Chapter 7: 07 The Beginning, Part Six

Two months earlier/four days after impact

In the crowd a flash of red hair caught his eye, and Jin was immediately on alert. No, not her—

And then she looked up and he found himself yelling at Tabitha Speirs. "What are you doing here?"

"You," she hissed, and stumbled back.

The colonel thrust his arm in front of Jin, but Jin pushed him away and shoved forward. He couldn't let her disappear into the crowd again. Too many people were between them. Why wouldn't anyone get out of his way?

Her hands were shaking as she fumbled in one of her pockets, the shape of her coat distended by whatever it held inside. "Must I never be rid of you?"

He couldn't stand her stupid girly voice, that constant low-pitched affectation.

"I'll rid the world of you right now!"

Someone tried to hold him back.

"You killed my family!" she yelled.

"Your people killed mine."

"Hey, hey, calm down, children," Colonel Huppert said, in his stupid look-at-me-I'm-so-responsible voice, and turned Jin around.

"I'm not a child," Jin said. "I'm seventeen."

"Ah, of course. However, I still do not want any fights in this encampment."

Jin tore away from the colonel's restraining hands.

"Don't think you can fool people about what you are," he said, as close to her face as he dared to get.

She looked up at him, the pretence utterly gone from her mean and stupid eyes. "I won't let you fool anyone either."

She turned and ran before he could get to her. Some kid standing beside him said, "I bet you wish someone would take care of her," and he whirled around to say, "Shut the fuck up!" before he could stop himself. Why was everyone here so stupid? He needed to get a message to Freya about this, but how? There was a barrier between them, humming like a dying light, and none of his words could get through no matter how he shouted.

"Oh, dear. Well, this is why I don't have children," the Colonel said.

"Shut up, Colonel Huppert." Jin wanted to stomp off but he knew he couldn't. After all, he'd promised to help. He couldn't be more annoyed.

*

He kept seeing her around, at a distance, whenever he patrolled the edges of their dome. She smirked every time, like she was taunting him. Was this his nightmare, being stuck in a trap with her?

He knew she would attack. He knew it was coming.

He bumped into her behind the supplies shed. No, she cornered him. It was definitely her doing. He bet she'd been planning it the whole time, waiting to get him alone.

"You better stay away from me," she said. "I don't want to see you in this place ever again. Pick a side and stay there, because crossing my path is crossing me."

She fumbled with her coat again. He clenched his fist and advanced.

"Or what?"

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"Or you'll get what's coming to you," she said, and pulled her gun on him.

He stopped still. Should he advance forward? Her hands were trembling but at point blank range she could hardly miss. He was an easy target, and she'd shot people before.

"Fine," he said, wishing he had his own gun in his hands. "You stay out of my way, too."

"This side is mine. Cross it and I'll send you to hell."

"See you there."

He was going to mark a line in the dirt, if he had to, so they never had to look at each other again. He walked backwards, slowly, his eyes stuck looking on the weapon in her hands. He didn't turn until he was far enough that he knew she'd miss.

*

Trying to tell Freya about it through an increasingly frantic game of charades was a failure. With every move he made she looked more and more confused. Maybe a little concerned. Why couldn't she lip-read? That would solve so many problems. Or psychic powers. Those could be cool.

She shrugged and he could feel himself deflating in his failure. He tried to mime a bird hitting an electric fence instead, until she laughed.

*

After that, it was like they'd cut the place in two. The only time he saw Tabitha, for weeks, was in the mess hall. She sat at one end and he sat at the other. Every time, he could feel himself trying not to look up and glare at her. Every time he failed, she glared right back.

Sometimes he was sure he could hear her stupid voice, arguing with that stupid kid that tried to talk to him the day he'd first noticed her here. She always sounded like she was telling everyone to go away. Extremely annoying.

*

In the laundry room, he soaked up the relative quiet. The shitty washing machines made thump-thump-thumping noises every time they worked, and they didn't always want to work. There was a rhythm to it that got calming when there was nobody else around to make noise.

He'd argued Colonel Huppert into letting him do the laundry for both of them, so he could sit in this room in the quiet hours and let his brain empty of everything but that thump.

From outside he heard her voice again. He wasn't sure how distant. She was always hissing like she was pretending she was trying to whisper. He hated it. He hated being reminded of everything it meant. He picked up his pistol as he stood up, and slowly moved toward the sound.

"Stay away from me!" she yelled. She seemed to like to yell that a lot.

Through the door and he could see her in the distance, by the storage shed again. There was that boy again, advancing on her like he had something to prove. Closer and closer, and he could see the boy had a knife. Why didn't she have her weapon on her? Was she stupid or something? She wasn't even wearing her coat, just an ugly nightgown and some flimsy shoes.

He moved closer again. The boy raised his arm. The metal edge swiped through the air. She put her hands up and screamed.

Jin raised his gun and made a decision with his trigger finger.

The boy crumpled to the ground, hit. As Jin strode up, the boy kept groaning insults like he was going to strike again, but Tabitha looked at Jin, eyes-wide, her body heaving with the force of her breaths. One of her arms was bleeding.

He'd aimed for the boy's knee but just missed, by the look of the blood exploding over the right thigh of that guy's pants. Embarrassing. He'd never missed like that before.

The boy dropped the knife and looked up. "Why? Why would you do this?"

"Nobody gets to attack Tabitha Speirs but me," Jin said. He grabbed by the elbow and tried to drag her along. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

"I can take myself," she said, bratty again already.

"No, that guy can take himself. You make stupid decisions. I'm going to make sure the doctor actually sees you."

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