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I hadn't even had to fight for any of the things I’d lifted. The idiots here were so set on killing each other that there was no point in me helping them out with it. I just watched from the shadows and relieved the losers of the best of their weapons. I couldn’t take too much from any one corpse or the City officials might notice, but a gun or knife here and there weren’t going to draw too much attention. The arena they’d built out here was too big for them to search thoroughly and they wouldn’t bother for the sake of a
few missing items.
All the same, I couldn’t get greedy. And I couldn’t risk anyone spotting me either. We didn’t need that kind of headache. Which was probably why there were laws forbidding anyone from coming here. Not that I gave a shit about that. I’d never been held to any law but the law of survival. And I welcomed any fucker who thought they could tell me otherwise to give it their best shot.
I trailed a thumb across the line of knives I’d gathered along my belt. Their weight was reassuring. It would be a good haul by the time I was finished.
The sounds of another fight taking place reached me from around the next corner and I slipped closer as I waited for the victor to leave. When the screaming stopped I’d make my move and see what they left behind.
I drew my hunting knife just in case and tapped the blade against my leg impatiently as the screaming lingered on. I gritted my teeth in frustration. There was no need for that kind of suffering. I hated it when they didn't kill cleanly, making people linger on the cusp of death unnecessarily. It was just plain sloppy. The sign of an untrained man.
I tipped my head back to look up at the blue sky as the clouds rolled over, darkening the world. Alicia would be losing her shit right about now. She’d know where I’d gone and I was going to be late getting back to make it worse. I’d taken my dirt bike when I left but the piece of shit had died when I was barely four miles into the forest. Which meant she’d be stuck worrying about whether or not I was dead for at least an additional twenty four hours before I could make it back to her. No doubt she’d want to beat my skull in for it and I probably owed her a free punch or two for the worry it would cause her. If she’d done this to me I’d lose the fucking plot. So maybe I was a hypocrite too.
My eyes flickered with fatigue as I waited and I stifled a yawn. I still wasn't sleeping properly. But that was nothing new. Sometimes I doubted I’d ever sleep right through the night ever again. Though if that was the only real punishment I got for what I’d done then I was getting off far too lightly. Memories and nightmares may haunt me but it didn’t change anything. Didn’t make any difference.
I inspected the sharp, slightly curved blade I was holding with a frown pulling at my brow. It didn't look like the trials blades. It wasn't standard issue. I wondered vaguely where the original owner had found such an object. It wasn’t like they had access to anything outside of the City. Not that there was any way to ask a dead man anything. And if I could ask the dead some questions it wouldn't be about a strange knife. It would be about that night and whether I could have done anything differently to change fate…whether there had ever been a chance for me to save him…
I frowned as my thoughts wandered, irritated at myself for the distraction.
I spun the knife between my fingers and aimed the blade at my skin. The metal cut into my thumb easily, sending a jolt of pain up my arm. It seared into my consciousness and I was fully awake once again. It was no time to let tiredness make me sloppy and the pain would help me focus.
Movement on the ridge above caught my eye and I turned to look as two figures passed overhead. A guy and a girl were walking along the upper bank like a pair of idiots. They may as well have been trying to get themselves killed. I shook my head in disgust and turned my attention away from them. Stupid people always set my temper rising.
Gunshots finally cut the screaming short and I listened to the stomping of feet as the victors moved away. They never thought to take weapons from the dead which was perfect for me, even if I couldn't understand it. Who left weapons just laying on the ground? It didn’t make any damn sense.
I slipped from the shadows and around the corner, moving towards the remnants of the fight with my blade held ready.
Five bodies were laid out along the ground and there was no sign of anyone still kicking. I stepped between the corpses and started removing guns and knives, strapping them to myself in any way I could. I couldn’t risk taking everything, but if I took something from each of them it would go unnoticed. Besides, I needed them more than they did.
The final body wasn't quite dead yet. Blood poured from a wound in the man's chest and pooled in the mud beneath him. He didn't have long and fate must have been feeling merciful because he’d passed out.
I reached forward to take the man's revolver from his hand and he lurched forward, snatching my arm in an iron grip as his green eyes snared my gaze.
"Help," the dying man gasped, like I might be an angel instead of a devil.
My gaze slid to his wound again. There was no surviving that shit.
“Sorry pal, but you're done. Make peace with whatever you believe in." I tried to pull away, but his grip on me tightened.
“Finish it, then,” he coughed as some of the blood found his lungs.
It was a nasty way to go.
I almost refused, kept working on my own mission, but there was no reason for the man to suffer. He was just an idiot raised in a palace of pawns, sent out here to die for his devotion.
I gave him a firm nod as I twisted the blade in my free hand, lining it up above his heart.
I offered him a moment to change his mind but he just gritted his teeth and nodded firmly.
"I hope you find a better place," I said, sliding my knife home between the man's ribs.
He died before he felt the kiss of my blade
I grunted in frustration at the pointless loss of life before cleaning my blade on his jacket and returning it to my belt.
Footsteps sounded at my back and I straightened in an instant. There were soldiers heading down the trench towards me.
I set my gaze on the far side of the trench, rolling my shoulders back before charging forward.
