Lyudka ran across the narrow alleyways, sliding underneath half-broken walls. She saw the footsteps of the other kids and followed them more out of desperation than out of any plan. She was too scared. The girl looked at her hands and saw that they were bleeding; most of her nails were gone. It was only now that she realized how much it hurt.

She pulled the gloves over her wounded hands, crying tears that were getting frozen on her cheeks. Behind her, she could hear them. Galfo, Mateo, and who knows who else. They were crushing straight through any obstacles, walking after her, and still managing to gain distance!

Why!? It makes no sense! Lyudka wiped out the tears, trying to rationalize what had happened. Who cares if we would have gone to a fucking farm?! Why is Galfo here!? Mateo is bad enough, but why is he here?!

Yosha… It’s not fair! He took her in, he always helped others, why the fuck did he have to suffer such a horrible fate! He was good!

She slipped, falling face down, and this time she felt her nose cracking. In rage, she slammed her fist into the snow, the skin on her knuckles tearing despite the glove. She found that she didn’t care. Her pants were wet, she was scared, bleeding, and she had not the slightest idea what to do.

"This girl is bleeding." She heard a man’s voice. Looking up, she saw a couple—a young man in a green down jacket and a woman in a long white coat. Behind them, she saw the neon signs of a main street. And people! Actual people! "Hey, are you fine?"

The man stepped forward, lowering himself to his knees and helping her stand. The woman kept her distance, staying near the wall.

"Poor thing," the woman said, reaching for an elegant-looking silver terminal in her pocket. "I am calling CHS. Don’t worry, girl, we’ll help you get home."

"Run," Lyudka whimpered, standing on the unsteady legs and crying. They were trying to help her! If she lets them, maybe she can buy time and… She remembered that time when the police came to her, announcing that her family had died. What if they had kids? "The Cartel is after me! They are mad and…"

"And here," the voice whispered behind her.

She turned around in terror as she noticed Mateo and Galfo walking down the alley at the opposite end, followed by five of their men wearing warm clothing. Where steam left the mouths of their goons, Mateo and Galfo breathed fully normally, unbothered by the cold weather. Mateo’s dark hair slightly glittered in the snow, while Galfo looked like some sort of pale rider, looking wildly out of place in his business suit in this run-down alley that was lit only by several blinking electric lamps.

"I don’t know what your beef is with this lady," The man spoke in a trembling voice, taking a step toward the Cartel’s people. "But I can pay for her."

"Step aside," Galfo threw to him in a deep, rich voice.

"Dude, she is just a kid; c’om, man, let’s cut a deal…"

"Get out of his way!" Lyudka screamed, remembering all the stories she had heard about Galfo.

The young man didn’t heed her pleas. He still tried to reason with the advancing criminals. It took a single look from Galfo for a spire made of ice to rise up from the snow below the poor fellow. It hit the man between his legs, raising the screaming man into the air. Lyudka pressed both palms to her mouth, watching in horror as the tip of the spire came out from the man’s head, ending his agony.

The woman dropped the terminal in her hand, stepping back against the wall. A look of disbelief, pain, and horror came upon her face, mixed with a glint of madness in her eyes. Lyudka noticed how the snow near the woman's legs had moved when Galfo looked at her.

"Fucker!" Lyudka snatched a soda can from the ground and hurled it at him. The steel object never reached the cleaner, stopping dead when ice enveloped it fully. "It’s me you want, right, you psychotic freak? Here I am, go and take…"

An ice spike had struck from underneath her, nearly taking away her leg. Lyudka wasn’t sure how she had seen it, but she spent no time thinking about it. She turned around and legged it, praying to the planet that these murderers would focus on her rather than on the woman.

She rushed to the main street, blinking slightly because of all the signs around her. She saw Borka, still carrying Deti and accompanied by the other kids. They were standing near three police officers, clad in long blue coats with a symbol of a bull on their right side.

"Help us!" Lyudka screamed, running toward them. She grabbed one of the officers by his coat, pointing at the alley behind her, "There! The Cartel just killed someone, and now they are after us!"

"The Cartel? Get to our car, we…" One of the cops reached for his gun, and his colleague hit him in the stomach at the same time. The man bent over, and the next officer pressed a stun baton to his neck, knocking the man out cold.

