Reviving

"Here you go boys. The boxes are tagged at the top so you know which gear belongs to who." the old man handed the boxes to Munashe who just passed them on.

"By the way young Munashe. Those digital witches members failed at job given by the beads man. Seeing you here must mean you are ready to return to the world of hunting."

"No pops. I want to rebuild the foundation first."

"I miss the old days. Seeing all the houses preparing for some mass hunts. You guys used to provide good business for me until five years ago."

"Don't worry pops. The glory days might come back sooner than you think. Now where is the bead man. I want to take these cubs for a real anomaly hunt?"

"You will find him at his bay. He is going to be happy."

Munashe and his crew moved away from the stall and headed for one of the big buildings in the dome. The amount of technology that was being used in this underground market made Panashe tingle with happiness. He walked in zig zag line from stall to stall admiring all the small machinery, weapons and appliances that were on display in this market.

"Panashe don't get left behind. You might get lost forever in here." Munashe called out. Panashe walked up to the group with his box in hands.

"Why is it we never knew about this place?" Panashe asked.

"Because you never looked boy. There are very interesting places in these parts if you are adventurous." Munashe replied as he continued moving forward.

They reached the building that had a large graffiti that said beads. Panashe wasn't interested in beads or entering this building as he kept looking behind him at the stalls. He followed Munashe into the building that was full of empty crates and some workers who were playing cards. The building looked like a warehouse that had just been cleared out. Panashe could hear someone shouting from a small room in the building. The voice sounded furious as it thundered in the the warehouse . The workers just laughed as they continued their games and steal a few glances at Munashe and his crew.

When they reached the small room, they saw Ron coming out and Panashe immediately dropped his box and jumped for Rons neck. "This is all your fault. Ron was struggling to escape from the hands that were gripping and pressing down his neck. He stopped breathing and could now barely keep up the fuss. Xolani was the one who managed to pull Panashe away.

The rest were just dumbfounded as they tried to figure out what was going on. Ron was now grasping for air trying to repair the oxygen debt his body had created. "Who the he'll are you?", he finally asked as he laid on the side. "It's his fault." Panashe kept sobbing out but his body now felt weak.

"Jeez Munashe, what the hell happened?" a white male appeared from the room his eyes moving from Munashe to Ron.

"This brat just attacked me from nowhere boss."

"Get out of here, Ron. Munashe come in."

After the crew and the white man moved into the room a few laughs could be heard outside. "How have you been Mr Reed?" Munashe broke the ice and was received by an out lash of words.

"How am I doing? How am I doing? You have some nerve you freak. You disappeared on me. For three years I tried to convince all the remaining members of the foundation that you would come back but you didn't. Do you know what Humba has been doing?. He was hunting us. Like, like we are anomalies. The weak had their minds made to forget and the strong ones were crippled or killed off." Mr Reed sounded furious and calm at the same time.

"He came for me and deemed me worthless. I belonged to house Soko but he said I wasn't worth his time and he left. Then the elders council came for me and told me not to leave this life because I was going to be the one to rebuild it. So I tried."

"But nothing works." Munashe said as he hugged the man who was about to cry. "I am sorry for running. I couldn't risk having Ruvarashe harmed. She was just nineteen years old so I took her and left."

The two stopped hugging and Reed fell into his chair and stared at the ceiling. "We worked at a farm for three years and then came back to the city. I became a PI and she bought a diner so that we could raise funds to recreate what had been damaged. When I went to the headquarters I was heartbroken. Everything was gone." Munashe narrated but Mr Reed took over.

"Humba took everything for himself. He came down here with several anomalies and forced everyone to pay protection to him. We couldn't refuse because we saw them burning several stalls before that had refused to pay."

"So it's that bad huh?" Munashe asked.

"Yes and now the only hunters left are the digital witches and few members of Dzimba Dzemabwe but they are no longer coming he frequently. The digital witches have a tendency of messing up. They failed to catch a bead maker for me last week and I am running out of business."

"That's why I am here. Give me the location and we will bring it to you."

"I don't have money for more hunts Munashe."

"It's not about the money Reed. It's about making it up for those that fought for the foundation to go on. How can I abandon our accountant in such a debt."

"Now you are speaking sense boy. Let's make some money." Mr Reed and Munashe were so hyped that they marched out of the room with smiles on their faces.

"Listen up everyone. We are going to hunt. Get the airship running and load up the container."

The workers dropped their cards and they all ran out of the warehouse.

"Listen Reed. I need you to find someone for me. Her name is Jess but if you can't find her find Nhamo. Ruvarashe sent you the files."

"Okay I am on it." Reed went back into the small room and Munashe gestured his team to follow him. This time they walked to a clearance were several lorries and airships were parked. They got onto an airship which they were invited into and it flew out through an opening.

The airship made it out of the tunnel near the kopje area close to Mbare at it headed away from the city. They landed after thirty minutes of flying. The place they had reached was a ghost town also known as a digital desert. "So this are some of the places that never developed and were abandoned by the citizens." Xolani was shocked at the amount of standing structures that were abandoned. He activated his VCB and started reading the manual for his gear which was already on his body. They were two braces that tapered as they reached the wrists. There were several holes on the braces and a small canister at the bottom side that was embedded into the brace.

Tapiwa had gloves that had a wire system and connected to braces that had fusion cells attached. "Yeah. Now I am Sango, god of lightning." Tapiwa smirked as he glorified himself.

Everyone turned back to look at Panashe before bursting out laughing. He was standing there with an extra pair of forearms and hands. His gear was confusing to the rest but it didn't stop them from laughing. Munashe shook his head before asking why.

"I just wanted to know it works. Maybe I can swap it later." Panashe answered as he struggled to read the manual because the extra limbs were connected to wristbands and they were heavy.

"There are no returns you fool. And we don't have money to get you knew gear." Munashe sighed as he scratched his hair.

"Ohh." Panashe knelt down and could hear the inactivated machines crush down. After a few minutes of tinkering and reading Panashe finally stood up. He seemed to have understood what he needed to do. "Okay let's hunt."

They travelled around the deserted area following a compass that was in Munashe's hand. Everyone was confused as to why the compass wasn't pointing north.

"Anomaly hunting 101. Anomalies posses energy to offset the compass need to point north. This means that our prey is very active right now."

They reached a shopping area and some of the street lights illuminated their travel. "Tree!" Xolani shouted as he pointed at a falling tree. The tree crashed into one of the shops collapsing the building and revealing a worm like creature that had glowing red eyes and a pair of limbs.

"Oh by the way. Anomalies hate humans the most." Munashe added as he drew his gun.

The creature roared as it used its limbs to drag it's body forward. It moved quicker than what the young males had assumed and they managed to avoid the ramming charge. The creature didn't miss the chance as it picked a broken down car and tossed it towards the boys. Panashe was the only who couldn't dodge the vehicle and was sent crashing with it.