The neon lights flickered outside the cracked window of my apartment, casting fractured rainbows against the grimy walls. Each pulse of color was like a heartbeat, a reminder that life thrummed beneath the surface of this broken city. I rested my elbow on the windowsill, a faint chill from the night creeping through the jagged gaps of the frame. The hum of low-flying drones buzzed overhead, their mechanical wings casting fleeting shadows over the street below.
In the heart of this urban sprawl, I was nothing more than a shadow. A bounty hunter, they called me; a mercenary of justice in a world where the law was as thin as the air I breathed. I’d seen the best and worst of humanity, wrapped in the shroud of chrome and data, but I never made it personal. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way.
A knife nestled in my pocket, its weight familiar against my thigh. Just a sliver of cold steel, but in this world, it was a kind of comfort. I could feel it there, the grip smooth and worn under my fingers. It was a reminder of what I was capable of; more importantly, what I was capable of becoming. I turned it on my fingertip, letting its point tease the skin of my palm.
Tonight, I had a job to do. A kid named Jasper had slipped through the cracks—too bright, too hopeful for these streets. His wanted poster glowed green on my holo-screen, marking him as a thief and a hacker. No more than sixteen, but the corporate syndicates didn’t care about age. They wanted him for the data he stole, and they were willing to pay a pretty sum to anyone who could drag him back into the maw of their machine. I knew the price of that sort of innocence; it was marked in blood.
I slipped on my reinforced jacket, the fabric humming faintly as it adjusted to my body heat. The city outside churned with a restless energy—screaming sirens and the distant thundering of high-speed hover crafts. I made my way down to the street, the ground sticky with the remnants of last night’s rain, and stepped into the chaos. It smelled of smoke and desperation, a potent mixture that had long since become my cologne.
The dark alleyways whispered secrets as I moved through them, past flickering holographic advertisements for the latest cybernetic enhancements and illegal raves that promised an escape from the mundane. My knife remained tucked away, an unspoken promise that it could be drawn at a moment’s notice.
As I approached the outskirts of the Rust District, I felt the tension in the air shift. The locals knew the score, and they kept their eyes lowered as I passed. I was an outsider, a hunter in their territory, and I could practically feel the collective heartbeat of the district beneath my skin.
“Jasper,” I muttered to myself, scanning the myriad faces for the boy. The tech-infused youths thrummed with energy, their flesh augmented with bits of plastic and metal, remnants of a world clawing toward the future. I saw a small group huddled beneath a flickering streetlight, their laughter a sharp contrast to the desperation that loomed over them like a storm cloud.
One of the girls caught my eye—a flash of vibrant blue hair, like the sky before a thunderstorm. She looked up just long enough for me to know she recognized me as an interloper, and her instinct was right. I approached the group with an air of authority, as if that alone could shield me from reprisal.
“Where’s Jasper?” I asked, my voice low and gravelly.
The laughter died the moment I spoke, the atmosphere shifting like an incoming tide. “Who wants to know?” sneered one of the boys, his eyes darting back and forth, calculating. Little did they know how little I cared for their games.
“I do,” I replied, allowing a hint of menace to seep into my tone. “You tell me where he is, and I walk away. You don’t, and I won’t be held responsible for what happens next.”
The blue-haired girl stepped forward, her face painted with defiance, a spark igniting behind her eyes. “He didn’t want to go back. The corporations… they’re monsters.”
“Monsters,” I chuckled, “are just predators in a coat of civility. Make no mistake, I’m just as hungry for a paycheck.”
With a resigned sigh, she pointed deeper into the labyrinth of alleyways. “He’s hiding in the old subway station. But we don’t know if he’s still there. The boys from SynthCorp have been sniffing around.”
SynthCorp. The name hung in the air like a death knell. I had tangled with them before, and their brutality was legendary. “I’ll take my chances,” I replied, turning away from the group and disappearing into the shadows.
The entrance to the subway station was a gaping maw, beckoning me into the darkness. A rusted sign clung precariously to the wall, its letters faded and barely legible. I stepped inside, the smell of damp and decay wrapping around me like a shroud. Each step echoed in the silence, a reminder that this place was forgotten, much like the innocent lives that once passed through it.
