“♪Oh please don't say that you’ll go~♪”
Eunike was singing to herself her favorite song as she was making her breakfast. After a very hard time of letting go of 500 eunits for Daniel's new laptop she decided she should lighten it up with some good food.
“♪My heart can't bear the news~♪”
She made something called ‘Rouladen’, usually she would make her favorite food, spicy chicken curry, but last night’s experience left her craving something. Or someone, anyhow, whatever it is she craves, it can be eaten, in what manner and context she couldn't care less.
“♪Just knowing that you’ll be~ A thousand light years away~♪”
Even though it isn't her favorite food, she still really likes it, partly because it tastes good, mostly because it is someone else’s favorite food. Her apartment doesn't have a table to eat on, but the small couch is good enough, besides, she wants to watch some TV, maybe catch up with that telenovela she's been watching.
“♪If you do~ And will you know when it’s true~ When you find what you’re looking for~♪”
She turned it on, expecting some standard morning news, stock price collapse or something. She couldn't be less surprised when the title quite literally reads ‘Radicalists attack museum’ with helicopter footage of the international museum alongside it. It shows the east wing of the museum, it was burning, there's a clear hole on the museum’s glass wall, where the smoke poured out from.
“Holy shit…”
The presenter talked about who the attackers were, a radical group called The Witness. She's heard of them, it’s a fairly old ideology from around 2011, that somehow held up until now in 2050. But she never thought it was that serious, nor it was *that* much radical.
“Damn… AHH!”
She was jumpscared by the ringtone of her own phone, someone's calling her, it was… Daniel?
“*Sigh* God…”
She put her plate down and picked the call up. She was scared again when the first thing she heard was a very loud sound that resembled a gunshot.
“Daniel?! What-”
“*I need help!*”
He shouted in response, the sound of chaos blurred out his voice, she could barely hear it.
“What’s happening?”
“*Turn on your TV!*”
“W-wha- y-you mean the museum attack?”
“*Yes! That one! I don't think i have to- AH FUCK! GAH- i’m there! Help!*”
“What? Are you okay?”
“*NO! Not at all! I got hit!-*”
The call abruptly cut off, leaving her alone in confusion, shock and fear. She looked at the TV, at the burning museum, the flashes that pierced the smoke and countless paramedic vehicles tending to the wounded. She gritted her teeth at the thought that crossed her mind, Daniel is there? Why? And… Why did he call her?
“Ah… damn it!”
She doesn't know, but she knows she has to do something, he specifically asked for it. He almost never asks for her help, she knows by now if he asks help for something it's always either ridiculous or… dangerous. She had no time to change, all she did was take her coat and the key for her motorcycle.
“Sorry! Excuse me!”
No time to lock the door, no time to say hello to the neighbor as she came barreling down the stairs in half t-shirt and half pajama pants. She went to ground level, where the apartment’s parking lot is, and ran to the one thing of hers she hasn't touched for years. A custom 2009 Harley-Davidson Softail she inherited from her father.
“Please turn on…”
She jumped on top, inserted the key, and turned it. A smile graced her face as it roared to life, as fierce as it used to be all those years ago when her father would take her for rides. She looked at her phone, she had opened google maps on her way down, looking for the fastest possible route to the international museum.
“Can't believe I'm doing this…”
There's one route that should only take 10 minutes, with that in mind, she revved the engine so hard she thought it exploded for a moment. It very well could, as she remembered that the engine had some heavy tweaking, done by none other than her father.
—-~----
“Ah… damn”
Daniel grumbled to himself as he tried his best to hold a wound on his right shoulder closed. This is a bad day to be shot, especially when one is hiding inside a janitor’s closet with someone, and especially when said shot hits his dominant arm.
“Are you good? Can you still run?”
Williams asked him, he’s spotless, mostly because he ran first.
“I can, won’t pick up shit with this arm for months though”
“We need to move, where is your friend going to pick us up?”
“I don't know, i dropped my phone, nearest entrance maybe, somewhere far from-”
A grenade went off near them, the metal door kept them safe, but was mangled in the process.
“...That, let's move”
He peeked out to a hallway, across from them is a restroom, to their left is the hallway that leads to the eastern lobby, and the nearest exit. But to their right, a group of radicalists ready to shoot anyone, straight hallways be damned.
“Not good”
“Stay behind me”
William pulled him back, and armed himself with a headless mop.
“Eh?”
