Chapter 10: Scratcher Part 2

Alexi slowly slid the slide of his pistol back and forth. He was not looking forward to this assignment. At least after this one he was being reassigned to a Scout Vanguard unit, which he was quite happy about.

They say coming home after you’ve been away for a long time is always a bittersweet moment. He didn’t see anything sweet about it. In fact he had been dreading the possibility of this happening for nearly a decade now.

“Hey Talanov, weren’t you from the shipyard?” The man sitting next to him asked.

“You could say that.” Alexi sighed.

“Bet you saw a bunch of those scracter rats, could you describe them so we don’t get too surprised when we see them?” Someone else said.

Alexi turned to look at the woman who asked that. “You’re looking at one right now.” She raised her hands defensively. “Sorry. Didn’t mean anything about it.”

Alexi sneered. “You meant everything you said until you found out where I am from. I’m not insulted. Because I am a scracter, always have been.”

The airship made a wide turn to clear some of the smokestacks in the shipyard before setting down at one of the large pads built for the purpose. The commandos stepped out, Alexi took a deep breath of the industrial smog, memories of the time in the factories rushing back.

A guide came and lead them through the confusing maze of factories, power plants, smelteries, conveyor belts, pipes, and apartments until they were at the gate into the warrens.

Captain Hazlu shouted to the troops “Remember! Stay together everyone! Watch your partner’s back! You all have your objectives! Move!”

As Alexi walked towards the gate Hazlu caught him by the shoulder. “Your file says that you are from this section of the warrens, is that correct?”

“Yes sir.” Alexi replied.

“Perfect. You’re with me, I’ve got special orders, some high value target.”

Alexi nodded. “What kind?”

“Some rebel leader, small time, but still, calls himself “The Scab”. It's his weapon caches we are after, but I want to cut the head off of the snake once and for all. And you know all the good hiding places don’t you?”

“It’s been some time, but I know what to look for.” Alexi stammered.

“Good enough for me. Lead the way.”

Alexi nodded, pulled his carbine off of his shoulder and began advancing into his old home. He looked at the buildings with a mixture of disgust and nostalgia, not for his life here, but for the innocence of youth that allowed him to think that living in a hovel made out of sun baked mud and sheet metal was perfectly normal.

He immediately felt conspicuous, people shied away from him, mothers pulling their children close, men averting their gaze. He could hear shouting and the occasional gun shot as the other members of his unit searched for weapons. He stalked down the main street before taking a sharp turn. He could see the faded old sign still hanging there, but now he could read it. “Ms Zanza’s Palace of Perfection.”

He watched as the female commando who had asked him about scratchers dragging one of the “pretty ladies” out by the hair while an old woman in faded blue pleaded. Alexi raised his weapon and fired a single shot over the soldier’s shoulder. She dropped the woman and turned, preparing to fire, once she saw where the shot came from she shouted. “What the fuck is your problem Talanov!”

Alexi approached in silence, pulled his mask off, put his face with in inches of hers and bellowed. “Save your cruelty for the people that deserve it!”

“She had a weapon!” The soldier retorted.

“No shit! If you did what she did you’d want a weapon too.” Alexi continued.

“Both of you stand down! We’ll deal with this later.” Hazlu snarled. Alexi nodded and backed up, and watched the second commando leave the building, a open entrenching shovel in his one hand, the other one trying to push away a pair of scantily clad women who were murmuring to him about their love for men in uniform.

“Nothing to report in there.” He said, pointing the shovel at the old woman. “She runs a tight ship, don’t imagine her risking it. Lets go Aster.”

The female comando glared at Alexi before following her partner. Alexi turned to the old woman and said. “My apologies, everyone is rather high strung lately. If it is not too much difficulty do you know anything about someone named Scab? We are looking for him.”

The old lady just stared at Alexi, silent. “Ah, of course.” He turned to the woman who was slowly picking herself up off the ground. “Do you know anything about a man named Scab?”

The young woman spat at him. “Yeah, he’s done more for us than your damned council ever did. I hope the hellhounds eat your entrails.” The old woman slapped her hard enough that she fell back down with a whimper.

“If you don’t learn how to keep your mouth shut I’ll throw you out.” She snarled at the younger woman before turning to Alexi and Hazlu. “My apologies… My gods. You’re that kid… The little scratcher who always used to hide out here… But that isn’t… How?”

Alexi shifted uncomfortably. “I grew up.”

“Still not that talkative, some things must never change. I am sorry. But I can’t help you. Scab and his men will kill me and well, they can’t manage without me. None of them can count beyond twenty, much less run a  company.”

