Meet The Rifters

Chapter Six: The Rifters

A birds-eye view of Night-Wing would show you a rather large black rectangle, of course was the outer wall that protected the city from the Dead Zone. Only one gate allowed entry and exit into the city, and it sat in the centre of the northern wall. This was due to the fact it was near the CODERS and they had regular routine patrols just outside the border. In the large rectangle you would see several different blocks, or Rez’s as they were known by citizens, each Rez was labelled by a letter, from A-O. However, you would not find a block K, as the general public was superstitious about this letter. There was little stock in what they said, but it originated from the name of one of the founders of Night-Wing who had attempted to integrate the city with the Dead Zone. That hadn’t gone down particularly well with the original Governors, especially after he was killed by a rogue mutant creature.

So, Night-Wing was made up of six different Rez’s and five quarters for the different industries, the Commodities Industry was given their own streets within each Rez. On the west side of the city lay Rez’s A-F, in the centre were G and H and on the east side were I-O. The poorest members of the city lived in A, B, C, M, N, and O Rez. Slightly further towards the centre you had D, E, J, and L Rez who were one wealth class above the aforementioned residents. Then, you had F and I Rez, who were the second-highest wealth class.

Finally, in the very centre of the city, you had G and H Rez, where the extremely wealthy lived, and these two surrounded the Ocliven which sat at the heart of Night-Wing, surrounded by a moat. The moat had two bridges connecting the East to the Centre and the West to the Centre, the only way to pass through the city. They were coincidently also near the Education and Financial Services Quarters as well as the Hospital and CODERS. Essentially, the closer to the centre you lived, the wealthier you were and the easier your access was to crucial landmarks.

Night-Wing’s orphanage sat at the north-western part of the city, near A Rez, and was filled with children who’d been left on the street outside. The other Industry Quarters were scattered amongst the city, although it was interesting to note that the Mining Quarter was near B Rez whereas the Science and Technology Quarter was near I Rez. Needless to say, it was very clear who and what was favoured in Night-Wing.

Not only did the income levels alter as you grew closer to the centre of the city, but so did the colour scheme of the buildings. At the outermost points you would find mostly monotone grey, but slightly further in you would find pure black and at the central most part you would find a combination of black, silver, and on the Ocliven even gold.

Cybrus had designed the city in this way to ensure that the wealth divide was not so brutally obvious, rather a gradual change from area to area. Primarily because he was a man who liked being around people of his own ilk, but also to dissuade any potential unrest. This also allowed CODERS to keep an eye on certain locations.

The Rifters occupied the southwest part of the city, between the Mining Quarter and The Sacred Space. This was for two reasons, firstly, the waste products of the Mining Quarter were especially helpful for the Rifters as they required them for the process of making treble and bass. Secondly, it was far enough away from the CODERS that they generally had a good amount of warning to scatter before a patrol visit. The Rifters had been founded in the 23rd Era, by a certain young man who had failed to complete his Coming of Age training, took it upon himself to change life on the streets.

What had started as a band of misfits trying to scrape a living had turned into something quite admirable. The Rifters had transformed one of the old warehouses from the early years of Night-Wing into their own Compound, it wasn’t intricately built and it wasn’t ‘fashionable’ by Night-Wing standards, but it was a place to call home. It was a shelter for those who had given up on everything life had to offer, and it offered a family to those who had been rejected by their own. Not only this, but the Rifters provided people with an income and a career of sorts, they were perhaps the main reason there hadn’t been another rebellion.

Although the Government would never acknowledge the truth, silently they all thanked the Void for the formation of the Rifters. It kept peace on the streets and it kept the wealthy residents very happy as they were far away from the Rifters but were also able to get treble and bass with ease. If you ever found a Rifter in the central part of the city handling a deal, CODERS would tend to turn a blind eye to the activity they saw. However, if you were further out, you ran a high risk of being arrested. For the most part, members of the Rifters were generally happy, they all adored their charming roguish leader, and were grateful they had been offered another opportunity at life.

The Rifter’s second-in-command was Faye, a girl of twenty who lacked social etiquette but made up for this with her spades of intelligence. Faye was in truth, the brains behind the Rifters, from ensuring new members were fully trained, to keeping a close eye on the production schedule and planning the future of the Guild with its leader. On this particular Friday evening, in the attic of the Rifters’ Compound, Faye is over-seeing a treble cooking by a new batch of recruits. The interior colours of the Compound were different to most buildings in Night-Wing, made up of an array of earthy tones, from rich browns to soft oranges, hues of yellow, pink, and green with the occasional tinge of red. The attic occupied the entire top floor of the Compound and was filled with tables and what appeared to be chemistry sets. A large blackboard hung on the back wall and contained diagrams and instruction lists written by Faye herself.

