Chapter 5
Keaton was up early to check his phone. Olivia hadn’t replied yet, which was odd. He wouldn’t have cared but he needed that twenty thousand ions to pay for rent or at the very least buy groceries and replace his broken oven.
Life was full of disappointments, he was used to that.
A warm shower should be able to relax his nerves. He made sure to turn the radio on again to listen to the morning news. Lily wouldn’t be on it, but he needed to know everything going on for him to properly make decisions about what contracts to take if he were to get back to it.
In the middle of his shower, the water started warm before it trickled like cold icicles to his skin. He glared at the showerhead like it was his enemy and turned the knob back and forth but the water temperature didn’t adjust with it. Did he also forget to pay his water and electric bills? At that point he was convinced he was in dire need of several contracts.
After putting on clothes, jeans and a shirt, he tested the light switch. The bulbs didn’t light up. No groceries for me when that twenty thousand then. He opened his fridge to take everything that would spoil and eat them. That wasn’t a problem because the only thing his fridge was stocked with was one last beer and a slice of cake from the neighbor a couple of days ago.
He scrunched his nose and took the petite plate, devouring the slice of cake with his hand.
The lights flickered back on all of the sudden. He halted his movements, observing the bright bulb seconds before it blinked like a disco ball. He did pay his bills. Something else was causing it. No, someone.
Keaton went back to his bedroom, opening the drawer of his nightstand to take his gun before heading out to peek at the hallway. Even the lights on the hallway were flickering.
It was either an Anomaly was hiding in the building all along or a lost one was passing by.
He went down the basement where the fusebox was. His instincts were telling him someone was deliberately tampering with their power and he was right. Standing by the fusebox was a curvy figure in black clothes, electricity sparked around her like an aura, her long black hair mixed with streaks of blue.
The basement was the landlord’s stockroom. All the crap and antiques were boxed to rot for who-knows-how-long.
Keaton didn’t make a single sound yet before he could raise his weapon, the woman turned around, shooting him with a jolt of electricity from her fingers. It hits his gun, covering it with enough voltage to make him drop it like he was holding fire.
“So there really was a mercenary in the building,” she said with a smile.
“Yeah, I live here. What about you?” Keaton quickly pulled out his knife from back pocket and threw it at the woman.
The woman tilted her head to the side and the knife missed her temple. “As if I’d tell you.” She formed a ball of electricity in her palms, her eyes glowing blue.
“Well, I mean if you live here I could drop by and say hi sometimes.” Keaton shrugged.
When the woman blasted another ball of high voltage electricity, Keaton quickly rolled towards her, grabbed her arm and twisted it. The voltage sliced through the ceiling and down the wall as he knocked her off her feet.
She screamed and this time her entire body generated electric current that stung him and propelled him like a shockwave. He crashed onto the boxes of antiques and the woman got up, hugging her limp arm.
“What the hell happened here?” a man’s voice came from outside.
Keaton crawled out of the mess of crushed boxes and shattered antiques, looking up at the new arrival. Their landlord was still in their PJs under his loose robe, gray hair pointed in random directions.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed, Clarke?” he yelled at the woman. Then he turned to Keaton. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
The mercenary and the woman caught each other’s gaze, the kind that felt like they had telepathy but didn’t. They just knew that secrets must be kept and so raising the white flag was their best option. Keaton didn’t mind. He liked this apartment and he liked this landlord.
“I won’t,” Keaton said. Then he glanced at the woman, hoping she wouldn’t spill either what he was.
Rhys, the landlord, nodded at Keaton in relief then directed his attention to the woman. “Apologize to Mr. Keaton.”
“Sorry,” the woman said and walked up the stairs.
Rhys quickly helped Keaton back on his feet, muttering continuous apologies. “Please don’t worry about this month’s rent. Just please don’t tell anyone. Clarke is all I have left after the Anti-Anomaly campaign had the rest of my family killed.”
Keaton acknowledged with a nod. It wasn’t new that there were families where everyone were Anomalies, families where only one wasn’t or families where only one is. That didn’t worry Keaton, what worried him was that his supposed refuge was now compromised with an Anomaly… and he really loved this apartment.
It was closer to Lily’s house, closer to his workplace, but most importantly, closer to Lily’s house. Keaton paused, maybe he only had two reasons.
“I don’t think you can hide this.” Keaton pointed at the sliced ceiling then the walls.
“I’ll find a way. Don’t forget to lock the door.” Rhys patted him in the back before walking up the stairs.
Keaton picked up his gun and walked back to his apartment room. No rent to pay sounded good enough bribe to keep his mouth shut about the Electro Anomaly. On the other hand, he took the marker from the nightstand and added a new name on the bottom of his board.
His phone beeped two different tones. He recognized one was the notification from the bank app and the other a text message. Keaton snatched his phone from the table and slouched on the couch, opening his inbox.
Olivia: Good job. Money sent.
He chuckled. She wasn't one to stay for a chat. Now he had money for groceries and for next month’s rent. Keaton grabbed his coat from the hanger, glancing at the shiny little object near his car keys. The token from that non-hobo girl the other day. He had enough free time in his hands, doing a little research.
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