ACT 1: HAINO CITY, CHAPTER 5. CREATURE FEATURE

Wone and Song sat in front of a fancy terminal searching for information on Xie Yan’s employers. It had been two days since Taps had told Wone he knew he was working with Song. He had yet to figure out how he was discovered. Song was dressed, as usual, in a tiger-covered blue gown with plain clothes beneath. Wone decided to match her style, wearing a blue short sleeved shirt and pants under his bullet vest and belts.

“We were able to find some accounts based on the info I got out of the gangers my men found on the piers,” said Song. “It seems Xie Yan wasn’t just working with the Chakri, there’s another account here associated with a different group.”

Wone looked at where Song was pointing on the monitor. There, he saw a symbol that they had deducted was associated with Xie Yan, speaking to another group of symbols in a coded language Wone and Song had yet to decrypt.

Song’s fingers began to dance across the terminal keyboard, running protocols onto the webpage to try and force out information on any of the users who had messaged Xie Yan.

“Nothing but hidden addresses, dummy histories, and dead ends,” she sighed and brushed her hair from her face.

The more time Wone spent with Song, the more attractive he began to find her. He suppressed these feelings, valuing their business relationship over his own lust and out of shame for the uncontrollable emotions stirring in his body.

She and I are just tools for each other, Wone reasoned. And I’m not a boy anymore. I can’t just fall in love with every pretty girl I see.

He found himself staring at the back of her head for too long and averted his eyes. There was just something about the woman that kept her image running through his mind. Wone shook his head and lamented how deep down he was just a dog.

“We were never going to find anything concrete on here anyway, it’s a miracle we were even able to get into an account with ties to Xie Yan,” said Wone from his chair behind Song.

She turned to him and leaned back in her chair.

“Fair enough,” she huffed. “But anyways, let’s discuss the other matter you’ve brought to my attention. You say your partner knew you contacted me the day of your hit?”

Wone nodded, folding his arms over his chest. “I want to make it clear; I don’t think it was you, you don’t even know who he is. Hell, I doubt he’s ever even seen you, but he knew somehow.”

Wone had to calm himself as he spoke, his tone grew more agitated, and his thoughts started to become more and more intense. Song looked at him calmly, leaning back in her chair.

“Well, it’s nothing to freak out about my friend,” she said. “There’s a number of ways for us to have been discovered, if anything it would have been strange if they didn’t notice anything. I should have considered how it looked sending my own people instead of my cousin’s to clean up that mess.”

She let out another sigh and closed her eyes, raising a hand to her forehead in thought. Wone managed to calm himself, she was right.

Yes, he thought. It must have been easy to put it all together, I do a job for Song and not even three days later she’s involved in another one of my jobs, one I chose no less.

The pieces all started to fall into place, yet Wone couldn’t shake the feeling that Taps was somehow more involved, like he knew more about his dealings with Song. There was also the matter of Song’s own suspicious knowledge of hunters. The whole situation stumped Wone, and he didn’t like that at all.

“Another couple a’ fuckin mysteries,” Wone growled.

His tone startled Song, who shifted in her seat ever so slightly.

“More questions aren’t a bad thing, especially when we discover solutions to problems previously hidden from our eyes,” said Song, finished with her brooding. “We now know that there is another group, likely outside of the other families, responsible for the attacks on my family. We know that your fellows either have a way to keep their eyes on you beyond normal means or are at least smart enough to deduce your actions, and we know you become agitated under pressure.”

She smiled at Wone who responded with a smirk and a shrug.

“It’s how I am,” he said.

“Well, it’s scary, please stop doing it around me,” Song responded.

“Alright, alright,” Wone said sheepishly.

“Here, I have a gift for you, come with me.”

Song rose to her feet and led Wone out of the office they were sitting in. He had met her at a private residence in the peaks, an area of rolling hills on the western side of town that overlooked the city. Obviously, Song’s property was one of the most lavish in the neighborhood she was staying in. They walked out onto the indoor balcony and descended the stairs to the living room.

“If this is a woman, or some other depraved luxury we’re both going to have a major issue on our hands,” said Wone. “I won’t stand for being treated like an animal.”

Song waved her hand in annoyance, “It’s nothing like that, just follow me.”

