Future: The shadow monster accident

"Got your shadow!"

Augustine lifted her arms to turn her shadow into a monster that swallowed her daughter's shadow whole. Rica squealed with delight and ran off along the grass, Augustine chasing her with arms in the air. That was when Rica ran right into a bush.

She plopped down on the ground, surprised for a second before she started to scream. The guards that watched them but usually kept out of their way so that Augustine could pretend things were normal, hurried up to them. Augustine waved them off to give her a minute, wanting her to feel the pain and to discuss it.

"You okay, Rica?"

She waited for Rica to make the first move. Rica turned towards her, eyes shimmering, a large red mark between them that scratched along her face. "No…" and then she started to cry again until Augustine picked her up and kissed it better. There'd be no hiding that mark from Eddie. He'd be pissed when he saw it. Her stomach roiled. No used projecting that onto her daughter.

"Be brave," she whispered. "You're tough, aren't you?"

Rica sniffed. "I'm not tough."

"Yes, you are. Just like your father. You know, when you were first learning to walk, every time you fell down, you got up again. You were so focused on your goal. Because you're so tough. Like your father."

How much of that did Rica even buy? But she wanted to believe it. She wanted to be like her father, so strong and tough. "I'm really like dad?"

Augustine smiled at her warmly, pulling her in for a hug. "Of course, you are! So smart and so tough!"

A part of her hated the manipulation, but she had to make her daughter want to be tough because the other option was to be too soft, to let herself be nothing but protected which Augustine instinctively knew would stunt her emotions. Ed and his people were too quick to shelter her and protect her from everything to the detriment of other people. Already, Ed would be pissed about her being hurt, and if Rica noticed, saw the power in her own being to control a powerful individual such as her father, she was bound to push it as far as it would go. Someone would be hurt, and she, if she were truly like her father, might enjoy it.

Her daughter poked at her own wound, giving a small start. Augustine held her hands. "Don't worry. We'll clean it up, so it won't sting too much, okay? But you can't touch it."

Ed would be mad when he saw it. He'd want to know who caused it, another child? Some thoughtless adult who pushed her? What would he say when he realized that it had been her who'd ultimately caused it? Maybe he'd laugh about it unless he was having a bad day and then he'd more likely be annoyed.

Reworking for the millionth time

I am rewriting this thing again. Again, again, again. I've started to think that rewriting this thing is all that I'm going to do. You're supposed to get out one draft at first, I hear, but I haven't even been able to complete a draft because I get to a point where I find myself feeling off in some way, disconnected from the story. And I would know exactly why.

It's gone from being too YA, which it was never meant to be, to too gritty then too silly. I hit points where I not only didn't know what to do with the rest of the story, I realized that I'd failed some elements or characters I'd created. The path I was trying to head down was just wrong. All wrong. And in the back of my head anyway, I always have all those writer suggestions as to how you're supposed to structure things, what people expect to read, how to cater to your audience.

But that isn't what this story is. This story may never be published. I don't know. The earlier entries I've posted are not what this work is meant to be, but they worked to discover what I think I want to do. Of course, those times I thought I knew what I wanted to do, and I was proud enough to start this blog.

I've had to try and break this thing down. What am I trying to do? What is this story meant to be? How am I supposed to tell it? What is even my strength as a writer? It's not plot, I can tell you that much!

Now I think I've figured it out. We'll see. I'm daring, after a few attempted outlines, to try not working with an outline again. I've written this story so much, and I have quite a few outlines by this point, so I think I can wing it again for a bit and see how the story shapes up. Where do the characters go? Hey, the setting is supposed to be a character too. Everybody counts! They all need to be represented as I tell this thing.

The First meeting

 Her parents had been fighting again, and she couldn't take it.

Augustine made her way down the stairs. They lived on the second floor so she only had to pass two of the graphic posters in the stairway with the workers' big smiles and the large letters. "Work for happiness!" Said one. The last one that everyone had to pass on the bottom flight said, "Work for society!" She hadn't started working yet, but it would be time soon enough. That had been what the fight was about. Her father didn't want her to because she was barely fourteen, but her mother said she needed to. They wouldn't make it on one salary alone. They were already trying to cut meals down by skipping breakfasts and carefully planning out the rest of their meals.

She missed breakfasts. Her father used to come home from his overnight shifts and make a huge stack of pancakes for them to dive into. It used to help them feel full and it didn't cost much. But after their dad lost his job, her mother had put a stop to it because she found it wasteful. "It's just empty calories!" She said. "They need vitamins. Especially Augustine if she's gonna work."

