Archers: The Red Hood

It begins

He leapt off the roof in an uncanny jump, landing hard on a little puddle full with mud. The voices in his head kept screaming louder "Run run run!" almost goading him.

He looked behind - He could see no one in the darkness, but a sixth sense could still tell he was there, lurking behind, chasing after him in great strides.

He had only one chance to escape, over the hedge and he would be gone for good, the secrets safe.

He spent so much time thinking and little looking, so he couldn't notice the felled log slanting awkwardly and blocking his path until he rammed into it, tiny stars twinkled in his mind, spasming pain hit his forehead.

"You're dead" The voice came again "No escape for you"

He could see nothing in the darkness, but he could feel the exuding presence of his pursuer.

A glint of silver flashed so fast his eye couldn't catch, buh his mind registered the pain immediately, as his skin burned as with brimstone.

"Death awaits you. You are judged" The voice took form, a black shade in a hood, a silver mask that glinted in the moonlight,

"What are you?" He asked through gritted teeth, pain evidently killing him slowly

"The judgment. Worry none, for you shan't be alone for long. Your comrade will join you" The voice seemed to shrink into whispers in that mask, giving so little a clue who was behind it.

A t**t was heard and another flash of silver glint was seen. This time it killed instantly, hitting the bull's eye on the left chest, blood staining the weapon and reflecting the moonlight.

Owls hooted in the distance, heralding the sudden departure of the masked man

_

SEVERAL YEARS EARLIER.

Sir Douglas Wood stared the man hard in the face, disbelief written boldly across his forehead.

"I don't understand" he seemed to choke on the very words

"The hell you don't, look nobody cares, now get the f**k outta my office" A tart reply hit him, ending the convo as abruptly as it began.

He took his file from the table and left, drowned in several emotions, anger the most evident of them all.

But what was the need in being angry? he had lost everything, what was he going to tell his wife, his kids?

His son was supposed to be in college but how could he afford that?

His thoughts left him oblivious to his environment, such that he crossed the road without caring any less which car was speeding by or not, he drew a lot of curses along with him.

"f**k you old man!" was the most rampant

"Yeah f**k the government too" he thought. The government was the reason he was in this mess. They shut down the petrochemical company where he worked for God knows what, and now he has been subsequently fired. Where in this whole city was he going to find employment? Jobs these days were hard to keep, let alone find and now he had suddenly found himself in the labour market!

"Screw the government" He thought again as car honks blasted the sanity out of the neighbourhood

_

The room was dull white. A sullen calm settled all over the place as the clock ticked impatiently.

The clock, Jack Rossland noticed, was old fashioned. Old fashioned but deadly.

A wiry smile curved up his lips.

"Jack?" A silk-coated feminine voice pronounced softly

He shifted uneasily about his seat. How often did she make him do that?

She stepped gingerly into his office, the air-conditioning freezing beauty into her face, carrying a thin file in her slender arms.

She was beautiful. And was Jack Rossland's secretary.

Jack only nodded tersely, grazing his stubble with his coarse fingers.

She found a seat and made herself comfy.

"More and more are still going down" Her voice floated like lather. Jack could break the cryptic message easily, but he urged for an explanation

"Recently, Komenbl chemicals was shut down due to the infant industry policy, about a thousand people are laid out of work." She continued, Jack grimaced.

"Things are worse" He admitted, more to himself than anybody else.

"Yes, but your empowerment program can help at least a hundred of them-"

"Which is just one percent" Jack cut in brusquely.

"These programs, they only tackle the symptoms. We need to kill the virus"

His secretary glanced briefly at him, then back to her file.

"There is no killing the virus jack, it is in the system. You can't fight the government"

"Oh yeah?" He replied "We can try"

"Yeah, We" She replied in turn, her tone replete with sarcasm.

Jack stood up and meant to leave, a lot of thoughts spiralling in his head, dangerous thoughts.

"Jack?" His secretary called back after him, very concerned

"Don't do anything stupid"

Jack only grunted, Making his way past the door. It required stupidity in excess to execute what he had just formulated in his mind.

_

Douglas Wood sunk heavily into his worn sofa, he looked around with sullen eyes at the dilapidated state if his near-dysfunctional dwelling. Yes, he couldn't call it a home, it looked more like an enclosure, or a miniaturized Cavern cut out of rocks. A tiny rat crawled to his feet, inhaled the poisonous odour from his shoe ran away almost abruptly. Things were more difficult than the rat could understand. 

