It belonged to Jeremy, a young boy her age, rather rough and scraggy around the edges including his personality. After she was turned around to face him his hand moved down to her collar bone and shoved. She hit the locker behind her with an audible slam, causing most passing students to stop and stare.

"You have been talking shit about me again Karly." He yells. The same hand that had spun her around strikes the locker behind her, his fist just a couple inches from her head.

"I don't appreciate it you bitch." Jeremy continues. "You think you're so smart. A woman should know of her place and stay in it."

"Leave her alone." Came a deep, sluggish Russian accent from a boy standing behind the crowd of growing students. Although he stood behind the group he was easy to spot due to his height of 6 feet and 8 inches, nearly two heads higher than a lot of the students around him. Not only was the Russian freakishly tall, but he was very muscular with barrel shoulders and thick arms.

Although the Russian was statuesque compared to those around him Jeremy was not phased, because he too was tall and bulky. Not nearly as much as the Russian, but he was known to have little fear, and was the schools star quarterback.

"I tired of it Jeremy, you should pick on someone your own size." The Russian says, pushing his way through the crowd and into the circle they had formed.

"And who would that be Victor, you?" Jeremy asks, stepping away from Karly and closing the gap between he and Victor till they were scant feet away.

"Dah, from me" Victor confirms.

Jeremy grins and comes toe to toe with the giant. "Well school is almost out.. Let's make it today." He looks to the crowd, then back to Victor, his voice raised so everyone could hear. "The stadium. Forty minutes after the bell rings. Everyone who wants to see this fucking commie get his ass kicked should be there." Jeremy leans closer to victor, lowers his voice to almost a whisper so only the two of them could hear. "You're not going to the hospital when I'm done with you. It will be to the morgue in a body bag.." With that said Jeremy shoves past Victor to leave. But not before stopping to look at Karly and say "You better watch your back, because when your boyfriend is not around I'm going to make you my bitch."

Perhaps it was attraction to Victors manliness that caused Karly to walk at his side after the crowd dispersed. Or perhaps it was the threat Jeremy had left with her. She wondered if the jock was waiting around a corner for her. Either way Karly found comfort being just inches away from the giant Russian.

"I know you Victor. This is the first I have heard you speak like since the forth grade.." Karly says as she follows beside him.

Victor does not reply to her as they walk down the hall. He opens the double doors and has to duck slightly so as to not hit his head. Then they walk outside and onto the concrete walkway leading to the school football field.

"Thank you for being my knight in shinning armor and coming to my rescue." Karly continues.

Victor stops walking and so does Karly. He looks down to her. "I did not do it for you. When I was little boy he bully me."

Karly looks up at him. Standing at 5 foot 3 herself she feels dwarfed by Victor, but feels rather comfortable by it. She studies his facial features with a thoughtful gaze. He had a very symmetrical face. With subtle but prominent cheek bones, and a square jaw. The light brown hair turned gold in the afternoon sun. It was cut close to his head, ran down and spread out across his face to form a very thin, but full beard. Although he was young, his face had a hint of age to it. He was attractive, though she wouldn't admit it aloud. As she spoke Victor started walking towards the stadium again. "Why did Jeremy make fun of you?"

"He tease me about me accent and heritage for years. Last summer I grow big and strong. Lot of meat, potatoes, heavy lifting."

"You speak English very well. I like your accent, it is cool and gives you character. You should talk more."

Victor stops again after they passed through the stadium and stood by the stairs that rise into the bleachers. He looks to Karly with cold, blue but intelligent eyes. "Thank you. For you I could do that."

Victor had picked a spot several rows up in the bleachers to sit, and of course Karly had followed. "Are you really going to fight Jeremy" Karly asks after a little while of silence."

"I never make promise I can not keep."

"Jeremy is a pussy-" Karly starts.

"Dah" Victor agrees.

"What if he brings half of the foot ball team to the fight?"

"Then he displays being coward. There will be many watchers. I fight him, break his pride. Plus he would need entire foot ball team."

