Sector 10

Chapter 14

I was exiting the bar when it started to rain lightly. I climbed the ladder of a fire escape as citizens below pulled their hoods over their heads. When I stepped onto the roof, I overlooked the vivid city. Raindrops fell onto my eyelashes and made some of the lights blurry. I stretched my hand out over the edge of the building and felt the cold rain land on it. I slid my hood off my head and felt the raindrops fall onto my hair, seeping into my scalp.

Memories flooded back to me. I was running through the rain with Mei's hand gripping onto mine. The owner of the wallet I had just stolen was hot on our trail, barking at us. Then we finally reached the fated dead end. In front of us, a tall brick wall. Behind us, the growling man, marching towards us. He was a portly man, which is why I should have never thrown a fist at him. I was young and weak, so the punch didn't affect the man at all. He grabbed a fistful of my jumper and lifted me up before throwing a harsh blow to my head. The wallet slipped out of my hand as I was tossed to the ground. I lay there, getting drenched in the rain as Mei nudged me with watery eyes. That was one of the few times that I had gotten caught and had to pay the consequence.

The citizens of Sector 10 never handled thieves too well. I remember another time where I had just gotten dilapidated by an owner of our stolen things. I was lying on the ground again, eating up dust and dirt. My vision was blurry and black dots started to appear. I was on the brink of letting myself fall out of consciousness when I saw the figure of a man walk towards me. Beside him, another person had dropped from the sky.

"Are you Ai?" Sean asked.

I could barely reply; I must've been a mess. "Yes."

The other person stood me up and let me lean on her. Her codename was Scout, as mine became Silver. Her real name was one only I knew: Bree.

Sean and Bree carried me back to what was a temporary home of Sean's. After getting me cleaned up, Bree lead me to a lounge where Sean started questioning me.

"Ai Zhang, age fifteen. Daughter of Chyou Zhang and Lixin Zhang, who ran the company BronZiNC until being brutally murdered by one of their own clients seven years ago. You were previously living in Sector 26 but ever since the death of your parents, you have been living in the slums here with your little sister, Mei Zhang."

There was a pause as he gazed down at me before saying, "Silver."

For the first time, I made eye contact with him. "Huh?"

"That will be your name."

Then I was offered the job that I have now. With the empty promise of a better life, I accepted. After that, he handed me over to Bree.

Bree was a kind young lady who allowed me to stay in her apartment and taught me everything about a gun that I needed to know. She had flowing brown hair and gorgeous hazel eyes. To me, she always seemed like the perfect woman. The perfect wife. The perfect mother. I remember wondering how she ended up with such an occupation. I always felt like she should be somewhere like Sector 8, kissing a beloved in the light of a warm sunset.

Bree accompanied me on my first mission. But she was met with an unfortunate fate. For the first time, she was assigned to kill a girl who was around fourteen years old. I never knew the reason why, but she never came home after that mission. Sean told me that her hesitation killed her.

---

Jon was once the only reason that the flashbacks stopped. He made me forget about them. About everything. But now he's gone and there's nothing protecting me from them. My life felt meaningless again, my mind only occupied by the past.

Days passed by, each no different from the last. One night when I was walking back to my apartment in the rain, there was a single girl standing in the middle of the road. No one else was outside due to the heavy rain, but she simply stood there with her arms outstretched, allowing herself to get drenched. Her head was lifted to the sky and her eyes were closed. I think she was smiling.

I walked past her to the door of my apartment only to find a critter pushed up against the wall. There was a small grey cat shivering in the rain. It was quite skinny, which was no surprise for a stray cat. As soon as I opened the door, the feline bounded into the vicinity. When it was my turn to walk in, the cat stood a few feet away from me, staring at me with vivid yellow eyes. I reached into one of my pockets and pulled out a packeted biscuit. I normally keep them with me if I ever go hungry on the job, but I rarely ate them.

I unpackaged the biscuit and snapped it in half. Sitting down, I laid the biscuit in front of me. The cat cautiously lay one paw in front of the other, then the other. It made its way over to me and started nibbling on the biscuit. I watched in silence.

When it finished, I stood up and expected it to run away. But it didn't. It didn't follow me into the elevator, but when I stepped outside the building the next night, there it was, sleeping peacefully a small distance away from the door. I left another biscuit next to it and went on my way. It was hanging around that area almost every night from then on, whether it was awake or not.

It was even there on the night in which I finally had to face my wrongdoings.

I woke up at around 5:30pm. It was still light. I didn't check my phone until after I poured myself a bowl of cereal. When I picked up my phone and opened my inbox, I saw something I never expected to see. To: Silver. Special case, this target is by my own request. I'll give you a bit extra for this one. He's part of night cycle. The photos attached contained the target spotted on the street and their ID photo.

The man in the photo had sky-blue eyes, and brown hair that fell to his shoulders. Even though you shouldn't smile in an ID photo, the corners of his lips were slightly upturned. The information given told me what I already knew. He goes to the plaza in the Akihabara Ward around 4:00am and waits near Benny's Fitness Zone.

I must have stared at the ID picture for three minutes before moving again. My fingers steered itself to Sean's contact number. After three rings, he picked up. The voice on the other end of the line spoke robotically: "Who is this?"

"It's Silver."

He deactivated the voice changer. "Ah, Silver. We haven't spoken in so long."

"It's about the mission." To be honest, I didn't know what I was going to say. It's about the mission, then what? Call the mission off? Why?

"The one with the magnate kid?" he replied.

"Yes... What is your reason for asking me to dispose of him?"

"Silver, you don't usually question my needs. Why must you know?" he said.

"I'm curious."

I heard him exhale. "If you need to know, he is the son of the magnate that runs the weapons company we support. I pissed that magnate off. Big time. So, he refused to keep selling me anything. I figured I'd give him a little warning. Show him what it means to deny me."

I ended the call.