Overlooking the deal

         Bannik sat on the edge of the building, his legs hanging freely over, swaying slowly back and forth at the knees, his ankles swinging back to thud dully against the mouldy, paint-chipped bricks. The smell of salt filling his nostrils as he looked down upon the docks on the other side of a collapsed and flattened port shed. The people being marched closer towards the water vanished and appeared beyond the fallen building and its few remaining foundations and walls.

         Letting out a long exhalation, a mixture of disenchantment and longing bringing it on, his shoulders fell, poor bitches, he thought, seeing the short convoy of people being prodded forward by the armed men. All fight gone from them, they walked slowly into the cold metal maw of a hatchway to the landing craft laying at the water's edge, stepping over the bodies of the few that provided even the least amount of resistance.

         A crackle of thunder shattered its way through the sky, a brilliant flash of lightning illuminating the night into day for the blink of an eye. Bannik made no move to hide or seek cover in any way, he'd been flashed with the guard's searchlight enough times to tell him the man couldn't see a thing. A local, Bannik thought, looking at the man's clothing, and the fact he seemed more interested in watching for potential trouble, than at the captives that were being loaded, and even from his perch, Bannik could see that they were much nicer to look at than the rotten old docklands.

         “Hmmph...” Bannik grunted to himself, thinking disgustedly of the guard, and the other four locals that were herding the prisoners. Gang members all, preying on people trying to keep the world going, there might not be much left up here, he mused, but we have to keep going, and this scum selling us to the seamen are going to screw it up for us all. This shipment will make these arseholes rich, he'd never seen this many women being shipped at once. One, maybe two, in the one group perhaps, but never seven, some seaman rich guy will have some new slave girls to play with.

         Digging his hand into the side pocket of his dirty cargo pants, Bannik pushed past the pistol housed within, to a small plastic container, and pulled it free. What can I do for them? He pondered to himself as he opened it, clenching his eyes at the smell coming out, and picking out a single piece of the smoked rat meat. Swallowing it down after long and painful chewing, he closed the package and replaced it, leaving his weapon where it is as his hand withdrew. There's nothing I can do for this lot now, at least it is all women, and beautiful ones, men have it harder, these will lay about on cushions, male slaves have a life span down there of weeks, months maybe for a strong man.

         The sky darkened as clouds thickened over the area, dropping the city further into its perpetual night. A man dressed in clean clothing, new and hard pressed, pulled a woman from the doorway and to the side, allowing the procession to proceed. His hand clutched tight on the steel band about her neck, he pulled the terrified girl close to his face, and stopped her struggles by holding his pistol up to the side of her head and saying something. The woman's arms dropped to her sides, and with a loud laugh that drifted across the decomposed building to faintly enter Bannik's ears, he pushed the girl inside the hatch.

         “One day you fuckers!” Bannik said through grated teeth. Isn't it enough that after the war your kind fled to your precious underwater cities, leaving us in the dust up here, but you still come up to take what you want.

         The last of the girls was forced through the opening, and as one of the seamen aimed his rifle into the vessel briefly while shouting something, Bannik assumed that at least one of the women had turned back to face the entrance again. As the same man entered, yelling an indecipherable sentence, the others milled about with the locals, in an animated conversation. Money time, Bannik thought. Two of the men appeared to speak more than the rest, and Bannik marked the tall, long bearded man in dirty fatigues with the rifle slung over his back, our local leader, he mused, I'm going to enjoy meeting you soon!

         After a brief, and Bannik thought, no doubt sharp conversation, the seaman who had taken the lead nodded, and signalled to someone inside the long cold metal vehicle. I wonder what it is like down there? Bannik thought as he watched a man exit the vehicle and hand a bag to his apparent commander. One day I'll see it, you just wait and see, his mind flaring viciously, wanting to somehow plant his thoughts inside the man in charge down there.

         Braving another piece of rat meat, Bannik suppressed a gag, the small crowd of men separating with a raucous laugh he could hear easily. The seamen all entered the underwater transport and the hatch swung shut, finalising their transaction, and the women’s' fates, the local thugs watching from where they stood. Some loud metallic groaning noises came from the steel behemoth and it sprung to life, vibrating steadily and backing away slowly into the murky waters.

         The seamen and their new treasure gone from the surface world, Bannik turned his attention to the local group of strongmen, and dug his weapon from his pocket, rising to his feet.

         ~

         “Hi there!” Came Bannik's voice, the man in his sights frozen in both shock and fear. This was too easy, Bannik thought, as his weapon aimed at the man's forehead, a lookout should never have let me get this close.

         The entire bunch of them had been taken by surprise as Bannik walked straight up to them, levelling his pistol in the lookout's face. If he died here, he thought, it would be worth it to have seen the look on this fool's face when he turned to look down the barrel of my gun. At the sound of Bannik's voice however, the four others reacted quickly, fanning out and taking aim at him Too busy counting their money, Bannik noticed, each one dirtier than the other.

         Standing surrounded by the gang in a pool of distorted light thrown on them by the hidden moon, Bannik kept his handgun pointed at the worthless sentry, looking defiantly at each of the men, a grin wide on his face.

         “Hi there!” The man with the beard replied, in a mock friendliness, his finger tight on the trigger of the rifle he now held pointed directly at Bannik's chest, “What brings you by tonight?”

         “I came...” Bannik said, matching and exceeding the man's lightness and lowering his weapon, jamming it down into his pocket, “For a job!”

         I guess contact is the first step! Bannik thought to himself, a smile curling his lips as the man with the beard lowered his weapon, nodding his head thoughtfully.