Cloudless Night in Neon WInter

Cole felt lightheaded, his breath was short, and his left shoulder throbbed, but he did not slow. He was following Alyx, as the duo raced along brightly lit rooftops. They were lucky that they were in a part of the city with a uniform skyline, as there were not huge differences in the heights of the buildings they sped across.

The pair cast silhouettes into the rainy night sky, and Alyx kept glancing back, checking for any pursuers. The fact that a second figure had appeared meant that there could be an innumerable amount of assailants.

Cole jumped off the edge of a roof, without pause. He was used to making the dangerous jumps, and the pain in his arm was making him reckless. His ears perked as he thought he heard an unnatural sound cutting through the rain. With a sharp twist, Cole looked back, and saw nothing. The rooftops behind him were clear, as if he had imagined the attackers. 

*Wham.* Cole fell back gasping for breath, a door on the roof had swung open suddenly. Stepping out of the doorway, a monstrous figure appeared. Cole could tell that it was a human because of the silhouette, but the figure was completely shrouded in dark cloth. Even the face was covered, broken up only by a pair of black goggles, where the attacker's eyes must have been.

Without hesitating, the attacker pulled out a sharp blade that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. Cole had not recovered from having the wind knocked out of him, and he was not able to call out to Alyx as the attacker thrust the blade at him.

Focusing on the pain in his arm, Cole forced his body to roll to the side, and the blade flickered out as the handle contacted the concrete of the roof. Cole swiftly unleashed a sharp kick with his right leg at the unbalanced attacker. The person grunted and staggered to the side, allowing Cole to scramble to his feet. 

The whole exchange had only taken a few seconds, and Alyx had barely taken notice, but as Cole looked at her, he saw another figure land behind her. The dark figure was another attacker that had propelled themself up the side of the building.

"Behind you." Cole unleashed a desperate shout, and Alyx dove to the side, just in time to avoid the blade of her attacker. However, the figure still had the advantage and brutally kicked Alyx's wrist, knocking her gun to the ground.

Cole had no time to watch Alyx, as his attacker walked towards him, this time much more cautiously. Cole had received the common self defense training provided by the city, but he had never needed to put it into effect.

'Try to keep your distance, and look for an opening to control your opponent's weapon.' Cole tried to remember the training. He had enjoyed the instruction, and was quickly able to come up with an idea. However, he wasn't sure about the effectiveness of his plan.

The figure stabbed towards Cole, and any thoughts of a calm and calculated defense vanished, as Cole's mind went blank with panic. He barely managed to twist to the side of the blade, but grunted as the attacker's fist smashed into his chest. As Cole was forced back a step, the knife flickered as it was thrust towards him again.

Off balanced, Cole was not as lucky as the first attack, and he felt his side burn as the blade sliced through his shirt, grazing his side. Cole felt a knot of anger rise through his body, and he harnessed it, unleashing a kick at his attacker's side.

The figure calmly stepped forward, absorbing the kick and trapping Cole's leg against a well muscled side. With no room for escape, Cole could not dodge as the blade glinted in moonlight. Cole struggled, watching the knife arc towards his chest. Suddenly, the slumped form of Mr. Jenkins flashed in Cole's mind. He was not going to end up like Jake Jenkins.

With frenzied force, Cole pushed his body towards the assailant, his shoulder knocking against the knife wrist of the figure. The blade was jostled free, slicing into Cole's back as it fell to the ground. Cole did not feel the cut, all his focus was on the figure, who had not expected his last ditch move. Before the figure could recover, Cole punched towards the goggles. Cole's fingers screamed in protest as they made solid contact with the figure's face.

Knowing he would not have a chance if the figure regained control of the situation, Cole followed as the figure tried to roll away, throwing all sorts of kicks and punches. Not every strike hit, but the attacker grunted in pain, trying to gain some distance from Cole.

*Bang.* The attacker stopped moving. Blood splattered against the roof, washed away by the rain in an instant as a bullet hole appeared. Cole looked up, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. Alyx stood a few steps away from him, holding her gun. There was no sign of her attacker, and Cole assumed that she had thrown the other figure off of the roof.

Seeing that they were both safe for the moment, Cole rolled onto his back, letting the rain assault his face. His breathing refused to slow, and the neon lights of the city that usually were so beautiful, hurt his eyes. Alyx walked over and stood above Cole, she looked unscathed, while Cole was hosting a whole heaping of new wounds. When his adrenaline had surged everything had stopped hurting, but as he lay there, he felt his shoulder remind him of his injuries.

"We can't stop now." Alyx reached down, pulling Cole to his feet. "Take the gun." Alyx pointed to the holstered weapon on the figure's hip. Cole awkwardly pulled it free, testing the weight of the dangerous metal in his hand.

"That looks like a gun that doesn't require bullets, it should be easy enough to use. Just make sure it's on, and pull the trigger."

Cole examined the gun closer. It was a thin lusterless piece, with a narrow barrel and a long handle. On the butt of the gun, there was a small button, and when Cole clicked it, he felt the weapon hum to life.

"Test it on the corpse, we don't know how far it will shoot." Alyx was stoic. Cole hesitated before taking aim. It took almost no effort to pull the trigger, and the gun barely rocked in his hand as it fired.

There was a flash of heat, and the corpse sizzled and melted. Cole had aimed at the torso, but in an instant the entire upper body had vanished, leaving a pool of gooey flesh that stubbornly resisted the rain. Cole suddenly felt glad about the cut on his back, because it meant that he had not been shot by the powerful gun. If he had been shot he would have ended up as an unrecognizable lump of charred meat.

"Let's go, we are almost back to the main city, and I don't think they will have the guts to keep attacking us." Alyx barely blinked at the remnants of the corpse.

The two continued to run along the rooftops, only returning to the streets when a few people came into view. There were no more attackers, giving Cole ample time to feel the full agony of his injuries.

Alyx's gun had returned to its cuff form, and Cole had pocketed the thin gun, after ensuring it was off, but the duo was still drawing strange looks. Alyx looked relatively normal aside from the small tear in her dress, but the same could not be said for Cole. He was still bleeding, and had multiple noticeable wounds.

Cole bumped into Alyx as she stopped, he couldn't think clearly and his vision was fuzzy. "I am going to take you back to my place, I have medical supplies. We can't go to the hospital because this might be about the investigation, and the company doesn't want anyone to know about Mr. Jenkins."

Cole just nodded robotically, and let Alyx guide him into the back of a vehicle. She must have ordered a taxi. Cole slumped over, and Alyx quietly sat next to him. No one greeted them in the vehicle, Alyx must have ordered a driverless taxi so there would be no unnecessary questions..

Without saying a word, Alyx gently lowered Cole's head onto her lap, and she gently petted his hair. The gesture was warming, and Cole quickly succumbed to slumber as Alyx continued steadily.

"...I won't let you get hurt like this again." Cole opened his eyes, catching the end of Alyx's sentence as he glanced up at her. She was looking at him and her face was scrunched with worry. She gently flicked his forehead, as if to tell him not to listen in on other people's private thoughts. 

"We are here. I think you are too fat for me to carry you, so I need you to walk." Alyx attempted to make a joke, but she couldn't force a smile. Cole felt rested from his nap, and his breathing was finally steady, even though his body still ached.

Alyx lived in a building like Cole's, and as the elevator jumped upwards, Cole had a moment to think about the night. What was going on? The elevator was quiet, the only reminder of the rain was the water dripping off of Cole and Alyx.