That had been what started the fight.

As she stepped outside, she peered around the front of the building for Ray. He'd gone outside to play, but her mother warned him to stay close to the building and not trust strangers. Living on the edge of Valenness was dangerous, their mother warned. She said that desperate people lived there, and that now included them.

Augustine's heart gave a jolt when she found absolutely no one out front. She'd seen Ray from the kitchen window just a moment before the fight, but now he was gone.

"Ray!" She called. "Ray!" Panic edged into her voice as she darted to the edge of the street, its grey asphalt crumbling into dust. "RAY!"

His voice came from behind her. "WHAT?"

She turned to see him standing near the building, looking almost as worried as she did. Next to him stood another kid, about the same height as him, maybe the same age. She walked over to them quickly, panic still infused in her muscles.

"You jerk! Mom said not to wander off!"

The blue eyes of the boy next to Ray caught the light through the strands of his dirty blond hair. Freckles dotted his nose, his pale face smudged with dirt and dust. Not a single crease of concern marred his brow. It brought her to a halt.

Ray rolled his eyes and crossed his skinny arms. Against his deep brown skin there were also smudges of dust on his face and his arms. "I didn't. I was right here."

"What were you doing?"

"Ed was gonna show me somethin'."

Ed, his strange new companion, said nothing though she caught some tension in his brow. He was just a young boy, maybe 11 or 12 the same as Ray, but if Augustine's mother saw him, she would probably get upset and never let Ray outside on his own again.

"You're Ed?" She said as she pointed at the young stranger. "What were you gonna show him? Can I see?"

Ray emphasized his crossed arms by lifting his elbows and bringing them down again. "No. It was something for boys only. 'Sides, I know you, you'll get upset."

"How do you know?"

The two boys looked at one another. Ray finally sighed. "It's a dog. But it's dead."

Augustine tried not to react though her heart tightened. "Why would you wanna see that?"

Ray uncrossed his arms and shuffled his feet, but Ed's gaze remained steady enough that she could see the striations within his light irises. "We're boys, Gus," Ray finally said. "Why wouldn't we wanna see it?"

Her frown made clear her disapproval. "Gross. Anyway, it's time for lunch."

"Aw, do I have to?"

"What? Yeah. Aren't you hungry?"

Ray looked to Ed. "It's just, we were having fun."

Ed's gaze finally broke from her to focus on Ray. His expression gave little away, piquing her curiosity.

"Ed, who are you? Where are your parents?"

He turned back to her; his brow furrowed for the first time. "Home."

"Where is home?"

A dirty finger pointed in the general direction of Valenness, towards the crumblier parts where Augustine had been warned to be most careful. She asked him, even though it was obvious, "Have you lived in Valenness long?"

That seemed to confound him. "Valen… ness?"

"Yeah, the city?"

He shook his head. "Everybody just calls it the Dump. 'Cause people get dumped here."

Ray nodded. "Like us."

Augustine waved them both off. "We didn't get dumped here. We chose it because we could afford it."

"'Cause Dad lost his job."

Her frown deepened. The last thing she wanted was to fight about it with her own brother. Her parents already argued about it all the time. People kept saying that he lost his job like he misplaced it, but that wasn't true. He'd been fired and blacklisted. No one would hire him, even out here in Valenness. Meanwhile, her mother managed to keep her job and so she had to commute to work on the buses, more than an hour each way on good traffic days. It made her even crankier than normally sometimes, and Augustine tried hard to stay out of her way after she came home.

"Let's just not talk about that. Uh, how about I bring the food out to you guys?"

Ed’s lips pressed together tightly, his gaze falling to the ground. Meanwhile Ray shook his head with a frown.

"Gus, you can't. Mom won't let us."

But the boy needed it. Augustine knew her mother wouldn't approve, but before her father would have before whatever had happened at his job. He wouldn't have ever let someone, especially someone so young, go hungry if he could help.

"Don't worry about it,” she said confidently. “I can. Will you wait here with Ray, Ed?"

She waited until he gave her a small nod, his lips pressed together tightly. "Alright," she said. "I'll be right back with the food. You two stay right here. Don't let Mom see you with a stranger, Ray."

