FALTER

CHAPTER 5: I don't like the echoes.

The old man stirred from his painful stupor. As his eyes adjusted to the light of the late evening, the blurry figure in front of him shifted from a red haze to the clear visage of a monster with an unsightly grin. His heart almost jumped out through his throat as the man scrambled backwards.

The figure also stepped backwards with a jolt. His armour rustled as he stood up straight with his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

"Woah, hey," A voice much younger than the old man had expected rang out from the disfigured helmet. "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Falter."

The man frowned. "Oh you're... you're real, then." His grumble was barely audible. He squinted his eyes to shut out the dying light of the sun peeking over the horizon. There was a pain squarely in the centre of his forehead, which annoyed him greatly. He swatted desperately at something in front of his face, which he was sure looked rather unusual to the person looming over him. "Name's Gerald."

"Hey, Gerald. I saw you conked out on the side of the road. I was just driving by," Falter gestured at his motorcyle behind him, then kneeled down again. "I think your implants malfunctioned. Did you get them from a good place?"

Gerald felt as if Falter's words were stomping over him. He was quite annoyed by how the armoured young man spoke so smoothly as his sentences darted out of the helmet like a machine gun, and it did nothing to help the pounding in his head. He clutched it, now noticing he was absolutely drenched in sweat. Falter stepped forward to help him, but the man moved his hand to shake it at the hero.

"'M fine, fine. I got 'em for so cheap I shouldn't be complaining about the headache they're giving me." He rubbed his fingers over the area under his ears. He could feel the metal underneath.

"You know if you need hormone controllers, UltraLife is right there," Falter's voice had turned disapproving, causing another prickle of annoyance to run up the man's spine.

"Kid, you try affording UltraLife with my job," Gerald bit back, before trying to get back on his feet. He wobbled unsteadily, causing Falter to finally reach forward to support him.

Begrudgingly, the man leaned on him. The armour felt cold even through Gerald's clothes, and he adjusted himself to avoid the spikes on Falter's shoulders.

"Still, you've seen on TV how bad these black market implants are. People just drop dead 'cuz they short circ' and inject you with too much dopamine or whatever." Falter paused. "When I found you, that's what I thought....y'know."

Suddenly, the man felt guilty. He let go of Falter, and tried to stand up straight.

"Ah, well. I wouldn't be the only one dead on a sidewalk in this place, hah!" He forced out an awkward laugh. Falter didn't respond, causing the awkwardness in the air to almost solidify. Desperate to disengage, the old man said "I'll be goin' then. Thanks, kid."

"Where are you going?"

"I dunno. City's gonna have a place for me, somehow."