The 7th Ward was pretty quiet, and as I skateboarded down the street I could see every book shop with the The Bileygr King in the window; Takatsuki Sen’s latest book. I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose and leaned to the left to turn onto another street, where the buildings were more ornate and expensive cars were parked in front of the houses. Every shrub was pruned perfectly, and as I passed the buildings the scent of lavender wafted from purple bundles tied to the gates.

A security guard signalled me to stop, and I kicked up my skateboard to land with it tucked under my arm. He peered at me suspiciously. “Who are you? You're not on the resident list. Do you live here?”

I kept my expression neutral. “No, just visiting.”

Another guard - Shingo or something - saw me and raced over. “Paku! Let him through, he’s a regular visitor.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “This skate-boarding hooligan? Just look at his glasses! Cheap tin-plated garbage, half of the coating’s come off already-”

The front door of one of the larger houses opened, and Akise peeked out.  “Kou! What took you so long?”

The guard went white as a sheet as I crossed my arms. “Mr. Paku here thought I looked too poor to have any business in this neighbourhood.”

Aki’s expression darkened, and he marched over. “Really? Maybe they didn’t learn from the last time. Do my parents need to have another talk with your boss?”

Shingo snapped a salute off. “I’m very sorry! It won’t happen again!”

Aki crossed his arms. “Isn’t that what you said last time?"

The guard tensed further. “P-please forgive my associate. He’s new and we didn’t have a chance to properly brief him on the visitors list. Paku! Apologize!”

The first guard bowed deeply to Akise. “I-I’m very sorry!”

My friend crossed his arms. “Not to me.”

The guard tensed and glanced in my direction. We waited, and he slowly turned around. “I….I’m very sorry.”

Aki scowled. “This isn’t the first time, but it better be the last.”

They both snapped into salutes. “Yes sir!”

He stormed back to his house, and I followed quietly. Once we were inside his stormy expression faded somewhat, and he flopped onto the couch. “Sorry about that. You think they’d learn….”

I smiled and sat down across from him. “It’s alright. Sorry I’m late, I went back to my house first to drop off my bag.” His parents came downstairs, and I turned to greet them. “Good afternoon.”

They smiled. “Good evening Tojikou. We’re heading out for a meeting, so you boys will have the house to yourselves. Remember to head back before it gets dark.” 

I nodded, and after they left we went upstairs to his game room. After messaging our other friends, their PS4s connected with his and the group video chat filled up. Sekke whooped on other end, punching the air. “Alright! Now we actually have a chance of completing the Zombies gamemode!”

I picked up the spare controller and smiled, walking into view of the camera. “Four and a half. Hey guys.”

Keho, Sekke and Ren stared at me, and I laughed. “Surprise. I’m not very good at Call of Duty, but I’m a reasonable sniper.”

Aki smiled. “I invited him over to hang out yesterday, an hour before you guys asked to multiplay COD zombies. So I thought we could do both.”

Keho smiled. “So your mom finally allowed you to play ‘violent bloody video games’?”

I sat down next to Aki as we started. “No, I just decided to break the rules for today. Let’s get started, I’m curious to see how this is going to go.”

)o(

I woke up slowly, drowsy and relaxed, so when I saw the light blinking to my left I just swatted half-heartedly. “Sumi, stop playing with the lamp. Batteries are expensive.”

“Mrrr?”

I paused, halfway through another swat, opening my eyes and looking down. Sumi stared back from where she was resting on my stomach, head tilted to the side. Wha…. I turned back to the blinking light, flicking on the lamp to see where it was coming from.

When my eyes landed on the receiver my blood turned to ice, and I was very much awake. SHIT-! I grabbed Sumi, locking her in her carrier as she meowed in protest. I whistled a low note and she fell silent, my months of training paying off. “Good girl.”

I stuffed everything important into a bag and left it next to Sumi’s carrier with the bail bag I kept under the sink. The tripwires have been hit; someone’s in the decoy house. I pulled my pistols out from under the mattress, fitting silencers over the barrels and strapping the holsters to my thighs. The two mass-produced Scorpion quinques I’d stolen went into sheaths at my waist, the small blades well out of the way of my holsters. They’re too small for countering kagune or other quinques at a safe distance, but it always helps to have a backup.

The bikaku blades would hold their own on contact with other quinques and ghoul kagune, but at the ridiculously short range I’d need to use them I wasn’t sure I would. But hey; that’s what my guns are for. I zipped up a thin hooded jacket and put on my kitsune festival mask, a simple but perfectly functional mask with faded chipping paint and tempered glass eye lenses. Time to greet my guests.

I locked the door behind me and made my way down, waiting outside the basement doorway as I watched the section of floor that concealed my tunnel. It’s probably the CCG and Goat. They haven’t found the tunnel yet, or if they have they’re being careful about traps. A Dove would have a hard time trying to bring their quinque through the tunnel with them, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to deploy it. Ergo, they would send a ghoul who is a close-range specialist and then backup. An Ukaku and a Koukaku, probably.

A faint noise caught my attention and I tensed, pulling one of my pistols out and training it on the section of floor which was gently bobbing up and down on its hinges. They’ll find and break the lock in a few seconds. Once they do, they’ll lift it slowly. All I have to do is aim for the head of the poor, dispensable ghoul they chose as the canary.

A crack sounded and the edge of a kagune poked out of the ground before receding just as quickly, and the floor section began to rise slowly. First to appear was a tuft of brown hair, then a pale forehead, and then a pair of eyebrows. I waited until I could see a tiny bit of black from his eyes, then pulled the trigger.

The soft bang of the shot was by no means inaudible, but for a few short seconds no noises followed. Then there was a roar from inside and a large koukaku burst out of the tunnel, providing cover for the ghoul producing it. I slipped back around the corner to the left of the door, out of sight as he dragged himself out of the basement. As he reached the doorway he paused, turning to look to the right.