It took some cajoling, but their father was on Augustine's side. "Let the girl eat outside, Elaine. It's almost a nice day even with the smog." Not wanting to argue, she waved Augustine off with both of the sandwiches wrapped in napkins. Hurrying back to the boys, her heart raced though she'd run down the stairs before and not gotten winded. Now her legs felt weak, and she hurried to find the two boys.

They were both by the side of the building where she'd left them with Ray talking Ed's ear off. He stopped when she leaned over to hand each boy a sandwich wrapped in a napkin. Glee bolted through her tired body as he took it, his eyes large and round. But then Ray said, "Where's yours?"

"Uh," she didn't want them worrying about her. "I already ate."

Ray turned to Eddie. "She's lying. She didn't. She just gave you her sandwich."

Ed held the sandwich before him like he was holding something precious, unsure that he could even have it. "Why?"

Augustine put up both hands, worried that he might try to give it back. "You look hungry, and Ray's dad taught me that we should always help others. If everyone did it, the world would be better. So, please eat it."

Though he still seemed mystified, he held the sandwich closer to his body. "You shouldn't be nice to people."

Her mother had often said much the same thing, especially after everything that happened with their dad. It broke her heart to hear it coming from such a young boy. He almost sounded as though he didn't believe he were worth it, and if he'd lived in Valenness with its rotting everything and people constantly expecting the worst from him then it made sense he'd believe his life somehow didn't matter.

"I don't know why you'd say that Ed, but you're human too. People should be nice to you."

Ray had already taken a large bite of his food. With his mouth stuffed full, he told her, "You can have half a' mine. Go 'head an' eat, Ed."

She didn't really want a half-chewed sandwich, but her stomach growled as soon as he mentioned it. Loud enough that the boys heard. Ed started to make the same offer, but her and Ray both refused to hear it with Ray adding, "Don't feel bad for her. She's always hungry. Gus can eat. Dessert's her favorite."

"Shut up."

And then Ed almost smiled. While it wasn't quite one, it was enough to convince her that he was a real boy under the suspicion and grime that seemed part of living out in Valenness. Augustine didn't want to forget where she'd come from. A place where once they'd been able to be normal and not every person was a danger going to snatch them off the street. Her mother warned that Valenness was different. Filled with desperate people, they would do anything to survive. "Things you couldn't even imagine, Augustine." It wasn't like Millwich where everyone had a job and a role to play. Here everything was wild according to her mother. The uncertainty of it all made things more frightening, but at least this afternoon she could help one person. That was within her control.

"Hey, Ed," she said. "Will you come see us again tomorrow? We'll come out and have lunch with you. Mom'll be working, so I don't think Dad'll say anything."

His eyes narrowed again in thought, almost a squint as if looking at the sun on a bright day. "Okay."

Next Chapter: The Opening reworked

Taking her home

The muscles in her legs jolted, and she darted between two buildings beside her, dropping her backpack behind her. Just as she reached the end of the alley, a hand fell on her and pulled her back. She released a sob as he forced her to turn and face him, locking both arms around her. She tugged at him with all her weight. Had his grip been less secure, she would have fallen to the ground. Instead, he held her up against him, her arm brushing against the leather holster alongside his torso, just under his arm.

"I said I'd be comin' back for you," he said gruffly.

Her lips parted as she fought for breath between quiet sobs. He'd always been so strong, and now, with proper meals, healthcare, all of it afforded him by his position, he had become even more solid. 

As she stopped struggling, his hug tightened. "Fuck," he said softly. "I been looking for you for months."

"I didn't want you to," she whispered.

"Too fuckin' bad. I said you wouldn't have a choice. I'm not leaving you on the streets."

His grip relaxed some, and he pulled her away to look closely at her, his blue eyes sharply taking in all the details of her appearance. It had been five years. The last time they'd seen one another had been right after Ray died when he told her that he was going to take the security job he'd been offered. She'd wanted none of that and refused to go with him.

He looked the same and yet so different that she wasn't sure it was really who she thought. With his lithe form, accentuated by nice clothing which fit well, a new hair cut-- cropped close on the back and sides, but a little long on top-- and some stubble, he looked like a grown man. He had to be around 25 or 26, the same as Ray would have been. And yet, there were still familiar tells, such as his scowl and his piercing eyes so similar to the first time they met when he showed up one day next to her little brother.

"You can't make me go, Eddie," she said softly.

They both knew it for a bluff. He wasted no time derisively scoffing at her. "Who's gonna fuckin' stop me?" He barely hesitated before yanking her along by the arm back the way they came.

