Re: JR’s Characters

[JR19759]

Venus Hunter

Chapter 4

A few seconds later we had the car parked up down the alley. Sparrow had started work on the side door of the building. I had gone off down the alley a few steps and sat myself down on one of the trash cars. I was only slightly aware of Ruby-Star walking over and sitting down next to me.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it, the sky.” She said. I sort of half nodded in response. I wasn’t really in the mood for romanticizing.
“Never really ever looked at it before.” She carried on. “I was always too busy running. I wonder what it looked like before the war.”
She glanced over at me and here expression became more solemn.
“I’m sorry about your friend. I won’t have gone down there if I knew how dangerous it was.”
Just then I heard some footsteps on the main street. I put my hand over Ruby-Star’s mouth and waved to Sparrow to stop what he was doing. I glanced round towards the main street and he nodded.
“Ok Ruby-Star, we need to be really quiet” I whispered. “So when I take my hand away you need to be silent, got it.” She nodded.
I maneuvered myself into a position so I could see what was happening in the street without being seen. The others did the same. It was pitch black by now and the only light we had was from the street lamps. The light from the lamps was enough, though, to illuminate the scene playing out in front of us.
There was an Agent standing in the street. He was wearing the standard long grey coat, but unlike other Agents, he had long slicked back black hair. I shivered. We’d come across this Agent before. His name is Zane and he has a nasty streak a mile wide. He was the one who ghosted Battery Cola.
He was standing over this guy who was lying in the road. By his dress sense he could only be a Renegade. He was wearing a bright blue Hostile Intent t-shirt with faded grey skinny jeans and a red leather jacket. Blood was trickling from his mouth. I heard Ruby-Star gasp under her breath behind me. I nearly turned round to her, but then Zane started to speak.
“Well, this is a very great honor for me.” He said in a very cold, ironic voice. His hand twitched towards his holster. “The great Chaos Trail. The leader of the Zone 4 Renegades of the Western Plains. I’m flattered that you could take the time to meet me.”
He paused as if expecting an answer. When none was forth coming he shook his head in mock disappointment.
“Not feeling talkative are we. Well I can soon remedy that.” He wiped out his gun and shot the ground in between Chaos Trail’s legs. I could see him trying to drag himself backwards. Zane walked closer and put his foot on the Chaos Trail’s chest to stop him crawling any further back, leaning forward until they were almost nose to nose and the gun was pointing towards the side of Chaos Trail’s head. I looked over my shoulder, about to suggest that we go and help out our fellow Renegade, when Zane started to talk again.
“Listen.” His voice was a menacing hiss as he gestured around the street with his free hand. “No-one is here. Now tell me about these plans you are making with Arcade Angel.”
“You’ll have to kill me ‘cause I’m not telling you anything.” Chaos Trail said defiantly.
Zane gave a cruel smile and there was a flash from his gun. I felt Ruby-Star recoil and Sparrow glanced over to me. I tried to avoid his gaze. There was no way I was going to try to save Chaos Trail, even with 3 of us against one agent. We were tired and demoralized and we would have been no match for Zane even if we had been a full fitness. I’ve seen him take out 30 Halos at once before and he wasn’t even armed. I looked back into the street. Zane was still standing over Chaos Trail’s dead body. It looked like he was in deep thought or like he was listening for something. I froze at the thought that he might have known we where there.
After a few very tense moments Zane turned on his heels and walked off down the street. We waited another few seconds to make sure he was gone before venturing out onto the street. Ruby-Star ran straight over to her fallen friend whilst me and Sparrow both drew our guns. Zane may have gone, but we were still not safe.
“Ruby-Star, we need to go.” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not safe here.”
“We could have helped him” her voice was cracked and she spoke through sobs. She shook my hand off vigorously.
“There was nothing we could do,” Sparrow said comfortingly. He knelt down next to her and took her hand to help her to her feet. She held on to him and cried into his shoulder as he comforted her.
“We’re in no state to fight and that agent would have ghosted us easily,” I said as I knelt down to examine Chaos Trail’s body. “Believe me, we’ve met him before. He killed one of our friends a few weeks ago.”
“What shall we do with him,” Sparrow said nodding towards Chaos Trail. I looked down on his crumpled body. We had room in the car now, but I don’t think anyone would want to have a dead body in the car with us. Shoving him in the trunk seemed a bit harsh and it would look a bit suspicious if the faceless had been informed of his death and turned up to find him missing.
“Leave him here” I said. Ruby-Star started crying again as I said it. “If the faceless come and he’s not here they’ll know that someone else was out here. Get her inside and get her warmed up, she’s had quite a shock. I’ll be a minute.”
Sparrow nodded and led Ruby-Star off back to the alley. I waited until they were out of sight before knelling down again. I removed Chaos Trail’s gun from its holster and shoved it in my jacket pocket. I checked his pockets. There wasn’t much, some gum, a canteen of what smelt like strong whiskey, his symbol and a small shred of paper with the word Courage written on it. I pocketed the canteen and his symbol; it may be of some small comfort to Ruby-Star. I let the paper fly away as I turned and headed after the others. It had been a day that I would like to end.