Short, Light, Free

The car was parked in the corner of a busy street outside a gold shop with a thriving business.

I’m Jack, a civil police.

I don’t arrest criminals.

Well, not  ordinary criminals, at least.

Ever since I’ve received a tip-off, I’ve been waiting here for three days but no suspicious target has been here yet.

I looked at my watch, noting that I could manage to take five minutes out to get some breakfast at the restaurant nearby.

I woke my 200kg, thunderously snoring, assistant slash driver up. “Keep watch for a while, Fatty. I’ll get breakfast. Call me if there’s any development.”

Fatty rubbed his belly, smiling. “Get me 3 buns, a breadstick, and salted soy milk.”

I got out of the car.

I jogged to the restaurant and sighed upon noticing the long line.

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

My phone rang. Frustrated, I answered it.

“Come back quick, the targets’ are on the move. One has entered the gold shop. Many hostages,” Fatty informed me.

“What class?” I questioned.

If it wasn’t urgent, I could still get some food.

“Class B. I see a flamethrower. Sniper’s in position,” Fatty continued.

“B? Okay. Wait for me, I’m almost done.”

“Nn.. no, no. Can’t wait. It’s ur..urgent here!” Fatty stammered.

His old habit of stuttering always came back whenever he was nervous.

I left the queue and sprinted toward the gold shop.

With barely any pause, I retrieved a shotgun from my waist belt.

I deactivated the lock and inserted the bullets one by one.

Kachak! All eight bullets have been loaded with one hand.

I used the other hand to put on my Bluetooth device.

“Viper calling for headquarters,” I stated.

“Headquarters over, please speak, Viper.”

“Where’s the sniper?”

“A building 400 meters away. Target area: second to the fourth window of the gold shop. Six o’clock from the shop. Able to take action.”

“Viper received.” I inhaled a sharp intake of breath.

Am I supposed to trick the deviant over to that spot?

Were these leaders’ brains filled with shit?

I kicked my way into the shop, busting the door.

I raised my shotgun and aimed.

“Police! Everyone, raise your hands,” I ordered.

I aimed the gun at the only man standing.

Needless to think, he must be the flamethrower.

Just as I was about to pull the trigger, it was smacked away from my hand and a force tackled me to the ground.

Invisible man?

“Good one, Hannah. Keep him down and kill him if he makes any move,” the flamethrower smiled as he filled his bag with more gold jewelry.

Damn it.

I could feel something sharp against my neck but I couldn’t see anything from this angle.

I could only feel that it was a knife or dagger-like object. There was at least an invisible man and flamethrower in the shop.

I cursed in a low voice, “You retards. Don’t you know what you’re doing? How could you forget about switching the thermal imaging on?”

“What?” A woman’s voice sounded beside my ear.

Oh, an invisible woman.

“You have a beautiful voice, lady.” I smiled bitterly.

“Yeah? You’d better behave or my voice would be the last thing you’ll hear,” she whispered.

In their perfect late fashion, a report came in from my Bluetooth device. “Headquarters, over. Sniper’s turned on thermal imaging. New report: Two deviants spotted. Invisible man and flamethrower. Danger index: Class A.”

“What’s that voice in your ear?” the woman questioned before taking my receiver down.

I then saw my Bluetooth device floating in mid-air.

She must’ve put it on but I couldn’t be sure because she was leaning too close.

I didn’t dare to move recklessly as I could already feel something trickling down my neck.

I was pretty sure it was blood.

“Is this the police’s channel?” the woman asked.

My face turned pale.

I couldn’t locate my shotgun.

“Hannah, last drawer. 50 more seconds and we’ll leave. Get rid of him,” the flamethrower instructed.

“Wait, wait, wait. I have a last wish,” I stalled.

“5 seconds,” the woman said coldly.

“I’m still a virgin. It’s impossible to lose it in five seconds, but can you at least take my first kiss?” I asked urgently.

A moment of silence.

“Alright, since you’re decently handsome,” the woman spoke slowly.

I felt her warm lips on mine.

I used the position of the Bluetooth device mid-air to judge her position. Fixing her head in place, I moved my lips slightly.

I quickly took the opportunity to grab a dagger that I kept in my holster and stabbed it into her neck.

Red blood oozed out and stained my right hand.

The dagger had pierced her vertebra and cut off her nerves.

She was unable to fight back.

The knife against my neck loosened.

I stood up slowly and retrieved my shotgun.

The hostages kept mum and the flamethrower did not notice.

He was greedily filling his bag with more jewelry as I aimed my gun at him.

I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The flamethrower swayed a little before collapsing.

Cheers filled the shop.

“You guys can leave now. File out in order, don’t rush,” I instructed.

The hostages swarmed out of the shop before I could finish.

I touched my neck and felt a sharp sting.

I plucked out the suspending Bluetooth device and placed it back in my ear.

The woman remained invisible even after death.

“Come settle the arrangements. Both deviants are dead,” I reported.

“Headquarters received. Good job, Viper.”

I lit a cigarette and took a puff.

I glanced over at the dead, invisible woman.

It doesn’t looked like she was going to materialize anytime soon. I could only confirm her location through her blood.

I squatted down, covered my hand in the pool of fresh blood and smeared it across her face.

Through the layer of blood, I saw her features.

She was a beauty. It was a pity she had this type of sickness.

Incurable sickness.

I put out the cigarette, which I’ve only taken one puff from, before leaving the shop.

Everything dated back to 63 years ago.

A new type of pandemic flu had taken over the world.

Fever, pneumonia, organ failure.

The whole sequence didn’t take more than 3 days.

The death rate was no lower than 89%.

Incurable.

Until a type of unique medication emerged.

It was to be administered via an injection and it was very rapid and effective in reducing fever.

Majority of those facing death had been saved.

I heard that this medicine was originally developed as a tranquilizer during the third world war.

It could restore injured soldiers’ combat power.

The flu disappeared off the face of the earth a week later.

90% of the human population had been injected with this drug, but a small percentage of them started facing side effects.

These victims made up no more than 10 percent. They started developing supernatural powers like psychokinesis, x-ray vision, foretelling the future, and discharging electricity.

Because it was practically the whole world that had been injected with this medication, it was difficult to run them all through a checklist.

10 years later, groups after groups of deviants started surfacing.

Studies had proven that the affected individuals had a 90% chance of handing down their mutated genes to their offsprings.

While not many people were affected, fear was still inevitable.

They launched a project with the codename ‘Project K’.

I’m a soldier who had been trained specially for Project K.

A soldier whose job was to destroy these so-called ‘sick’ people.

“I’m hungry, Fatty. I can’t move anymore, go get breakfast. I want a bean paste bun and sweetened soy milk,” I said as I slumped into my seat.

“Sure thing, my hero,” Fatty answered enthusiastically before opening the car door.

Looking at his fading silhouette, I subconsciously placed a finger on my lips, reminiscing that few seconds of warmth from earlier.