"Where are we going?" She tried to pull against him, but it was useless. Once they neared her backpack, he swiped it off the ground by the loop and continued dragging her along behind him.

"I'm taking you back to the complex," he said, dragging her down the bright sidewalk towards the factory.

At the mention of that, her legs got weak. "Like the complex you said would be guarded?"

"Yup."

Her steps slowed, but the march continued. "You're still there."

But of course, he would be. The gun had been enough of a tip off to her let alone his clothing and general healthiness.

He gave her a tug and came to a stop under one of the lights. "Yup, and now you're comin' with me. No fuckin' arguments."

The two started again, making their way towards the factory as her mind raced. At what point would it be too late for her to escape? She pictured the factory gate with the guards though she felt certain that it was already too late. One look at Ed, and they would know from his clothes and his physique that he was part of the system that kicked the shit out of them on a daily basis. Not a soul would approach. For the first time ever, the two of them were completely alone without the buffer of her brother to balance them out.

"Ed, wait!" She said, trying one last time to stop him before they made it past the factory gate with the guards.

"No."

"No?"

"You heard me." He stopped to pull her forward and put a heavy hand on the back of her neck. Quietly, he spoke to her. "What've you been doing out here, Gus? How did you even manage to survive without a job?"

She pressed her lips together, the broken front teeth poking into the back of her upper lip. Being security, of course he knew that she wasn't working. Had he been keeping tabs on her? How much did he know of what happened before she left? And now he wanted to know how she'd been living on the streets. Her mind raced to find an answer to that question that would explain, but he'd know if she lied. He'd always been able to tell.

He started them moving again, giving her a shove in front of him. "Yeah, I thought so. I know what you were supposed to be doing tonight. Soon as he gave me your description, I knew it was you he met with."

Her stomach clenched painfully. So far, only one person from the factory knew that she was involved. And if Eddie knew her involvement, then that meant something terrible had likely happened to the worker at her old friend's hands. "Ed, what did you do?"

"I did my job. What else have you been up to out here?"

He paused again. She just shook her head. It would be foolish to admit anything to him. Clearly, he took his job seriously, and she had no idea how he would react upon finding out about her business in the dumping ground trying to help people using her knowledge and the confiscated tools from her old job.

"If you tell me," He said, "I can help. They respect me up there. When they know we're connected, they'll leave you alone.”

She held her lips together, the corners weighed down by her own guilt. Just like that, because of what Ed did and his willingness to drag her along with him, most of her troubles would disappear. She'd be secure in a home and have regular meals again, but she worried about what the cost would be.

"What would you want from me?" She asked him.

The opening reworked

 Augustine hurried along the darkened streets to the meeting point to warn her contact that security was onto them. She shivered as she ran, having dropped her hoodie on the ground next to her pod when she went to grab her stuff. Without her hoodie, she felt so exposed, but she had no time to waste. Every moment left them all in danger.

Light from apartment windows stayed close to the buildings as though it knew better than to be on the streets of the Dump at this hour. Few streetlights worked anymore, and while Augustine kept close to them, she avoided scurrying directly through the light.

She still couldn't believe it. Someone had seen her working on the software exploit that the factory workers could use to bring down the system for a few hours. Augustine's work would have given them some control over the machine production so that any one of them could grind things to a halt with no one person standing out over the others. It would make it harder for security to figure out the culprits and make them disappear like they'd done to Ray's dad. Her heart ached. Their whole life had changed that day he didn't come home. 

For a moment, she paused on the edge of shadows next to one of the block apartment buildings, leaning against the cheap material of its exterior wall. At the internet café, her only place for computer access, there had been a big guy sitting among the regulars. Focused on getting out the last of the code she'd memorized before she had her meeting with her second contact, she hadn't noticed the massive frame sitting on the far side of the room watching her until she'd paid for her time and sat down to work.

A warning tingle had made her glance up, and that had been when she noticed him, so tall his head peered over the monitors with ease. He appeared too comfortable among the tossed-away denizens of the Dump, lacking the pallor of desperation and depression so common among the natives. And he'd been much too interested in her. Either he'd seen a weak, homeless girl he could have some fun with or he'd come looking specifically for her. With her light hazel eyes, practically golden with green on the edges, her short hair, curly and light brown against her tanned skin, she stood out even in the Dump.

