Division
I stood on the roof of one of the few remaining skyscrapers in all of New York, hands braced against the cement wall that acted as a rail between me and the ground below. My eyes raked over the crumbling buildings and broken windows of the city. The gray sky only added to the sullen atmosphere the city had been giving off since the bombing of 2059.The once beautiful city had been abandoned after that, save for the Division.
Division had quickly moved into the wasted city after the bombing, setting up their headquarters underground so they wouldn’t be found. 2 years of tunneling underneath the city had resulted in the labyrinth that was their home base, their labs, even their black market to an extent. Here their agents train and receive instructions, occasionally weapons. Their efforts are examined for a month or more, then they are given a mission…and their choice.
Finish the mission or die.
“Zane?”
Paige’s voice shook me out of my reverie and I turned to face her. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun and her black attire accented her blue eyes nicely. She caught me staring and smirked at me.
“Are you done staring or do you want me to stand here a little longer?”
I laughed.
“I have a choice?”
She scowled and stepped over to me so she could smack my arm. I held up my hands in surrender and she glared at me.
“You’re such an a**.”
With that she pulled out our target information and glanced out over the city, as though she were worried someone could see us.
“So. What’s Division got us on this time? Recon, ambush, cuts?”
She sighed and held up a mug shot of a man in his early thirties.
“Ah, cuts.”
I took the picture and studied it, committing the face to memory. She pulled out a sheet from the file and whistled.
“Damn.”
I looked over her shoulder to see a pretty impressive rap sheet: murder, mass murder, major theft, the works.
“It’s amazing he wasn’t been cut before now…”
Paige put the sheet back and held out her hand for the photo. Without a word she slammed the file shut and reached into her bag for our weapons. She pulled out a twin set of silver guns, already loaded. She zipped the bag shut and stashed it under a loose cement brick. Her gun clicked as she cocked it.
“Ready?”
I smirked and cocked my gun as well. Reaching out her arm, Paige pressed a button on the edge of her silver Division bracelet. I did likewise with my belt buckle. A few seconds, that was all it took for our boards to appear. About 4 feet in length, our hover boards were standard Division transportation. They could take you anywhere, if you could stay on.
I leapt onto mine and assumed a crouching position and my board shot off. Guiding it with the shifts in my weight, I dodged the remains of the city and gained speed as I did so. By the time I reached the city limits my estimated speed was 250 mph, at least according to the gauge on the board. The gray sky and tones of muted greens and browns of the scenery whipped past as the board shot through the countryside. By my guess we were getting close to the territory that was once called Kentucky, the only way to really tell was there was greener here. The bombs’ devastation hadn’t been as severe here as it had in New York.
I glanced behind me to see Paige right on my tail, taking in the scenery as well. I shot her a smile and she scowled at me. Chuckling to myself, I checked the boards speed. We were down to 175 now. I watched as the scenery around us slowly became visible and less blurred. The boards lurched to a stop at the far limits of a crumbling town similar to the one we’d come from. They dumped us unceremoniously to the ground and sped off to Division headquarters to be reprogrammed.
I stood and dusted of my clothes and glanced around. Nothing seemed overly suspicious, but you never could tell. People play dirty when they’re cornered. Together, Paige and I sprinted into the city to find the target. According to the file he was hiding out here, somewhere along the edges of the city. As we ran, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up. I slowed to a jog, earning a panicked look from Paige.
“Zane? What the hell…?”
I motioned for her to shut it and signed the signal for ‘being watched’. After a moment’s hesitation, I pulled out my gun and walked over to a nearby building. Pressing my back against its wall, I scanned the nearby rooftops in an attempt to locate our stalker. The flash of metal on the roof top directly across from us caught my attention. Paige noticed it too and shot out into the street to enter the building. A second later the flash became a gun aimed directly at Paige.
“Paige!”
She paused right there in the street, enough to allow the bullet to miss her by a fraction of an inch. She cursed and kept running to the building. I swore and followed her, gun in my hand and heart pounding in my chest. I followed the sound of Paige’s footsteps and ended up at the foot of a stairway.
“Paige?!”
She didn’t answer. I cursed and mounted the stairs two at a time. Somewhere above me a door opened and a second round of gunshots followed short after. I doubled my speed and burst through the door to see Paige and our target facing off, guns pointed to kill. The man paled as he saw me and cocked his gun. I pointed my own gun at him, panting a little.
“Paige?”
She nodded, indicating she was unharmed but never taking her eyes off the man. I sighed and took a few steps closer to the man but careful to stay out of Paige’s line of fire. I made my face emotionless and addressed the man.
“Hunter Nelson?”
The man didn’t answer, but I noticed his jaw twitch in recognition. Despite my experience in this sort of job a knot of dread formed in my stomach. I’d always hated this part.
“You have been found guilty by Division for mass murders and association with several major thefts and kidnappings. As a punishment for your crimes, you will be cut.”
My stomach twisted painfully as I said the last words. I had to kill this man now, tear him away from the life he knew and send him into a wasteland even worse than the god-forsaken earth we lived on now. Against my better judgment, I began second guessing myself and Division. Should I really be doing this? Could I shoot this man, right here on this rooftop?
Yes, yes I could.
“Prepare to die.”
With that I took aim and pulled the trigger. The man jumped and fell to the ground, motionless. Now that the deed was done, my doubts melted away. This was my job, to be judgmental. To rid the world of criminals like him.
With the last ounces of adrenaline still burning in my veins, I turned to face Paige. Her face was solemn, but her eyes burned with the same energy as mine. Together we returned to the bottom floor and stepped out into the street. The gray sky parted slightly to let a little sunlight through, giving the crumbling city a hopeful glow despite the still strong smell of gunpowder and blood. Paige pressed the intercom button on her bracelet and spoke clearly into the microphone…
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