His family would soon come out of their rooms, but what was he to do? He was broke, aging and recently lost his job. He needed respite, but from where would it come?

"Doug?" His wife called out to him. He had been oblivious of her presence, being lost in his own thoughts.

"Rosalie" He replied

"I heard. In the news, Konebl has gone down to the shutdown virus" She fought back her tears

"It's going to be alright" He assured falsely, knowing he was lying plainly to himself in Rosalie's face

"Is it??" She countered, sobbing slightly now

"I, my colleague has a cabin space in the outskirts, close to the woods where we could stay and avoid all these bills that are mounting, at least for the time being until I get my job back"

"Where in the outskirts?" 

"The forest boundaries"

"Do you think it will be safe?" There was that mother's concern in her tone

"We can only hope, we haven't got any choices left" Douglas could feel the pain clouding somewhere in his heart. This was difficult for all of them

"Are you ever gonna get your job back?" Rosalie knew it was one of those questions, one of those questions that had glaring answers, inevitable answers, but that had to be asked. There was false comfort in asking, a deceptive method of finding closure. Douglas could only heave a deep sigh and serve her the inevitable reply.

"No, Rossie, No"

_

Jack Rossland is a man of about 35 years of age. His otherwise soft and handsome facial features were coated with a rough hard skin. A skin toughened by experiences he encountered crashing on a mysterious island years back. He was what you would term the complete man: Straight and sharply defined jaws, soot-black hair, lowly trimmed and glittering oily, transparent sapphire eyeballs, which would pierce through you in a gaze that seemed of X-ray quality, a strong build of biceps and triceps and their kinds, which seemingly occurred naturally to him as he rarely visited any gyms, perfectly chiseled chest, which looked more like the breastplate of ancient gladiators, evenly carved out abs which resembled an elaborate street plan, and which all sat atop long athletic legs of strong build. He could easily be mistaken for a Spartan which just walked right out of the battle against Darius. 

And he was Rich.

This was the superior attractive quality he possessed.

His interests into real estate broking, forex trading and mineral resource mining was enough to easily place him as the richest in his city. 

But examining all these achievements, Jack Rossland yet considered himself a failure. No more of a failure than those who just recently lost their means of livelihood at Komenbl. 

He stepped out his expansive office into a more expansive balcony in long strides, taking notice of the entire width of the failed city. His RossBerg Conglomerate headquarters stood at the center of the city, meters taller than any other building, overlooking the entire landscape the city could cover. 

It looked as if the city was placed in his hands, in his care, as if he were a god. But then he was a failed God that deserved no respect, because the city, 'his' city was dying, and he could do nothing to protect it.

He rested his arm on the rails, burying his face in his massive palms. 

He was a failure.

_

"Welcome!" The voice boomed again "Welcome you all to the Universal city!" 

Douglas scoffed. He wondered how these con artists still got to trend.

"Aleksandr, is he in?" He asked the bartender, who held out a glass to him, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

"Your name?"

"Douglas. Douglas Wood." 

"Correct." The bartender replied him, as if he had just passed a verification examination. "I will make immediate arrangements Monsieur wood" Then he left.

Douglas only nodded his reply, looking around. The bar reeked of putrid odour, as was almost the same anywhere else in the city, drunk and wasted bodies littered all over the floor, extreme noise from a far corner where the con artist duped people of their scarce money in deceptive performances.

A fallen banner which had "Welcome to Astro city, the universal city" printed on it lay flat on the dirty floor, the print coated with dust. Douglas scoffed again; The banner only spoke of the old days when Astro city was truly the universal city, the days before the corrupt government officials assumed power, the good old days. He quickly remembered his father and how his father's legacy in Komenbl got him a job there, those were the days when integrity counted. Now you couldn't make thousands if you weren't a con artist. 

He grimaced. What legacy was he leaving for his own son? Even in a time like this, what legacy could he leave for his son? He choked down his pain in a deep swallow - Aleksandr was here.