Karly smiles at Victor, and she saw his stone hard face crack a brief smile back to her.

Karly got to know Victor of half an hour of talking. There was very little they talked about, but he spoke a lot more than she had ever known him to. Students who had witnessed the spectacle before in the hall, and those who had heard there would be a fight began to congregate in the bleachers.

One boy in particular wearing sunglasses and a black jacket came running up the stair case and entered the row behind the one Karly and Victor sat in. He came from behind, and leaned in between the two of them.

"Victor I hear you are going to kick Jeremys ass!" The boy says loudly.

"I am" Victor confirms.

"About time."

The boy wearing the jacket tilts his black tinted glasses down some, and looks Karly over. "Mmm, and you must be the lovely and intelligent Karly, I've seen you around before, and I can understand why my Russian friend here stood up for you."

Karly sat there, unsure whether to be repulsed by this boy, or swayed by his compliment. When he steps between them into their row she has to scoot away from Victor to make room.

"Sorry, but I don't believe I know who you are." Karly states.

"I'm no one special, just your average Joe"

"His name, Joey." Victor says. "He likes playing games."

"Yeah I think I got that."

When Jeremy arrived on the football field Victor rose and made his way down the stairs. As he left Karly heard someone taking bets. She was disgusted, but if she had placed a bet for a one-on-one fight she would have staked it all on Victor.

However it was not going to be a one-on-one fight. As Karly had predicted the moment Victor set foot on the grass six other foot ball players stepped onto the field, and surrounded him. There was a chorus of boos from students in the bleachers, likely from the ones who had made bets.

"That is so unfair." Karly says.

"Welcome to life sweetie, nothings fair. Don't worry about him he can hold his own." Joey says.

Jeremy slid his football jacket off and passed it to a team mate. He rolled his shoulders as he stepped towards Victor.

Victor surveyed the group that surrounded him, eyes coming to rest on who he deemed the weakest. "If you fight for him, there be no mercy for you."

"There will be no mercy for you, you fucking ruskie." Jeremy says, cracking his knuckles. He takes a step forward while hooking his fist at Victors face. Victor raises his left arm and deflects Jeremys hook with a shove. Simultaneously Victor swings his right fist in an uppercut that strikes Jeremy in his abdomen. Jeremy bows forward clutching his gut and groaning. Victor wasn't done. He lifted his leg fast, his knee connecting hard against Jeremys jaw, which sends the quarterback sprawling backwards onto the grass with a faint thud.

Victor squats, looking the fallen quarterback in the eyes. "How you say it? Bring it, red neck Neanderthal." Victor stands back up, looking at the six other football players, some who seem slightly shocked. "Well?" Victor asks.

"Get him!" One of the players yells. Only one of them is hesitant, the rest charge Victor.

Karly had been just as surprised as many other students when Victor made quick work of Jeremy. She broke from her shock when the remaining football players began to gang up on the Russian behemoth. Victor took two of them down. One fell to a strike in the neck. The other toppled over after being kicked in his groin. But the remaining four had tackled Victor to the ground, and started kicking him, showing no signs of stopping.

Joey rose from the bleachers, followed by Karly and they ran down the stairs. Joey was the first to the bottom. He let out a roar as he ran up and tackled one of the football players, mounted him, and proceeded to punch his face.

Karly reached the bottom of the staircase seconds later with her backpack in one hand, and her other dug through its contents. As she stepped onto the field she pulled a small green oval object with bumps from her backpack. She dropped her bag and ran up to the fight screaming 'stop' at the top of her lungs.

Two of the remaining three looked at her. One shouted "holly fuck she had a grenade!" Those two started running. The last one that was still kicking Victor soon followed when he looked after hearing the word grenade.

***

Karly sat outside the principals' office. She was hunched over with her head buried into her cuffed hands as she heard voices in the adjacent room talking about the recent fight, and the stupid act she had done to end it.

