12

I awake in a cold sweat. The thick blanket that covers me fails at its purpose, and I shiver. The gunshots from my dream reverberate in my skull. I lean over and switch on the bedside lamp, yawning. It’s still dark outside. It’s been a while since I woke up in a bed.

As I slide out of bed, I notice my skin feels better. The cream worked.

I stretch and yawn again. I must’ve slept for three hours. Maybe less. I walk to the window, open it and lean outside. Cold, smoggy city air chills my sweaty neck. Dawn approaches.

In the corner of the room, I see my clothes, folded neatly in a pile, resting on the sessel. Not sure how I feel about that. My muscles are still sore, but the energy from the dinner courses through me, springing me onto the balls of my feet. I slip into my clothes.

I don’t want to turn on the lights, so I feel my way to the living room.

“Shit,” I hiss as nearly trip over a duffle bag. I pour myself a glass of water and gratefully glug down my morning breath.

I pat my pockets. Most people check for their phones, wallets and keys. If one isn’t there, they start to panic. Same for me, except instead of a phone, wallet or key, I pat for my shades and my pills. Both are there.

Time to go.

The door is closer, but I still use the window, easing through and inhaling the comforting city air. I scale down the edge of the apartment in a matter of seconds. This is what my body is built for, not dodging bullets and running against the backlash of my own gunfire. My steps make little splashes as I run between the buildings, but there’s nobody awake to hear me.

Or at least I hope so.

The police team might be too late, so I’ve got to go myself. I might already be too late. My pace quickens.

I doubt Tauren would even let me finish a sentence before she shot me. Better me than her isn’t it? No, not really.

As I run, the sky contorts into a soft, hazy grey. I pass the earliest joggers, eager to get a head start on their day. I pass some crisply dressed men and women, rushing to reach the early railcar to their work. I pass a stoic looking couple, walking a distance apart. The woman holds a tiny, white dog by the leash, which pads forwards excitedly.

By the time the street is painted with the stripes of light that weave between buildings, I’ve slowed to a walk.

Maybe I’ll pull something off. Maybe I’ll win Tauren back. Maybe we can go back to being friends again. I haven’t got much in terms of friends right now anyway. Tauren hates me. Salif probably does too. Screw Malyk to hell. Deqar left my ass to rot. Sekera’s… I’ve still got her. I’ve got to hold onto her. She’s special. Crazy, but special. I don’t think there are that many like her anymore.

Then, I nearly trip over my own feet in surprise as I see him. He’s as shocked as I am.

Zorikan plows into me shoulder first, knocking me clean off my feet, just as I hear a gunshot, followed by a car siren and screams.

He rolls off me, scrambling for cover behind a huge lorry. Instinctively, I push myself up and dive after him, barely managing to slide underneath as I hear another gunshot. This one tears my pants at the shin as I pull myself to the other side of the lorry.

“What the hell was that?” I demand, pressing my back to the cool metal side of the truck as another bullet ricochets off the hood.

“Qiara’s assassins,” he pants, looking around wildly for anymore glints in the skyscrapers above us. “Damn coming for me.”

“That bullet was meant for me!” I protest, ducking down again when another gunshot rings.

Zorikan shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t. She wants you alive. She wants a bargaining chip. He looks down the sidewalk and curses.

I follow his gaze, seeing a man clad in black Kevlar tearing towards us, pistol in hand. If we go under the truck we’re trapped. Time to run.

I turn on me heel, ready to sprint like hell, when Zorikan’s arm wraps around my neck.

“Don’t shoot! Stop where you are!”

The assassin halts, pistol raised and trained on us.

Zorikan hauls me off my feet and grips me in front of him. I’m a damn human shield.

“Bastard!” I hiss, squirming to free myself.

“Stop moving,” Zorikan grits. “He won’t shoot you.” He looks over my shoulder. “If you take one step forwards, I’ll break his neck.”

The assassin flinches, and glances at the sniper in the building to our left. This is bad.

“There’s a manhole behind us,” Zorikan whispers into my ear. “I’ve got a pistol. On my signal, you open that damn hole and get in. I’ll cover you.”

I steal a glance. “Are you crazy? It’s exposed!”

“They don’t want you dead!” Zorikan hisses, angrily. “The sniper won’t shoot you.”

“Damnit you better be right.”

“Ok. Now!” he shouts.

I fall backwards as he pulls the gun from his waistband and fires. I dive for the manhole, prying it open and scrambling down onto the ladder. I hear the shot of a sniper over the pistols.

