Chapter 1.
The walk back from the Med-clinic was uneventful. It was still very earlier so there wasn't much traffic in the corridors. Each floor looked the same. There were subtle differences however. Gang graffiti covered some walls. Questionable stains on others. Every now and then you would see bullet holes in the concrete. Each hallway had its own smell. Whether it was from someone cooking something god awful or the stench of a decaying body. After a while it just all blends together. This was the "aroma" of Mega City 1.
It was quiet now. Only the heavy footsteps of Dredd were audible. Each step would echo around followed by another. Cassandra wondered how many criminals have heard those same footsteps before being judged.
The pair turned onto the last hall to Cassandra's apartment. She reached inside her pocket for her I.D. to open the door. When she slide the card through the scanner, nothing happened. Perplexed, she tried again, and again. Still nothing.
"Problem?" Dredd stated.
"Key won't work."
"Well that's obvious."
Cassandra gave him a look that screamed, 'really not in the mood for your shit right now.'
She fiddled with it for a moment until Dredd intervened. Which meant shooting the damed mechanism.
"I've seen this in the field before. Thieves can trace pass codes through doors that are being accessed. Then they send a virus to the lock and disable it."
"You're telling me that I've been robbed." She was in disbelief.
"Statistically, yes."
Upon entering Cassandra noticed something was off. The light didn't turn on. Which was odd because the main interior light would turn on when the door was unlocked.
"Well this is just fantastic." Sighed Anderson. This was the last thing she needed right now.
Dredd always prepared, activated the light on his lawgiver, shining it around.
The initial inspection made Cassandra's heart drop. Somebody had broken in. The bed was disheveled and moved off the frame. The mattress was cut up. and the small drawer with her clothes was ransacked and broken. The bathroom was a mess.
"Fuck." The only thing Cassandra could say. She looked around and managed to find the picture of her parents. The frame was broken but the picture was still intact. She carefully put the picture in her coat pocket.
Giving a sarcastic laugh she turned around the room and exclaimed, "Now what?"
Anderson watched the proverbial wheels turn behind Dredd's helmet, then he spoke.
"You can crash at my place." He stared at her then walked outside. "I'll give you a moment to gather your things."
Cassandra was shocked. She half expected him to tell her to get a room in one of the hotels. But he offered to give her a place to sleep, at his apartment.
"Oh this should be fun." She said to no one particular. Giving one last look around she saw that there was nothing to gather up. All her clothes were gone and any toiletries she had were either missing or broken on the bathroom floor.
Anderson turned and walked out to meet Dredd. The only thing she had was the clothes on her back her the treasured picture of her parents. All her gear and uniforms were at headquarters.
"Let's go." Both Dredd and Anderson walked back towards the elevator.
Dredd pressed the down button and the wait commenced. With two-hundred floors, it wasn't unheard of to wait five minutes for the elevator to reach you. Being that it was night time they didn't have to wait long. With a ding, the doors opened and the pair entered.
The descent was quiet. Save a few rattles of the aging elevator.
The elevator eventually reached the ground level and the doors opened once more.
"You're riding with me, Rookie." Dredd announced.
It took a moment for Cassandra to figure out what he meant.
"The alcohol."
The Lawmaster wouldn't let the operator start the bike if they were intoxicated. Anderson was indeed intoxicated. Sobering up now but still buzzing.
Parked out front was Dredd's bike. Scuffed up from countless pursuits and judgments.
Dredd climbed on the bike and looked at Cassandra. "Get on."
She did so.
"Hang on. We got a ways to go and I drive fast."
Dredd pulled on the accelerator and they were off.
With his uniform on, Dredd was huge. More than twice the size of Cassandra. Holding on to him was a challenge. She managed to find a nook to hold onto and she was good.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at Dredds block. If it wasn't for the names on the side, it would be impossible to tell most mega blocks apart.
The wait for an elevator took a while. People were starting to go to work. It still left a seventy-five percent unemployment rate. Boredom was the main reason Judges like Dredd exist. Criminals thrive when they have nothing to do. It was true in the old world. It's still the same now. Just a lot worser.
The elevator finally came and Dredd keyed in for floor 117. The ride up didn't take long.
Dredd's apartment was nothing spectacular. It had all the amenities one with need. His apartment was bigger than Cassandra's. But that probably comes with the reputation.
"Would you like some water?" Asked Dredd.
"Sure, sounds good." Cassandra was solemn. She was getting sleepy again. Little sleep and liquor don't mix.
Dredd returned and handed her a glass of cold water. She put the glass to her lips and tilted her head back. The crisp liquid felt good to Cassandra's throat. Satisfied, she followed Dredd to the couch and they both sat down.
"I have off for 3 days. Just until the bullet wound is healed. Dredd said flatly.
"The couch is yours." Dredd got up and walked to his bedroom. He returned with a pillow and blanket.
"Help yourself to the kitchen if you get hungry."
"Thank you, Dredd."
"Anytime, Anderson."
"Cassandra." Cassandra blurted out.
Dredd was taken aback.
