by Justin Sloan
“For how long?” Sandra asked, her voice quiet.
“It’s not like I’m dying.” Valerie looked at the doors, feeling anxious. It was like she knew there was trouble, and needed to be out there putting a stop to it. “I’ll check in on you, but need to make the message clear that I’m not here to rule this city, just to keep it safe.”
“The people you’ll be attacking won’t think of it as safe.” Sandra pulled back, playing with the strap of her rifle. “It’s all irrelevant, isn’t it?”
“If they want to harm others, then no, it won’t be safe for them. But this is how it has to be. This is why the vampires and Weres are with us now, and any that aren’t will have to answer to my sword. If they’re given the chance to harm, many of them will… and that’s bad news for all of us. Regular humans are no different in this regard. All will be judged.”
Sandra’s eyes flashed with irritation. “You talk like you’re some god nowadays, judgment this, justice that. Come on,” she pointed to herself, “this is me you’re talking to.”
“And that changes anything?” Valerie sighed. “I’ve changed, Sandra. I know it’s only been a short amount of time in your eyes, but the last few days have been like years as far as I’m concerned. We’ve learned so much about the world, both this one and the UnknownWorld, that the way we were before… it’s long gone.”
“The ignorance of youth and all that?” Sandra scoffed. “Okay, sure.” She turned to look off to her right.
“I’m not abandoning you, if that’s what this is all about.”
Sandra looked down at her feet, and then back up to look at her friend. “It sure as hell feels like it.”
“Hey, when I come back, and I will, you’ll thank me for having set this city on its proper path and we can find some sweets to eat together,” she poked her friend, “It will be fun!”
Sandra glared, but she couldn’t be angry with Valerie for long, and soon broke into a smile. “Dammit, Valerie. I love you too much to see you hurt. Be careful, will you?”
“I can promise to do my best to not get hurt,” Valerie said. “But being careful is just about the last thing on my mind right now.”
Sandra rested the butt of her rifle on her hip, and raised an eyebrow at her friend, “Oh shut up and just tell me what I want to hear.”
Valerie laughed. “I’ll be careful.”
“See, was that so hard?” Sandra stepped forward and gave her a hug, followed by a quick kiss on each cheek. “I’ll miss you.”
“Me too.”
With that, Sandra smiled, breathed deep, turned and headed back to rejoin the others. She only paused slightly at the elevators to give Valerie one more warning glance as she mouthed be careful.
Valerie would miss her and be counting the days between reunions, but right now this was something she had to do. She entered the pod bay and found a Were standing beside the closest pod.
“Who’s on their way out?” she asked.
The Were perked up, caught off guard. “Me, but I’m not sure which cop yet.” When the Were saw her sword and jacket, his eyes went wide with the realization of who she was. “Is there, ah… something wrong?”
“No, but I’ll need you to take me out now, and drop me off half-way to your destination.”
“But you don’t know where my destination is,” he countered.
“Doesn’t matter, since I’m not entirely sure where I’m going.” She slid into the passenger side of the pod and called out, “Hurry now.”
In less than a minute the Were had the pod bay doors open, allowing rain to pour in at a forty-five-degree angle and had jumped back in the pod with her..
“You’re sure of this?” The Were touched the controls and the pod started to lift off the ground, as it shook with the wind.
“I have a city to protect,” she said, and leaned back, closing her eyes. “Wake me when we’re there.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Enforcer HQ
Jackson stood there in the hallway, completely caught off-guard by what had just happened. He’d come here to be with Valerie, tell her what was happening, and she’d run off on him.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked Wallace who had just walked out to join him.
“It seems our fearless leader is delegating,” Wallace said. “It seems you’re up for keeping your peeps in line. Trying to pull them back together now that Valerie’s out of your way.”
Jackson blinked, trying to comprehend this, then cursed and kicked the nearest wall. It didn’t help his mood that rain water was dripping down his clothes and he was even wet where the sun didn’t shine.
“That might be harder said than done.” He leaned with one hand on the wall, staring at the ground. “I’ve been playing this all wrong, dammit.” It all hit him, how he’d been spending so much time with her while his people were just trying to survive. How it must look in their eyes that, not only had they lost someone, but he was courting the woman who led the people who had killed them.
And now, when they’d come to confront him about it, he’d come to her for answers.
It was time he stopped playing around and get back to being the leader he knew he was supposed to be.
He realized Wallace was talking then, but none of the words entered his mind. There was no room for that, now that he knew what he had to do.
His people were waiting for him, so he jogged over to the stairs, ignoring Wallace calling his name behind him, and then took the stairs two at a time until he reached the lobby. Exiting through the glass doors.
He felt like a new man.
Rain swept across him in sheets, but he didn’t care.
Hands in the air, he walked into the rain and let it cleanse him. The other factions were leaderless, and instead of reaching out to them and folding them into his own, he’d been blinded by attraction, by his feelings.
