127.

  By the time I fell through my bedroom window, I felt like I was going to vomit from sheer exhaustion and terror. I pulled my balaclava up, gasping for air and clutching the side of my swollen face. My head screamed at me, and the energy expenditure from keeping the cloak up for that long had made my muscles weak and shaky. But I was home.

  I drew the curtains and huddled down next to my bed, breathing deeply and trying to gather my thoughts. What the hell was Gas? How was I supposed to beat something like that? So far, I'd taken on street thugs and one nightmare wraith, but that was in the dream world, and didn't count. But Gas was real. He was monstrous. My Bang Rocks had no effect on him, neither did the Flash Coins. The Zap Knuck had caught him off guard, but I doubted I'd get a second chance like that.

  But at least I was home. I was safe.

  And that's when my Wrist Pod began screaming at me. I jumped so hard I jarred my spine and neck. It was the emergency alert sound. I searched around in the near darkness of my room for the damn thing and finally found it underneath my bed. I pulled it out and began tapping things at random, trying to get it to shut up. Then suddenly, the holographic screen burst open, and there was a message:

  ‘He knows where you live. You have two minutes before he arrives. Run.’

  I stared at the screen for a moment, blinking, and then my body lurched into action. I stumbled one way, then another, in pure panic. Gas knew where I lived, and he was coming here! I had two minutes to escape! I already had all my gear on, so I ran for the window and then stopped.

  "Wait," I hissed at myself. “Think!”

  I turned back, grabbed my backpack out of my closet, grabbed a fistful of the stolen drug money, stuffed it inside, and then scrambled for the Codex and the candle, shoving them into my bag as well. Then I looked around and began grabbing random half-formed gadgets and bits of material and replacement gloves in sheer panic. I looked into my closet again and saw the backpacks full of drugs and money I had stolen from various thugs around the estate. I couldn’t leave those here.

  My Wrist Pod went off again, and this time I jumped hard enough to bite my own tongue. I swore, turned around, smacked my knee painfully off my desk, then stumbled back to the bed.

  ‘What are you still doing there, you idiot? Run! Go to this address.’

  I looked at the address and saw a map appear. The address looked like it was on the outskirts of the city, going down towards Kent near Mault Avenue, where I had fought Brick.

  I didn't have time to think. I dropped the Wrist Pod on the bed, ran for my window, looked back at my flat, my bedroom, the place that had once been my only safe haven, and now even that had been destroyed. I kicked open my window, threw my backpack out, and then wormed my way out onto the fire escape. I slammed the window shut and started running.

  I decided to take the alleyways rather than the rooftops. Gas knew me. He would know I preferred the rooftops and would probably be up there already, closing in on me. I dropped down to ground level and began running as fast as I could. I didn't have enough energy to throw up the cloaking charm again, so I just sprinted, head down, jaw clenched, willing my body to go faster. I couldn't take on Gas again. I was too weak, and this time he wouldn't play with me, he would kill me quickly. But where the hell was I going? I vaguely knew the route to Mault Avenue. The last time I'd gone there, I'd taken the rooftops. Down on ground level, everything was more confusing, cramped, and twisting.

  Even worse, the whispers had begun again, emanating from my backpack. I had never taken the Codex out of my flat before, and the thing seemed eager to be out in the world. I could feel its cloying presence, the lust and that pouring from it. The whispers were maddening and growing louder.

  Panicked, I fled into the darkness. Visions of hands reaching out and clawing at me filled my mind as I ran. Terror choked me. I didn't know whether it was the whispers or my fear of Gas, but it was enough to steal the strength from my legs and the breath from my lungs. I had to get away, but where? Where was I going? I'd lost all sense of direction in my panic. I was still on the Mulberry Estate, but I was sure I was going the wrong way. I leaped over a wall and stumbled through a pile of trash, coming out onto a broadway. I looked around and then saw a flicker of a sign on a bus stop. It was an advertisement for some sort of instant noodles, but it flickered and changed, and suddenly a green arrow appeared, directing me down the street.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I took off running. More signs from my mysterious ally appeared, and it was only as I began following them almost blindly that a thought suddenly occurred to me. I had nothing but this anonymous person's say-so that Gas was hunting me, that he knew where I lived. I was so afraid of the mercenary that I just took off without even thinking. What if this was another trap? What if this was Gas leading me into an ambush?

