The city was on fire. Or, at least, this section of the city. There was no doubt in my mind that East End was collapsing slowly but surely. First the whole AEZ incident, and now this? Things weren't looking good if this trend kept up. The whole district might get swallowed by a sandstorm or ocean next. Wouldn't that be something?

The snowstorm had calmed down at some point. Now lone flakes drifted down, joining their brethren in soot stained banks of snow. Some of the banks were already red thanks to torn apart corpses all over the place. Not everyone was quick enough to get out before shit hit the fan.

Gunshots and explosions choked out seemingly everything else. Shattered glass from missed shots and explosions rained from the upper floors of the sub-district like deadly confetti. Bright flashes strobed against air thick with smoke and dust. Somewhere far off, a vehicle's tires screeched loud enough to cut through the other noise.

Mira moved first, leading the way out of the alley. Her shoulders were hunched beneath her plate carrier, and her rifle was held tightly in her hands. Her boots crunched over a broken neon sign. She glanced back toward me, ensuring I was following. The orange glow of a burning storefront illuminated half her face.

"Coming?" Her voice sounded a little wrong—it was too calm against the chaos all around us.

I quickly sped up behind her, light on my feet. After a moment's hesitation, I threw on my half mask to help with the smoke. I tossed Mira my spare. "We should keep low."

Mira pulled on the mask and breathed deeply. Her voice shifted entirely to echoing in my head with the Packheart Ring. "Low's not gonna help us if a battle erupts. Better off getting there fast."

I almost argued with her. Going low had been my life's MO since my parents died, and it rarely ever failed. I choked it back though. She was right, in this case. The tight, abandoned streets full of chaos and dust brought back memories of running through the streets just before Mother captured me. Keeping low hadn't helped me then either.

A glass bottle shattered in the distance and flames erupted around an overturned car, illuminating a crowd of gangers fighting against mutants. We ducked into an alley perfectly in sync with each other like we'd had some kind of telepathic communication. Neither one of us wanted to fight more than we had to in this situation. The more we tired ourselves out here, the worse our need would be.

The alley was narrow and dripping with some kind of unidentifiable liquid. Mira pulled out her phone and checked a street map with our target location already marked on it. Luna sure moved fast. "At least it's not far."

I checked my own HUD and looked through the city. "Are we going through the square?"

Mira shrugged and put away her phone. "It's the only way that isn't marked as dangerous."

Saint chuckled across the Packheart Rings. "Everywhere is dangerous. Watch yourselves."

I was just about to respond when screams erupted from behind us. A bestial roar erupted, and the gunfire intensified near the group of gangers. It looked like their fire had the reverse affect and attracted the mutants nearby. Mira and I both sped up and slipped out onto the next street over.

Something heavy slammed the mouth of the alley just ahead of us. A riot shield, dented and discarded, flopped to the ground. Both of us darted to the sides of the alley and took up firing positions just in time to see a half dead ganger drop at the mouth of the alley.

"L-leave me alone, you demons!" His voice came out broken and distorted. Probably thanks to the several cuts all over his throat. It looked like someone tried to decapitate him but seriously overestimated their strength.

A small group rounded the corner. Looters based on what they carried. They were young, wild-eyed, and carrying makeshift weapons. Nothing more than clubs and a few knives. They surrounded the ganger, though froze up when they spotted us standing there with gunks raised. Both sides stared at each other.

A moment of silence passed. Just as my grip was tightening, Mira raised a hand palm open. Her voice came out commanding, brokering no chance of argument or cutting a deal. "Let us through."

I flared Fear the Reaper to back up her words, though didn't drop my gun for a moment. The effect was instantaneous. One of the kids outright tripped over his feet and fell into the snow, and the rest all had varying expressions of terror. Even the downed hanger had a suspicious wet patch growing on his groin.

One of the kids, seemingly the leader of the group, took charge. The scrawny guy was relatively calm even with death looking down on him. That is, except for the horrible trembling of his leg. Still, he kept up a strong face in front of his group. "Grab an' drag the perv. We'll take this somewhere else."

