Year 2054
Month [REDACTED]
Location [ [█████ ] [REDACTED]
The night air rushed past Dante’s face as he sailed through the darkness. The gap between buildings had looked impossible from the ground, six stories up. His body twisted mid-air, every motion a reflex carved into him by countless Arena drills.
He landed hard on the adjacent rooftop, immediately dropping into a roll that absorbed the impact. No time to recover. He was up and running again, boots crunching on loose gravel.
Raaaaghh—
Behind him, screams echoed—distant, raw… Inhuman.
Graaahhk.
The screams continued one after another.
But Dante would not stop. The Mercier sword rode at his back, strapped into a reinforced harness that kept it steady as he ran. It's familiar weight grounded him. It reminded him who he was—what he’d been forged into.
A Mercier.
A Child of the Arena!
Dante reached the edge of the rooftop and surveyed the street below. Vehicles abandoned mid-escape. Smoke rising from a building two blocks over. Dark figures moving with jerky, unnatural strides.
His earpiece crackled. “Dante? Dante, do you copy?” Samantha’s voice came through almost calm.
She’s controlling her fear better than when I last saw her.
“I’m here,” he replied, breath steady despite the sprint. “I’ve reached the location. Just sit tight.”
“Twenty minutes before extraction. The security hub is two blocks north of you—I can’t override the hospital lockdown remotely. You’ll need to find the auxiliary terminal, I found something in the hospital according to what I saw you should be two blocks away from it.”
“Copy that.”
Dante calculated his route. The street below offered the fastest path, but also the most exposed. The rooftops were safer, but the gaps grew wider toward the north. He knew he wouldn’t make those jumps.
No choice. Street level it is.
He took three paces back, then sprinted forward. At the edge, he vaulted outward, catching a rusted drainage pipe on his descent. The metal groaned under his weight but held as he controlled his slide down the building’s face.
Then he ran.
The city was different now.
No longer safe.
No longer hopeful.
Rebirth was gone, replaced by death and bloodied stains.
Footsteps echoed from an alley to his right, dozens of them, moving fast.
Keep moving. Don’t stop for anything.
“Help! Please!” a man’s desperate voice called from the shadows.
“They’re coming—I can’t run anymore!”
Dante didn’t slow down.
He couldn’t afford to.
Samantha needed him to override the hospital lockdown.
Besides that, poor bastard will probably die before I make it.
Or drag me down with him.
He vaulted over the hood of an abandoned car, using the momentum to carry him onto the roof of a delivery van.
From there, he leapt to a low awning, then back to the street. Dante moved as quickly as he could with unnecessary turns, jumps, and slides creating distance between him and the relentless pursuers.
Shadows moved at the edges of his vision, converging from side streets.
They moved disoriented.
Like collective drunks or addicts who had taken too much.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
But the sound…
Graahh
Came the low guttural sounds.
Focus Dante.
Focus!
A figure lurched from behind a crashed bus, directly into his path.
Dante didn’t break stride.
He drove his elbow into its face with brutal force.
It stumbled back, a wet hiss escaping its throat.
THUD!
Huh.
Dante turned his head and saw two hooded figures, blood dripping from under the hood.
RUN!
He didn’t spare them more than a quick glance and ran.
GRAAHH!
Came the roar as the figures ran after him. Heavy, primal breaths or perhaps grunts escaped their lips as they chased him.
No time to fight. Find another way.
And for fucks sake, I have to lose them!
Dante spotted a narrow alley to the left. The alley was tight but offered vertical options—fire escapes, window ledges, drainage pipes.
He jumped, fingers catching the fire escape. Metal shrieked as he pulled himself up, climbing fast. Below, figures crowded into the alley, reaching upward with grasping hands.
Those that ran stayed there for a moment, spasming before running off in another direction. Dante glanced to see one climbing another building nearby.
His earpiece crackled.
“Dante, I’m running out of doors to close. What’s your status?”
“Slight detour,” he said, hauling himself onto a third-floor landing. “Still on track.”
From here, the security hub came into view—a squat, fortified block bristling with satellite dishes. But between him and the objective… a sea of shadows, screams of those still living, and the groans of those that threatened them.
Not that way.
Dante scanned the area. The rooftops were barely close enough for him to make some jumps. He heard noise from the side and saw the hooded figures gaining on him.
No time to overthink I know the path time to move!
He climbed to the roof, then sprinted to the edge facing a department store. The gap was bigger than he liked.
I can make this…
He backed up, ran, and launched himself into the air. For a moment, he was airborne, no safety net or water like in the area. Just the cold embrace of concrete, dark figures and the madness of the streets.
His boots slammed onto the far ledge—barely. He windmilled his arms, wobbling, then steadied.
Too close.
He wasted no time and continued his sprint, reaching steel girders and handholds.
Dante climbed, his body exhausted and his heart pumping.
“I can see it Samantha I’m almost there,” Dante sent his message… No response was given.
“I hope she is ok, she has that bastard with her and I don’t trust him at all.” Dante muttered.
From the top, he scanned the final stretch. The hub was close, but not jumpable.
A power line stretched from the tower to a neighboring building.
I know I mentioned it earlier today.
And when I used Sai’s motorcycle…
Probably a dozen times after that, but.
I
Fucking
HATE
TODAY!
Dante unclipped his belt, looped it over the thick power line, and gritted his teeth.
He jumped.
The world blurred as he slid down the line. Wind whipped at his face. The belt grew hot in his hands. Sparks flickered once or twice. He didn’t look down.
He released the smoking belt, letting it fall into the darkness and overreaching figures below as he dropped onto the rooftop, tucked into a rough roll that barely slowed him, then slammed into a pipe, catching himself before he tumbled off the edge.
Still alive. Somehow. Well, either that or the afterlife looks just like the present life.
His earpiece crackled with static—then Samantha’s voice broke through, strained and breathless.
“Dante—hurry. They’re almost on me. I fended off some and barricaded the door but it won’t—”
He could hear it, the shuffling of feet, and saw from the shadows sprinting figures. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, edging closer.
Samantha, I’ll get you, but no time to confirm, sorry.
He thought as he sprinted.
Dante took a few steps, dropped onto the lower roof terrace that extended from the security hub.
Quickly slamming shut the roof access hatch behind him.
He then continued moving toward the door into the security room.
Of course it is locked, because why would it not be.
Above him, he heard the banging on the safety railing, the groans and roars following as if complaining of his escape.
GRRAAHH!
“Grraahh to you all too buddies.” Dante muttered as he pulled out his Mercier sword.
He struck the pommel against the door handle a few times until breaking it off.
Good thing it’s old school and not scanner locked... which it honestly should be, right? I mean it’s connected to the damn hospital. Never mind, just keep moving.
Dante pushed the door open, sword ready for any troubles.
Inside, emergency lighting cast everything in a red glow. Dante moved quickly through the corridors.
The terminal was exactly where she’d said it would be.
Dante activated the console then contacted Samantha. “I’m at the terminal. What’s the override sequence?”
“Sending it now,” Samantha replied.
Dante entered them quickly.
“Ok you did it Dante thanks I'm going through now. Meet me at the extraction point.”
“Uh you wouldn’t happen to know another way out would you? I have unwanted guests the way I came in.” Dante glanced around.
“Check the terminal.” Samantha responded.
Oh, no way out but a fire escape through that window.
…
It will have to do, this is nice, it has a map of the whole area.
Now, just a quick memorization, just like my Arena days.
“Ok I have my route on my way!”
