10 Years of Filth

The stench of rotting corpses created a thick that made traversing these garbage filled paths nearly impossible without a map. With a gloved hand, he cleared the path forward for himself, making sure that the space he had cleared behind him had been covered back up in the stench. Each step made a new noise, sometimes metallic, other times like rubber under water, it had no consistency no matter how far out you went. Despite the many rumours speaking of clear skies past the forest of bodies, no one has tried to cross the whole lower Sira without a map. 

He looked down at the radar strapped to his arm, the red dot got closer and closer with every step he took until he stood atop it. Below him was nothing but a pile of garbage, but what he sought was buried deep below it. It took a second to equip his A.B. before jumping into the pile that hid the large tunnel underneath. His body slid faster than a bullet through the makeshift metallic pipe towards the faint light before being thrown into a large pile of old mattresses. Though he didn't completely trust the device, he had a feeling that this was the place he had been told about, a village of arms.

Each step he took through the densely populated street he could feel foreign hands grabbing at his armour as if to rip it off. These thieves would bite your skin off if it was worth anything at the bazaar, and depending on who you were, it would be worth in the thousands. Cybernetic arms and legs hung high from the ceiling, just out of reach of the mischievous kids trying to earn their meal. He sighed deeply before tilting his brown hat down to cover his eyes. His arms found their way onto a counter where a lady, half machine half flesh, prepared drinks for those who sat around whistling as her curvy hips swung around.

''Could I get a tequila?'' 

''A shot?''

''The bottle.''

She nodded at the nameless man, as she pulled a lever on the counter. His body disappeared from the seat only to find itself sliding down another tube towards an even lower location. This time he was cushioned by a pit of sand, he mumbled to himself while rubbing his lower back, but he had finally arrived at where he had been told to go. The house of jewels.

''Do you have a permit to be here sir?'' One of the two guards asked as he placed his hand on the man's chest. He tilted his hat up to reveal his green eyes.

''Of course, it comes in lead.''

Two shots and two bodies fell to the floor. He continued walking towards the large white house bearing no stain despite residing in Sira, but that was only to compensate for how dirty the woman inside was. Each step was filled with tranquillity despite what was about to go down. The pearly white doors gently opened as he took off his shoes placing them nicely on the shoe rack by the door. 

The main lobby of the house was large enough for a chain of echoes to commence but small enough to see every detail of it from the centre. The ground and walls were pure marble, rubies and emeralds embedded into the pillars in a way to portray a story like a mural.

''And here I thought only the fuckers in Aris were this well off.''

''May I help you...what is your name?''

''Sorry ma'am I don't have one of those. And yes you could help me. I am here for one of my clients, he said you were open to selling one of the 'Aris Quartz'?'' He took his hat off revealing his boyish look, he was only seventeen but had muscles that could put any labourer in Sira to shame. The young madam licked her lips as she continued down the steps towards the young lad.

''No name you say? Aren't you Lyca the bounty hunter?'' 

''No ma'am I don't go by that alias anymore-''

''Whatever, not interested. I will call you Benny for now.''

A vein throbbed on the side of his head as he tried containing his anger and not whipping out the gun leaving a third body on the floor. Would be a pity staining the marble flooring with crimson when he hadn't even gotten what he was after.

''You are here on behalf of Lord Evan yes? I did say he could buy it, for three million. Sounds fair.''

''Ma'am, he only gave me one point five million. Why have you doubled the price?''

''I can give you a discount, but you will have to work for it.'' She slid her silky robe down revealing a set of cybernetic body parts normally seen on nudie mags found littered around Sira. Clearly, she didn't keep all of the money in the house but rather spent it on her own body. Each one of her steps closed the distance between the two, he couldn't help but blush, trying to look away but his chin was snatched by her thin fingers.

''You better look at me the whole time.''

''M-ma'am I would be more than happy to follow your command. But I must confirm that you have the quartz.''

''Ugh what a turn-off. I will make you work twice as hard for it. But sure follow me, it's in my bedroom.'' He flashed a look at her as if to probe whether or not she was lying. '' Have a little faith in me, after all, you are my toy from now on.'' She confidently stepped through her small palace towards the room with the largest door covered in velvet and gold. He couldn't help but whistle as he strode around the massive house, not even in his childhood days could he imagine walking through a house like this. 

''Here it is.'' She pulled out a rock that had various white jagged chunks sticking through it, which confirmed it, the info was correct and he could move on to the next stage of the plan.

''Well, I guess I better keep my end of the bargain. You are about to have the night of your life.'' 

The woman jumped onto her bed, legs spread wide waiting for he who was hovering around the bed, putting on seductive faces he had seen on the television. She burst out in laughter before placing her hand near his thigh.

''Stop fooling around and jump in here with me.''

His hand glided towards the back of his trousers, popping a round into her head. The cybernetic implants spazzing out, throwing her body around as if she were possessed by a demon who was trying to escape its vessel. 

''Job done. Now to grab that piece of quartz...''

''Well...it was there a second ago. And ohh I see.''

A small black figure clad in a giant robe ran towards the exit pipe that sat just beside the entrance one. She was fast, her moves instantly reminding him of someone he knew, but no matter how fast she was.

''I am faster.'' He took the A.B. out of his mouth trying to snatch a bite out of her arm, just narrowly missing allowing her to climb through the tunnel. He laughed to himself as he equipped it back to breathe the filtered air he would die without. The concentration of miasma down here was too strong for anyone to breathe if they didn't mutate to survive its mercury content. 

His eyes quickly adapted to the darkness as he climbed through the tall tunnel which was hidden behind a pile of rocks several feet behind the stand at which he ordered a drink before. It took less than a second to find the girl who had run off with the quartz who was hidden just a few feet away.

''I figured running was useless so hiding was the next best option.''

''You need to try harder next time Mom.''

''So this disguise didn't work at all? That is annoying, do you know how much I spent on this?''

''Don't know, don't care.'' He snatched the quartz from her hand and strode towards the exit of this stench-filled cave named Village of Arms. His mother didn't take long to catch up as he wasn't running. 

''Why didn't you wait until after doing the deed with her to kill her? Isn't she your type?''

''Why would she be my type?''

''Well, those mags under your bed paint a different picture.''

''I TOLD YOU TO STOP SNOOPING THROUGH MY ROOM.''

''Hahaha.'' 

He sighed before being sucked up by a strong current of green air that launched him to the surface. Gracefully, he landed on the ground, sticking his arms to catch his arms. ''Catch any girl like this and she would be all over you.'' In the very second she finished her sentence her body hit the floor. 

His stance changed into that of a slingshot, launching himself forward a few hundred feet, leaving his mother in the dust. Just as he landed on a large pile of garbage bags and old tyres, a large mushroom cloud illuminated the sky, clearing all of the musky air away. 

''A nuke?!'' His eyes wandered down to where he had just launched himself from.

''MOM!''