Chapter 4
Food Fight
All of the patrons turned to look at the gang leader as one, silence hanging in the air, as if for a moment they couldn’t process what was happening.
I shot a fleeting look to Orion and saw surprise as well as resignation written on his face in equal measure, as if this was common occurrence. My attention quickly shifted back to the leader as he spoke again.
“Listen here you shits! Empty your accounts, fork over any credsticks you have on you and you’ll get to go home and live to see another day.” He shouted, spittle flying all over the place. As if on cue, the two unoccupied gangers started spreading around.
“Mommy I’m scared!” I head the little girl saying to her mother. I looked over and saw her holding the little girl close, trying to calm her down.
One of the gangers moved to the businessman in the white suit and the other, as fate would have it, went straight for our table. As he got closer, I took a better look at the guy. To be frank, he looked like a crackhead. Rail thin, pale skin, ashy lips, severely yellowed teeth and aged beyond his years. He was wearing worn down and stained army fatigues, an olive green tank top that showed off his noodly tatted arms and had his sparse hair worn in ratty red dreads. However one thing that stood out was the weird pair of sunglasses he wore. They looked like huge off brand Oakleys but what made them distinctive, was that the lenses seemed to be screens bathing the ganger’s eyes in flickering blue light. Glasses stepped up to the table, the stench of his b.o. hitting me like a truck.
“You heard the man,” he said, taking something that looked like a usb stick out of one of his pants pockets and dropping it on the table. “Put your NuYen on the credstick and fork over any spare credsticks in your pockets.”
The stick was a metallic black with a tiny screen on its broad side. Its connector looked the same as the one on my commlink and datajack. On a whim I scanned for icons. The credstick didn’t seem to have any functionality besides it’s manufacturer information RFID reading:
Credstick [Silver] Certified by Zurich-Orbital Gemeinschaft Bank for a limit of 20.000¥
I dismissed the message and a notification took its place.
Computers has gained 100 XP!
Before I could even acknowledge the message, Orion spoke up, “Come on chummer, do kids like us like we’re flush with creds?” he said nonchalantly. Here I was, sitting in shock and fear and Orion, who I had dismissed as an airhead, was cool, calm and collected. Orion’s words seemed to be the wrong ones though.
“Do I look like a give a shit?” Glasses said, twitching weirdly in frustration. “I’ll make it simple for a dumb piece of drek like you,” he said lifting his pistol to Orion’s head. “You either pay up or I make an example out of you!”.
Frozen in fear, I was fixed on Glasses’ gun. His finger was on the trigger and he was twitching something fierce. For some dumb reason, the only thing I could think, was that his gun looked like the one John McClane had in Die Hard. I tried to look for its icon but realized that despite the fact that Glasses was clearly operating devices, he was devoid of icons. At the same time I heard a ding.
Computers has gained 100 XP!
“Do it man,” I said to Orion pleading. “Just give the money to him, it’s not worth it”.
“Listen to your chum kid,” Glasses said with a shit eating grin plastered on his face.
I reached over to grab the credstick, trying to keep my eyes on the ganger at the same time. Please god, let us make it out of this alive, I thought, knowing fully well that a twitch of his finger was enough to end us in a moment.
One moment Glasses’ face was contorted in a grin, next moment I saw his head burst open like an overripe watermelon, washing me in blood as a deafening gunshot echoed from the other side of the place. Like on queue, shit hit the fan.
Glasses’ corpse dropped, folding on the table. Behind him, I could see the clown janitor standing by one of the ordering screens with a huge revolver smoking in his hands. As a response, the ganger holding the security guard coldly executed him; a second gunshot ringing in our ears.
Bullets started flying everywhere and before I could see more, seemingly by instinct, I dropped under the table almost slipping on the blood pooling on the floor. Orion was down there with me trying to make himself as small as possible and I followed suite. The lower half of Glasses’ corpse was hanging off the table, luckily providing us with cover and hiding us from view.
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Orion elbowed me and I looked at him with a puzzled expression. He pointed beside me and my eyes followed to look. Next to my right hand, having fallen from the ganger’s grasp, was the handgun. I looked back to Orion who was gesturing wildly for me to pick it up.
I picked up the gun, slick in blood and wiped it really carefully on my pants. The gun felt heavier than I expected but still, its weight felt reassuring in my hands. I’d never held a gun before so I had no idea if the safety was engaged or not but I hoped that if the time came, it wouldn’t let me down.
Just as suddenly as it had started, the gunfire stopped, everything going quiet. I peaked around the ganger’s legs taking in the scenery. Blood splatters everywhere, tables and chair overturned and the floor was littered with bodies. All of the gangers except for the leader were dead. The mother with her daughter were still alive, huddled under their table and the orc student seemed to be unharmed as well. The business man in the white suit as well as the janitor didn’t seem to be so lucky though, each one riddled with bullets. Among them, were bodies that looked like staff members with firearms lying with them. It was a bloodbath.
