Aquarium
I never had the courage to cut myself. I never had the bravery to hang myself and risk not snapping my neck. Same went for jumping off of a building. Too messy and too many chances for being wounded badly but not dying.
Suicide's as much what this is about as anything else.
I took another bite of my half-eaten breakfast rat and tossed it aside. Three Juries were wandering through the building above me. There were eight Judges on the fourth floor, moving in two person teams. On the third floor a base had been established so they could direct their hunt all the easier. Ten of them sat or stood there, typing frantically at their tracking systems. Their fancy motion detectors were scanning wildly but coming up with nothing.
But they were giving me one hell of a headache.
Another eight were stalking the second floor. They moved faster than the others above them. It was already assumed that I wasn't in the upper floors and they didn't want to be taken by surprise I'm certain. Much like the six on the ground level floor just above me. Their hearts were beating awfully fast. One good "boo" and they'd collapse into shock. Meanwhile, the two pairs of guards at the front and back door were uncaring. They probably doubted they'd see any action and were glad for it.
So. Where to go from here.
I reached down and picked up a battered metal pipe and swung it a couple times in practice. I'd been shitty at stickball. At least now the targets and the bat would be a little bigger.
I sauntered up the steps to door out of my hidey hole. It would be a shame to lose this safehouse. The heavy steel sliding door was one of the few that didn't stick at all. It's fake outer paneling even looked fairly decent. I sighed and hefted my pipe. Just a couple seconds more and a two man team would be just outside.
Time to die.
With a hand on the door, I pushed its release button with my pipe. The door's squealy screech sank into my hand and rattled my teeth. A pair of piranha men stood outside the door, backs to me.
No noise reached their ears as I bolted for them. No noise at all. Not even as I raised the pipe overhead and drove it down onto the first one's spine. His spine shattered soundlessly, my pipe accompanying him to the floor. I let go of my pipe as I pulled a hunting knife from my belt. For the first time, the second Judge was alerted as the pipe left my hand. I put my knife into his throat and twisted, turning on a crimson sprinkler. I tore my knife free and scooped up my pipe. The second Judge flopped to the ground, squealing in pain.
They'd know where I was now. The entire third floor would be moving and alerting the others. Watch for the aberration in movement and pounce on it.
To the back door. The guards there were just starting to turn, their boots striking the ground. The others were flooding down from the floors above, those on the same floor circling around to close in on me. I jumped up, catching the lip of an air duct and pulled myself through. Squirm. Sightless worm writhing through aluminum dirt. Left, right, right, left again and wait.
The guards at the back door stepped inside and I fell out of the duct, onto them. My knife slid inside the first's collarbone and carved it's spine in two. The second drove the butt of its harpoon gun into my stomach.
Air. Where'd my air go? A second strike my jaw sent me to the floor. It was screaming that I was captured.
But no one heard it.
"No one can hear you. Only me. And you're one of few who've ever heard me."
The dinner plate eyed, dagger mouthed, piranha headed Judge stared at me horrified. I clutched its ankle tight.
"What are you terrorist?"
"Speechless."
It's finger tapped at the harpoon gun's trigger and I rolled aside. I sliced my knife across the back of its knees and it fell to the floor. I drank in all the sound it poured out. Flopping, pain squealing, curse spitting, desperate sound. The noise wailed mercilessly in my head. I was smiling as I slammed my pipe into the back of its head and brought myself some quiet. I kicked the Judge once more for good measure and ran for the door. Someone would notice the motion detectors again and realize two more had died.
I was out the door before they did though. My pipe slide perfectly into manhole cover outside the back door. I pried it aside and slid down the ladder into the sewers. They were coming. Almost to the back door now. I fished into my pocket for my keyring. A dozen automatic door lock buttons dangled from it. Looking.
Black plastic.
Three button.
Blue trunk release.
Press.
The trunk release relay solenoid turned on. Electricity pumped through it from what had been a simple wall socket in my hidey hole to intricate bundle of chemicals six feet away from it.
I ran.
The explosion rang in my ears and nearly drove me to my knees as the building erupted in flames and sank into the sewers. The pipes crumbled behind me for a good thirty feet as I fled. I stopped when the cave-in stopped and paused to dab the blood from my ears.
They'd watch for me to be in the area for a week or so. A day's walk would get me clear of their search for awhile. Thirty six Judges dead almost made up for the execution the day before. There were still hundreds flooding in daily to occupy the Chrysalis Falls dockworks. Nothing had gone as planned.
I'd survived this time too.
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