She continued through the house until they reached a room near the back entrance. Glass walls revealed a pool with a view of the city. Wone could see Haino bay and the place he and Song had met for dinner.

One day, he thought with a sigh.

Song looked back at him quizzically and he just shrugged.

“Stop moping,” she ordered, then put her hand to the door. It glowed blue with power for a moment then slid open, like an elevator door.

“Hah, how much money do you have,” Wone asked in a mixture of amazement and envy.

“Enough, hopefully,” said Song brushing the question aside. She stepped inside and motioned for Wone to follow.

Inside was an armory. Lockers held rifles, sub-machine guns, automatics, pistols, grenades, body armor, knives, helmets, the works. Wone let out a whistle at all of the weaponry on display. Song walked over to a terminal set up on a desk at the end of the room and began to type. Moments later, she pulled a drive out of the machine and handed it to Wone.

“Here is a list of commands that can breach the security of any terminal or InterLine device you come across,” she said with her hands on her hips. “With it you’ll be able to access whatever you want, it’s mostly for when you’re doing work for me but also…”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence; Wone knew where she was going. If he wanted to bug his own terminals he could, and gain access to all the information hidden away at home.

“Thanks,” said Wone pocketing the drive.

“Be careful now, you’re one of my greatest assets,” said Song.

“I don’t think I’ll use it for that,” said Wone. “It’d be more trouble than its worth.”

Song nodded and the two left the little armory and settled in the front living room. There Song had a holo-projector, a large blue couch with two love seats on either side of it, and an aquarium behind where the holo-projection would display. Wone’s mouth almost started watering at the sight of so much luxury and Song seemed to notice, smirking to herself in front of Wone.

“Do you have anything to do today,” Song asked. Wone was still enraptured in what he was seeing.

He was supposed to be at home, but there was no specific mission or task for him to complete today. “Not necessarily,” he replied watching the fish float about in their tank.

“You want to stay here and watch the holo with me for a while,” asked Song smiling.

“Are you trying to ingratiate me with your enormous wealth? Well, it’s working.” Wone plopped down on the couch in front of him and looked at Song expectantly. “I don’t know how to work this thing, chop, chop put the pretty pictures up, my lady!”

She rolled her eyes at him then sat at the other end of the couch, gracefully like the noble she was. She never quits, I’ll give her that.

She put her hand out and the holo-projector began to glow, then lifelike images of people began to float in the center of the living room. One with an anchorman for news, one with a man dressed in armor for action, another with a woman screaming in terror for thriller, and another box labeled ‘recent’ with a princess feinting, drama.

“Drama,” Wone drawled looking over at Song. “I would never expect this from you!”

“You don’t even really know me,” replied Song. “Just for that, we’re going to watch drama.”

She selected the recent box, and the projection went black for a moment.

“It takes a while sometimes,” said Song.

The images shifted and suddenly Wone was staring at a floating screen with a young man and woman standing across from each other in kingdom era clothing. The show Song had selected was in the middle of an episode, it was hard to tell what was going on without context.

“-if it’s true, if the consort was really poisoned…,” said the young woman. She was dressed in a light green dress, her hair tied into a pony tail and her eyes gleaming with tears.

“We know it’s true Xiao Mao, you discovered the poison yourself,” replied the young man. He was a handsome man, though feminine looking. He wore light purple robes and had a braid dangling from a pin at the top of his head.

There was a sudden compilation of scenes showing a hooded woman leaving a room, then of a cup spilling over, and finally Xiao Mao discovering the cup, and after an empty vial. Ot was shown in a series of flashes for dramatic effect.

“I just don’t want to believe… that Lady Fu would do such a thing, she raised me.” The young girl began to shed tears, and the young man pulled her into his arms.

“I know, I’m sure she had her reasons, but you can’t say such things anymore. For now, I need you to cut all ties you had with the woman,” said the man rocking the sobbing Xiao Mao in his arms.

“But she raised me, she’s, my mother. It hurts so much Shin, it hurts so bad.” She began to bawl in earnest and Wone found himself bewildered. He turned his gaze to Song who looked shocked as well.

She paused the show and put her head into her hands. “I can’t believe this.”

“Yeah, me neither,” muttered Wone.

