The Contractor

Chapter 3

On his way to Mayor's Square, where the mayor himself resided in the city hall building, Jan took the usual shortcut, right through several high rises. They were now abandoned as the electrical infrastructure of Sundowe barely could support more than a few floors up. The buildings themselves were surprisingly well preserved, as no plants or wildlife had claimed them yet. So was the case for the rest of the city of Sundowe, it was once one of the most inhabited cities in the West. But as with all others, Sundowe had perished during the events of The End. Just as most cities, it didn't get annihilated by some kind of weapon of mass destruction. It was rather a tiny lab made virus that had wiped out all but a fraction of a percent of the city's populace. The survivors had then reclaimed the leftovers buildings .

Jan was forced to walk, as it was the only reliable way of travel inside the centre of Sundowe. Enormous cracks, and sometimes outright holes, were known to open up beneath those who dared to defy the mayor's restriction of venturing there with a heavy vehicle. Although, after decades of hard work, the mayor had restored and maintained one road. It was the old parade street. Eight lanes wide, it led from town hall, all the way to the great lake that had supplied Sundowe with water for more than hundreds of years. The road had gotten the strange name of Mayor's Parade, and it was the only place in Sundowe, except for the Mayor's Square, where you could find traces of the old civilization in forms of shops, multiple family accommodations, restaurants and also a small hospital.

Jan didn't have to walk long, as the Chapter house was just near Mayor's Square. It was just one obstacle, the new Red Zone. Red Zones referred to areas which had been claimed by mutants, outlaws or mutant outlaws. Sometimes in collaboration, sometimes in conflict with one another. How a Red Zone could establish so close to the Mayor's square was somewhat of a mystery. The fact that the Mayor himself outright ignored it, or at best, put no effort to clean it up, made many of the citizens of Sundowe to believe that he was responsible for it and used the zone for his corrupt activities.

Even though this Red Zone seemed to have low activity during the daytime, it was more of a Yellow Zone. Still, Jan had to walk through it carefully and watched over his shoulder at every step he took.

As he had made it through the street of mighty high rises, then just a few hundred meters on more to the Mayor's Parade, he was there.

As he walked down the Mayor's Parade, he saw a priest of the New Dawn standing on an improvised scene, preaching to a group of people. An ancient plague mask covered his face. "Behold the continuation of The End!" He shouted out, his hands were reaching towards the sky. "This is god's punishment for the corruption that we have allowed to spread since the birth of his son! He died to forgive our sins... And what have we done with this second chance? Indulge even further in sin! If we just stand by as the Mayor let the plague spread, it's just a matter of time before it devours the entirety of Sundowe!"

Jan sighed as he quickly passed through the group and continued towards the Square and the city hall.

Just as he was about to enter through the doors of the city hall, he got hindered by a familiar voice shouting at him. "Did you find anything exotic, Contractor?"

As Jan turned around, he spotted a beautiful tall, pale young woman with blue eyes and black hair, wearing a cowboy hat of old. It was Elvira, a doctor and implant trader, which they had made frequent deals with.

"Don't tell me you left the harvesting for Paul..." Elvira said as she stepped closer.

"As a matter of fact, I believe that I did..." Jan said. "As custom, we give the privilege to contract. If there is no interest from his side, you will be the first to know. Speaking of which, what did you hear of now?"