Moving through the pipes, Mai strained her ears for any sound of pursuit. Pausing to catch her breath, she checked her retinal display. Kill markers for her Culls had been joined by others just outside of the building she’d been in.

My culls have brought others in, just like I thought, it gave her a grim sense of satisfaction that her actions were helping to bring down the number of Cullers in the DOMINATION event. It also meant that there would be less heat on her as any pursuers would be busy fighting off the newcomers.

Looking at the map, she could see that the pipes led away from the waterpark, but still within the DOMINATION event.

Doesn’t matter where I am now, she thought, holding out worked for a short while, but that’s not going to work anymore unless I can find something well and truly off grid.

But Mai didn’t have much hope about that. The way that her luck had been going, she felt that it was best she tried to keep moving unless she was forced to hole up.

Decision made, she traced a new route through the pipes to another level of sewers. It felt as though she was always going to end up in the sewers no matter how hard she tried to stay away.

Mai shrugged. She had the skills to survive in the sewers. Skills which a lot of other Cullers, especially the gangers and ex-military didn’t have. Urbexers would have similar skills, as they were often found digging through the sewers and lost parts of the city, but they would still be at a disadvantage compared to her.

And, strangely, she hadn’t come across any other Cullers who had been indentured into Sewer Companies. She cursed when she came to the realisation that she should have asked around, had her former friends put out feelers and see if any other sewer workers had joined the Culling.

Now that she had thought about it, she pinged a message to the Scavenger Queen. Not that she held out any hope that her luck would be in. Even so, she offered up a prayer to Saint Jose, Lord of Luck, husband to Lady Luck, Queen of Diamonds.

Sitting in the pipe, in the dim light, was actually relaxing. Which was ironic considering the death and destruction being dealt out around her. No-one knew where she was, she was earning points in the DOMINATION event.

“If these damn pipes weren’t a death trap I’d be tempted to stay here,” she muttered as she pushed herself onto her knees and started crawling along the pipe she needed to get to the access point for the sewers above.

*

After ten minutes of crawling, and another one per cent of BIOMASS spent on knee pads and wrist braces, Mai was crouched by the hatch leading to the sewer. Checking her retinal monitor, she could see that the sewer was roughly three paces wide. Not ideal, as she preferred the larger pipes, but it also meant that any mines she laid would have their blasts contained, meaning more death and destruction should anyone trip them.

Slowing her breath she pressed her ear to the hatch, trying to catch any sound of an enemy. There were no kill markers, so the pipes were quiet with regard to that. But still, she felt twitchy.

You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you, Mai thought as she gently laid her hand on the lever which would unlatch the door. Looking for hinges, she saw that the door swung into the sewer to the left.

‘Back will be covered from the left if I scan right,’ she thought out loud. Which meant that if there were any ambushers, they’d most likely be to the right. Looking back at the monitor she tried to see if there were any branches or hatches where ambushers could be laying in wait.

Nothing that I can see, nothing to the left either.

Mai opened up her menu and paid the BIOMASS for two grenades. It cost ten per cent BIOMASS, but was worth it. Especially if it meant she wasn’t the one at the end of a nasty surprise.

For a weapon, she chose an SMG, for three per cent, preferring to go for a high rate of fire rather than a heavy-hitting slug thrower. In a sewer as tight as this she wouldn’t need to be too worried by a high-level of accuracy.

As soon as she had the hatch open wide enough, she’d throw one of the grenades to the right. Once it detonated, she’d push the hatch fully open and jump into the sewer to the right, trusting that the hatch would protect her back long enough for her to clear that side.

The other grenade would then either be absorbed if there was no fire from the left or, if she was having a ton of lead being thrown in her direction she’d return the favour with the second grenade.

Which I really don’t want to have to do when I’m inside the damn sewer. With the hatch positioned the way it was, she didn’t have a good angle to lob the grenade to the left first. Mai placed the two grenades in front of her.

Lifting the lever, pausing each time it felt as though it was going to catch, praying that it wouldn’t squeak, Mai managed to crack the hatch open, leaning her shoulder into it. A grunt was forced from her, the hatch heavier than she expected.

Once it was open wider than a couple of hand spans, she primed the grenade and bowled it underarm. Slipping to the right of the hatch, she waited a couple of seconds before the fuse burned down and the grenade exploded.

A hard shove forced the hatch wide open, and Mai surged through into the sewer, sub-machine gun raised, barrel tracking for any threat. Three paces into the sewer, she saw that aside from the smoke and damage caused by the grenade that there wasn’t anyone there.

Spinning on her heels, she faced to the left of the sewer. No shots. No enemies charging at her, weapons raised.

‘Damn, that’s an anti-climax,’ Mai said, breathing out a sigh of relief. Reabsorbing the grenade and the sub-machine gun, she took hold of the hatch and closed it. For a second she considered whether she should leave a mine behind, but decided that she’d rather keep the BIOMASS for later.

She hadn’t had time to take notice of the condition of the sewer, but now the adrenalin was coming down, she noticed that the ground was utterly dry, and the walls looked to be in good condition bar the shrapnel marks from her grenade.

A couple of dessicated skeletons, small vermin, not large enough to be Mogwai, lay a bit further on. Only tatters of leathery flesh hung from the rib cage. She couldn’t see any evidence that the bones had been gnawed.

‘This sewer’s been unused for a long time,’ she said. Looking at the highest tide mark on the walls, it looked as though the sewer had never been truly filled to the top.

