-You sure you want to do that?

-Yes, Sp4de will not bow his head if it is not me.

Ruby had packed her bags. Able to walk she had taken it upon herself to go to Sp4ade for an update on Tubio’s money. As Cyclops. Elizabeth had accepted Ruby’s departure not without warnings and other prescriptions. Tubio had taken her meager belongings and brought her home. Her modest apartment she lived in. Adamantly refusing to let Tubio in, she left him out until she changed and put herself in new clothes for her role as Cyclops. Both had crossed the city to return to Watson.

Continuing in silence to follow the destination that Ruby had told Tubio took them into the depths of the Watson industrial zone. Arriving at Longshore north it continued until arriving at the junction between Eisenhower and Longshore north. All around him Tubio found industries and buildings tagged. Getting closer to the city limit Tubio could now see the desert at the end of the road the sidewalk becoming increasingly empty as trash and car carcasses became more numerous in the dead ends. Once at the corner of the intersection Ruby tells her to stay in the car as she returns to the only residence around.

While Tubio was waiting for Ruby, she entered the familiar building. A dump, between abandoned and squatted. She thinks she’s the only one who never paid her rent late. Even if she had taken one of the worst apartments of the building at first to piss off her father, once the bet passed she had quickly made the squatters understand that she preferred another, one of the largest at the angle and view of the intersection. Some threats, a gun to the head, and she took all the second floor. The fact that they were all squatters and other drug addicts or criminals helped her conscience, especially as it was a nest of scavengers.

Passing the double doors the place was hard to see, walls degraded, garbage on the floor and let rot. To her right two worn sofas were in front of a huge tag of the Maelstrom, a TV on the right of the door overhung the hall with a table for a janitor who disappeared a long time ago. Continuing towards the stairs the cables of the corridor spit sparks in the passage, she did not even go to see the elevators. They too had stopped working a long time ago. She passed in front of an astonishingly running distributor on the first floor. Cracks in the walls with tags and broken tiles, she climbed up to the second floor to find a bed in the staircase. Arriving on the second floor, she found two more mattresses positioned on the floor. People were moving in on her floor. Pizza boxes, all kinds of garbage, clothes on the floor. Ruby had expected it, but to see it... If that was in the hallway she didn’t even want to see her apartment. As she saw the results, a woman saw Ruby. Clearly a vagrant, she was terrified to see her. A prosthetic arm, and half the face stuffed with chrome, she was badly dressed in clothes too small for her. Visibly sick Ruby stared at her for a long time. Then after the shock on Tamara's face. Cyclops' closed face smiled as if nothing had happened.

-Tamara. Have you been watching my apartment?

-Someone broke in. I swear I had nothing to do with it.

-When, who, where do I find them?

-The scavengers, a week ago, they are the ones at the bottom of the building.

Three of them.

-... Take your things, if I see you within 100 meters of here I'll kill you.

Looking no further, the woman picked up a large bag and began to pack as much of her belongings as she could into it. Living on the ground, it was an unpleasant sight, but knowing the woman, Ruby knew that it was she who had warned her accomplices that she wasn't there. Even if most of her equipment was elsewhere, it still hurt to know that your home had been violated.

Ruby was sure she said the owner left to avoid her traps, and let the scavengers bite the bullet. Approaching the white door directly to the right, a trace of dried pool of blood on the ground told her that his trap had worked. Stopping she turned to Tamara who had stopped packing to look at her before doubling the storage speed when Cyclops turned.

Standing to the side to open the door Tamara immediately exited the area as fast as she could, leaving her belongings in the stairs. Confirming to Ruby that she was there when they first opened the door. The other doors of the floor were closed; the only door that could be opened normally was this one. The door slipped and nothing happened. One could say that this is because the trap is disarmed, but no, to the right of the door was a small sensor, hiding between a mess of electrical cables at the top of the corridor wall. In all this deterioration people would not look inside for a second. With the censor Ruby accessed her system.

