Trencher Fed

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The cargo bay echoed with the metallic clang of crates, being unloaded from the hauler onto the cracked pavement of the deserted industrial district. Arianne and Amani moved in lock-step, their movements synchronised as they hefted a pallet stacked high with supplies between them. Sweat beaded on their brows despite the chill of the evening air.
"One tick," Amani grunted, adjusting her grip. This one's heavier than the last." 
Arianne nodded, her focus intense as she squinted through the orange glow around them. The district was dimly lit, the occasional flickering street light casting long shadows across the polycrete. All the fires were long-extinguished, but most of the buildings were ruined or burnt out by plasma, and the stalls and shacks set up along the streets were a mixture of pre-fabbed emergency shelters and whatever people could salvage from the buildings.
"Alright, there." A slight shuffle to the right, an awkward squat down, and the job was done. 
As they set the crate on the ground, Amani wiped her hands down her slacks, her gaze flicking over to Arianne. There was something different about the girl tonight, an edge that hadn't been there before. Arianne's normally bright eyes were now sharp, every movement deliberate.
"Hi, Ari? You dik-div?" Amani asked, concern edging her voice.
Arianne glanced at her briefly, a flicker of reassurance softening her features before she returned her attention to their cargo. "Yeah, just, just thinking about the time. It's getting dark - we shoulda had the other shuttle landed by now, another few heads to unload and keep watch. You said Mikaere was held up?"
Amani nodded. "Yeah, port quarter started sputtering during preflight and Chief Reyes yelled at him 'til he stripped it. Last I heard he wasn't having a great time there." 
"Shame he didn't have some skinnier fingers around to help." Arianne gave a brief grin, waggling her hands in the air, before looking back over and up the ramp of their shuttle.
She received a pair of rolled eyes in return. " 'dua, I love that idiot, but I think you being around to clear up every mess he leaves is spoiling him a lit-"
Arianne's gaze snapped from one side of the plaza to the other, turning abruptly as if following a shot across her bow. No - following a shadow that Amani barely caught, a figure that had just swung one of the transport cases from the top of a pallet and broke into a sprint, all in a single smooth motion. Already it had darted around a corner, and already Arianne was launching herself off of the balls of her feet.
"Ari, wait!" 
The diminutive girl was younger than Amani - small, lean, skinny in comparison - but she tore away from the plaza at a frightening speed. A moment to leave her tools at one side, a moment for a brief shout towards one of the ground crew, and she barely had a moment to see her partner disappearing around a corner and take off in chase. Adrenaline kicked her into gear, pushed her into a sprint, surging forward down the street and around the next corner to just about catch up and keep sight on the thief. But Arianne's wiry frame moved with a fluid grace, her steps sure-footed as if she had spent years in this dusty maze, and the pulse thundering in her ears told Amani she wouldn't be able to keep up with this pace for long.
The two doggedly followed the fleeting shadow ahead of them, even as it brought them deeper into the heart of the city. Open skies and low-rise terracing gave way to narrower streets, crumbling buildings that leaned precariously, rubble and wrecks of vehicles to weave back and forth between. Amani swore at herself as she stumbled over a fragment of loose debris underfoot, saved from tumbling to the ground only by the boot wrapped around her ankle, and immediately regretted the waste of breath as she looked back up to see Arianne's relentless stride pulling ahead. 
Ahead, the thief disappeared into the yawning entrance of a huge building. Most of the facade above was left as a mere skeleton after the battle for this world or from the years of neglect, but a handful of glass plates had merely been cracked or shattered rather than blown away, and even as the two of them skidded to a halt outside Amani couldn't shake the feeling of hollow eyes watching them from the former temple to material and excess. Arianne was already taking cautious steps over the threshold, making a frantic flurry of hand gestures that could barely follow, never mind understand - but she followed nonetheless.
Eyes scanned the darkness within as the two slipped into the mall, footsteps carefully placed to be muffled by dust and grit. Then, ahead - beneath them - the echo of boots on broken tiles picked up again, and the two rushed forward to the railing over the level below to see the outline of a figure below them glancing around, almost frantic, before moving further up the passage and disappearing into a ruined store at the corner.
They pressed themselves against a pillar, hidden in the shadows as they caught their breath. Amani leaned heavily against the polycrete wall, her chest heaving with exertion. "I don't know how you do it," she muttered between gasps. "I'll call back, Kae needs to know where we are. We can bring the other-"
"No." The response was a whispered hiss and a sharp shake of the head. For a moment she caught a glimmer of something unfamiliar in Arianne's eyes, a flicker of intensity. "We're close."
