Boss King and the Blade

Welcome to another slice of life in the Zone, focusing on the Central Markets in the Hole, a rundown district of Spitfield city. The impetus for this story came from two different directions, hopefully meeting together to tell two interlinked tales.

One revolves around Boss King, the young boy with a big machete who demands money to park at the Central Markets. He has appeared in a couple of my earlier stories and I wanted to explore more about who he was and what drove him.

The second arc involves the ex-Guard clone Trixie, whose tale began in Retirement Day. In that story, she had been tasked with locating and shooting a mother and child who were trying to escape the Zone. Trixie refused to take the shot, so Archimedes overrode her body and fired the weapon, killing what seemed to be innocent victims.

It was this act which broke the Guard clone out of her subservient behaviour, getting her sentenced to early Retirement. She was rescued by Jericho-Three and in subsequent stories she plays more important roles, ultimately becoming the Avatar’s most trusted operative.

Yet I always imagined she was haunted by the incident with the child, especially considering she took her name as a kind of tribute to the dead girl. This story is an attempt to explain who those people were, why Archimedes killed them and the lasting effect it had on the Guard clone.

Please enjoy.

Prologue

Melody-Six

The girl ran as fast as she could, dragging the wounded Nursemother by the hand. It was dark in the tunnel, only a faint glow emanating from a control panel on one curved wall. In the distance, staccato bursts of gunfire could be heard, echoing loudly from the direction they had come.

“Leave me, Melody” the woman insisted. She staggered to the tunnel wall, laying her back against the pipes and cables that ran along its inner face. “I’ve lost too much blood already. I’m just slowing you down”

“We’ll be fine, Nursemother Narelle” Melody replied with a confidence she didn’t feel. She was only thirteen years old, but she knew from her training that the older woman was dying. The Guard clones had shot her precisely in the lower abdomen, a wound intended to make her bleed out while she futilely tried to escape.

More gunfire echoed to their ears, the higher pitched notes of Guardfather Gregory’s assault rifle. It was answered by the deeper bass notes of a Guard clone rifle, multiple weapons adding their voice to the roar of destruction. Their protector’s weapon fell silent and Melody felt a lump form in her young throat.

He had been the last of her defenders, the only Guardfather from her Nest to escape with them. His last act was to give her and the Nursemother a chance to flee the assault, to try and find a way to another Nest.

With him gone, it left only Melody and Nursemother Narelle to pass on the lessons learned by their fragment of the Hive. Melody reached again for her companion’s hand, but the Nursemother pushed her away.

“No, you need to go now, Melody-Six” Narelle demanded. She gathered herself to her feet, a once pretty woman with practical short blonde hair and brilliant green eyes. They were dulled by pain and loss, yet the dim red glow from the lights gave her a fiery appearance. “The escape shaft is just ahead, you remember where?”

“Yes, I remember, Nursemother” she whispered. Her eyes were drawn to the slim pistol the woman drew from her bloodstained white coat, a Peacegiver. The Nursemothers only showed their weapons in times of utter desperation, her training had taught her that.

“Please, come with me” she begged. “I can’t go on alone. I am so frightened”

Nursemother Narelle smiled at her then, her face transformed into beauty as she gazed at Melody.

“You were always my favourite, Melody-Six” her mother said, a trickle of blood running from her smiling mouth. “Remember that I loved you and you will never be frightened”

With that, the woman turned and staggered at a slow run towards their enemy. A tall, inhuman form appeared at the distant junction of the tunnel, sheathed in dark grey armour. Nursemother commenced firing her tiny gun, the Guard clone barely flinching as the bullets pinged and bounced from the impervious armour.

It fired a short burst from its own weapon, the flash and boom filling the tunnel with death. Her beloved protector and caregiver fell, crumpling in a bloody heap against the unmoving clone soldier.

Melody felt a scream rise in her throat, a feeling of pure hatred and despair overwhelming her senses. She would have run at this monster, this travesty of human form and pummelled it with her bare fists.

A single word stopped her madness. The bloodied woman, leaning almost drunkenly against her enemy, turned that once beautiful face towards Melody.

“Run” she commanded and Melody obeyed.

She ran, following her memories, instinctively seeking the hatch that opened into the deep shaft. It sprang open at her touch, a narrow tube that descended into the darkness, a waft of dank air and waste filling her nostrils.

“Stop!” commanded the Guard clone. Melody spared it a brief glance, seeing the monster had opened its visored helmet when it chased her. An almost human face glared at her, only the artificial right eye proving it was one of the unfeeling killing machines.

“You don’t have to die” the artificial woman told her, reaching out its left hand as if willing her to stay. Melody saw the blood staining its armour, all that remained of her Nest and the ones she had loved.

“I won’t die” she replied and stepped into the shaft.