“I’ve got some training, my brother’s a soldier for something”
“You do you then… not like i can do anything”
He grimaced at his wound, it’s worryingly big, and probably will not stop bleeding until he either dies or gets proper treatment.
“*Shh….*”
William gestured for him to stay quiet, he was, but the museum security guy who rushed out of the restroom, with their non-lethal firearm blazing at whatever they're trying to shoot, definitely didn't. It didn't last long, their body was riddled with holes and they fell into the janitor closet.
“Shit!”
Daniel would call a free gun a god’s blessing, but he’s not sure what a pistol with non-lethal bullets would do to armored combatants, William took it anyway. As he was checking it bullets grazed the closet’s door frame, they’ve been found.
“1 bullet….”
“We’re dead”
“Not yet… do what i do”
He hugged the wall of the closet, Daniel did the same as one of the Witnesses peeked the closet.
“F-”
They barely uttered anything before William put a rubber bullet through their eye at the speed of sound. In a fit of panic and excruciating pain they fired their weapon with wild abandon. With surprising swiftness William grabbed the stock and pushed the still screaming man into two other of his teammates just behind him.
The high capacity rifle they were firing in panic managed to clip the other two, putting them down. When it finally ran out of ammo and the wielder was down in the ground, bleeding out their eye, William rushed out and knocked him out with a kick to the face. Daniel walked out to the scene of three dead guys and an old man breathing his lungs out.
“Holy shit dude”
He was staring at the other two that died of friendly fire.
“It was… unintentional…”
“Works for us, come on!”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
They ran for the lobby just as another batch of Witness members entered the hallway. With death flying by no more than an inch to their side they made it behind an old world war 2 tank that is on display. The old steel works just as it would a over hundred years ago, making for a more than ample cover.
“We’re almost there…”
Daniel looked at the exit, it was shot open so going through with a sprint should be possible, the problem is, between them and that is open space, and behind them, a group of the Witnesses.
“Nothing else we can do, we can't fight, we need to run and…”
William looked at the police forces outside, they were still forming a line, but they were nonetheless armed.
“...pray”
“Don't tell me”
“Ready? 1…”
“Oh damn it!”
“2…”
“Be quick Eunike…”
“3! Go!”
Going as low as possible they made a mad dash for the door just as a grenade was thrown under the tank. The shrapnel would've clipped their leg if they hadn’t ran, but now they have more potential problems than a broken leg as bullets fly by them, missing by a few centimeters. It was just a few seconds, no more than the time one needs to pick up something they drop.
Yet, the slight pain on his skin from the waves of compressed air coming off the bullets, the deafening ring that resonates in his ear, and fragments of marble and glass falling around him, made it felt like it lasts an eternity. They reached the door and fell down the stairs that led to it. Daniel landed on his good shoulder, but his other one still hurts like hell.
“God!...”
The fact that he felt that at all tells him something however, he’s still alive, which is better than anything. As he lay on the ground checking himself for any bullet wounds he might not be aware of, the police outside fired at the Witnesses, pushing them back. One of them ran up to him as he exhaled a sigh of relief upon finding no additional injury.
“Who’s your name?”
“Daniel… hegh…”
“Daniel, are you alright? How many wounds-”
“I’m fine… just this one, yeesh… wait, where's…”
As he looks around, he realizes William isn’t anywhere to be seen. He stood up and looked around some more, ignoring the policeman who tried to pull him back to safety. That's when he saw blood drip down the stairs, he looked at the top, and saw William trying to crawl off it. Without a word he ran up to help him.
“William! Come on man!”
He dragged him down with the help of the policeman, as they were pulling him down, he held Daniel's hand and tried to pull, as if trying to gesture him to stop. He didn't until they were at the bottom of the stairs, he rolled William over and tried to check for any wounds as the policeman called for paramedics.
“.....”
He couldn't say much as he saw multiple wounds on his abdomen, all bleeding profusely, he could only stare.
“Agh…”
His trance was broken by William’s voice, weak and frail, barely coming out from his bleeding mouth and torn lips.
“Just hold on okay? Help Is coming, look, they're there right now!”
The paramedics arrive and treat him on the spot, as painful as the treatment would have been William didn't take his eye off him, barely flinching. Daniel doesn't know why, but seeing that, one of the paramedics whispered their worry under their breath. A simple ‘Oh no’ but coming from such people of expertise, such a simple phrase is not something to ignore.