Faye is leaning against one of the tables, scrutinizing the group of four who are carefully heating silver liquid in a triangular test tube. Rils, one of the new recruits, was kicked out of Government training twelve days ago. Faye looks at him curiously, generally, those who chose the Government at their coming-of-age came from the wealthier districts, but Rils had grown up in N Rez. It’s also important to note, that although you were generally allowed to be accepted into your secondary should you fail primary training if you made a huge mistake you were not afforded this privilege. Faye had been wondering what exactly Rils had done ever since he’d set foot in the Rifters Compound, but knowing it wasn’t her place to ask had begun training him as quickly as possible.

Rils is sweating, not just from the heat of the flames underneath the test tube, but from the pressure of doing this perfectly. Although Faye was accepting of all into the Rifters, she was very fierce, if you made a mistake you would certainly know about it. Rils had been told by one of the older members that once he’d seen Faye make someone cook a treble batch seven times until they’d got it right. Rils hoped this wouldn’t be a repeat.

“Mask.” He hears, and jolts his head up, looking at Faye who is pointing at his face.

“What?” He stammers anxiously.

Faye sighs in mild frustration, before pointing to her mask. “Your mask isn’t on properly, if you’re not careful you’ll inhale the fumes.”

“Right, sorry Faye.” Rils quickly pulls his mask back up and returns his gaze to the test tube.

“But the fumes won’t kill us? Right, Miss Faye?” Another boy asks, and Faye shakes her head.

“No they won’t, but don’t think I’ll be the one looking after you when you’re so high you can barely speak.” 

The group of four exchange a look, and Faye smiles behind her mask.

“Okay, the liquid is starting to bubble, we need to get the vials ready.” Dayon, the member on Rils’ left says, and moves to get a rack of vials.

“No, that’s not the next step. We need to place the test tube in the icebox over there, uncork it and leave it for a few minutes. Once it’s cooled, then we pour it into the vials and shake them to crystallise.” Rils counts the steps on his fingers as he lists them off, looking to Faye for confirmation.

She lowers her head in confirmation of what Rils has said, and Dayon brings the icebox over. The four carefully place the test tube into the icebox, removing the cork and placing the lid on top of it. They look at the clock on the wall, slowly counting down the seconds until the next minute. Faye wasn’t one for small-talk, so when Dayon attempted it during the two-minute wait, she flashed them a look and that was enough to shut Dayon up.

Two minutes pass and Rils carefully removes the lid, taking a pipette, he transfers the liquid from the test tube to the vials. The others begin shaking the vials as Rils fills them. When the third vial is shaken, there’s a loud crack and glass shatters across the table, a fragment bouncing back and slicing Rils’ forehead. Faye rushes forward, grabbing the test tube from him and placing it back in the icebox, whilst ushering the others to move out of the way.

“What did I do wrong?” Rils places a hand to his brow, wiping the sweat off it.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, it was a good cooking. You, however.” Faye wheels round to look at Kora who is responsible for shaking the third vial. 

“I, I did what the others were doing!” Kora protests and Faye raises a hand to silence her.

“You shook the vial too soon, you picked it up before Dayon shook the second one. Remember what I taught you during lessons, if you shake it too fast the vial will break and you can hurt someone. Or in this case, you did.”

Faye looks down at Kora who turns her face to the ground, eyes glassy with emotion. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.” She murmurs, her shoulders weary with defeat.

“It’s alright.” Faye says briskly, not one for comforting crying Rifters. “Just be careful next time, luckily it’s only one vial that’s been lost so we can still make a good batch out of the rest. Dayon and Sanyah, you shake the remaining vials and place them into the storage fridges. Kora, you can take Rils to the medic station and patch him up.”

“Yes, Miss Faye.” The four say in unison before scurrying off to their duties. 

Faye walks to the door next to the blackboard to retrieve a brush, she scoops up the broken vial shards and frozen treble, carefully depositing them in the bin. Walking back to the main table, she begins tidying up the cooking equipment, carefully cleaning the pestle, mortar, knives, pot, and spoon. After returning the equipment and ingredients to their rightful places, she looks around at the empty attic room. The attic’s walls were painted a taupe shade, although the paint was beginning to peel around the windowsills and two doorways. The dark brown tables and chairs were dispersed across the room, and a few notebooks had been left.