Aleksandr walked down the bar, flanked on both sides by two men who were probably carrying weapons. Douglas was none impressed, he guessed he had probably joined the Tri-skull, the trending organised crime and cult system. It seemed, Douglas thought, that evil was the only way out of this hell hole they found themselves in.

"Aleks" Douglas hugged him. His cologne smelt nice

"You are doing good" He felt impressed for the first time today

"Nice to see you, my friend" Aleksandr replied him in his thick Russian accent, all smiles.

"I truly wasn't expecting you here, drink?" Douglas politely refused and instead went straight to his point of coming.

Aleksandr only sighed in exasperation, then placed a hand on Douglas's shoulder. 

"Dear dear Doug, always wanting to do the right thing. This world is cruel, you should know by now"

"Yeah, that is why, I want to leave"

"You could stay, join us, we will make your life better. The Tri-skull is government sponsored." 

"But they don't do the right thing, their activities are illegal" 

"Oh God" Aleksandr burst into a laugh "who cares about the right thing, you only care what protects you and puts food on your table. Doing the right thing will only make you broke and eventually get you killed" He shook Douglas's shoulder "You've got to take my advice man" 

"I think I'm too old now, but I'll think about it. For the meanwhile I need to lease your van help me with packing up, like I told you" 

"Certainly, you will have the keys in earnest." Aleksandr said then made to leave before turning around once more "You still have a chance Doug, don't risk your young boy Ward" 

"I'll think about it"

Douglas left the pub, drawing wary glances from men coated in long leather jackets, concealing weapons. He knew better than to look sideways, keeping his own gaze straight till he left the vicinity.

He had just been offered a chance to join them. Yet he couldn't,. Evil had already defeated good in this city, there was nothing anyone could do, not even jack Rossland. Yet still he couldn't, he couldn't join.

"I have to set a legacy, for my son" he spoke his thoughts aloud, walking quickly, briskly.

_

Astro city, usually called the universal city, located South of the lines somewhere in West Africa, is a mumble jumble of almost all tribes of the world. Before the red sky, a code name for the first alien invasion, the world was as we know it, but after the red sky, there became a paradigm shift of world powers and systems, and a state of partial anarchy.

Few took it upon themselves to instigate social reforms, and in turn, all sorts of reforms. Astro city took the lead, and before long, the city was so redeveloped such that other nations and cities took Astro as their model for their own redevelopment.

In a few years after the red sky, the world is now closely back to what it was before, except that Astro, the universal beacon city, had begun to die. Many would blame the corrupt government for the cause, few would understand what caused, but very few, a minimal percentage like Jack Rossland knew it wasn't all about the government.

It was the search for the Ultraverse.

Very little people cared about their current existence, and current state of the world. Almost everyone wanted to go to the Ultraverse, and with the Red Sky not making it any more easier, no one any longer believed the Ultraverse to be a myth.

But The Ultraverse had to be a myth so that the 'real-verse' could survive. It was basic thinking. The search for a different existence only heightened because the current existence was disillusioning, but the people had to know that the more they despised reality for something supernatural and promising, the more reality broke to pieces. They had to repair their lives, their city, the government was taking advantage of their deluded mentality and turning it against them and -

"Jack?" His secretary interrupted him.

He heaved a sigh. It was all telling on him.

"Becker called in, you were asleep?"

"No, I, I was thinking"

"Too much Jack, Way too much"

He paused for a while, before looking at her pretty face.

"Elsa, my father rebuilt Astro city, and it's falling under my watch"

She was pretty. She replied.

"Maybe you should let it fall so you can rebuild it"

He let out a defeated sigh, angling his arms. There was truth in her words, but nothing can't be done?

"You know people so much think about the Ultraverse,"

"It's not a myth, I think of it sometimes myself. It's not a myth, you yourself confirmed it" Her vermilion lips pouted as she spoke

"There is a reason I bought the island I crashed on, things I learnt about the Ultraverse, they are not clear, and they are dangerous"

"It's not a one man study, you said that yourself. You are keeping harmful secrets about the island that could kill you, you bought the island and cordoned it off in order to protect those secrets, what are you hiding jack? and what exactly is this ultraverse?"

Despite being alluring and effectively persuasive when her slender arms rocked you while she asked you questions, she preferred to avoid using those qualities on Jack. Not that they meant much on him anyway.

