Beyond the Walls

All Too Well

*Knock knock

After a few seconds of waiting Gabrielle, knock again but this time louder.

"WHAT THE HELL!!! CAN'T YOU KNOCK IT DOWN!!! WE ARE SLEEPING!" The next door woman shouted while she angrily glaring from the open window.

Gabrielle looked up to see the woman living on the upper floor.

"Is this the residence of Victoria Dreadmon?”

"What? Are you a creditor? That person had not been home for more than a week now. So pissed off. People are trying to sleep!!"

“Do you happen to know her husba…”

*clank

The window on the second floor had been shut down forcefully.

She looked around and received glares from the neighbours. She pulled down her cap to cover more of her face since she can’t know if somebody recognizes her. After all, she is investigating inside the walls, which is outside her jurisdiction on top of which she was told to drop the case.

"Haaa.. " Gabrielle sighed before pulling a metal stick behind her.

'I end up using this.' She thought as she stuck the metal stick on the gaps of the door. She pushed open the lock quickly and made almost no sound. This kind of thing is a piece of cake for someone who graduated from a military academy.

Entering the house, a foul smell greeted her. It had a trashy smell. She used flash light to see around the dark surrounding and the place looked as it smells. Unwashed clothes and dishes are shuffled with trash.

At the incoming footsteps, Gabrielle closed her lights

"Huh? Oyyy!!! Bran~dyyy! We came back as promised!!! I know you are here! Tsk tsk tsk" a man slightly entered the house.

"Yuck! What is that smell? Did you finally die?! Eukkk!" The man acted as if he would vomit.

"I WILL COUNT TO THREE!! IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF HERE YOU WILL REGRET IT JUST LIKE LAST TIME!!! 1 . . . . ."

Gabrielle frowned. Even if the man outside the room was obviously making a scene and louder than her knocking, no one had hushed them.

"2. . ."

Gabrielle stepped out of hiding because of two reasons. First, she can no longer bear the garbage smell of the house and second, she is pissed off with the treatment of this neighbourhood.

“Oh ho ho ho! I knew it. You are here! Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over the district.”

There are three men waiting by the door. Because this is an outer wall, the flow of electricity here is not as good as the inner walls, so whether inside the house or outside by the streets, the whole area is dark. It’s only a little brighter and visible outside.

“Come out here, while I am being nice.” The man gestured for Gabrielle to get closer. Obviously she wasn’t recognized.

On her belt she moved her hand slowly and got an item. It was a night vision wearable only to one eye, like a single spectacle.

“Hah! You are getting on my nerves today huh!”

She wears night vision and she can see more clearly now.

Just before she was grabbed by the collar, she easily subdued the man and overthrew the man, to the floor. Immediately his cronies went to his rescue but even them were easily apprehended by two moves.

Groaning to the floor, the minimal light coming outside was lightly covered by Gabrielle’s figure. It was enough to see she is not the person they are looking for but not enough to know who she is.

Slowly, Gabrielle, pulls the door close and the little light they have is all gone now.

*Screech

Terrified, the men heard a screeching dragging sound nearing them.

“W,what do you want?” One had asked.

“Before we start, I just want to make it clear, I only need one of you.” She said as she settled down the chair she placed in front of the blindsided men down the floor.

… That same night, Gabrielle walks around the darkened streets, coming to the wall's door. She tapped her key card and on the other side the military personnel saluted her as she passed through.

Passing through Gabrielle had this serious look as she went farther to the inner walls.

On the old banners, welcoming from the entrance says WALL 103.

If wall 95 has dark streets, wall 103 has the worst facilities. The street lights were almost out if not working. The population is a lot more than any wall district.

Beggars are as common as normal salary men here.

Inshort Wall 103 is the slums of the slums.

Gabrielle entered a pub lit with oil lamps all over, the heat inside is no joke and even the noise of drunk men is adding to the not so nice ambiance in the first place.