"Sorry, kids." The officer caught his unconscious fellow and kicked Lyudka and Borka away from himself. He nodded at the alley where Galfo showed up. "We have families too. We want no trouble, mister Galfo!"

"But they will kill us," Mateo whispered, his voice easily heard despite the thirty-step distance.

"But they will kill us!" Lyudka cried out.

She turned around and saw Mateo’s arm moving. Without thinking, she pushed Borka away, and a plasma projectile only kissed his arm, flying forward and leaving a wide hole in the store's wall. A scream of pain came from inside. Mateo only spun his plasma pistol in his hand, kissing the overheated barrel lovingly with no harm to his lips. Borka fell to the ground, whimpering from pain and still trying to hold Deti safe despite a gaping hole in his right arm, showing the bones inside.

Lyudka and the others helped him stand, looking around in desperation as they charged away from the approaching men. All around the street, she saw the same picture. The people were running into the houses and the stores, closing doors behind themselves. The cars stopped moving across the street. The police officers retreated to their cars, driving away and leaving the children all alone on the street.

She had seen this before. People are murdered in the open, their bloody torsos and limbs are left in the middle of the road, impaled on some spikes, or left hanging from the bridges. The Cartel’s brutality was made clear throughout the entire Pearl City.

But before, such killings had only happened on the outskirts of the city! The main streets and the center were always safe. How dare they! Lyudka felt a helpless rage rising inside her. How dare they bring even more misery to us!

She banged on the doors of the stores, shouting and begging to no avail, seeing the scared faces in the windows and hearing whispering laughter behind her. Lyudka realized what was going on. The Cartel was making an example out of them. They sent a message to everyone who witnessed this by walking boldly in the open and forcing the cops to flee with their tails between their legs. No one can save you. No one will ever try. This city is ours, now and forever.

Borka fell, spilling blood, and the girls helped him stand while Lyudka and another teen carried Deti. They limped to the massive theater on the other side of the street. Its magnificent marble columns resembled ice columns in the snow; a bright light shone above the roof; and a large sign mentioned something about the opera. Numerous cars were parked in front of it, several guards were standing before the main entrance, keeping an eye on the armored limousine nearby. Upon seeing the kids, the guards quickly retreated inside, and Lyudka heard the sound of the closing doors.

"No, no, no," Mateo mused, closing in.

No, no, no! Lyudka thought, looking around and almost dragging the others after herself. She refused to give up. If they can move, they live! These bastards won’t break them down so easily! Please, Planet! Please take my life, save my family!

She'd heard from a drunken priest that if you're in trouble and truly ask the Planet for help, it will always respond, sometimes at an excruciatingly cruel cost. Lyudka always assumed this to be a lie; she had begged all night when her father got sick, and no one had answered. It was Yosha and his parents who picked her and the others off the streets, not some stupid Planet.

But now she prayed again, offering herself whole. The Cartel got bored with their game and started gaining on them. She offered her soul, body, and mind to the Planet, if it only showed mercy. Just once. Not even to her. To the others. Just one time.

The doors to the theater flung open, and the girl's eyes widened as she noticed people coming outside. Ten people were dressed in elegant, pristine blue power armor suits with a golden star on their chests. All of them were without helmets, Lyudka saw that one of them, a woman in her early forties, lacked a lower jaw. A metallic implant replaced the missing part, going deeper beneath the armor. A soft blue light from their gorget illuminated their faces.

And behind them walked two women, one a tall, elegant-looking lady dressed in exquisite-looking furs and a stylish bodysuit. Her long brown hair rested on her shoulder. Next to her walked another woman with short chestnut hair, dressed in a ragged biker outfit. Both of them led a… black shape—Lyudka had no better word for this—by the hands.

This black shape looked like a person made out of pure darkness. The girl could make out pants, a black jacket, and a coat, along with shoes on the man’s legs. His eyes and lips were slices of light, illuminating the street before him just as well as any lamp would do. The short silver hair was slicked back, while the man’s hands rested on the shoulders of his beautiful escorts.