They kids quickly followed his orders and picked up the half-dead ganger, dragging him back out of the alley. One of them, a tiny looking girl, snatched the riot shield. By the time we exited out onto the street, the malnourished pack had completely vanished.

"They were just kids…" She sighed and moved up beside me. Her voice paused, almost hesitant to aske me, "were you planning on shooting?"

"If they made a move." My heart felt oddly tight for some reason. "L-look—everyone's something until chaos starts."

We started to move again through the shattered guts of the heights. The scent of fire and rage filled the air. "The Shiro I knew wouldn't just shoot at kids without hesitation."

"Yeah, well…" She died. Strangled and drowned back in Mother's perverse embrace. It was much better to open fire preemptively than to get injured here. We had so much more to do tonight. "Hesitation gets you killed."

"How- how about I take point from here on out?" Mira's looked at me. Her eyes burned for some reason.

I bit back a remark and slowly nodded my head. Maybe she was right… Even if they were gang members, I would've been hesitant back then. I could blame Mother, but I wasn't even sure when it all started. Was this change—was it a good thing? Why was I even questioning myself?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

A large part of me, the side that'd been battered and beaten by this cursed city, said it was. That I was just protecting myself with every shot fired. That no amount of preemptive attack would be enough as long as it ensured I'd be fine at the end of the day. Once I was stronger—once I had better Perks and equipment—I could be more choosy. Mercy was the right of the strong.

The part of me that still remembered that desperate girl lying in Nael's clinic said otherwise. That I'd already fallen too far. That Aythryn City had taken its toll, as it always did. Instead of money, though, it stole sanity and empathy. It wasn't too late though. I could still turn things around.

"C-can we talk about this later?" I forced myself to ask. Although most of me didn't see an issue, that in of itself was frightening. "Now isn't the time."

"Once we get out." Mira dropped her rifle and lightly patted me on the shoulder. That judgement in her gaze had melted into understanding. Or maybe there had been no judgement in the first place, and I was only seeing things.

"Pack of mutants inbound. Get a move on if you don't want to be caught out." Saint's warning got us moving for the square once more. Even as we moved, I couldn't shake the heavy feeling that settled over me.

— — —

"W-what are you thinking?" Luna asked after Saint replayed the clip with the kids one more time.

"She needs a psychiatrist." Saint paled for a moment, though was reassured no one on the other side of the rings spoke up. He still wasn't used to Shiro's magic rings. "Shoot first, ask questions never is a terrible way to live."

"Really? I-if they fired, it would've been much cleaner," The Netrunner spoke at complete odds with her usual timid personality. "N-no telling if that group will stab them in the back."

Saint paused his typing and stared up at the girl for several moments. "Sounds like you need one too. They were just kids, Luna."

"So are we—they." Luna shrugged half-heartedly. "I-I turn nineteen in a month. Kids can be just as vicious as adults. M-more so, even. They usually don't have a strong moral compass to guide them yet."

Saint went silent at that. He mutely reworked the interaction with the pack of kids and put it up on the main stream. Although most people were here for the blood and brutality, he felt it was only right to remind them that there were other ways. That people were still people despite their circumstances.

"Still… if anyone should get a second chance, it'd be the kids who didn't know any better." He sighed and stared at a still frame of the gang of kids. A quick search of the ganger's face through the Crusade database revealed enough for him to loose any opinion on why they were killing him. He suddenly felt much older than he actually was. "If the situation was reversed, I'd hope they were given the same chance."

"Sure, sure, me too." Luna nodded her head in agreement. It was easy to hope for mercy while not giving it to anyone else.

Saint went silent once more. Surprisingly, the one that seemed the most battle-hungry was the one that agreed with him. Once this was over, he'd have to talk with Mira about it. He'd have to see where she stood, and then from there hopefully talk to the other two. It wasn't bad, per se, just sad.

Then again, maybe he was in the wrong and just didn't realize it. That was a scary thing to admit, but he wasn't so blind that he'd insist his way was the correct way. Being a hypocrite was the only guarantee in trying to keep up a moral compass. The world he lived in was so much different then how he was brought up, yet still the same in all the worse ways.

