Alice threw her cloak over herself and wrapped it around tight. It was old and moth-eaten and sat too large on her shoulders, but it was perfect for her purposes. It gave her the look of a beggar most outside the district would avoid, perfect for laying low and moving undercover. A rigid, cracked hand reached up from beneath the cloak to pull her hood closer down over her head. Looking around back behind her at the ramshackle state of her hut, she left through the door before the sun had started its rise.
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Jake landed on the ground amongst a plume of dust with a scream as the sudden fall sent shocks of pain radiating out from where he’d been shot. Flat on his back he gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of him as his vision blurred. He could hear gasps and whispers beyond the scope of his blurred vision and struggled to process what was happening around him as his brain felt like it was trapped in a delirious haze.
Slowly his breathing began to return to normal and the blurred edges around his eyes began to clear away. Looking around franticly he found himself sprawled flat across a paved stone floor, a crowd of people gathered around him in a hushed whisper. Beyond their heads, Jake could make out the paved rooftops of second-story buildings and could see vague puffs of smoke rising from inlaid chimneys, yet his vision of the surroundings was obscured by his positioning on the ground and the crowd around him.
Glancing down at the wound tearing through his side Jake saw an ever-constant stream of blood leaking forward. His clothes were splotchy and cold as a growing blood stain appeared, and beneath him, his back lay on wet stone as blood pooled under him. His hands shaking, Jake pushed down into his side in hopes of stopping the flow of blood from his side.
All this effort brought was pain, as the blood seemed to flow even more freely than before in response to his efforts. Pained grunts continually escaped him, and his hands slowly covered themselves in a crimson coating. Looking around frantically amongst the crowd gathered around him he tried to let out a cry for help yet all that escaped him was a pained scream and a cough that sent blood splattering across the ground.
None in the crowd seemed to care. They simply looked on and murmured amongst themselves, and looking up from the floor Jake saw nothing but disgust and amusement on their faces as they watched him slowly bleed out. Pushing into his side again, Jake tried to crawl away from the unhelpful, malignant, crowd in hopes of finding help elsewhere but the only reward he found was pain as he sprawled out on his sides.
Gasping for breath, his vision began to blur and distort again, Jake weakly called out. Whether words or just gurgling calls escaped his throat, he wasn’t sure. No response was returned to him as his vision once more blurred and distorted, focusing on the sky above. His thoughts of survival and escape began to fade, as new thoughts about the beauty of the scenery above replaced them.
All at once he was shocked awake, a new pain taking hold of him. Electric and piercing, it felt like he was being stabbed by a Taser where he’d been shot. He jolted upright with a scream as he tried to swat away whoever was holding a taser to his wound. Yet his hand met nothing but swirling energy. His vision cleared and his senses returned as the sudden electric sensation caused him to regain composure. Nothing was being held at his side or pressed to his wound, instead a familiar energy swirled around him.
The magic pressed into his side felt different than any Jake had experienced before. As his hand passed through it, it felt like a solid gel of condensed air. Though his hand passed through without much effort, the shocking sensation continued to permeate into his wound drawing another scream.
Yet he was not the only one to scream, all around the crowd was in a panic. Men and women alike fell over themselves screaming and pushing to get away from Jake. A cry was called from the fleeing mass, who exactly called it was unclear,
“A BROKEN! THERE'S A BROKEN OVER HERE! CALL THE GUARDS!”
Soon a whistling sound could be heard in the distance, and looking around Jake was left alone save for one other person.
Across from him a figure cloaked in a robe knelt clutching their hand. Jake could see what looked like deep black veins cutting across the exposed skin of their hand that stuck out from under their cloak. The figure was stuck kneeling, breathing heavily before they looked up catching eyes with Jake. It was a split second, not enough time for Jake to see any more than the evident fear in her green eyes.
Without another word, the cloaked girl stood up with a slight wobble in their step and took off running down the street. Jake watched her go, confused a moment before suddenly the sounds of whistling grew closer accompanied by the sound of thudding boots breaking against stone.
