The Fall of the Hunter – A Flashback
The STNJ, the cold office. Michael sat, as usual, at his desk, in his chair, coding. It was freezing outside, an "abnormally cold spell" as the smug weather girl on the Internet feed seemed so pleased with herself to tell him. There was ice at the windows, made worse by the old building, so difficult to keep warm, warmth only possible where all the computers were running. The boy sat cross legged on his chair, wrapped in his blanket, slurping at hot coffee trying to keep warm, when he heard a noise.
Kate stepped out of the lift into the office
"I'm sorry, I forgot my communicator. Also, thought you might appreciate some dinner, might warm you up a bit." She shook a brightly coloured fast food bag, it rustled, releasing a mouthwatering smell.
He looked at her happily.
"Thanks" he smiled, slightly sheepish. Kate always felt a pang when she saw his face like that, always so pleased when someone did the slightest thing for him. The pang mixed with the tangle of mixed emotions and strange energy within her, and she felt that additional emotion like the last flood which breached the dam within her mind. She could feel the rush of energy spill out across her brain as it had been threatening to for days now. She desperately tried to control it, to force it back, but she could no more force it back than make the Earth stop spinning.
Michael sat, oblivious to the internal disaster she had just experienced, munching fries, feeling the warmth of the food spread out from his stomach. As he rooted around in the bag for the last few chips though, he looked up and caught sight of Kate. She was staring out the window, gazing into space, chewing her lip nervously. Completely different from the usually centred and calm hunter he knew.
"Is everything OK?" He turned and asked
Kate jumped slightly, then nodded slowly
"Michael, are you afraid of the future?"
he looked shocked at the intensity of her face, the penetrating question. Something he would usually have shrugged off, he felt obliged to answer. He thought for a second about the answer, the future seldom crossed his mind any more.
"Honestly? No. There's nothing left to be frightened of. This is just the way it is, it'll carry on this way until..." he paused, "until some other stupid kid makes a stupid mistake and I can't catch it in time"
"do you really think that's all life is, a series of mistakes? That things happen, because of mistakes? That someone can change, just because of a mistake somewhere? Do you think life is controlled by other people's mistakes?"
Kate sounded so earnest, her eyes were shining in a way they had not before, there was an energy, an aura that had not been there previously. Michael shifted nervously, but decided to answer. He had no idea where the questions came from and he wondered what was troubling Kate, but decided that honesty may be the best policy.
"Yeah. All it takes is one stupid accident, one stupid decision and you end up dead. Or worse. You make a decision to stop at a shop on the way home and bang, get caught up in a robbery or run over by a car, stupid mistake. Bad call"
"Or your parents manage to give you a gene that's gonna kill you." replied Kate in a whisper "bad mistake"
"Kate, what is going on?" asked Michael suddenly, now genuinely afraid for his colleague and friend. Genes, craft, the penny was dropping.
"I..I'm losing control" she finally blurted out. "I'm changing, I can't control it like I used to"
A distant noise echoed throughout the building, the crash of a falling filing cabinet. Michael looked up in understanding and shock.
"I have to go" Kate whispered, a trace of mania now in her voice, building like a storm.
She grabbed out for the hacker, grabbing his arms
"promise, promise me something? When you get out, I'm sure you will, I can feel it. When you get out, walk in the sun. don't let them destroy you, walk in the sun. Walk in the sun. Promise me, promise you won't let them win!" She was moving away now, towards the lift, out of the office
"I have to go now, but walk, walk in the sun. don't let them destroy you too" and with that she was gone.
He had sat for a few minutes, shell shocked. Then, suddenly he realised what he had seen. She had become a Witch, she had lost control. But he had to protect her, she was his only friend here, he began hacking the security record, desperately trying to delete every moment of her visit, to protect her.
He only knew he had failed when he was summoned to Zaizen's office
.Michael looked up, forcing himself to stop thinking, he could not bare to think of that pain, what had followed. Lying on the floor, bleeding and bruised as he finally knew that she was dead. He realised that, in his trance, in his hypnosis of memory, he had switched his computer off.
"walk in the sun"
he had promised her, her dying wish for him was to do this, to step outside. He could not betray her now. His failure had betrayed her in life, he could not betray her final wish for him as well. He pulled his trainers on, loaded up a backpack and set off into the wide blue yonder.