— — —

The square opened up like a gaping wound in the city. It was surprisingly wide and full of smoke. Burning and shattered barricades lay scattered around in flickering lights. Overturned cars and vehicles were scattered everywhere, headlights casting a haunting flow. Corpses, by the dozens, lay all over the place. Most looked like civilians caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The central part of the square was a cracked fountain regurgitating bloody water. A defaced statue was toppled over the side of the fountain, letting water pool down across the square. The contaminated water had turned into spikes, creating a deadly looking array of bloody ice.

Mira moved in carefully, crouching down behind the shattered fountain to scan the chaos. "Looks clear enough."

I followed beside her, eyes peeled for a combatant that might not ever appear. "Clear isn't exactly a thing in this part of the city."

A sudden crack cut through the air, proving me right. A bullet snapped past and slammed into Mira's Halo Cortex. The halo bobbed, though deflected the bullet away without any issue. "Contact!"

"No shit!" I dove for cover behind an overturned car as rounds tore through the faint smoke. They were disciplined bursts. Not just any ganger, then. We were dealing with professionals. "Luna!"

"O-on it!" A few seconds later, several red dots illuminated all around the clearing. They were all in perfect shooting angles up.

Constant bursts kept Mira entirely pinned below cover. I looked her over for injuries, but she was completely fine, albeit slowly being covered in dust. "These aren't civies!"

I slunk back and activated Dexterity. The world slowed to a crawl around me. Illusive shadows seemed to lunge up and wrap around me, obscuring my presence. "Six of them. Four on the other side and two second floor—"

A burst from across the metal body of the car interrupted me and I ducked back into safety. A quick burst from Mira, precise and brutal, caused one of the lights to blink out. She ducked back down just in time to avoid another hail of bullets.

"Five left," Luna announced over the Packheart Rings.

I blindly fired toward the last dot on the second floor before I even got a clear angle. Fire erupted from each of my Blaze rounds. Another light blinked out. "Four."

I pulled the Dragonfly up into my HUD to get a better idea of what we were working with. There were four left, using barricades and pillars as cover. Insignias of some merc company were barely visible on their shoulders. These guys were a step up from gangers.

The buzz of a drone swooped low and a spotlight erupted. The bright light momentarily blinded me and completely gave away both of our positions. Just before I could shoot it, the light cut off and lit up the four mercs instead.

"It's mine!" Luna cackled and flew the hijacked drone to avoid a burst of fire from the mercs.

"Cover me!"

I broke cover and opened fire randomly toward the four slags still alive. Even if my bullets didn't do anything, the blaze rounds were damn intimidating. Each one sparked with brilliant light like a thermite pouch catching fire.

Between me and the drone distracting, Mira broke cover and darted toward the burnt out husk of a car. Rounds chewed through the asphalt around her, though by then she was already sliding into cover.

"Mira?!" I chanced a peek to check on my mikata.

"I'm nova!" Fire erupted from her rifle as if to prove the fact. Yet another dot blinked out of existence. Three left. "Just took a few hits to my carrier. I'm all—"

Boom!

An explosion erupted from their side of the square. One of my blaze rounds had caught a gas tank on fire, and the entire car erupted in the ensuing chaos. The shockwave tore through the square, easily throwing the three dots to the ground. Snow swirled up, displaced by the sudden wave.

Neither of us missed the opportunity. By the time I locked onto one and sent several shots into his chest, Mira had already erased the other two red dots. Silence settled across the square.

"Get moving," Saint called calmly across the line. "There's a pack of mutants rapidly approaching after the explosion. Looks like more PMCs too from the other side."

"Got it." I sprinted over to Mira, and the two of us fled the square. Thankfully, neither of us were too banged up from the short fight. Mira took a few dinks to her plate carrier, but otherwise was perfectly fine. Hopefully, it'd be a straight shot to the co-op now. After that, we could get out of here before the situation worsened.

— — —

AN: Heyo! I got word on when Outrun is dropping on kindle—Feb 9th. I'm super stoked to be announcing that. Honestly, back when I first started Outrun, I never thought it'd get more than ten or twenty followers, let alone an actual, published book. And a second one coming up as soon as I finished the manuscript. I wouldn't be here without you guys! Thank you, my lovely readers, for being so freaking awesome.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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