Unscathed | A flash fiction story
1 of 💯
“Are you the guy?” the tall gentleman in a dark leather jacket asked. He smelled of urine.
“I’m a girl,” Zik answered, their face painted a faint turquoise shade by the distant neon lights that survived all the way down from Main Street into the dark and humid alley. “Today, anyway.”
“Whatever,” the gentleman said, his hands in his pockets. “You’re the one who hacked into the security system of Atlanta Inc.’s bullet factory?”
“It depends.” Zik placed a stubborn lock of blue hair behind their ear. “Do you have the goods?”
The tall man produced from his right pocket a thin device that looked like a pen, a brilliant white screen glowing along its side. “We have five minutes,” he said, as Zik inspected the value on the little screen without stepping too close to the man (and to the smell).
“Yes,” Zik managed a poker face. “It looks like I’m Zik, the hacker.”
“Thanks, Zik the hacker.” The gentleman pulled a gun from his left pocket.
In a fraction of a second, an Atlanta Inc. bullet went through Zik’s head and across Main Street.
A second later, Zik smiled, unscathed.
“Wha — ” the man said while Zik turned their back to him and pulled a gun of their own. They pointed the gun to the ground.
“I could smell it from up here,” Zik said. “Bye-bye, piss boy.”
Before the man could turn, the bullet rained down from behind him and landed on his skull. His body fell backward, through Zik’s, and landed on a puddle.
Zik jumped down from the building behind the man and their hologram disappeared into the ground. They took the authenticator from the man’s pocket, pressed the button, and used the code that started blinking on the small screen to transfer the funds to them.
“I guess you can keep this, piss boy.” Zik flicked the authenticator over the man’s dead body and positioned the unruly lock of hair behind their ear. They looked at the neon lights on Main Street and stepped in the opposite direction, disappearing into the alley, engulfed by the darkness.
Unscathed | Dawn >
This is a start to what I hope becomes a habit, thanks to the 💯 story challenge proposed by Zane Dickens. I came across the challenge while reading Ria Rees great entries. If you have some time in your hand, I recommend you go over to her profile and read The Curse of Silence.
