Dogfights

Dogfights - Human (Chapter 20)

Kane wound his way through the blank places of the city with his eyes downcast and head shrouded for he was aimless, without purpose, alone in the absolute meaning of the word. The white snow was seen on every wrinkle of the city. But even now the snow was receding. Soon it would be washed away and forgotten.

Kane passed a shop with a stack of televisions in its window. Others walked by the mounted screens without pause. The news was predictable, the programs monotonous. Nothing could be gleaned by the overarching, corrupt entity that had long since been bought by the highest bidder.

But then Malum Kenneth flickered onto the screens.

At first Kane could not believe it. He stopped and stared at the shop window, the lights of the television screens washing over him.

Malum stood in front of a backdrop, the sun behind setting into rolling hills of dark structures and signs.

"My people," he began. "I come to you in troubled times. For the past twelve hours I was a hostage of Samuel Corporation. I was tortured, mutilated, and set aflame. I am free now. Like you I have been changed, altered. I accepted these augmentations with a glad heart."

Malum turned his head slightly, hiding away what little humanity remained, revealing the machine inside. "Through advancement we have become one. Go now, knowing that I will be behind you. We have won out against the south. No one can stop us now. Thank you for your time."

The screens turned blank. Kane continued staring at the window. The backdrop in the recording seemed familiar to him. He searched his memory. Low-bearing walls. Thin towers. A military bloc? Kane eye's widened. It was a possibility, however slim.

His map augmentation flashed forward. Kane's current location was shown: Bloc One, the first bloc to be constructed, created long before the Kenneths. Kane thought hard of the military blocs. Two were located nearby. Perhaps Malum had simply retreated to the nearest military bloc? The timing seemed right to Kane. He knew he had one shot at this. If one of the military blocs was infiltrated then surely the other would be reinforced. He thought of the war machines, of their relentless march. The hitman had run out of time. He could feel it in his being.

Kane proceeded towards the nearest military bloc. He would go to the easternmost one, the one closest to the impending doom. The last stand before the plunge.

A young woman walked by, her slight steps tapping on the concrete floor. She glanced at Kane, who met her gaze, looking on at the crude augmentation that made up her eyes.

She was so young.

A tight anger wrapped around Kane. They would pay for this. It was time to set things right.

***

The military bloc was a old one, the cracks on the walls many and the machines lining the walls weary with time. High towers watched over the procession of soldiers, their lights reaching outward. Walls made of light, augmented creatures, automated turrents, and other dark things were nestled deep within the confines of the bloc. The new mingling with the old.

A dampness hung in the air. The snow had been burned away.

Kane leaned on the side of a gray wall not a mile away from the military bloc. A thunderous booming echoed through shadows, the call of an age.

Kane drew forward. He spotted a nearby structure that was close enough to the wall of the military bloc to use as a means of entrance. Kane went up, pressing his back against the building, his feet on the wall. When he reached the top he hurled himself forward, landing on the opposite side of the wall with a thud. A dog began barking closeby.