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Seid� walked down the street. This place was crawling with the Special Forces, he could tell. Just by the way the people watched him and the woman from earlier, it was clear they didn�t take kindly to strangers in this town. Or maybe these people, who were mostly scared citizens, didn�t want another war to break out like three years before and figure if they took care of the problem first, the Special Forces would dwindle out even-tually and leave them alone to live out their lives in peace.
Highly unlikely.
He turned a corner and stopped. The sight before him brought back memories that he was still trying to bury. Granted this place looked nothing like the place where he made his last close kill, but the fact that the pile of ruble before him was a school�it was enough to surface Burns. He shook his head and turned, trying to get the thoughts from his head. He turned again, towards his right and a road leading up a hill. This caught his attention and he cocked his head slightly as he walked to investigate the area.
It was a single laned dirt road, but at the same time well packed and easily driven on. Trees lined the left side and as the road went up the hill, the steep drop off on the right grew higher. At one point the road turned off to the left and out of sight.
Slowly, but a steady pace, Seid� walked up the road to investigate whatever might be up there. He had his ideas of what it could be but he wanted to be sure he was right. He made his way to just about the bend in the road when he heard footsteps quickly ap-proaching. At a run, someone was coming down the hill. Bronze knew he didn�t have the time he needed to get into any form of cover, so he just stood and waited, gun drawn, for who ever came around the corner.
It was a boy that looked to be about Seid�s age. Short cut dark blonde hair and glasses hiding his eyes. He skidded around the corner and stopped as he saw Seid�. In one hand he held a gun, in the other, a folder. The boy stood shocked, breathing hard as he watched Seid�. Bronze on the other hand, calmly raised the gun level on the kid. �What�s on that hill?�
�What?!� the boy panted. �Hey, man, come on, there�s no need to shoot me is there?�
�Answer me.� Bronze spoke calmly as the boy nodded.
�Okay, okay. The Special Forces, that�s what. That place is a bitch to get in and out of�unless you know what you�re doing.�
�How so?� Seid� cocked his head.
The boy laughed in the middle of a breath. �It�s so guarded. I�m actually surprised that it would be, no one would ever think of breaking in.� he laughed.
�Sarcastic, aren�t we?� Seid� pulled the hammer on the pistol back. �Keep talking. What do you mean by heavily guarded?�
�No one can get in and no one can get out�well, that�s not entirely true. Any one can get in; it�s a question of can you get back out again.�
�Obviously you can get back out again.� Bronze said in his normal monotone voice.
The boy nodded. �Yeah. Hey, what�s your name? I�ve never seen you around here before. Are you one of those people who thinks they can come in here and beat the Spe-cial Forces all by themselves? We have them all the time, they always end up dead.� He gulped and stood up to his full height now. �My name�s Benji Leigh.�
�Benji Leigh.� Seid� repeated quietly. �What leads you to be so trusting as to tell some one your name? How do you know that that person isn�t the one sent to kill you?�
�No one�s out to kill me, that�s why.� He shook his head. �Why are you so un-trusting as to not tell some one your name?�
�I never said I was.� Bronze narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. This kid was a pain in the ass. Just like that Petri kid. Maybe I should let him stick around for a while. �Bronze Seid�.�
�Well, Bronze Seid�, I suggest we get the fuck outta here! The Specials will be down here in a few as soon as they realize I have this stuff.� He held up the folder. �And trust me, they�ll find out soon.� He laughed knowingly. �Come on, let�s ditch.�
Without a word, Seid� lowered the gun and shoved in back in his pants, turning down the hill and back towards the town. He heard Benji run up behind him and walk next to him as he stepped back onto the pavement of the city streets.
�Hey, you got a place to stay? I got this place on the far side. No one even knows it�s there. What do ya say? Wanna at least come and look at it?�
�You really are too trusting Benji Leigh, you know that?� Seid� looked at him from behind his sunglasses.
Benji nodded. �I know, but it was the way I was raised. Or at least till my parents were killed by the Specials. Since then I�ve been trying to destroy them, little by little.�
Seid� nodded. �Yeah, let�s see this place of yours.�
Benji nodded and the two fell silent as they walked through town. Benji turned down a small side street off of what looked to be Main Street and after a minute entered the old city. Nothing was whole and nothing was new. It was the original city before the Colony was dropped and it was just as destroyed as the city where Bronze just spent three years. Broken buildings and fallen houses. Cars and the remains of trees lay everywhere. In places grass had begun to grow back and the sounds of birds was present in the dis-tance. Benji paid no notice to this and kept walking as if this had been here his entire life. At one point he came upon a sewer hole with out the grate. He paused and looked back to Bronze. �Down here.� He said and jumped down into the sewer.
