NOVGO.NET Chapter 34: Behind The Cordon
Chapter 34: Behind The Cordon
Black recovery vans arrived outside the western tunnel exit within thirty minutes, their unmarked engines idling softly beside the damaged transport convoy.
"The clean-up crews move faster than emergency ambulances when corporate scandals bleed on asphalt," he muttered from the ditch railing.
’Eight dead proxies vanished into body bags before the municipal police even received the report,’ he thought, watching the rapid cover-up unfold.
Association fixers in dark suits tossed canvas tarps over the shattered windshields, categorizing the slaughter as an unmapped monster outbreak without hesitation.
Ruby leaned against the roadside barrier with an unzipped jacket, slipping an encrypted evidence drive into her pocket with calm, practiced stealth.
"They signed off on the five hundred thousand credit escrow," she whispered in a low breath, showing him the green transfer slip.
"The money cleared into our joint account; ring-fence it for medical claims and district defense," he replied, watching two recovery workers haul the proxy commander away quietly.
"Let the city write whatever fairy tale it wants on official paper," she added, adjusting the sling holding her resting spear.
’As long as the payout clears and Jolly walks to school safely, the council can print their lies,’ he calculated silently.
The afternoon sun dipped behind the mountain ridges, casting long purple shadows across the highway as they boarded the return transport tram.
They reached District Four around midnight, finding the streets quiet beneath the humming floodlight towers of the central civilian emergency shelter.
The back steps of the shelter building sat wrapped in peaceful darkness, sheltered from the glaring perimeter lights by thick privacy banners.
These steps were the exact stairs he sprinted past on night one, when an unknown spear specialist saved his life from orcs.
Ruby settled onto the middle step with a soft exhale, resting her kite shield against the wall while unlacing her running sneakers.
"My bruised ribs ache every time the mountain wind blows," she murmured, leaning back against the handrail with closed, weary eyes.
"You should stay flat in a real bed instead of sitting on stairs," he answered, sitting beside her on the step.
"Hospital beds smell too much like medicine and dying people," she countered in a dry tone, turning her head toward his profile.
’She smells like antiseptic foam, laundry soap, and the quiet night air,’ he thought, feeling their shoulders brush in the shadows.
A distant municipal generator hummed through the quiet lot, providing a steady rhythmic background cadence to the empty lower-district midnight streets.
"You think Gage is going to send another batch of proxies tomorrow?" he asked, studying the quiet skyline over District Four.
"Not immediately," she answered, leaning her head back against the wall as she added, "He just lost eight licensed vanguards without killing either of us."
’A corporate captain who loses eight elite killers in one afternoon spends tomorrow writing excuses for his patron,’ he thought calmly.
"You never told me why you jumped through that school window," she said softly, watching the faint steam rise from their breath.
"Jolly was in Classroom 3B with an orc lifting her arm," he replied, looking down at his calloused packing-line fingers steadily.
"Any brother who can jump three stories without breaking ankles has a duty to jump," he added with a faint dry smirk.
"You are reckless, stubborn, and you have zero respect for Association command chains," she whispered, her voice dropping into a tender register.
Ruby reached across the narrow space between their knees, her fingers curling around the lapels of his dark fleece jacket with determination.
She pulled his face down toward hers, closing the lingering distance between them with a deep, breathless, and unhurried kiss.
The sensation felt like coming inside from an open blizzard, the heat of her lips melting the grim violence of the tunnel.
It was not a reward panel from an automated game system, representing instead two tired survivors claiming life before another siren sounded.
They broke apart after several lingering heartbeats, their warm breath clouding together in the chill night air beneath the shelter banners.
"That sudden movement hurts my bruised ribs a little," she whispered with a ragged laugh, resting her forehead gently against his shoulder.
"Partners in the field first," she stated in her crisp, professional soldier tone, looking directly into his brown eyes with clarity.
"All other matters come second," he agreed, reaching up to brush a dark strand of hair away from her bandaged cheekbone gently.
"If you die while keeping that field order," she warned with a playful glare, "I will file fifty pages of complaints against you."
"Jolly would edit your spelling on every single page," he answered with a soft chuckle, helping her stand from the steps.
They walked together toward the Halden walk-up, the neighborhood dark except for the occasional street lamp buzzing on the corners above.
He watched her step safely through the front gate of her apartment annex across the street, waiting until her porch light flickered.
"Goodnight, partner," her quiet text arrived on his handheld screen, bringing a faint smile to his lips as he crossed the boulevard.
He climbed the worn stairwell of Apartment 4B quietly, listening for any sign of intruders as his enhanced sense scanned the building.
The apartment door unlocked with a smooth brass click, revealing the dark entryway where yesterday’s beef stew still scented the hallway air.
He stepped inside and clicked the overhead switch, blinking under the yellow bulb as a bright color caught his focused gaze immediately.
A neon yellow sticky note hung pasted squarely in the center of the white refrigerator door, positioned exactly at eye level.
"Curfew for girlfriends is 10:00 PM sharp," the note declared in his sister’s precise, unwavering red ink handwriting across the paper.
"Late penalty fee: fifty credits per ten minutes," the addendum stated, complete with a small mathematical multiplication table drawn beneath the rule.
Fin checked the kitchen wall clock, which read precisely twenty minutes past midnight in glowing green digital numerals above the sink.
"Seven hundred credits in accumulated late penalties on the fridge," he muttered with an amused shake of his head, unzipping his jacket.
’She probably stayed awake until ten o’clock just to write this notice,’ he thought, smiling faintly at the neat red script.
’Seven hundred credits could buy two sacks of polished grain and three bundles of fresh scallions at the morning market,’ he calculated.
"She really calculated the late fees with ruthless late fees," he whispered, setting his glass onto the counter beside the sink.
He walked over to the narrow bedroom door, pushing the wood open two centimeters to peer into the quiet darkness inside.
Jolly lay curled beneath her patchwork quilt, her glasses resting safely on top of her closed black ledger on the desk.
Her breathing rose and fell in a peaceful, unbroken rhythm, undisturbed by the corporate wars raging through the city outskirts tonight.
He pulled the bedroom door shut with silent care, returning to the kitchen counter to pour a glass of filtered tap water.
[ Relationship milestone: Veil Unit partnership cemented ]
[ Household debt ledger: -700 credits (curfew penalty assessed) ]
[ EXP: 52,900 / 2,500,000 (unchanged) ]
He looked back at the refrigerator door, reaching up with his index finger to touch the edge of the yellow sticky note.
He left the paper hanging there under the light, knowing that taking it down would be an insult to the family roof.
Fin rinsed his glass in the sink, listening to the distant hum of the city wind as he prepared for tomorrow’s shift.