Jumping from the sensor to a camera inside, she saw the room upside down. Drawer emptied, stuff turned upside down, in short... She opened the door from the inside thus deactivating the other security.

Going inside Ruby could see the extent of the damage, fortunately this apartment should be the only one to have been hit by the thieves, otherwise the building would have already exploded. She looked to see if the rifle she had linked to the door was missing and yes, it was nowhere to be found. Passing the living room, she found the supplies returned here too, not a single cupboard had been spared.

She looked in the wall where a hole had been made by the previous owners. Scavengers. Serving as an accommodation base, she had kicked them out. No sooner had she done that than the homeless tried to invade the place. Passing the hole she came across the bathroom of the next apartment. The door closed. This time she had to know what to do. Ruby opened the door, and mines placed in front and facing the door started to activate at the same time. Passive mines need time to activate. Far enough to not be caught or moved, close enough to kill. Ruby had made this place a deathtrap. Either the thief closes before the mines are fully activated and they become passive again. Either he tries to stop them and unless he is a very, very good and fast netrunner the idea is very, very dangerous.

But Ruby isn't stupid either, even though she was good, she had a common junction point hidden in the middle of the mines. Locating the case immediately she deactivated all the mines at once. The fact that they were still in motion at least confirmed to him that no one was competent or stupid enough to go through that. She passed the mines arriving in a very large living room. The wall separating the two apartments was down, two apartments made one. The apartment with a double door on its left arriving at another corner of the building. The doors were sealed of course, in addition, the mountain of clothing that Tamara left had probably become one with the wall. The decoration of the room was spartan, some furniture and nothing else. This was a small arsenal room for Ruby, weapons, ammunition, guns, assault rifles and the pump, guns, blades. Some grenades were stowed in the cupboards cleanly. She looked at her arsenal. Almost disgusted to see that he held out better than the first apartment.

Opposite the sealed double door was a turret with a mounted heavy machine gun.

image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1178789115622326365/1220892068675719278/latest.png?ex=66109758&is=65fe2258&hm=a9f57ecee4a929319a311ef2c32b083c3fa35cae431717d9961a10c641014821&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1440&height=471]

On top was a small mechanical spider, hooked firmly on top, fixing the door. Being careful not to pass into her field of vision, Ruby connected to her, disconnecting her before taking her and put her in her hood, Petit, as she called her. Passing the living room she still took a sniper rifle, a Tsunami Nekomata. Passing in her back she went to the old room finding another hole.

image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1178789115622326365/1220892375052845107/latest.png?ex=661097a1&is=65fe22a1&hm=83e31c6156de7c112ec8a8fce961b1d39deeb0e2c1debad48cbbceba83b6723c&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1440&height=471]

This time no warning for thieves, looking behind her on the ceiling another spider was looking at the hole. Tiny. Another simple mechanical spider with a different design with an onboard camera and a red lens like the other. Tiny was linked to explosives and will trigger them at the very moment that the intruder would enter the hole. Taking remote control she guided Tiny to the ground. She reached out and put Tiny in her hooded sweater with Petit.

Passing through the hole and Continuing in the last apartment connected. The latter was a mix between her personal nest and her workshop. by far the best maintained and clean. The apartments were divided into stations or machines of all kinds dragged half dissected in another where there was a kitchen, food was neatly stored in a dedicated area and nothing mechanical can be seen in it. She looked at her schematics, her diagrams. The simulations she'd always worked hard for.

In the middle of all this in a corner a tiny bed and a wardrobe full of clothes. Sexy or not. Practical or not, cheap. Ruby looked at her wardrobe. Everything was cheap. All her money was spent on maintaining and improving her chrome, her weapons or her security. How much money she had swallowed up here. Thinking about Tamara, she connected to her computer. Watching the latest intrusions she watched through cameras to see what really happened.

