The Badlands

Chapter One

The man was killed on October 3rd in an alleyway behind the Alleycat, a very high class bar that no one ever visited because the service was atrocious. Bullet hole right in between the eyes. There had been victims killed the exact same way being discovered all over the city. In the span of three days seven people had been murdered by a mysterious culprit. It could have been a gang, it could have been a mercenary, it could have been anyone.
The police that were left in town had started to hear rumors. Rumors that had something to do with a mysterious woman. There had been claims of sightings, but that couldn't be true. A woman? Women couldn't do anything, let alone kill someone. All they're good for is filling the jobs that men don't want and raising children. Right? Unfortunately, society's idea of women had been demolished, or soon would be.

AA sat atop the roof of her apartment complex, looking out at the city beyond. It was incredibly ugly. It has always and will forever remain ugly. No one can reverse that amount of pollution the inhabitants have pumped into the air. The few police that were still trying to do their job were out looking for more evidence on more than a hundred cases including hers. Well, they didn't really know it was hers. All they had was a few bullets and half a dozen cooling corpses. Not very solid evidence.
There was a fresh kill on the other side of town that they had yet to discover. If they had she would have heard it on the walkie talkie she "borrowed" from the police station for this particular job. Her client had very specific rules, and if she broke one he'd remove a thousand dollars off of her original paycheck. She'd already had two thousand dollars deducted.
AA was down to her last kill. The man's name was Urig. No last name, no age, nothing else about him. Interestingly enough Urig had been one of her associates for years. He looked to be about thirty-seven or so, but no one knew his actual age for sure. She had even gone so far as to ask around. It was a very interesting situation. Maybe she could get a hold of his files in the system. Granted that system was screwed to hell and she didn't want to have to search for hours. That's what hired hackers were for.
    She had scheduled a heist with the brute and was almost looking forward to it. She was going to get a sword that she had been eyeing for weeks. It was in the old antique shop that they were to rob. The blade was beautiful. It was a scimitar priced at two hundred dollars. Now AA was not a cheap person, but two hundred dollars for a sword? There was no way in hell. Not if it wasn't going to be put to good use.
The gun-woman swung her legs back over the edge of the building and stood up. When she stood with her back straight the woman was 5'6". Taller than most women in the Badlands. Usually they had horrendous posture from being hunched over tables and stoves. Others made an effort to keep their spines straight. Most failed to do so. It was a terrible sight, but one person can't change the world. Not by themselves. No matter how desperately they wanted it, no matter how bad they needed it, nothing would change. Ever. That was the cold, hard truth about this ruthless existence called life. Everything grows, reproduces, decays. Everything is constantly changing around you, yet nothing changes at all.
"Well, that's enough deep thinking for one day," AA said to herself. She often came to the roof for these types of things. To ponder. Today was one of those days. She had a lot on her mind that she needed to clear away. In order to get her job done right she'd need to be focused. Trying to decide who established the line between right and wrong wasn't going to help. Urig was a tricky bastard and she didn't need any distractions.
Before leaving AA checked the directions one last time. The piece of paper was to be burnt before the last kill was executed. It stated that she must put a bullet in both his head and his right hand. She didn't question the second location for fear of getting another deduction on her final paycheck. 
Her client was a strict man who definitely needed a drink. AA felt bad for the woman he called his wife. She, like many other women, had an aching back that hunched over. Her name was Zeniah. Zeniah had pushed out six children in her forty-seven years of living. They were all unappreciative, spoiled little brats. That was her first thought when AA met the tyrants . She may deal with terrible people, but these kids were absolutely dreadful. The woman wouldn't be surprised if she got a contract on one of them. Whether or not she would take it depended on the price.
The gunslinger did a little skip over to the other side of the rooftop. There sat the maintenance man's lighter. He came up here for a smoke every once in a while. The tenants in the building below could prove to be quite... aggravating. They agreed on that.
AA gave the instructions another once over and then picked up the lighter. She flicked the tiny wheel that made the sparks fly from it. After a few tries a flame blazed to life before her very eyes. The woman held the flame up to the right edge of the paper and watched the fire consume it, turning it into nothing more than ash.
It was time for her to meet and possibly kill her former partner in crime. He may very well kill her first. She didn't doubt it for a second. For a moment she hesitated as she always did before something like this. Then she was off, a mere shadow in the blinding light of the last rays of sun.