Page 10 of Godslayer
“What’s all this?” Clara asks, panning her hand to the four bags at our feet.
“My ruck.”
“Ruck?” She raises an eyebrow at me. “There arefourof them, Tyse.”
I laugh. “This is nothing compared to what I had to carry in the sweep. It’s just lucky that I’ve got a Versi, because all the cartridges are very compact and easy to store.” I make my finger do a little circle in the air. “Turn around and I’ll load you up with yours.”
She does, looking over her shoulder at me in wonder as I slip the straps of her ruck up her arms and make sure they lie on her shoulders just right.
“How’s it feel?”
“Good. Not very heavy. So I can carry one of those, too.” She nods her head at mine.
“Nah, I got this. Watch.” And then I proceed to hook the secondary ruck onto the primary, pull it onto my back, and then attach the other two—which are all ammo—to my legs using the Versi belt as support. When I’m done, I find her studying me. “What?”
She presses her lips together, hiding a smile.
“What’s that look for?”
“Just…” I get one of those all-teeth smiles. “It’s…”
“Sexy?”
She laughs, but nods. “It’s areallygood look on you.”
“Does it make me look dangerous? Cunnin’? A straight up fuck-around-and-find-out kinda guy?”
“All that and more.”
“What’s the ‘more’ part?” I tease. But also genuinely interested. Since we’ve already covered that I’m sexy.
“Tyse Saarinen, this makes you look…” There’s a pause here, where she thinks. “Super human.”
“Super human? Like an alien?”
She shakes her head. “No. Like a god.”
“Hmm. I don’t think I look anything like Delta.”
“No, notthatkind of god.”
Now I’m confused. “What other kind is there?”
But she just shrugs. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It’s just… well, I like it.”
“Then I guess that’s all that counts.” Then I pan a hand to the tunnel that leads to the train station across the street. “Shall we?” She turns, but then abruptly turns back, leans up on her tiptoes, and kisses me. It’s just a small kiss, but it’s unexpected. “What was that for?”
“Partners.” Then, as if that explains everything, she takes my hand and we cross the street.
People stare at us as we enter the underground. Of course, everyone knows me. When we arrived, people wouldn’t shut up about the baby god and the augment, speculating what it meant for the city—and beyond. I didn’t pay much attention to the buzz because it was mostly talk of war and not the kind of war that involves augments, so I knew they were just blustering to entertain.
But the people of Delta City don’t look entertained when Clara and I stand on the platform, waiting for the next train to come.
They look scared.
Of course, they should be. If they ever met me in the wrong situation—well, they would not want to meet me in the wrong situation. That’s all there is to it.
In Sweep, in the Omega Outlands, we did fight a lot. But it wasn’t the kind of fighting that people think of when they imagine what a war is. They picture battles with other people.