They continued to watch the episode until a scene where Shin, who was apparently the emperor’s grandson and Crown Prince of the Yian dynasty, was confronted about his lover Xiao Mao’s identity. Song couldn’t take any more of the drama and took the holo back into the menu.

“Let’s…let’ s just watch an action movie shall we,” she said flustered. It was the first time Wone saw such an expression on her face, it was amusing.

“Yeah, that was certainly something,” answered Wone. He actually quite liked the show, but the lack of context made it hard to follow.

The images hovering in the center of the living room began to shift and swirl. Shin and Xiao Mao were replaced with men dressed in armor charging at each other on horseback. The next few minutes were filled with gratuitous violence as the men on the screen hacked and slashed at each other relentlessly. Wone didn’t find it very interesting since he lived what they were watching on the screen, but Song seemed to be enjoying herself.

“I thought you’d like this,” she said.

“I actually liked what we were watching before a lot more,” Wone replied. She gave him a cat like grin.

“Ohh, if that’s the case then let’s start from the beginning.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Before she could change the channel herself, the images began to swirl again. However, this time the swirl was red and white instead of black. Song’s face grew intrigued.

“An emergency,” she muttered. She crossed her legs and leaned toward the distorted image.

Finally, the red and white swirls turned into a smoking building. The image panned out, and Wone grit his teeth at what he saw. In what looked like the northern outskirts of the city, a legion of gnashers and ghouls were wreaking havoc. The flesh-colored crab like creatures chased people down and tore them apart while ghouls soaked up bullets from the policemen on the scene. Wone immediately rose to his feet and called out to Taps on the line.

“I’ll see you later,” said Song. She watched him from the couch, a concerned look on her face.

“I’ll call you. Probably soon, I have a feeling this has to do with you somehow.” Wone walked out of Song’s house and continued to call Taps to no avail.

“Wone, where are you?” It was the voice of Swift, strong and serious.

“I’m up at the peaks, I just saw what’s happening on the news. Where’s Taps?”

“He’s on the line directing us right now. Get over here quickly and help us take care of this. It’s me, you, Hiroh, and Taps on this,” he said.

Wone walked around the courtyard in front of Song’s house before realizing he had no way of reaching the northern outskirts fast enough to be of any help. He rushed back into Song’s house and found her still sitting on the couch watching the news. The situation was growing worse as the police officers were now being overrun by the mutant ghouls and thrashers.

“Can you lend me a ride,” Wone asked.

She nodded and pulled at a pearl on her wrist. “Wait outside, someone will be out shortly to take you where you want to go.”

This little tyrant thought Wone. He shook his head.

The young hunter walked back outside and sure enough, a black car was pulled up in the driveway. A middle-aged man with suntanned skin and jet-black hair dressed in a blue floral button up shirt and tan linen pants stepped out of the vehicle and saluted Wone.

“Where would you like to go this afternoon sir,” he asked politely.

“I need you to take me up to where those monsters are. Can you do that for me?”

The man nodded. “Get inside sir, I’ll take you where you need to go.”

The driver leaned down and opened the passenger door behind the driver’s seat and motioned for Wone to enter.

So stiff, thought Wone watching the man operate. But I guess if you worked for Song all your life…

Wone climbed inside and situated himself within the car. It was the same model as the one Dunna had used. The interior seats were made of laminated leather and smelled like palm trees. As soon as Wone shut his door and the driver strapped himself in, they sped off in the direction of the carnage.

“Turn the radio on,” said Wone peering through the front window.

The driver flipped on the radio and turned the dial to the news station. The garbled voice of an anchor filled the car.

“-olice on the scene report there are dozens of the creatures rampaging from Lihua Place to Fei Street. Officials advise anyone in the surrounding area to evacuate immediately. I repeat, if you are in the blocks surrounding Lihua Place to Fei Street, please evacuate towards the City Center immediately. The area is not safe.” The quick nasal voice continued to repeat the message, adding on any new information as he received it.

“Doesn’t sound like it’s going very well down there,” said the driver gruffly. He picked up his speed, flying down empty streets and weaving through traffic.

“We’ll sort it out,” said Wone. “This is what I’m good at.”