*****

Tamara and 4 other people were standing in front of her apartment. The camera, hidden in the broken stairwell switch, gave Ruby everything she wanted. Ruby had a perfect angle when one of the chooms connected to force open the door. Unsurprisingly for her, the shotgun went off, blasting a fist-sized hole in the scavenger's belly. Just as the door opened.

Shock and screams. Before the second scavenger stepped inside, seeing that the shotgun had no reload. Ignoring their dead buddy, they went inside, quickly checking for traps before turning their attention to the hole in the wall. Tamara moved slowly into the apartment, feeling her courage grow as she began to rummage through the drawers. The first apartment served as a test apartment and a deterrent. The scavenger's didn't search it, but were in the bathroom trying to open the door. When the door finally opened, they discovered the fear of their lives. Without the slightest precaution or dignity, the three thieves crawled out through the hole, while one of them had the good sense to close the bathroom door. A wise choice. Returning to the first apartment, they began to insult each other. How they were going to get through this. Through the roof? There's no way out. Given the number of mines present, it wouldn't have been surprising to find one for every window. And their netrunner had just been shot in the stomach, dying instantly. Force a hole in the wall? Why not? It will take time and a bit of equipment. One of them turned to Tamara. The drug-addicted woman had brought them in to collect Ruby's clothes. That homeless bitch, Ruby had told her she could stay in her hallway if she didn't make a mess, but the moment she saw her in the hallway in her apartment clothes, she knew. Ruby had felt sorry for her, letting her go. What followed was an assault on Tamara by the guys who were still alive. Asking for more information, crying crocodile tears she pleaded that she didn't know about the traps. That Ruby was just an uptight girl working with the Maelstrom. She didn't know anything about it.

Then, in a twist of fate, the guys accepted this explanation before looking for the apartment they had access to. Tamara smiled when her assailant let her go. But in a twisted turn of events, the man in question threw her on the bed before raping her. Ruby was disgusted to see Tamara enjoying it. It was clearly a game for her, probably already happened before. Tamara was sick in the head, but this much? Taking pleasure in the situation, she let the other two take care of her too. Luckily for Ruby, she could speed things up. Convincing herself she hadn't seen anything. She saw them off with their meager booty. The next intrusions were only Tamara stealing things.

Ruby was pissed, she felt anger and rage rising within her, how many times she'd protected that whore? Drugged to the bone, she'd even let her sleep in the apartment more than once. Betrayal was one thing, but what she did with it. She could have settled in and lived in the apartment like a civilized person, but no, she decided it was better to steal and destroy the apartment for her own amusement. Looking down at a table in her workshop, she pulled out a mask, a Cyclops visor mask that she'd designed herself, her old one was still at Elizabeth's home. Activating it, a sadistic smile crossed her face as she placed it on her face. She knew where she was. Feeling the blood rush to her head before being overcome by calm. She turned and went to the window overlooking the backyard.

Looking down, she saw three people with whom she was familiar. The three thieves and Tamara. The scavengers had set up two sofas and a TV on a table. Disturbed by Tamara, she tried to attract their attention but didn't take her seriously and continued watching TV.

Cyclops smiled and hacked into the TV with one of her personal demons. Vision. Their TV glitched and a shape appeared on the screen, a red eye gazing through the viewers. A sadistic smile appeared below the eye. Disembodied laughter erupted from the speakers as Tamara fell to the floor before looking up at Cyclops' window. A smile and a digital eye on her mask confronted Tamara, who screamed in fear before fleeing, running. Cyclops wasn't going to let you go like that. She used another of her personal demons. Nightmare. Letting her flee was the last sign of mercy she would ever show. Or was it?

image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1178789115622326365/1210602136635707463/final_8.jpg?ex=66101219&is=65fd9d19&hm=8bc01af14e4946ebb4accc0a4c7e15d9a896df72165a7dc37f7f3003af8e8a18&=&format=webp&width=365&height=597]

******

Everything was going well in Max's life. Buddies, eddies and now a whore for him and his buddies. No problem at all. Especially since their boss had died in a stupid trap. Who still uses a shotgun tied to a door as a trap. The rest of the week was magnificent. He went home and looted the vault and did whatever we wanted during that time. Now all they had to do was pass the mines with a cheap netrunner, then flatline him for not sharing.

