Dallas pranced down the hall, looking through the fence ledge of various buildings of different shapes and sizes. He glanced at the rooftops as the buildings bustled among the cold blue light of the dead.
He continued down the hall of lined doors with a bat in his hand before approaching the end. He knocked on the last door, listening to it bark back.
Dallas stares out of the ledge and down at the ruin on their morning walk. A cry from the door draws his attention to Nobu peeking between the cracks.
"One moment." Nobu closed the door while Dallas raised a brow, twirling his bat and resting it along his shoulder. Nobu emerged, closing the door behind him.
He stood tall and wide as the door frame before looking at Dallas with a hammer and satchel across his shoulder.
"Shall we?" Dallas nodded his head down the hall, looking up at him.
"Lead the way." Dallas walks ahead of the big man with him in tow.
"Thanks. For volunteering. I wanted to do this at the crack of dawn. Knowing the kid down at the shed bleeding out."
"Anything to help. By the way, my son mentioned something about a girl. Ears, tail?"
"Ah. Right. The freak." Dallas breathes out. "She's the real deal. Her eyes even slit like a cat would. I don't know what she could do, but I want eyes on her. She gets a hairball." Dallas opens the gate for Nobu. "I want to be the first one to know."
Dallas and Nobu pranced along the poolside, staring at Jean and Mei seated on the white lounge chairs facing the shed.
"I hope you're not tired." Dallas stood by Jean's side, who jumped, getting a chuckle out of him. "You fell asleep."
"I didn't." Jean rubs his baggy eyes.
"He did," Mei smirked. "A few hours ago."
"What?! No." Jean groans behind his hands.
"How is she handling it?" Dallas gave a side glance at Alice, who was asleep in a ball against the shed wall.
"Good," Mei answered, sitting up with the leg of the chair between hers. "I assumed they stopped talking a few hours ago.
"Did you hear anything?"
"Nada."
"Of course." Dallas licked his inner cheek.
He goes to the shed with Nobu, Mei, and Jean. Alice's ears twitch before she raises her sleepy face to the group. Her eyes gain life as Dallas points his metal bat away from the shed.
"Get back." He watched Alice crawl to her feet.
Dallas jangled with the keys, driving them into the keyhole. He twisted it before grabbing the handle. He looks back at Nobu, testing his grip on his hammer before nodding at him.
Dallas whistled before banging on the door with his palm.
"Uppie Adam, sunshine! Let me get a good look at you!" He pushed the door open, causing it to smack against the shed's hull.
Dallas and Nobu posed at the door before Nobu took the reins on entering.
The father swept his eyes across the swimming supplies before landing on Shaun on the ground, slowly painting the cement red.
"You're banging on the door like the police. Can't you be louder?" Shaun remarked, his unfocused eyes on Nobu and Dallas, towering over them.
"How do you feel?" Nobu questioned.
"Cold."
"Alright." Nobu takes a knee, grabbing Shaun's arm. "Come on. Ugh." They raise themselves to their feet. "Let's take you to get some air." He breathes, walking Shaun out of the shed, causing him to wince.
"Shaun!" Alice raised her voice.
"Mei! Chair," Nobu ordered while his daughter followed. "I need to get you clean and stitched up. If the bad infection won't kill you, the good one will."
Mei slapped a plastic chair in front of the group while Nobu placed Shaun in it. Nobu ripped his painted-sleeve shirt up to his shoulder and wrist.
Seeing the pulsing gash of red chewed flesh and a string piece of skin swaying above his elbow.
"We're going to need a skin graft." Nobu pulled off his satchel and poured the medical supplies on the cement.
"You're a doctor?" Jean questioned.
"Why? Lucky I'm here?" Nobu questioned, grabbing the wipes from the floor. He rips the paper from the moist wipes. "Hold him. Your name, son?"
"Shaun." The worker breathes out his baggy eyes, staring at Nobu's bright brown eyes.
"This is going to sting. And I'm making do with what I got."
"Go figure." Shaun's eyes light up while Nobu brushes the wipes along the gash. He screamed from his lungs, clenching his hand. Sliver ran up his skin, forcing everyone from the chair back.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Dallas screamed out.