They sped through downtown Haino until they reached a police line a couple blocks from where the chaos was happening. The driver had blown through several red lights on the way. He understood the urgency. They pulled in front of the police barricade and Wone stepped out of the car.

“Should I wait for you here?” asked the driver from his window.

“No, get out of here!”

The driver nodded his head and drove off. Wone looked toward the smoke of a burning building. It was some sort of business building, three stories high and made of white concrete. Smoke bellowed out of the upper floors and thrashers and ghouls were pouring in and out of the glass wall making up the front of the complex.

“Hey, did Song send you,” asked a young officer. He was standing at the police barricade and must have recognized the car Wone came out of.

“Sort of. What’s going on in there? Is there any other Hunters on the scene?”

“A group of monsters emerged from the sewers and started attacking the Lin enterprise building,” he said. “As for Hunters, there was one that headed into the building and another one that went chasing after a strange man.”

Wone nodded his head digesting the information.

“Swift, I’m here now where are you,” Wone asked through his transmitter.

“I’m in the building looking for a woman, I need you to go after Hiroh,” said Swift. “He went into a manhole a block down the road to chase after a suspect.”

“Alright, we’ll handle this,” Wone said to the policeman with a nod.

He vaulted over one of the police cars in the barricade and began to run down the street. Around him people ran in panic from the monsters who were now either headed for the manhole Hiroh had entered or standing in front of the Lin building. As Wone made his way to the manhole, a thrasher noticed the young hunter and came skittering after him.

It screeched and sent a glob of thick mucus his way, its fleshy mouth coming together before spitting the acidic at the young hunter. Wone dodged aside and took cover behind an abandoned carriage. He drew his pistol from his hip and let off two shots into the creature’s torso.

“Acchhh,” it screeched before careening on its long legs and collapsing, red blood pooling underneath its crumpled body.

The young hunter scanned the street for any more beasts, and after seeing his opportunity, sprinted for the open manhole and jumped inside. He landed on a concrete path beside a canal filled with polluted water.

“Fuck it stinks,” Wone muttered.

Before he could catch his bearings, he heard the growl of a ghoul and turned just in time to avoid the decaying green thing’s claws. He pulled a knife from his belt and cut open the mutant’s stomach, spilling its green innards all over the concrete floor. It keeled over on itself, dead.

“Man, that’s nasty.”

Wone wiped his knife off on his pants and slipped it back into his belt.

“Taps, I need directions here,” Wone called through his transmitter.

After a moment of silence, Taps’s voice filled Wone’s head: “Go straight, take a right, then a left, then a left, and continue straight until you reach Hiroh.”

Wone moved past the poor mutant’s corpse and began to follow Taps’s directions. He went straight until there was a fork in the path and turned right. He must have been on the right path since there were dead thrashers and ghouls all along the path.

This is serious, thought Wone. There must have been dozens of creatures. It wasn’t normal.

Thrashers were common in the deeper parts of the ruins surrounding the city, but they never attacked settlements. And ghouls didn’t travel in packs unless they were commanded to. It was obvious someone was behind the attacks, likely the same person involved in the arachnid incident. Wone made his last left and picked up his pace to catch up to Hiroh. He found the other Hunter with his hand against the sewer wall, struggling to move forward. He was bleeding from his chest.

“Are you alright,” Wone asked.

“Fine, one of those flesh beasts stabbed me. It isn’t too deep,” replied Hiroh. He pushed his back into the wall and collapsed on his bottom.

“Taps, Hiroh’s injured. I’m gonna leave him here and go on ahead.” Wone looked at the injured man and furrowed his brow. “You sure you’ll be alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” replied Hiroh. He pulled a syringe from his belt and stuck it into his arm. He let out a sigh and leaned his head back onto the wall.

Blood seeped from where his vest was pierced. The clothes on his upper body were torched and the plates on his legs were scratched and torn. Wone couldn’t see his expression from behind his white veil.

“Go, don’t let him get away. And be careful, he’s a warlock,” said Hiroh.

Wone nodded and continued forward.

“I have him marked, he’s not far,” said Taps from within Wone’s head, calm as ever. “Swift found the Lin girl dead in the building; he’s coming out now to take care of Hiroh.”

Wone jogged on ahead, being careful not to stumble into an ambush. He came across another forked path.

