The Blood Trails

Chapter 1 - The Chase

He finally crept to the rubbed smooth counter in the back of the shop and rung the little bell placed conveniently on it. No one responded as if the racket from the door wasn't enough to tell them someone was in the store. Peter was excited because he could finally afford the map and thus waited patiently for help.  He was never sure why, but for all his life he felt every so slightly out of place.  It never knew what it was or why but something didn't fit.  It wasn't until finally, four years ago, that he took a different route to school and happened to pass the store that he saw the red cloth with the map resting on it.

The map was hard to see through the window, but as if it was calling him he was never able to get the image of rolled parchment out of his head.  He also saw the price tag, it was enough to buy a small car, or even a full-paid apartment in the center of the city a few hundred floors up.  He wasn't sure what it was that drew is attention.  The fact that it was called 'The Map of Desire'? Or maybe because he felt his entire life was a farce? Either way the moment he saw that parchment, he wanted it—no matter what.

The single uncovered bulb above the shopkeeper's counter flickered once and its yellow glow wavered before it suddenly shut off. The tiny amount of light in the store from its single bulb went dark, for a moment Peter was blinded by the darkness before his eyes adjusted to the dim light shining in from the musty windows.

"Yes!" an aged voice called out from the depths of the building. An old man scurried towards the doorframe that was built carelessly a few feet left of the counter. The man shoved the wool curtain covering the frame out of his way and approached the counter. Wool, now that's a rare fabric only harvested on a few planets. Strict laws make its harvest so minute it's almost impossible to get your hands on it unless you're on the harvest planets. The old man looked up, noticing the dimness of his store "Ah, that blasted bulb went out. It was my last one too. I'll have to buy a few more from my supplier. One grand each, I sure wish I can get some better bulbs this next time."

The man had an arch in his stance and his crooked finger tapped at the bulb, just to make sure all life was evicted from it.  Frail and small, but the man had a nice smile—not some creepy possessed ones as the rumors have it.  Generally people were told to stay away from his shop and his wares—their dangerous and corruptive. 

The only reason the city allows him to still exist was because, without knowing how he does it, the old man was the only one to smuggle extremely rare things onto the planet.  Heavily illegal sure, extremely dangerous yes, but wanted by the shadow government and the controlling Mafia—oh yeah.  They allow him to exist, because they never know what will show up and his doorstep, or what may be valuable to the city—despite its iffy legal circumstances through the Federation.  Hey, what the Federation don’t know won’t hurt them.

Peter sighed at the old man's ramblings glancing over; beside the counter he noticed a box full of those same light bulbs. Without even letting Peter talk the shopkeeper started once more, "Those! Ha, at six grand each brand new I rather take my chances with the used bulbs; you can easily get a decent time with them." The shopkeeper hunched over the counter, close to Peter's face, and looked him in the eyes "so, boy, what do you want from me."

"The map," Peter tried his best to make his voice sound stern, and certain. Even though in truth he was a bit frightened and edgy he was actually going to do this.  He was sure the school would have marked him as missing today, and that his parents would get that phone call shortly.  Only thing he could hope would be that they wouldn't notice for some time,  Luckily his awkwardness and being different in school got him out of the circumstances of any close friends. He was the outsider. He never quiet blended, he was the kid everyone made fun of for falling off the roof years ago.  Matter of fact, falling off the roof, for some reason, was his earliest clear memory, everything else was a blur.  Head injury as the doctors claimed. Head Injury at the age eleven.