While he and his buddies enjoyed sunbathing in the backyard of the building, watching TV. Their beers were interrupted by the junkie. She was incomprehensible, explaining that the chick who'd booby-trapped the apartment they'd tried to rob had come back. A poor chick "working with the Maelstrom" that is. Max had seen the girl's picture, a featherweight, Max could lift her by the throat and her feet wouldn't touch the ground. As he and his buddies watched TV, ignoring the girl, the image of the TV glitched, blurring for a second before a red eye appeared on the screen, vibrating and shifting its focus every second, followed by a broad smile underneath.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

The girl then became hysterical, falling to the ground and screaming in fear as she looked up at the second floor of the building. Remorseful before running off, Max looked out of the window to see a deranged silhouette. A digital eye staring back at them, identical to the one on the TV. A twisted laugh came out of the TV before he spoke.

-YOu'Ve PIcKed ThE WRoNg HoUSe fOOl.

Before bursting into a new creepy laugh. Max, out of bravado and alcohol, rose to his feet, shotgun in hand. Before calling the person at the window.

-Hey! Bitch. See this, it's yours! When we're done with you, I'll be able to shove it up your cunt whole!

He raised the gun to fire, but the trigger didn't work. Looking at the person at the window. A vibrant digital smile appeared under the eye to mock them.

-Oh! Smoke her!

One of his accomplices quickly got up with a Unity pistol. Pointed and... Bang.

Turning the gun on himself and blowing his brains out, his corpse fell back into his armchair before the eyes of the two survivors. Suicide. Max heard his friend mutter netrunner before getting up and starting to run followed by Max, but just as his friend was in front of him an electric explosion startled his implants. He collapsed to the ground. Max ran, but as he did so, an energy crack was heard. And he was pushed forward by a shot in the back. Max tried to stay on his feet. But a second shot rang out. Once the second target was down, a third shot rang out, killing the last man already on the ground. And just like that, three men were dead. Tamara kept running, Cyclops' gaze on her back.

*****

Cyclops took the necessary measures to intimidate Sp4de. Nothing out of the ordinary. A third spider robot called klein and off he went. Taking a bag with him and reactivating the mines, he reassembled a rifle connected to the door. Cyclops locked the apartment before heading for the stairwell. Opening the door, she descended one floor before climbing over the staircase's railings and jumping down to land smoothly on the pavement. She crossed the road to meet Tubio in Boréale. Putting in a bag full of weapons and gadgets, before getting back into the car, Cyclops looked at the last part of the second floor she hadn't visited today. Opposite the main staircase, the apartment on the front of the building, though sealed off, contained no traps - on the contrary. This was Ruby's room. The day she stopped being Cyclops. If he ever came.

Cyclops got into the car and Tubio could feel the difference instantly. Cyclops was not Ruby. Staring at the front of the car. He put his hand on hers to catch her attention. Cyclops' mask turned slowly, the red eye facing him. But Tubio wasn't afraid.

-Are you okay?

Cyclops waited a second before nodding. Tubio smiled before starting the car.

*****

Tubio drove to Kabuki, stopping to leave the car along Charter Street, Creek loop's pedestrian streets not being designed for cars or parking. After a short walk, Tubio and Cyclops began to make their way down the tangled streets of this part of town, underneath the fast-moving voices of Creek Loop was one of those places where anything was worth trying to live. Close to the water. This neighborhood collected all the area's wastewater in canals below. Alleys and stores piled up one on top of the other as the population grew. On the rooftops, sheet-metal installations served as dwellings for the area's most miserable residents.

