Smoke obscured her vision of the boulevard. Back in the direction of town square a line of police advanced methodically, holding torches and stun batons. Kaiya left in the opposite direction, further west, senses alert. Behind her, the officer who had protected the collaborator followed.
Bodies and rubble littered the too-quiet boulevard. Rifle fire and explosions arose from side streets, but if anyone directly ahead of her was still alive, she couldn’t tell. The remains of the top half of the building obliterated by the Obsidian Tank rose in front of her, great chunks of stone standing in a beachfront of dust. The Obsidian Tank itself stood almost invisible in the distance, hidden both by the smoke and its naturally transparent material. A gaping hole had incapacitated it. The only weapo
