"It has been 9 months since the terror attack in Ardennes city, the third largest city. Since then, the final casualty count has reached 762, with 556 dead and the rest wounded. The cause was homemade explosives placed underground that collapsed an entire city block and turned the bottom floors to ash. The perpetrators of this incident claim to be Insurrectionists part of the United Rebel Front, and have promised more attacks in the future-,"
A news broadcast flickered on the screen of a digital bulletin board attached to one of the many street corners. The date and time were placed above the transmission, February 6th, 2517, it read. The light of the display reflected off of puddles of water caused by a shower of rain that was still drizzling.
It was cold.
Standing in front of the screen, which had now departed into a roll of various ads, were the sad grass-colored eyes of a young boy. The boy was obviously malnourished from the appearance of his now scrawny physique. His clothes were raggedy and worn, dirty and faded from the constant wear. His brown hair was wild and unkept, similar to that of a wild animal.
After pausing to watch the screen the boy turned to begin roaming the streets for the day.
The pitiful sight of the boy reflected the unfortunate state of the outer colony. Since the beginning of Operation: TREBUCHET in early 2513, the Insurrectionist forces in the Epsilon Eridani system have slowly become more desperate due to the pressure put onto them by UNSC (United Nations Space Command) forces. And as the saying goes: "Corner a dog in an alley, and it will turn back to bite,' and bite it did. Over the course of half a year, dozens of small-scale terror attacks have taken place, killing nearly 100,000 citizens, with many more wounded from the acts of evil.
The outer colonies were the targets of these relatively small-scale attacks. The visible goal was to get breathing room for the larger terrorist cells, at least that is what most civilians saw it as. As for UNSC High Command, they understood the hidden message, "Back up or prepare to subsidize the creation of morgues,". Therefore, begrudgingly, the UNSC and the UEG as a whole was forced to pull back on the reins. Thus, for the past three or so months, it had been silent as the two sides had reached another stalemate.
The irony wasn't lost on the members of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), however. The Insurrectionists had effectively used the same people they claimed to be fighting for as hostages and meat shields.
…
..
.
After pausing to watch the screen, the boy turned to begin roaming the streets for the day. It was his daily routine since he had lost his parents. His eyes flickered at the thought; even now, his heart hurt thinking back to that day. But just as quickly as the thought came into his head, he shook it out, continuing to trudge down the city street.
Turning a corner down a side street, he walked until he found the glowing light sign above a restaurant, Julio's, it read with a giant figure throwing a round pizza pie into the air. Recognizing the sign, the boy, David, lowered his head and began to follow an alleyway behind the restaurant, a ritual he had to scavenge food from the various trash cans belonging to the pizza place.
Climbing up onto the heavy metal dumpster, he opened the lid, "No luck," he said with a frown, finding the trash can to be empty, "Maybe I can skip today-" Just as the words left his mouth, he almost doubled over, clenching his stomach. The taste of bile rose into his throat as he leaned on the disgusting, stench-filled metal box.
A moment that felt like an eternity passed, and with it, the abdominal pain in David's stomach. He kneeled to the ground afterward, taking deep breaths. It was the fourth day he had gone without eating anything. He had no other options with this food source being empty, and so he resigned himself, knowing what he had to do.
Standing back up, he started walking, making his way toward the riverfront.
…
..
.
At the waterfront, he walked alone through the crowds of people. On the first Friday of every month, the city of Ardennes would have a large farmer's market for selling fresh produce directly provided by the nearby agricultural farms. Old wooden rustic-style stands adorned the pathways by the water. Across from them was the famous Cobalt Run, a river along the edge of the city before dropping off into a waterfall surrounded by various cliffs, nicknamed Cobalt Falls. The water was deep blue in color, ironically, it was caused by an overabundance of copper ions in the water, thanks to the terraforming operations almost two centuries ago.
The market was meant to be a tradition that honored the old rural way of living centuries ago on Earth, and though technology had advanced to the point that any produce could be ordered and delivered to a home in less than ten minutes, it was small things like this that brought life to the monotony or hard work on outer colonies. 'Hard but honest work' tended to be the motto that the people of the hundreds of outer worlds lived by.
