30. Skins an' kids

Kira

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My eye finally gave in and shut down. Fuck. Now was not the time for this thing to start acting up. I pried my eye lids apart and tapped the iris: nothing. I thumped the side of my head, static and a disorientating haze, and it flickered back on. I should have listened to the doc, he always said I should get the upgraded model, but that would mean throwing out this one. I'd been with this one ever since Mum and Dad went missing.

I know they're gone, but I hadn't fixed Dan's aviators, so I'm not going to replace my eye. I'll just get a new one later, for now, I'll have to get my gear to fix it. I say fix it, but in reality it's a little more like putting duct tape over a shattered pane of glass. Prolonging the inevitable.

Saia swore and dug into her pocket, bringing out a white rag. "Your eye is bleeding again, man."

"Didn't notice." I took the rag and dabbed the thin line running down my cheek.

We were huddled in a small store, one of Hera's. Food had been trampled on, bots kicked to the side and shredded by stray bullets. The gunfire itself raged outside, but much less. Now it was just shrieking. Skins, and judging by the wasted shells peppering the roads, they were the new type. Headshot and nothing else.

Everything was quietening down. A stale mate had settled in the Gray, a stale mate that felt like the buildup of a storm. A storm that would change everything. Grace has Dan, and Jin is with her as well. I don't know what Jin's angle is, but he never attacked any one of us – he never touched Saia on the bridge. He could have killed her without missing a step – I've seen Dan use it, it's scary how robotic and accurate he is. Like every millimeter of movement is calculated.

So if she controls the both of them…you don't need to be as smart as Mei to figure that one out.

Saia shuffled and leaned against me, sweaty and pale, porcelain skin clammy. "I still don't trust her."

Her was Tohka, and she sat alone at the far end of the store, leaning against the busted counter with bullet holes polka dotting its flickering screen. Her rifle in between her legs and propped against her shoulder, fingers fiddling with her boot laces, eyes lost and staring into the stores shadows.

Draco slumped against the wall next to her, she shifted and leaned against his large shoulder. "Mean, how can we? Sold us out first chance she got."

"And then she comes back and pulls us out of the Zoo?" Saia shook her head. "That's bullshit. She's still playing an angle. I say we pop her right here and get going."

"You sure?" I called, pulling in Tohka's attention, "That he's in Young Haven?"

Tohka sighed and crossed her legs. "Haven't said anywhere else, have I?"

"It's a little hard to trust you, so we're sorry we're skeptical." Saia straightened. "Nah, fuck it, I'm not sorry."

Draco put a hand on Saia's shoulder. "Hey, cool it."

"No," she snapped. "This bitch sold Dan out. She was the reason Hunter disappeared."

"This bitch was the one who broke you out of prison."

"Guys," I said, louder and just before Saia could offer her rebuttal. "We have that to deal with, Hera and Hunter aren't here, and we're down on ammo." I stood up, my knees ached from the constant crouching we'd been doing. "Let's pack up and get going, and then we can interrogate her."

"Is it so hard for someone to say my name for once?" she muttered, standing up and swinging her rifle over her shoulder.

I shot a look at Saia before she could share any more of her thoughts. I don't know what's going on with her. Constantly between emotional and drawn back. Saia was always the emotionally charged type, but never the drawn back type. But even her emotional charge wasn't this static, wasn't this aggressive on other people.

I turned away from her and removed my gun's clip: four bullets left. Perfect. My eye dimmed again. I fished my eye patch out of my pocket and rolled it between my fingers. I bought it because I hated the way my eye looked, but now it was actually going to come in handy for once. I pressed it over my right eye, the magnets pulled on the implants deep in my eye socket and stuck it in place.

"Let's go." I cradled the gun, the hum was nerve tingling. I let out a breath to calm myself, killing isn't to be enjoyed; that's what I'd told Dan a long time ago. I had to stick to it.

Two years without going on a bounty run, I missed the freedom, and this was as close as I'd get to it.

"Where are we going exactly?" Tohka asked.

"Orphanage first." I peeked through the window, the street was somewhat empty, barring the Island soldiers lying dead on the blacktop.

The sun's rising rays were making their white suits glimmer and their crimson splattered chests shine.

"An orphanage?" she said, her voice thick with accusation.

