Kingdom of Cages(8)

Eventually she gained enough on one of the boys to grab him by the shoulder and spin him around to face her.

“What’s your bug?” she asked, stepping back. “Or are you just a bunch of tinkies who don’t like girls?”

“Listen to this one,” said the taller boy. His skin was dark brown, like the bark on the trees around them, and his hair was a pale sandy red. Freckles covered his face, including one huge one under his right eye. “It thinks it’s got something.”

“Maybe I do.” Chena folded her arms. “What would you know about it? You’re too scared to even talk. Where’s the rest of your tinky friends? They hiding too? Too scared without their mommies?”

The tallest boy’s fists went up. Chena raised her own fists. She’d figured this might happen. On the station, there was usually a fight when a new kid came in, and she’d been ready for it. If she could get this over with now, there was less of a chance of Teal getting beaten up later. Teal was a major boil, but nobody laid hands on her.

But, God, this kid was tall. She spread her feet and got ready to duck when he threw his punch.

His arm went back and Chena tensed, but the other kid, this one stocky and pale tan, grabbed the tall kid’s arm before he could throw the punch.

“Not worth it, Shond,” he said. “We show up busted in, we’re gonna have extra duty for a month.” He shoved Shond’s arm down. Then he looked at Chena. “So what do you think your name is?”

“Chena Trust.” She loosened her fists. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m Hyder. You almost got hit by Shond.” He cuffed the tall kid. “Where’re you from?”

“Athena Station.” Chena relaxed her stance. Maybe she wouldn’t have to fight after all. She wondered what Hyder meant by getting “extra duty.”

Shond snorted. “Station kid? Hall’s balls, what’re we bothering her for? She’ll be in the dorms for a week, and then her mom’ll be selling her off for body parts or to one of the freak towns. Some guy probably paid to put her up her mom’s cunt anyway.”

Chena stepped forward, suddenly ready to get as far into it as this piss-mouth wanted to go. “Say it again,” she dared him. “Go on. I want to hear how good you talk, dickless.”

“Shond!” A girl’s voice this time. She shoved her way past Chena. She was tall, broad in the shoulder, and just starting to get a pair of breasts. She had thick arms and legs and shared Shond’s red hair and freckles. “What the shit-all are you doing? The cop’s in town! He’s going to be doing a vid review before the end of the day, and won’t he just love to see your pretty face on it?” She shoved him, hard, so he stumbled backward. “You want to punch somebody, you punch me and see what’s what!”

“Back off, Sadia,” sulked Shond. “We were just messing.”

Sadia turned to Chena and fixed her with a glower that rivaled Mom’s on a bad day. “You just messing?”

“Not anymore,” Chena told her, without taking her eyes off Shond, who pretty much had to be this girl’s brother.

Sadia swung back around to face Shond and his buddy. “Get out, Shond, or I’m telling the cop how you fixed the duty sheets, and won’t that just make you look like the good kid.”

Sadia and Shond stared each other down for a minute, and then Shond’s gaze flickered back to Chena.

But it was Hyder who smacked him again. “Come on, Shond, Let’s cut. Nothing doing here.”

“Right.” Shond turned away reluctantly, and he and Hyder ran down the path, vanishing between the buildings.

Sadia looked Chena up and down. Chena held her ground without flinching. “He start that?” Sadia asked finally, jerking her chin in the direction the boys had run off.

Chena shrugged. “I sort of let him.”

“Easy to do. I’m Sadia. Shond’s my brother,” she added, confirming Chena’s guess.

Chena introduced herself and they touched foreheads to each other in abbreviated salutes. “What’s his bug?” she asked, gesturing after Shond.

Sadia shrugged. “Hates being a dorm baby. Always has to get into it.”

“Don’t all the kids live in the dorms?” asked Chena, glad to have a source of information.

“Balls, no.” Sadia shook her head and then cocked an eyebrow toward Chena. “You just slide down the pipe?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Chena leaned her back against the wall. It felt cool behind her, partly shaded by the eaves with their overhang of moss.

Sadia leaned beside Chena and folded her arms across her chest. “Then you haven’t got the talk yet?”