"Shaun." Nobu blinked his eyes before breathing out. "Calm yourself." He watched as Shuan breathed in labor. "I need to clean it. Slow."
Alice stood in front of Dallas, claws out and slit eyes locking onto him, raising his bat.
"Dallas," Jean called out. "Dallas."
Dallas switched his eyes to Jean.
"We can handle it." The young adult spoke up. "Go."
Dallas and Alice kept to their standoff before Dallas dropped the bat.
"I won't be far." He distanced himself from the situation as Shuan's coated skin retreated into his pores.
"Good. Shaun. Good. Deep breath." Nobu dapped at it, getting Shaun to clenched his teeth. "Done."
"Dad." Mei came with an extra plastic chair.
"Thanks, Mei." Nobu takes a seat. "Get comfortable. Mei, skin graft, needle, and stitches."
"So, uh. Shaun." Jean starts off watching Nobu connect the string with the curved hook. "Where were you before all of this started?"
Shaun remained silent.
"Shaun?" Jean spoke once more.
"Huh? I-uh. The shogi market. Across town." Shaun clenched his jaw while Nobu stuck the hook into his skin. "I worked there before closing. Tomorrow was my turn to open."
"The department store?" Mei rested her hands on her hips.
"Not no more," Shaun sighs. "A Cerberus burnt it down." Dallas inches toward the group while Alice takes her spot by Shaun.
"As in three-headed dog?" Mei cocked her head to Shaun, wincing. "How big was it?"
"The cars park up front."
"Is it still out?" Jean snapped his gaze to Dallas before looking back at Shaun. "With that wandering around, it may find its way here."
"I killed it with a little help." Shaun glanced at Alice, who looked back at him with a blush. Shaun looked away. "She's the pain in my ass, but without her, I could've died."
"Watch your mouth, " Nobu said. "Does that explain the arm?" Nobu looked up at Shaun, nodding. "Look at it this way. She's your lucky charm." Nobu smirked at Shaun and then Alice, who looked at the ground. "Tell me, little one. What's your name?"
"Alice." She grabs her skirt with a blush getting Dallas to cocked his head.
"Well, that's a pretty name from someone in a pretty dress. Can you tell me how you met Shaun?"
"I was hungry and met him in a store," Alice twisted her hips. "He pointed his gun at me and locked me in the cage for big doggies." Mei and Jean slowly turned their gaze to Shaun, closing his eyes. "He didn't feed me water; he used me as bait for the big doggie that attacked us. Shaun's my friend." Alice pouts her lips. "He protected me, clothed me, and was right about the"
"Of course. There's no filter on you." Shaun cut her off.
"Is there going to be a problem?" Dallas cocked his head at Shaun.
"No. Dude. I'm a cripple."
"You'll be surprised. Though I could understand your timid nature towards the girl here."
"But, that doesn't. Make it right." Jean spoke up. "She's just a girl."
Dallas only stared at Jean, tasting his gums.
"Let's end this lesson on morality. And get to the bread and butter." Nobu cut in. "Where will they be staying?"
"Here," Dallas answered, getting the eyes of everyone on the poolside. "Just for a few days. If you two answer some of my questions."
"We'd best continue this tomorrow. Shaun needs food and rest if he ever wants to recover." He continued sewing a rubbery sheet punctuated by pencil-sized holes onto Shaun's wound.
A bright wood wax door was opened, revealing young adult Kirishima in his black and red tie tux. His dress coat was unbuttoned, and his slick hair was a mess.
He bathed in the golden light above and behind the door.
Young Jack entered the house, his black dress shoes clicking along the wax-black and white diamond floor. The boy remained dressed in a white shirt, white bow tie, and black slacks.
"Alright," Kirishima whispered, closing the door behind him and listening to Jack walk away. "Wait! Wait!" he shouted in a whisper.
He turns to the boy standing next to a waxed staircase that leads to the second floor, where a polished wooden railing awaits. The entrance remains open but organized, featuring oversized vases, a coat rack, and a display table beneath the stairway.
