#sarvock

“Shit,” one of the peace officers groaned, “Lost them.”

“Should we keep looking?”

“No, let’s just get back on patrol. Either of you get a good look?”

A chorus of no’s muttered through the air as they started walking away. Ganex was relieved. It hadn’t occurred to him that having a mask or face paint would probably help him if this ever happened again. Since he wasn’t planning on stopping, the likelihood of being spotted again was high. He’d get a mask for next time.

He waited until the sounds of their steps disappeared completely before coming out of his hiding spot. He looked up at the signpost, Synlex Street. Good, only a few blocks from home. So long as he kept an eye out for more officers, he should be fine.

He kept to the alleys as he made the jog back, anywhere with low lights where he could keep to the shadows as much as possible. A transport flew overhead and he ducked behind another dumpster. There was always more security on this side of town. Once it was gone, he started walking again, passing by a few stores his family often shopped at. He couldn’t help but stop by one of the bakeries he’d go to with his mother. The owner always displayed a few loaves of bread and cakes in the window to draw in potential customers. There were still a few out. Ganex’s stomach growled the longer he stared at them. He hadn’t eaten anything since about noon. When he got home, he’d have to scrounge for something there. Still, the bread looked delicious.

“Come here, you little brat!” Someone grabbed him from behind and shoved him against the wall. Ganex yelled, not realizing that another peace officer came around the corner to this street. Having the officer pin his head against the stone wall was terrifying. They grabbed the top of his backpack and yanked it off his back. It opened and his other spray paint cans and notebooks fell out on the concrete.

“Get off me!” Ganex shouted as the peace officer pulled his arm back behind him. It hurt so much he worried his shoulder would be dislocated. He gritted his teeth as his eyes started to water.

“Spray paint, huh? I’m arresting you for suspected vandalism and curfew violation. You’re coming with—”

The officer’s sentence ended with a thwack and a pained grunt. They let go and Ganex turned around just as they fell to the ground. He looked up at a new figure, a tall man with crimson red hair and a bat clenched in his hand. His eyes widened as they darted between the stranger and the now unconscious peace officer.

“You okay, kid?” The stranger asked as he rested his bat on his shoulder. Ganex stepped back until he was pressed against the wall. His caution made the stranger chuckle. “Don’t worry, okay? I just knocked out a Council lackey for you, so I’m not gonna hurt you or anything.”

“I—I mean—Is, is he…?” Ganex was almost afraid to say the words.

“Dead? No, if I wanted the fucker dead, it’d be a lot more obvious.”

He dropped the bat on the ground next to the officer and started picking up the contents of Ganex’s backpack. Ganex crouched down and started stuffing things in his pack as fast as he could. The stranger came across one of his notebooks, opened to a drawing of one of the resistance symbols Ganex had put up a few times.

“Hey, I know this,” the stranger held the picture up to the light, “Are you the guy putting up resistance graffiti around town?”

Ganex held his breath and reached to grab the notebook from his hands. “N-No, that’s nothing!”

“C’mon, dude,” the stranger pulled it away before he could grab it, “You’ve got like a dozen cans of paint and doodles in your notebook, it’s definitely you.”

Ganex clenched his hand tightly, the muscles in his jaw straining as he tensed. “Are… are you gonna report me?”

“Fuck no, I think it’s awesome! I mean, you’re kinda younger than I imagined. How old are you?”

Ganex’s cheeks flushed. “…151.”

“Oh wow.” The stranger closed up the notebook and handed it back to him. “Don’t you have homework or school stuff you should be doing?”

Ganex snatched the notebook from him and stuffed it in his backpack. He frowned as he zipped it up. “No.”

“Oh.” That seemed to be enough of a cue for the stranger. “So, you do this then?”

“Yeah.” Ganex stood up quickly and turned to head home. “Thank for the help.”

“Hey wait!” The stranger leapt forward and grabbed Ganex’s sore arm. Ganex winced and tried to pull away, but the stranger had a good grip on him. He finally stopped and turned back to him. “What?”

“So, it’s just you?” The stranger seemed genuinely curious. “You don’t go with any backup after curfew?”

Ganex shrugged. “No? I mean, I don’t know anyone else?”

“You mean people actually in the resistance?”

“…No?”

Something about that was amusing to the stranger. He started to chuckle under his breath and shook his head in disbelief. Ganex glared at his and tightened his grip on his backpack strap. “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, it’s just not the smartest thing for someone to do.”

“Look, I just don’t know any other sympathizers, okay?”

“I’ll say.”

“Well, it’s not like their meetings get posted on the fucking bulletin or anything!” Ganex’s voice rose to an angry shout. “Not like I can just go around asking where I can meet with the leaders, huh! ‘Cause everything they do is just a big secret that’s impossible for everyone else to figure out!”

“Okay, okay,” the stranger held up his hands in surrender. “Let me just ask you this: what made you want to start putting graffiti up?”

“Uh…” Ganex looked at the ground and shifted his feet. “I just… think things can be better than they are. I guess I started looking up to them, and wanted to show support somehow.”

“You think they can change things?”

That was the first time anyone had asked him that. The resistance was always met with gloomy thoughts among his family and neighbors. Many thought of them as troublemakers, that their efforts were futile and  would only cause more pain for everyone else. But not Ganex. See them fight back, hearing their words on the news, he found it inspiring.

It gave him hope for a better future.

“Yeah, I do.”

The stranger nodded with a smile and reached for his pocket. “That’s good to hear, kid. Look, I’m not saying you have to, but you might think about reading up on the guiding principles they use. At least know what they stand for if you’re gonna go around using their symbol. Here.”

He held out a data drive between his fingers. Ganex took it, noticing it was unlabeled and bulkier than a normal one.

“That’s encrypted, so even if you’re monitor’s searched, it won’t show up in the files. It’s also connected to an isolated local network. We use it for signaling when and where the next meeting is gonna be.”

“We?”

The stranger winked at him and picked his bat back up. “Name’s Sarvock. I gotta go, so stay out of trouble for the night, ‘kay?”

He turned and started walking down the sidewalk. Ganex watched him as he walked away, looking between him and the data drive in his hand. There was an excitement in holding it, like he had just found a treasure trove of forbidden knowledge. He wanted to know more about the resistance for so long, and now it was finally in his hands.

“Maybe I’ll see you at the next meeting!” Sarvock yelled from down the street. Ganex watched his crimson hair disappear from the light of the streetlamps. Once he was gone, he felt the eerie nature of the empty streets creeping back. The peace officer on the ground shifted, and Ganex took off running to his house. He couldn’t wait to see what was on here.

When he got back, he was careful to slip past the kitchen where his parents were talking. He’d be in serious trouble if they realized he only just got back. His little sister was already tucked in for the night, so he could be alone and unbothered for a bit. He went into his room, stashed his backpack under his bed, and pulled out a tablet to plug in the data drive. The screen went blank for a second, then the symbol of the resistance he had been painting for months appeared.

“Whoa…” There were a few dozen files listed on the drive. He opened the first one, ‘Social Inequities in the Dicio Council Regime’ by Andama Pax, and started reading. For hours he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, fascinated and enchanted by each new reading.

Before he knew it, it was morning.

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