Turning from the whistling sound back toward where he’d watched the girl disappear, Jake slowly stood up. Shaky and uneven, feeling woozy after losing so much blood, the world seemed to spin. Yet something gnawed deep inside him. The look in that girl’s eyes, the ever-growing whistling. They didn’t sit well with Jake at all.
Jake took an un-even step forward, slower than he would have liked as he prepared to try and chase after the fleeing girl when he felt his foot brush up against something below. Looking down, a shiver ran down his spine when he saw the revolver, glinting in the sun. It had slipped free of his grasp when he’d fallen to the street and now lay in a pool of his blood. Looking around, Jake let out a gulp before bending forward to collect the blood-soaked gun.
Alice sat, kneeling against the wall struggling to breathe. She still had a way to go before reaching the gap hidden in the district’s fence but she couldn’t keep running anymore. She let out a cough, which grew more and more violent before finally resulting in her doubling over freely vomiting blood. It hurt, felt like her insides were split apart by a fishmonger, but she’d grown used to this pain over the years.
With teary eyes, she reached up and wiped the blood away from her lips. She had to make it back to the fence before it was too late. Now that she’d been spotted, she didn’t have long before a full shakedown occurred in the district. They’d find the gap she’d cut, that much was already given. She’d have to start over. Time lost, wasted. The bigger issue was making sure she was back inside before it was too late.
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“Dam it all…” Alice muttered to herself. She’d nearly made it to the market, she was nearly halfway done with her excursion beyond the district. She just had to pass some idiot bleeding out on the side of the road that set her curse off. If she could make it back home…
“Are you alright?” She heard a voice behind her. Turning back, dread filled her core. Blood still dripped from the idiot’s side as he walked forward, stumbling a bit as he followed her into the alleyway. He looked pale and unbalanced, and obviously, he was Unbroken. She fell back from the wall, falling to the ground her hood fell away from her face as she tried to scoot away from the approaching man.
He looked at her with a look of concern, but Alice saw what he held at his side. Metallic and coated in blood, she wasn’t sure what it was but he held the blunted object carefully in his hand as he approached her. She swallowed a gulp, inching back away from the man as she hurriedly tried to plead for her life.
“I’m sorry please sir, I’m sorry! I knew it was wrong to leave, I knew It was wrong to come here just please let me go…” The man kept creeping closer to her looking more worried than he had before. Panicked, close to crying Alice screamed out, “I’m sorry for cursing you, it was an accident, honest. Please don’t hurt me please.” She threw herself away from the man inching herself across the floor in a desperate attempt to get away from him.
He’d stopped approaching her and just looked at her confused now, before glancing down at his side. He mimed a sort of grasping motion above where his wound once lay, ruffling the dirtied fabric hanging over his body, before locking eyes with her. She saw no fury in his gaze, but rather a sort of childlike excitement as he said,
“Wait, you mean you’re the one who…”
“Step aside sir, don’t get any closer.” A shrill whistle tore through the air and Alice froze. Three pairs of footsteps echoed in the alleyway. Behind the idiotic man she’d cursed came the figure of a group of guards.
Lean and dressed in pressed grey uniforms, golden tassel rope hung from their shoulders. They were all clean shaven with slicked back hair and all wore an expression of mixed disgust and joy when they looked over at Alice who sat shivering on the stone ground. Their boots, thighs high and black clicked against the stone as they walked ever closer. They stopped about a yard or two behind the man who looked back towards the group of guards with a look of confusion.
“She’s dangerous sir, best let us handle her.” Another of the guards said, his voice dripping with malice. From his waist he began unspooling a thick looking rope. It was black and frayed looking. The other two guards pulled metallic clubs from their waste. While at first glance dulled, Alice noticed with grim horror the razor edges that lay nestled in the metallic seams of the club, glinting in the rays of sun that dared to shine into the alleyway.
Alice swallowed a fearful gulp and tried to inch herself away slowly while the guards were still focused on the man in front of her, only for a loud clanging sound to ring out. Looking up she saw one of the armed guards look her way, an evil smirk on his face as he shook his head no. Trembling in fear now, she could only watch as the man in front of her turned around, waiting for him to step aside. Wait for him to let the guards bind and drag her away. Instead, he stayed stock still, rooted between her and the guards.
