Primal Gambit

Chapter 74: A Just End

On top of the world they stood. The scaffolding creaked from the weight of the three. Morning light poured over the open roof and into the oasis of human detainment. Certain members on the ground level peered upward instead of down, shielding their eyes from the sun in wonder of the men collected at the apex of the catwalk. More and more people changed their direction to look on: men, women, children.

Ridley Doerrman wanted them all to see.

There were no words to be spared. The moment was too rich, too succulent. Both the warriors stood full-fledged, soaking it all in. They wanted to remember this time for all time. A justification too decadent to underappreciate.

Waves of civilians laid underneath in wonder, not quite sure why their attention was raised to the lifted walkway. Guards that recently clocked in were talking rapidly into their radios, unsure why the two warriors atop the way refused to answer. The unsettling nerves began to set in that this was not the mandated introduction of a new captive, but some other foul play altogether. It was an aura that manifested within the festering pollutant air that the two found palpable. They could taste the angst that brewed both below and within the purely evil mastermind who had woven the entirely cruel contest.

"All this time, you thought you were on top. It's time to see just how devolved you really are." Ridley Doerrman spoke the only words that would be shared on that catwalk, nodding toward Vikhr.

The grizzly Siberian then threw Darwin over the railing with all his might. Like a bird with broken wings the con artist fell, limbs flailing, down into the pit of the same paddock Shuke had grown accustom to. Muffled screams reversed back from the sinew and sucked the air from his lungs. He could not breathe and the canopy of dense vegetation did little to ease his fall.

Legs hit the hard ground first with a crunch of cascading bone marrow that shifted in a fight over space. The man collapsed into himself, and through the sinew an ear shattering yelp could be heard.

They all stood in shock below as Doerrman and Vikhr stared into the pit. What took over the muted echoes of agony were the intense growls of the feral men within. A boisterous roar shook the tallest tree just beneath the two as they realized the introduction of Darwin into the exhibit was unwelcomed by the new alpha.

Children screamed hoarsely and ducked beneath mother's arms in reaction to the sounds of flesh being ripped from bone. Eyes and ears were covered by protective parents whose masquerade had just been lifted. For their young to witness a crude death was too real, despite bringing them annually to see men and women held captive by those with more resources.

The two men atop the walkway had just shattered that ideal.

Ridley Doerrman looked up and beyond the scores of civilians that had just witnessed the horror of maiming and killing evil men. Though his heart pounded with adrenaline, he saw a withered looking couple sneaking from within the furthest enclosure and shuffling out of the Human Observatory for the last time. The man's emaciated arm held her lower back close, in the other was the warrior's old shooter.

Shuke and his love.

He smiled, though it did not convey his true feelings. The black orb returned in his mind: a compilation of contempt, of jealousy, of anger. He felt about Shuke the way Vikhr had about him for all the years past. His hands began to shake, body temperature rising with the inability to exert the cloud of hatred building within him.

And there was nothing he could do but watch as the helpless man known as Arthur Shuke vanished into the scores of civilians with the woman he loved, to find paradise just as Ridley Doerrman had envisioned himself doing with Valerie oftentimes in the past.

The feeling of disgust was cut short by a hail of gunfire that fell in their direction. Both Vikhr and Doerrman ducked down and hustled across the walkway. Through the grates they saw the hysterical dispersal of the crowd – people trampling one another to escape the firefight. Guards flooded from bulkhead doors and took instant aim upon the two when their eyes were diverted.

The sounds of rifle fire were drowned out by the thumping rotors of a stolen Reaper. Doerrman looked up to see a pleasant sight – a friendship both unwarranted and unlikely.

It was Tweetie.

Connected by hooks under the belly of the Mud Wasp was the lesser helicopter, the very same machine the chop shopper had promised he would take upon their arrival.

"That son of a bitch." Ridley Doerrman gasped as he watched the wavering airship taking fire, waiting at the end of the way for the two to jump into the cargo hold. Bullets panged and ricocheted from the ship as it hovered just above the compound, dousing the midday sun in shadows.

The two sprinted forward behind cover. None of the rounds that split the air apart hit them, the guards too riled to focus. When they finally leapt into the hold of the ship and slid the janky metal door shut, Doerrman sighed.

Tweetie pulled back on the throttle and the Mud Wasp flung upward, the blades facing forward as he gunned the engines and rocketed them into the sky. Doerrman caught his breath, feeling a heavy paw patting him on the back.

Vikhr released a toothy smile in his direction as the blaring alarms of Marcotte became drowned out by the sounds of the roaring rotors. They both looked out the window toward the skyline of The Dark City, beyond which The Yard and the boroughs reveled. In that moment, Ridley Doerrman was sure that Valerie was still with him.

The three were free.

Though one was bound forever.