Define Wicked

Part One

The city of Raven’s Crest had long been abandoned. The buildings, tall skyscrapers and little stores alike, were falling apart. Plants grew through the cracks, climbing in and out of the building, loosening their structure and adding to the rubble on the ground. Dust, stones and dirt cluttered in almost every corner giving the city a permanent gritty feeling.

         There were no cars along the broken street. Those had all been collected at the beginning and were slowly being dealt with. The only ways of transportation were trains and they usually only connected to the main, livable cities. Raven’s Crest should not have been part of the system.

         There was no food or water and no way to get those things there. That’s why no one lived there, or was supposed to live there.

         Coroline, however, hitched a ride on a Raven’s Crest destined train. Finding that it was indeed home to a group of people, or to be more accurate, an army. Now she lived there, spying on this group and looting from them every time a train came in with supplies. Occasionally killing a group of soldiers.

         She’d been there almost two months and was getting immensely bored. These soldiers were extra careful with secrets. The ones that did know anything were always heavily guarded and rarely ever left the headquarters. The groups were too large to take on herself when they did leave the quarters and she often thought about leaving to get help. Except that would ruin her reputations and she wasn’t bored enough to risk that just yet.

         As she sat on the top of an old grocery store near the outskirts of town, watching a train approaching through her binoculars, she wondered the best way to reach those very “important” soldiers.

         They didn’t wear face-covering armour. They had specific tags for this outpost with their picture and barcode. She hadn’t packed enough supplies to try and pose as one. She hadn’t even believed there was something in Raven’s Crest. She thought she’d be going back on the next rain. Except the train hadn’t passed through, this had been the destination and the trains were renegade.

         A train drew closer to the town. She stood up and counted down as it passed her. Reaching one she backed up, ran and leapt from the building. She hit the train hard but didn’t fall off. She stood and hurried until she found the hatch. Opening she tossed a canister releasing gas, incapacitating the soldiers in that apartment. She put on her gas mask and slid into the car.

         The supplies wouldn’t be in this car, but two back with lots of soldiers. The number of them kept increasing since her arrival. Coroline smiled to herself as she pulled her sword from its sheath on her back. She loved this part of her work because they were always confused even though she had pulled this stunt so many times. As if this time she wouldn’t.

         She jumped to the next car and opened the door. She kicked back the guy who was actually prepared and swung her sword at the ones who realized there was an intruder. She parried their attempts to wound her and side stepped their slow movements. It didn’t take that long to subdue them all and soon enough she was onto the next compartment where she was actually surprised.

         There in the back stood a lady wearing a black cat suit. She put a finger to her mouth as a soldier swung at Coroline. She barely had time to block the attack and pushed him back. The lady smiled as the soldiers focused on Coroline who fought them off as easily as the last ones.

         “Nicely done,” the lady said, clapping as she came out of the shadows. “I had heard you were good, but I never expected this.”

         “Who are you?” Coroline asked.

         The lady was slim and looked very fragile, but Coroline could tell by the glint in her eye that she was much more formidable than she appeared. Her long black hair was tied into a tight bun and Coroline could she two silver objects coming out of her neck. She was an experimental soldier of the government, so they were on the same side – hopefully. Coroline knew better than to trust solitary soldiers. After all, they could bear the mark but be for hire like herself.