  My panic intensified as I rounded another corner. I wanted to slow down. I wanted to stop and just take a minute to think, but I couldn't. My body wouldn't let me. I just kept going, kept running. Panic had robbed me of all sense, and now I was in survival mode.

  Even in the boroughs of New London, sprinting through the night fully dressed in black with a hood, a bloody balaclava, and a very visible weapon strapped to your back draws attention. I didn't even realise I had run past the police car until I saw its blue lights turn on.

  "Shit!" I growled, taking a right down an alleyway as I heard the car spin around to pursue me. I risked a look over my shoulder and saw two officers jump out of the police car.

  "Hey, stop there!" one of them yelled.

  So, I did what any good citizen of the Boroughs would do in that situation: I put on an extra burst of speed and began running. I could hear their heavy boots chasing after me down the alleyway. I took another blind left, knocking over a couple of bins as I did, and sprinted through the darkness. My lungs burned and I was struggling to breathe. I really wasn't built for long-distance running, I was more accustomed to running for my life in short bursts.

  As I got to the end of the alleyway, I realised I was in one of those rat runs they'd shut down to stop people doing exactly what I was doing. A giant fence had been put up, about twelve feet high, with anti-slick paint, making it almost impossible to climb. I turned and saw the police rounding the corner. Oh man, I really didn't want to have to do this.

  "Stop right there and put your hands up!" one of the officers barked breathlessly, and then I heard the click of a gun being readied.

  "Sorry guys," I muttered, and threw down a Flash Coin.

  It sparked and lit the alleyway with blinding light. The officers yelled in surprise and covered their eyes, but thankfully they were well enough trained not to just start shooting.

  As my own vision cleared, I looked up and saw a fire escape. I fired my Grapple Cord, snaked it around the edge of the fire escape, and began hauling myself up. As I did, I activated the cloaking charm, hoping that the disoriented police wouldn't see me in the near-dark alley, or if they did, they wouldn't believe their eyes.

  "Where'd he go?" one of the officers said.

  "What did he do? I'm blinded. Where is he?" the other barked.

  They stumbled in the darkness, and I heard the click of torches going on just as I pulled myself over the fire escape. I landed heavily and saw both torches suddenly flick up to me just as the cloaking charm fizzled out.

  "Oh man," I groaned.

  "Oi, stop!" one of the officers yelled.

  I jumped up the first couple of steps. Shots rang out from below. A bullet pinged off the stairs next to my head. I ducked low and sprinted up the steps, pulling myself over the edge of the building and fleeing into the night, praying that these officers decided they weren't paid enough to pursue me across the rooftops.

  Fortunately, I was right: no one followed me. But I knew my description would be out there now and that staying on ground level wouldn't be safe. Besides, I was getting too tired to run, so I began hopping between buildings, desperately staring at billboards, hoping my anonymous hacker would find me again.

  Eventually, they did, and through a combination of billboards, bus stops, and traffic lights, I wound my way towards the borders of the city without any more encounters with the police. Although I did see sirens flashing, that could have just been for anything. Down here in the Boroughs, it wasn't unusual to hear or see police sirens.

  I made my way to the dilapidated edges of the city, almost at a crawl now as I was so tired. After what felt like hours of running, I finally found the building I'd been looking for. It was a run-down tenement that looked pretty much abandoned. It was maybe six stories high, with most of the windows boarded up. I dragged myself up the fire escape and kicked in the poorly boarded up door on the roof leading into the building.

  I stumbled inside, feeling my way through the darkness down the steps and into a massive open-plan flat. The entire floor had its walls knocked through, and it was now just one giant room. There were signs of someone having been here recently. The place was clean, there were some sparse furnishings laid around, and a computer that looked like it cost more than my flat did.

  I unsheathed Grandad's bat and cautiously walked into the room, looking left and right.

  "Hello," I called.

  This was madness. I couldn't believe I had followed this random person into the ass end of nowhere, and now I was in a room that was so obviously prime material for a trap. I kept waiting to see the figure of Gas suddenly appear out of the darkness.

  "Well, you actually made it, Gutter Mage… or do you prefer Alex?”