Stepping out of the clock tower, Shin and I looked at each other.
"Did you know he used to hunt Vampires?"
"Nah, he doesn't talk about his past all that much; anyway, he can handle himself without us. What is our next heading?"
I had to get out of the rain before I could safely read the files.
So I began looking for shelter and saw a Gazebo nearby.
Crossing inside its boundary, I could finally pull out the files without getting them wet.
We had checked off the Laundry. The next place on our list was the factory.
It had been sealed after a murder took place there last week.
But a janitor had reported this morning that a foul stench was coming from inside the factory.
"We are going to the factory off the Twenty Third Crossing in the Industrial complex of New Plied."
"Does that mean we have to run across the town again?"
Shin sounded done with it at this point, and I just nodded.
"Get on my back; I am getting this over with."
All right, time for another reality check.
I climbed on his back and found myself flying past the buildings.
There was no doubt that Shin wasn't even close to Eldrain's speed, but he was in no right slow.
The run that had taken us around fifteen minutes just became a three minute run as we leapt over the City Hall.
Then it took us around another two minutes to reach the Industrial sector.
All along the ride, I could only think of how thrilling it must be to be able to do this at will.
Near the end, he slowed down considerably as we landed on the roof of the adjacent factory, without a sound.
Setting me down, both he and I approached the target factory and looked inside from the skylight, finding it empty.
We looked at one another and nodded as Shin pulled one panel open just enough for us to enter without letting the rainfall inside.
Hrrrk!
Fighting the impulse to puke, I covered my mouth and nose to block out the vile stench that rose from inside.
Something has been dead in there for days.
I looked at Shin, who was unbothered by it and just looked at me, before nodding towards the skylight.
Tilting back to my right, I took a deep breath before giving Shin a nod.
With precise movement, he leaned over the opening and grabbed the ledge before letting his body fall into the factory, hanging from the ledge.
Slowly, he lowered himself until his feet landed on the railing of the upper balcony.
Beckoning for me to join him.
I was not that trusting of my own strength and ability, so I turned around, hanging my legs from the ledge and slowly lowered my body inside. Before long, my feet found their footing on the railing, but I was still sceptical of my balance, so I couldn't let go.
Shin saw this, shook his head, stepped down, and grabbed my coat.
"Let go, I have you."
Listening to him, I did as he told me and almost lost my balance immediately, but he held me and kept me steady, letting me get down onto the balcony without making any sound.
When I stood up and dusted my hands, Shin, who was scanning the entire space, paused on my face before frowning.
"Are you holding your breath?"
How could he tell, but I was not going to admit that this vile stench was killing me.
So I just shook my head.
"You're lying; your face is literally red. Breathe, man. It ain't that bad."
I tried to fight against it, but at last.
Ahh
It became unbearable to hold my breath as I breathed in at last and got hit with that vile stench once again.
God, please get me out of here.
Raghav, where are you?
"Let's roll."
We moved forward through the upper section, slowly looking around at the place.
The machines had not shown any sign of usage in the past few days.
They just sat there collecting dust; the uniforms were hung in place, while some were knocked down on the ground.
After sweeping the top floor clear, we moved down to the lower levels.
"So are we just going to sit here in this shithole?"
Looks like someone is here after all.
Following the sound, we reached the bathroom.
Inside, we could hear three or four people talking amongst themselves.
The door had a transom louvre at the top, which Shin and I used to look through, getting a good look at the conditions inside.
A total of three men sat around on the floor with a small stool between them.
To their left was the source of the stench, a dead body, lying there, a chunk of its neck missing.
"We won't stay here for long. The Plieders and the Mineority are running out of time. It is a matter of days before they are eradicated. I can't think of a better time to break out of their shadows. So think of this as waiting out the storm."
These guys, what are they doing here?
"What will we do once this is all over? Do you think we can just go out and take the city?"
The man who seemed to be the leader laughed as he looked at the other two.
"My loyal soldiers, once the old gangs fall, then everything will be up for grabs; businesses owned by these gangsters will be sold at a low price back to the common folk to keep production and the economy afloat. You know what it means?"
The other two shook their head as the man's lips curled upwards to the left, and in a low voice he spoke clearly and crisply.
"It's free real estate."
Using all the strength I had, I held my own laugh and extended my hand to cover Shin's mouth just in case he broke.
Apparently, he had the same Idea as we both covered each other's mouths as well as our own.
From the first moment I heard that phrase, it has been my trigger; I can't not react to it.
It just sneaks up on you.
Then, once we had recovered, we paid more attention to the conversation.
"That is, if we survive, Vasqe already took one of our men. His message is clear: even if he goes down, he won't leave anyone behind to replace him, and he most certainly won't let those who cross him live. Taran and I overheard some of his men say that they were going to take out Markus, the businessman. That was right before they found us and killed him."
The man to the left reached over, placing his hand on the dead man's chest as his voice began to break down.