"Help us! Please!" Lyudka led the others toward them. The guards closed before the dark shape, pushing the kids away. Lyudka fell on her knees and pressed her head against the cold snow. "Please! Take my life; do anything you want with me; I can be your slave or anything; just help my family!"

"The boy is hurt." The woman in furs pushed forward, checking on Borka. "Oh crap, a fourth-degree burn! And…" She touched Deti. "The girl here is barely ventilating! Honey, can I take the limo? I am feeling generous."

"Who did this to you?" The second woman asked coldly. She looked up and saw the Cartel's men. "They? Tolsten, can I take a night off and go on a mad rampage? I am feeling like adding a few more spines to my collection."

"Now, now," The black shape spoke in a voice that sounded like static. "Let’s settle down, everyone; I am sure we can…"

The guards rushed past him, pushing Tolsten back. Lyudka heard a "whoosh" sound, followed by a hit of something heavy. When she looked behind her, she saw that two of the guards had raised their hands, and the air trembled in front of them. The concrete in front of one of the bodyguards was ripped apart, and all the snow nearby simply melted.

The rest of the bodyguards took aim at the Cartel’s men. The woman with the steel jaw raised her hands, which separated in the middle, sliding back onto her wrist. Long-barreled cannons of some energy weapon protruded from the wrists. The other guards raised either rifles or pistols; their helmets moved from the back of their power armor, encompassing their heads. Twenty blue lenses were activated at the same time, observing the approaching foes.

"Give us the kids. Now," Galfo told Tolsten. More and more men started coming from the alleys, surrounding the group.

"Pavel, are we in trouble?" The black shape asked.

"Negative, sir." Mateo smirked.

"Negative, sir," said the bodyguard armed with double pistols. "Sixty foes with no power armor, only two abnormals. Manageable."

"Then, I suggest you retreat, Galfo." Tolsten smiled with a line of light that served him for lips. "Pearl City belongs to the Respectable People. Scarecrows like you lot might scare tourists away."

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"You will give me the kids, or I will quarter you along with them." Galfo raised a finger.

Pavel moved, kicking Lyuda aside, and knocked down the ice pillar that was rising from the ground. Without a halt, he fired once, melting a steel pole behind Galfo with a single beam coming from the pistol. He pointed the weapon at the cleaner’s face.

"Shit aim," Mateo laughed, holstering his weapons.

Lyudka used this moment to lunge forward. She grabbed Tolsten by his legs, looking up pleadingly. Tolsten! The leader of the Respectable People, the criminal organization that supposedly controlled political life in the Pearl City. Here!

"Sir! I offer my life and anything else I have to you! Anything! Just save my family…" She stopped, noticing something strange.

Tolsten’s legs were weird. There was no cloth on him, certainly not the pants that she was seeing on his black shape. The muscles of his body felt like iron ropes that somehow got compressed into a ball and were now prepared to be unleashed. And… there was something else around his legs.

Tolsten wrapped a hand around her mouth, standing up with her before Lyudka could scream. Even his hand felt weird! His fingers were far longer than they looked from the outside, when he pressed her against his body, she felt the other differences too.

Not human! Tolsten was a mutant! Whatever this black shape was, it concealed Tolsten's true form!

"The child has asked me for a favor, respectfully offering me a favor in return. You, on the other hand, dare to demand something from me, threatening my life like a common thug," Tolsten snorted. "Then again, even a common thug would have more sense than to dare to cause my ire. The answer is no; I decided to keep the children. Leave in peace or lay in pieces; I don’t care which."

"I wasn't expecting to finish the Respectable People tonight," Galfo said, his gaze fixed on Pavel. "But I can handle multiple tasks at once."

The goons behind him started taking aim at the bodyguards. Some of them nervously retreated to hide behind the cars, but none dared to run or retreat.

"Are we really doing this? Cause I’m game." The woman in the biker outfit smiled wide enough that the corners of her lips reached all the way to her ears. Terrified, Lyudka noticed how the woman's elegant teeth had begun to transform into gruesome fangs. The woman’s body shook a little; her leather clothes became stretched by the surge of muscles within, accompanied by the popping sound of stretched sinews and bones.