Tubio and Cyclops walked in silence along the main road. Tubio had become accustomed to chatting with Ruby. Her silence made him uneasy. But if she didn't say anything, Tubio wasn't going to bother her. Arriving at a new staircase, they descended beside the muddy canal where a trickle of water flowed from the drains, opposite to them on the other side large fans blew air from the wall supporting the road above. To their left, the town was wide awake and alive. Cafés were open, restaurants and other stores. Passing a ramen restaurant, Cyclops stopped in front of a white door leading above them.

-Second floor, no balcony. When I signal you to go in, I'll follow.

Tubio nodded. But tried to open the locked door, you never know. Cyclops pressed herself against the wall. From her hood, which she'd pulled up to remain unnoticed, freed a mechanical spider, Tiny, who was hiding in the folds. Tubio watched her. Moving slowly along her shoulder to her outstretched hand, she placed it on the wall, where it began to climb, adhering to the concrete. Tiny climbed slowly up the wall while Tubio and Cyclops waited. Cyclops guided the spider using the on-board camera and direct visuals. Arriving at the second-floor bay window, she looked inside with shared vision. She could see a netrunner chair and a small apartment. Unable to see clearly, she switched to thermal vision. A mass was in the chair, alas from behind, and Cyclops couldn't identify whether it was really a person or something else.

He indicated the door to Tubio. Tubio tried again, but to no avail. Seeing this, Cyclops looked for the inner door. unlocking the outside door from the inside, Tubio put on his Maelstrom mask and walked in, followed by Cyclops. Tubio immediately arrived second in line, ready to charge the door. But Cyclops wanted to be there, and Tubio had already taken out his Overture and was ready to enter. Using Tiny, Cyclops timed the entrance with Tubio.

-3...2...1...

The door opened and Tubio saw a naked guy having a braindance in his armchair. Completely unaware of what was going on, the guy had a perfect erection. Tubio turned to Cyclops who, despite his mask, looked disgusted. Tubio entered the small apartment. He checked the other rooms and took a towel to cover Sp4de's modesty. Feeling the towel's touch, Sp4de removed his helmet to discover Tubio with a pistol in his hand and Cyclops staring at him. His eyes widened as he kept the towel over his private parts. Tubio spoke up.

-Hi Sp4de, how are you?

-Um, could you have called? No?

-And risk you running away? No, you know what I came for. Gaton talked about our deal with Cyclops here and he'd like to make a withdrawal.

Collecting his thoughts, Sp4de smiled embarrassed. The young white man, was slightly overweight, had chrome in his hands and the knees but was known best for his technical skills that had opened many doors for him in the netrunner field, including a portfolio of people from whom he covered and hid their money. Sometimes even under contract to guarantee his life. Even if such contracts were more than rare. And didn't pay him enough to live in Kabuki, Creek Loop. The worst that could have happened was that he left with the money, but now... Totally unprepared for Cyclops, he asked if he could at least put on underwear. Cyclops nodded in disgust. While Tubio watched Sp4ade, Cyclops discreetly left another drone in the stairwell. Petit. Bringing it up to the corner of the wall and staircase, giving an unobstructed view of the climb and descent behind them. Entering and closing the door behind him Cyclops didn't have to wait long before Sp4de came back with Tubio. It was also not long before he began to speak to himself.

-Cyclops sorry for the loss of Gaton, it all happened so fast. Phew, you know, I was just in my corner. You know me, and I'm sorry about the others the night you were attacked and I didn't get in touch with you, but what was I supposed to do? Everyone was in trouble and I couldn't trust anyone. You were dead for everyone and you Tubio could have told me news...

-Shut up. Cyclops was convalescing now he needs money, the money my father-in-law has been sending you all along.

Sp4de then became very uneasy as he thought. Tubio raised his weapon.

-You used it, huh?

-No! Of course not.

