The Lone Wolf

Chapter 1: Hiding in New Mecca

The wind whipped through my long, straggly blonde hair as I paced slowly through the streets of New Mecca. I was looking for somewhere to stay, a cheap b&b I could spend the night and sneak out early before the owners recognised me and called the mercenaries.

Also, I needed to sneak out before I could pay.

I should never have come back here. I should never have come home.

Drike and his crew have been on my neck since I escaped Butcher Bay four days ago. He's the one who dropped me in there in the first place, but the dumb fucker thought I was locked up for good this time. What an idiot.

I was only in there for six days before I got bored, killed a couple of crew members, stole a ship and got myself outta there. It was simple, really.

I should've gone anywhere, anywhere but New Mecca. I should have known better to lead them to my birthplace, the only thing no one knows about me. Actually I wasn't actually born on New Mecca, I was found there as a newborn. Imagine that, finding a baby girl with her own umbilical chord expertly gagging her to prevent screaming, left in a cardboard box in the middle of the street, ready to be ran over by any passing vehicles. How charming.

Luckily I was found by an elderly woman and given to the local orphanage. Well, I say luckily, in actual fact the orphanage was a dump, with damp on the walls and smashed glass everywhere. Even a cockroach would struggle to call that shithole home. I spent most of my time there hidden away from the other children, keeping to myself and not causing trouble. I didn't even speak to the staff. 'Selective Mutism' is what they diagnosed me with.

When I was 12 years old two of the older boys used my silence against me but for their own advantage. They were my first kills. I didn't even know their names. Not that I really care.

I would've let them live, but they tried to pull the same trick twice, the filthy animals.

How rude of me, I am forgetting introductions! I may be a sociopathic, murdering convict, but I am certainly not rude. My name is Elizah X. Lorthakk, and I am 22 years old. Don't bother asking what the 'X' stands for.

I have been in and out of prisons since I was 13 and I have a hefty bounty on my head of 1.4 million UDs, and it will rise to 1.7 if I escape another double max security prison, and 2 million if it's triple max. I have never met a human I have liked. I never plan to.

Anyway, back to my story. I looked at my feet as I walked, taking in the street beneath my feet. Newspapers, food, gum, general litter. New Mecca just wasn't as warm and ethereal as it was back when I was a kid. 

Suddenly, I heard three gun shots from just around the corner. It took me by surprise; guns are never fired in New Mecca, unless mercs are chasing a convict. I ducked my head into the nearest hotel, closing the door tightly behind me. I turned slowly to see the woman behind the counter staring at me with a slightly shocked expression, but she was smiling at me none the less. Shit.