Arkay wished he knew how to read maps better. His bright idea of walking to the Tsainiz Restaurant would have been much easier if Arkay had accurately judged the distance. He knew where he was going, it was just that his short, stubby legs were groaning from the walking he had done. Or maybe it was just that the estimated time was for normal Rethans, who have legs nearly twice as long as Arkay’s in some cases.
Either way, a twenty minute walk was turning into a thirty minute walk. Maybe longer. Good thing Kass said he was running late.
As Arkay turned a corner, he noticed this new street was slightly less friendly. A weird contrast of light and dark and newness and oldness. It was mostly silent too. That was, until Arkay heard a gunshot. At first, Arkay disregarded it. Beings were allowed to carry weapons in the open if they had a license, and Thanatians accidentally firing their weapons was a common thing in Palaestra.
This wasn’t a normal thing though. Another gunshot sounded, followed by a scream. Coming from a small alleyway just ahead.
Almost instinctively, Arkay reached for his weapon, then realised he hadn’t brought one. He was on holiday, he was going on a date, he wouldn’t normally carry one. That didn’t matter, Arkay had his wrist-blades, designed for emergencies only. Arkay’s protective programming kicked into gear, and he headed towards the dark passage anyway, wrist-blades extended.
Another scream. Vrekan in origin. Possibly female. As Arkay reached the alley, he saw what was causing the screams.
A young, male Vrekan had been shot dead. Cowering by his side was a young female and three Vrekan kids. Towering above them was a Cassid in a mech suit, a gun pointed at them.
“He shoulda paid up,” the Cassid laughed. “Now he’s probably gonna die. Are you a smart one, girl?”
Arkay had to act fast. The Cassid had his back turned, but he was powering up his gun. Concentrating, Arkay quickly made a telekinetic shield around the Vrekans, protecting them from the spray of bullets.
“What?”
“Put down your weapons and no harm will come to you!” Arkay commanded.
“Are you fucking for real?” the Cassid laughed, the fact that such a small Rethan was challenging him was amusing to him.
“Put your weapons down.”
“I think not!”
The Cassid opened fire at Arkay, but the Ksa quickly deflected the attack with another shield. He pushed forward, through the hail of bullets, then ripped the Cassid’s gun away with a telekinetic blast of his own. With another blast of telekinisis, Arkay threw the Cassid and his mech into the wall of the alleyway.
“Lady, are you okay? Can you call the Astynom?” Arkay shouted at the Vrekan female. She whimpered some sort of reply. Arkay yanked the communicator off his wristband and threw it towards the Vrekan. “Call 112! Tell them what’s going on. You need an ambulance imm- OW!”
The Cassid had managed to get up, and threw some sort of blade at Arkay. It had just scratched his leg, but the attack had caught him unaware. The wound was only bleeding slightly, but it angered Arkay. He used more telekinisis, once again throwing the Cassid into a wall.
“You don’t get it, stupid Rethan!” the Cassid shouted as it tried to get up again, reaching for another gun. “They owe me money. Lotsa them do. Gambling issues. They shoulda known better. Paid up. I gave ‘em warnings.”
“Just because someone owes you money, that gives you no right to harm them!” Arkay growled. “Last warning, put your weapons down and I won’t hurt you.”
The Cassid sighed, then put the gun down. Arkay kicked his gun away, then turned his attention back to the Vrekans.
“Everything will be oka-”
He’d heard the gunshot. He’d spun around to deflect it. But the bullets had passed straight through his shields.
Arkay fell backwards, clutching his stomach. Anti-telekinetic bullets. Ricocheting though his body. The Cassid got to its feet and laughed.
“You think I ain’t prepared, boy? I know you Threan scum. Unnatural freaks.”
The Vrekan kids behind Arkay started whimpering. The female pulled them close. Arkay could feel the male Vrekan’s heartbeat slowly stopping. Or was that his own heartbeat? He wasn’t sure. What he did know though was that this Cassid needed to be dealt with.
“I w-warned you…” Arkay growled as he raised his hand.
At first, the Cassid didn’t seem to understand what Arkay was doing. Then he felt a tingling sensation in his arms and legs. Suddenly, the mech suit around him started getting tighter and tighter. Before the Cassid could react, his limbs had been crushed by his own suit. He screamed out in agony, unable to move.
“I’LL KILL YOU ALL! TAKE THIS WHOLE BLOCK WITH ME” the Cassid gurgled and shouted. “SUIT, ACTIVATE SELF-DES-”
He never finished his sentence. With a twist of Arkay’s hand, a piece of metal wrapped itself around the Cassid’s throat and mouth, rendering him unable to speak.
“You’re too cowardly to face justice…” Arkay groaned as he applied pressure to his own wounds. He could feel blood in his lungs. He’d been shot at a bad angle, the scattershot of bullets having gone up into his stomach and under his armour. Typical.
One of the young Vrekans got up and sat by Arkay’s side. He couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Arkay could feel all their emotions, see their thoughts. They were scared.
“He won’t hurt you any more…”
“B-But y-you’re h-hurting!” the Vrekan cried.
“I’ll be okay…” Arkay grunted. He was lying. He needed medical attention, urgently. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could have done for the Vrekan male. “You called 112, yes?”
The Vrekan female behind them nodded. There were tears in her eyes. She’d just lost her partner. Arkay understood her pain. More than he wanted to admit.
“You… shouldn’t go down dark alleys…” Arkay muttered. These feelings all felt familiar. It occurred to him that maybe he was dying. “But it’s okay… you’ll all be safe… Were… you going out for dinner?”
The Vrekan female nodded again. She’d left her partner’s side, bringing with her the two other kids. She put a delicate, clawed hand on Arkay’s stomach, helping him keep pressure on his wounds, trying to stop the blood loss.
“Heh… I was too… Gonna… have to call Kass and tell him I’ll be late…”
Sirens could be heard, steadily getting louder. They were coming. He hadn’t saved the male, but at least the female and her kids would be safe. Arkay though realised that maybe he wouldn’t be alright. His heart was stopping. He could barely breathe.
Some sort of emergency vehicle pulled into the entrance of the dark alley. Arkay couldn’t concentrate on it. Something rushed over to him, things were picking him up. Everything was melting into blurs of nothingness.
“Huh. Guess Retvik was right after all…” Arkay sighed as air left his lungs for the last time.