Thankings to any and all reviewers. Annoyingly, I don't know who's reviewed and what they've said because the stupid review system is fucked. At least it was the last time I checked. Anyway…
Chapter 9: First blood to us
Manticore and I stood almost instinctively. Around us, anarchy had established a speedy and thorough grip on the surrounding area. People were screaming, looking around them for a place to hide, or running in random directions. One person appeared to have fainted.
"Demons." Said Manticore tonelessly. The two of us remained motionless despite the panic and the gunshots that grew ever louder and more frequent.
For those that don't know, Demons are a recently formed and disturbingly large group of anarchists, or more accurately, terrorists, who go one place to another, burning, maiming, killing, raping and despoiling as they go. Their activities have been reported worldwide, but their activities are also blissfully rare.
The so called reasoning for their actions is that because the Matrix isn't real, their activities have no real consequences. As anyone with the remotest shred of common sense will tell you, this is bullshit. The Demons are just a bunch of thugs who have found an excuse to terrorise innocent people.
I knew that a fight was coming between the demons and Manticore and I. I was nervous, but not nearly to the extent that I should have been. My ascension had also brought with it a complete 'download' into my digital brain of all human martial arts, training with virtually every handheld weapon known to exist, and even a crash course in Matrix based physics. In other words, I could now, to an extent, alter the world around me to suit my needs. Very handy in a fight.
Anyway, within seconds, the demons came into view. There were four of them, all male; one had a ludicrously long Mohican, a black leather jacket which seemed to have been crapped on by many a pigeon, and a gun in his left hand. I couldn't make out the make at this distance.
The second one was a short, salivating creature who was obviously high. He seemed to be transfixed by Manticore's sunglasses, assuming he could stop himself falling over, logic dictated that he would be the easiest.
The third one bared his teeth at me, all three of them. He was a tall, bald man with more piercings in his face then there are holes in stilton. He had a blood stained crowbar in his hands, the blood looked wet, which suggested recent use; I made a silent promise to myself that he would pay for that.
The fourth one appeared to be the leader of the gang of bastards. He stood several paces forward from the others and wielded a shiny looking shotgun in his hands. He was also the first to speak.
"Look here guys, two pretty boys with more money then brains."
The high demon exploded in a fit of laughter, the others laughed for a few seconds before turning to glare at him.
The first thing I did was to remove my sunglasses. I was hoping that my new eyes would disturb them slightly.
And disturb it did. The three who were in a fit state to think realised instantly what I was, and what the human looking Manticore probably was.
The first one fired a shot at Manticore, which was dodged with inhuman speed and relative ease. This caused one of the demons, although I couldn't see who, to gasp. I decided to further the use of intimidation by wielding my arm mounted swords.
The toothless person flinched at this. He flung his bloody crowbar at me. I managed, for the first time to move at a similar speed to Manticore and dodge the weapon. I'm not entirely sure how I did it, it felt more like an instinctive action then anything else.
You'd think that after a display like the one me and Manticore were showing; they'd wisely turn their tales and flee, dragging their doped up friend with them. Nope, they charged at us. And then the fun began, in a manner of speaking.
The one with the elaborate Mohican charged at Manticore, who dodged two feeble swings at the face and buried his hand deep into the demon's stomach, before sending him flying back down the way he'd came with a kick to the ribs.
The toothless crowbar flinger came at me. Like his beaten colleague, he aimed for my head, unlike his friend however, he tried to kick me in the head. Thereby allowing me to grab his leg with one hand, thereby suspending him in the air, and pull him towards me. This allowed me to drive my fist into his neck, (I momentarily retracted my sword before doing this in case you were wondering). He fell to the floor and started gagging uncontrollably.
The third salivating demon still seemed transfixed by Manticore's sunglasses, he made no attempt to attack, but Manticore decided to put him to sleep anyway, just to be on the safe side.
A stab of triumph was closely followed by a stab of worry when I saw the fourth dragon swinging his shotgun around to face Manticore, whose back was at the time turned.
"Get down!" I screamed as I charged towards the enemy. I'm not sure why I didn't just knock him out, maybe it was rage, a wish for vengeance, whatever it was, I swung the sword on my right arm, and his head fell from his shoulders.
I went numb. As you may have guessed, it was the first time I had ever taken a life. My mind went blank, unwilling to recognise anything or do anything to remind me of what I had just done.
After what was probably a minute of staring inanely at the corpse, Manticore walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You did the right thing," his voice was calm; it felt uncomfortably loud over the silence, (the panicking masses had long since fled this area, "this thing was a demon, they are all evil, soulless bastards. They deserve to die."
"And do we get to decide who deserves to die." My own voice was chocked beyond belief; the words sounded more like grunts. Manticore seemed to understand them however.
"It seems to me that you just did. Remember two things Wanderer and repeat them religiously to yourself until they sink in. This man deserved to die, and his death may save more lives then you can imagine."
I nodded, maybe I was trying to justify murder at the time, maybe I am now, but I believe I killed him for the right reasons, and that more good will come from his death then his life.
I spent the next month moping around the destiny, receiving encouraging words, and feeling my guilt and my reasoning fight to the death. In the end, my reasoning won.