"I don't know" Jack replied truthfully, the Ultraverse was vast. Not one man could fully have any idea about it. He gazed at her sitting across him, wondering what she ate this days. And why, in God's name, she decided to know so much. Information, too much information could get you killed, just like power.

"So you came up with a plan to fight the government?"

"They're up to something, I can feel it in my blood. Becker's call might be some new update"

"I see, Komenbl shut down seemed rather strange" She lifted a finger to her lips in fake thinking

"Except they have some other use for Komenbl I don't think they would have, because it keeps the government stock prices afloat on the SE"

"Let's say they wanted to create something illegal, poisonous, wasn't that a petrochemical stuff?"

Jack quirked a brow. He had to be wary around Elsa, she had either gotten an inside Intel or she had just become increasingly intelligent. But wasn't that why he had hired her in the first place? Her intelligence? Before she had turned so damn hot?

"Komenbl fits the description. But it could be something big, Tri-skull will get involved definitely, those people are my problems. There are the big wigs in the Senate that run these ex-militia thugs, if we can trace the Tri-skull back to them, the operators, strike them- "

"Strike the head" Elsa clapped "But you're not a soldier, and that is a treasonable offence, never mind, adds to your growing list" She gazed intently for some reply

"Violence is not the only recourse, there are more than one ways to kill a bird"

"Hope you know you will have to play their deadly game if you won't go with force, and they hold all the aces" Elsa held his shoulders as he stood up and meant to leave

"I got the knowledge" He said then moved forward only to be dragged back by Elsa

"They could apply force too, they have, Tri-skull, you have, your skull" She was evidently scared mentioning that name, scared mostly for Jack's well-being

"God will provide" He tugged lose of her arms and left his office for the umpteenth time today, slamming the door this time around.

_

He detested love stories, but he never fathomed his life would turn into one.

Ciara Queen stood on the balcony watching the whole activity with vigour, all the while her eyes searched instead for something of greater interest.

He came into the scene, devoid of being monitored, his whole concentration on the heavy box he carried. The box slipped from his grasp despite and spilled contents on the sun-baked asphalt. He drew a long hiss, bending cautiously and picking up the spilled contents, A ball rolled out of his reach, and resigning to leave it's descent unperturbed, he continued to another ball. But the first ball rolled back. Amused, he looked up to see the cause. She was there, all smiles. 

Ward Wood regarded her in a long scrutinizing gaze - this was the first time in the 18 years of his life he had actually come within meters of Ciara, and even then, he felt it was on a borrowed time.

She waved awkwardly, not sure what she would've done. 

So many times she'd actually wanted this - a chance to talk with him, but never once was she given that.

Her parents owned the property in which The Woods lived, or used to live. And her parents were none the kinder to any of the Woods, and they expected her to follow that path still, allowing no sort of communications between her and their broke ass tenants.

Ward knew all about this ill treatment, and spoke nothing of it, and so many times she wished she knew his mind, be it ill or good was in it. She yearned to know what he thought about her, wished to change whatsoever smear her parents had painted on her.

She longed to show him she was different, and, now was the chance.

She couldn't speak.

The atmosphere began to feel tense and Ward had to look away. He did admire her,

he did consider her different and kind, but what was the point in telling her, they were leaving her property for the woods, and soon her parents would start barking, ready to throw the deadliest of savages at him.

"I wish I could follow you" Ciara commented, grinning sheepishly

Ward spared her a quick glance - did she really understand what she wished?

He wondered what to reply.

"What do you need the woods for, you're safe in Astro city" He replied, advised, more so 

"No one is safe in Astro city, but I feel safe with you"

He spared her another glance. She looked too young - How old was she, 16?

She looked too young to understand life.

"It's what you feel, it's not reality" He opined. "I probably feel the same way too" He quickly added, in order not to bruise feelings

"You do?" She dwelt on that, grinning

"Probably" He arranged the box properly and set it in the van, turning slightly for a quick wave and nod, before disappearing in the back of the vehicle.

He felt complete, as if a locked part of him had suddenly been released, only then he realised how much he wanted also to speak to her.

It felt painful, that the best moments were always exceedingly short-lived and sparing, he wondered if he'd ever see her again. He wondered, even, if he'd see Astro city again.

His wonderings drowned in a haze, as the van shot speedily out of Astro city, and everything his life had been.

_