First Blood

As the night fell, they settled into position.

The moon was full and bright, casting an eerie glow over the desolate landscape.

Emir could hear the sounds of the wind rustling through the trees and the occasional howl of distant monsters.

Jake and he patrolled the east side of the truck's perimeter, scanning the darkness for any signs of danger.

They watched in silence, their eyes never leaving the shadows.

The tension was palpable, and Emir could feel his heart racing in his chest.

Though he had a lot of experience due to the simulations, he couldn't help but be a bit nervous.

Cutting through the tension, Jake spoke with a chuckle:

"As strong as you were back then, you're still a kid, huh, almost forgot."

Sighing out loud, Emir shook his head and took a deep breath, and a brief moment later, he looked at Jake.

"My bad, Jake, but don't worry, I got this, no problem."

Still chuckling, Jake replied:

"I know that, trust me, if I was in your place, shitting my pants would be all I could do, especially at your age."

"Anyway, we all popped our cherry once, so you will get used to it no problem." He said with a wink.

They laughed quietly and went back to their positions.

'He knew that I was a bit nervous and diffused the situation, huh? Jake is more experienced than he lets on.'

Emir thought as he calmed himself down.

Time passed slowly, and it was quite taxing on the mind to be on constant alert for hours.

Thankfully, the mutation unlock enhanced Emir's brain's capabilities, so he got used to it quickly.

The night slowly passed without incident, but the tension never faded.

Jake then walked towards Emir and stood beside him.

"Emir, let's move. Emma and another hunter from team two will now come to replace us."

Going back down the truck, they spotted Emma and the other hunter that Jake mentioned.

The middle-aged man spoke with a stern voice:

"Good job, men. We will take it from here. Go rest to prepare for the next shift."

Emma came up, walked behind Emir, and patted his back while continuing on her way to the roof of the truck.

"Good luck."

Saying that Emir left for his quarters.

As the door opened, he saw Lily sleeping on his bed, her brown, fluffy hair sticking out everywhere.

Taking off his augmented suit, he placed it in the wardrobe at the side of the room.

He then quietly approached the bed and picked up the sheets, allowing him some space to snuggle in as he laid down next to her.

"Thanks for waiting on me, Lily." He whispered.

Slowly he found himself falling asleep.

But right before he slept, Emir noticed Lily's breathing starting to quicken.

He looked to his side and saw a beautiful girl with chubby cheeks staring at him with wide eyes.

"Hey, good morning, sis," he said.

Lily slowly blinked her eyes and smiled at him.

"Good morning... but why are you sleeping in my bed?" She asked, her voice still sounding half-asleep.

Emir smiled back at her and gently ruffled her hair.

"You're in mine, you idiot... Anyways you sleep well?"

"I did..."

She paused for a moment and rubbed her eyes awake.

"Mister robot, were you reckless like usual?"

He flinched for a moment, barely stopping the urge of slugging her a new one.

"...It was boring, don't worry."

Lily frowned slightly.

"You sure everything's okay? You're acting like a girl on her period."

Emir sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know about that, but yeah, I'm fine."

"It's just… being out there, in the dark, knowing that monsters are lurking around every corner... waiting for them to attack, it's exhausting, you know?"

Lily nodded, her lips curling into a small grin.

"Now listen to your big sister, she's got a joke to cheer you up."

"Big sister my ass."

"Shush... So tell me, what starts and ends with an E—"

"No, it doesn't."

Lily giggled and hit him right in the chest.

"Ack..."

But her hand bounced off and she began rubbing it, obviously hurt. 

"Why's your body so tough?!"

"Eh... Where's the big sis act all gone?"

"Humph!"

Emir ignored her complaints and took her reddened hand to inspect it.

"You'll be fine, nothing's broken."

"Are you sure? It hurts a lot."

"Yes, you're just a baby..."

He then flicked her forehead.

"Besides I don't have the time nor the crayons to explain everything to you, so get out of my room and let me sleep."

Lily grabbed his hand, biting it.

But even her nibbling teeth didn't manage to make their mark.

"Oi, you chromosome-deficient chipmunk. Get. Out. Of. My. Room." 

She let go and wiped off her saliva.

"No."

Emir sighed and wrapped himself in the bed cover.

"Alright then, you do you."

His body was positioned towards the door, his back facing his sister, who was now watching him in silence.

"Brother...."

She softly placed her small hands on his head. 

"Yeah?"

"You're doing an amazing job... You're keeping us and safe, and that's all that matters."

He turned around and smiled at her, feeling grateful for her words.

"Thanks, Lily. I appreciate it."

They lay there in silence for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company.

