Keeper Hunter

By the time I reached the park I had expected to see some differences but to my eyes it had remained unchanged. A piece of my childhood, I loved the picnics in the park a time when we were happier. I glanced around as I stepped through the gates noting there were less people here than I’d thought there would be. I did notice the black uniformed Security dotted close to the entrance. I ignored their presence I wasn’t a threat and relaxed. I shouldn’t be so confrontational I guess it was my Valkyrie training. They seemed to thrive on confrontation. Walking on I sort the paths that would take me to the lake. I remembered sitting on a bench fascinated by the water. A canopy of trees and tall bushes lined the edges of the paths. It seemed a bit wild or what a person from Earth thought was wild. Then they hadn’t traversed the forests of Alfheimir. Not the forest around the Hall of the Elders with its tall pine likes trees, the wild forest of the unnamed mountains. I shuddered as a memory washed over me I’d killed there. Killed in cold blood. I must admit they were going to kill Miranda and I couldn’t let that happen.

I stood for a moment trying to shake off the memory feeling sick to the pit of my stomach. I took hold of the feeling and with a determined look I continued. The path wound towards the lake. Standing on the path I looked over the water. A high railing fence preventing access to the water. There were even fewer people here. Which I considered odd since it was hot in the sun and the trees provided shelter from the humid heat. It had been winter when I left Alfheimir I’d speculated perhaps a silly notion that all worlds had the same seasons at the same time. The sort of flimsy excuse making both Alfheimir and Earth seem the same. They weren’t and that was a certainty. I turned and followed the path around the lake. A bench half hidden by bushes had an excellent view of the lake through some broken railings. It seemed an idyllic spot to sit out of the broiling heat of the sun. The bench was old and a bit rusty. I did see as I sat that the bench had been used for illicit activities. Another thing the differentiated Alfheimir from Earth. The Valkyrie were extremely intolerant of drug use but were quite happy to beat to the crap out of each other. Then in the Confederacy you had the Cell Stitchers to repair the damage if you had been injured. I sat letting the tension leak out of me. I had to get back to the Confederacy. I relaxed running through the mental excises and trying to reach out to the Keepers.

“Mouse?” I called out in my mind. “Digger?” Nothing I tried again. “Scout?” she was the last I would have wanted to disturb but I was growing desperate. I didn’t know the names of any of the other Keepers. I sincerely doubted I could speak their language the strange mix of sound no human voice could produce.

I was so fixed in my little world that I didn’t feel of the presence of another person until it was almost too late. I leapt from the bench going in combat mode automatically. I cursed myself for being so complacent. A man with a surprised expression on his face was leaning of the bench a thin bladed knife glinted in his hand. I think he was surprised that I reacted so quickly. He was tall and shabbily dressed his clothes seemed to have seen better days. ‘Warrens’ was the first thought in my mind. My second was how ‘dare’ he attack me.

“Give it to me!” The man demanded.

“Run or die!” I growled back my anger notching up.

The man scrambled over the benches. “Bitch!” he screamed thrusting his knife at me.

I reacted. My fingers gripping arm with the outstretched knife and jerked him down and to my right. His face and my knee collided as I kicked out. I heard something crunch and my attacker let out a feral scream that was cut off as his jaw shattered. I wasn’t finished yet. As he was still going down I whirled him around and slammed him into a tree, blood gushed from his mouth. His knife spun from his hand and skidded across the path. I flipped him and he crashed face forward in to the dirt beneath the bench. He lay there unmoving blood trickling from his face the arm I’d gripped bent at an odd angle. I shook coming down from a high and breathing hard. I stood there shocked with my violent outburst, I hated to admit I had gone overboard. I guess it was my Valkyrie blood reacting.

“Freeze!” a voice demanded from behind me.

I turned to see two Security Officers confronting me their guns drawn and breathing as hard as I did.

I held my arms out away from my body. “He attacked me,” I told them.

“That as it may be,” one officer said. “But do not move.” He had his gun still trained on me.

The other glanced at the knife and moved across to my attacker. He pulled a hand scanner for the utility belt around his waist and ran it over the attacker. “Shattered jaw, three broken ribs, internal bleeding and a dislocated shoulder. I’m calling in a Paramedic.”

“Ma’am,” The other said his gun still trained on me. “I’m going to have to ask you to come with me to the precinct.”

“Why?” I asked. “He attacked me?”

“Sorry ma’am it’s policy.”

“Since when?” I said. “I’m the victim here. I could have been dead. I just protected myself.”

“I know but we have to follow orders. We can do this two ways. Either voluntary or in restraints. I’m just letting to know I have to read you your rights.” He spoke reading me my rights.

I knew the words by heart. I was angry I was the victim here but they were treating me as if I was a criminal that would have never had happened of Alfheimir. We stood by as we waited for the paramedics to arrive. I said nothing seething with anger. I kept my mouth shut afraid to say something that would make my situation worse. At least I wasn’t in restraints. I sincerely doubted I’d be able to help myself if they had tried to put me in restraints. That dangerous hair trigger that all Valkyrie had including me was close to blowing off. One thing in my favour was that one of the Paramedic’s gave me a thumbs up. So my actions weren’t universally reviled. The two officers waited until the Paramedics had gone before turning to me.

“Come with us and please do not try to run. We’ll be forced to use the restraints.” The officer patted the restraints on his belt next to a Taser.

“Oh right,” I replied sarcastically with a nod. I got the feeling one wrong move by them and they’d be joining my attacker on the floor. I’d definitely been with the Valkyrie too long. I had to play this carefully. With that in mind I meekly followed the two Security Officers to their Patrol Cruiser. I sat inside holding my anger in check. The Cruiser roared into life and I was driven downtown.