Old World & New Wars (Valentine and Silence)

[Silence]

Fergus left his city full of black spires to wander the wilds. It was what all the men of his city did, to hunt, spy and make war with those in their reach. This time he wanted more than the usual. He had his mind set on finding an Elite. For so long they had hid behind their precious white walls. There was nothing left of nature in them. Scrubbed clean and they thought of themselves as superior. They wouldn't be able to survive a day here in the wilds. He could lure them out with barely an insult, he was sure of it.

Sniffing he wiped a hand under his nose and ignored the rain that dripped from his black hair. His skin an olive tone blended with the bark of the trees and the dirt that soaked up the moisture. A smudge of grease washed from his hair and over his face. Fergus' dark features were contrasted by gold tinted hazel eyes. Around the Iris a dark ring only seemed to make them more obvious.

Skulking to the edge of the wilds he watched the white city for several minutes. They had cleared the area around their city. There was no cover if he wished to make an advance. He would have to wait until nightfall. Hopefully in the darkness they would not see the approach that he and his men would make.

*****************************************************************

Rain continued to fall and it hid the shifting shadows. Fergus almost rubbed his hands with glee. "Tonight we'll paint their walls and I'll find a drain." They had to have some way to get the waste out of their city and he didn't mind using it if he had to. With the tattoos marring his otherwise beautiful skin he blended with the ground.

A little wind caught his cloak in the wind as he darted out toward the wall. In the downpour he appeared to be hardly more than a shifting shadow cast by the moon and swept by the torrent of rain. Maybe he didn't have the same technology, but he had learned to use the land to his advantage and the weather. It was what it meant to be a man of the wilds. Some called them Brat's, but that name hardly seemed fitting. Elite, that was a completely logical title. They thought of themselves as so much better and that was about to change.

Reaching the wall he began to run along side it looking for anyway in. Wouldn't they be horrified to know that one as filthy as himself could even touch their 'pure' little city.

@Valentine

 

[Valentine]

There was beauty to be found in everything, but tonight Honor found no beauty in the rain. She was strung out. Stumbling back towards what she assumed was home. This was the golden lifestyle of the Elite; overdosing just to feel something.

Anything.

In their attempts to reach perfection, they had forsaken genuine emotion. Replaced by syringes of vibrantly color liquids. Happiness had a price in Elite society and Honor had paid it tonight. Just like she had last night and the night before that.

She stopped in front of one of Centennial Square’s many animated billboards, distracted by a familiar face. Her own. She stood between her mother and father, their designer dogs sitting at their feet. It was an advertisement for her father’s laboratory, but there was so much more to it than that. It was an advertisement in perfection. An advertisement in what those around them should strive to be.

Them.

Honor muttered something unintelligible before stumbling forward to continue her journey. She hated the rain.

***

The alarms began to wail, warning the Elites that their safety had been compromised. Screaming at them to stay inside and protect themselves. Honor was screaming as well. Screaming as she slammed her fists against the steel covering protecting the front door of her home. “Daddy! Please! Don’t leave me out here! Please, daddy! I’m scared!” She wasn’t scared, but she knew she was in danger. In danger of whatever had breeched the walls.

She turned her back to the cold steel, pressing against it as she watched masked men slink out from their safety in the shadows with weapons drawn. Their strange military uniforms were a deep red and their masks were golden. The High Overseers had been dispatched.

A Brat had entered the city, and Honor was trapped outside with them.

 

[Silence]

Fergus found a city gray water drainage system. It was not pumping currently, but it could get him inside. Motioning to the others he began scooting inside. A little slop stuck to the front of his shirt and soaked into his pants. With all the rain it made little difference to him. He could wash later in the yellow river. Wasn't pure water, but it was enough to clean a man if he needed.

Inside the city wall he tilted his head to the side. So quiet here. Nothing like the rowdy streets back home or the drunken party that he was sure to expect when he returned home with a prize from the city. A sloshing sounded as one of the other men had begun crawling through the tunnel after him. Fergus stepped away from the wall and onto the sidewalk. Within seconds alarms began to blare and he looked around. There wasn't anything that should have alerted them. The security here was nothing. They didn't even have guards on the walls. Eyes flashing about he began to skulk toward the shadows anything that would hide him.

Already his heart was pounding. With the alarms going off his men wouldn't likely want to follow. More than likely they were just as scared as himself. Still he was driven...Fergus needed his prize.

