If there's something I've learned in my life, however short it may be, it's that everyone wants something. Anything. Even now, with most of North Arkhanika in shambles, its wanton. It's been close to six hundred years since the new continent was discovered, and so very little changed. Countless wars. Countless skirmishes.

So why is it? My small hint of desire to live a more normal life won't come true? Not after what happened. Not anymore.

A groan escaped my throat, and my head sank down into my arms. From my outlook, so far away amidst the Outskirts, Aythryn City really didn't seem that bad. The megabuildings and corpo towers reached for the skies like rising giants, and hope seemed to beat like a drum. Advertisements flashed and holograms twirled, all to entice the wary buyer into their embrace.

Neon, beautiful neon, wrapped the place like a cloak. It shimmered in the light rain that befell rotten streets, wiping away impurities. From out here? It didn't look like much of a cesspool… but that was from out here. From one of my few safe places. In there? Within the towering overlords and gang-filled streets? It was a whole different story.

The glass windows and metallic design of most buildings, looking as if they'd been stacked on top of each other over centuries rather than decades, reflected the brilliant glows. The reflections added back to the entire atmosphere, making the lights particularly strangling.

Gaudy splashes of color filled every street, visible even from out in the Outskirts surrounding the city. From the tops of towering buildings, torri gates stood silent watch. Their original purpose long forgotten, now they were mere colorful attractions to push one ad or another.

The oblique grays and oppressive darks of the city hid behind the facade of light and color. The darkness hid so, so very well. Home to many, the megacity of Aythryn City supported close to a few hundred million people. It was one of the few places in the world that could accomplish such a feat.

Of course, it wasn't without its seams. I was intimately aware of them. That's where I made most of my living, anyway. Slipping through the cracks to pick up the scraps. Never enough to live, yet just barely enough to survive.

If it wasn't the corporate overlords in their towers exacting a toll of blood? It was the gangs. Hundreds of smaller ones filled the streets, working around the massive ones that controlled whole districts. Savants and Scavs, symptoms of a larger cancer, hid amongst the civilian population. Their effect on the death count was no way inferior to the larger gangs and corporations.

Truly, it was a city of hidden warfare and not-so-hidden vice. Only Yates's naive corporate drones and uber-broke traveled the streets without fear. Even then, caution was needed. If there wasn't anything valuable on a person? At least their body could be used for something

There were forces that attempted to protect the city, of course. The Blue Crusade did the best they could. Slab Co picked bodies up by the truckload, ensuring disease was kept to a minimum. And forgetting the Big 7's presence would practically be a crime on its own.

That went for most of the city. There were entire sections that'd even been abandoned by the law though, becoming unsavory dens for those too broke to escape. Even the most fearsome gangster knew well to steer clear of the Scath Heights.

The projects weren't much better, but at least they had corpo rent-a-cops patrolling the apathetic megastructures. Sixteen people crammed into micro apartments, each struggling more than the last, invoked crime on its own. Thankfully, I didn't have the great despair of living in such an exploitative environment.

I leaned my head against my motorbike, using my hair as a makeshift cushion. I shifted slightly, resettling into the sandy outlook of mine. The desert Outskirts surrounding the den of avarice weren't much better than the city itself. It had its own host of problems. Thankfully, I was well verse in avoiding them enough to reap the benefits of the Outskirts.

Out here? The pollutants and burning drugs couldn't reach me. The diluted aphrodisiacs that clung to street corners couldn't strangle me. I was free to just take a breath, and avoid everything. To just relax in such a way that I struggled to in that hellhole. Even if I'd been living in such squalor all my life, I wouldn't be able to get used to it.

The air was the main reason I strayed out here on occasion. Outrunning my problems, the other. Of course, I risked being hunted by Hawks or running into unfriendly nomads, but to just breathe was a luxury in its own right.

And sometimes it was nice to just- just get away from that place. It did good for my mental state, at least. Sure, fuel wasn't exactly cheap. Sure was more affordable than a drug addiction though. And AE3 wasn't too expensive compared to old gasoline run vehicles.

I rubbed a hand across my face and turned up the music pounding into my eardrums. The harmonic beats and electronic distortions of old age lo-fi was a rare calming influence. Way better than junk punk and pop streamed by the corporations. Definitely more soothing than 'pioneering' artists like Thus, Crack and Soarin' Flyin'.

The earbuds, worn and torn from years of use, dangled from my ears. I was too poor to afford a full cybernetic audio suite, but the earbuds did their job dutifully. All part of the calming effect this overlook I found had on me.

