Land Without Hope

Chapter 15 - Caught

"You've caused quite a stir tonight. The knights are in quite the uproar." Her voice was flat and mechanical, eyes like she'd traded humanity for something colder. "But then again, that was probably the point, wasn't it?"

Rozeree's mind raced through options, each one worse than the last. The space was too tight for her to ram past. Behind her, the alley dead-ended into solid concrete. Her gun felt heavy against her hip, but in these close quarters, a firefight could be suicide.

"Nothing to say?" Her eyes narrowed impossibly further. "They told me you were called the Mute, but I didn't think it was literal."

His words caught her off guard. They? Who had been talking about her? The job had just happened. Unless... Her eyes narrowed as she studied her more carefully. The confident posture, the expensive yet practical clothing, the way she carried herself. This was no common thug.

"Been tracking you," She said, each word clipped and efficient. "Your patterns. Predictable." Her hand moved to her jacket, and something metallic glinted in the dim light. "Step out. Slowly."

Rozeree's synthetic muscles coiled tight as springs, ready to move the instant an opportunity presented itself. But the woman seemed to read her tension. His gaze took on an edge sharp enough to cut.

"Don't." She raised one her hand, and something in her palm caught the dim light. A small device with a blinking red indicator. "Dead man's switch. Attempt escape, vehicle becomes a crater. Your new augments won't save you."

The casual way she mentioned Rozeree's modifications sent ice through her veins. She knew about the surgery. Had she been watching her even then? How long had she been her prey without realizing it?

"Last chance." Her finger tapped the dead man's switch with deliberate slowness. "Out. Or we do this the messy way." The womant climbed out of her vehicle, movements as fluid and precise as machinery, heavy boots thudding against the pavement as she approached Rozeree.

Rozeree's mind raced. Every instinct screamed at her to fight. Images of her father flashed through her mind—his warm laugh, his gentle strength, the way he'd always protected her. What would he think if he could see her now? Trapped like an animal, about to be sold for parts.

No. Not like this. Never like this.

Rozeree's synthetic muscles tensed, and she exploded into action. Her augmented legs propelled her through the car door, shattering the window in a spray of glass. The woman was already moving impossibly fast.

Rozeree's first shot grazed her shoulder, tearing fabric but finding no flesh. The woman's counterattack came like thunder. A small fist that she barely managed to dodge. The blow left a dent in the alley wall where her head had been moments before.

Rozeree spun, using her momentum to drive her elbow into the woman's kidney. It was like hitting concrete. She barely grunted, catching Rozeree's follow-up strike and using her own momentum to slam her into the ground. The impact knocking the wind from her lungs.

Rozeree rolled away, narrowly avoiding a boot that would have crushed her ribs. Her augmented reflexes gave her the split second she needed to sweep the woman's open leg. She stumbled, but didn't fall.

"Persistant," the woman mumbled, spitting blood from where an earlier blow had caught her lip.

Rozeree launched herself at her, augmented muscles pushing past their safety limits. Rozeree's fist connected with her jaw in a strike that could have knocked her head clean off. The blow snapping the woman's head back, the crack echoing off the walls like cars crashing.

But when she turned back to meet her gaze, her eyes showed no pian. Only a cold stare that sent icy tendrils of fear coiling around Rozeree's heart.

Her counter came too fast to dodge—a brutal combination that started with a feint and ended with her knee driving into Rozeree's solar plexus. She doubled over, and the woman's elbow came down on the back of Rozeree's neck, crushing her into the ground. Error messages flashed red across her vision as Rozeree's muscles seized and trembled, refusing her desperate commands to move.