Turning to Cyclops he tried to plead his case.

-As I said I didn't know what to do so I stored it...

Sp4de was visibly sweating while Cyclops remained silent. While the conversation was taking place. Petit, in the hallway, had work. Coming from the street as well as from the floor above, four men stood behind the door. Warning Tubio, he immediately raised his weapon stopping Sp4de who panicked and tried to run, to let himself be taken hostage by Tubio with his arm twisted behind his back. Cyclops went in the doorway of the bathroom still connected to Petit. Cyclops immediately activated contagion as the door opens. One of the thugs started vomiting on his friends as they went inside. Each one raising their weapon towards Tubio, Cyclops still in cover used Tiny, for having seen the room. As the contagion spread the men in the apartment began yelling at Tubio to let go of Sp4ade. They fought not to lose their targets with their eyes spitting the products of their stomachs onto the ground and resisting dizziness. One of them did not succeed and came back to take cover of the wall of the door. Just below Petit. Sp4de immediately called for calm. the face to face was intense and for a while no one moved.

-It's okay guys, I know them. We are just having a discussion about money on a contract that was open and was abandoned. Put down your weapon because otherwise we're all dead. Understood? Valance, take the others with you and wait outside.

Valance, a bearded man with a blue jacket, was visibly very angry about the situation, but ended up lowering his gun. Instructs his men to back off.

-I'm staying.

Tubio and Sp4de looked at Cyclops who remained motionless before nodding. Tubio held Sp4de hostage until Valance backed off against the wall and stored his gun.

Returning to calm, Valance stayed away and remained against the wall at the door. Cyclops remained in the shadows and Tubio released the pressure on Sp4de. Sp4de had regained his splendor and composure. Knowing that reinforcements were behind the door must have given him courage. Because he began to express himself in an almost arrogant manner. Tubio tried to reorganize the conversation. But Sp4de didn't care.

-Where did you store the money?

-I don't know, I don't have it anymore.

-What?

-I was going there, during the assault that night, we were attacked here too. I wasn't there but they took all my data, secure or not. When finally I was able to sort and get my things back in order. All your money was gone.

-Are you kidding me?

-Listen Tubio, I have nothing left that belongs to you, you and Cyclops can get out.

Cyclops, who had been docile until now, emerged from the shadows, his mantis arm detaching from his right arm. Valance began to launch himself towards them but Tubio already aimed at him with his Overture stopping him in his tracks.

His computer turned on, speakers speaking in the disembodied, mechanical voice Tubio remembered.

-Who do you think you are Sp4de? Do you think your dogs scare me? That they will protect you?

With a wave of the hand and his back turned. Cyclops used Tiny to open the door. Behind them were the three inert bodies of Valance's men who watched in horror at what could very well have been a triple murder 1 meter away. Cyclops raised his blade to Sp4de's throat, who backed up against the wall.

-You have a debt. Pay or die.

Petrify Sp4de remained against the wall with the blade at his throat. Valance held his breath with his hands in the air. Without a word Cyclops suddenly dropped Sp4de to log into his computer manually. Accessing his data took a moment where Tubio was holding both Sp4de and Valance at gunpoint. Cyclops brought up a number on the screen. It was the sum of Doug's transfers that she had found thanks to the messages in the memory buffer.

-You owe me this amount...

-How…?I, I don't have that money.

A silence fell over the room. Valance wanted to get the hell out now. Cyclops will not let himself be softened. He began to leave under the pleading gaze of Sp4de. But he had barely taken a step when the demon, short circuit. Ran across his body causing him to fall to the ground in unconsciousness. Cyclops commented.

-You should change your security system. Now tell me... How much do you have on you? And how soon I'll get my money…

-OK! Okay... Here, that's all I have, I swear.

-We're not even...

Cyclops punched him, putting him on the ground. Grabbing his head she threatened him by pointing at the computer screen.

-I will come back, by then I hope this amount… Will move on to that one.

