The Window: 01

Rainy nights were a blessing in the city. First rain would often be acid with high levels of pollution that caused respiratory and skin diseases if you got in direct touch with it. As a kid I didn't know that and also had no other option other than to do my deliveries under the rain with no protection. Even though it didn't taste or smell good because of the sulfur I would still have fun speeding up on a pool of water just to see it splash on the snobs from downtown. Despite all the bad side effects, natural rain was still good for the city. Carried out the chemicals from the air, leaving it more breathable and people could take off their masks for a while to feel the wind on their faces.

My mask was already a part of me, I didn't even feel it anymore. Outside the slum station, I was happily breathing the cold humid air after I took mine off, it had been a while since I've done that in public. Oddly the main street was empty. No drunks, peddlers or cops, it was like a ghost street, no cars, no sound of people arguing, no muffled music coming from the strip clubs, just the sound of my boots against the ground.

Looking up the 18-story buildings with apartments glued together, thousands and thousands of gray squares with tiny openings covered in bars, all dark inside when they usually were lit up this time of night. It was like no one lived there. As I walked further into the concrete maze I knew something was up, the Trinity's eyes weren't on their usual alleys and all the doors were closed. Only silence was out in the slum.

Getting to my apartment would be easier than ever, with no one out on the streets. The narrow alleys created by the small distances from one building to another were completely empty. Normally they were loaded with people coming and going, prostitutes working, Trinity dealers in every corner. A place designed to favor illegal activities. An outsider didn't take more than two turns to get lost in the badly illuminated streets. Everything was built too close together to fit as many people as possible, not taking in consideration basic construction rules such as sunlight exposure, air entrance and window positioning. Privacy was a rare thing when your 50cm window faced somebody else's bathroom air exit.

The island was extremely overpopulated, over 20.000 residents per half square mile, we were literally mounting over each other and the slums were the perfect example. It grew fast and unsupervised, the leadership had no way to map the streets or population growth.

In the back of my mind I had the vague memory of this haunting emptiness. Few years ago I remembered seeing something like that, I had a faint memory of the deserted alleys but not what caused it.

Walking by the dumpsters on the side of my building, a loud noise coming from above made me shrink and cover my head. Gunshots, coming from the buildings around me. Once it started, it kept going non-stop. Sounded like a war, bright lights slicing the air in all directions but I couldn't see anyone. I hid between the dumpsters, my house just one left turn away.

Slowly I put my head out to take a peek above the metal boxes and into the small yard surrounded by apartments at all sides. On the ground I couldn't see anything in the darkness. Stairs were built on the exterior structure, totally visible but with zero lighting. I scanned them to see if I could spot whoever was shooting but for no success. As I couldn't be sure if the coast was clear for me to move I waited for the shooting to stop.

To get more cover, I decided to push one dumpster closer to the edge of the alley. When it was positioned right by my building door all I had to do was wait for the right moment and just make a turn left and I'd be inside.

Shots were fired for a minute more after my blockage was in place. Across the yard I saw a Trinity member get shot then fall from the third floor. I decided to move. With sweaty palms I pushed myself out of my fortress with one deep breath and before I knew I was indoors and no gunshots were fired at me.

The corridor was poorly illuminated by one red lamp. For once I was grateful for the bad lighting that always made me trip on the shit people left at stairs. It would be the perfect cover for me. A head there were 15 floors and fuck knows how many shooters on the way. I had to get to my apartment no matter what. Climbing the safety stairs was my only option. Ironically it wasn't safe at all, it was a metal ladder attached to the wall on the back of the building. Covered by the night it would be the fastest way in.

As I was walking towards the end of a low ceiling corridor I heard a shout.

- This is our land! You dirty pigs are gonna die here!

More gunshots were fired, now very high up.

What were the cops doing here when the City tower was surrounded by rebels of the Mask? They should be there securing the Leader not fighting the Trinity in the middle of the slum. There was literally no chance of winning in this territory, unless they had privileged information.

Realising the Force's presence in my neighborhood made me ten times more nervous. Again, my palms began to sweat the second I touched the first bar. Climbing cold metal ladders with slippery hands wasn't my favorite activity. Amazing how things can shift meaning under new perspectives, earlier the rain was a blessing but in my current adventurous situation it made me regret being born. Fucking police, always in the way.

On the other side of the building the fight was intense. Below me I could hear Trinity members running to circle the cops from behind. I kept my pace steady, leaving the outside chaos away from my thoughts until the gunshots turned into a steady rhythm that pushed me up.

The higher I got the louder I could hear the shots, until it became one pistol coming from my building. From the main stairs you couldn't see the back because the apartments were centered in the middle of the floor circled by a narrow corridor. My place was on the opposite side of the fight, right in a blindspot, for that I was grateful. As I reached my floor the pistol sound got clear and loud. Still on the letter I could see the silhouette of a person aiming down.

If I was quick I wouldn't be seen. Holding tight to the metal bars I waited again for the right moment to move. From that distance I couldn't see if it was a cop or a Trinity member and it wouldn't make a difference, in the heat of the moment either one would shoot me.

At least the rain stopped pouring on my head letting me hear a bit better. The person was talking to someone.

- Command, they have entered my building.

Said a woman's voice.