Cynetic Wolf
ARSON

We were sparring and I swung Lars into a choke. I was getting ready to finish it when a notification flashed. Opening it to the side, I squeezed, locking in.

‘Breaking News. A small animote town a few hours outside Itany is no more. I’m Richad Daks reporting live from Kiag, home of the notorious terrorist and criminal Raek Mekorian, which burned to the ground last night. As you can see,’ he panned to the surroundings.

I released Lars, falling to the ground. My arms fell to my sides.

‘There is nothing left,’ the reporter continued. ’An entire town, erased from the map, and there don’t appear to be survivors.’

No survivors? A shiver shot through me. Everyone...

‘The cause of the fire is unknown, it’s unclear why there wasn’t more effort to fight it,’ Daks droned on as his words blurred in my mind. ‘Investigators on scene... ...multiple fires at once... arson… ...glad this wasn’t our home… ...linked to Raek Mekorian? Did he destroy his hometown? All this and more. Until next time—’

Shivering spasms shot through me as I closed it. “They’re dead. They are all dead.”

“What are you talking about, kid?” Lars knelt and put his hand on my shoulder. “Who’s dead? What happened?”

“My town, my home, all of them… they’re gone!” How was this possible? “No survivors.” Burned alive... “They’re all dead, someone killed ’em. They’re saying I did it.”

“Why would they think—Wait, no survivors?”

“The reporter said it, he said it, damn it!” I yelled. “He said maybe I set the fire or maybe they deserved it.”

“The whole town?” Lars bit his lip. “Doesn’t seem possible.”

“I know. But that’s what they said...”

“Hold on a sec, kid. There are three possibilities: the DNS burned your town to teach you a lesson, they did it to lure you there or it isn’t real and they are trying to trick you into going anyway. Either way, they want to mess with your head.”

“Well, it’s working.” I curled my arms around my knees, rocking back and forth. Toras, Pavel, Mikey...

“We’re done for the day. I want you to meditate. Go inside, now! Sit on the floor and relax. We will talk later. You aren’t thinking straight.”

“I’m going to kill ’em,” I managed through gritted teeth. “I’m going to kill every last one!” I crumpled into his arms, choking back tears. “They are all dead. My family, my friends, everyone... It’s my fault.”

“Come on, kid.” He led me into the cabin, helping me sit. “Breath, just breathe. I’ll be outside if you need me. You’ll be okay.”

He was right, I knew he was. But damn it, screw meditating. I didn’t want to feel okay! How could I? I didn’t deserve to… This wasn’t just about me though, I couldn’t afford to be selfish.

Deep breath, another. My breathing slowed and the pain, the world, everything faded away. When I opened my eyes, the sun was setting, darkness encroaching the wild land. I heard Lars outside and smelled a tantalizing meaty aroma. I opened the door.

“Welcome to the world of the living, kid.”

“How long was I in there?”

“About six hours.” He turned the meat. “I checked on you a few times, but you were so focused and peaceful, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Smells good. Elk?”

He nodded, worry lines creasing his face. “How you feeling?”

“Better, a lot better. Thanks. Wait, I need to check something.” I connected to the animote and elite webs and fired anonymous, multi-factor encrypted messages to everyone I knew back home.

Are you okay? Saw the news. Reply to this, don’t say anything you wouldn’t want them to read. -R

People would know, but it was cryptic enough to avoid detection.

Next, I posted to several radical forums about the fire. Was it real?

Finding Zedda’s old contact info, I sent her a message. She’d told me things she’d never told anyone else. There was something about her, I knew I could trust her.

Sorry about leaving. Will be back. Fitz was murdered. Don’t tell Council. - R.

When I finished, I told Lars what I’d done.

“Good. Don’t say anything about us or where we are.” He lifted the slabs of meat from the spit and set them on small wooden plates from the kitchen. “Let’s eat. Remind me after about TOR4.”

It was incredible, one of the best meals of my life. Something about a bloody piece of meat relaxed me. Life felt simpler.

When we finished, I said, “So, TOR4?”

“Yeah.” Lars reached into his bag and attached his band. “So, TOR4’s peer-to-peer, not controlled by any company or government. Perfect for our purposes. For instance, let’s see if this fire is real.” His fingers flew through the air.

“Here we go.” Images appeared. A thread of comments. The schoolyard, the market, my favorite restaurant… all of it charred black, lying in ruin. “Says it’s real, kid,” he murmured.

“So, they are all dead…” Wow... “Don’t worry,” I added. “I’m not going to say we have to go there. That’s what they want. I won’t play into their hands, won’t give ’em the satisfaction.”

“Good. I was a little worried.”

“We can pretend though, what if we tricked the DNS into thinking we are coming? Could we use that to our advantage?”

“Maybe.” He raised an eyebrow. “What’d you have in mind?”

I outlined the beginnings of a plan.

“That could work,” he said when I finished. “It will take a little help, but that might just work.”

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