“Why do you need her?”
“Don’t worry sir,” one of the guards began stepping closer toward the man, “I heard her mention it, she cursed you right? Well, punish her for you. Will leave her just alive for official punishment when we leave this alleyway. Best to leave the Broken to the professionals though, wouldn’t want to get hurt. Step aside now sir.”
The man stood his ground, slowly raising his hands till the metallic tool he’d been holding since approaching her was raised level with the guard across from him. Alice noticed a slight shake in the man’s stance, a slight tremble in his voice, yet still, he refused to move as he told the guards,
“Back away, now.”
The guards looked at each other, confusion etched on their faces before the leading one said,
“Look, sir, last warning. Step aside now. We won’t be held responsible for any injuries you might incur if you keep us from doing our jobs.”
The guards raised their clubs now. They still held them in a relaxed manner, but their tone of voice and the sharp look in their eye was very different from how they’d addressed the man before. Their threat was clear. The man still didn’t move, yet instead a clicking sound could be heard echoing across the alleyway.
“No more warnings.” The man said before an explosive sound echoed out deafening Alice. Her hands flew up to cover her ears, and she realized she wasn’t the only one shocked by the explosive sound. Two of the guards had staggered back, one also dropping his club as his hands flew to his ears with a scream. The remaining guard who stood across from Jake staggered back with a scream. Blood flew from his shoulder as he collapsed onto his back with a series of high-pitched shrieks.
As a ringing sensation slowly died down in Alice’s ear, she watched the man point the metallic device toward the guards once more. With pale faces. The two guards still uninjured retreated, leaving their companion behind to scream and bleed on the alley’s floor.
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“I’m glad that worked…” Jake said with a sigh, stepping back and letting the gun slip from his hand to the stone floor below. His hand was killing him, pain radiated upward from his wrist back to his shoulder blade. Along with the fact that a dull ring still persisted in his ears, the noise had felt far worse than the last time he had to fire. He was relieved he hadn’t had to shoot twice, not just because of the pain but because he doubted he could hit anyone other than the guy standing directly across from him.
Jake shook his head side to side, trying to get the ringing in his ears to fade away, before he bent over low and picked the gun up with his other hand. Keeping track right, he had four bullets left in this thing. Not enough to practice aiming with properly, but enough to save in case things got desperate. Turning around, a faint ringing still buzzing about his head, he refocused on the girl who stood staring at him with a look of amazement and fear.
“Sorry about that,” Jake said, a little louder than he would normally have talked, “You said you were the one who saved me right?”
The girl nodded looking confused at Jake’s question. A massive smile spread across Jake's face before he let out a laugh, looking down and poking at his side.
“You really saved me, didn’t you, I thought I was dead for…” Jake was interrupted as he stumbled forward. Pale-faced and dizzy he staggard toward the ground only to be caught by the girl who rushed forward the catch him against her shoulder. She let out a squeak of fright a second later though before pushing him away.
“Sorry about that. I’m a bit dizzy at the moment. Thanks for catching me, sorry if I smell bad or something.” Jake was a little disappointed by the reaction, he thought he’d smell fine after finally having a chance to bath, but he was coated in blood. Anyone would be disgusted by that. The girl simply stared at Jake with a look of utter bafflement.
“Names Jake, Jake Mills,”
Jake reached his hand out from the floor toward the girl standing above him.
“Alice,” the girl said after a minute, cautiously taking hold of his hand. Her skin felt hard, like porcelain. Looking closer Jake noticed what he thought to be black veins were actually deep cuts that dug into her skin all along her hand and up her arm. Looking up at her face, Jake could see the cuts running up her neck and wrapped around the right side of her face. Sitting back a moment, Jake looked around before focusing behind him at the guard, asking,
“So why were they after…”
But he was interrupted by a series of shrill whistles that rang through the air. Jumping at the sudden sound which served the refocus the two, Alice grabbed hold of Jake’s wrist and pulled him upward before dragging the uneven boy forward with a cry,
“Come on!”