Black Sunshine

Chapter 9 - Sometimes in Life’s Journey You Find Yourself Where You Need to Be by Taking a Detour

Nera could feel herself tensing for the bullet in her back as she walked through the door of Rain’s Bar. Mackie’s glare bored a hole in the back of her head as she passed the excited crowd of people outside. She took a deep breath, prepared to bolt as soon as she felt the protection of the amulet drop.

She heard a series of clicks, and a frustrated growl.

The protection hadn’t dropped yet, but Mackie was distracted. Nera decided to try and cause a panic so she could slip away.

She dodged into the crowd.

“He’s got a gun!” she yelled as loud as she could.

She laughed with satisfaction as the crowd began to panic just as she planned. Surely she could lose Mackie now. She sprinted into the car park across the street from the bar. She heard the gunshot, and dove behind a concrete pillar as chunks flew off of it.

The screaming of the crowd intensified.

She swore under her breath, pulling the pistol from its holster and flipping the safety off automatically. She ran half crouching behind the row of cars to her right. Bullets shattered glass over her head as she passed.

“Give it up, Nera! I have you trapped! I know exactly where you are.”

Nera looked around for whatever was giving up her position when she saw a convex mirror in the corner. She didn’t hesitate to shoot it. She noticed the shadow of Mackie coming around the car, and slid around the other side. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out what to do next.

She blindly fired three shots over the trunk of the blue sedan.

As she ran from behind the car and across to the other side, taking advantage of Mackie ducking, she noticed a gap between the two levels she might be able to cross. With a graceful leap she stepped on the metal wire suspended between poles that served as a guard rail, and reached across the concrete chasm.

With a grunt, she pulled herself up to the next level, and rolled onto the next level as gunshots echoed through the garage.

Nera jumped to her feet and ran to the stairs she spotted at the end of the row. She shut the heavy steel door behind her and fell back against it trying to catch her breath. Hearing the nervous cough of the maintenance man to her left she grabbed his mop and fed it through the door handle blocking it from opening. She put a finger up to her lips. He nodded wide eyed.

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She ran up the stairs two at a time, finally stopping to catch her breath on the same level she had parked. She wished she hadn’t allowed herself to get out of shape. A door slammed open one level below her. She swore and opened the green door in front of her. Spotting the safety of the familiar black Mustang.

Running from column to column sure that bullets would start flying at any second, she finally made it to her car. It had been a long time since she had been so grateful for the sleek black and chrome of her beloved car. She slammed the door behind her, and kicking it into gear squealed out of her spot, and along the downward spiral to the exit and freedom.

She was nearly out when Mackie jumped onto the hood. She let out an involuntary “ack” when he shot the windshield.

Luckily she had long ago replaced it with enchanted bulletproof glass. It had cost nearly three months wages but clearly it had been worth it as the purple light rippled across and the bullet flew off harmlessly. Mackie was screaming something that Nera couldn’t make out. She rolled the side window down.

“What?”

“I’m going to kill you, you worthless-”

Nera interrupted what she was sure was shaping up to be a quality insult with a shot from her pistol. Because she was shooting left-handed, she only grazed his shoulder, but it seemed to be enough to cause him to lose his grip as she spun the wheel. She watched in the rearview mirror as he rolled behind her. Only stopping when he hit one of the concrete pillars.

She sighed with relief as she pulled full speed into the street, and with a roar of the engine she sped out into the night.

Nera only stopped when she arrived in front of her apartment. She needed sleep and a change in hardware. She felt guilty for stopping but she was having trouble keeping her eyes open, and she was no good to Solana in this state.

As she entered the ominously silent apartment, she saw the dishes on the table. Tears filled her eyes, and she fell to her knees. She didn’t know how long she cried or at what point she had fallen asleep on her floor. She awoke to prodding from her landlady’s broom.

“If you’re gonna come home drunk, at least close the door, so the rest of us don’t have to see it.”

Nera wiped her eyes, and sniffed.

“Gods, you are a mess.”

And with that she left.

Nera looked at the cat clock on the wall, a gift from Solana that she won at the fair, and swore. She had slept too long.

Going to the bedroom, she changed into a bulletproof vest. If you could even call it a vest. Unfortunately, the strongest one available was made by a perverted arms dealer out of the west side who had enchanted a skin tight sleeveless turtleneck crop top. She paired it with cargo pants that had pockets capable of holding all the ammunition she could possibly need.

She paused at the assortment of guns at her disposal. She considered for a moment before slinging the Mexaroff over her shoulder. It was an ambidextrous rifle with a short profile, but the length of the barrel was inside the gun so it was surprisingly accurate, perfect for indoor work. The clips held sixty rounds, and it had a variety of mundane and magical firing modes. She stuffed all of her fully loaded clips into her cargo pants and once again left her apartment.

It took her nearly an hour to arrive at the location Rain had given her. In fact she had passed by it twice before realizing that the rusting, seemingly abandoned warehouse was what she was looking for. Even the front gate was dilapidated and hanging off of its hinges at an angle. This didn’t seem like the sort of place where you kept a new power source.

Nera cautiously approached the building and after cautiously walking up a set of very creaky stairs she looked through the window and gasped.