Gunblade: The Rebellion of Cain

Gunblade: The Rebellion of Cain - Part 2

Chapter 6 - Flight from the Inevitable

The cold autumn night air had set in on the outskirts of the city.  It stung their lungs as they sharply inhaled in their breakneck run from the restaurant down the wet city streets.  The combination of Cain's physical form and current battered condition and mental state allowed him to ignore the sharpness in his chest with each breath.  The two panicked, shocked and horrified women straggling behind him trying to keep up were not as invulnerable to the cold night air's effect.  The sharp air, combined with the cramping in their legs caused them to slow.  Gasping for breath, Cain's wife stopped in her tracks, panting, trying to regain her breath, and partially waiting for her sister who had fallen farther behind.

All she could manage to do was scream his name to stop him, or at least to slow him down.

"Cain-" she attempted three times.  "CAIN," she finally bellowed.  She had never seen her husband like this.  So cold, murderous and unflinching.  She was frightened and confused.  The gentle loving and caring and easy-going jovial husband she knew had simply murdered two of the most dangerous individuals she had ever seen with a skill and ease that was indefinable.  What scared her more was his ability to take the situation in stride, as if he had seen death and destruction of such magnitude countless times.

Cain stopped short; the slick wet street now seemed as expansive as if they were standing on a prairie.  The training in him scanned the area, isolating each point of potential attack and ambush.  "Move to the side of the street and stay close to the parked cars," he said emotionlessly.  He had successfully stolen past the array of sedans that dropped him there, silently reflecting how intact his world had been about 15 minutes ago.  He also knew what was about to happen, his mind expanding in several different directions at the same time.  The Monitor had undoubtedly seen tracked every event in the restaurant.  Even if he the vermin hadn't used his electronic spyglass to keep tabs on the situation he knew that -

"CAIN!"  The anguished cry of his wife, sobbing his name cut through to his core.  He turned, his gaze softening a bit.  His wife had sunk to her knees.  Her sister's sobbing form lay on the concrete a few feet behind her.  It made his heart ache the pain and suffering they now endured because he had walked into that restaurant.  The dichotomy of his two worlds once again threatened to freeze him in his tracks, crippling his ability to make decisions or even function.  Standing stock still for a split second, he realized that for their own safety he had to keep them moving or they would surely die.

"Cain, what the hell is going on," she said gasping.  Her blond hair hung loosely around her beautiful chiseled face.  "Who were those- those people?  You killed - they killed so many - so much blood, I- I can't" she babbled, the full mental shock of the situation seized her mind and she slowly sunk into a sobbing mass of confusion and horror. 

"Look at me,” he said gripping her shoulders.  Her supple frame melted within his grasp as she reacted by pushing herself away from the man she thought she knew before she saw him cut down two other human beings as if they were nothing.

"Raylene, look at me.  We are in great danger.  I need to you put your trust in me.  I can get us out of here and make sure that we are safe, but I need you to do exactly as I tell you.  You can't question me,” It seemed as if someone else was speaking the words as the instructions came out in a steady stream and single breath.

"They will be sending people after us.  We have to get as far away from here as we can," his voice faltered as he stared into the doe eyes of his wife, as if he was corrupting an innocent, shattering her world with the fury and darkness of his own.

"What- what are you saying?  Who is after us?  What were you doing there at the restaurant and who were those people you killed?  I - I can't even," Raylene, Cain's wife struggled with a sheer sense of surrealism as disbelief and denial of the situation seized control of her.  Tears began to stream down her face as she struggled to come to grips with her situation.  "I don't understand, I just don't understand.  Who are you Cain?  What are you?"  She spoke more forcefully, as if looking at Cain for the first time, taking in his blood stained sword and scabbard, expensive Italian suit and bloodied face and hands.  Her mix of anger, fear and betrayal pounded him like waves.