"Just follow, unless you want to end up like them." I jerked my chin at the soldiers in white. Her pale lips formed a line and she nodded, dark eyes getting darker.

I pushed the door open and crept out, the sun was still hours out from illuminating the entire Gray. The darkness was still here, stretching the shadows of buildings and corpses.

My boots crunched over broken glass as I pressed against the store's wall, stepping over a mangled bot and rounding a corner. I knew this part of the Gray like the back of my hand. For one, I used to live along this street – but that was long time ago. The houses that were once here were destroyed, stores put up in their place. My orphanage was on this street as well.

I'd tried to make sure it was the biggest building in the area, higher up to avoid any snipers and to give me a perch. A little more old school as well, but Hera didn't want any of that, and she'd bought up the surrounding area from me and changed everything. Stores with rotating holographs on their tops, neon sings, and bots attached to their store fronts.

I can deal with new, but the issue with new is that it leaves the old behind. Meaning that there are too many blind spots now. Shadows in between buildings. Taller stores with perches. Barriers. Lines of artificial trees. You can call me paranoid, but being paranoid is what made me so rich.

But I have money now, so the paranoia doesn't come from the same place. It comes from the littles in the orphanage and their safety.

I gripped onto the rifle; it's sharp edge cutting into my palm.

A few more blocks and we'd be there, so I guided the rest of them through the shadows of the stores. Underneath broken neon signs and flickering holographs.

Suddenly a bark, not a dog's bark, a Skin. And a horde of them.

They shrieked and ran through the gaps of the stores, filling the street. They swung off of lamp posts, they tripped each other over in their wild tangle of limbs. A crashing and screaming wave of claws and teeth, of faces belonging to long dead people, came towards us.

Four bullets.

"Saia!" I shouted.

"On it." She dug through her bag, swore, and flung the entire satchel at the first wave of Skins.

The Skins trampled over it and continued their mad sprint towards us. They did, until the bag went off. The air was sucked out of my lungs a split second before the ground shuddered, not shuddered, erupted. I squinted as the bright flash filled my vision, the bang shook my eyesight and blew apart every window in the street.

It blew a gaping hole in the ravenous tsunami. A gaping hole in their concentration at us as well.

"Saia," I shouted over the persistent ring in my ears. "Get to the orphanage and tell Roy to get the wall ready."

She nodded and gripped onto Draco for support. Draco lifted her and began barreling down the street, disappearing round a corner.

The surviving Skins shook of the blast, their hisses accompanying the whine in my head.

"What's your clip count?" I asked Tohka.

She shook her head and cupped one ear, blood trickled between her fingers. "Half a clip."

Shit.

"We need to hold these fuckers off." I began backing up, holding the rifle up and pulling off my eye patch. "Until the wall is up."

"What's the wall?" She put hers up as well, stumbling slightly as she took my left side.

"You'll know when you see it." And we'd need to get the hell out of its way when we do see it. "Headshots only. Nothing else."

The first wave of Skins staggered onto their feet. A few with jagged pieces of metal coming out of their chests, others with broken legs and arms. But Skins don't go down that easy. These bastards aren't even alive, so I'll make sure I change that.

One of them broke off into a mad run, clawing at the air and screaming. Tohka got to it first, popping its head with one missed bullet and another on target. Square through its eye socket, blowing a gristly hole in the side of its head.

My eye shut down again. No time to bitch and moan, I squeezed my eye shut, and for once used my normal eye.

Another Skin flipped off a lamp post, not even staggered by the blast. It lunged and clawed, running like an animal down the street. Its head bopped up and down too much. It weaved and shook. Smarter, I forgot that.

I fired, the gun barking and fighting my grip. Straight through its gaping maw, blowing apart the back of its neck.

Tohka followed suit, getting more and more accurate. From two bullets for one head shot, to one bullet per head. Like a machine. Step and press, swing, adjust, and squeeze. It almost made me smile. This is the type of thing I'd wanted Dan to do with me, but he was shit with guns. Tohka wasn't.

And I freaking loved it.

I aimed at a neon sign, metal plating reflecting two Skin's heads. A squeeze of the trigger, a spark as the bullet hit the metal, and through two heads. In perfect harmony, Tohka stepped next to me, aimed at another sign, and blew apart another two heads.

I stepped back, aimed at another two, and painted a store window. One more left. And the Skins were still coming.