I see Zorikan crumpling like a ragdoll, into the manhole. His limp body hits me, nearly knocking me off the ladder. A moment later I hear a splash.

Shit.

I don’t waist any time closing the manhole, but scuttle as fast as I can down the ladder. Rung after rung I move like an insect until my shoes hit water. I drop down. It’s knee deep.

I move from the splay of light, getting out of the water onto the side path and press myself to the wall. From my position, I see a figure blot out the light.

“Yeah. Yeah Blitz shot him real good. Dead for sure. Fell down a manhole, he did.”

“Good work. We’ll move on his base this afternoon. That hostage did us well. What about the kid?”

“Little bastard escaped.”

“Escaped?”

“Chill. He went down the manhole. I’ll intercept him at the next opening.”

“And if he goes the other way?”

“Blitz’ll be waiting for him.”

“Ok. Don’t screw this up.”

“Have I ever?”

The mouthpiece buzzes off, and the light disappears all together. He’s gone.

“Kallix,” somebody calls.

“Zorikan? You’re alive?”

I hear a grunt. “Yeah, but that fall nearly killed me.”

I can make him out, hauling himself onto the side path across from me. “Hell did you fall for if you hadn’t been shot?”

“I’m not dead, but it’s better if Qiara thinks I am. Get over here, I know the way out.”

My eyes narrow. I slosh across the water to him and step up next to him.

“Aright look, so the hitman said that he’d intercept us at the-”

My fist collides satisfyingly with his mouth. He staggers back as I kick at his knee with all my force. Not enough to dislocate it.

I throw another punch at his chest, when he evades. He grabs my outstretched wrist, then rams me into the wall with his shoulder, winding me. His hand shoots out, wrapping around my neck with an iron grip. I can’t breathe.

“Don’t ever try that again,” he growls.

I kick out, only to hit steel abs.

His grip tightens, and I can feel my face turning red.

“I could kill you. Here and now, weapon or not. But I won’t, not because you’re valuable, but because it wouldn’t benefit me. Unless you plan on attacking me again, in which case, I’ll gladly snap your scrawny neck like a twig. Understand?”

My darkened vision has already gone cloudy by the time he releases me. I crumple to the ground, clasping my neck.

“Let’s move,” he orders, striding onwards.

Damnit, I want to break the bastard’s nose, but my chances are a thousand times better if I’m with him. If one of those assassin’s come for me while he’s not there, I won’t stand a chance.

I strut after him like an injured hound, bound by a leash to its abusive owner. Every time I think I’m free from the bastard… I’ll screw him over soon enough. “How do you know where we’re going?” I ask. It hurts to swallow.

“There’s no wrong direction. All we need to do is find the first manhole, then go past it.”

“Past it?”

“Yeah. You want to be sniped by that Blitz guy from three block away?”

I catch up to him.

“Precisely,” he concludes, condescendingly.

“Why were you travelling alone?”

“Supply run.”

“By yourself?”

“Yeah. Numbers are thin nowadays.”

“Qiara?”

Zorikan nods. “She’s killed twelve of us. Another twenty one quit because they were scared they would be next. Poor bastards.”

“Sounds like the smart thing to do. Why were they poor?” I laugh, mockingly.

“Because they don’t know that I’m a worse enemy to have than Qiara.”

~

The squeal up ahead makes me flinch. “Damn rats,” I spit.

“Don’t like rats?” Zorikan asks. “They’re the kings of the underworld. Just like me.”

I huff. “Seems you’ve been dethroned, buddy. Nobody even knows who the Swifter’s are when Qiara’s in the picture,” I want to enjoy the subtle signs of his concern, but there are none. “And your failure at the Raven’s Nest has spread. Your reputation faulters,” I lie.

Zorikan scoffs, “And how would you know that?”

“Been around. Talked to people. Heard rumors.”

The leader of the Swifters sighs. “Kallix, you’re a child of many talents, but lying isn’t one of them.”

“Who said I was lying?”

“The fact that you were drafted to the warzone in the Dunes, and just got back the other day.”

…

“How did you know that?” I ask, instantly thinking of Deqar. He said there was no way Zorikan would ever take him back. Did he escape just to go report to him?

“It wasn’t Deqar,” he says, practically reading my mind “No idea where the measly coward went.”

“He wasn’t a coward,” I mutter.

“You’re right. He was smart. He knew that if he ever set foot in West Side again, I’d kill him. Don’t question my sources, you probably don’t even know them. Actually you…” he trailed off.

“Yes?”

“The manhole. Next one’s here.”

“Let me guess, you’re sending me up first?”

Zorikan laughs. “You’re smarter than you look. Yeah, get your ass up there.”