"Whiskey." she said to the bartender by the counter.

"Huh? You are joking right?" The bartender raises an eyebrow at her.

"Probably. Just give me any." She brushed it off as she caught the attention of the other customer.

'Was it an odd choice?' She questioned herself and had a thought. Whiskey is a normal drink for bars inside the inner walls.

A drink had slid in front of her. It was given in a mug with chipped sides. It can probably wound her lips if she uses it. Nevertheless she raised it to her mouth and before she sipped it, she smelled something else mixed in the cheap smelling alcohol.

"Why? Too cheap for your taste?"

Gabrielle put the glass loudly enough to make the bartender reach for something below the table and some customers glance their way.

Gabrielle put her military issued gun on the table and slid the drink back to the bartender.

"You don't want to mess with me." She said slowly with a glare.

The bartender stiffened out and got the spiked drink away immediately.

It was only a few hours she had stayed within the outer walls but she knew how exactly to act. Unlike the inner walls where people have respected and reputable jobs, the outer walls districts are the opposite but since they are still part of caste, Gabrielle who is ranked in the upper caste can act mighty around here without problem.

"What is a soldier doing on the outer walls?" The bartender asked with a slight spiteful tone.

"I am looking for a missing person. Do you happen to know this person?" Gabrielle put out Victoria's picture.

"Not familiar." The bartender answered after sparing a glance at the picture.

"Is that so? How about this one?" Not sounding convinced, she pulled another picture behind Victoria’s picture and presented Brandy’s picture.

“I don’t know either.” This time the bartender barely looked at the picture.

“I see.” Gabrielle said and put a paper bill on the counter beside the untouched drink and exited the pub.

“This won’t work either, huh.” She mumbled and walked out.

Few hours ago, the men that visited Victoria and Brandy Dreadmon’s house, cooperatively answered her questions after breaking several bones in their body. They are one of the creditors of the husband, who is a gambling addict. Just a few days before they both went missing, he was spotted in his usual spot in the casino loaded with cash and after hearing this his creditors went to look for him and his wife but they were gone without a trace.

Coming to Wall 103, is the last lead she had because, a day before Brandy got the mysterious cash load, his wife showed a record of coming to this wall district. An unusual trip, according to her record. She was diligently working as a Food Vendor in their district.

‘Why would she go somewhere she doesn't usually visit?’ She thought.

Though Gabrielle manages to check their stories with the Casino, that’s just it. The outer walls have no CCTVs nor there are no records of the Dreadmons exiting their wall district. It was like they vanished, according to their creditors statements and Gabrielle’s efforts.

“If that is true, then there should be a way out to walls without being detected.” She mumbled to herself as she stared at the wall leading to the under construction Wall 104.

“Ah! Excuse me...” A young man had approached her. She chooses to ignore him and start walking away.

“Wait--- You are a Renaissance right?!” The young man had said out loud which made Gabrielle turn in a split second and pushed the young man to one dark alley.

“How did you know?! Who sent you?” She asked with her knife drawn next to the young man’s throat.

“Urkk!” Unable to speak, the young man groans as his breath is held hostage by Gabrielle’s strength.

Gabrielle pulled his collar and dragged him out to the light. She throws him as she holds his ID to compare the picture and the actual person.

“Civilian. How did you recognize me?” Gabrielle asked. She was wearing a cap that covered her hair and wore normal civilian clothes.

The young man coughs as he massages his throat. “I, *cough* I saw you, multiple times.” The man answered as he looked up.

“... You, you killed your companion l,last time.”

“I remember you. What do you want?” Gabrielle remembers the young man, he was the one she asked that time.

“P,please help me find my friend!”

“Friend? --- Ah! that guy…”

“You know him?!”

On a daily basis, she wouldn’t remember people like the young man infront of her but...

“Not exactly but he is somehow unusual.” She said as she remembered the day his friend briefly caught her attention.