"Watch your six!" Tohka shouted. She shoved past me and shot at a Skin leaping from a window. The bullet missed, and the Skin crashed into us.

Our guns flew from our hands and skittered down the street. Tohka pressed against me, weighed down by the raging Skin. She screamed as it gripped onto her with its claws. Others began scampering towards us.

I was pinned underneath her as she tried to kick and punch her way out of its grip. Blood ran down her arms, but she was fighting a losing battle.

I didn't want to, but I had to. I yanked the aviators from my collar and snapped them, jabbing the jagged end of the glass into the Skin's eye. It shrieked, but Tohka's grip held it in place. I slammed my palm into the shard and it went deeper. The Skin hollered like a banshee and leapt off of Tohka.

I yanked her to her feet and broke into a sprint down the road. The Skins were faster than us, so much faster than us. They roared behind us as we continued our sprint. Round the corner and my shoulder was clipped by a Skin. I went sprawling, rolling and crashing into the side of a store.

It was on me like a wild animal. I grabbed a shard of glass and sliced the air in front of me before it could grab me. I kicked out and slammed my boot into its nose, but it didn't waver, it screamed and bore down on me. It grabbed my shoulders and forced me against the tarmac, smacking my head against the curb. My body went numb.

Its maw dripped saliva and blood onto my face and snapped at me. Its teeth clipping the tip of my nose and tearing it away. The pain shot around my head instantly as the Skin reared back again.

Tohka came, a large chunk of rock in her arms, and she swung it against the Skin's head. It rolled off of me and she dropped the rock on its skull. A wet crunch followed and its body stopped flailing.

"Kira!" Draco roared, on top of the orphanage, an outline of muscle. "Down; down; down!"

The wall was up, and it was about to raze the street.

I backpedalled into the store, pulling Tohka along with me. The guns whined before they spat their bullets, a whine so shrill it split the raging cries of the Skins. Their bark was sharper than I'd imagined it would be. More of a squeal. The bullets tore through the Skins and the street, lifting concrete dust into the air. Shredding skin and bone, concrete and metal.

We scampered to the back of the store as dust showered us. I pressed my t-shirt to my nose and gripped onto the remaining half of the aviators. Dust filled my lungs and stung my eyes. The guns seemed to go on forever, until nothing but choking dust filled my eyes and nose. Until the buzzing cry of pinging bullets was the only thing I heard.

The whine finally died down. A blanket of silence fell over the street, only the tapping of concrete settling and falling was in the air. No raging screams. No wails. No hollering.

I pried my eye open, taking in the sight in front of me. The front of the store had been torn apart, metal scaffolding hung out of its shell. The other side of the street was all but gone. The road itself like a river of jutting rocks. There was nothing left of the Skins apart from a hanging haze of red.

"Hey," Tohka said, breathing heavy. "You okay?"

I nodded. "You?"

"Think I'm deaf in one ear now."

"Partly blind for me."

She wobbled onto her feet, her arms still bleeding as she put out a hand. I gripped onto it and stood. She'd need to get those checked and cleaned. I needed to get clean, the clinging dust and blood on me was a coat worse than I'd ever want.

We staggered our way out of the front of the store. The sun was peeking through tiny gaps now, still far off, but closer. The dust made the light brown and gray, it floated in the air, refusing to coat the rubble.

I looked at the orphanage. Perfectly fine, thank whoever is up there. The black guns glowed orange, smoking and hissing as they stared at us. Mounds of gold shells around their bases. The tangy smell of moon grade gun powder flavored the air.

I'm not religious, but God, thank you so much for Mei.

We hobbled our way to the orphanage, weaving and slipping on jutting stone. She helped me keep my balance, and I helped her. She was creative with her swear words, stringing them together every time she stumbled. I nearly smiled at that.

The large metal doors groaned open, Draco was at the entrance, as well as Roy – his black tapered suit wrinkled and untucked. His short black hair drenched with sweat.

"Roy," I said, steadying myself against him as Draco gingerly helped Tohka. "How're the kids? Are they-"

"All in the basement." He helped me in, the doors groaning shut behind us. The large mechanism knocking into place. "I made sure they didn't hear anything."

"Good." I sighed as he helped me onto a couch. Toys covered the carpet, my dirty and torn boots looking out of place in the vibrant colours. "Where's Anne?"