Hazlu sighed. “What would it take for you to talk?”

Ms Zanza grinned “A way out. Not just out of the warrens, but out of the shipyard. Not just for me, but for my girls as well.”

Hazlu rubbed his helmet. “Fine. Once we return to our ship however you are all on your own.”

Ms Zanza’s face brightened. “Thank you. Thank you!”

“Tell us where Scab is.” Hazlu said, growing impatient.

“He likes to hold court near the center.” She turned to Alexi. “You know where the hives are? Well he has a small fortress there. Lots of guards, all of them armed with…” She looked at the weapons Alexi and Hazlu carried. “Nothing that should be much of a problem.”

“Good. Thank you. Go to the main gate, and give the soldiers there this.” Hazlu pulled a small leather notebook out of his pocket, scribbled a few lines of text then signed it, tore out the page and handed it to Ms Zanza. “They will let you through. You won’t be able to take much though, airship weight limits and all that. Also, dress warmly, thin cotton may look nice, but at ten thousand feet it’s nothing more than frostbite wrapping.” As Hazlu finished speaking both Zanza and the loud mouthed woman disappeared back into the building.

“Well that was interesting. Good thing you came along.” Hazlu said over his shoulder to Alexi who simply nodded and jogged ahead, passing Hazlu. The hives were the worst of the worst, houses piled on top of houses until the ones at the bottom were about to collapse, people still living in the bottom living in constant fear that one day their home would crush them.

Scratchers stayed out of the hives, nothing for them to get. Alexi slung his carbine over his shoulder and drew his pistol, it was so tight down here he doubted he could maneuver his longer weapon at all.

The hives reeked, the buildings were all about to implode, the people looked even more malnourished than they did in the rest of the warrens. If the warrens where where the dregs of Grail society went, the hive was where the dregs of Warren society went. The insane, the cripples, those so violent that they would be killed “for the common good.”

“How did it get like this?” Hazlu muttered into Alexi’s ear.

“Buildings are mostly mud and scrap metal. Doesn’t burn. And even the Essies stay out of here, so you never get one of the big essie brawls like you do in other areas.”

“What has that got to do with it?”

“Right. Never seen an Essie brawl have you? They tend to knock buildings down once they get mad enough. Essie quarter is the least built up of them all.”

“Gods.” Hazlu mutterd. “I think I understand why you don’t seem afraid of dying. Whatever is on the other side can’t be worse than this.”

“If that were true the warrens wouldn’t exist. Everyone would just kill themselves.” Alexi grunted. “We’re getting close.”

“We should wait and bring the rest in.” Hazlu said.

“No. They would never find their way to the target. They have a hard enough time navigating the regular warrens.”

“So the two of us? Against how many?”

Alexi grinned. “It doesn’t matter how many there are. Because if they are hiding this deep in the hives they are afraid. You know what Scab means down here? Coward, prey, thug. You can buy popularity from the pretty ladies and other scabs. But you can’t buy loyalty. At least not down here. Whoever Scab has guarding him might be used to chasing off a few hungry hivers and the occasional desperate scratcher. Not gunmen, especially not SVs.”

Hazlu simply grunted.

The pair suddenly broke out of the packed streets of the Hive and into an open space, a gap, a good fifty foot wide band of empty ground. On the other side was a single building, massive in the scale of buildings in the warrens, made from what looked like rubble.

“The old Madam didn’t lie.” Hazlu whistled. “Quite the little castle.”

“Might have to give Scab more credit.” Alexi muttered as he swung his carbine from his back. “Permission to load high explosive rounds?” He asked.

“Why?” Hazlu asked.

“Fear.” Alexi responded.

“Granted.” The officer said, reaching into his belt, withdrawing a red painted magazine. Alexi followed suit. The hive dwellers who had been congregating out of interest seemed to melt away, their self preservation instincts stronger than their curiosity.

“First one of them you see. Kill him.” Hazlu ordered, then he shouted at the building. “Open up! We demand entrance!”

A figure peered around the corner of a third floor window and ducked back out of sight before Alexi could get off a shot. Whoever was at the window stuck a crossbow around the corner and fired it blindly. Alexi smirked and shot the wall. The wall was thin sheet metal, and provided no protection whatsoever for the high explosive bullet.

So it is going to be like that then.” Hazlu growled and shot the lock of off the door. Alexi pushed his way inside, Hazlu covering him as he moved. A guard pointed a simple spear at him, only to die in a cloud of mist. Alexi slung his carbine back over his back and drew his pistol, holding it close to his body. He entered a large central room with four guards and two people cowering in the corner.

