Nail - A Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

raining. “What?” Zell says, as if he didn’t
get what he paid for.
    Ralic sets him by the cabin and sits
with him against the wall.
    “ Spirit, what’s
this?”
    Ralic stares up at the clouds as the
light drizzling caresses his face. “They’re clouds; they rain water
onto the earth… They’re covering the great light.”
    Zell’s grin stays strong. “That so?
Thought it was out all the time.”
    “ No, there’s times when it’s
not out; like night time, storms, or just clouds.”
    “ Yeah? So I guess I don’t
get to see the light, huh?” Zell asks, staring up with a
smile.
    Ralic smiles. “No. I guess you don’t,”
he says as the drizzling slows to a few light drops.
    “ Yeah… But I can sorta see
it.” he looks deep into the clouds at the golden-most point,
concealing the glory of the sun. “Hiding up there. That’s it,
right?”
    Ralic nods. “Yeah, that’s
it.”
    “ Cool,” Zell says, his
expression getting sleepy— he feels tired, and yet peaceful. “So
spirit.”
    Ralic looks over to Zell.
“Yeah?”
    “ Ralic , right?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ Cool… So thanks, Ralic…
This was worth it.”
    “… You’re welcome,
Zell.”
    There’s a moment of awed serenity— a
moment in which Zell realizes how great and beautiful his world
really is, and Ralic realizes how incredibly different people must
be because of the overlords’ deceptions. The sun is nothing special
to him, but from now on, he will appreciate it as Zell
does.
    Then, the sound of the trap door being
flung open— a dense, violent din. Zell and Ralic hear an
exclamation of curses from Bas’tun, complaining about how bright it
is. The two hear a crash, a crack, and then the door opening to the
outside. The rain has subsided— and now slight, teasing blades of
sunlight spill through the cracks of the sky.
    “ Show yourselves! Spirit
realm or not. I’ll never give up!” Bas’tun shouts, squinting into
his thick night vision goggles as he searches for the
two.
    Ralic and Zell bate their breaths; the
pitch of the door’s opening has blocked them from Bas’tun’s view,
and this is just the opportunity Ralic needs. He gets up, and
gently steps to the back of the door, opposite to Bas.
    “ I said, show yourselves!”
He says again.
    Ralic slams his weight into the door,
forcing Bas'Tun off his feet and onto the muddy ground. Ralic
rounds the door and leaps just as Bas reflexively points the gun.
With a fraction of a second to spare, Ralic meets his hands to Bas’
and they struggle for the device. Because Ralic’s on top, he
engages all of his muscles upward with perfect freedom and wrests
it from Bas’ hands. Ralic takes a single look at it, realizes he
has no idea what he’s looking at, and then he tosses it as far away
as he can. In the same moment, Bas’ sends his boot straight to
Ralic’s groin, and the real fight starts on the ground.
    Bas’Tun, though a bit younger than
Ralic, is strong like Zell—built from the years spent at forges and
with hammers, crafting miracles of engineering with his brothers
and sisters below. Ralic, a true Qetainite, spent only a single
hour stressing his body for every four he’s had his nose in a book.
It takes only half a minute before the difference in their physical
powers become bitterly apparent to Ralic; Zell single-handedly
depresses him by the neck and punches his face with his free hand.
The fight lasts a full minute until Ralic deigns to quit. With a
push of the legs, Ralic escapes to his feet and rounds the corner
of the cabin.
    “ Get back here you freak!”
Bas screams as he sprints for Ralic. Here, it becomes quickly
apparent that while Bas is far stronger, Ralic’s heart is more trained for
long distances; the furthest Bas ever needed to travel was the one
hundred meters to the forge, whereas Ralic’s walked all across the
great country many times. Bas’Tun’s tired out in only a minute’s
time, but he spots the gun. Ralic did not see where it landed when
he