The Way of Death

by James Von Ohlen

  The sound of his footsteps echoed ahead of him, and a moment later Tod’s joined in as well. In short order they saw the end of the hallway and the entrance chamber to the garrison commander’s quarters. Armed men scrambled to take up positions.

  “It’s the bandits!” One man yelled with certainty. “They’ve escaped!” Other voices joined in, making similar announcements. Sounding on the verge of panic.

  Bandits? Reiji was almost insulted by the term. Something along the lines of ‘murder-machine’ would have been more flattering. Fucking bandits, he thought as he ran down the hallway.

  “Well form up then, you cunts,” the voice of reason rose above the others. An officer seizing control of men on the verge of panic. “And recapture them!”

  The other voices ceased and a formation of eight men shifted to block the mouth of the hallway. Eight weak men, in Reiji’s mind. He might not even have to fight them to make it through. Just kill the one giving the orders and the others would flee.

  He was in the process of picking out his target when something flew through the air from behind him, and landed among the men blocking his path. He identified it almost as soon as he saw it, but his mind took a moment to make sense of it. A human head. Cut from a dead guardsman. Beardo’s head.

  The head landed and rolled at the feet of the men ahead. They paused and looked down at it, likely recognizing it as one of their friends they had seen alive and well only minutes before. One man screamed and turned to run, and like a chain reaction the entire group was broken. All but one man fled from the offending head.

  Tod surged past Reiji and crashed into the man who remained, stabbing and hacking at him in a shower of gore until he collapsed under the accumulation of blows. The boy stood over the dead man, breathing hard, and looked back to Reiji once more. A devil’s grin writ upon his face. His teeth looked a lot sharper to Reiji than they should have been. Other men in the immediate area screamed and ran, leaving no one to confront them.

  Reiji turned and began to run up the stairs. The third floor landing grew larger and larger in his sight. A handful of men milled about there, seemingly unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. Their hesitation cost them as Reiji slammed into them. Cutting deeply through the front of one man’s thighs, feeling the impact through the blade as the tip hit and then scraped along bone.

  He grabbed another man and threw him over his shoulder, sending him sailing down the stairs where he landed face first and began tumbling the rest of the way down. Tod reached the landing just a moment later and stabbed one man in the gut and then leapt onto another, driving the point of his blade downwards between the man’s collar bone and shoulder blade as they fell.

  “Don’t let them get away!” A voice bordering on the hysterical screamed out, followed by a sound Reiji definitely did not find to his liking. The small jet sound of a pilot light. Overlord had a bad habit of obliterating anyone who used a firearm of various types, as well as anyone else within a hundred meters of the offender. But curiously enough, Overlord didn’t seem to give a shit about flamethrowers. Reiji had seen a few small versions, handheld things that packed a nasty surprise for about twenty seconds until their fuel ran out.

  The sound of the pilot light had always struck him as odd. Unique. Reiji rolled and stabbed a man through the groin before he grabbed Tod by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back a few steps. In the space the boy had occupied just a fraction of a second before, as mall jet of flaming jelly passed by. They rolled backwards as another burst sought them out.

  A trail of burning flamethrower fuel marked the spot where they had stood, flames hungrily tearing into the carpet and spreading out with a quickness. The man carrying the torch stepped into view, carelessly spraying a trail of fire into the room ahead of him. If this fuckwit didn’t manage to fry Reiji, he might still succeed in burning the building down on top of him. He needs to die, and fast, Reiji thought.

  In his mind’s eye, Reiji saw the knife spinning end over end through the air after Tod had thrown it. Unfortunately, Reiji had no knife to throw. But the floor around him was littered with discarded swords.

  The man with the small flamethrower laughed manically as he sprayed another burst of burning fuel into the air. The gel landed somewhere behind Reiji and Tod, further down the huge stairwell, starting another fire there as well. The man behind the destructive device was nondescript as far as Reiji could tell. Tanned skin, brown hair in a bowl cut, and wearing the same uniform as everyone else. Just a hint of madness in his eyes. The kind of guy who liked to play with fire, it seemed.