“Daniel…”
“What is it? D-do you need-”
“Please…”
“Wha-”
He was interrupted by William giving him a notebook, he dropped it before Daniel could even realize it was there, the brown leather cover now a dark crimson and its pages stained with scarlet colors. Daniel picked it up, confused.
“H-hey, dude, you still need this, come on”
No response, just a heavy sigh as his eyes closed.
“Mister Williams?”
No response, not even the slightest motion
“William?”
Nothing.
“.....”
He looked down on the notebook once again, eyes drawn to the cover, and sighed.
“Rest easy…”
As he stood up, wordless with a bloody journal in hand, the paramedics apologized, and brought William away to the nearest ambulance. A loud noise entered the scene, the roaring of a very old motorcycle, he looked back, and saw Eunike.
“Daniel?”
—-~----
“Say… Ruke”
“Hmm?”
“What do you love about me?”
Sevi asked as they once again walked the muddy streets of the slums. It's been quite the night, he felt a strange sensation of relief as dawn came by, he can tell because the dark clouds got ever so slightly lighter in color, meaning it’s about to be morning soon.
“Mmh… when I first saw you, i was-”
“Stunned…”
She poked the side of his head with a smug smile.
“But… why?”
“I’m not sure, maybe it was your body… maybe it was how your touch felt on my scales… maybe your voice… i don't know, but it just felt like a calling, it… makes my chest hurt, it felt hot, and when you touched me you felt so heavy even if the truth is the opposite”
“Complimenting all about me are you? But… you really felt that way?”
“Yes, it was like… well… meeting an angel”
“For such a bitter man you have a very sweet tongue, you know that?”
“Eh… I doubt it, the truth is though… it may not even be all that, because as far as i can recall, the first thing i saw of you was your eyes, it’s… The most beautiful thing i’ve laid my eyes upon”
He stopped walking for a moment just to turn her head so their eyes could meet, he does it with an awkward smile, the opposite of what he wanted to express, he’s not good at this. She pushed his hand away with a chuckle and kissed him on the tip of the snout. Safe to say he’s unprepared for it, as he lost balance and almost fell.
“There you are again with your sugar laced tongue, where do you learn that?”
“Eh… Self-taught… always just… this”
“Isn't your kind?... Sorry for this… subjugated… not so long ago?”
“Yes… I've set foot on my homeworld before, lived there for… I can't remember… A blur it was, one second I was happy, with my family around me, and the next… i’m here, like this, alone”
“Mhmm… i wonder if that what my great-great grandmother felt when… you know”
“Maybe….”
His sight trailed off somewhere, at an alleyway they passed, he spotted a homeless person there, an Algorian, just like him. Leaning against the wall and curled up, he can see them crying into their knees, their once thick and powerful tail slack and powerless next to them. a member of a once proud people, reduced to… that, reduced to him.
—-~----
The two got back home with a heavy breath, the exhaustion of walking across a city and traversing quite deep into a forest has finally settled in. With a yawn Sevi took off her coat and her clothes, hanging the coat neatly near the door and placed the clothes in a bin. Ruke couldn't bother, his kind may be physically strong, but durable they are not, thus, all he did was take his clothes off and carelessly drop them near the bin.
“Hmm… the downside of growing up alone is showing i suppose”
Sevi commented on it, she looks unimpressed.
“Heh… no one’s there to teach me manners, might as well”
“Don't be like that, if you keep that up, i will be your mother rather than your wife”
“Both cases are a win for me…”
“If you’re one to enjoy being mothered, i suggest you-”
“Hmm?”
She stopped suddenly, she’s standing on the way to their bedroom, frozen, looking at something. He came up to hug her from behind, but stopped when he saw it.
“What a nice house you have…”
There was a Varashian man there, sitting on their bed, Ruke recognized them, it’s one of the people Sevi had referred to as “Watcher”. He heard a faint scratching noise, he glanced to his right and saw Sevi’s claws leaving a noticeable mark on the doorframe.
“I expected less, but it looks like your… husband, here… is- AHH!”
The man approached them slowly, Ruke had his fist clenched and ready, but he didn't expect Sevi to go in first and scratch them across the face.
“Eugh… you’ve gotten feisty haven’t you, whore?”
Ruke heard enough, and went in himself, pushing Sevi out of the way to punch the man right on the snout, sending him to the floor. With a bleeding nose he crawled away on his back, one would think he'd be either mad or scared, but he was… laughing?