Faye rubs her temples, the evening was her least favourite time as this was when Rifter members clocked off and enjoyed dinner’s merriment. Faye preferred order, structure, a schedule. Day-to-day business suited her, she was a fantastic teacher already, wise beyond her years, and kept the Rifters operations running smoothly. Without her, no matter how charismatic their leader was, the Rifters would fall apart. Faye rolls her shoulders back, stretching out her muscles and easing the tension in her body before tidying up the rest of the attic. As she’s tucking the last chair under the table she hears a familiar pair of footsteps climbing the staircase.

Turning round slowly, her eyes fall upon the honey-tongued leader of the Rifters, who’s grinning widely at her.

“What are you doing here?” Faye demands impatiently.

“Uh, excuse me. Is that any way to talk to your boss?”

“That’s funny, last Saturday you told me we were ‘good friends Faye, not colleagues’.” Faye gesticulates wildly as she impersonates him, and he responds with a deep belly laugh.

“Is that how I sound?”

“Yes, that was a completely accurate depiction, tone and all.”

He scratches his chin thoughtfully, staring behind her at the blackboard. “I love your lists, very detailed.” 

Faye folds her arms defensively. “A detailed list leaves little room for error. Or would you rather we had more botched cooking’s?”

“I hear there was a botched cooking tonight.” He muses.

“Hardly botched, one of the newbies accidentally shook a vial too quickly. Just the one we lost.”

“Say that to Rils’ forehead.” 

“I’m sure his precious forehead will survive one minor cut.” Faye retorts, her steely gaze fixed upon him.

“Thank god you’re not looking after him, or he might be dead by morning.” 

Faye picks up a notebook and hurls it in his general direction, ducking behind a door it sails out over the staircase and lands in the Common Room below.

“You are such an ass sometimes Kai.” Seething, Faye storms up the stairs and shoves past him with her shoulder.

Kai grins wickedly, and grabs Faye by her arm, pulling her back to him. “Don’t be like that now Faye. What would I do without you? You quite literally are the heart and soul of this place.” 

Faye shoves Kai’s hand off her arm, glaring at him. “More like the brains and lungs, you’re the heart and soul, all talk no action.” 

Kai whistles loudly. “Oof, we are feeling angry today. Is it the new earring?” He gestures to the small gold ring hanging from his left earlobe. “I’m not sure it suits me, I preferred the silver.”

“I prefer it when you’re not in my way.” 

“You wound me grievously, how shall I ever recover?” Kai falls to the floor in a mockingly dramatic fashion and Faye shrugs her shoulders.

“Seeing as I’m no help, I suggest you find Ahbel, he should soothe your pain.” Faye rolls her eyes and begins descending the steps to the Dining Hall. 

Kai has his eyes closed and is lying on the landing outside the attic pretending to be dead, entirely unaware that Faye has already left. It is in fact Dayon, walking back up the stairs that causes Kai to open one eye, looking curiously at them.

“What are you doing down there?” Dayon looks puzzled at him.

“Having a rest, it’s a nightmare looking after you lot.” Kai replies and holds up a hand towards Dayon. “Mind pulling me up?”

Dayon nods, and grabs Kai’s hand, helping him to his feet.

“If you’re looking for Faye, she’s heading down to the Dining Hall.” Dayon offers and Kai clasps his hands together in prayer, pressing them to his forehead and nodding in Dayton’s direction.

“Grand, thank you Dayon, I am in your debt.” 

Dayon grins happily at Kai. “Anytime Mister Kai.”

Kai pretends to heave at this. “Ugh please, I’d rather scrape my eyeballs out with a broken spoon than ever be called that. Kai is just fine.”

“Sorry, anytime Kai.”

Kai smiles at him and holds out a hand for a high-five which Dayon joyously returns. Kai turns and heads down the steps of his Compound to the Dining Hall. Friday nights were riotous entertainment, often ending in horrific or hilarious activities depending on who you were. As he descends the final step into the Dining Hall, Kai is greeted by smiling faces and grateful eyes. You see, Kai was perhaps the most charismatic person in all of Night-Wing. It was impossible not to feel delighted when you spoke to him, even if you actively tried not to, his charisma and quick wit made him a very popular leader for the Rifters. It also made him excellent at obtaining new clients and retaining old ones, not only as a result of withdrawal symptoms, but so many people liked doing business with Kai.