The amount he gave was subtracted from the amount on the screen before going to zero. Then go back to the amount he owed. Tubio went to check the bodies meanwhile and Sp4de curled up into a ball as Cyclops left. Passing in front of Tubio without paying him any attention,Cyclops stopped for just a moment, looking at the bodies at his feet in the entryway. Then left, quickly. He went down the stairs, picking up Petit in the process. Tubio looked at Sp4de before leaving, not being a threat anymore. Recovering Valance's gun he saw that all the goons were alive. He followed Cyclops. Arriving downstairs, he had already picked up Tiny and started to go up the street to go to the car Tubio almost had to run after him. Grabbing his arm, Cyclops shook his hand to make him let go. Tubio called her without a reaction.

-Talk to me!...I am in front of you!

-Gentlemens?

An NCPD police officer passing by saw Tubio grab Cyclops' arm. Tubio tried to cover.

-We had an inconvenience sir and he doesn't want to talk about it.

Not even waiting for him to finish, Cyclops ignored Tubio and the cop to continue on his way. Tubio tried to explain himself to the cop who let him go after a minute. Now he was really running to catch up with Cyclops. He was there, in front of Boréale, waiting quietly for Tubio to open the door for him, which he did.

Sitting behind the wheel he turned to Ruby.

-Ruby... Talk to me.

Cyclops looked at the floor of the car. Tubio was tired of this silence. He held out his hand but Cyclops stepped back, as if frightened by the possible contact. Tubio tried his approach again, more slowly, gently. He turned Cyclops' face, the red eye looking panicked. He reached behind Cyclops' ears and pressed the button which released the visor. Making it pop, the visor detached effortlessly and Tubio removed the mask from Ruby's face. Behind him was Ruby's confused and lost face. She didn't seem to understand that Tubio had just removed the mask. Tubio put his hand on her face, concerned. Calling out her name. And as if hit by magic, Ruby seemed to wake up, her gaze fixed on Tubio and she breathed a sigh of relief before resting her head in the palm of his hand.

-Speak to me. Are you okay?

-I am now.

*****

Tamara ran leaving everything behind, her stuff, her boyfriend, everything. She knew the monster was going to get revenge. The day was clear, but she knew. She had been there all his years back. When the scavengers needed a woman. She had been there. She saw the red eye on the monitors, heard the screams of the men trying to defend themselves against Cyclops. She had seen it. Dismembers a man. One arm after the other, before decapitating him. The blood on the ground, the silence, and the laughter. The pleasure the monster had in killing and the smile of it on every screen.

Tamara didn't stop until much further down the road. Going almost to the oil fields. She breathed. Her head was spinning and was feeling dizzy.

She stopped at a crossroads. Wanting to go to the other side she took the opportunity to look behind her. No one. But turning around she saw him. She uttered a cry of terror, surprising the other passers-by. She fell to the ground before realizing that she only saw her reflection on a car that had stopped on the pedestrian crossing.

But, she knew. Doubting only for a moment she knew that she had seen it. His disembodied smile in the window, already thinking about what he was going to do to her. Getting up in a panic, she ran in another direction. Running as fast as possible again, crossing a road without looking. She didn't see it coming. The car crashed into her, throwing her sideways, leaving her inert on the asphalt. The irony had wanted to make her fall near the pedestrian crossing. A passerby turned her over to bring her back to the sidewalk. Tamara then saw the people on the other side of the road starting to cross. The crowd of people was blurry. But one stood out from the rest. Changing before her eyes in the middle of the crowd, a hooded figure approached her. A red eye and a smile. The monster was going to kill her, and he was going to love it.

image [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1178789115622326365/1220893262467039262/final_9.jpg?ex=66109874&is=65fe2374&hm=9a6fabd0b6a17f57b1b525748ce6286067a79c9b77794b20cc6923dc9fd1d6f6&=&format=webp&width=365&height=597]