She wasn't alone either. Across from her stood one of the states Robotic Enforcement Units, which were used to reinforce the law when there were not enough employed human police officers. The body of the robot suggested it was just a human in a black and white metallic suit. But Karly knew better. Its chest did not expand with a breath. It did not occasionally shift its weight to another leg. This thing stood perfectly still, staring at her, until the door to the principals' office opened. Then, like the robot, Karly looked to Joey being walked out by his own REU.

"Don't worry girl I have got your back." Joey says, as he is escorted past Karly.

The county sheriff appears in the doorway, and gestures for Karly to come in. She does, and once inside she is sat down in another chair. The REU assigned to guard her stands close to her side. The county sheriff takes a seat next to her, and across from her sits the principle with the antique grenade in hand.

"How does one of the schools brightest and most promising student end up doing something so terrible. I don't know what to say Karly. It's only been a month since the beginning of the school year." The principle sighs, setting down the hand grenade on his desk. "What you did might have saved Victor Kahminovs life. But how you went about it was by far the stupidest method I have ever heard." He gestures to the unexploded grenade. "Thankfully it was a dud... How did you even get your hands on one of these?"

Karly looked from the principle to the grenade with a stare filled with longing to have it back. "I knew it was a dud principle Weathers... It was a gift from my dad before he died in World War 3. On a tour he and his squad were under fire and this grenade landed in the middle of their group. He threw himself on it, ready to give his life for his squad. It never exploded. He kept it as a lucky charm, and gave it to me for my birthday while he was on leave. The next tour he died. Please principle Weathers, it is very special to me."

"That is a very moving story Karly, and may your father rest in peace. But I'm sorry, I can not give it back to you with there being a chance of it coming back on campus. Since it is your last year here I will keep it, and give it back to you after graduation."

Karly felt a tear roll down the front of her cheek. She wiped it away with her sleeve, the tight hand cuffs around her wrist making it a little uncomfortable to do. She fought to hold back any more tears. "Okay." She says, understanding.

"Were not done Karly." Principle Weathers says. "This is going on your permanent record. Because of the circumstances and evidence the sheriff has collected he has agreed that you will not go to juvenile hall. However you are suspended from school for two months. You are also being assigned three months of community service, and are going to be on probation until otherwise stated."

Karly simply nodded continually. She was unable to hold the tears back anymore, and they poured out of her eyes, making seeing rather difficult as she smeared them away. After a minute of choking down her sobs her thoughts drift to Victor. "Is Victor okay?" She asks.

The sheriff spoke this time. "Victor Kahminov suffered very minimal injuries. He was transferred out of intensive care shortly after he arrived at the hospital. They believe the worst he will suffer is a couple bruises, a fractured rib, and a broken nose. That boy has got to be made of iron... He is not being charged, as from the video footage we have collected it appears self defense. In theory he will be released tonight. I'm more worried about the boys that attacked him. The first one that attacked him, Jeremy I think, has a fractured jaw as well as several teeth, and bruised intestines due to blunt force abdominal trauma. The other three are far better off with a couple bruises and cracked ribs."

Karly nodded, happy to hear Victor would be okay. But then the principle brought some bad news to light. "Before you came into my office Karly I called your step father, he is on his way to pick you up."

***

Karly sat quietly in the rear passenger seat of the Honda civic, right behind her step father. On occasion they caught glances of each others eyes in the rear view mirror. Each time that happened she could only bear to keep eye contact for a moment before looking away in shame.

"What you did was really stupid Karly."

"I know."

"Really fucking stupid." He says slowly.

"I know, Mathew" she repeats.

"Don't you dare raise your voice with me young lady. This is going on your permanent record. Every university you apply for will see it. It won't matter how good your GPA was, or how many extra curricular activities you have done. Law school is out of the question, same goes for any government job. You are going no where in life now." Mathews voice began to rise. "Your life is over! You might as well start lying on your back with your ankles behind your head, or start learning how to dance with a pole."