"As much as I'd like to have a little fun fucking your bitches, Tolsten," Mateo chuckled, rocketing his neck. "We had hoped that Sellout and his sorry ass vigilantes would show up to save this bunch of losers, but alas. Clearly, they are too cowardly. So here is my deal. Me, against one of your cocksuckers. Right here and now. When I win, we'll be able to quarter the kids and be on our way to skinning Sellout. And your miserable life will be spared for a night or two."

"Can I pull out his spine now?" The woman’s face distorted, becoming bigger than Lyudka’s entire body. Her arms shot forward, touching the ground, giving the woman the appearance of a crouching predator. Her small hands enlarged, and the nails turned into claws that bit down into the concrete, crushing it into dust. A pink tongue, longer than any human's, came from her mouth, licking off snow.

"My heart will break if anything happens to these wonderful tongues of yours, Zarina." She felt Tolsten smiling. "Please help Marina with the kids. Pavel…"

"Can you take care of this profanity engine quickly and preferably brutally? The kids are getting cold." Mateo quickly said, putting his hands on the pistols.

"…Can you take care of this annoying profanity engine, quickly and preferably brutally, for we need an example and the kids are getting cold?" Tolsten asked, nodding to the disappointed-looking Zarina. The woman’s body returned to a human-sized shape. Grumbling under her nose, she walked to the kids and started stuffing them inside the limousine, ignoring their fear and Marina’s pleas to be gentle.

"How did you do it?" Mateo’s hands twitched over the plasma pistol. "I knew what you were going to say, you fuck, so how?! How did you manage to…"

"Easy enough, sir." With a hissing sound, the upper part of Pavel’s power armor came apart, revealing a scarred body underneath. Lyudka saw that his left nipple was replaced by a patch of metal that had a socket in it. A wire was coming from the right side of the man’s power armor, connected to this strange implant.

Pavel took out the wire and put the power armor on the ground. Without much hurry, he placed holsters with two pistols around his chest, checking to see if both guns were comfortably sitting below his armpits. Then he spread his hands slightly, nodding to the killer.

"Retard." Mateo dropped low, keeping his hands over the pistols’ handles. "Only an idiot would place guns around the chest. You should’ve kept the power armor; then it would at least be a little more fair. Galfo, would you do us the honors?"

"Draw," Galfo said, and Lyudka felt fear, remembering just how fast Mateo was.

She heard two shots—the whistling sounds that made her heart sink and her vision darken. She forced herself to look, biting her tongue and praying to all the gods that the bastard would face his judgment.

Mateo stood before the theater, his mouth open like that of a fish that got out of the aquarium. The car behind him bore twin burn marks. Pavel stood motionless, holding the gun in his right hand. The holster beneath his left armpit was empty. With disbelief, the killer looked down and saw two burning holes in his chest. His own hands have barely touched the guns. He looked up.

"Wait…" He never finished.

Pavel shot thrice, the laser pistol in his hand caused no recoil. The first two shots burned holes through Mateo’s eyes, leaving two gaping holes in his head. The third came straight through his mouth, sending the body toppling backward.

"The deed is done, sir." Pavel calmly put the weapon back.

"It's always the same deal with these clairvoyance types," Tolsten chuckled, walking toward the limousine, still clutching Lyudka in his grip. "Monkey see how someone would move. Monkey thinks it can react to it."

"You incurred the blood debt tonight," Galfo told Pavel, who was busy putting back his power armor, "And soon we will collect."

"As long as you leave my employer out of this. I am living at General Jeoffrey Street, house number thirty-two, apartment eighty, fourth floor. Postal code 132952, if that’s important." The bodyguard looked at the snowman. "I am usually free on Saturday nights; feel free to show up at the interval of two to four hours."

"Funny guy." Galfo pointed at the deceased Mateo, and ice poured from beneath him, forming a slab over the man's body. The cleaner turned to his men. "What are you standing here for? Mateo had a heart attack. Go throw him into an incinerator and follow after me."