“I’m here to talk to Scab! If you guide me to him you’ll live.” No one moved. “Very well.” Alexi sighed before shooting one of the guards twice, making sure the wounds would not result in a quick demise. “Point him out and I’ll make the pain end.” Alexi snarled.

“Over there.” The man whispered between gritted teeth, pointing towards the cowering figures.

“Perfect.” Alexi shot the wounded man before doing the same to the remain three. Hazlu entered the room and raised an eyebrow.

“Impressive demonstration of marksmanship, though somewhat excessive.” The captain said.

“Alright Scab, get up, die with dignity.” Alexi ordered. The two figures slowly stood up, their hands raised in surrender. Alexi squinted, they were familier, the man had a long scar across his forehead and a nose that had been badly broken a long time ago, the woman shifty eyed and incredibly frail, the common symptom of fetal essence ingestion. Then it fell into place.

“What do you want with us?” The woman asked, her voice quaking.

“Your mother still alive Mert? Or has that worthless essie finally stopped wasting air?” Alexi sneared. The woman cocked her head. “How do you know my name?” Alexi ignored her

“So Vem, you’re still a worthless scab rat. Looks like you didn’t learn your lesson.” Alexi sneared. Vem looked at Mert, then back at Alexi. “Why did you ask that? Do you enjoy making people suffer?”

“Just proving my point.” Alexi replied.

“How do you know our names?” Vem asked.

“Captain, I thought I saw some movement in the next room, I’ll continue the interrogation unless you object.” Alexi said.

“No objection from me.” Hazlu replied, and left the room.

“How?” Vem asked again, growing angry.

“How? Well, because I still remember the day I gave you that scar, and that broken nose. And this time there is no internal security soldier to stop me from itching at that scab.” Alexi said, a sneer spreading across his face as he drew his fighting knife. “While I know this isn’t a proper itch. But it does the job much better.”

Realization and terror spread across Vem’s face “Please. I’m just trying to help people. We are trying to make a farm. Then we could grow crops. Then everyone will be able to eat their fill.” He pleaded.

“No. It isn’t that. We found your weapon caches, you aren’t trying to make anything better. You’re buying loyalty so you can take the warrens for yourself.” Alexi snarled.

“No! He’s telling the truth!” Mert cried.

“Of course you would say that.” Alexi said.

“If you are who you say you are, why won’t you take that chance? Wouldn’t it be incredible if the warrens were no longer full of malnourished children?” Vem begged.

“I don’t really care actually. I have my orders. Only reason I haven’t killed you yet was to ensure you are Scab.” Alexi said as he holstered his pistol and switched his knife to his dominant hand. “And because this has been a long time coming.”

Alexi and Hazlu were the last to the gate out of the warrens, for Alexi that moment could not come quickly enough. Everything about this place brought bad memories, and once he went through the gate he brushed the dirt off of his boots. The flight back was largely silent, the soldiers sleeping off the exhaustion and stress of combat in a very compact, hostile area, the pretty ladies nervous about their future.

As the engines thundered away Alexi slowly cleaned Vem off of his knife. He didn’t feel the satisfaction he had thought he would feel after killing his childhood tormentor, it wasn’t that Vem hadn’t fought, far from it. The gap between Alexi’s and Vem’s ability had been so vast it hadn’t mattered that Vem had fought. The one rule that scratcher’s followed was to never take from those weaker than you.

Alexi stood up and opened a door out to the open jump deck where assault jumpers and scout vanguard troops would leap from when performing parachute jumps. He gripped the leather loop that hung from his neck, down his shirt. With a sharp yank he snapped the thin leather strap and pulled it up out of his shirt. From it hung the a small leather sheath, the grip of his itch sticking out. Alexi drew the small, handmade blade, then flung it out of the airship. No need to remember what didn’t matter.

“The warrens are a blot on Grail-El society. That a nation so advanced, so wealthy, would allow this to continue is unthinkable. How can a government turn its back on its own citizen like this?

Lord Gregor Vintel

Ambassador to Grail-EL”

“Protection from the wastes was not a gift. It was not a privilege. Why should those who do not contribute receive the benefits of those that do? The warrens are an unfortunate necessity. Otherwise what would happen to those unable to do their duty? Where would they go? Abandoning them in the wastes would only strengthen our enemy. Executing them for simple inability? We are not monsters.

There is a reason the warrens are as bad as they are. No one with any useful ability lives there.

Emrek Orven

Chair of the Council’s committee on public wellbeing.”