The World Of Steam

35

Karzen crept around the exterior of The Council Of Gold's base at the dead of night, searching for his enemies, searching for someone unsuspecting to fall into his elaborate trap. A night guard, a simple worker, even a lowly caretaker. Anyone would do. The simplest of people that worked for Knox probably held an entire library of dirty secrets that could help Karzen win the war. He just needed the means of extracting those secrets from them. Luckily for him, he already had one method in mind. It was stupid, dangerous and would probably kill his suspect stone dead in the process, but what was the point of being the director of a secret organisation if he couldn't take some risks? If everything went according to plan, the reward would be quite sweet indeed. For himself, anyway. It would at least bring him forward in his path that would ultimately end in the confrontation with his arch nemesis. It had to be done. For the sake of the ruined city and its broken inhabitants. Steering clear of the spotlights that constantly swept the area like numerous short lighthouses, Karzen spotted a lone guard in his sights. There were no towers around him, there were no colleagues that passed by him in their routine. He was alone. The perfect target. Knox was not going to notice one man going missing. He may have been ruthlessly clever and led his armies with an iron fist, but his memory was not like a computer's. He was just an ordinary mortal like the rest of them. Even if by some miracle he did notice, he would just presume that they died in the fight and move on with his life. All was well. Karzen looked around for a couple of seconds to make sure that the coast was clear, swiftly scanning the area. The guard stood by the end of the wall's perimeter, standing way out of sight of reinforcements. Karzen crept up to the oblivious guard, his slow footsteps as silent as the still air around him. Suddenly, he delivered an elbow to the back of his head, letting him drop to the ground painfully. Without waiting for the guard to come round, he grabbed him by his limp wrists, quickly dragging him out of sight.

The guard stirred as his dazed head steadily cleared itself and he awoke from his deep slumber. He looked down at the grey concrete of the motorway, his eyesight slightly blurred, still adjusting to its new surroundings. Taking its time, his brain awoke, slowly realising that it was not dead. Blinking, he cleared his vision and saw Karzen, who was tying his feet to the bumper of a semi truck. The guard's hands were hanging from two small harnesses that dangled from the front of the truck, preventing him from falling face first and breaking his feet. Suddenly, Karzen punched him in the face, rocking his entire head.

"Hold tight!" He told him with an oddly cheerful glee in his voice as he proceeded to walk towards the door. The henchman, horrified, immediately grabbed the harnesses, squeezing them tight. Karzen climbed up the steps into the truck and started the engine, looking out of the non-existent windshield. Black smoke poured out of the chimneys on either side of the truck's roof, roaring and spluttering like it was sick. He put his foot down onto the pedal and proceeded to hurtle down Hindhead Tunnel, quickly gaining speed, nearing forty miles an hour. The henchman squinted, the wind pelting his face like the invisible wall of air that it was and his hair flew about wildly. The tunnel walls whooshed by him relentlessly and the hundreds of lights on the ceiling almost blinded him as they flashed by his eyes one after the other. The sensation was unbearable. After some moments of the torture, Karzen slowed the truck to a halt near the tunnel's exit. The guard breathed erratically, trying to get some air into his lungs, his pulse quickening from the shock. "What is Knox planning? Why does he want the war?"

"He just wants chaos to put everyone off guard so he can steal the cure." He replied immediately. "He doesn't care how many have to die."

"There you go, that wasn't difficult now, was it?" Taking his foot off the clutch slightly, Karzen drove out of the tunnel, but instead began to head back around it. The guard snapped his head both ways in panic, unable to control his breathing.

"Wait!" He shouted, eyes wide with fear. "You have to let me go!"

"No I don't." Without giving his enemy a chance to escape, Karzen pressed down onto the accelerator. A moment later, he slammed his foot onto the brake, rocking the entire frame violently. The guard's feet snapped as he was suddenly ripped from the harness. He flew across the tunnel and died instantly, grazing his face across the road, leaving a long and bloody streak. Karzen moved the truck forward and drove over the corpse of the guard, crushing his spine and shattering his skull under thirteen tonnes.