Lyudka dangled helplessly in Tolsten's grasp, too afraid to try to break free from his iron grip on her mouth. A mutant! Sure, Zarina changed into something scary, but deep beneath it, she was still human, born human, with human feelings and urges. The mutants were different. The mother told Lyudka about them—about hordes of the terrifying wolf people who serve the reclaimers and set the world alight for the sake of their dread ruler. Or the monstrous trolls of the Oathtakers, beings capable of rising from mortal wounds without ever showing signs of pain. Or the horrible malformed, cannibals who prowled the mountains at the edge of the Pearl City, attacking unfortunate travelers and devouring them whole. The monsters that rose from the ruin of the Old World. Lyudka once saw one such being, looking more like an insect than a man, begging on a street for pearls. She ran for her life when its black compound eyes looked in her direction.

Tolsten led her inside the warm, well-lit limousine. The seats were vast and covered with soft cloth. There were bottles with glasses near each seat. Lyudka saw that Marina put Deti on one of the seats and tore away the rags. The woman clicked her tongue after listening to the girl’s chest and produced a long tube with an oxygen mask at the end of it, pressing it tightly to the girl’s lips. After that, she dropped her furs and reached for another strange device, placing it over the girl’s chest.

"How bad is it?" Zarina inquired as she pushed the other kids closer to the window-locked driver's seat. After some thought, the woman pressed a display near one of the seats, and a rack filled with tasty-smelling dishes rose up from beneath the floor. "Help yourself."

"Can’t say until the diagnostic is over, no idea how much of her lungs are damaged." Marina walked to Borka, cursing at the sight of his wound. "It might be wise to remove the arm entirely."

"Why?" The frightened kid asked weakly, trying to stand up, "It doesn’t hurt…"

"Because your nerves were burned away, dummy."

"Well, if you can’t save his arm, then I guess that prostatic will do…" Zarina stretched the words, sitting down.

"Is this a challenge?" Marina looked at her. "Shut up and see me work, them. Tolsten, I need time to heal these kids to save them. We good?"

"Sure. These kids will live," the black figure said to her, walking to the back of the limo. Lyudka saw how his bodyguards were coming into a nearby armored truck outside. "As for this girl." He shook Lyudka’s body. "She got injured. Real bad, it's a miracle she's still standing; I need to treat her or she won't make it."

The screen rose behind him, separating the girl and the crime boss from the rest. He sat in the last seat, pressing a button that made all of the windows inside dark. Lyudka ended up on Tolsten’s knees, looking down at the writhing darkness that were his legs. After a ‘click’ sound, the darkness disappeared, revealing something else in its place. Utterly alien and mighty legs.

"Please," Lyudka whimpered, "I did something bad. But please. My family. Let them live. Pleas…"

"Shhhhhhh…." She felt his breath against her neck. Something dripped on her. One of his hands grabbed her lower jaw; the other tightly pressed against her scalp, holding her head like a vise. There was no static now; his voice sounded like a guttural beast’s growl. "You learned something you shouldn’t have. I suppose it is partly my fault for wearing shorts tonight. But… You are bleeding. You wetted yourself. Delirious. No doubt sick, too. People often get confused in such conditions. Tell me. What do you see?"

Tolsten raised his leg to the level of her eyes, and Lyudka wanted to scream. The claws the length of her arm. The size and sheer muscles of this leg could turn her into a bloody smear with as little as a touch. The limb looked clean, Tolsten smelled of exquisite perfumes, so unfitting for his brutish visage.

What do I see? Lyudka wanted to tell the truth and end this nightmare. The memory of the others stopped her. They lost their family tonight. They lost Yosha, someone who always looked after them. Their home was no more. She can’t, she refused to abandon her brother and sisters to this… this…

"A human," Lyudka forced herself to believe in her own lie and to accept this lie as truth. She had to. Her family was waiting for her. "I see a human leg, mister Tolsten."

"Good enough." The hold over her head disappeared, and Tolsten seated her next to him. She heard ‘click’ again, and when she looked up, he was once more wreathed in darkness, giving him the fake form of a normal human. The man took a silver terminal from his chest and dialed someone. "Sorry for the late call, Joseph. Ah, so you already know. Yes, drum it up in the news; make sure that everyone talks about the Cartel's later attack and how they got beaten. And, be a gent, let it be known that the cartel intends to off Sellout and that we have a warehouse in desperate need of repair, and that we are willing to hire an inexperienced crew. … Yes, I know Sellout was the one who blew up those weapons, but you see, Joseph, Sellout is a nuisance I can live with or without. The Cartel not so much. So I choose to help the trouble that bothers my foes. And lastly, I need you to find me an orphanage to drop someone off at. … What, am I running a charity, in your opinion? Nothing so expensive. … Now you are scraping the bottom of the barrel! This place is rapey! … Oh, I like it. I like it very much. You are awesome, bye!"