As the Rifters had expanded over the ten years since their founding, Kai had very quickly become unable to provide all the merchandise, after three years, what had been a group of originally fourteen members had become fifty. Now, ten years since their founding, the Rifters had 183 members currently with them. No Rifter had left since joining the Guild, even if they had been arrested by the CODERS and shoved into prison, Kai was always there to either bail them out or break them out. His humility, graft, and commitment to his people inspired great loyalty, and so Rifters couldn’t help themselves but smile when they saw Kai.

Kai high-fives a few young Rifters, asking about their days and whether or not Faye has been a strict teacher. Kai heads over to the cooks and rubs his hands together.

“Tell me Gyanna, how has your Friday been?” Kai inquires of the Head Chef who beams back at him.

“Not too bad, I’ve only had one little sod say he didn’t like breakfast.”

Kai tuts at this, shaking his head in disapproval. “Did you give them a good talking to?” He inquires.

“I told him if he didn’t like my cooking he could piss off, or he could try cooking for one hundred and eighty-three people instead.” Gyanna says with a toothy grin.

“I am delighted to hear you’ve not lost your charm. That’s the very reason I hired you.”

“Hired me? I created the job for myself because your cooking was so shit.”

“Outrageous, I am an excellent forager.” Kai puffs his chest out proudly.

“One time you claimed you brought back edible bark and it was just mud.” Gyanna arches an eyebrow at Kai who runs a hand through his hair.

“Well, at least I tried, that’s all I can say.” 

“That you did. Now, what would you like for dinner?”

Kai peers over, looking at the different dining options available for today. Tapping a foot in thought he flicks his gaze between the stew and the pie.

“I will have a slice of that very fine pie I see over there.” Kai points at it and Gyanna laughs, cutting him a large slice and heaping some rehydrated potatoes and carrots onto his plate.

“As you wish. Gravy too?”

Kai gasps in shock. “Would I ever disgrace a pie by not having gravy?” 

Gyanna huffs in amusement and pours the gravy over his plate. “Drinks, forks, and knives are over there.” She jerks her thumb to the left and Kai nods gratefully.

“It’s been a pleasure.” He remarks and heads over in the direction of the counter.

After pouring himself a rather large glass of peddlar, a liquid that at a generous exaggeration looked like some form of beer, walked over to the largest table in the Dining Hall. Kai sits down next to his oldest companions, who all greet him with grunts of acknowledgment.

“Wow, it’s not a party in here today. What have I missed?” Kai studies their faces and they all shoot him an unamused look.

After a pause, Kai is unsure if they’re teasing him or being serious. He spears a mouthful of pie with his fork and practically inhales it before looking once again at his group of friends.

“Merry, seriously, what’s up?” Kai inquires and Merrac, or Merry as Kai called him, shrugs.

“I don’t know, the others are pissed at you so I’m just joining in because you can’t stand serious conversations.” Merrac says whilst shoveling rehydrated potatoes onto his fork.

“We’re pissed at you because you did a deal in The Sacred Space.” Eveleyn states, she sits opposite Kai and places her tankard down on the table.

“Oh come on, it was one kid! Everyone else was busy, if I hadn’t done it then he’d not have got the merch and people’d lose faith in us. I did it for all of us.” Kai places his hand on the table, reaching over to touch Eveleyn who pulls it away from him.

“You didn’t do it for all of us. You do it for yourself because you love breaking the rules. You can’t stick to a damn thing we tell you and one day it’s going to bite you in the ass.” Eveleyn leans back in her seat, looking at the others for support.

“Eve is kinda right Kai, I hate to say it but if you do those little drops around here you run the risk of being caught by the scum CODERS. You’re the face of the Rifters, we need you and you’re only supposed to go for high-level transfers.” Jayed offers his words carefully, although Kai wasn’t one to get angry, he was one to deflect without taking on board the severity of a matter. 

Kai rubs his eyes in exasperation, looking at Faye who is sitting quietly minding her own business. 

“What do you think blue jay?” Kai asks, and Faye stiffens at the use of her nickname.

“I think you never listen to me so there’s no point offering my thoughts.” She doesn’t meet Kai’s gaze as she turns the page of the book on the table.