Part of him screamed out for Valerie to come back. He wanted to lift her bare body into the air and then fall backward onto her bed with her. Experience her kisses as her hair fell around his face and her shallow breathing told him she was just as excited as he was.
The other part of him felt liberated. For too long he had lost focus, and in a city state like this, where people died if you lost focus, that was unacceptable.
A cop ran past, hands up to block the rain from his glasses, and turned to give him a quizzical look.
“You lost, mate?” the cop asked.
“Hardly,” Jackson said, then nodded to the man before turning and jogging off into the darkening afternoon.
That’s when the explosion sent rubble into the sky with a KA-BOOM!
Jackson stumbled forward, confused, turning for a fight. But all he saw was two forms running away from the smoke and debris—a man and woman who he knew like siblings. The man, Edwardo, caught his gaze and paused, then moved a finger across his neck before pointing at Jackson.
He disappeared, leaving Jackson to turn back to Enforcer HQ and the explosion that had just left the entrance in a pile of rubble. This was his fault—it was an attack by his people, just as they’d attacked before.
Was it him they were after, or Valerie? They obviously hadn’t gotten the message yet that Valerie was gone.
And now, so was he.
He took a step back, horrified by the sight of a blue form moving in the chaos. The cop he’d just seen… he was crawling toward the entrance, shouting for help.
Jackson was torn between going back to help him, or running from this place. If they were after him and they saw him running back, they might attack again.
Two Weres appeared from behind the blanket of smoke, then picked up the cop and dragged him inside. More appeared, along with cops fully decked out in riot gear, and they began to form a defensive position.
That was enough for Jackson. This wasn’t a place he belonged anymore. Just like Valerie had moved on to bring her battle to the streets, he would move on to lead his people, and all the people he could find, in unity, so that vio
lence like this wouldn’t happen again.
If his people would still have him, he’d join back up with them. Not anyone that had anything to do with this, though—they’d have to be dealt with first.
***
The explosion had thrown Wallace for a loop. He had just about recovered from the surprise at Jackson running off like that, and was turning back to the room where the others sat waiting, when the whole place shook.
The blast was deafening, and his instinct had been to duck to the floor. When he looked up, everything seemed fine except for the thick black smoke joining the rain outside.
Everyone in the room was on the floor too, but a moment later Cammie had sprung into action and was shouting commands. Sandra opened the door and shouted for him, but he nodded and said, “I’m on it!”
He darted to the barracks, snagging four cops along the way, and quickly suited up in riot gear. They each grabbed rifles and pistols, while two of them took riot shields in case they met enemy fire and needed impromptu cover.
“On me!” Wallace roared, then led them out to the lobby and through the debris. The first thing he noticed was a cop crawling toward them, and two Weres going to help him up.
He lifted his rifle to his shoulder, eyes searching their surroundings for the culprit of the attack.
There, across the way, he saw movement. He aimed in, and paused. It was Jackson, staring back at him with a crazed look, and then he was gone.
Could Jackson have had something to do with this? The explosion happened right after he left, and he conveniently was out of harm’s way.
But no, he was dating Valerie, it didn’t make sense. Or did it? Wallace cursed his confusion.
This wasn’t the time to stand around debating with himself. It was the time for action. “You, with me,” he said to the closest cop, and only then noticed that it was Karl, the cop who said he’d get his back against the others if it came to that. Good, he needed a cop like him at his side.
The other three took up defensive positions in case there were more attacks, while Wallace and Karl darted across to the side street he had seen Jackson disappear through.
But when they reached it, there was no sign of him. Just rain and streets, and a few druggies poking their heads out of cardboard covers to see what was happening.
Wallace scanned the area, then said, “Fall back.”
Karl nodded, and the two started moving back toward HQ. A hand grabbed Wallace’s arm and he spun, ready to shoot, but it was just Karl.
“Wait,” Karl said.
Wallace looked up at the rain pouring down on them and raised an eyebrow. “You see something?”
“It’s not that.” Karl glanced around nervously, then back to the entrance of HQ, where cops and Weres had a full defensive position now. “It’s Peterson. I overheard the Colonel talking, and…”
“Out with it, Karl.”
“They have him, locked up with the former Enforcers.”
“Under whose authority?” He ground his teeth. “Don’t answer that. Colonel Anderson. I know.”
Karl nodded. “I was coming to tell you when the explosion happened.”
“Thank you.” Wallace put a hand on Karl’s shoulder and made direct eye contact. “You’re still with me on this?”
“Until the end,” Karl said.
“Good, let’s go finish it.”
Old Manhattan Rooftops
Valerie had just stepped out of the police pod and waved thanks to the cop, and turned to stand below the roof’s awning, and debate her next move, when the dim sound of an unnatural explosion reverberated through the night. She immediately stepped out and jumped, grabbing hold of an awning and vaulted herself up and over.
From this higher vantage point, she could turn back toward Enforcer HQ, barely visible in the heavy rain, its blue stripe glowed like a dragon’s eye through the haze. Thick, gray smoke rose, adding to the dragon effect.