"What will you do to…" Lyudka finally asked, too nervous to sit steadily.

"A moment, a busy night." Tolsten interrupted her mid-sentence, and called out again. "George! How good of you to take the call! Listen, me and the girls visited the opera, and the Cartel has managed to spoil the show for us. I don’t want to hear about them. … No, no need to burst my eardrums." Tolsten laughed cheerfully as he picked up a glass of wine and offered it to Lyudka. The girl refused. "See, in a few minutes, the news will spit out urgent news about brazen attacks by the immigrants and the Cartel in the middle of our humble city. The bulls are helpless, and this is where you step in. Bring in the army, burn their hideouts, drag them by the necks, and hang the bastards, while the council is too paralyzed to act against you. … No, don’t touch any immigrants; we need cheap labor. Just hit the Cartel, burn down their establishments. … Yes, let’s leave Yabor alone; his girls and boys are too sweet to lose. Do this, and no one will even dare mention the missing munition ever again, because you, my friend, will be a hero of the people, the one who brought stability back in this darkest hour! No one will even bring up the fact of the broken protocol! … I knew you’d like it. Yes, I will take care of the fallout. We need a show of force, George. Bring in the mechs; it's time to show these critters who rules this city once and for all. I'm hoping to hear the first shots before I return to the manor."

It dawned on Lyudka that all the rumors that she had heard about the Respectable People were true. The shadow cabal that had infiltrated Pearl's political life, taking bribes from common thugs in exchange for allowing them to operate as long as they didn't cause too much trouble. The ones who were responsible for the corruption in the army and the police were the ones who controlled the state’s media. The people on the street whispered that the Cartel’s own politicians fought against the Respectable People tooth and nail, trying to wrestle control over the city from them, and that shootouts were common in the factories outside of the cities.

But she had never imagined that any criminal could command the army to come in and eliminate their competitors. The sheer scope of what this person could do made her blood turn icy. If Tolsten wills it, no one ever finds Lyudka or her family.

"Now, now." Tolsten moved with the speed of an attacking snake, grabbing the girl by the nose and straightening it. "Endure it. You were reborn on this night, and no birth happens without pain."

"What will happen to us?" She asked him, blinking away the tears, feeling how his fingers pushed her nose back into place.

"The world is big. There is a city named Belaz that was recently taken over by the Reclamation Army, and the conquerors are pouring quite a bit of wealth into this city. You kids will end up in one of the orphanages there, ready to begin a new life." Tolsten shook his shoulders. "As for the rest, I have no idea. I imagine that the Cartel killed some of you. Ah, I see the answer in your eyes. Abandon dreams of vengeance, girl; you are just a statistic in this world, another number living her life. Concentrate on living happily; this way you’d spit Galfo far more than anyone could."

"What must I do for you?" Lyudka has finally decided to ask. Tolsten tilted his head, and she continued. "Why are you helping us, sir? Surely you want something in return."

"And what can you give?" Tolsten questioned her. "There is no profit to be had from you. I was born as a number like you, just another unfortunate soul destined to perish. But a man once saved my worthless life. Since then, I've decided that I wanted more out of life and have clawed myself a bloody path to where I found happiness, waiting for the day when he comes to collect the debt... He never came. And I recently learned that he passed away. He saved me on a whim, and I helped you on a whim too. Such is life, I think. Now come. Your new life awaits. Make it count."

Lyudka followed him to the front of the limousine, never once forgetting what she saw when Tolsten turned off the darkness field around himself. It was the human legs and hands at the end. Maybe twisted or odd-looking, but at the end of the day, Tolsten was a human, with all the good and bad that entailed. She was sure of it.

The girl smiled and sat on her knees, cheering up Borka and trying to come up with an idea of how to live now.