Dogfights

Dogfights - Raven (Chapter 9)

Night descended, a blackness that smothered the soul and subdued the mind. The autopilot swerved and turned as it passed by checkpoint after checkpoint. Bright lights thrashed at Kane relentlessly. It continued on like this for some time until finally the hitman faded away and dreams began to play in his head. The day and night cycle outside repeated itself. Time sped by. When Kane was awake he reflected on his journey from the house on the hill to the death of a king. Violence and death drifted in the corners of his vision. Was this humanities path now? To die amongst the dust?

Eventually Kane became sick of his own mind. He sighed in frustration and took manual control, forcing the car off the beaten path. He needed air, or insanity would consume him. He started towards nowhere in particular. He would continue forward in the morning. He knew he had to distract himself from the mission, even if for a brief moment.

The road was dark and the buildings were darker. Kane could hear the pulsing heart of the city now. The people walked to a fro, talking amongst one another casually about work, food, television, movies, sex, and other trivial things. As the pitiful car delved further into the blackest parts of the city the people became fewer, the voices quieter. Kane kept on, knowing that he would eventually hit a dead end and would be forced to turn around. A pair of soldiers passed by, giving the car no second glance, assault rifles piercing through the shroud.

But just as the world seemed to recede into the background, a low humming noise began to flood Kane's senses. He peered forward, searching for the cause of the sound, the lights of his vehicle barely penetrating the blackness. The hum became louder and more distinguishable as he went further. It had a pattern, a beat, a musicality. It was a primal noise, running through the veins of the bloc, flowing through the long streets. Kane saw bright lights in a forgotten corner of the city. He slowly set the car in the shadows then got out. He stretched his muscles slightly as he stared down to the source of the music. The bright light shone forward, the origin of the sounds blocked by buildings. Kane began moving towards the noise.

As he rounded the corner the hitman saw the dancers. They moved like angels, methodically flowing with the music that pounded through the stereos perched above. Spotlights surged forward onto the dazzling display of bodies, making them shine a angelic glow. They were teenagers, young adults, their skin pale and bodies skinny. There was a happiness in their eyes that was uncomfortably alien to Kane. The courtyard the dancers played in was surrounded by death as the crumbling buildings sat precariously, rust outlining the features of worn steel faces. There were no cameras here. It was a solitary place where these poor souls could sing.

Off to the side of the stage the young people conversed with one another, smiling and laughing, drinking and smoking, blind to the rest of the world. It was endearing to Kane, what these men and women had that he could not. It angered him that he could never have such serenity. The future was dead to them, the past nonexistent. All they could do was sing now, to ignore everything and nothing.

Kane continued to watch the spectacle, casually leaning on the side of one of the dying structures that protrude up into the sky. The music was harsh, electronic like the night of the city, thudding into the skull relentlessly. Yet there was a certain calmness to it all. The lights, the music, the dancing was all rhythmic, centered, purposeful. Molded by the city and what it had become, the children had embraced their destinies, using these few short years to unleash their happiness in anticipation for the lonely future.

Kane watched as one of them approach. She could not have been older than twenty, yet there was a rawness to her look that made her age tenfold. Half her skull was shaved, long strands of black hair hanging loosely to one side. Milk-white skin contrasted with the brown, dark eyes that peered curiously at the stranger who had intruded upon this heaven on earth. She reached into her pockets, lighting a cigarette as she continued forward, unafraid. Kane returned the gaze, nodding slightly.