'Course, I couldn't just sit here all pretty. The world wasn't built on sunshine and roses. My eyes constantly trailed the dunes and horizon for signs of trouble. Gangs and nomads were one thing. Worse still though? Dune Walkers.

Even then though, I'd be able to see them coming from miles away up here. As long as I kept movement to a minimum, I'd be perfectly safe up here. Just as I had been the past few years. Movement attracted the eye better than anything, afterall.

Clear. At least, for now. I leaned back, staring at the empty sky so far above. The stars hid even further out, only the brightest of which breaking through the dense atmosphere. Only out in space, or the most secluded of areas, would I be able to see more than a one at a time.

For us plebeians who couldn't afford a casual jaunt into the great void? The sky was crushingly dark. There was no light of hope. The stars didn't act as a guide. They were as empty as the abandoned cities out in the wastes between citystates.

It's true what they say; you don't miss something till its gone. Oh how I wish I could see the brilliant stars, if only once. Did the generations that came before appreciated them as much as I yearned to see them?

The music crackled to halt, leaving me in deafening silence. I popped the buds out of my ears and checked the handheld. Dead. Right before the bass hit too…

"Haah…" A sigh left me. I'd been out here long enough anyway. Definetely long enough to get sand in places I wish there wasn't any. Coming out here was always nice, but sand in every crevice got real old real quick. No idea how the couriers and nomads could just live out here like this.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I stood up, feeling my back pop lightly. I packed everything back up onto my little dirtbike and prepped to head back for city streets. A western breeze contested the heat of the dunes, trickling up along my spine. It carried with it the nauseating scent of the ocean in all its radioactive glory; salty with a twinge of headache.

I caught a flash of my face in the mirror. It made me incredibly uncomfortable seeing my horribly gaunt reflection. I ignored the girl staring back, just as I usually did. Not worth crying over. Not anymore, at least. I straddled my bike, pushing the mirror aside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots echoed off from the distance, bouncing off the dunes. Sounded far off still though. Several shooters… A big group got into a tussle, maybe? Some pack of strays picking apart prey as they usually did? Or maybe a herd of Dune Walkers caught a group off guard?

I glanced up to the skies. Some days- who am I kidding? Most days I wish I could've been born differently. Been born one of them with no. Worries under the freedom of space. And then I think of my parents. Although they were both gone, was a life of ease worth the bit of time I had with them? More and more often, that particular answer eluded me.

Anyway, it wasn't my lot in life. I was bound to only be capable of staring up at the sky in all its dark glory. Only the occasional star and glowing red comet- wait, what?

My tired eyes snapped onto a glowing trail plummeting toward the surface. It was still in the atmosphere, but at its rate? It didn't take a rocket scientist to know it would hit the earth soon. Space debris? No- too big. A drop pod? Why would a drop pod fall way out here?

Should I- should I go for it? Maybe, if I was lucky- ah, and there's the kicker. If I was lucky…. It'd be a fool's errand to chase it down. If it wasn't some bigwig corpo gracing us with their diving presence, it was probably something else way above my league. Something like a BosSpace landing craft. Even then, the Hawks would get to it first…

But what if? What if I could pull just a bit of salvage from it? Landing crafts didn't drop like that. It was definitely something falling from space. If I could just get some Rayn off of salvage… To have pocket money for a change would be nice. Maybe I could even get a real meal instead of silage?

My mouth watered at the thought of real synthetic-meat. With that gunfight in the distance- maybe they weren't there yet? Maybe I could get in, grab something, and get out? I'd have to move quickly. It was only a matter of time till that fight cleared up and someone came to investigate. I'd have maybe minutes to check for anything valuable. Then—whether I got something or not—I'd have to high-tail as fast as my bike could go back to the city.

It was daring. It was dangerous. It was downright suicidal… but this could be my chance! Just imagine it! It's what I always wanted; just a chance. A single change to get an edge on life. To get ahead of the rest. To have enough Rayn to just eat something good. It could all be mine…

A voice whispered in my head. Charge, Shiro! Go for it! Don't look back! How long can you live like this anyway? You're barely scraping by. This could be it!

My hesitation was as fleeting as my resistance. I checked my weapon, a beat-up ASCorp Sidewinder. It was more of a pea shooter than anything, but it'd do if I needed it. If all went according to plan, I wouldn't even need it.

I unscrewed the bulbs. Immediately, I was pushed into darkness only illuminated by the distant city lights. It'd be enough though. This way, no hawk or scavenger of the dunes should see me.

I kicked on my bike and twisted the accelerator, racing toward the object's calculated LZ.