“Make a left,” said Taps.

Wone turned and ran down the path to his left. Ahead of him he saw a beam of light coming from the ceiling, and a man standing beneath it. He turned towards Wone, his demonic eyes shining. The young hunter couldn’t make out his face but he was wearing a green jumpsuit and black boots. Wone Immediately drew his pistol and emptied the rest of his magazine. Each of the bullets were stopped in midair before they reached their target, allowing the man to climb out of the sewer.

Wone chased after him, nearly flying up the ladder leading out of the sewer. As soon as his feet touched the pavement of the surface, he bounded toward the fleeing warlock. He reloaded and fired five more shots at the man, only for each bullet to once again be stopped in midair. Unlike Wone’s previous encounter with such a spell, no hands burst from the warlock’s back. But it did seem as if an invisible force was catching the bullets rather than stopping them, since each bullet was halted at different times.

He continued his pursuit, getting closer and closer each block they travelled. Wone didn’t know exactly where they had resurfaced at, but it was out of the city limits. They were in a slum, rugged looking people looked on in wonder and fear as the two strange looking men chased after each other.

The warlock burst into an abandoned apartment building and fled up the stairs with Wone a few meters behind him. Wone fired three bullets at the man as they travelled up a set of stairs and this time nearly struck the Warlock. His bullets stopped just shy of the man’s body, panicking him.

“Incinerate!” The man quickly turned to Wone and stuck out his right hand. A split second later a wave of heat enveloped Wone, and a ball of fire was sent soaring towards him.

Wone ducked under the flaming projectile and dived at the warlock before he could escape the stairwell. He made contact and the two of them went tumbling onto the floor. Wone tackled him with such force that the two of them fell halfway down the hallway and Wone was now in front of the Warlock. He drew his knife and pounced on the evil-eyed fiend, growling as they slammed into each other. The warlock caught Wone’s knife hand and used his momentum to throw him back towards the staircase.

He's Strong Wone thought.

The warlock sent another fireball hurdling towards Wone and smashed through an old door that led into an apartment. Wone threw himself against the side of the hall to avoid the fireball and followed after the warlock. He fired off two shots through the apartment doorway and cautiously peeked around the corner to find the man. He spied the warlock forcing open a fire escape window and dashed into the room to pursue.

Wone jumped right through the glass window moments after the man climbed out onto the fire escape and chased him down the stairs. The young hunter followed the man into the alley below, and sprinted after him when they came out into the street behind the apartment building.

“Wone, you’re getting out of range of my transmitter, be careful,” came the faraway voice of taps. “Let Swift or Hiroh know if you’re in trouble, they’ll be in range.”

After a few more blocks he felt his connection with Taps completely sever. If he lost the warlock now, he’d be gone for good.

“Swift, is Hiroh alright?” asked Wone as he dashed after the warlock.

“He’s fine, I gave him over to the police. I’m coming through the sewer now,” replied Swift. “Be careful, don’t do anything brash.”

“Understood.”

Wone was gaining on the warlock, but as he got closer, he felt something start to pull at his mind. Like cold fingers gently caressing his head, and sometimes scratching it. The two of them turned a corner and ended up in front of a ruined parking lot. The warlock stopped ten meters in front of Wone. For whatever reason, Wone also felt compelled to stop. His mind grinded to a halt, and he heard soft whispers all around him. They slowly picked up in volume, muttering sweet nothings until he felt like his skull was starting to freeze over. The warlock’s eyes began to glow a sinister red, and the whispers began to increase in intensity.

His mind was being assaulted by the demon the warlock had contracted with. It was the only explanation; the warlock wouldn’t be able to get into Wone’s head otherwise. Wone didn’t know the specifics, but he understood that because he was out of range of the terminal, he was now susceptible to intense mental assaults. He shuddered, thinking about how much worse this would be if he wasn’t genetically altered. He forced himself to move forward, slowly following the Warlock who was moving into the garage.

The voices suddenly cascaded, melding into one rich feminine voice: “Have it your way.”

His head exploded in pain, and then his mind was free. The warlock ahead of Wone sent a flurry of fire balls flying toward him, then sprinted deeper into the parking garage. Two of the attacks struck Wone in his chest, scorching his vest, and burning the skin and clothing beneath. Wone seethed in pain but continued after the Warlock, managing to stay on his feet.

