Manhunt the Evader // Evade Fanfiction

Prologue // Infamous

Sometimes I ask myself. What do I want to do in life? Was it to steal rare, fossilized materials that happened to be over a million dollars or to locate a fancy looking gadget only to keep it to myself? Sounds menacing, I know, but did I really have a choice?

It was only 6 am in the morning. Thick fog was the only thing I could see in the sky. My heart raced and my legs were burning, aching and constantly in pain. The thirsty grass collected the crippling sweat that drippled down my face, begging for me to pour more. I tried keeping up the pace, but the air was so thin. 

Next bots, the last thing I wanted to date. Creepy png monsters that are capable of ripping human skins. Their sounds were wailing over my head, those terrible sounds, sounds that I wished I never had ears in the first place. Though there are many species of nextbots, I just got the worst one. The Yippee.... the fucking yippee. Out of all the nextbots, did I really need to be chased by one of these psychopaths? All I heard was the sound of cheering, Over and Over. Not only it's stuck in my head, but it was the sound of torture for my nerves. Finally, I took a sharp turn around the corner of the building to take a breath. Thankfully, the Yippee lost interest, letting me off the hook and went out for other human meat to feast on. 

"Are you there, Jard?"

Yet another sound that I had to bother with, the sound of the radar in my pocket. Exhausted, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the loud device. The pocket was large, at least for my black hoodie. I held my breath before placing the radar near my lips.

"Yes, I am here," I answered, "what the hell do you want?"

"Woah you sound tired. You okay, bud?" the voice replied in a concerned tone, "I will put the cola in the freezer for you when you come back, but just wandering how long do you need to survive in your current dimension,"

"Hold on, let me check," I said, temporarily cutting off the conversation.

I dropped the radar beside my legs as I reached into my other pocket. It was a special clock. I sometimes check it to see how long I need to survive the long torture of running around and evade the nextbots. The numbers were glowing bright green and a countdown was near its end. I immediately picked up the radar once more.

"About 30 seconds before the material is revealed," I commented.

"Great!" he said in a joyful tone, "just hang in there, Jard,"

The connection was interrupted by an eerie sound of cheer. That sound, the last thing I ever want to hear before this expedition ends. With fear in my head and heart, I peeked over the side of the abandoned building. The yippee was back, ready to shred me into pieces. 

"SHIT"

I reached into another packet of cola as I picked up the pace of my speed. The cola was extremely fizzy, it burns in every corner of my mouth. My energy was back and running, but it wasn't enough to keep me at this pace for too long. 

The countdown reached zero. The ground shook as the yippee backed away from me before returning to the foggy forest, back to where it belongs. A triangular artifact levitated upon the pedestal. Its shiny bronze texture caught my eye as I felt its ominous energy travelling down my spine. It was perfect. I slowly walked up to the ancient treasure as my fingers carefully wraps around the scratchy and old texture. It was the bronze teleporter, which is worth about 60 points on the market. I smiled, another day to live and another mission successful. I opened my bag and placed the item into my bag.

It wasn't long before I heard someone else.

"HEY, YOU!"

I turned around and fear completely filled my head. It was the Elysium Cooperation group. The leader of the group walked through the large crowd and met his eyes on mine.

"Well, it's no surprise that we meet again, Jard," he smiled warmly, "the cooperation missed you and your vast knowledge of navigation so much,"

From the bottom of my heart, it was a trick. The leader returned to his straight face with a mixture of loss and disappointment.

"Unfortunately, we weren't expecting you to snatch another artifact from us," he said ominously, "No wonder you had to steal from our cooperation,"

"Well, if it's unprotected then I can snatch it," I rebuttal, "and once I have it, then it belongs to me!"

The group of people behind him raised their guns at me, but the leader held his hand, holding the ambush of bullets.

"Jard, we can make a deal," he continued, "you give us that bronze teleporter and return to us as our best navigator, we will drop every charge against you,"

The deal sounds extremely tempting. I am currently in debt, with nothing but stealing to support my apartment taxes and college bills. Again, I would never know what that organization would do to me when I gave in. As a response, I ran across the grassfields, avoiding looking back at the group.

Sounds of bullets began. The explosive echos of guns fed my fears as I tried my best to evade them. Finally, I managed to hide into a corner as I began the process of teleportation. Before I fade away from this hell dimension, a sharp pain extruded from my left shoulder. I could feel the red liquid dripping from my shoulder as a drop of blood dripped into my right hand. In immediate reaction, I clenched the wound with my right hand in attempt to prevent the mass bleeding. Even by touch, it stung as much as I poured liquid on my shoulder.

Finally, the process was finished as a portal opened in front of me. Without hesitation, I leaped into the portal before it closed behind me. It was all over.

The streets were empty. The lights were shining brightly in my face as I was greeted by the sound of the lightly pouring rain. The apartments around me were wearing away from the corrosion of the concentrated air. This place was the only place where I consider myself to be at home.

In front of me there was a small shop, it's usually busy during the days. Its stuff in there is hella expensive, but it was treasured with many artifacts and items that could be sold for over $1000. Because of that, we usually run out of items, requiring someone to look for the artifacts and putting it on the shop the next day. That's when I come in.

"Well, it looks like you did it, Jard!" the man said as he stood over me.

Ignoring the agonizing pain, I lift my head to see the person who foreshadows over me. It was nothing other than Galf, the manager of this little shop.