Chained

"It says these people are deceased." The list went on and on. "I think it's just a list of all the residents of Harbour City who have ever died, there must be one for births too so they can keep a tally," Coal said.

"What does that number mean?" I pointed at the screen. There was a column that ran down next to the names, it was filled with numbers and another with dates.

"I think it's the age of the people when they died, and the date that they died on."

"But so many of them are so young, thirty, twenty seven, forty one, there are more under fifty than over seventy," I protested.

"Was there a plague or something?" Coal shrugged.

"Not that I remember. Is there anything about the cause of death?"

"There are letters at the end of each line, maybe they're codes for cause of death? Besides, these are all fairly old: they're from fifty years ago. Look, they aren't as young after that." He tilted the screen towards me so that we could both see it easily.

I studied the names as they scrolled up the page but quickly lost interest.

The glow from the receiver sent flickering shadows across Coal's face, I watched him as the blue-tinged light cast shadows under his eyes.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked without looking up from the screen. "Or am I just so interesting that you can't take your eyes off me?"

I dropped my gaze quickly and looked around at the cluttered shelves. I could feel my cheeks burning and bit my lip to try and stop them.

"Will they be much longer?" I asked, avoiding the look he shot me from under his lashes and feeling even more aware of his arm pressed against mine.

"I'd say they'll still be a while yet," he hedged.

"Do you think Hunter will come looking for us if we don't make it back to the rendezvous point?" I asked.

"His orders are to leave us behind if we don't make it back," Coal replied but he didn't sound convinced.

"Do you think he would?"

"Maybe if it was someone else. But I don't think he'd leave me and Liss behind."

"So... is Hunter like a father figure for you or something?"

Coal laughed. "More like something - he's only five years older than me. But I guess he's kinda like a brother. We met when I was eight and he caught me fighting with this kid twice my size."

"Why would you get into a fight like that?"

"He stole some food from Alicia."

"So you were protecting your sister?" I laughed at the thought of Alicia needing to be saved by anyone.

"Well, there were three of them, she was taking on the other two so I got the big one," he smirked. "Anyway, Hunter found us and saw that we were fighting a losing battle but fighting all the same. He said it was like looking at mini versions of himself and, after letting us get our asses kicked, decided to train us to fight properly."

"I can't imagine a mini version of Hunter," I laughed.

"No, he was only thirteen and he was still built like a brick house even then. Every year he just seems to build more and more muscle and he gets bigger and bigger. I figure eventually he won't be able to stand up under the weight of them all, so I can contain my jealousy."

"I don't think you need to be jealous," I said before I could stop myself and quickly looked at my feet with more scrutiny than they really required.

We sat in awkward silence for a while, listening to the odd sound that echoed down from the corridor but it seemed to be quiet out there for the most part.

"So how long did it take him to train you?" I asked after the silence became unbearable.

"He'd probably say he isn't done yet. That was about nine years ago I think. It's weird how quickly the time goes by."

"I know the feeling," I said, thinking about how it seemed like only yesterday but also, in some ways, like it had been years, since I'd left the city behind.