The Right to Die | ✓ Amby Winner 2023

2. Hello New World Order

M'yu jumped back, hand going for his knife.

The man tsked softly. "You know what an LMS is, kid?"

M'yu's eyes flicked around. There were no other guards in the hall, but this guy was a head and a half taller than him, and lean too. The man tilted his head, and moonlight caught on pale scars across his face and neck. His crisp Cap accent said he couldn't be a street native, but he was still an alley cat if M'yu had ever seen one. M'yu's hand tensed around the knife.

Alley-Cap pressed a button on his palm. A low resonant hum and the sense of a storm filled the air. M'yu's neck prickled.

"LMS is short for electromagnetic skin," Alley-Cap said. "It's also short for 'your pathetic knife isn't landing anywhere I don't want it to.'"

Eyes locked on Alley-Cap, M'yu's finger stretched subtly for the linkcard's 'run' button.

"Ah, but you're still thinking of breaking into that room. Let me disillusion you of that too. Past that door is the second-best fighter in the entire Capital. He has killed men stronger than you and boys younger than you, and I know for a fact"—Alley-Cap stepped closer, leaning down—"he will not hesitate to eviscerate you."

M'yu swallowed hard, fighting to control his breaths. Weeks of planning, luring the Caps exactly where M'yu wanted them, and now— "This was a set-up."

"So you see sense after all." Alley-Cap straightened. Through the window behind him, the soldiers' movements had slowed, and the Magnate's electricity flicked on again.

M'yu's heart hammered in his chest. Thoughts spinning, head lowered, he tucked his knife and card away. He'd need his hands free soon. "There. What do you want?"

"What I wanted was for your boss to show, but I should have guessed he'd be too smart for that. Turn him over, and you go free."

"Boss?" M'yu's head popped up, and Alley-Cap's eyes lit as they both realized the boy's mistake.

Spinning around the Cap, M'yu slid his hands down the man's coat pockets. Alley-Cap hooked his leg behind M'yu's and tugged. The wooden floor rammed M'yu's head, and the Cap dragged him up by his coat. "Do you really want to fight outside his room?" Alley-Cap hissed, jerking his head toward the door. "I was hoping we could talk like civilized folk."

A red and orange glow lit the Cap's sneering face, and M'yu's head snapped over his shoulder. Two doors down, the Magnate's house roared with fire. Around the base, dark figures lay still in the snow.

The blood drained from M'yu's face. Karsya, what have you done?

A few soldiers fled back this way. Another handful—nowhere near the earlier hive of activity—threw buckets of water at the building. Steam rose and snow fell, but the outside of the house was already wet.

The fire had started inside.

Going limp, M'yu shrugged off his coat, leaving the Cap holding empty fabric. He pulled his knife and ran full tilt, diving toward the window. The knife's tip connected with the glass, and M'yu's body hit right behind, turning a chip into a spiderweb that shattered around him. He sailed through the air. The fresh snow drenched him as he cannonballed into a drift beneath the house. The cold knifed his shoeless feet, and the wind ate away at his skin. He charged down the row, socks squelching through the snow, toward the Magnate's mansion.

A hand snagged his wrist and tugged him off-balance, into the shadows of a house in-between. Karsya laughed softly, flames dancing off her auburn hair. "Where are you going, witchboy? Let's get out of here."

She tried to drag him away, but he shook her off. "You promised me!"

"You needed more time." Her bloody, soot-stained hand reached for him again, and he stepped back.