  “It’s fuckin’ barbecue time!” The guardsman shouted and then began laughing as he sprayed more fire over the heads of Reiji and Tod. Reiji dropped both of his blades and rolled to his right, grabbed the sword of a fallen guardsman by the hilt, and threw it as he came to his feet. The blade spun sideways, on a vertical axis as it moved towards the firebug. Like a scythe mowing down wheat. The intended target saw it coming and raised the small flamethrower, the size and shape of a large pistol with a fuel cartridge on top, to block the blow.

  There was as clang of metal on metal and then a hissing sound. And then the man exploded, engulfed in a ball of flames. His screams rose above the chorus of the fire and he began running, a human torch igniting everything he came in contact with. He bounced off a stone wall and then seemed to run directly for Reiji, collapsing just a few strides short of his target.

  A few sprinklers embedded in the ceiling finally came to life, directing a pathetic amount of water onto the flames growing beneath them. It would slow the advance of the soon-to-be inferno, but wouldn’t extinguish it. People screamed and one by one, a stream of five guardsmen ran onto the landing. Bearing blades with ill intent and looking for someone to chop down.

  Reiji and Tod cut them down with ease, leaving them where they fell. There was a moment’s pause as Reiji took in the scene around him. Blood-spattered and in the light of the spreading flames, towering over slain foes, the boy looked more like a man to Reiji. More like a giant.

  His shirt was torn and thin skin drawn tight over hardened muscle stood there, beneath a crisscrossed network of scars. A grizzled veteran of a dozen wars putting the blade to his enemies.

  Another scream drew his attention away. Someone trying to surrender and throwing their weapon down, choking on smoke and looking desperately for a way through the flames. Reiji put him down with a single blow that cut deep into the man’s chest, dropping him to his face amidst arterial spray. Tod looked at Reiji with no small amount of confusion on his face.

  “Better safe than sorry,” he said, as if that explained why he had just murdered a man who had surrendered. The boy nodded once, showing his understanding. Together they advanced deeper in the garrison commander’s quarters.

  A long hallway, lined with marble and chandeliers of crystal led to a door that was slightly ajar. Smoke followed behind the pair, growing thicker by the moment. A man, stripped to the waist, pulled his head back inside the door and pushed it shut as he saw the pair approaching. Reiji broke into a sprint and launched himself feet first into the door. Turning his entire body into a door shattering missile.

  The effect was less than he had hoped for. No wood dramatically exploded into millions of lethal splinters, scything through the air and killed everyone on the other side. Of course that was just wishful thinking. The door, however, did open and knock someone to the floor in the middle of their attempt to lock it.

  Reiji rose quickly and strode into the room, blades at the ready and Tod on his heels. One moving left, the other moving right. The man who had tried to close the door found himself on the receiving end of Tod’s fury. The hapless man seemed to come apart at the seams as the boy worked his blade.

  “Better safe than sorry, Rage,” the boy parroted. Reiji couldn’t help but laugh.

  He scanned the room. This was no office. Or at least nothing of the administrative kind. It looked like the entire place was designed to host an orgy. Fur
niture conveniently shaped and positioned for fucking. Wide windows on the far wall afforded a view of whatever lay beyond the walls of Fort Houston’s Tower Two. A half dozen sweaty men sat startled, shocked by what they had just seen. More of the household guard no doubt. All were unarmed. Reiji wouldn’t be wasting time here.

  “Where is she?” He asked, a hard edge on his voice as his teeth pressed into each other. There was no immediate answer. Reiji stalked to one man, apparently drunk and lounging on a sofa, raising one blade as he approached. With a quickness the man pointed to a doorway in the back of the room.

  “There!” The mostly naked man shrieked as he fell backwards off of the couch, desperately trying to avoid being cut into pieces. Reiji found no lie in his voice or his face. Somewhere in the distance a large bell began to toll. A summoning of the guard, a call to the fire brigade, or just a clock, Reiji couldn’t tell. But he assumed it meant he was running out of time.