“Why don’t you come back here so I can kill you quickly,” called Wone from the garage’s entrance. “Save us both some time!”

“You could not hope to defeat me,” the Warlock called back. His voice was deep and melodic. He was confident.

“We’ll see!”

Wone followed the fiend up the ramp to the second floor of the pillared complex, avoiding every fireball he sent his way. He fired a few shots at the warlock, and to his satisfaction, one of them hit. The invisible aura that had been catching Wone’s bullets appeared. A wall of blue hands shattering before they faded into nothingness. Wone’s last shot struck the Warlock on his right arm, forcing the groaning man to retreat behind a pillar for cover.

“I’m going to enjoy picking you apart, fiend,” mocked Wone as he slowly approached.

He moved to the left of the pillar the Warlock was hiding behind, going out wide. He wanted to shoot the man without getting close. He fired three shots at the warlock to keep him in place, then took cover behind a pillar parallel to the one the fiend hid behind. The man leaned out from behind his pillar and tossed a fireball at Wone and received a bullet in return. He grunted and retreated behind the pillar, blood now painting the concrete beneath him. The young hunter reloaded his gun.

“Almost time,” called Wone in a sinister tone.

Wone dashed out from behind his cover and pressed the warlock. He walked up to where he hid behind his pillar and emptied his gun into where he predicted the wounded man to be. To his astonishment he found no one there.

“What the hell,” Wone muttered frantically scanning his surroundings.

He quickly jogged to another nearby pillar ahead of him and took cover. He poked his head from behind the pillar and searched for signs of the wounded warlock.

Nothing.

“Swift, he got away from me. Pulled off some sort of disappearing act,” transmitted Wone. He slipped the empty clip from his gun and loaded in a fresh one from his belt.

“Nothing we can do about that without a terminal,” answered Swift. “Get out of there quickly before he regains his strength and ambushes you.”

“Will do, I’ll meet you at the manhole exit.” Wone searched his surroundings one more time then quickly escaped the parking garage. The warlock had left no clues to his escape route.

Wone found Swift waiting by the open manhole, looking around for anymore danger. He stopped when he saw Wone approach and walked over to him.

“Glad you’re safe,” said Swift relieved. “Today was a big fat mess.”

“Yeah,” Wone replied. He glanced around nervously; still unsure the warlock had truly left.

“That warlock and his patron killed three hunters. Killed the Lin girl too.”

Wone and Swift began to make their way back into the city proper. They moved from the road to the sidewalk and passed by a few delipidated buildings and homeless encampments. It was amazing to Wone that none of them seemed to mind the horde of creatures that must have come through the area. He figured the warlock must have herded them through the sewers in the early hours of the morning.

“So, who was really supposed to deal with this? Us or the other cells,” asked Wone.

“The job to save the Lin girl came after she had already been attacked,” answered Swift. “As for who was supposed to respond to this sort of mess, it was Quake’s group. But they’re all dead or missing.”

Swift groaned and scratched his head, pulling off his veil. He had an annoyed look on his face, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Let’s go get Hiroh and get home, we need to regroup,” said Wone.

Swift nodded and the two of them returned to the police line and picked up Hiroh. He had mostly healed from his wounds but needed some assistance while moving around. There were corpses all over the place. The long-limbed flesh-colored bodies of thrashers were splayed out all along the block. The viscera of ghouls splattered across the roads like lime green paint. Civilians laid dead in the street, waiting for a police officer to retrieve their body for the coroner. It was a gruesome sight.

“All right everyone, if you don’t have anything to do move along, we have work to do here,” called an officer from the center of the street.

The police were starting to corral people who did not have a place to go. The monsters had all been killed and the fire had been put out by the fire department while Wone was chasing the warlock. The police barricade had been lifted and now crying victims and first responders crowded the ruined street.

They’re probably just being nosy, thought Wone. None of the residential buildings had burnt down in the fire, just the Lin building.

“Let’s get going, we got a lot to think about for the next couple days,” said Swift.

The two of them took turns helping Hiroh walk until Myrah pulled up with a car and drove the three of them back to the apartment building.