Chapter 4
The River District
21st of Thraous, 9:00 a.m.
Rick woke up with the room spinning exasperating his pounding headache. He looked at the plastic bottle on his bedside table. Within the bottle there was still a couple fingers depth of that brown aged liquid left so he poured the contents into his nearly empty flask.
After taking some meds for the hangover, flushing the unflushed toilet that held the remains of his cinnamon muffin, and making himself look presentable, he accessed the News’ database to begin research on the swampy area near the Alfs bridge.
It had at one point been a dock area that contained shipping companies that did not have the money for real estate in the River District. During the storm about five years back it got flooded and due to incorrect construction of foundations by the river the dirt and sand washed out causing the retaining wall and buildings to collapse and many of those not collapsed were now flooded. Now there is a 1,500-foot thin three-mile-long strip of flooded abandoned uninhabitable land within The Long District. This means that there is an unsurprising number of news articles reporting on alleged drug smuggling in the area. Though some reports indicated that a Seffalon gang had recently taken that area over from a Taevon gang, meaning even if there were sightings of a gray man in the area the likelihood of it being reported were minimal.
Rick found this to be news that did help his mood even though he would have to deal with gangs and a gray man he shouldn’t have to deal with the police. He still tried to find out if there were any rumored sightings of a gray man around the Alf bridge, while gangs would not report that due to fear of receiving undo attention, the few citizens living there or kids exploring abandoned buildings may report something. After an hour of looking through databases he found a picture that showed what looked like a gray man entering an apartment whose bottom floor was mostly flooded. The picture had apparently been captured the night before by some teens who had been out exploring. Fortunately, this sighting had not been reported but instead had been uploaded to a database titled The Gray Men in Our Midst.
Rick stood, grabbed some knee-high waterproof boots that he had to dust off, and he checked his Standard Issue Pelk Model 9 Railgun to make sure he had all 10 bullets. Rick left his apartment and went to get a boat.
It took about an hour to walk to the boat rental place in the River District. Even though the Crick District was an island it didn’t have much in the way of a dock area. The man at the boat rental was a full head taller than Rick and very skinny. The attendant was wearing long sleeves despite the heat and his eyes were droopy, the veins in his hands had a faint red tint. He smiled at Rick, “Wassap man… wanna cruise the salty deep.”
Rick groaned, “Yes, how much for the boat.”
“Hahahaha, oh man, I mean, like 40G for the boat man, plus like an extra 20 that will be given back to you as long as the boat stays ship shape, man, like if it comes back building shaped, I’d haveta keep the money to make it ship shape again… Mate.”
“Alright.” Rick paid the price and got in the small airboat and went up the river. It was a quick ride to the Long District. Once there he started paddling through the flooded area not wanting to puncture the hull having to weave among the ruined retaining walls. He moved between half submerged light posts and by the tips of roofs, till he finally saw the apartment. The apartment had apparently been on a slight hill because the first floor was only flooded halfway up. He cut the engine a little way off and just coasted towards the building. Once he was near the building Rick tied the boat off to a light post then hopped into the waist high water.
The water was warm like bathwater so even though he was instantly soaked all the way through he wasn’t overly miserable. Wading up to the door he unholstered his gun and then stumbled on the hidden lip of the doorway. Rick grabbed the rusted door jamb for balance before continuing.
It was not so dark he needed a light. There were holes in the walls, some looked like old bullet holes and almost all the glass was shattered. Rick methodically checked every room on the first floor, his heart was pumping as he peaked around corners, boots crunching on hidden glass, expecting at any second that the gray man would jump on him and tear into him like a piece of meat.
Rick began to slowly climb the stairs. Thankful that he was out of the water, though annoyingly it was now harder to sneak due to the squeaking of wet rubber boots against dry concrete. As quietly as he could he slipped out of the boots and continued his trek in just his socks. At the top of the stairs there was a door. Rick reached out, and he turned the knob. The door swung silently open into inky blackness He paused to reach for the light on his Nexitech headset while keeping his gun up barely in the room when a leg came down on Ricks gun hand shattering his wrist allowing his gun to clatter harmlessly to the floor.
