The Walker
34

Benny ‘No Names’ Harrison scurried along the walkway, rain pattering down around him in the morning darkness, drowning out his footfalls. It was more than he could say for the big man crouched behind him, whose lifter boots and rig were clinking and spitting every time the oaf clumped along the metal surface. The girl wasn’t much better, splashing willy-nilly in all the puddles she didn’t notice, and most of the puddles she did.

Charlie had offered Benny a lucrative deal if he could get the two fools as close to the Library as he could, but he was starting to have second thoughts. There had been more activity since last night, and the guards were more alert, patrolling the rooftop as well as the underground.

He looked behind him again, eyeing up his companions. The man was clearly a walker, illegal as they came. Heavy revolver slung at his hip, wide hat, old model T-400 visor hooked round his head, even older Pangolin plate armour, and a sour smell Benny could pick up even in the winds up here.

The girl was young, also wearing a visor, the model number eluded him for now, with an impractical half coat, leather, and blue jeans.

He sighed inwardly. Benny thought it’d be sensible to wear dark clothes, such as the dyed leather jacket and patched combats he had on currently.

“Amateurs.” He muttered.

The big man turned his head up, into the rain, “Say something?”

Benny spat over the edge, and half turned. “Nothing, Walker. Just keep up.”

They reached the end of the slippery metal walkway, and paused for breath behind a buttress. Benny flicked out his stick cam and poked it gently over the top, and out towards the library.

Through the screen on the base of the pole, he could make out the library, nestled among the skyscrapers of the city centre. Hover drones swirled and danced above the blue pulse emanating from the dome of the library itself. Metal gantries and cranes dotted about, making a perimeter around the vast concrete structure of the library proper.

The walker spoke, “So, thief, is there a way in?”

Benny ignored him, still scanning the scene before him. The foot traffic on the ground was minimal but, and here he zoomed the camera in as far as it would go, he could make out guards patrolling the gantries. He cursed softly and collapsed the camera.

“Well, bad news. The easy way in, which by no means was going to be easy, is now impossible.”

The walker stayed passive, water pouring from his hat and down his cloak. The girl spoke in his place.

“Charlie mentioned underground walkways. Could we go that way?”

Benny grimaced. It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic, he just had an aversion to walking underground through the filth of the city.

He sighed, “I’ll bet he’s loving the idea of sending us down there. It’s true, there are old cellars, basements and tunnels dotted all over the city, from before the crisis. But I’ll be damned if they don’t stink to high heaven.”

Walker scowled and leaned in closer. Benny, in turn, leaned slightly back. “Damn your personal hygiene, thief. Let’s go.”

Benny glared back at the man, “There will be guards, Walker,” he spat the word, “So be prepared. Come on, then. I hope you don’t mind heights.”

He grinned darkly at the two of them, motioned that they should move behind him, and slipped lightly under the railing and over the edge to his left, which opened out to the city.