"See?" Kirishima takes a knee, plucking at Jack's hair. "We made it on time." He licks his hand before brushing the boy's hair back.
"I know." Jack breathed out, adjusting Kirishima's tie straight. "It shouldn't be on you to be beaten." His silver, soft eyes stared into Kirishima's busted red eye.
"You worried too much." He cracks a toothy smile. "I had. Worst. What you should be worried about is dinner with your father. Foster." He whispered the last part, patting Jack's shoulders before straightening out his dress shirt. "Let's knock him dead."
Kirishima sat up straight with a sigh before wrapping his arm over the boy's shoulder. They walked to an open hall frame shaped like a white oval.
The red-haired young adult allowed Jack into the room before following close behind.
The room walls and carpet are scarlet. A golden, bulky chandelier hangs at the center of the long brown dinner table, which seats ten people. Bright, warm lights shine down and around the empty seats, the frames on the walls of the cats, and a group of men in tuxes standing in front of the cheek of a city consisting of a skyscraper barely touching the clouds overlooking Hamihero.
Young Jack stood by a chair at the end of the table, and Kirishima stood at the other end of the chair. Clicking entered their ears, forcing their heads to Jack's father, who was entering the room, followed by his guard, who had slick black hair down to his neck and hair on his chin, upper lip, and lower lip.
They took their positions from across the table. The guard and Kirishima pulled their chairs from under the table, allowing the father and son to take a seat.
A Butler and a maid entered the room with plates in hand while Kirishima and the guard took their spots by the table. Standing before the table, Kirishima and the guard grabbed their wrists.
The maid set a plate of cooked, seasoned fish, green beans, and a mug-sized mountain of white rice. She took her leave.
"Did you learn anything today?" Jack's father dug into his food while the Bulter poured water into his glass.
"Is it the part where you almost made me a cripple?" Jack picked up his food with his fork.
"No one is going to pull their punches. Unless they are arrogant or foolish."
"Hmm."
The screaming of metal scraping against ceramic plates filled the quiet room.
"The first time I saw you," Jack's father says, looking from his plate to Jack. "I've seen nothing special, but you stood out." He points his fork. "Not because you're the only albino kid, but because you're someone who'll get things done and stand up for what is right." He continues eating before glancing at his guard. "Kuro. Would you?"
The guard pulled his phone from his coat pocket before typing on it.
"I remembered. A few months back. You were with your posse, not the leader type. More of a follower among your band of misfits. An issue arises among your members, and yet you were the one to manage to talk down the head of the facility from throwing them on the streets." Jack's father leans back on his chair. "That takes guts and talent."
Ragid's steps and muffled screams made Jack and Kirishima turn to two thugs in formal wear, forcing a feminine figure to her knees before prying the sack from her head, revealing the cashier from the fast food restaurant.
"Know her?" Jack's father points.
Jack turned to the cashier, whose mouth was gagged by a white rag and her wrists tied by a black zip tie. Her wet eyes locked on the boy who looked back at his Adopted dad.
"No." Jack rested his knuckle on the table. Kirishima kept his gaze on the worker.
"I'd almost believe you." The father's blue eyes stared deep into Jack. "You are in the Walker family, and I wish you were honest with me." He looks to Kirishima, who stares back in shock before dropping his head.
"You were ordered to bring my son here. And yet, you disappoint me."
Jack's father looked at Jack.
"That knife by your plate. Take it and go across the rat's cheek."
Jack's eyes slowly climbed while the cashier hollered through the gag. The formal thug pulled from the back of the gag, forcing her face to the ceiling.
"If you can't do it. Do it on yourself. Kuro?" Jack's father looks to his guard. "What time is it?"
"About midnight."
"Good. Shoot my son and cashier when it does. I can always get another one." Jack's father takes a sip from his glass filled with water.
Kuro pulled his vendetta from his coat pocket.
"B-boss," Kirishima spoke up with a lower voice. "I've made a mistake. And I should be the one to be punished."
