Link City

realization

Hello?

Is anybody getting this?

I'm on the run. This....city. Dangerous. This government....ruthless. Merciless. Fangs full of poison, ready to strike once enemies make themselves known. Claws sharpened to the point, killing those who resist. Mind of great schemes, never ending, always one step ahead. I need to get out. This is no city for anyone.

Shit, shit, shit. What am I saying. Let me back up.

Fuck, a policeman's coming.

.....................

That was too close. I'm now a fugitive in hiding. A witness with no witness protection. In a city where every law is broken eventually, including the laws of the universe. Which means I'm fucked.For the record, I never belonged here. I never should have investigated, thinking I was the Sherlock Holmes of year 2500. People get killed when you play with things that you don't know about. Especially if this thing is powerful, with a whole city in its iron grip.

I tried to find out who killed them, my friends, and why. But, some things were never meant to be solved. Or, not wanted to.

After I had killed the monster, I went to the hospital to fix myself up. The doctors patched me real good, but kept on asking me how I have gotten these cuts. These people, these high up know nothing from their ivory towers. They don't know what happens after the sun has set, after the busy streets have turned empty. They know their job, their family, their home and that's it. They don't know how to survive. They don't know what it's like having to sleep in alleyways, where monsters and beasts alike prowl for their next prey. They don't know what it's like checking over their shoulders every few minutes, and wondering if this day is your last.

They didn't know that Link City was a hellhole, worse than any gang ridden, destroyed city in The Old World. They thought this was paradise. But yet, they still see day after day, people injured, near death or even killed, from mysterious bites, scratches, gouges and poison.

Double thinking. That's what it is. So, when the doctor asked me what had happened, I didn't tell him. I didn't want to destroy this new life he has built for himself. He was happy here, so I lied. Said that I half fell in a wood chipper. Got lucky and didn't die.

The doctor seemed satisfied. He wakes away, probably off to do some paperwork for an idiot that half fell into a wood chipper. A visitor for a patient stared at me for a while. He came over and asked me how did I get those many cuts. The guy seemed like a commoner like me, with a brown dusty coat, trying to survive the life of Link City. I told him the truth. Told him about the monster. Told him about the cuts and bruises. Told him what I had to do to save myself. And told him to be careful himself.

After I was done, he told me I was lucky to be alive. He put his hand on my shoulder sympathetically and walked out. I thought he was a bit strange. I should have followed my instinct.

As soon as I felt less lightheaded, I checked myself out. Grabbed my clothes and gun and walked out of the hospital before the nice doctor came back. Didn't have money to pay him, you see.

After changing, I made a few wrong turns before I reached Steve's family home. Rang the bell. Knocked the door. No one home. There must be a family or at least someone that knew why their only child was killed. Ran through a field to Justin's family home. The only person home was his grandparents, and they didn't know squat.

Thomas's house was in the outskirts of the city. I've been there many times. He invited me many times to his house for dinner over the holiday, and I got to know his house and his family over the years.

Just as the doorbell rang, Thomas's dad opened the door. Professor Luppers. He was a famous name in the medical world. A famed biologist, exposed and fired for illegal drug use and black market deals. But Luppers didn't seem like the man who would get involved into those things. He was a clean, quiet, hard working man. He was well respected and he was humble with his achievements.

But what I saw before me wasn't a honest, hard working man. He was battered, eyes bloodshot from no sleep and tears. He barely had the energy to stand in the doorway. But when he saw it was me, he brightened a bit. Saw that at least I wasn't killed. At least someone survived, he said.

I told him everything. The day the monster came. The painful night I had confronted the monster. Up to now. He listened carefully and didn't interrupt, didn't question me. He took a breath and said,

"Thank you, ***********. Really. Thanks. But don't follow this trail anymore. They took everything from me. My job. My only son. Don't let them take everything away from you."

Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. He wasn't looking at me, but at something behind. He pushed me sideways. Falling to the ground, I heard a shot. An Old World pistol. Lead and gunpowder.

After the shot, there was the sound of a body falling to the ground. Another shot, cutting into the bush right next to me. A centimetre from my head. I got off my ass and ran, ran as fast as I could. A bullet tore into the brickwork of the side of the house. Another bullet copped my leg and I tripped. Fell down onto the cold concrete. They gunman walked slowly forward and I could see who it was. The person in the hospital who had talked to me. Not a visitor but a spy. An assassin. No witnesses. Why did I that even after I had killed the monster another monster won't be sent after me?

It looked grim. The Old World pistols were much more painful, but less deadly. Bloody leaked out my leg. The bullet went all the way through, just a clean hole in my leg.

The man came a step closer and I vaporised his chest with my ray gun. He collapsed on the floor, a surprised look on his face.

I hurried back to the front door. Professor Luppers lay dead on the floor, bullet hole between his eyes. If he didn't push me away, I would surely be in his position. Something poked my shoulder. I reached up and felt it. Smooth metal. It was a tracker. That's how the assassin found me. That's why I was saved while Professor Luppers got a bullet between his head. But how did it get there?

Ah.

When the assassin spoke to me in the hospital, he patted my shoulder then left. That must be it. I have to be careful next time. That mistake of trusting somebody nearly cost my life.

I decided to stay the night in the tool shed in the back yard. Nobody would look for me there.

I closed my eyes, but I couldn't go to sleep.

I awoke in the afternoon of the next day. I hurried back into the city, as fast as my injured leg could go. There was no question about it. I couldn't go back to another hospital. I would just have to rely on myself to keep the hole clean. As I was looking for a place to lay low, a newspaper distributor put a paper into my chest.

I looked at the front page and it horrified me. 7 deaths from three respected science families. A house was burned down with the family members still inside. A house was blown up, guts and blood spraying the grass and dirt. And a dead body was found with a bullet in his head, right between the eyes.

No witnesses

Justin's family, Steve's family and Thomas's dad.

Not one

Someone is covering up. Someone covering up thoroughly, no loose ends. The newspaper said that the deaths were gang related. But they were scientists, not lowly gangsters. The person who had killed Professor Luppers had a purposeful walk. Not personal but work related. And he didn't seem like a gangster. Though he had an Old World pistol, he was a good shot.

We found you

The media was covering up for something, and the only corporation that could do that.......is the government.

Watch your back

My transmission time is up. I have to go.

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