Bronze didn�t hesitate to follow him. If he had to he could always kill this guy and use this place as their own hide out, but as for now, he would just wait and see how much this kid really knew.
�Sorry that it�s dark, but I don�t need a light anymore to know where to go.� Benji�s voice echoed slightly off the sewer walls.
�Yup.� Seid� took off his glasses and looked around. It was clear that this was the old sewer. It was dry and broken in many places. The two shelves on each side of where they walked were probably once the original walk ways. He looked to Benji as the boy placed one hand on the wall and spoke to Seid�. It was clear that he couldn�t see like Seid� could.
�Keep your hand on the wall that�s to your right. When it ends turn to the right again.�
�I can see Benji.� Seid� said quietly. �I�ll just follow you.�
�What?� Benji looked over his shoulder to Bronze, a shocked look on his face. �That�s impossible. No Human�s eyes are that good.�
�Mine are.� He said calmly. �Let�s go. I want to see this place of yours.�
�If you say so.� Benji shrugged and walked off, his hand lightly touching the wall. Bronze walked calmly behind him, taking in the sight of the old sewer. The pipes all cracked and broken on the ceiling, the cracks and holes in the floor and of course the way to this place of Benji�s. He was right, at the end of the ledge, there was a tunnel that led to the right and went down deep towards some distant point, but what got Seid� was that Benji walked over to the left side wall and ducked through a large crack in the wall. Once he did this, Seid� heard Benji speak once again.
�Bronze��
�What?� Seid� stood up on the other side of the crack and noticed that they were in another sewer. This one, too, was the same as the one they just came from and right off there were three different tunnels. One to the left, one to the right and one straight ahead. �Which tunnel?� Seid� asked.
Benji gasped. �You really can see down here can�t you?�
�Plain as day.�
�Left.� He said quietly and made his was over to the entrance of the tunnel. Once again, the two fell silent as the only noise present was the echo of their footsteps on the cement flooring. A good couple minutes of walking down this tunnel and Benji came upon a hole in the floor. He paused just before it. �There�s a hole here, Bronze. Right be-neath it is where my place is.�
�I can see it.� He watched as Benji jumped down into the hole and followed suit. The room they entered had nothing in it that Seid� could see and he turned to Benji as he heard him pick up something. There was a click and a bright light. �Agh!� Seid� threw his arm up and turned from the light. �What the fuck are you trying to do, blind me?� he slipped his glasses back on and turned to Benji.
�What are you talking about?� Benji shook his head. �It�s just a light. A flashlight actually. Man, are you allergic to it or something?�
�Or something.� Seid� mumbled as he watched Benji walk to the far wall. He set the light down and leaned against it, pushing back a sliding door that opened up into a large area. It was a single room, but looked to be an underground house. A house under the sewer system. This explanation is going to be good.
Benji set the light on the table and went to put the folder in a cabinet when he turned to Bronze. �Pretty nice huh?�
�Yeah, but how�d a fully furnished place get under here?�
�This is actually my old house. My dad was a govern�� he stopped suddenly and turned. �My family was owed a favor from some people, so they gave him this place in return.�
Bronze nodded. �I see. I�ll be back.� He turned towards the way they just came.
�Where are you going now?� Benji asked as he swung the light towards Bronze.
�Hey, watch it.� He held his arm up again. �I have to go get two other people. Don�t worry about it, they�ll be okay. They�they work for me.�
�They do?� Benji cocked his head to the side. �If you say so.� He shrugged and walked away. �I�ll be here when you get back.� With that, Benji turned a corner and was gone from sight.
Seid� sighed as he walked out of the room and began to back track the way he had just traveled. Once in the sewers again, he sighed. �He�s too trusting and too eager to not be alone.� He paused as his words echoed down the halls of concrete and brick. �But at the same time, he knows to keep his distance and not get too close to people. Smart kid.� He nodded. �He could be useful to us if he�s already gotten into the Special Forces base.