Kuro kept his eyes on the phone, while Jack's father kept his eyes on his son, who remained glued to the steak knife on his plate.
"I understand." Jack looked up from the table and across at his father. "I know now. I'll train harder, I'll listen." The boy stared at his father's blue eyes. "I get your point!" He raised his voice, his silver eyes watery.
The father remained quiet. His firm, browless eyebrows remained, and his sky-blue eyes continued to stare into the boy.
The boy's shaky hand grabs the knife.
"Boss!" Kirishima raised his voice; his eyes remained on the red carpet. "I'll do it."
"You continued to talk. I'll feed you to the dogs." Jack's father looked at Kirishima sternly.
"Argh!!" A voice screamed while droplets of red liquid faded onto the red carpet.
Jack quickly blanketed the right side of his face with an oversized white napkin, slowly bathing it in blood.
Jack's father only stares before pulling the vendetta from his coat pocket and shooting the cashier in the head from his chair. The formal thug holding the gag joints from the corpse that hit the carpet.
The teary-eyed cashier stared across the room with a hole in the side of her head. Jack's breath breaks while his mouth shivers.
"That." Jack's father stuffed the vendetta into his coat pocket. "Is what I'm trying to warn you about. Kill people with kindness. And you think it doesn't apply to you?" He glared at Jack, dropping tears onto the carpet. "I'm talking to you."
The boy's eyes remained on the corpse.
Adult Jack's eyes remained on the corpse of a mimic spread out on the road.
"Mr.Walker?" Amy spoke. "Mr. Walker?" The Amu approached Jack, who was sitting on the car's hood. The medical bot raised her arm to her face before digging her fingers into the side of her arm. She popped the compartment, revealing the silver endoskeleton. The flap posing as her skin contained rows of darts to her inner elbow.
The body contained a skinny plastic cylinder, and the butt of it had a wide circle the size of a thumb.
Amy sticks it into his arm. Jack flinched.
"Out of anyone. Mr.Muller is a better candidate." Jack blinked before looking up at her. "I injected you with morphine. Just let me know when you're in pain."
"I want him to know I'm serious."
"And I, as well. If you don't have any ulterior motive. I would like to continue to meet your needs." Her green eyes locked on Jack's.
"We must proceed." Rex stood ahead of the two standing in the center of the jagged road. "Mintunes wasted are lives lost."
"I know." Jack looks up at the sky, where the falling sun is bathing the streets orange. "It's going to get dark soon."
"This is a high priority." Amy watched Jack stand to his feet. "We're going keep to our wits when it's dark soon."
"Of course." Jack breathes out, following Rex, who is taking the lead.
Night came, and the stars above them smiled down on three. They continued down the road, seeing the square of the park. The trees towered over six feet of black steel fence connected to white concrete walls; the trees draped a blanket of shadow across the sidewalks, barely touching the street.
Walking along the street, Jack peers into the fence. Walker kept his Dawn fourteen lower at the barrage of trees, hiding what lurked in the shadows by their large stature and numbers.
They arrived at the entrance of an open park to the same result. The Trees hide what's inside, leaving only a path. The parkway has a wide, smooth, and cold brown texture of squares, allowing the trees on the side to block all light that is further pushed out.
"How many days it's been?" Walker whispered.
"Nearly a week." A bright light peered out Amy's upper left wrist and down at the darkness that retreated deeper into the path.
Jack switches on the light attached to his rifle while two head beams escape from either side of Rex's head.
Rex takes the lead with his rifle raised, and Jack and Amy are behind.
They ventured down the path at a pace, staring down the pool of darkness and the trees they passed. The sound of crickets and frogs welcomed them, and they approached an open space, sharing the path's color.
A large and wide black marble fountain sat at the center of the space, shooting lines of water from the pool below, radiating blue crystal light up at a white marble sculpture of a slim woman draped in cloth that hides her sensitive areas. Her left hand held a drinking pot at her waist, while the other was a bowel close to her alluring lips.
The sound of the water and occasional hollow stomps from the bots filled the area.