Rick howled in pain clutching his wrist as the tight wire gymnast came into view as she bent over at her waist and picked up the gun. “Hello Rick.” She smiled coyly as she flipped a switch and the lights turned on. The windows were all blacked out and all the walls that weren’t supported were knocked out. Eddy was there in a tight gray suit that would have made him look somewhat like a gray man from a distance and to Ricks left stood a man with cuffs that had a green stone in them. Directly in front of Rick, there sat Barty Kite in a wooden chair in a sleeveless shirt that showed the lean muscles in his arms.
“You have caused me trouble.” Barty rumbled. “Because of you Finko’s is closed. They were very good customers willing to pay for the good eaiz.”
“You smuggle drugs?” Rick asked through clenched teeth. “But the circus is so successful.”
“Since Braelon Cuh’nok took control of the Seffalon Islands poverty has run rampant. When poverty runs rampant, gangs take over. If you live on the islands, you are under a gang, running a gang, or dead.” Mr. Kite shook his head sadly. “We don’t have a choice, if we don’t run drugs, we can’t return home. If we just defect and try and live here a branch of the Seffalon gang here will finish us. So, I’m sorry.”
Rick opened his mouth to speak but Mr. Kite raised his hand.
“Be happy you aren’t a cop anymore so we can actually kill you this time.”
“What?” Rick whispered.
Mr. Kite motioned to the man on Ricks left. “Cuff him so he can’t use inchemy.”
“You killed Alice?”
Barty Kite shook his head. “If I remember correctly, you are the one who pulled the trigger.”
“N-no, you made me do it.” Tears blurred Ricks vision as he felt the man behind him grab his arms to put the cuffs on, the screaming pain in his wrist as it was man handled felt like the equivalent to placing a towel over a speaker, then standing in another room, the pain like the sound seemed muffled and distant. With his good hand he sent a green pole out that connected to the man with the cuff’s shirt and pushed. The man was pinned against the wall, this shoved Rick forward towards one of the blacked-out windows. With his hands secured behind himself he was unable to shield his face with his hands, so he just settled by twisting his head and hoping for the best. He crashed through the second-floor window wrapped in the curtain. He disengaged the translucent pole though that meant he would have to wait 86 heartbeats before his inchemy would be ready again, which would be a much longer time than the fall.
After about 5 heartbeats Rick crashed into the couple feet deep water. His breath was knocked out of him as his body slammed into the concrete just beneath the water causing him to attempt to suck in air. Instead, he got water. He tried to stand but the curtain wrapped him tight, he screamed, his heart rate increased dramatically due to panic. Then he felt a tug of connection at the level of the soul. The 86 heartbeats had passed so quickly. With a scream he directed 86 translucent poles to exit his skin to shred the curtain as well as having some come from his wrists directed at the handcuffs. He would only be able to cast the 86 poles for 1 single heartbeat, but it was like an explosion, his clothes, curtain, and handcuffs exploded outward. The water was displaced for a couple seconds, enough for Rick to gain a single welcome breath before getting to his feet.
Light streamed in from the window, glinting off a Pelk model 2 Powdergun. “This was Alice’s, wasn’t it? I took it off her body before we left. I don’t think it’s ever been used to shoot someone till now.” Kite smiled.
Rick stood looking shakily at the gun, his wrist was screaming from the movement. “Last time I had no control,” Rick raised his hand. “Now I’m in full control.”
A bolt of green light lept from his hand and entered Kites brain. Barty’s muscles seized up, his arm jerked downward, his finger pulled the trigger, and shot Rick in the foot causing him to scream. The connection between Rick and Barty was already made though and despite both collapsing to the ground it did not waver. Rick was overwhelmed with memories as he laid face down in the murky water of The River District.”