  “Rage!” Tod yelled, causing Reiji to turn towards him. The boy pointed at something with a big grin on his face. Reiji followed the gesture to see the over large kukri blade the boy had taken a liking to. Sitting on a large desk of dark wood, amidst a storm of stains that Reiji could only assume contained the DNA of half the men of Fort Houston.

  Apparently the retard wasn’t the only one who liked the way it looked. Someone had seen fit to bring it here. Tod threw the borrowed broadsword aside and ran to the kukri, eagerly grabbing at it. Imaginary foes around him felt his wrath as he swung the blade in a whirlwind of blows in all directions. His wide grin died instantly as he turned to Reiji. With deadly seriousness he spoke.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Reiji stifled his laughter as he shoved another half-naked man out of his way and moved to the previously indicated door.

  The door led to a spiral staircase of stone that led only up. Reiji advanced with both blades at the high guard, fully expecting someone to stand in his path. But no one showed. The staircase stopped at a closed door that Reiji easily pushed open. He stepped out with Tod on his heels, both moving as they had when they had entered the orgy chamber moments before. One left, one right.

  Cool air blew in Reiji’s face and he realized exactly where they were. The spiral staircase had led them from the whore’s bedroom to the top of Fort Houston’s walls. A mix of electric lights and torches mounted in the stone lit the narrow pathway. Gaps in the stonework atop the walls showed a darkened landscape stretching away into the distance.

  Ahead of them on the walk a group of men and one woman, all mostly naked, ran. The group was rapidly approaching a doorway that led into another tower along the wall. They were going to make it there before Reiji could catch up to them. Then they would likely bar the door and Reiji and Tod would be trapped atop the wall, at the mercy of the first man to come along with a decent bow.

  He pushed himself, risking injury as he willed his legs to move faster. Once upon a time, sprinting had been a part of his training. It was extremely beneficial for a hunter to be able to run down his prey. If he’d kept up with it, Reiji had no doubt that he would be able to catch up to the group fleeing from him before they made it to the door. But as of late he’d been slacking off. Focusing on his bladework, grappling, and strength.

  He kept up his sprint, closing on his targets, but knowing he wouldn’t make it in time. He would just have to figure out a way through the door. As he ran something brushed against him, drawing his attention away from the pursuit for just a second. Unbelievably, Tod’s shape hurtled ahead of Reiji, moving far faster than Reiji had ever seen any man move before.

  “Don’t let them close the door!” Reiji had the presence of mind to shout to the boy. Tod caught up to the group as Corina made it through the doorway, hamstringing the two men in the rear and throwing another off the wall to the hard ground far below. Blades flashed as blows were exchanged, and two more men fell before Reiji closed on the group. He cut two men down as he forced his way through them, shouldering another to the floor and stepping on the fallen man’s head as he leapt for the door.

  It seemed to move in slow motion, driving towards closure, as Reiji flew towards the heavy door. He stretched as far as he could, extending the tip of the long sword he carried, aimed for the gap between the door and the frame. Growing smaller and smaller as he watched.

  Reiji hit the ground with a thud as the air was driven from his lungs. The point of the blade, intended to block the door from closing, had fallen a few centimeters short of the mark. He tried to push himself forward to cover the last bit of distance, but found his legs refusing to work as his diaphragm seized and his lungs drew no breath.

  In that moment, Reiji resigned himself to possibly dying on the wall. Hope was fading fast. Something wet fell on his head and an object passed over him, landing in the space between the door and the frame. His eyes focused on it and he recognized it instantly. A human arm.

  The door hit it. The appendage blocked the movement just enough to prevent it from closing all the way. A woman screamed inside. Reiji took a deep breath as he forced air into his lungs and surged to his feet. Someone grabbed at his ankles and suddenly stopped. Reiji sprang forward, slamming into the door with his shoulder. It flew open sending someone to the ground. Movement disappeared down a flight of stairs and a lone man looked up at Reiji from the ground.