This is beyond fucked. Was everyone here armed? I thought in utter shock.
The gang leader had moved over to the table were the two men were previously arguing. His foot was on the back of the man in the black suit who was lying on the floor bleeding out. The leader shot down, finishing the man off and turned his gun to the middle aged Asian guy who was still sitting in the table.
“You have no idea who you’re messing with old man!” The leader shouted, incensed. “You either hand over the creds or you end up like the rest.”
“You have to believe me! I have nothing!” the man said pleadingly. “That’s why I was here. The man you shot was extorting me for money. I just gave him everything!”
“Last chance old man. You have ten seconds,” spat the leader, his face red in anger.
I was scared shitless and shaking from all the adrenaline pumping through my body. Taking in this grim tableau and then looking down to the gun in my hands I was overcome by a singular thought.
This man will die unless I intervene.
I knew it deep in my bones that I was no hero. All I wanted was to survive. But I also knew that if I did nothing, I would carry this guilt with me my whole life.
I made to move and Orion’s hand shot out to hold me back. I saw the fear in his eyes as he shook his head telling me no. He must have understood the determination written on my face as he acquiesced, letting his hand drop and nodding grimly.
I moved Glasses’ legs aside and stepped out from under the table. I kept low to the ground, moving slowly in a crouch-walk. All the while I held the gun with knuckles turning white out in front of me, aiming at the leader. I knew I would only have one shot at this and since I had never fired a gun before, I had to get as close as possible so as not to miss.
The gang leader had started counting out loud while I was moving at a snail’s pace, desperate not to make a sound. After about 5 steps of crouch-walking, I heard a ding and in front of me a flickering red notification appeared.
SNEAKING SKILL UNLOCKED
Wha-
I didn’t even manage to complete my thought as a strange agony washed over me. What felt like fat fingers had pried my skull open and were rummaging around in there, giving my brain a not so gentle massage. I bit down in a desperate effort to stay silent as I felt the ghostly hand rearranging my gray matter. Then, as suddenly as the feeling came over me, it vanished, leaving me feeling wrung out and disoriented. It had felt like it had lasted minutes but I realized it was much less as the leader counted down the next second.
Gathering myself, I realized that my body now knew how to move and where to step so as not to make a sound. I knew I wasn’t some invisible ninja but still, the ease I suddenly felt was really surprising. Cringing at my previous attempts at stealth, I moved towards the leader at more than twice my previous speed. Luckily, any residual noise my movements might have made, was drowned by the little girl bawling her eyes out.
As his countdown reached 3, I was there behind him, gun pointed at the back of his head. Something must have alerted the leader, maybe a reflection or some other unseen detail and he jumped, turning towards me.
Startled by his sudden movement, I pulled the trigger and watched in shock as blood blossomed in a fountain from the leader’s head.
With the deafening crack of the gun ringing in my ears, I watched the gang leader’s body rag-doll lifelessly to ground followed by a ding resounding in my head. It took a moment to register but an overwhelming sense of dread and guilt finally washed over me as I realized what I had done. I had taken a man’s life.
I promptly bent over and emptied the contents of my stomach.
I really wanted to ignore what I had done but the flickering red message in the center of my vision was a grim reminder.
PISTOLS SKILL UNLOCKED
The feeling of fingers groping my brain washed over me again. I fell to my knees and threw up for a second time in a fit of nausea. As the sensation receded, I could feel the gun in hand as if it was an old friend who’s reassuring presence had been there with you your whole life.
I knew that I had done the right thing. I knew that I had saved a man’s life. That still wasn’t enough to wash away my act. In addition, with the new skill recontextualizing my relationship and instincts with the gun, I felt an almost and almost dysphoric sense of disgust at myself and whatever power was changing me without my consent.
Watching everyone who was still alive come out of their hiding spots, I could feel my guilt being slightly tempered by a sense of relief at their safety.
The man I just saved, stepped up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s ok son,” he said. “You did the right thing.”
I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and turned to face the man. “I know but still, it feels so wrong,” I mutter.
“It will get better with time. Trust me,” he said reassuringly. “What is your name son?”.
“Jack. Jack Garland,” I replied.
“Thank you Jack. I owe you my life,” he said bowing deeply at the waist. “My name is Ryu Asano. I run a clinic in the International District not that far from here. If you ever need anything, you come see me ok?”
Too stunned by the man’s generosity, I nodded affirmatively. At the same time, deep in the man’s pupils a soft blue light went on and I saw his contact get added to my commlink.
Suddenly, Orion was by my side grabbing my arm. “Listen man, I know this is touching and all but we do not wanna be here when Lone Star comes knocking.”
“Thank you Mr. Asano!” I said looking back at the man as I let Orion drag me along.
And just like that, we were out the door and running away.