Now:

     A dozen people in gray uniforms surrounded Whisper.

     "Drop your razors!" one of them commanded. "Return them to their sheaths, and you will not be harmed!"

     "You cannot promise that!" Whisper roared in reply.

     The perception of what happened next to anyone within proximity of Whisper involved a bomb of white that exploded in their minds.

     SWASH!

     After that, they dropped unconscious to the tunnel floor.

     Only Whisper remained unaffected.

     Covered head to toe in other people's blood.

     Her eyes beamed with shame as she took in all that surrounded her.

     Tika made her way around the comatose bodies, a young woman in her mid-teens.

     She walked unhurried in Whisper's direction.

     She, too, wore garments that seemed to formfit her body the way Whisper's did hers.

     "I just wanted to make my delivery!" Whisper wailed.

     Tika passed Whisper to continue down Rags Boulevard.

     Whisper followed, leaving her cart and that part of her life behind her forever.

​     "I'm so sorry," she muttered over and over. "I am so very, very sorry."

END OF CHAPTER ONE

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