“Give me the gun.”

“Can’t. Lost it.”

I smack my palm to my forehead. “You’re a bastard.”

“True fact. Now get up.”

My hand’s just touched the ladder when the sound of a gun cocking makes me freeze.

“Heya, ye little twunt,” somebody calls. It doesn’t take me long to figure out who it is. “Oi Blitz, you’ve seen this?”

I can barely make out the assassin, a way’s down the tunnel. The same pistol, decked with a massive silencer is held nonchalantly in his right hand. Blitz, the sniper, is behind us, his lengthy gun slung over his shoulder.

“Long time no see, Javvak,” Zorikan sneers.

Javvak pads closer to us. “How does it feel… I’m going to be the last person you’ve ever seen in your life?”

Over my shoulder, I see Blitz inching closer to me. When Javvak shoots Zorikan, he’ll pounce on me from behind.

“Terrible really,” Zorikan tells him. “To think, all those days in grade school, when I used to pull your panties up to your chin… never thought it’d end up like this.” He’s trying to stall.

“Can’t blame you really,” Javvak says. “I was a pretty annoying kid. Smart too.”

“What’s this? You’re third attempt to kill me?”

“Crazy isn’t it? Blitz almost got you last time. Oh by the way, those other twunts. Gaven, Slew, Utrona and that girl with the dreads. A pretty shitty squad you sent to stop me. I’m offended actually.”

“You killed the lot of them?”

“Sure did. Blitz got that Gaven bastard, though.”

He’s trying to emotionally torment Zorikan, trying to rub his victory into the Swifter’s face and demolish his ego before he kills him. Little does he know that Zorikan is less emotional than a shark.

The Swifter chuckles. “And your friend? The burly redhead? What was his name? Crag? Craig?”

“Crog.”

“His head made a beautiful ornament for my chamber. The way dried flakes of blood float down onto me while I sleep… it’s poetic.”

Javvak looks disturbed. “Yeah, alright if I didn’t want to kill you before, I sure do now.” He presses the end of the silencer to Zorikan’s forehead.

I can feel Blitz breathing down my neck. Damnit Zorikan needs do something quickly. Thought I left all the shootouts in the Dunes.

“So… you going to count down from three? Up to three? What’s it gonna be? Mind if I choose?”

“No way in hell I’m going to give you the liberty of choosing that,” Javvak scoffs. “Before I splatter your brains all over the little runt, I want you to know that your dying as a helpless, pitiful, powerless rat, sulking in the sewers.”

Zorikan smiles. A hollow, stone chiseled smile. “Pull the trigger then.”

Javvak’s face contorts into an unstable grin. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

I struggle to follow the speed that the Swifter’s arms move as he pushes the barrel away from his head with one arm, while grabbing Javvak’s wrist with the other. The bullet ricochets off the sewer wall. He surges forwards, headbutting the assassin with enough force to break his nose.

I hear the crack as I dive forwards, barely escaping Blitz’s grasp, and roll to my feet. The gun’s skittered into the water.

I see Zorikan duck under a blow and plow into Javvak, practically tossing him into the water as Blitz lunges forwards, grabbing my ankle. I curse as he yanks my feet from beneath me. Zorikan turns and launches a solid kick at Blitz’s gut, winding the sniper.

I scramble for the ladder, when Javvak erupts from the water. The leader of the Swifter’s leaps into the air, and like a martial artist he spins, kicking Javvak solidly in the head, nearly making his neck snap.

Just as he lands, Blitz has charged towards him, ramming his shoulder into Zorikan’s ribcage and slamming him to the wall, probably breaking one of his ribs. I don’t waste any time, scuttling up the ladder like a cockroach.

Beneath me, Zorikan’s wrapped one of his legs around Blitz’s neck, midair and brought them both to the ground. I catch Javvak pulling himself from the water again when I reach the manhole.

I push the heavy metal disc off and am nearly blinded by the afternoon light. Damn thanks there’s no traffic.

As I slide out, I see Zorikan hauling himself up the ladder. Screw the twunt. He thinks he can screw with me? He’s no damn god.

I take the manhole cover and slide it back over place, get to my feet and stand on it. The he presses upwards with unimaginable strength, almost throwing me off. I remember that he’s broken a rib as I kneel down, jolting as he tries desperately to escape.

Blitz or Javvak managed to get back up to him at last, because the movement stops. Whatever happened, somebody died. I don’t dare take open the manhole to see. I sprint like hell down the deserted street, running for my damn life. If Zorikan survives this and finds me again, he sure as hell will kill me this time.