Ethernet

Phase Five: Omega

Phase Five: Omega

Report: Your time has come.

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Kade circled around the spot he stood in several times before he stopped again and looked around at his surroundings. The idea was impossible. There was no way his body had actually been moved from one space to another so quickly.

Chills ran down his spine at the very idea. Not because it had happened but because of how powerful the Ether must actually be to do so. He rubbed at his head and stepped onto the worn, LED sidewalk. The images were ever changing. A new product, a new advertisement, he couldn’t process it.

“What the hell is going on?” He asked himself aloud.

Another moment passed before he turned back to the run down apartment building he called home. He wouldn’t be able to go back there now. The officers would be looking for him now. Officer Ed would be out for blood and he was sure the man wouldn’t hesitate to just kill him this time.

Instead he turned and began to run. He ran faster and faster until he was sure his legs would fall from under him. He ran until he was in the most dangerous district in the city. It was the Industrial Cemetery where many of the big shots held their most dirty business, thugs in training proved their worth and the last known area of town Kane Z had been seen alive.

The scum was crawling around in this place much like insects. They were waiting for something, anything to come along and give them a reason to be part of something so much greater and darker. As Kade walked up the broken streets, no advertisements or even proper working lights, he kept his head down and shoved the black, torn hood of his jacket over his head.

He felt as if he would die here in this moment. There were people watching him from the dirty, broken windows of the rotting, rusted buildings and around pillars. Kade tucked his hands into his pants deep and walked quickly. Not long after, the sound of footsteps behind him began to echo in the long empty streets.

Kade walked faster again only to be met in pace by whoever had been following him. He then began to run. Multiple footsteps were now chasing him down until finally it was a heard of people. He turned back just once to see the twisted, scared and disfigured faces of the most wretched scum in Tokyo now chasing after him.

His chest felt as if it would explode. He had been running harder and faster than he had run ever and his body, still weak from holding and Ethernet, couldn’t handle the pressure. Kade turned back once more to view the group. This time he hadn’t seen the large pot hole in the rode and tripped.

The pavement left his feet as his face scraped along the rough black tar. Kade instantly felt the hot blood begin to gush from his nose as it was definitely broken. He also felt the bones in his wrist from his right hand, the hand which almost broke his fall, were nearly shattered. He tried to stand and run again but he couldn’t even bring himself into the crawling position. The pain was surging through his head like lightening.

It didn’t take long for the group of men to reach him. They were blurry and he couldn’t make out their features. He felt one of them pick him up and hold him by his arms as another, for no real reason, began to further abuse him by slamming their fists into his torso.

He remembered laughs. The men were speaking in full blown Japanese. He couldn’t understand most of what they had been saying but he knew enough to know they were planning on gutting him and selling his insides to underground hospitals for cash.

Just as he felt it would be the last blow, the man holding him let go of his arms and Kade fell to the ground hard again. He felt the wrist which had been broken before crack even further. As he did his best to roll over, Kade then watched as bodies of the men who had been attacking him begin to fly through the air.