To be continued.
Chapter 9: First blood to us
Manticore and I stood almost instinctively. Around us, anarchy had established a speedy and thorough grip on the surrounding area. People were screaming, looking around them for a place to hide, or running in random directions. One person appeared to have fainted.
"Demons." Said Manticore tonelessly. The two of us remained motionless despite the panic and the gunshots that grew ever louder and more frequent.
For those that don't know, Demons are a recently formed and disturbingly large group of anarchists, or more accurately, terrorists, who go one place to another, burning, maiming, killing, raping and despoiling as they go. Their activities have been reported worldwide, but their activities are also blissfully rare.
The so called reasoning for their actions is that because the Matrix isn't real, their activities have no real consequences. As anyone with the remotest shred of common sense will tell you, this is bullshit. The Demons are just a bunch of thugs who have found an excuse to terrorise innocent people.
I knew that a fight was coming between the demons and Manticore and I. I was nervous, but not nearly to the extent that I should have been. My ascension had also brought with it a complete 'download' into my digital brain of all human martial arts, training with virtually every handheld weapon known to exist, and even a crash course in Matrix based physics. In other words, I could now, to an extent, alter the world around me to suit my needs. Very handy in a fight.
Anyway, within seconds, the demons came into view. There were four of them, all male; one had a ludicrously long Mohican, a black leather jacket which seemed to have been crapped on by many a pigeon, and a gun in his left hand. I couldn't make out the make at this distance.
The second one was a short, salivating creature who was obviously high. He seemed to be transfixed by Manticore's sunglasses, assuming he could stop himself falling over, logic dictated that he would be the easiest.
The third one bared his teeth at me, all three of them. He was a tall, bald man with more piercings in his face then there are holes in stilton. He had a blood stained crowbar in his hands, the blood looked wet, which suggested recent use; I made a silent promise to myself that he would pay for that.
The fourth one appeared to be the leader of the gang of bastards. He stood several paces forward from the others and wielded a shiny looking shotgun in his hands. He was also the first to speak.
"Look here guys, two pretty boys with more money then brains."
The high demon exploded in a fit of laughter, the others laughed for a few seconds before turning to glare at him.
The first thing I did was to remove my sunglasses. I was hoping that my new eyes would disturb them slightly.
And disturb it did. The three who were in a fit state to think realised instantly what I was, and what the human looking Manticore probably was.
The first one fired a shot at Manticore, which was dodged with inhuman speed and relative ease. This caused one of the demons, although I couldn't see who, to gasp. I decided to further the use of intimidation by wielding my arm mounted swords.
The toothless person flinched at this. He flung his bloody crowbar at me. I managed, for the first time to move at a similar speed to Manticore and dodge the weapon. I'm not entirely sure how I did it, it felt more like an instinctive action then anything else.
You'd think that after a display like the one me and Manticore were showing; they'd wisely turn their tales and flee, dragging their doped up friend with them. Nope, they charged at us. And then the fun began, in a manner of speaking.
The one with the elaborate Mohican charged at Manticore, who dodged two feeble swings at the face and buried his hand deep into the demon's stomach, before sending him flying back down the way he'd came with a kick to the ribs.
The toothless crowbar flinger came at me. Like his beaten colleague, he aimed for my head, unlike his friend however, he tried to kick me in the head. Thereby allowing me to grab his leg with one hand, thereby suspending him in the air, and pull him towards me. This allowed me to drive my fist into his neck, (I momentarily retracted my sword before doing this in case you were wondering). He fell to the floor and started gagging uncontrollably.
The third salivating demon still seemed transfixed by Manticore's sunglasses, he made no attempt to attack, but Manticore decided to put him to sleep anyway, just to be on the safe side.
A stab of triumph was closely followed by a stab of worry when I saw the fourth dragon swinging his shotgun around to face Manticore, whose back was at the time turned.
"Get down!" I screamed as I charged towards the enemy. I'm not sure why I didn't just knock him out, maybe it was rage, a wish for vengeance, whatever it was, I swung the sword on my right arm, and his head fell from his shoulders.
I went numb. As you may have guessed, it was the first time I had ever taken a life. My mind went blank, unwilling to recognise anything or do anything to remind me of what I had just done.
After what was probably a minute of staring inanely at the corpse, Manticore walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You did the right thing," his voice was calm; it felt uncomfortably loud over the silence, (the panicking masses had long since fled this area, "this thing was a demon, they are all evil, soulless bastards. They deserve to die."
"And do we get to decide who deserves to die." My own voice was chocked beyond belief; the words sounded more like grunts. Manticore seemed to understand them however.
"It seems to me that you just did. Remember two things Wanderer and repeat them religiously to yourself until they sink in. This man deserved to die, and his death may save more lives then you can imagine."
I nodded, maybe I was trying to justify murder at the time, maybe I am now, but I believe I killed him for the right reasons, and that more good will come from his death then his life.
I spent the next month moping around the destiny, receiving encouraging words, and feeling my guilt and my reasoning fight to the death. In the end, my reasoning won.
To be continued.