I drew the knife from my pocket, feeling its cool metal against my skin. The blade was an extension of my will, my defense against the world I had chosen to inhabit. I crept further into the darkness, the dim glow of my wrist-mounted holo-lamp guiding my way.
As I ventured deeper into the abyss, the shadows began to coalesce around me. I heard whispers—fragmented bits of conversation drifting through the tunnels. They spoke of despair and survival, their voices laced with fear. It was a reminder that every choice led to a consequence, every action rippled into the reality of this grim underworld.
Suddenly, a figure darted from behind a pillar, the fleeting motion slicing through the shadows. It was Jasper, his face pale and angular, eyes wide with terror. I felt a jolt of recognition—this was not just a kid; this was a soul fighting for his life.
“Please,” he gasped, backing against the cold steel of the wall. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I know what you did!” I interrupted, stepping closer, careful not to spook him any further. “But I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I swear, I didn’t mean to steal that data! They were going to hurt me. I had no choice!” His words tumbled over one another, desperation spilling into the air like liquid.
“Choices,” I mused darkly, my knife slipping back into my pocket as I approached him. “They govern everything in this world. So tell me, kid, did you think there wouldn’t be consequences?”
“It was just a shot at freedom!” he pleaded. “I thought if I could get enough credits, if I could just get out of this hellhole…”
“I get it,” I replied, softening slightly. “I’ve been there. But you need to come with me. They’re already hunting you. You don’t want to end up in their hands.”
“What about the reward?” he breathed, visibly trembling.
I hesitated, a flicker of doubt crossing my mind. The knife’s weight felt heavier in my pocket, a reminder of my role. “I have my own code. I don’t let kids like you fall prey to the predators out here. We’ll figure something out.”
The flicker of hope in his eyes was enough to push me forward. We slipped back through the darkened tunnels, navigating the underbelly of the city with the efficiency of shadows. The world above us pulsed in a cacophony of sound, but down here, time felt like it was suspended, wrapped in the echoes of our hesitant breaths.
As we neared the exit, a sudden violence shattered the silence—a blast that reverberated through the tunnels, followed by the unmistakable whine of SynthCorp enforcers advancing on our position.
“Shit,” I muttered, wrenching Jasper’s arm and diving into a side corridor just as the flashlights swept through the air behind us. The knife found its way back into my palm, the urge to protect outweighing the price overhead.
“Run!” I shouted, adrenaline surging as I surged forward, pulling Jasper into the depths of the darkness. Together, we veered around corners and slid through narrow spaces, propelled by panic and the instinct to survive.
The harsh keening of sirens filled the air, and I could hear their footsteps gaining on us. It wouldn’t be long before they caught up with us, and the comforting weight of the knife was now a justification for the lengths I would go to keep this boy out of their clutches.
I forced Jasper to keep moving, pushing him ahead of me until we reached a service door that led out into the alley. Light poured in, blinding us momentarily as I paused, listening for the sound of pursuit.
“Go!” I shouted, shoving him through the door and out into the open air. The night was alive with sound, but there was also a sense of safety in the chaos of the streets. I couldn’t let him see that I was scared.
We sprinted further into the urban sprawl, weaving between the thrumming bodies of the city that carried on as if nothing mattered. But I knew the truth—everything mattered. In this city, hope flickered like the neon lights, and sometimes, the smallest spark was all it took to ignite a fire.
As we reached the edge of the Rust District, I could feel the strain of his breath beside me. “You saved my life,” Jasper panted, glancing up with a mix of awe and disbelief.
“Don’t thank me yet,” I replied, my instincts sharpening. “We’re not out of the woods until we’re safe.”
In the distance, the sirens wailed, and the low hum of drones began to scatter through the air. The hunt was far from over. But the kid—his spirit had ignited something buried deep within me. Perhaps even a part of me that had long since dimmed in the shadows.
“Stick close,” I said, my voice steadying. “Time to find a way out of this hell together.”
And as we slipped away into the night, the knife in my pocket felt less like a weight and more like a promise. In this world, where hope flickered beneath the neon glow, I realized I wasn’t just a bounty hunter anymore—I was a guardian of the lost, navigating the darkness in search of light.
Author: Opney. Illustrator: Stab. Publisher: Cyber.