"You can call me Cassandra, were not on duty."
"What's your first name?" She didn't know if he would tell her.
Dredd stood there for a moment. Cassandra could tell he was thinking hard about something. Didn't need to be a telepath to know that. He finally spoke after a few seconds.
"Joe."
it was so simply. You would think the famous and infamous Judge Dredd would have a more epic name than Joe.
"Joe..." Cassandra tried it out for size.
"No one has ever asked me that before."
"Well it's a good name. Don't you get tired of everyone calling you 'Dredd' all the time?
"Never really thought of it much."
"If I'm going to be sleeping on your couch then I need to know you whole name."
"Fare enough, Roo-Cassandra." Cassandra gave him a quick upside down grin.
Dredd turned back to his room. "I'll let you sleep in. Wake me if you need me."
Dredd shut the door and it was quiet.
Cassandra took off her coat. She took the picture out and looked at it. She began to smile and thought about the old times. When it was just her with mom and dad. She was so happy then. Will she ever be happy again? She looked at the picture one last time and kissed it. A tear escaped and slid down her face.
She put the picture down on the coffee table and curled up with the blanket. Exhaustion took over once more and she fell asleep.
Anxiety, panic, anguish, pain, death... All the feelings Cassandra could sense while she was runing down the corridor. Gunshots... she halted and focused her mind toward the sound. Distant screams and yelling reverberated down the hallway. She ran, ran as fast as she could. The screaming got louder. She was close, just a few more meters. Cassandra rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks. In front of her was her parents, laying motionless on the ground. A little girl was knelt down on top of them.
"Mommy... Daddy... you have to get up now." The girl was shaking them, trying to wake them. It was too late. The girl turned around and pleaded for Cassandra's help. "help them. You got to help them!"
"I.. I.. cant." Cassandra said plainly.
"Help them, help them, help them... the child sounded like a broken record.
Cassandra tried to block it out. She covered her ear's, it didn't help. The girl was screaming at her in her head.
"Stop it." Pleaded Cassandra. "please stop."
The little girl didn't let up.
"Got.. to.. get outta here..." Cassandra started running. The voice in her head didn't stop.
"Help them, help them, help them!"
"Nooooooooo!" Cassandra was running, running as far away as she could.
She found a room and ran in, closed and locked the door. When she turned around her parent's were standing there. But they weren't dead. They were alive and happy to see her.
"mommy, daddy." She was little again. Laughing with joy while her dad tossed her up and down.
"Cassie!" Her mom called out.
The little girl turned and ran to her mother. Giggling with excitement as she started to tickle her.
Cassandra was in bliss. But something didn't feel right.
Cassandra blinked and everything changed. Instead of joy and happiness, there was terror and pain.
Gone were her happy alive parents. In their place was their corpses. Eyes open starring at Cassandra.
She started to panic. No, no no, no... come back mommy, come back daddy. She screamed and her world blacked out in front of her.
She woke up screaming and Dredd came busting through the door.
The shock of it all caused Cassandra to literally jump off the couch.
Pacing the room trying to catch her breath, she was crying.
"I... couldn't.. sa..ve them." In between sobs.
Dredd didn't know what to do. Of course he had his training but that was different. This was personal, and that bothered him. He finally spoke up.
"It's ok, Cassandra... it was just a dream."
He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She responded with a flinch. She didn't remove his hand though. "Now we're getting somewhere." Dredd thought.
He slowing started to rub small circles on her back, going with his instincts.
Cassandra stopped shaking so much in a couple of minutes. The occasional sniffle would sound out. Eventually she was calm enough to regain some composure.
"You have night terrors, too." It was a statement rather than a question. Dredd was no stranger to them.
"Cassandra barely nodded. She sat on the couch with her head held down, taking slow deep breathes.
"It gets better. Just give it time." The room was quiet except for the ambient noise of the mega block.
" It... it was never this bad. Only recently has it been really bad. Sorry you had to see that, Joe."
"Don't apologize, it makes you look weak." It sounded like some sort of regulation.
"I'm not exactly feeling strong right now..."
"It's alright, Cassandra." Dredd put his hand on her arm. He didn't know why. Seemed like the right thing to do.
She didn't pull away. Instead she relaxed and leaned back on couch. Dredd could see her face then.
Cassandra was a couple shades lighter and her big brown eyes were red and swollen from crying.
She looked up and saw Dredd, without his helmet. Again she was surprised. He had short dark hair, light brown eyes. Besides a couple small scars he wasn't bad looking. His days of judging haven't caught up to him yet. There was genuine concern in his facial feature.
She smirked. "You're human after all."
"Amusing, Anderson." This time the surname was intentional.
"Does every crying girl get graced with your face?"
"Only the bad cases." Dredd just looked at her.
"Oh ha ha." Cassandra retorted.
"If you're done being dramatic maybe we can figure out some breakfest." Dredd got up and walked to the kitchen. He opened the cupboards and fridge before returning to Cassandra.
"Looks like we're eating out. You up for it?
"Yeah, I'm down."