The silence and stillness that followed was deafening, before the stretched time was suddenly broken by the clatter of something inside the store ahead. Amani took a breath and peeked around the corner - but her friend was already pulling herself over the ledge and dropping herself off it, landing catlike on the top of a booth below and clambering down to the floor. Another curse danced across Amani's lips as she pulled herself around the corner and made her way gingerly down the escalator instead, before darting forward to join the other girl just by the entrance of the wrecked shopfront.
Arianne peeked around the corner, her eyes narrowing as she peered through the gloom into the shop, and after a few moments she gestured for Amani to follow as she slipped inside. But Amani hesitated, briefly, at the entrance. The thief they were after was nowhere in sight, and the chaos of their surroundings left unease settling in her stomach, even as she slowly moved forward. 
The interior of the shop was a mess - the two girls stepped carefully around toppled shelving and shattered glass from screens display cases, long since looted and left to rot. The faint scent of burnt circuitry and decay still lingered after all this time, the dust coating their surroundings seemingly trapping it forever. But the dust also gave them a faint trail to pursue, leading Arianne further into the store, and Amani to follow with nervous glances back and forth.
"Leave. They're not worth it."
There was no sound to give the thief away before he spoke, no tell-tale click of his pistol slide as he drew it on Amani. Without it, she wouldn't have spotted the shadow pressed against the wall behind them, that stepped out towards them. He was a young man, not much older than the two of them - face gaunt, hands trembling as they gripped the gun. 
"Forget about them, and we can all just go."
Then, after a moment and a breath of fear laced with defiance. "Please."
Amani felt her heart sink, looking at the power cells and the protective case behind him. "We need them. We're supposed to be delivering them, they'll all get distributed as aid soon enough." 
"We can't wait another three weeks."
"Amani." The voice was low but steady beside her. Arianne took a step forward, the thief swinging his handgun over to point at her.
"Look, maybe we can come-"
"Just, go."
"I don't want any trouble."
"Then LEAVE!" The man snapped at her, aiming the gun at Amani, then back towards-
-she saw a blur in the gloom as Arianne leapt forward-
-the crack of the gunshot and the fallen shelving it punched through was deafening in the enclosed space.
The smaller girl batted the thief's hand away with one hand, then closing the gap to land a flurry of blows straight into his abdomen in a single movement. Panicked, he staggered away; one flailing arm trying to bring the handgun to bear, the other barely managing to catch her with a wild swing. Then, another crack - this time of Arianne's forehead slamming into the middle of his face. Again he stumbled backwards, his grip on the pistol releasing, his jaw catching a heavy hit from Arianne's elbow as he went down to the ground. Amani watched the dance of violence under the dim emergency lighting, breath catching in her chest, frozen at the primal ferocity of it. This was a girl years younger than her - she was the mechanic who always lent a hand or stayed up to make keep the shuttles ready to fly. 
Not this. Not the blows slamming into his chest as he lay on the floor, curled up and bloodied. Not the boot coming down on the arm as it reached out pathetically in the direction of the gun, not the snap of-
"Enough!" Amani's voice, alongside the thief crying out, cut through the haze of violence, if only for a moment. "Ari, come - come on, that's enough." 
Arianne froze, her breathing heavy as she looked down at the trembling figure beneath her, offering no resistance as Amani belatedly grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away. 
"We need to go. We have the cells. Let's just go." Amani's voice was shaky, tense, struggling to get the words out as she took a tentative step forward. Then another, and another, making her way to the power cells and crouching to pick through them. Keeping her eyes down. It'd be okay, she just needed to focus on the job - counting them, packing them away, swinging the pack over her shoulder. She was about to call out again when the chatter at her wrist buzzed.
"Hi hi, Kae? You landed?"
"Mani! Are you all right? The loaders at the pad said you two ran off."
"Yeah, just had - we had to sort something out." Amani needed a few moments to steady a shaky breath, before continuing. "I'll set a ping, we'll be back soon." 
"Sure, so long as you two are okay." 
So long as they were okay.
"Sure." 
Amani stood back up, taking a glance across at Arianne.
"Come on, Ari."
The girl held still, standing over the bundle of pained of whimpers beneath her for a long moment, before finally turning back to Amani.
"Okay, let's go." 
In the gloom - under the dim glow of emergency lights, beneath the grime and the streak of blood across her cheek - Arianne's face was unreadable.
But she could see the satisfaction in her eyes as clear as day.
Category:The Weekly
Category:Seventh Circle
Category:The Weekly Winners