“All the more punishment for you when you come back… hehe…”
“Come back? Where?”
Sevi asked with a very clear and bitter tone in her voice.
“Where else? Your dear home of course”
“You… expect me to go back there? To that hell?”
“Your father wouldn't like that- AGH!”
Once again, unexpected to Ruke, Sevi rushed him down, the man couldn't react properly as he was still trying to get up when he received a flurry of scratches to the face. Ruke was stunned to say the least, it doesn't seem like her thing to do that, but it’s not like he doesn't understand why, so as she goes mad at the bastard he simply stood there, watching.
“SHINKA OYO LANAA AH!!”
Ruke doesn't understand what she was saying, he figured it was probably slurs said in native Varashi.
“GEERIU ADIAY KU ROON THAY!”
They are certainly said with a lot of spirit, and long suppressed rage.
“HIMAN!”
She bit him on the face, hard, and pulled away with such force a chunk of his face was torn away and flung to the bed. Ruke felt enough was enough and pulled her away, she still tries to claw at the man, who is now still. When she finally calmed down there was no sound other than the rain. He let her go after she no longer tried to fight back, she stood there, eyes locked at the now lifeless man.
“Hey”
He put a hand on her shoulder, she was genuinely surprised, like she just forgot he was there.
“OH- i… i-”
“Satisfied?”
“I…”
She nodded, and looked at the man again, there wasn't much left of his face, nor his head.
“.....Good riddance”
“What is he doing here? What does he mean by you coming back?”
“He… he wants to take me back to the club, i don't want to! I don't! So i…”
She glanced at the body again, she growled and spat on it.
“....i guess he thought you’d be alone”
“Maybe…”
She approached the body, looked at it a little bit, and searched it. She pulled out a gun, hidden behind the jacket the man was wearing.
“But he would've been ready otherwise… we need to go”
“Where?”
“Far away from here! If he’s serious this won’t be the last!”
“But… this house… we can't just-”
“I’m sorry Ruke, but we can't stay here!”
“B- fine…”
He looks down and around, at the place he worked hard for. Doesn't matter in the end he suppose, it isn't his home, his home is in front of him, her claws and snout covered in blood.
“L-let me wash… then we’ll go, somewhere…. Anywhere”
“Be quick, i think your shouting was heard by someone”
“If someone's at the front door, don't open it! Pack what we have, okay?”
“O-okay…”
“Good, I love you…”
She gave him a brief kiss and unclothed entirely, before running off to the bathroom. Ruke was left there, half naked, dead body next to him, with blood on his lips, almost clueless on what to think and what to do.
“......”
—-~----
“Daniel?”
“Hm? Wh- OW! GOD!”
“Oh, sorry…”
Eunike says, as she put down the bullet she just pulled out with a tweezer, she can't understand why Daniel didn't ask for the paramedics to do this, but there was urgency and fear in his voice when he asked her to bring him to her apartment back at the museum.
“What were you doing at the museum?”
“Egh… I was looking for Mr.Williams”
“Huh? What for?”
“Don't get mad okay?”
“Okay? What am I even supposed to be mad at?”
“I… uh… I sneaked a microphone on your smartphone, remember that fake camera thing you told me about and I said I want to look at it?”
“What? You- you what?”
“Well… i… yeah, took out the fake lense and… put a microphone there”
“Oh my God! Daniel! You freak!”
“Hey! Listen! I wasn't spying on you or anything! I only turn it on when you’re out working!”
“Huh? So…”
“Yeah, that's how i know he’s gonna meet you there, or at least until you rejected it, he was there however”
“Wait, he’s there? What was he there for? Why do you want to meet him?”
“It’s a long story, but essentially… i got curious, hacked the email account of Lancaster's CEO, found weird messages, got doxxed, went to meet William to talk about it… and got involved in a domestic terrorist attack”
“WHAT? I TOLD YOU CASE CLOSED!”
“OWAHAH!!! MY GOD! EUNIKE!”
She forgot she was still tending to Daniel's wounds, and poured a full bottle of antiseptic alcohol on it during her moment of anger.
“Oh God! I’m sorry!”
“Oh shut it!... Lord above!... Ow…”
“So… what did you find?”
“Really?!”
“I said I'm sorry! What did you find?”
“*Sigh* proof… proof that the killing of William’s brother was targeted, Lancaster *is* in fact working with someone else, i don't know who they are, but they’re the killers, i’m sure of it”
“Hmm… What about going to meet William?”
