Splitter-V 4

Splitter-V
4
Five Years Later


     The eighteen-year-old only known by the name Ankhite rubs the cat ears protruding from the top of her head with a black glove. Pulling back on the sleeve of her brown trench coat her eyes stare at the watch she had stolen from a man the day before.

     “Happy birthday…” she states in a sarcastic tone.

     Standing up slowly and stiffly she stretches to the left and the right before strapping her old guitar across her back.

     A dealer said it was rare and would give her a new one if she gave it to him, perhaps which was her cue that she should sell the instrument.

     Pink hair floats behind as she begins walking through the dim streets of New Orleans.

-------

     An explosion of blue energy dents the blast door covering the entrance to the medical lab, throwing it backwards and causing it to violently collide with a stone pillar.

     Alarms flare as a woman runs as fast as she can, clutching her skull and the bandages over her eyes. Cloth tears away, revealing her glowing blue eyes.

     “STOP!”

     Turning her head, the female catches a glimpse of Tike, and then runs down another hallway. Punching a switch, she slides under the metal that begins to rise into the subterranean ceiling.

     The roar of an engine stops Tike in her tracks, a car whirring down the road in front of her and soaring into the sunlight.

     Blue flames erupt from the front of the vehicle and it disappears in a sonic boom.

-------

     Ankhite holds out her thumb while standing on the sidewalk, waving down a blue Porsche as a lamp post provides base cover from the beginning rain-storm.

     “Where’s a beautiful girl like you going to?” the driver, a teenager with short brown hair, asks.

     She opens the rear door, slinging her new two-stemmed electric guitar into the far seat before sitting on the black leather covering beside it,

     “Anywhere but this dreary town.”

     A hand turns the mirror towards Ankhite, flipping the left blinker and returning to the right lane, “How have you been doing Anne?”

     Her heart freezes and she can feel her pupils dilate in fear.

     “I can’t believe you don’t remember me, it’s only been… five years?” A second later he throws a wallet towards her.

     Opening it, she checks his name, “Eric?”

     A sudden lurch occurs, the brakes being applied for a split second. A car blares its horn behind the two, causing Eric to shout a string of expletives out the window.

     “Sorry about that… I’m just surprised you don’t remember me.”

     “We… know each other?” She asks, the rasp that is her voice indicates how much she had focused on surviving the rigors of the day and not on communication.

     A hand ruffles the teenager’s hair, an attempt to gather his thoughts, “Yeah, since grade school…”

     “I’m sorry.” She replies, “I must have forgotten while traveling out here on my own.”

     “It’s okay, we’ll start from the beginning then. First though, could you give me back my wallet? There’s a police officer behind us.”

-------

     Kahai dashes as fast as she can through the deserted streets of the next city they had come to.

     It was a mistake to split up.

     Her silver sword pulsates, a sure sign that her guess was correct.

     Every muscle tenses, a roar of anger spreading through the city, a painful scream following it. Darting in the direction of the source, she quickly covers her mouth to mute her own scream.

     Her companions sit, backs touching, a spear of bone rammed through their ribcages.

     Crossing herself, Kahai places a cylinder next to them and pulls the pin.

     Maria’s hand quickly snags her arm before she can release the trigger, “Run… It’s not like the others… It’s thinking, calculating… Run and warn whoever you can…”

     The orange haired woman nods, darting away and leaping into the air as two bars form on her back.

-------

     People move hastily through the streets of Argon City, the newest capital of America, a man garbed in pure black weaving between each body.

     Everything was changing in the world around him: rumors of an increased number of phase distortions spread through the cities, tales of monsters appearing from the shadows to feast on civilians lurked in the back of everyone’s mind, and there was the fact that he had seen all of these incidents himself.

     Ringing interrupts his train of thought, his hand pressing against his ear in order to receive the message, “go ahead.”

     “Hello Cyber-Knight, how are the jobs going?” A youthful female voice says, a picture of the girl with purple hair appearing in the very periphery of his vision.

     “Well enough Zane.”

     Zane was his Hacker.

     And he was her Cy.

     Each Cy has a Hacker: a person who provides information, unlocks the doors of Argon City, and handles paperwork. In exchange, the Cy takes missions and earns money in order to keep the two out of the red and from being dismantled.

     “Oh come on… you know my real name: why don’t you use it?”

     “Because I haven’t met you in real life… and no, I’m not going to tell you mine.”

     The small image in the corner sighs and leans back, “fine fine fine… There’s a disruption on the roof of the World Trade Center. It looks like a Phase Shift.”

     “I’ll be there…”