CRONUS

Part 9: Labyrinth of Metal

I swallow the lump in my throat.

Digging into my pocket, the units feel cool against my sweaty palms. I drop them into his hand and pull my bag straps tighter.

"This is all I have."

Everything gone. And I'm 8,000 short.

His eyes widen as he counts every last coin.

"Cô gái ngu ngốc!" He growls and points a finger at me. "You owe me!"

"It's all I have," I try to explain as I eye the stairs. He takes a step forward and I dash around him.

He screams after me as I fly up the stairs. A wave of heat and moisture hits me, the humid air splashing into my skin like a bucket of water. I nearly slip as I run across the deck and jump onto the dock.

Shipping containers pile high into the sky in every direction. Puddles of water across the wet concrete splash under my boots.

I glance over my shoulder.

The barefoot man yells curses at me from his boat, but he doesn't chase.

Sorry.

I bolt around a container and press my back against the cool, metal surface. Hot air fills my lungs as I pant. The sticky heat clings to me, making sweat drip down my back and under my pits.

Keep going.

My next headache will kill me. There's no more time.

I push off the container and march between the two piles of containers, my splashing footsteps echoing against the metal walls.  Passing through the piles, the ocean appears on my right again. Black waves crash against the walkways and ships. The ocean, lurking and menacing, swallows every bit of light. The smell of sea salt fills the air.

The city is in the distance straight ahead just beyond several containers, glowing against the dark backdrop of the night sky.  Dark clouds threatening to pour floods conceal the stars from view.

Rain begins to drop from the sky. Hot, sticky rain.

Bright lights illuminate the pier as I pass container after container. A handful of people, dressed in light jackets, hide under hoods and ignore the rain as they work in the late evening.

Reaching the edge of the port, I stop and stare at the glowing lights of the city. Straight ahead.

I'm out of Cronus's grasp, but my identity could still be blown.

I suck in a deep breath and force one foot after the other.

I'm in The Mhinto Empire now.

***

The very first skyscraper makes me freeze, losing my breath at the sight. The gargantuan building pierces through the dark blanket of clouds, disappearing in the darkness above. A deep and cold dread spreads through my body, constricting my lungs. Absolutely nothing in the Elite compares to this one building.

Someone knocks into me. I catch myself and flinch, half expecting him to unleash his own personal snake army on me. Instead, he scowls under his cap as he and the rest of the crowd flood around me.

I force my feet to keep walking.

In less than a minute, impossibly huge skyscrapers surround me in every direction. Each building shoots into the sky, coated in dark metal. Bridges and walkways that I've only ever seen in Limon connect each building at different levels, like criss-crossing webs.