“You haven’t asked my thoughts.” Ashtom interjects, leaning in front of Jayed to pick up the bottle of peddlar in the middle of the table.

“That’s because your thoughts are never particularly useful Ash.” Kai taunts and Ashtom offers a rather crude gesture as he refills his glass.

Kai sits in silence for several moments, looking at his five friends with a grimace of resignation. The rules were clear, they always had been, but Kai had formed the Rifters on the basis of telling the rules to fuck off. It wasn’t in his nature to follow them, and no matter what Eveleyn said, he couldn’t help but test the waters, even if it was only a little. 

“Alright. I fucked it. I won’t do it again.” Kai murmurs quietly, eating some more pie. 

The others stop eating and drinking in disbelief, looking wide-eyed at Kai, who is suddenly very interested in the carrots on his plate.

“Excuse me?” Eveleyn leans forward, waiting for Kai to reply who remains silent.

“I don’t believe it, the mighty Kai has finally admitted he’s wrong?” Jayed teases loudly so that a few others from the table behind begin looking over.

“I’m admitting I should be less reckless.” Kai almost whispers, and Eveleyn mockingly puts a hand behind her ear.

“I’m sorry you’re going to have to speak up, we can’t quite hear you there.” She says provocatively and Kai slams his fork down, before jumping up onto the bench the others are sitting at.

“I was wrong oh my dear Eveleyn, please accept my humble apologies and know that I shall never disobey you again.” Kai bows theatrically and applause breaks out from the rest of the Dining Hall, accompanied by whoops, cheers, and roaring laughter.

Kai grins from ear-to-ear as he returns to his seat and Eveleyn’s brow furrows in irritation, watching Kai consume his dinner at great speed. Faye ignores Kai’s theatrics, and the other three laugh loudly at the chaos that has erupted as a result. Amid the frantic noise, Kai leans forward and whispers in Eveleyn’s ear.

“I’ll behave, I promise.”

Eveleyn pushes him back into his seat, her lip twitching in betrayal as she attempts to hide her elation at finally getting through to him.

Kai and his friends continue chatting casually over dinner, the friendly banter and provocation returning almost instantaneously. Just as Kai is preparing to tell a joke relating to Valdair, he is tapped on the shoulder by Stejn, who is fidgeting anxiously.

“What’s wrong Stejn?” Kai places a hand on his shoulder consolingly.

“It’s just, it’s my first post curfew drop tonight and you said a few days ago to come to you if I was feeling nervous.” Stejn’s breathing is heightened as he rubs his clammy palms on his trousers.

Kai looks at him calmly, and holding both shoulders captures Stejn’s attention entirely.

“You’re going to be absolutely fine. It’s a simple drop, and you’ve been to C Rez before, nothing is going to go wrong. If you hear a CODER patrol, head for The Sacred Space, it’s only a few minutes from the drop point. Remember the hiding spot I showed you there?” 

Stejn nods, his breathing slowly returning to a normal rate.

“Look, it’s more important to me that you come back unharmed than you make the drop, if something happens, it happens. We can always try again tomorrow.”

Straightening up, Stejn lets out an exhale of relief and looks up gratefully at Kai. “Thank you, I got in my head for a minute there.” He confesses.

“We all do, it’s important that we’re surrounded by people who can bring us out of it, and we’re all family here, you can rely on the Rifters.” Kai squeezes Stejn’s shoulder comfortingly, Stejn with a reignited sense of purpose nods at Kai and heads to the exit of the Compound.

The evening rapidly descends into drunken merriment, as it usually did on a Friday evening. Eveleyn and Faye grimace distastefully at the drinking games spurred on by Ashtom and Kai, whilst Jayed mischievously cheers it all on. Despite what Faye might say about Friday evenings, she couldn’t help but look around the Dining Hall and feel a great sense of pride at what Kai had created and what she was helping build. The Rifters were a signal of hope, a reminder that the Governors didn’t control everything and you had a chance to choose your path in life, regardless of whatever laws they threw in your face.

Kai is half-focused on the game, half-focused on Stejn, tracing the route in his mind and making a note of when they should expect his return. He had a deep fondness for those who were genuine about their fears and hopes with him, Stejn had always been incredibly authentic ever since he first arrived at the Rifters six months ago, Kai would be sure to congratulate him in the morning. Unfortunately for Kai, there would be no congratulating, as Stejn was about to enter his final hour in Night-Wing.