Sabatt
4099
New Rydynn
New Rydynn Hospital
27:45 hoursAn eye blinked open. Smoke curled up in a thin grayish blue wisp, seemingly wrapping around the head of the one eyed man. A cigarette dangled from his lips as he leaned against a back wall of the New Rydynn Hospital. Dust flitted around his boots as he shifted, mixing with the sand that had been blown in from a recent sand storm. Letting his eye rove up towards the inky darkness that had begun to creep in, turning the scorching day into an oblivious night, he sniffed. A storm was brewing. Whenever a sandstorm hit this close to a major city, or at least what could be considered as one in these times of tribulation, that meant a stinging ran of acid was blowing in their way. With the chemical mixes of warring factions settling into the atmosphere after hundreds of years of conflict, the gods of Sabatt had exacted a nasty revenge. Using their own chemicals against them, the gods sent back down rainstorms laced with skin burning acids, capable of tearing a man's skin off in a matter of minutes. The one eyed man knew all to well of what it could do. He had seen it happen once.
Blowing another stream of smoke into the growing pall that hung in the air like death over a dying soldier, Bad Zac shifted his lean, pulling the cigarette from his mouth to flick the ashes into the dust. Tucking the cancer stick back into the corner of his mouth he let his one good eye blink closed once more. His thoughts once more taking him back to the past. Three days had past after the insurrection of the Messiah tanks into the city of Monnttgomery, one of which had left him sightless in one eye. Wrapped with nothing but the torn sleeve of his own uniform, he had made it to relative safety a few miles away. Blood soaked, sore and weak from the loss of blood and food, he finally collapsed on the porch of a doctors office in Fortt Defiantt. Though abandoned, Zac had the mind set to take care of himself. From that day on, Zac had become a loner.
He had remembered hearing one day, in passing, that after a team was sent in to survey the carnage of Monnttgomery City, they had found the burning, hulking remains of no less than seven Messiah and Legion tanks. They had also found only one survivor. Private Chris Eckkertt had been pulled from the rubble of an awning that had fallen on him when the Violator had fired upon him and the two others. Though he was questioned about what happened the only answer he had in regards to what had happened to the team leader, all he could get out was one line over and over.
"He took on the beast...and they went to hell."
====
One eye blinked open again. Flicking the cigarette end over end to the dusty ground, he pushed off the wall, grabbed his ruck sack and made his way around the building. Two doors slid apart and he stepped in, dust being blown off by a set of hidden fans as he made his way in. A few days earlier he had wandered back into the hospital, making good on half the deal he had made to the lady doc. This time he had the second half. That little trip to Fortt Defiantt had paid off. Boots thumping across the tiled floor, he came to a stop in front of the main desk, setting the ruck sack on the desk top. Fingers untied the ruck as his one eye scanned the room, looking for her familiar form. Taking a lean, he fished for his pack of smokes, not to smoke one, but to keep himself busy as he waited. Soon, as the cigarette dangled once more from the corner of his mouth, she made her way to the desk.
"You got it?", she asked as he shifted his lean. He nodded, mumbled some kind of answer and motioned to the ruck.
"Works too," he quietly added as she pulled it out. Plugging in the hot plate she had made a deal for she let it warm up. While it took the few moments to do so, she rather absently commented on the events that had happened a few nights back.
"Heard you caused some trouble here the other night," she watched for his reaction before turning back to the plate. The one eyed man let the corner of his mouth drift into a smirk, though odd it looked with the dangling cancer stick. Two nights prior, as he had done with each visit to the neutral hospital, he had come in, traded for a shower card or food and then had made his way to a terminal that gave him access to what Elliot Seven, the large super computer, could offer in information. Seeking what he could on the location of the Violator tank, he tapped away, inputting codes and commands. This particular night, he had flipped the voice activation switch off. Apparently that had been a no-no. Having downloaded some fresh information that Elliot could dig up on the tank, he slipped the disk out right as the system shut down. That's when he was approached by a burly looking security man. Through an innocent set of events, the guard ended up with a broken rib and a bloody nose. Zac ended up with his information, and his name on a list.
"Nope. Must have been misinformed, doc," he answered her, lying through his teeth. Fighting the effects of a cold, Ash, the lady doc, grunted some sort of reply, not believing a word he had just said. Before she could say anything to him, he worked the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other and let his gaze wash over her.
"Ya want it or not?", he intoned.
"Deal's a deal," she answered. Unplugging the working burn plate, she spun on her heel and made her way to the ambulance bay. Zac himself headed off to another terminal as he had done before and began to access Elliot once more. Soon a shower card was spit into his lad and a five pound bag of jerky was lumped there as well.
"Thanks doc," he rasped, turning his attention to the information that started to spill across the screen.
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