Rushing through the city he heard a cry sounding. It was absolutely pathetic. She couldn't sound scared if she wanted to. What could make a better prize than taking an Elite back with him? Still there was that momentary fear of being caught. Guards had begun to mill about. Yet the urge to take the girl was far stronger. Rushing forward he grasped her wrist and stared her in the eyes. Something had triggered the guards to return this way and he pulled her viciously with himself. "Shhh...." Pulling a knife from his belt he showed it to her and yet she was not nearly as frightened as she should be. Such crooked people. Rounding the corner on his way back to the drain he found himself faced with soldiers.

Reverting to a crouch he started to look around. He needed to find a way out of this. "Get out of my way or I kill her." The weapons he didn't even recognize though he was sure that threatening the girl would at least instill some caution. Instead they began to close in. A dead prize didn't mean anything if he couldn't at least brag about getting into their city.

Making a wild charge he threw himself at the smallest and weakest looking of the guards. Thrusting the knife into the man's chest and raising it again as he scrambled over the body. Fergus didn't make it far running when he felt a sharp sting in his leg. Peering back at the guards he threw himself for the nearest culvert. Unless they had some fancy way of detecting him he was sure that he could continue lurking about in the shadows and make it to his little hole to get back out of the city. The security here was quite strange. Hearing the sound of feet nearby he looked up at a pair of boots and then it all went black.

 

[Valentine]

Despite his wild eyes and the knife he wielded, Honor was not afraid; she felt nothing for the wild creature that stood before her. “Get out of my way or I’ll kill her!” The guards responded by closing in.

They didn’t care if Honor lived or died.

The Brat responses was a violent one, launching himself at a guard only to plunge the knife into the poor bastard’s chest.

The sound of the knife exiting his chest cavity was nauseating.

Only once the knife was free did the Brat attempt to make his escape. He didn’t make it very far before a bullet buried itself in the fleshy meat of his thigh and a boot crashed down upon his face. Honor watched on in silence, processing the scene unfolding before her to the best of her ability.

“What will you do with him now?” She wanted to know.

No, needed to know.

“We’ll take him to Dr. Robichaux’s lab.” A nameless guard approached Honor as he spoke, crossing his arms as he tried his best to block her view. “After that it’s up to the good doctor.”

Honor raised a brow, but held her tongue to keep from asking further questions. She was the flesh and blood of the “good doctor,” so it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out what would happen to the Brat. It also wouldn’t be too difficult to sneak in and speak to him. While she didn’t fear the Brat, something about him…intrigued her. He was the first Brat she had ever seen alive with organs on the inside of his body.

“Thank you for protecting me.”

***

The cell that housed Fergus was unbelievably small, barely large enough for him to stretch out in. Other creatures were housed on the cellblock, but very few of them passed at humans; they screamed at Honor as she passed their cells, her designer heels kicking on the cold, metallic floor until she stopped in front of the last cell on the block.

Fergus reminded her of one of the animals caged at the zoo. Pathetic.

“Why did you do it?”

(Sorry it's on the short side, work killed all of my creative juices)

 

[Silence]

Fergus woke up in a cell so short he couldn't do anything except lay or crouch. It was mostly painful to crouch and he noted the little bit of blood forming around the bandage on his leg. They'd even stripped him of his clothing and replaced it with a simple shirt and short pants that hardly amounted to more than boxers. His dark skin and black tattoos showed plainly across his arms.

This neat little box. It made him want to decorate it with something. So plain and boring to stare at nothing. Then a click started to sound and many of the animals began screaming. His head still hurt from the kick to the face and he winced before yelling. "Shut up!" With his one good leg he kicked violently at the wall of his cell and he pounded on the one above himself with his fists. At least it provided some kind of entertainment though it wasn't what he wanted. Fergus needed to get out of here. He wanted his clothing back and he couldn't stand these pristine little cells.

Maybe they thought it was filthy, the wilds. The wilds were his home and he missed the smell of the pinewood trees. Finally the sound died down and let out a sigh. Then that taunting little voice sounded and he turned his head toward her. "Why not? I had a chance to prove that the Elite stuck here in their damn perfect towers aren't safe."

She was an interesting one. Not afraid, but curious. Mostly she was stupid and Fergus had every intention of taking advantage of that. Rolling to his side he leaned against the doorway of the cell. "Let me out and you can see more than this. I can show you the wilds." His golden tinted hazel eyes searched her face. "You want more than this. I know you do."