Chapter 3
Going swallowed before giving his friend a nod. What else was he supposed to do except join the tide?
"The street is death," Cypher said, his voice tight as he put the final strap on his satchel. "We go over." He pointed upward with his chin.
Finn's eyes followed his gaze to the ceiling, then back to Cypher, his expression a mask of disbelief. "Over? You mean the roofs? Are you insane?"
"I've never been normal." Cypher said to him with a little twitch of his lips. And besides, it's safer than that," he gestured to the window, where the human torrent showed no signs of abating. "Less people, more direct." He didn't wait for an argument.
He strode to the unit's door, unlocked three separate deadbolts, and pulled it open just enough to slip through, Glitch at his heels. Finn, with one last terrified glance at the window, scrambled after him.
The corridor was already a war zone. People shoved and clawed their way toward the main stairwell. Cypher ignored them, turning in the opposite direction and kicking open a rusted maintenance hatch that led to a vertical service ladder. "Up!" he commanded.
The climb was slippery with dirt. No maintenance had been done on these stairs or rather, there was no need to clean the stairs. At least, it was sturdy.
They emerged onto the roof. The roar from the streets below was immense, a constant, grinding sound of panic. Here, stories up, the air was thin and tasted of metal. It wasn't as pure as the one below.
"Here," Cypher said, extending a mask to his friend.
Finn stared at him. Sometimes he wondered what went through Cypher's head. He accepted the mask and wore it. Cypher had designed the mask. It helped to also purity the air. And make it better than what was being taken in as oxygen. But given the fact that the world's best engineer already created something like this, he couldn't sell it.
"Stay low, move fast," Cypher ordered, already breaking into a run.
He moved with a startling, fluid grace, his body a low silhouette against the sickly yellow glow of the district's emergency lighting. Glitch, its four legs pistoning with silent efficiency, kept pace easily. Finn, heavier and less agile, followed, his breath already coming in ragged bursts.
He still did not understand how Cypher was so agile when he hadn't seen him exercise one day. Finn was the one who won rights by wrestling. He busted his ass at the only gym in town. And most times, Cypher refused to go with him, choosing to stick with his gadgets. Not that Finn could blame him and besides, Cypher was the first friend Finn had been able to make even after being here for over twenty four years.
He treated Cypher like a younger brother. And he swore to protect Cypher. It didn't matter that Cypher didn't remember most things about his life or that Finn doubted that Cypher was born in this district. They were brothers, that was all that mattered.
Finn heard a sound and turned. They were not alone. Cypher had been right about the route, but wrong to think it would be empty. Figures darted across the rooftops ahead, leaping gaps between buildings that seemed impossibly wide. The desperation that had turned the streets into a meat grinder was here, too, just faster and with a much longer fall. As they crossed a wider bridge, a dark shape on the rooftop ahead of them kicked a loose ventilation pipe. It rolled directly into their path. Cypher vaulted over it without breaking stride, while Finn picked it up and threw it back in a rage but it missed the person.
"Fucking bastard." Finn cursed.
Cypher yelled back over the wind. "Forget him. Petty trucks wouldn't work on us."
They ran. The world became a blur of rusting steel, gaps, and the distant, flickering lights of the Central Terminus, still miles away. Cypher hoisted Glitch onto his shoulders, the automaton's magnetic claws locking onto his satchel for stability, freeing his hands. He was so focused on the path ahead, on the next jump, the next handhold, that he didn't notice the change.
It was a subtle shift in the quality of the light. The oppressive, artificial ceiling of the dome, which had always capped their world in a uniform black, was simply… gone. The sickly yellow emergency lights now fought against a swirling, deep grey void, a sky that felt diseased.
Finn noticed. He glanced up, his running stride faltering. He saw the roiling, unnatural clouds of the Fog for the first time in his life. And he saw something detach from it.
It was low, flying at their level, a silhouette at jagged angles against the sky. He frowned. Was that a machine? It moved with a twitching, organic wrongness, its leathery wings beating the air with a sound like wet canvas tearing. It was coming straight for them.
That was no machine. Finn realised.
"Cypher!" Finn screamed, but his voice was lost in the activities of the city and the rising shriek of the wind. The creature was closing the distance with terrifying speed. Cypher was still running, focused. Perhaps if he looked up, he'd notice the creature's shadow.
But he was focused on the person who kept on throwing logs their way and he had said to leave him before but he had to teach this person a lesson. Although that lesson would never come.
There was no time. No time to explain, no time to warn. With a cry of pure terror, Finn lunged. He slammed his shoulder into Cypher's side, a desperate shove.
The impact sent Cypher sprawling. He hit the rooftop hard, skidding on the rough surface, Glitch tumbling from his shoulders and landing with a metallic clatter. He looked up, confusion and anger warring on his face, just in time to see Finn turning to jump down to a lower roof.
He never made it.
The creature was on him. It descended on him in an instant. Finn struggled but it was in vein. One moment Finn was there, a solid, breathing person. The next, he was gone, enveloped by the thing.
The sound was the worst part. It crunched Finn's bones with blood splashing on Cypher's body who lay rooted to the ground. The creature continued eating, while Cypher stared in horror.
The shriek of tearing metal from Finn's worn jacket mixed with the deeper, sickening snap of his spine. A thick, hot spray of red mist erupted, painting the air where he had been standing. Finn's scream, which had just begun to form, was severed instantly, cut off into a choked, gurgling pop.
Cypher stared, his eyes wide, unblinking. The world dissolved. The roar of the city, the screams of the panicked crowd, the whine of the wind, it all faded away, replaced by a deafening, high-pitched ring in his ears. He saw a single, worn boot fall from the creature's grasp and clatter onto the rooftop a few feet away. He saw the thing bank, its wings beating powerfully, and ascend back into the poisoned grey sky, a mangled, dripping ruin clutched in its grasp.
He was on his hands and knees, but he didn't remember falling. He couldn't move. His muscles were locked, his entire body seized by a paralysis so profound it felt like he'd been turned to stone. The ringing in his ears intensified, a piercing shriek that vibrated behind his eyeballs. He tried to breathe, but his lungs wouldn't obey.
People remaining: 299,399
Accepted residents: 0