REM

Quick Tick

The streets were empty from what I could see, implying the city was a ghost town now. I knew better of course, since I had someone hot on my trail. What they looked like, I didn't know, but I would know their intent as soon as I laid eyes on them .

Rounding the corner of a building with my large, black duffle bag, I tried to keep an ear focused on footsteps. The blowing wind in the city made it difficult to do so, adding in the fact that newspapers were rolling around like tumbleweeds.

I caught a glimpse of some people running into alleyways behind buildings as I continued down the sidewalk, the streets still void of anything else. My pursuer would likely catch up to me soon since I decided to take all my weapons with me at once instead of keeping them at a safe house. They slowed my progress, and if the person found me, my weapons would impede my ability to run away with ease. I had my handgun in my holster, but my babies were in the duffle bag: the sniper rifle, the automatics, the ammo. It was more or less my lifeline at the moment considering I had a crazy person looking for me. They weren't crazy because they were mentally unstable, they were crazy because they also had an explosive device with them that could be thrown and detonated, or used as a suicide bomb. Neither choice gave me my preferred ending to life, so I wanted to avoid having to force a decision out of the person.

Just as I passed by an alleyway, I heard rushed footsteps. Turning quickly, I saw a woman running toward me at full speed. Her eyes screamed death as the device gripped in her hand caught my attention.

"Shit," I muttered, my instincts causing me to choose fight.

Duffle bag now on the ground, I pulled my handgun and shot at her. She dodged almost every bullet, except one that I thought blew her knee cap right off. Falling over on the hand that carried the device, I turned back to the alleyway and ran before she could chuck the damn thing at me.

The garbage truck was my target for this mission. There was nothing valuable in it, but it would keep me hidden and safe from an explosive. Plus it would allow me to become incognito, not that I needed to in a city with very little foot traffic and vehicles being scarce as well.

At the end of the alleyway, I found myself entering into a neighbourhood with picture perfect houses and their white picket fences. The place went from one extreme to the other, which kind of creeped me out.

Once I was far away from the alley, I stopped to holster my gun. There was no sign of the woman, her knee or leg clearly not in working condition anymore. I was safe for the moment, but I couldn't afford to let my guard down in case she had backup.

As I started to run again, I heard the distinct noise of a garbage truck nearby. It had to be the one I was looking for.

My legs carried me as quickly as they could in my military boots and camouflage pants. The white t-shirt I wore didn't impede my ability to move, or run, but the jacket did, which I lost along the way.

Listening for the garbage truck, I finally saw it on another street through a backyard. I quickly changed direction, leaping over fences, flower gardens, and even plowed through some hedges, which left burning scratches on my face and arms.

Nothing could slow me down as I finally ran parallel to the truck. It was going slow enough that I would soon catch up, especially if it were to obey the stop sign just up ahead. To my surprise it did, but as I reached the back to hop on, a flashbang went off, causing me to miss the handle.

Just as the truck began to move forward again, I managed to orient myself to make another attempt at the handle. My fingers barely stuck through, causing me to stumble and get dragged a few yards before pulling myself in tight to sit on a ledge.

Behind me I could see a man on a motorcycle. Since I didn't hear him, I had to assume it was electric. Sitting on the vehicle with him was the woman I had shot. He handed her the gun he used to fire the flashbang, then lifted his feet as they took off in pursuit of me.

With only a handgun to defend myself on a slow moving vehicle, I didn't have many options. My hearing I could do without as my vision cleared, but I had to shoot accurately, or else they would catch up.

Lining up the gun with the front wheel, I fired. My training served me well as they swerved and hit the curb, sending both riders flying into a front yard. I sighed as I slumped against the back of the truck, my handgun resting against my leg as I held it loosely.

I kept an eye on the yard where they crashed, but no one stood up before the truck drove through a holo-gate and into a new zone. Passing through it meant I was now safe, but that could change in the blink of an eye.