Mathew pulled the car into the driveway, parked the car and shut off the engine. Before Karly could open the door the automatic locks engaged, trapping her in the car with her second least favorite person in the world. The hair on the back of her neck began to rise. A shiver jolted down her spine, leaving many of her nerves tingling. Mathew stared at her through the rearview mirror for more than a minute. He fixes his prescription glasses.

The silence was finally broken when Mathew says "When we get inside you are going to call your mother and explain everything that happened today, got it?"

Karly nodded, and was eager to get out of the car when the locks finally popped. Her step father made her nervous whenever they were alone for long periods of time.

Before Mathew was even out of the car, which might have been a while, Karly was in the house, in her room and sitting on the edge of her bed. As she dialed her mothers phone number she had to wipe more tears from her eyes. She took a deep, painful breath. Then set the phone down before dialing the last number.

Karly looks to the floor, and then leans down to pick up a hoodie. She rises and puts it on, and goes to stand before her full body mirror. The hoodie isn't normal. Most of it is covered in tan with brown along the backside in odd patterns. She zips it up, and pulls the hood over her head. Now there are dog ears resting atop her head.

"You're almost done Mishka" Karly says to her reflection.

***

Stella Hunt was on her way home from the law office. The day had been long and stressful after dealing with an ignorant client, and her white knuckles reflected her thoughts as she tightly gripped the steering wheel of the Mercedes. Her mood lightened a bit when the cars interface spoke up. "Miss Hunt, you have an incoming call from home. Would you like to accept?"

"I do" Stella replies.

"Hello mom?" Came her daughters voice through the cars speakers.

"Hey Karly, how was school?"

Stella came to a stop at a red traffic light. The setting sun shone in her eyes but only for a moment. Sensors on the front of the rearview mirror picked up the immense light source. Less than a second later the top fraction of the windshield darkened to filter the blinding light.

Karly had skipped the subject of school, and instead said "I met a boy today."

"You met a boy?" Stella asks cheerfully.

"I met a boy" Karly reaffirms.

"Oh do tell hunny, what is he like?"

Stella glances to her rearview mirror. She is too late to react to a large truck. The woman driver appears to be distracted by a combination the blinding sun light and her child, as the truck rear ends Stellas Mercedes. Immediately the air bag deploys from the steering wheel.

Seconds later as the air bag deflates Stella is laying against her seat looking out the drivers' side window. Dazed, she comes to realize her car was shoved into the intersection, and into the path of an oncoming freighter truck. She struggles with the car door, but it won't open. The driver of the semi tries to steer around her, but has a very limited window of opportunity, which vanishes as the reinforced bumper of the semi T-bones the drivers' door of the Mercedes, and carries the small car down the road a distance.

***

Pacifica is a popular tourist stop south east of San Francisco. Well known for its surfing, recreation, skate park and shopping. It houses roughly 40,000 people. With a vast beach line, and several good schools. Nearly every house is of decent size and has a moderately sized front and back yard. Very few of which have pools. The locals commonly experience fog and rain, practically seeing every season but snow. It is a wonderful little city for children to grow up in. However the businesses there are limited to handy man services, general supplies, tourist attractions, and grocery stores. This is because it is primarily residential. Eclipsed by a mountain, and has very little resources of its own to produce. For real work people must hop on the freeway for a twenty minute commute north to San Francisco.

On Linda Mar Boulevard is a home, like most of the others in the area. It is single story, spacious with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and cozy living areas. It has a modest front yard compared to the back yard, and a white picket fence that separates the property from the street.

In the living room of this house is Karly Hunt. She sits on the couch with the phone tightly pressed against her ear, as the sounds that come through over the next moment are those of screeching tires, car horns, and crunching metal. The sudden sounds catch Karly off guard and she can not make sense of what is happening on the other end of the call. After the initial loud sounds Karly hears her mother whisper "I love you Karly" Then there was another loud horn, one that reminds Karly of what a semi would make after being gestured to do so. There is another crunch and Karly has to pull the phone away for the sounds are just too loud. When it settles down she puts the phone back to her ear. Silence is all there is, and Karly chokes to voice a word. "Mom?"