An animalistic shriek cut through the sounds, forcing Rex and the others to aim their weapons at the space edge, which consisted of benches, posing in front of the spaced trees and the unkept grass.
Jack's eyes bounce from tree to tree, turning to the fountain. To a figure leaping at him. Jack fired before side-stepping to a shrieking jogger with sickly green skin and tattered black athletics shorts tumbling across the pavement with its nails like claws swiping at the air.
It bounces from its feet and rushes again, only for Jack to end it.
Multiple shrieks soon followed, forcing the trio closer.
"Tight formation." Rex swept his dawn fourteen across the crowd of trees before aiming around and over the fountain, followed by Jack and Amy covering each other six.
A jogger bursts out of the forest just before Rex shoots it, hitting the creature in the skull. It leans back and then collapses to the ground. Ten other joggers emerge from the darkness, sprinting and leaping toward the trio illuminated by the blue lights of the fountain.
The trio fired at the rioters, who dropped like flies only for more to replace them.
"Convict. Stay where I can see you." Rex spun on its feet, dodging a claw slash before putting a bullet into the ruined skull. Another jogger leaped onto the Ranger, who used its momentum to shove the creature onto the ground before putting it out of its misery.
Rex gave a hook, clocking another opportunist across the jaw.
Jack fired with widened eyes at the flood pouring on them. In seconds, a jogger came into his vision, flashing its maw, posing as a face. Jack stretched his hand forward, causing a snow stream to launch from his palm into the threat, forcing five ruins into the backlines of the ambush and into a shattering park bench.
Jack spun on the balls of his sneakers, driving his rifle into the face of the ruin that launched itself at Jack's shoulder.
"Mr.Walker, give me notice when you need to reload. We wouldn't want to open your wound." Amy snapped her aim, scoring three headshots with her burst submachine gun before the circular cartridge emerged from the left of her weapon, controlling the chains of electricity within the single rod.
The Amu swung her arms and spun on her feet, driving her fist into the skull of a jogger who fell face-first into brown tiles, painting them with purple blood.
"Hate is a strong word." Amy rolled her arms and torso, fainting another rolling downward hook into an axe kick, driving her solid heel into the skull of another, spraying its matter across the pavement. "But, I love if that's not cause."
"Is that important now?!" Jack ejects the mag before taking another from his black tactical vest. Jack stumbles back from rushing him, only for Rex to pop a killing blow before focusing on the horde.
"Your health is the most important." Amy watched the cartridge slide back into the Righteous Defender before firing back into the rioters.
The trio soon disbursed the horde. That laid waste around the fountain and within, clouding the bright blue crystal lights into messy purple.
Jack's pants, covered in sweat, aiming his rifle, followed by the bots at the trees and fountain for any lackeys.
"Mr Walker? How are you holding up?" Amy asked, quickly glancing at him and the environment.
"I'm fine." Jack breathes out.
"Good." Rex dropped his aim before staring at Jack. "We shall proceed when you are ready."
A punch drives across the surviving sinner's cheek, causing blood to fly. Her dried pink hair falls from her back and down her head, hanging for dear life.
Standing in a locker room in between the rows of showers separating one another with warm white marble tiles to the height of the average male rib cage.
The sinner allows a stream of blood to roll from her lips and onto the tile floor before looking up at a male soldier glaring her down with bloody knuckles.
"Why did you attack us?" Airi emerges from the male soldier pacing at the right of the sinner.
The battered sinner breathed out before grinning.
"You just don't listen. We want your food, water, your guns, and maybe a few of your toys. Can I have a cookie now?"
The male soldier clocks the sinner on her jaw, making her and the chair tilt on its two legs before crashing on the floor onto her shoulder.
"Fuck!" The sinner breathes out in bloody pants with a cut cheek. "You ever heard of the phrase. A man can't hit a woman."
"That's funny." The male soldier walked behind her chair before putting it on its four legs. "I don't remember you being one."
"Sweet Joseph." The sinner looks up at Airi. "Turning me into your punching bag doesn't change the fact those losers knocked on your door."
The male soldier drives his fist into her gut, causing her to gasp.
"You called that knocking?"