I pulled the trigger and made a hole in the back of his head, kagune disintegrating as he slumped to the floor. I came around the corner and opened fire on the Dove trying to get out, and he barely managed to deploy his quinque in time to block it. The orange disk sparked as my bullets bounced off of it, and as he charged I shot him in the foot. He crumpled into a heap screaming in pain until I shot him in the head. Three targets, six bullets, nine left.

An ukaku quinque poked out from the tunnel opening and fired wildly, but the shield of her fallen comrade sufficed to protect myself until the Dove jumped out I put a hole in her head. The shouts in the tunnel increased in pitch and began to draw away, and I picked up the ukaku quinque dropped by the Dove.  Might as well collapse the tunnel now. I hopped into down and opened fire, mowing down Doves and Ghouls as they tried to flee down the narrow corridor. Their shouts quickly turned to screams, the earth collapsing on top of them as supports were shredded.

Sending all their forces in through the tunnel would be a stupid move, so the other forces are probably already on their way. Sumi remained silent even as I returned and grabbed my bags, holstering the guns. The traps will slow them down a bit, but I should hurry; the decoy house isn't all that far away. I opened a gas canister and taped matches to the door, uncapping the gasoline canister under the sink and splashing the foul smelling liquid across the room. Open the door and everything goes up in smoke.

I left through the balcony, lowering my bags first before climbing out with Sumi’s carrier. Then I repeated the process, making it to the first floor before the sound of many footsteps approached near the front of the building. Sumi remained silent, eyes wide but not panicked as I listened intently. Thirty seconds passed. Sixty. Then an explosion shook the concrete beneath me, and screams carried out from the east stairwell.

I sprinted for the nearest building, running in the shadows and veering away from the sounds of footsteps as I tried to avoid Doves and Goats. That was probably the frag grenade in the light socket, but it won’t be long before they get to my apartment. They’re going to lock down everything within three kilometres of here pretty soon, if they haven’t already.

I was cautious of how much noise I made but still ran faster, jolting Sumi’s carrier far more than I would have liked as I shot past the edge of the 6th Ward and into the 5th. They must have surrounded the decoy building instead of my actual apartment; without that tunnel I’d be dead by now. The streets were almost entirely empty, and I spared a few moments to check my watch. Midnight. I overslept.

I wound through the streets of the 5th ward, gradually slowing to a jog before coming to stop in a concealed alleyway. I collapsed to one knee and took deep breaths, ripping my jacket off and letting the cool night air tickle my neck. I’m far enough to put my weapons and mask away. I just have to walk until morning; I can keep heading along the border towards the 17th Ward, then travel along the 17th’s border to the 19th.

I whistled two quick notes and Sumi meowed, pawing at the door to the cage. I picked her carrier up and used a finger to scratch her under the chin. “Sorry, but we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s only safe enough that you can make noise. We’re going to be on the move for a while, okay? I don’t know where we’re going yet, but I’ll figure it-”

A distant explosion interrupted me, and a ghost of a smile touched my lips as a pillar of smoke rose. They took their time getting to the front door. Shame they didn’t see that coming. I spent a few moments consulting the crude map I’d drawn of a route without security cameras, double-checking to make sure I hadn’t deviated from the path in panic, but before I could get moving again my phone rang. Who the fuck-? 

...Jakari? Why would he be calling me now? I lifted my other hand to answer, but paused with my finger hovering above the button. …….its past midnight. Jakari’s never called outside my work hours, let alone in the middle of the night. It’d have to be a real emergency for him to be dialling this late, but why would he call me? The call went to voicemail, but almost immediately he called again. ……why would he call me?

I let the call go to voicemail and shut down my phone. I don’t have time for this; I’m being hunted, my identity is probably already blown. I need to figure out how. I didn’t normally stray very far from the 6th Ward, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to guess which ward I was in. The problem was that they had tracked me to a specific building and had an entire death squad ready to take me out.

The sound of a car broke me out of my thoughts, and as it passed by the headlights lit up the alley for a brief moment. Just like the ridiculously strong flash used by that couple the day before.

Shit. SHIT! I grabbed my things and started jogging again, gritting my teeth. They weren’t a couple, they were surveillance! Asking around for where I worked would have been child’s play, and once they knew that they could use Jakari’s phone to call me and track my location. I heard cars coming from the direction of the 6th Ward and pressed myself flat against the wall, hiding out of sight as they passed by. They would have at least gotten a partial image from that photo, if they put my face up things might get even more complicated. And as for this- I snapped my phone in half and tossed it into a rain gutter.

I made good time and got to the 17th Ward in about an hour, but my sprint from before had definitely taken a lot out of me. Ten minutes passed before I noticed how my feet were starting to drag, but it wasn’t until I nearly tripped over my own feet that I stopped walking, scowling. I know I haven’t eaten for a while, but this is ridiculous. I looked around and found a building that was marked for demolition, slipping around the fences and climbing up to the third floor before setting my bags down. Sumi meowed and pawed at the door again, but I shook my head. “Not here.”

She settled down again, and I nestled my mask in the pocket sewn into the inside of my jacket. One of my guns went into the pocket on the other side of my jacket, and my knives I strapped to my forearms within easy reach. Time to go. I slipped back out of the building and headed towards the centre of the ward, looking around for the best spot to get dinner. Too crowded. Too exposed. That reeks of alcohol. That guy is leaving a pretty good looking restaurant though, but why is he carrying such a big attache-

I froze for a moment mid-stride, staring directly at him. He began to turn and I barely managed to get myself moving again, trying to walk in the opposite direction as casually as possible.

The Dove followed.