— — —

My bike flung itself over a dune. Sand flew everywhere under the whirling tires. My destination? In view now. Or, at least, the smoke trailing from it. Whatever it was impacted a minute prior in a ball of fire. The boom had been loud enough to overtake the gunshots.

Thankfully, once my hearing returned, I could still hear gunshots. Unfortunately, the boom probably alerted the rest of the vultures that something was going down. My time frame just narrowed even more.

I crested one last dune, catching sight of it all. In the middle of a glass crater, still steaming, sat a drop pod. Not just any drop pod either. A Raijin International drop pod. The arcing bolt of lightning they used as corporate branding made it obvious enough. A very damaged corpo drop pod at that.

The thing looked like it might've been white at one point. It was charred all over, and several holes scattered throughout its egg-like shape. Bullet holes? I was the first one here though? Weird.

I got as close as I dared, not risking my tires with the fresh glass formations. I kicked off down the stand, leaving it idle, and raced for the beaten pod. With so many bullet holes through it? It'd be a miracle if the person inside was even still alive.

If they were, and I managed to save them though? Maybe I could get some kind of reward! Or- or be silenced. Right- Quick Look and get out. Nothing changed.

My eagerness faded to caution. Glass crunched under torn-up shoes. I crept up as silently as I could to the door of the drop pod. It was partially buried in sand and glass. I promptly cleared it with several brushes of my foot, unintentionally filling my shoe with hot glass. It burned significantly, but the adrenaline muted the pain.

Now with space, the pod's door popped open in a vent of steam. Inside was smaller than an outhouse. Actually, that wasn't a bad comparison. It looked like an outhouse too. The pod consisted of one seat with complicated terminals placed all around it.

More importantly than all of that, though, a man sat slumped in the seat. A briefcase dangled from his lap. A bolt a dozen bullet holes lanced through his body, leaking blood everywhere. I couldn't hear any breathing either.

The man was seriously borged out too. Even then though, the firepower of whoever got to him seemed to be too much to handle. No way he was still alive in that condition. At least, I didn't spot any signs of life.

One person's loss is another's gain and all that. I didn't have enough time to be picky. I leaned forward and grabbed the handle-

Crack!

Did I step on glass? For a moment, I didn't feel anything-

"Agh!" The pain in my wrist finally processed. I flailed backwards, trying to escape the crushing grip of the man's metal body. His chrome grip was far too strong to simply get away from.

Fuck! If he's awake- is this how I died? Stupid Shiro, died in the middle of nowhere. If only you hadn't been so greedy, things could've been different. Now though? Nothing but a dog's death-

The man's icy cold cybernetic eyes stared into my very soul. The icy edge of the reaper's scythe wrapped around my neck. I would say it was bravery that let me stand, but I was still too stunned to even really feel the full weight of my fear.

His lips moved, but the fear pounding in my ears turned the whole world mute. As soon as our eyes met, his bloodthirsty expression dropped. He slumped back into the seat once more, pulling me down onto him.

A moment of terror passed as I sat in the man's grasp. I felt a jolt phase through me, buzzing up my broken wrist. It slowly oozed its way through my arm and up to my heart like a stroke. I tried to shake it off, but the jolt just seemed to spread faster. My limbs went completely numb, as if my entire body had been paralyzed.

As quickly as the weird buzz came, it vanished. The strength throughout the man's body fully faded. This time, he was well and truly dead.

I staggered back, my legs falling out from below me. I fell onto the glass and sand, several bits pressing up into my body. What felt like blades of air entered my frozen lungs.

I stared up at the guy. Was he truly done this time? Ready for the slab? Or was this another fake-out to get me close? I staggered to my feet and edge forward, checking his vitals. Definitely zeroed. Must've used the last of his life to grab me like that.

I snatched the briefcase again and backed away. It looked like the most valuable thing here other than the guy's chrome, but I couldn't exactly haul his body onto my bike. Not with my limited time. I wanted more, but didn't have time to waste. It was far past time to bounce.

My shattered wrist made the bike difficult. I gently pulled the jack out of its port and inserted it into the bike's port. Thankfully, the jack handn't gotten caught in his iron grip, or I might've had even worse problems.

That overwhelming sensation of the bike directly linking into my neural system nearly made me crash. I hated jacking in like this. I didn't have a choice this time though. I tucked the briefcase into the saddlebag to hide it somewhat and kicked into gear.

I sped away from the crashed drop pod and zeroed psycho. The gunshots from before had stopped at some point. In the distance, barely hearable over my thundering heart, came the roar of engines. I pushed my shoddy bike further than I ever had, racing around for the relative safety of Aythryn City. I'd had more than my fill of the Outskirts for one night.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.