“I wanted to tell him, as well as hear what he had to say, it sounds like nonsense still, but now… after that attack, i almost believe it”
“Where's William then? Did you two get separated or-”
“He’s dead”
“*gasp* what?...”
“Shot dead, it’s almost like those guys were targeting us specifically, because a lot of them followed us while we were trying to run”
“W-wait, okay… hold on a minute, what exactly did he say to you?”
“Nothing you would believe, but…”
He looked at William’s bloody journal, and picked it up with his good arm.
“But he died for it, we’re ought to believe some of it at least”
“What's that?”
“His personal journal, where he wrote all about that organization he’s talked about”
“Are you serious?”
“I couldn't be less serious right now, not after that…”
He glanced at the TV, which was on, and had the news channel on, showing the current situation of the international museum, still burning, and gunfights are still going on.
“You’re saying… that the organization tried to kill you? After you’ve found out about them and went to see William?”
“They might, if it's not then thank God, if yes then we’ve got a problem, a really big one”
“Oh God… Let me see… *Sigh* it’s just full of nonsense”
“Most of it anyway, any real proof i found is either on my dead laptop, or that burning museum”
“Hmm… wait, laptop?”
“Yeah, i short circuited my old one to prevent any future doxxing so to say, that's why i called you”
“Oh…. Wait, if you’re buying a new one you must’ve copied the data from the old one right?”
“Yeah, on some spare hard drives, why?”
“Well let's get them now then!”
“....oh shit, yeah!”
“Idiot! Come on!”
Eunike ran off to get her key, leaving Daniel to bandage his own wound.
“Wait! Wait for me!”
—-~----
“Usually you use one of those scooters, where did it go?”
Daniel asked as they got off the bike in front of his apartment building.
“I sold it off a month ago, figured if i was walking here every night i don't need to use it that much”
She replied as they opened the creaky front door and hurriedly got up the stairs.
“Then you got that thing?”
“It’s already mine ever since my dad passed away, it’s his bike, i just never touched it for years, it sat on my apartment’s lot stacking up parking fee i had to keep paying, i couldn't get myself to sell it”
“Precious huh?”
“A lot more than that, it’s a part of the family to me…. We’re here”
She pulled out her taser as they got to the door of their office, it felt just ridiculous to her. Nothing sounds more ridiculous than being hunted down by a secret organization, but she can't help but feel that it’s no longer just fantasy now.
“Still locked, good”
“*Sigh* this is insane…”
“Yeah, but that's all we-”
He stopped when he finally opened the door.
“-got, shite…”
“What is it? Oh…”
The office was utterly ransacked, papers were scattered all over the floor and all the electronics were either smashed or missing, including Daniel's old laptop. Most unfortunately, was the destroyed hard drives that litter the floor.
“God damn it!”
“How the hell?... Wait, hold on, there might be…”
Daniel stepped in, and approached the window. He opened it and looked down on the street below.
“What? Everything’s gone, they got here first somehow!”
“No-no-no, they might’ve… AHA! Here we go!”
“Huh?”
He reached for something outside the window, taking a step back he pulled up a rope, a hard drive was tied to the end of it.
“You- hanged a hard drive out the window?”
“Yeah… last line measure, i hid these hard drives everywhere inside of here, bet you they didn't expect this, hah!”
“Huh… okay, what now?”
“I say we keep ourselves safe, hide somewhere, and try to see if we can find more proof and investigate this ourselves, after that… we’ll spread it”
“How are we gonna do that?”
“It’s 2050 Eunike, all of social media is filled with bot accounts that’ll post whatever content they can and there's podcasts everywhere with braindead listeners who would believe you if you were to tell them gasoline taste like apple juice, we can theoretically get everything in this hard drive seen by 90% of the world in less than a week if we really try”
“Okay… what else can we do?”
“Look for m
ore stuff, we’ve got this, William’s journal… what else?... Oh yeah, there's another thing, William must have a computer of sorts right?”
“Yeah, a laptop”
“Let's go get it, let's just hope his apartment room’s not gone when we get there”
“Okay, let's go!”
The two ran out of the office, with many goals to achieve in their mind, some degree of confidence can be heard on their voices. But perhaps, they are far too confident, as they fail to notice the faint tapping, of metal against wood, that followed them as they ran down the stairs.