Dirtyhands

nine

•Hey Y'all. I'm sorry about not updating in a long time. I'll try to make my updates more regular but school and stuff have been insane so that may not happen until the summer.•
Like most nights Kaz can't sleep. Thoughts of Inej, Jordie, Rollins, and Van Eck circulate through his mind. He knows that Jesper and Wylan might end up suffering from his crusade. Kaz can't stand this worrying. It's pointless. He doesn't even know why he cares.

Kaz sighs and sits up in the darkroom. Maybe he should just leave. It would protect his friends and keeps his mind focused on the task at hand. But leaving would also leave him vulnerable and alone. 'I've survived on my own before and I can do it again.' Kaz thinks but a small voice in the back of his head asks 'but do you really want to do it again?'

Kaz frowns and pulls himself out of the bed. "It's the best option." He whispers to himself and gathers his few belongings. He stuffs a few bullets and a pistol in his pocket before climbing out the window. The wind blows through his hair and the rain has become a drizzle. Kaz climbs down some vines that reside on the sides of the mansion. His shoulder burns with the weight that he has put on it. The rain feels good against his skin. It's not like before when the rain felt like thousands of tiny daggers. Now it's just soft droplets landing on him.

He drops a few feet to the ground and runs a hand through his damp hair. The rain has slicked it back against his skull. He starts to limp along the cobblestones road. His cane scraps against the rocks as he walks, creating a quiet crunching sound.

Kaz walks down whatever streets are deserted. He needs to disappear. He feels his cane crash against the stone road as he abandons those who never deserted him. 'The one time that I try to do the right thing..." he thinks as he feels a knot forming in his gut. He presses on through the empty streets and listens to the rain. It has an almost calming effect on him. He turns left and goes down a dark alley and stops at the end. Not even a week after he took over the Dregs, he had secret bases created all over town. He is the only one who knows exactly where each one is. Few know where a few of them are but not all. He had made sure of that.

Kaz pulls up a sewer cap and starts to descend into the dark and damp tunnels. He pulls that cap back over the way he came before splashing down on the shallow stream of water below him. It wreaks of bile and wastes down here. That what had made this particular location so perfect. Nobody would expect one of the most powerful men in Ketterdam to hide away in such a repulsive place. "Haven comes in all shapes and forms." He mumbles under his breath. He walks through the large tunnel. As he limps, rats scurry across his feet in a desperate attempt to evade the foreigner.

Kaz stops in his tracks after almost thirty paces and turns left. He reaches out and pulls a small brick out of the cement wall. It contains a key inside. He removes the small object and holds it in between his index and middle finger as he returns the brick to its rightful location. He continues his trek down the increasingly more narrow tunnel. The smell gets worse as he goes and light becomes more scarce. He finally reaches a ledge.

Water pours down the almost twenty-foot fall. Kaz reaches to the side of the opening and grabs onto the ladder that had been placed there weeks before. He pulls himself over and starts to climb down. He climbs about ten feet before reaching directly into the waterfall. His hand traces the wall until it finds a keyhole. Kaz forces the key into the lock and turns it. The pins in the lock click and a door opens on the other side of the ladder. One wouldn't even know it was there unless it was open. Kaz pulls himself over and into the base. This one isn't as extravagant as some of the others, but it wasn't built to host as many.

This one was made for one or two. It is a twenty by ten-foot room with no windows. It has candles all over and a small bed in the corner. It also contains a desk, some clean water, and food rations. There is another door that leads to a restroom and a small shelf holding up weapons.
Kaz removes a few documents from his coat pocket and places them in a safe before twisting the lock. He then sits down at the desk. He needs to figure out his next move. He has limited information and no backup. He is also still sore from his last battle. The pain in his shoulder has dulled but it comes back when he moves it. He slides the collar of his shirt down to expose the scar. He cleans some blood off of the fresh wound and starts to wrap it with medical tape. The last thing that he needs is an infection.

When he finishes, Kaz heads for the bed. He needs to rest. He could come up with a plan in the morning when his head is clear and he is well-rested. Until then he shall lay in the bed and look at the ceiling. Thinking about what could be, what once was, and what is until he inevitably falls into a deep slumber.