  A head check back over his shoulder showed Tod hacking at a man, face down on the walkway. Likely the one who had grabbed at Reiji. The boy had not only cut the arm from, well it didn’t really matter where he had gotten it, and thrown it to prevent the door from closing, but he’d killed the one man who could have stopped Reiji from reaching the door in time. The boy was turning out to be a good investment in Reiji’s mind.

  Tod left the dead man behind and joined Reiji as they descended another spiral staircase. One landing beneath, an open door showed a pathway within the wall, leading back to the garrison commander’s quarters. Heavy smoke filled the passage, but not enough to block Reiji’s view of Corina and two men running. They’re running into a burning building, he thought, shaking his head.

  And I’m about to follow them.

  Sprinting down the hallway, Reiji and Tod began to close the distance on the garrison commander and her escort. The fire might well kill all of them, but Reiji needed to know how to retrieve the APC and Onryo. He needed Corina for that, and he wasn’t about to give up the chase.

  No door blocked their path as they reached the end of the hallway. They entered a room thick with dark smoke. Choked light showed enough of the room for Reiji to take in the situation. Five armed men and Corina, frantically pulling a shirt over her head while refusing to release her grip on a sword.

  All paused and then turned to face Reiji and Tod as one. No more running, it would seem.

  “You can’t get to them if I’m dead,” Corina spoke. Clearly referencing the APC and combat exoskeleton. Perhaps she wasn’t a stupid cunt after all, Reiji thought. She knew what he was after. Just a cunt, then, he concluded.

  “The lockbox is sealed. It will only open to my biometric readings.” Her voice wavered. Reiji smiled.

  “What, like your fingerprints and retinal scan?” He asked, stepping forward. Measuring the distance between himself, the men nearest him, and their distance from each other. He adjusted his stance.

  “Yes!” Corina shrieked, her voice filling the room. Reiji laughed.

  “Was it worth it?” He asked.

  FLAMES began to spread into the room as Reiji hacked Corina’s head from her shoulders. He ripped the shirt from her corpse and quickly cut it onto strips, tying them into her hair and then to his belt. Like some headhunter of days long past and still yet to come, stepping from the legends of Old Earth and onto the face of Lexington. Tod picked up the garrison commander’s severed hands and turned them over to Reiji. The older man did the same as he’d just done with the head, adding to the already grisly decoration.

  Back onto the pathway that ran through the wall, and to the s
piral staircase heading down. Empty offices greeted the pair, motion detecting lights illuminating their path through it all. They emerged into the courtyard of Tower Two to find a chaotic scene.

  The fire started by the overzealous man with a flamethrower, had rapidly spread and now consumed the entirety of the garrison commander’s quarters. Men moved trucks equipped with water cannon to battle the blaze and prevent its spread, but the light of flames showed through several windows within the walls. Growing rapidly.

  Men in heavy armor and carrying what looked to be quality blades were gathered near the entrance to the garrison commander’s quarters. A man with a martial bearing stood before them, yelling something that Reiji couldn’t quite make out over the chaos.

  Scanning the courtyard revealed only one thing that could have passed as the garrison commander’s lockbox. A stout steel garage door, some five or six meters high, sat recessed into the stone face of the wall on the far side of the courtyard. At this distance, Reiji could already see the biometric scanners that would allow them access to it.

  In the confusion of the fire, they just might be able to make it without being noticed.

  “Stay close to me,” Reiji said to Tod, not taking his eyes off of the heavy footmen in the courtyard. “Don’t attack them unless we have to fight. There’s enough of them that we don’t want to get bogged down here.”

  “Got it, Rage,” Tod acknowledged.

  The pair moved out into the dust and sand of the courtyard, walking with purpose. About halfway across the courtyard they broke into a run. Normally Reiji wouldn’t have dared do such a thing for fear of drawing unwanted attention. But with a blazing inferno to distract everyone else, and others already running about the courtyard, he saw no problem.

  They made it to the steel door without incident. How fucked up did things have to be, Reiji wondered, that a shirtless man with a severed head and hands tied to his waist went unnoticed in a crowded place?

  Reiji looked at the biometrics panel and picked up one of the hands, holding up to the scanner. There was a series of beeps and then a female voice sounded from the machinery.