The Blood Dawn

Chapter 1

Koi wandered through the bustling island, weaving in and out of the citizens.

She adjusted her backpack so it wasn't sliding off her shoulders. She kept her head low as she walked around all of the people. It was always this crowded in the market and she had grown used to it over the years of walking to and fro.

Her face remained neutral as she passed a market booth that was overcrowded with people and two middle aged men were having a brawl in plain daylight. Everyone was cheering and screaming as they watched one of the guys throw in a good punch into the other person's nose.

Koi scoffed.

Not that anyone could hear it in all of this noise.

They were going to get arrested and would soon be put in prison, the remaining bystanders would be charged for watching and hyping the brawl, which in the end would affect her so she simply walked away.As she walked Koi glanced at a nearby automated artificial security bot or A.A.S.B who was circling the booth almost instantly like a vulture surrounding a dead animal, she watched as the bot made its way towards the brawl. It wheeled it's way over as the sun glinted off its polished silver visor.

At that point everyone scattered when the bot corralled the two men because they knew they would all be fined or arrested if they didn't leave soon, and the bot picked up the two men off the ground and another joined it. They put the guys in cuffs and began speaking to them robotically. Koi tore her gaze away and looked forward as she made her way to a booth with a large shredded rag to keep the sun away from the board that was inside of the small space. Not a lot of people were gathered around there, although there was a middle aged woman sadly putting up a flier onto the board, she then walked away with tears streaking her dusty face.

Koi walked to the side of the booth and opened the gate to the inside. She walked over to a worn curtain that was hung in an empty door frame, she parted the curtain and walked to the back of the booth. She dropped her bag near the door frame and made her way to a workbench that had been transformed to be a supply table.

"Hey, Manny" said Koi as she approached a man who was in his late thirties, he had messy reddish brown hair that was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. He had tan skin and some burn marks on his hands from a past chain manufacturer job, he had amber eyes and thick eyebrows. He had a small burn mark across his right cheek and his face was coated with dust.

"Hey Koi" he said with his slightly raspy voice "we've got today's bounties for you"

He slid a small stack of wanted posters over to her and she examined them.

The first one was a twenty year old man who had been missing for eight hours, he worked as a construction worker. His name was Geoffrey Hughs

The second was an elderly woman, she had just been declared missing over five hours ago, she was retired and her name was Petunia Peters.

"Ah" said Koi "Petunia again huh?" she asked Manny.

He nodded with a chuckle "this is the third time now that she has been missing eh?"

Koi chuckled and shook her head "no the fifth"

Petunia was an odd woman, she was always going missing and mainly because she had taken a wrong turn from her family and ended up lost. Poor old woman was constantly forgetting where she was, who she was with and sometimes who she was.

Koi looked at the last one, it was a fifteen year old boy, he worked at a local diner, he had been missing for two days, his name was Parker Johnson.

Koi squinted, "only three today?" she asked Manny.