"Here!" she chirped, her nun outfit flowing behind her as she brought a dish of bandages and antiseptics.

"Tohka first." I jerked my chin at her, she gave me a slight nod. She winced as soon as Anne dabbed her deep wounds. "I'm really sorry for bringing all of this in here."

Roy made a surprised face, lifting his light eye brows. "No! It's fine. We're just glad you're okay."

"The fighting broke out and we didn't know what to expect." She tentatively ran a cloth down Tohka's arms, making her groan. "We were waiting for some sort of explanation on what was going on but nothing came."

Nothing? "So the church hasn't sent anything?"

Roy shook his head and sat next to me. "The last we heard, the church was on fire." He brought out a handkerchief and pressed it to the tip of my nose.

I groaned and flexed my hands. Bad. This was bad. The church wasn't the orphanages life line, but it was a main comms point for us. If it went down, we're blind. Meaning no way to get a hold of Hunter, wherever he is. Damn these Fallow, disappearing every time you need them. And even worse: if the church was down, so was a large horde of weapons.

"Okay." I rolled my shoulder, working the bunched muscles in my neck. "We need the ammo from the store. Saia needs some more equipment. Do we have any Berserker pills?"

Anne nodded, she began threading a thin stitch through a needle. Tohka grimaced. "I think we should."

I stood up. "Alright. I'll have to sort this thing out," I pointed at my still shut down right eye, "and then we'll get moving. Good with you?"

"As good as ever." Tohka forced a smile as the needle broke her skin, she bit her lip, fighting a swear word. "Where are you going?"

"My office."

"You have an office in this place?"

"'Course I do." I started up the large stairs, nearly as large as the Manor's was. "I own this place."

I didn't turn around to see her reaction, she swore, and there was a smack of skin meeting skin. Anne didn't take too kindly to her colorful language I'm guessing.

I reached the top floor, turned the corner, and headed down the corridor. A soft brown carpet, cream walls and a white ceiling. It made me sick. I'd wanted sharper colors. Reds, blacks, but Roy had said otherwise. But anything to make sure the littles were comfortable. Banisters had soft edges, corners were padded, and door handles a little higher up than usual.

The windows could block out the outside world as well. The Gray wasn't a particularly nice place to look at two years ago. Dingy and grimy. Dirty. So we'd put windows in that would show what we wanted. A brilliant sunrise, glowing stars with ships flying in the distance – buzzing around the moon. But they were off now, and they showed the pillars of grim smoke rising in the Gray.

I finally got to my office, the door was ajar. I never locked it for a reason, but the littles would leave it wide open. They don't sneak around. I touched my thigh, but my pistols were missing. Fucking Island soldiers. Crouching, I pushed the door open. Boots, tacky and old, black jeans. I glanced at the window, his reflection wasn't in it, but his hair was.

Shaggy and brown.

I groaned as I stood up, entering the small brown and black office. "Why're you here?" I brushed past him and sat down in my chair. I pressed my iris, and the almost serenading feeling of it coming loose filled my head. The pressure in my eye socket immediately dissipated and my eye came out.

"Because," Ray said, eyeing a photo on my desk. A photo of Saia, Draco, Mei, myself and Dan. The moron with his shining cat eyes held Ray's dark brown ones. "I heard the gunfire, so I came to check up on you."

I connected my eye to the screen in my desk, a Christmas tree of red lights filled it. Fuck. "I'm fine. You can go now." Optical sensor: down. Depth sensor: down. Color filter: down. Frankly, I'm amazed it was still in one piece. Targeting: down. Thermal: down.

"Well, clearly you're not fine." He twisted the photo, leaving Dan in the glare of the lights above us, blanking him. "Have you seen yourself? You're cut up and you're not even bothered."

"Because unlike you, Ray, I have shit to do." A green light popped up. Tracker: active. Active? Only Hera could….no. I tapped it, a beacon was pinging. Deep in the Gray, connecting to mine. No way. No fucking way. "Saia!" I shouted, ignoring whatever Ray was about to say. "Get in here!"

"What's up?" She pushed in, looked Ray up and down, and looked back at me. "Did you find Dan? More soldiers?" She flexed her jaw. "Don't tell me more Skins."

I shook my head. I smiled, I actually smiled. "It's Hera. She's back, and she should be on her way."