"Yeah. Right, of course." The sinner winced. "Look, I can tell you where they are." Airi looks down at her. "But, I want you to promise me." The sinner looks up at Airi with a bruised eye. "I want to help take down the fuckers."
"Why the change heart, Sayuri?"
"Don't splash that shit on me. I'm in it for the fun." This earns another punch from the male soldier. "STOP HITTING ME!!" She glared up at him before getting punched again.
"You need some help." The male soldier shakes his bloody hand.
"PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST!!! GET MR. PUNCHY BRITCHES AWAY FROM ME!!" She roared at Airi.
The male soldier raised his fist.
"Alright." Airi raised her hand, getting the soldier's attention. "That's enough."
"THANK YOU!" Sayuri spits her blood on the drain. "I can finally hear myself think!"
A cry of a door swinging and closing draws the trio's attention to the revealing Yuusei standing between an opened white brick frame.
Airi and the male soldier stomped their boots, standing tall, while Yuusei cocked his head at Sayuri.
"Wow." Sayuri stared wide-eyed at squinting-eyed Yuusei. "I wasn't expecting a foursome." The male soldier approached. "Alright! Alright!" She flinched.
Yuusei steps closer before towering over her. He bends down, staring at her forehead, which does not imply injury. He scanned her battered face before staring at the cut on her cheek, slowly closing up.
The commander walked behind Sayuri's chair, checking her palm. Seeing it all healed up, leaving no scar.
"You're an infected." The commander raised to his feet.
"I mean, there are better names." She smirked up at him.
"You get anything out of her?" Yuusei questioned, keeping his gaze on the infected.
"This here is Sayuri Nakamura. Twenty-four, clear until now, and formerly a barista."
"Wow. I was hoping you would-" The male soldier gagged Sayuri with a white handkerchief.
"She even said it herself before we got here." Airi looks to her commander.
"What do the sinners want?" Yuusei looks over his shoulder and at Airi.
"Our resources. And Nakamura here knows of their location if that's a lie." She looks at Sayuri, humming while shaking her head. Airi nodded at the male soldier, ungagging the sinner, who took a breath. "Continue."
"They are held at Blossom High, near Aikon station."
"Commander?" The male soldier voiced, getting their attention. "It's at the edge of this district. Southeast from here."
"Send your wasp." Yuusei turns to make an exit.
"Wait! Wait!" Sayuri cried out, getting his attention. "I'm tired of sitting on the bench, coach! Put me in." She hops in her chair.
"I should be torturing you til the day I die." Yuusei glared.
"You'll get bored eventually." Sayuri gave a close-mouthed smile. "This situation is like a car you keep in your garage only to use it every offseason. You got to gas me up, take me out, kiss me like your wife. You do that. I'll take all over the world." She grinned up at Yuusei, who left. "Remember me in your dreams, Onii-chan!"
Yuusei shakes his head.
Nimona paced between the tents, adjusting the Austgus rifle on her shoulder. She made her way toward a guard tower consisting of six metal stairs leading up to the guard, just above a seven-foot-tall fence.
"Bishop," Nimona called out to the soldier, staring at the road and buildings of different sizes. "We got about two minutes before the swap."
"Alright." He remained quiet, and his eyes and Nimona stared out at the dark, peaceful city with minimal lights from small buildings and fast food joints.
"You know what I don't understand?" Nimona voiced. "Even when the city went under. They are always people willing to do more harm than good. Why's that? It'll satisfy their murdered itch?" Her light brown eyes scan the area ahead.
The six-foot-tall soldier looks down at Nimona before staring ahead.
"In this world, some people want something, others want nothing. It's usually the ones that want nothing who gets the end of the stick. "
"Whoever those sinners are, I don't mind putting a bullet into one of them. Better yet, bomb them when they are sleeping." They remained quiet, taking in the starry skies. "I don't think we should leave the civilian out there."
"Sorry." Bishop held his head down, making his way down the stairs.
Nimona breath out before resting the stock of the austgus rifle on the ground. Listening to the soft chatter of Nimona comrades and metal banging against metal.