Sitting on a stoop just above the front was David, watching the crowds of people and, more importantly, the stall owners. Like a hawk perched upon a tree overlooking a field, David quietly observed, waiting for an opportunity. He didn't think about the morality of what he was doing, as he already knew it to be wrong, but had decided that satisfying his hunger took priority over everything else.
Above, the sky maintained its murky grey color, casting a shadow on the city. It had stopped raining for a moment, but the brief flashes of lightning on the horizon proved that the clouds were not done spilling forth their tears. The boy's eyes caught the streak of light, and he frowned before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.
Slowly, his head swiveled on his shoulders, similar to a camera watching a corridor, and finally, after half an hour of waiting, he found the chance he had been seeking. At the very end of the line, he noticed a small stall unoccupied for a moment and sprang into action off his seat.
Landing at the bottom of the stairs leading from the shore, he began to nimbly bob and weave through the crowd, dodging people and obstacles alike. He kept his head down to avoid recognition,n but kept his eyes filled with determination and focused on the path ahead.
All around him, voices filled the air, some conversing while others were calling across the pavement.
In a minute, he had arrived at the booth and pulled a plastic bag from his pocket. He glanced over his shoulders, noting his immediate surroundings. Then he began greedily stuffing the bag with everything edible he could find, 'Carrots, celery, broccoli...' he began listing off the various things he grabbed while filling his bag. Unbeknownst to the young boy, a member of the Ardennes Patrol Squadron (APS) had taken notice of his thievery.
Finishing his heist, he turned to begin walking toward the crowd to blend in, but was stopped once he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. Looking behind, he found the dark green and gold uniform of a law enforcement officer. Moving his sight upwards, he saw a middle-aged man with a black beard planted on his jaw and cheeks, a tag on his uniform read Morgan.
"Put it back, son," he said with a firm yet resigned tone. In his eyes was empathy and pity for the boy, "I can't let you just take their livelihood,"
David looked away from the man for a moment. The man, thinking that maybe the boy was ashamed of his desperate actions, was hopeful that he would return the food without a fuss. Peering down at the figure of the boy, seeing his almost emaciated figure made a decision in his mind. If the boy were to return the stolen goods, he would accompany him and wait till the owner's return, where he would purchase them for the boy.
…Sadly, desperation makes people,e especially kids, do foolish things.
'I am not going to jail, and I'm not going hungry tonight,' he decided with a flicker in his eyes.
In an instant, the boy's free hand clenched into a fist as he swiveled his torso and hips, planting it square into the man's crotch. The punch dropped the man like a stone as he retched at the pain in his privates. Men around the scene winced at the strike and made way for the fleeing child.
The officer was startled by the surge of strength from such a pitiful-looking creature, and was found unable to defend himself in the instant.
Propping himself up as he still held his crotch with one hand, he activated his radio, "I got… a-a kid running with some stolen goods. He's heading down the shop side towards you, Jack," he spoke with a strained voice.
Huff Huff Huff
With the bag in hand, David high-tailed it through the crowd, trying to make an escape with his prize. This time, however, everyone moved out of his way, there was no way to blend in, and it was only a matter of time before more law enforcement identified him.
Pushing and shoving any obstacle in his way, he continued to tear off down the concrete edge of the water until-
"HEY! STOP KID!" he heard a shout from behind. Turning, he saw another law enforcement officer chasing after him. The man jumped down from the same stoop the boy had been sitting atop before.
'I'm in for it now,' there was no backing out now. In David's mind, he either got away or was probably going to be put in jail. With that focus, he ran as hard as he could down the path.
It was an impressive sight as he seemed to perfectly time each dodge and movement around everything blocking his way. The officer in pursuit couldn't help but curse under his breath as he struggled to keep up. The man tumbled through signs and knocked down more than a few bystanders, having to shout apologies as he continued to chase. Yet, even when he wasn't being slowed down by these things the boy in front of him was still gaining a lead and was almost out of sight.
'Damn it,' the officer ground his teeth as he became increasingly more frustrated with each step.
"Oof!"
The man was paying too much attention to his target and not enough to where he was stepping. Snagging his toe on the edge of a water-filled dip in the path, he fell onto his stomach, splashing the freshly fallen rain all over his uniform. Looking up, the officer seethed as he helplessly watched the kid run until he was completely out of view. He scowled as he activated his radio while he lay on the cold, wet pavement.
===============================
Next chapter hope you enjoy