But soon, he felt his eyelids grow heavy, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.

…

When Emir woke up, the sun was streaming through the windows, in the process of setting, casting a warm glow over the room.

He looked to his side, noticing that Lily was gone.

After bidding Lyra good morning, he got out of bed, and while he got ready, thoughts about the night ahead flooded his mind.

As he walked out of the room, he saw Emma and Jake waiting for him outside.

"Hey, Emir," Emma said, giving Emir a small smile.

"Ready for your shift?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I am. Jake, let's go."

As they were going back up, Emir noticed Laura waiting near the stairs.

So he walked up to her and gave her a quick hug, which she reciprocated.

They looked at each other in silence before letting go.

He waved her goodbye and followed behind Jake.

"I hope that the journey ahead will be as uneventful as last night, but I seriously doubt that would happen."

"Agreed." Jake replied with a chuckle.

Setting themselves in position, they began their shift.

Minutes later, the day was lost and the night appeared in its stead.

A full moon illuminated the wasteland.

'Beautiful,' they thought in unison.

….

Hours passed, with Emir on constant vigilance, never letting down for a moment.

He took a few breaks to eat hunter rations while waiting, however, obviously not wanting to tire when monsters eventually attacked.

Sometime later, Jake suddenly shifted.

'It looks like his IGD picked up a signal just now.' 

Jake looked at Emir with a grim face.

"We have company," he said, his voice quiet.

"Get ready, Emir. It's about to get rough."

Taking out his terminal, he placed it next to his left ear and spoke:

"HQ, I just picked up a signal, it seems to be the ones that we believed to have instigated the attack."

While he was explaining the situation, Emir's Information gathering device picked up the signal too.

'So instead of a high-ranking monster, it turned out to be rogue hunters eyeing us...'

'Did they want to deplete our ammunition using monsters as cannon fodder?'

"A group of thirty or so rogue hunters, eight vehicles, vehicles one to five seem to be cruisers, most probably a 'Blade Runner' model, the other three vehicles are motorbikes, a 'Blaze Runner' model."

"Understood, team 1 vehicle four, weapons free, proceed at your own discretion, the other trucks are also under attack, so we can only provide minimal support---"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"HQ respond, HQ HELLO?! HQ….."

"DAMMIT!"

"Looks like we have a mole, a traitor, he definitely gave the rogue hunters our location." Emir said to the screaming Jake.

Calming down, Jake replied:

"Yeah, we have to get Emma and other hunters up here ASAP."

"You go wake them up, I'll ready myself here."

Running downstairs, he screamed at Emir:

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?!"

"Just go!" Emir screamed back.

He lay prone and propped up his rifle. Leaning into the scope, he saw the hunters coming, catching up to them.

'Since we were the last truck in the convoy, we would have the least support, Fuck me.' 

Readying his aim, he prepared himself for a chance to kill.

'This would be my first time killing someone, and it would be a whole group of people. Damn.'

Emir took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and steadied his aim further as the hunters drew closer.

He took another deep breath and waited for the moment when the hunters on the bikes would peek out from behind the four-wheel cruisers.

Suddenly, an opportunity presented itself, at the right-most vehicle.

Emir noticed the bike just behind the Blade Runner had just swerved to the right a little, the hunter's head peeking out slightly out of the safety of the cruiser.

And with no hesitation, he activated his TDS ability, adjusting his aim at the hunter, taking into account all of the slight variables, from the moving truck to air resistance and recoil.

Emir shot and with a bang!

The bullet flew straight to the rogue's head, and as the hunter recoiled further away, Emir followed it up with several shots aimed towards their body.

'I must make sure of the kill, I don't know what type of Cyberware or augmentations these hunters have, I better be safe than sorry.' 

And as soon as his shot rang out, chaos erupted.

The rogue hunters immediately started firing back, their bullets pinging off the shield at the sides of the truck.

Emir quickly retreated to the back, taking up position behind some shielded crates.

The truck rocked as more bullets slammed into it, and he could hear the screams of the passengers inside.

He peered through the scope of his rifle, taking careful aim at the two hunters on bikes as they moved around the vehicles in front, trying to get a better angle on him.

Activating his ability, the world crawled to a halt, and he slowly aimed at the hunter near the middle.

And with a perfectly placed shot, he splattered their brain out.

'There is no getting back from that.' He thought, switching his aim to the last hunter on a bike.

With his scope locked onto their head, he held his breath, waiting for the right moment to take the shot.

The hunter weaved in and out of the vehicles, making it difficult to get a clear hit, but Emir remained patient, waiting for the perfect opportunity.