She cursed herself for leaving so soon, but then realized something. Whoever had attacked would be running away at this point, and likely expect their pursuers to be coming from behind.
It was true that she had no idea where they’d be going, but the simple answer to the dilemma was that Enforcer HQ was by the water, so they couldn’t be going that way, and unless they were external operatives, they’d be moving into the city.
With a sinking feeling that made her stomach churn, she thought of her friends back there and hoped to all that was good in this world that they hadn’t been hurt.
Because if they had, she had a bad feeling about her ability to differentiate between justice and red-eyed revenge.
She glanced around at the buildings between here and HQ, and set up a strategy. If they were running, which she’d bet her left arm they were, they’d likely be at most three or four buildings away by now. At vampire speed and by moving across rooftops, she could reach them at about the five or six buildings away mark, so that’s where she set her targets.
With a push using all her strength she ran and leaped from this rooftop to the next one over. Not having had much experience with jumping across roofs before, she yelped as she realized just how strong she was, and how much she’d overcompensated.
She nearly overshot the building, but landed on the far edge of the roof and had to slam into its side, flip over, and grab on to avoid falling. With a grunt, she pulled herself back up and was happy to see just a small jump to the next building over.
The next groups of buildings provided more of a challenge, as some were taller and some were shorter, but she continued throwing herself from one to the next, sometimes climbing up fire escapes and once having to run into the building and make her way to the roof.
When she hit the area close to her target, she ran to the edge and looked down. Of course, she’d known it wouldn’t be that easy—but a woman can hope.
The next step was to leap along the buildings at an outward diagonal, and then zigzag back. It was a chore, but her anger drove her on. She was about to make her third jump, when her enhanced hearing picked up footsteps that were moving louder and faster than regular ones, and she turned to see two shadows disappear around a corner.
Definitely, she thought as she ran and leaped.
“Holy cow-balls!” she screamed as she fell, but she was ready, and at the next building she kicked off of it, not realizing that kick would put a big dent in the bricks the way it did, or that she might slip like she did.
Now she was falling head first, but the kick had sent her in the right direction. She grabbed hold of a balcony railing as she fell past, grunted as her arm was nearly yanked from its socket, and then twisted to jump to the next one down, and then again to the ground.
Not even waiting to see how far off they were, she pushed out in anger, so that a wave of terror spread out around her. Shrieks came from the nearby apartment buildings, and she heard what sounded like a body colliding with a garbage can.
Following the sound, she sprinted down the alley and turned to come into another one. She saw them. One man was helping up a woman, both glancing around with eyes full of terror.
She didn’t even bother to run now, because as she drew close, they collapsed to their knees in their own puddles of piss.
“You,” she said, and then drew her sword and pointed at them, “are responsible for the explosion at Enforcer HQ. Am I wrong?”
“It wasn’t us!” the woman said, and a wave of negativity pushed out from her.
Lies.
“Once more I ask…” Valerie stepped closer, pushing on the element of fear. “Are you guilty?”
The man whimpered, and then tried to stand and charge her. She didn’t even flinch, just simply moved her sword so that he impaled himself on it.
“Guilty,” the man said, trying to spit on her as his life faded.
She kicked him off of her sword, then looked to the woman. “I’ve come to bring justice to this land. The wanton death of innocents is unacceptable. And while none of us are truly innocen
t, the point remains.” She lifted her sword and let the fear fade so she could see the woman’s true emotions. “Guilty, or not?”
“Eat shit and die on your own puke, you freak of natu—” The woman’s words choked off as Valerie’s sword sliced through her neck.
“I’ll accept that as a guilty plea,” she said, and then turned so she wouldn’t have to watch the body fall over with a plop on the wet cement.
Footsteps approaching.
She knelt to clean her sword and then, in one smooth motion, sheathed the sword and ducked into the shadows and walked away.
It wasn’t until she was a half a block away that she heard the first shriek. Spreading terror through the city wasn’t her intention, but if word reached the other perpetrators and they got the message before justice had to come calling?
Perhaps that would be for the best.
She stopped to lean against a wall. In spite of the heavy rain, this alley still smelled heavily of piss, but she just wrapped her arms around herself and ignored it.
Imparting justice wasn’t easy, and she felt her nerves causing her arms to shake. A life was a life, but when that life was trying to harm others, it was forfeit. She didn’t see any way around this fact.
But that didn’t mean she’d have to like it.
She steeled herself, shook it off, and continued into the shadows to figure out her next move.
CHAPTER SIX
Enforcer HQ
Wallace stood with his arms folded, fuming as he waited for Karl to return with the keys, but that anger got even worse when he saw Sgt. Cline walking back with him.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Sgt. Cline demanded. “The Colonel had him locked up, you don’t—”
A solid punch to the nose dropped Cline back and onto his butt. Wallace knelt beside him, finger in the man’s face. “I was appointed by Valerie after she liberated this city. To hear you talk like an ungrateful little boot licker tells me one thing, you’ve turned against me and the new command. Which means you belong in this cell.”