She'd had to think quickly as fear crept up from her toes, sticking her in place. For a quick minute, part of her wished she had someone who could help her, but there was no one. In her old job, no one could risk pissing off the managers to stick their necks out for someone who brought in as little value to the company as she did. Out here it was the same. People had become desensitized to common cruelties and injustices because they couldn't risk whatever meager livelihood they'd managed to make for themselves to help a complete stranger.  

Augustine had been forced to end her session early. She removed the small drive she used to keep her work and then calmly made her way to the front door. Her first full glimpse of the man made her heart hurt. He seemed even larger from her vantage point above the computers. She caught his dark, deep-set eyes set against pale skin as he observed her with some interest. How she had missed him before disturbed her. Clearly, she had not been not nearly as careful as she believed.

Except he let her go. That surprised her. Still suspecting a trick, and knowing that he would be able to move much faster than her, she'd turned sharply to head behind the building, catching sight of his large form like a shadow on the edge of her vision. With him so close behind, she'd ducked behind an overflowing trash can and found a recently deceased homeless man-- not an uncommon sight deeper in the territory. No one would expect her to wriggle into his blankets and hold her breath with a prayer. When that man came past not even a minute later, she'd felt the body being moved, but he'd overlooked her thin body among the smelly blankets, reeking of death.

Muffled through the fabric, she'd heard him call out to her from the middle of the alley. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

She stayed still and waited for him to get further away before untangling herself and quietly tiptoeing down the street. Then she ran off again into the darkness.

Thinking on the incident made her hands shake. It would have been better if he was just looking for a good time because the other option meant that her clients had possibly been compromised. Her immediate thought jumped to the factory worker she was meant to meet with the drive containing her work. After she warned them, she would hit the streets and lay low for a while. Already security was blind to her as she no longer working and she had no home. If they were looking for her specifically, she would make it near impossible.

As she neared the factory, she slowed down, keeping an eye out for her contact. There were more lights on the street leading up to the factory, but less people milling around. With security using the factory as a base in the area, people didn't like to be too close or else they might be stopped leaving them at the mercy of security, especially if they couldn't provide proof of employment which not many likely could-- either because they weren't working for a variety of reasons or they were working unofficially under the table.

She chomped on her cheek with her pointier teeth, the broken front ones sharply prodding her inside lip. Her thoughts being elsewhere had been her exact problem at the internet café. She needed to stay present and watch for danger. If someone was onto her, she might have accidentally led them to her factory contact.

But no one waited for her. She hoped it was because they had figured out on their own that danger lurked nearby and not that they'd been caught. If they were, they'd be used to make an example for the other workers depending on how the higher ups felt that day. It could just be they were fired and black listed, left to fend for themselves completely in the Dump, or they could be disappeared if they really wanted to send a message. Augustine knew about that all too well.

The unjustness in the world weighed heavily on the people in the Dump. It made their desperation dangerous. The cruelty and violence that was part and parcel of living here was never personal. It was just people acting out to maintain some control over their lives. Meanwhile, she lived within the same parameters as the others in the Dump, yet had the odd dichotomy of both being looked down upon and being given the benefit of the doubt more often than most. She both belonged here and also didn't, but there was no escape for her either. She would never be able to get out. 

With a silent prayer, a compulsory offer more than a purposeful one to an imagined higher power, she continued walking, making ready to head towards the center of the Dump where the market lay. There would be more people, especially at this time of night. It was one of the few areas that had lights and felt safe.

A sound made her stop and look back, and there he stood, right under the street light. His thin lips in their natural scowl automatically set her heart to racing. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her.

His deep voice, dark and stern, reached her. "Don't run, Gus."

Next: Taking her home

What even is this?

I'm still in the process of debating how I want to use this blog. I have an idea for a story, but the problems are multiple. It's going to be somewhat ambitious for me as I have mediocre talent for writing. (I'd love to be Atwood, buuuut I'm not.) I'm coming out of a depression that side-lined my writing for years-- I couldn't even write about my own thoughts which was a painful reminder of how wrong everything felt on the days I'd realize it. (To solve it, I decided to get a master's degree in Library and Information Science aka Library school where I learned academia is bullshit, group projects can really suck, and I like getting drunk on vodka. And library stuff too.) And we've been sheltering for a year, so I'm not sure I even know how people actually act. I already had few friends because I'm a grump that doesn't want to deal with other people.