So the dead man's Taran.
"Do you know where the big boss is?"
The other man asked, looking at the leader, who shook his head.
"Don't got a clue, he is either dead or behind bars, I mean he was stupid enough to go strike a deal with The Hero of all people. It is good we cut off from them when we did."
Oh, so they are members of the Mineority then. As per the report, they were the ones whom Raghav met with in the central park on Thursday night.
Finally, a lead that can take us somewhere close to catching members of Mineority.
"It was a good idea to hide here; the city watch has overlooked this place because they had just cleared it a few days ago."
Point to self, inform the Chiefs of each district to recheck sealed locations.
A hand tapped my shoulder as I looked at him.
"I believe we should bring them in now. Highly doubt they are gonna reveal anything more useful in their idle chitchat."
He whispered, covering his mouth, and I nodded.
The information they would share among themselves was bound to be the truth, but there is only so much they would share on their own. The rest will have to be broken out of them.
Among all that is happening, I feel a little sad for them; they have been stuck here for hours with their dead friend, making up dreams of success to comfort each other, and here we are about to pour water on those dreams.
"I will open the door; you rush in and subdue them."
Scrape
A sound came from inside the bathroom, but I chose to ignore it as I reached for the door as soon as Shin nodded.
When the door swung open, Shin ran in, not giving the men any time at all to adjust.
He grabbed the heads of the two men from behind and slammed them on the table before drop kicking the leader in the face.
Ohhh, that's not good. A head injury before interrogation is never a good idea.
They get all jumbled up.
Just as I had taken a step in the bathroom, the stalls shook violently and burst open.
Two men rushed out of a single stall, and one of them tackled Shin through the wall and into the next room.
While the other turned his attention to me, I could recognise what this man was.
He lunged at me, attempting to bite my neck.
However, I reached forward, grabbed his collar and rolled backwards, throwing the Vampire over myself and through the bathroom door.
Lying down, I tilted my head up and pulled out my crossbow, shooting the recovering Vampire in the back of the knee.
Which must have gone clean through.
So I made my decision and ran after him, kicking him in the back of the same knee.
Sending him to one knee on the floor before grabbing his head from behind and bashing it on the floor over and over.
I was hoping I could somehow knock him unconscious before he recovered.
Five seconds, five seconds was all I could overwhelm him for, before he lifted himself with me on his and grabbed my wrists.
Despite knowing what was coming, I couldn't do anything to change the outcome.
At last, I was flung forward, breaking through a wooden beam, before the upper balcony crashed down, ready to pancake me.
Such an attack should have broken my back before killing me.
But with the enhancement from the syringe, I was able to not only survive the initial hit but also catch the balcony before it crushed me.
"You seem different from what was described."
I looked up at the man as his thick black eyebrows frowned upon his blood red eyes and his mouth idly opened in confusion.
Letting me get a good look at the four fangs he had.
Oh, I am so breaking them.
Perhaps I should drink the potion An gave me...
No! I should save that for real emergencies.
Giving the balcony a little push, I threw it off and got up, dusting my coat and pulling out my hat from the inner pocket.
Throwing it at his face.
Understandably, he swatted the hat away with the back of his right hand.
Giving me a clean route for a right haymaker straight to the left side of his jaw.
The punch connected and forced the Vampire to take a few steps back.
He moved his tongue inside his mouth before spitting out a fang and locking his eyes on me.
"You are truly not an ordinary human. Fine, then I will treat you as such."
In the time it took me to blink, my hand was grabbed and pulled forward, as he raised his right arm, hitting my face, knocking me to the ground.
UGH
However, I had no time to recover as a stomp coming for my face made me dodge to the left and roll back on my feet just in time for an upward kick to come my way.
I raised my arms to block the attack, yet despite my best efforts, the kick raised my feet from the ground, and the moment I was in the air, a punch came straight to my gut.
Sending me through the main office door and onto the owner's chair.
I am glad I didn't eat lunch yet; with that punch, I would have covered myself in it.
The vampire followed me in; his walk was slow and confident.
He knew what he was doing; I had to get smart if I wanted to survive. I don't know how things are going on Shin's side, but he must also be struggling if he hasn't come to help me yet.
"You know you remind me why I took these powers. Last night, when I woke up, I felt as if I had wasted my life, but now, looking at you. Powerless and pathetic, I now know I made no mistake. Take a good look, Jacob Smith. This is what it means Not To Be Human."
Pfht
"Don't make me laugh; you look shit right now, and I am supposed to believe that it is somehow better?
Looks like I managed to tick a nerve as he punched the table in two and walked towards me, grabbing my collar and ready to bite my neck.
Oh, well, I guess this is it.
Don't know what I was so afraid of.
Let's think about something nice.
I closed my eyes and thought about the one person I felt the happiest around as my final moment drew close.
Oh, Raghav.