Being that it was a small sewer, it was perfectly reasonable to assume it was either closed, or only used when the larger sewers were overflowing. And judging by the state of it, the sewers in this area hadn’t seen much action.

It set her senses tingling. A sewer, close by to a main sewer, as well as the water park, which saw no traffic to the extent that even the vermin starved to death. And if they’d starved to death, that meant the sewer was sealed at one or both ends.

Activating SPOT HIDDEN, rather than rely on any passive bonus it might give, she walked along the corridor a pace at a time. Her head swivelled from left to right, up and down, eyes straining to pick out anything which stood out.

And then she spotted it. An outline in the wall which looked like a well-placed hatch. Checking her retinal monitor it showed nothing leading off the sewer where she was. Placing her ear close to the hatch she strained her ears to hear any movement.

Do I open it, or leave it? She asked herself, unable to tell if anyone was there. Pushing away from the hatch she took a closer look. No marks on the sides. No scrapes where feet might have scuffed it on entering.

Placing a hand on it, she felt it was cold. If there was a room with warm bodies in it, or even Cullers taking the opportunity to cook, there was the chance that the heat they generated would seep through the metal.

She checked her timer. Even though it felt as though the event had been running for hours rather than minutes, she still had twelve minutes left on the event. Kill markers still popped up all over the place, the pace not slowing down. And the amount of points she’d earned was pitiful, even if she was at the top.

Whilst she’d managed to score some points for being in the event area, she was still neck and neck with others who had got themselves into the area before it started. Looking at the scoreboard, there were plenty of newcomers who had yet to score. Which meant that Cullers were still being drawn to the event.

Convinced that the space beyond was empty, or that any Cullers inside were either dead, unconscious or sleeping, Mai took hold of the large wheel jutting out of the front of the hatch. As she was about to open it, her ears pricked up at a sound from to her right.

A whisper? The sound of cloth brushing cloth? She was frozen, hands holding the wheel, hardly daring to breathe, ears straining for any sound.

Then she caught the distinctive smell of garlic. As far as she knew, mogwai didn’t eat garlic. With a blink she selected an SMG, paying extra for a suppressor. Whilst the kill marker might mark something was going on, there was no need to draw everyone’s attention by making a racket. And if there weren’t any other Cullers around, she certainly didn’t want to bring Mogwai bearing down on her.

Whoever it was must have been close enough for her to smell the garlic. Unless they’d been sweating it. Which meant that they ate far too much garlic, and that they were still much closer than she would like. Not breathing down her neck close, but close enough.

Taking her still-outstretched hand away from the handle, Mai slowly turned her head to the left and took a long, slow and deep breath. Then, turning her head to the right she repeated the process.

It’s stronger that way, so they’re not behind the damned door. Which meant that they were to the right. Keeping her weapon trained in that direction, she quickly checked her minimap. If she moved left to avoid Stinker she risked leaving the area if she put a foot wrong, the border of the event area being that close.

Cursing softly, she opened up the details of the event trying to see whether a wrong foot would blank the time she’d gained – which was fuck-all thanks to all the other Cullers flooding the area – or whether she could exit and then re-enter further one down.

DOMINATION EVENT RULES – In order to receive the reward, Cullers must stay in the designated event for the entirety of said event. Place one foot wrongly, point in the wrong direction, even let one hair still attached to your head stray out of the area and your clock will be restarted.

Mai would have screamed in rage if she could. She was trapped too close to the edge of the event and all because she’d done it to herself, thinking herself clever.

Why the Hells of Dead Mercenaries don’t I read the fucking rules!

Still, a decision had been made. Sort of. She either had to go through the door, and risk alerting Stinker to the fact that she was there. Or she had to go and kill Stinker before they killed her. Then she could decide whether she wanted to go through the door.

No choice, she took hold of the SMG with her free hand and slowly rotated towards where the stench of garlic was strongest. Need this to be over and done with quickly.

She activated USE SMG, TUNNEL COMBAT, SEWER COMBAT, SNEAK and STEALTH.

This meant that STATS BLOCK HERE USING EXISTING TALLY.

Just hope that whoever I’m up against doesn’t have the same or better skills, she thought as she made her way down the sewer. Whoever was waiting for her hadn’t moved away, which she could tell by the way the smell of garlic got closer.

After ten paces she was breathing through her mouth. The stench was so bad it was as if Stinker had taken a bath in garlic juice. Raising her free hand, she wiped at her watering eyes. A grunt, soft. Just a few paces away from her.

She activated SPOT HIDDEN, and suddenly there it was. Stinker was wrapped up in some sort of stealth cloak. Completely covered from head to toe, they were absolutely invisible. She would never have known they were there if it wasn’t for the stench.

Too easy, Mai scanned the whole sewer tunnel again from top to bottom. Where her eyes looked, the barrel of her gun went. Clear.

She looked back down to Stinker. Aside from the gentle sound of their breathing, which she could only hear because she was either listening for it, or just because she was now aware that they were there, there was no other sound from them. They were completely dead to the world metaphorically speaking.

I could just leave them, she thought. They looked so peaceful curled up under the cloak. The Emperor knew how long they’d been there. But it must have been before the start of the DOMINATION event, because no-one in their right mind would just go to sleep mid-event.

But leaving them wasn’t an option. If she killed them now, that would decrease the Culler count in the event and increase her chances of scoring. And it would also mean that her chances of surviving and getting back to Li were also better.

HEADSHOT!

CULLER 390994 ELIMINATED!

Mai sighed as she looked at the kill marker on the map. And then she heard the shouts and footsteps of Cullers and the chase was on.