The sound of a weapon firing was nothing new to me, at this point I had heard it thousands of times if not tens of thousands of times, either at the range with the little hearing protection I could find or from far enough away that the sound was muffled. But nothing could have prepared me for the sound that it made when fired right next to my head. The ringing came instantly, and the fall came just slightly after. Just a moment after I pulled the trigger the super’s hands released, causing me to fall to the ground. I wasn’t that high up, so I broke nothing but landing on my ass still hurt.
The super fell backwards, his back smashing first into the concrete leaving another deep crater in his path, the last one he was likely to make. It took me quite a while but eventually with a grunt I was able to get myself off the ground, and with a limp I was able to hobble around the super’s feet to get a clear view of what happened. The site made me want to vomit. His head was everywhere but still this was just another body left on the street. Quickly I looked around seeing if I could find Mr. Hanes, but after searching for a few seconds it looked like he decided to run away the first chance he got.
Typical … that's what I get for trying to do something nice, but after some thought and taking some time to clear my head I took a deep breath, squatted down and began searching the super's pockets. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular but after a few seconds I found some Atlas bucks and some old money, looks like even this guy didn’t bother trading everything in. With my prize found I stuffed everything into my pockets and headed for home, I didn’t want to stay here for a second longer than I needed to.
Far behind the action -
“He did better than I thought he was going to do, I even prepared myself to die trying to save the brat,” a husky voice said, his tone filled with bravado and a hint of favor. It was only after a few seconds of silence that a much sweeter voice answered back.
“You’re right, he did do a lot better than we thought he was going to do, so well in fact that I think I’ll check him out. I want you to stay here and clean up this mess, transport humongous over there back to base and wait for further orders until I get back,” a woman's voice said, much sweeter than the man but at the same time with an air of danger that the man’s voice didn’t carry. With that she disappeared leaving silence before a sigh broke out.
“You heard her men, grab the body and let's head out, I don’t want to see a single slacker, if I do it's no dinner for you tonight,” he said before sighing and disappearing as well.
Home away from home -
It didn’t take long for me to get home; it was a simple walk in one of the nicer areas if those still exist in the grand scheme of things. The time it took for me to arrive at the front of my house was just enough for my mind to calm down. I know I just killed a man but something about it wasn’t bothering me as much as I thought it would. I couldn’t tell if it was the death that constantly surrounded us in our city or if it was hearing about the constant super attacks that lowered my ability to care about killing one.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
As I arrived at the end of the cracked sidewalk that led to my house, I took a second to look up and admire the fact that it was still standing. The house itself wasn’t anything impressive, a simple blue single-family home with one tree in the yard. It was the simplicity that made me think it's why no one had attacked it yet. With a rough sigh I unlocked the front door and headed inside.
“Lucas you here?” I called out after taking my shoes off and placing them into the right-side closet near the front door. No answer came from my question, he must still be out looking for food or money. Him and I moved in together when our parents left to see if they could find a way to escape this accursed city, I guess they found it because they never came back. It was after that Lucas and I made a promise to survive however we could. I went into the kitchen and began looking around for food. Most of the time we ate everything we found the moment we found it, but two years ago I had managed to find an unopened box of Twinkies, and something about that told us we should save them for special occasions.
Something about killing my first super felt like it counted as a special occasion. We kept them hidden under a floorboard in the kitchen cupboard. It gave away with little effort, and sitting there in all its glory was the box. Over the years we had each eaten four twinkies leaving us with ten lefts. I knew it was going to be a heartbreaking day when the last one was gone but for tonight, I’ll just enjoy what I can. Slowly I took it out of the package and inspected it. Lucas once told me they had an infinite shelf life, but I didn’t know how true that was, but after a careful inspection it looked good enough.
The first bite was always the best, the sweetness that took me back to being a kid, and the texture of the bread that reminded me of eating sandwiches on a hot summer day with my mother. Everything about it was perfect, then like it had never existed at all, it was gone. Fleeting as it was, it was still nice to experience. I would make sure that Lucas got his once he was home until then I simply placed the box back where we kept it and put the floorboard back on top before heading to my room.
My room was the one closest to the front door. I figured that if anyone had a chance at stopping a home invasion it would be me. After today I didn’t know how true that was. Supers really could do just about whatever they wanted without repercussions. Well as long as they were not as stupid as the guy from this morning that is. I walked over to my desk and pulled out a notebook from the only draw it had. Each page was filled with information about all the supers I had ever seen, their strengths, weaknesses, and even personalities if I had that information. It didn’t take long for me to add the super from earlier into the notebook.
After finishing writing everything out I got up and with a hefty sigh I took a few steps and flopped down on my bed. I knew it was a bad idea to take a nap this early but after what I just went through, I think I deserve it. Slowly my eyelids became heavier and heavier until I simply couldn’t keep them open anymore.
“Knock, Knock, Knock” A loud banging sound came from my door after what felt like just a few minutes after I had fallen asleep, I flew out of bed as fast as humanly possible, grabbing my pistol and drawing it pointing it at the door. The knocking stopped after the third bang and silence fell after, I know it isn’t Lucas, he always repeats the same knock pattern and then says my name. It didn’t take long for something to happen, just shortly after the third bang a piece of paper slowly slid underneath the door.
After watching it for a minute and it not turning into a ravaging monster I slowly bent down and picked the paper up. IT was folded into fourths, an annoying folding method that just took more time than necessary for the reader to unfold. Written out in very neat handwriting was two words “Super Rebellion”. I knew who they were, everyone did, they were the only people who still had the balls to try to take on the supers who laid claim to our city. With fear in my eyes I slowly grasped the doorknob, I figured any supers would have just barged in here not bothering to make a ploy like this. Then with all my courage I turned tightly and swung the door open, in front of me stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Golden hair that went down to the middle of her back, red lips that looked more perfect than any I had seen on the few magazines left, and emerald eyes that screamed danger.