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I fly out of the window and suddenly time seems to stop. The shards hang in the air above me like a mobilé, glittering, lazily rotating, like a rainbow of drops in the moonlight. I feel the air brush past me, warm and soft, the fumes of factories and chemical laboratories in my nose. The constant buzzing, banging, shouting of people in the streets. Even at this late hour, there is activity everywhere, the undercity never sleeps. And night is the time of.... more unglamorous business. Like the one that got me into this situation.
A simple job. In theory... Deliver the letter to Karvyk, see if he wants to send a reply, done. I stay out of the gangs' drug business, I'm just a runner and I'm known for my neutrality. In theory. But when a dusty powder trickled out of the letter when it was opened and Karvyq suddenly started coughing and wheezing, the dark eyes of his henchmen naturally landed on me. I swallowed, glanced at my brother, who, however, was fully concentrated on Karvyk, pouring him some drink and not dignifying me with a glance. The thugs were coming towards me with big steps and so I took flight. I raced through narrow corridors of the old warehouse, skillfully dodging protruding metal bars despite the darkness. But suddenly I was at a dead end, a room with only a few chairs. I grabbed one of them - better than no weapon at all - and wheeled around as the two thugs came through the door. The floorboards squealed tauntingly as they came at me slowly, confident grins of victory on their faces. I threw the chair at the bald man with all my might, trying to slip past them at the same time. No chance. The other grabbed me by the jacket and effortlessly pushed me up the wall to eye level. My feet dangled in the air. I struggled, tried to wriggle out, to kick at him, but no chance. "How dare you poison Karvyq!" Spit flew in my face.
"I swear I didn't know!" pleadingly I looked at him, didn't he have any compassion? The bald man stepped in and sank his fist into the pit of my stomach. I coughed, wheezed, gasped for air. Clung to the arms of the first. "I got the letter like this! The seal of Leonas was still whole, you saw it!", I croaked. This seemed to make them thoughtful. They exchanged glances and hesitantly I was lowered. I breathed a sigh of relief, trying to cope with the pain in my stomach.
"But then again," his grip on my collar tightened again, "better safe than sorry, you've got too much inside knowledge by now anyway, it's about time for a new messenger runner."
Already I was dangling in the air again and the next moment the world was spinning and I felt the window glass in my back shatter.
The house towered darkly above me, the windows empty caves watching me fall with indifference. And the only thing I felt was disappointment that my life should be over now, because of such a trivial thing too. That I never saw distant countries, that I never even left the city in my 16 years. That I never dared to rebel, to speak out against the chem barons, to oppose the suffering they spread. I went along with them, did my part, and managed to sneak through as inconspicuously as possible. To protect my brother, of course, at least that's what I told myself.
And suddenly time starts running again, I cry out in panic, shards swirl around me, the ground comes closer terrifyingly fast - and I am suddenly jerked to the side. A tangle of hair and tubes flings me around and drops me roughly onto the street. Towering above me is a monster, certainly twice my size, fangs like a wolf, eyes glowing red, claws flashing, and a mechanism on its back through which glowing green fluid pumps and flows into its limbs. Then realization hits me. This is Warwick, a chemically altered mutation, beast from the lab of a mad scientist. Rumors of sightings keep popping up, but like most people, I'd thought they were legends or fancied-up stories until now. One thing, however, all reports have in common. Once the monster has chosen a victim, there is no escape. Fear paralyzes me, I can only stare, unable even to think of escape. The monster growls wildly, baring its teeth, but then something human seems to briefly appear in its eyes, an understanding and fright. In a sudden movement it whirls around, within seconds it scales the building and disappears into the window from which I have just fallen. The next moment, panicked, pain-filled screams ring through the night. This wakes me from my shock, I jump up and run away. This has nothing to do with cowardice, I can't save my brother from this situation. Warwick is a killer without mercy.