I'm not sure what I want to do with this blog. Should I post the pieces I work on that I like? Should I just tell the story as is? I've already changed parts about the beginning four times now, and it looks like I'm heading down that direction again as I didn't have some terms well defined. I am definitely a by the seat of my pants style of writer which makes things so much more frustrating at times. But I'm also not great at making up ideas. I guess it's sort of like those artists who have aphantasia, but still make art. Except I just have issues coming up with ideas in a coherent fashion. I have to explore the idea exhaustively before I can made it make some sense. And even then, I end up having to continue exploring while writing and then rewrite things and explore some more. For every page I like, I probably have written ten other pages just to distill into that one. (Probably more, but I'm not good at math either.)

Anyway, I'm about halfway through the story written (not posted), and I keep working on the ending to avoid writing the second part. Partly because of that, and because I'm going to have to retweak the beginning again (hopefully not drastically-- AGAIN), I don't post on a regular schedule. So if you've happened across here, hello! I don't really know what I'm doing here either.

The Sweetest Things

 "Who's gonna fuckin' stop me, Gus?"

Augustine stared at the wall. Every avenue she could think of had closed to her a long time ago. No friends. No family left, not that her family had ever been notable or important. No job. No connections. The few "clients" she had were unofficial, and would never support her. They couldn't or they risked putting themselves under scrutiny too.

Augustine sighed heavily. "Fine," she said, wiping at her eye with her free hand. "You're right."

She stared at him again. Gone were his soft, pale cheeks with the sweet brown freckles that had run over his nose and the tops of his cheeks. With his pale skin, and especially those freckles, he'd always stood out on the streets. People had been instinctively afraid of him except for her and Ray, but the two of them had known him for so long, he hadn't ever been a threat to them. Until this moment.

"C'mon, Gus. It'll be alright." He gave her wrist a small shake then reached down to pick up her back pack, holding it out to her so that she could put it on again under his watchful eye. "Besides- no offense- but you look like shit. Have you eaten anything in the last few months?"

Augustine was usually the one who'd throw out a one liner to ease tension, but this unexpectedly obvious observation worked in place of her lack of words and she brought up her hand to cover her nervous chuckle. His dark blue eyes caught the bit of nearby light and they glowed.

She held her fingers to her lips as she gave a small sniffle. "You always say the sweetest things," she half-croaked.

Ed let go of her wrist to take hold of her hand. "Only to you, Gus. C'mon. Let's go."

Halfheartedly, she tugged against him, but the fight had ended. Ed won, the same as he always had. She blinked, testing her drying eyes, rubbing at the last tear. "I just saw you-" Her voice caught, and she chose to stop speaking rather than start sobbing again. All the while, he quietly led her down the dark street, unconcerned and unafraid.

Because they were near the factories, there were a few working streetlights still, leading up to the large building. It cast a dark shadow over his face each time they passed directly under one.

"Yeah, Gus, I know. It doesn't change a fuckin' thing."

They'd all lived together once, her, Eddie, and Ray, but she found herself afraid of being alone with him now that Ray was gone. Ed was so much stronger than her, and he was right-- who would stop him? Already she'd learned a valuable lesson about how easy it was for another human to violate her person and how little other people gave a shit about it happening to someone else. Dark memories edged in on her thoughts and she touched her tongue to her two chipped front teeth. 

"Besides," he added darkly, "I know what you've been doing."

She hesitated, but Eddie just pulled her along. He sounded angry, and all of her years with him had warned her to never piss him off. "What are you talking about?"

"One of the factory workers gave me your description and said you were supposed to make a virus or some shit to take down the machines."

The person she saw Eddie take down wouldn't have been able to give him a description as he'd never met her. Augustine frowned as she put her fingers to her lips, tears still in her lashes. He'd probably gotten all of them then. What did that mean for her? She whispered with a small hitch in her throat, "You don't know it was me."

"I do, Gus. I knew the second he described you."

She gave another tug against his forced march, but it did nothing to slow him. Her stomach sank. If Eddie knew about the job she was supposed to do for the rebelling factory workers, what did that mean for her? Had the man from earlier been after her for the same reason? But if that had been the case, then he would have jumped on her much quicker than he did. Instead, he's spent time watching her closely, and then he took his sweet time following after her when she left the café.

Augustine glanced at Eddie again, that sinking feeling weighing her down. Their reunion after all these years stirred up conflicting feelings in her of hope and fright. She whispered, "What are you gonna do, Ed?"

As they neared one of the factories, more working streetlights started to appear. Ed stopped under one to turn to her. Under the light, looking down at her, a shadow fell over his face, darkening his already hardened eyes. "What do you think? I'm fucking taking you home with me."