Others

      Kenny walked slowly through the streets of Underground City. He'd just killed a big shot police officer who'd been foolish enough to participate in the elimination himself and had been careless enough to show his face to the killer. And the Ripper doesn't miss a chance. He killed him in his own room, slitting his neck from ear to ear. He slipped in and slipped out just as quietly. He had a personal grudge, not against that man, but against the police, the government. They were not only responsible for his family's downfall, but they had actively participated in it, Ackerman remembered that well. And all of them he was going to kill, right down to the very top. Right now he missed the fresh night breeze, that always calmed him down after another murder, but for now there was no business on the surface, and it was safer to disappear into the Underground City. Besides, as practice had shown, there was plenty to keep him entertained in this place, too.       Kenny headed toward Kiva's house, unable to say why, for there were no survivors of the slaughter. He'd even allowed himself to walk past the spot, where it had happened eight hours ago. There wasn't much chance, that anyone had survived, it looked more like a massacre. The cops were surprisingly smart in their deployment, blocking all possible exits, so if anyone escaped from the clash inside, they were quickly killed with rifle shots or rifle butts. Not all the bodies had been removed; Kenny had seen some lying there before this evening. But this fact did not stir any response in his soul. A normal moment in life, he was used to it. Near a familiar fence he saw bloodstains on the ground, and Kenny had already imagined, what he would see, but just as quietly he walked inside the yard. After all, he really wouldn't see anything new there.       He entered the flimsy construction. At first nothing caught his eye, the place seemed even emptier than usual, but then he recognized Kiva. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall near the crate, her head down. There was already congealed blood all around her, her shirt was scarlet in several places, as were her pants. He stared at the sight calmly, but suddenly there was a slight movement - she lifted her head, and Kenny saw the smeared blood on her chin.The eyes, which usually watched everything around them with such insight and eagerness, were cloudy. The gaze of those unseeing eyes, for a time, seemed to see through him, then cleared. When she squeezed a word out of herself, her voice sounded a hoarse, teary whistle: "You-uh."       He answered nothing, sat down on the table, took off his hat.       She kept her gaze on him, in which a strange fire was now raging, it helped her keep her flickering mind in this world. When she broke the silence again, there was an obvious sneer in her voice: "Sorry... you can't fuck me tonight."       She laughed, but suddenly coughed hoarsely, and spit out a clot of blood. Obviously something was wrong with her lung, she had been coughing a lot before he came, and that hoarseness in her voice confirmed it. Kenny smiled a cold grin, he remained perfectly calm, noticing a little more detail, than he had at first. Around the girl were pieces of cloth, some in blood, two empty vials, a book open on a page. Obviously she was trying to give herself first aid. He thought to himself, that this had actually delayed, what was coming.       Her shirt was more bloody in several places on her stomach, her legs had several deep cuts, and her fingers were covered in blood. She must have been hit by several police bullets. Kenny rested his elbow on his leg, propped his head up with his hand, and answered in a detached, slightly tired voice: "You talk too much."       Ackerman was well aware of her excessive talkativeness and insane cheerfulness. She finaly had nothing to lose, the end was inexorably approaching, they both felt it, they both knew it.       He understood, that the girl would say whatever she thought and wanted to say, even through the pain, because it couldn't get any worse now. She laughed again, as much as her torn throat would allow, now drilling him with her gaze. "It's funny, you know...if I'd stayed with you...I wouldn't be...spitting blood right now...wouldn't you want to spare me from this?"       He still didn't answer. What could he say to her? He sighed, threw back his head. His face was unreadable. They were silent for a while. When Kiva spoke again, her voice sounded even friendly. "I'm glad that... you're the one, who's here now."       She began to speak more slowly, as if comprehending the words, or simply floating away from reality. Kenny waited patiently.       He was so used to death, so often walking hand in hand with it, that it was all but mildly regrettable. For a moment, he thought, the girl had slipped into oblivion, but Kiva's gaze cleared again, and she wanted to say something again, but suddenly she started coughing, squeezing out brightly colored blood. "How fucked up is this...coughing. Kenny, will you do one thing?"       He flinched slightly, she had called him by his name, was she making a request of him? "H-m?" "Finish me... it's horrible to leave like that... bleeding, feeling the... life go out of you."       He still didn't say a word, but he pulled out a knife and twirled it thoughtfully. After a while, he came and squatted down in front of her.       That made Kiva smile, more like a grin. Consciousness flickered less and less, like a candle about to burn down and go out in molten wax. She didn't take her gaze away from his face, uttered: "Look me ... in the eyes, so you will remember me, because I ... will not be able to forget you."       He didn't smile and looked at her seriously, literally fulfilling her request to remember her. It was funny, but at that moment his face, without the usual smile, even seemed kind to her. There was the same silent understanding between them now, as there had been in the tavern. He didn't need to say anything now, just listen to her mind go blank. She closed her eyes, breathing hard, her throat sore, her body throbbing with pain. She looked at the man again, and Kiva thought, that before he will kill her, she should tell him about how the instinct of the animal had come out in that firefight, how natural and even beautiful it had been.        That she could understand Kenny, his behavior, his personality, because for those minutes, when she saw her friends die, she became a beast, just like Kenny himself. Isn't it funny how you realize, what you are before the end? She wanted to say, that she had crossed that line in herself and had begun, albeit briefly, the journey of a predator, and who better than another predator can finish that journey. That she held no particular grudge against him, that she was even glad, that he would be the one to take her life, the kind of death she preferred more than a slow fading away. But while the girl was thinking how to say it better and more accurately, the consciousness stopped blinking, it faded out.