The glass from the Orochi vancrunched under her boots. She delighted in the sound the way a toddler wouldtheir first few steps in freshly fallen snow. Gasoline leaked, bubbling out ofthe severed line and mixing with the strange scent of Kaidan. She picked her way through the debris to thedriver side door. The window had blown out under the force of impact, leaving aconvenient place to dig her fingers into the metal. One tug, two, and the doorripped away, flung behind her to clatter in the street.
Thedriver was still conscious. Bleeding badly, yes, but aware enough to have thesense to try to undo their seatbelt. The driver’s struggles picked up, fightingagainst the stuck restraint, sobbing in desperation. Inanna stood there,watching him with a face devoid of any expression. He turned to look at her,fighting against gravity and a headwound.
Inanna ignored him, instead liftinga hand to trace the battered ‘V’ emblazoned on the side of the van. Vali. Thethings she’d seen on their upper levels haunted her. The fate of one of her own kind, a fate she’dlikely only narrowly avoided herself, burned her like she’d swallowed molten metal.She’d reacted on pure, blind rage to the sight of the word, only half-realizingit wasn’t an empty van she’d slammed into the wall of the nearby mall.
The man tried to call to her again,but choked.
She should leave him to bleed out.Better yet, she should grind him into the glass, make his last moments as agonizinghas his superiors had made that man’s. She could. Her magic was made for it. It’dfeel so good to ‘inflict a little buyback’ as Geary had once said.
A laugh that wasn’t her ownstartled her, more felt than heard. She turned her head to pay better attentionto her surroundings. The infected were beginning to collect behind her, heldback by an unseen hand.
Inanna reached down and pulled onthe seatbelt, snapping it so the Orochi agent could tumble out. He wasbattered, but nothing seemed broken. A little bit of petty spite coaxed herboot onto his head, pressing the side of his face down into the debris.
“Talk about killing the mood, huh?”
