“How much longer do we have to do this?” asked Mau.

“Not sure, just keep waving”, replied Versai. The stretch limo began to turn down another street, marked 34th and Aronair. The two soldiers, clad in dark grey trench coats and helmets, wielded their flux rifles in one hand and waved with the other. The parade, organized to encourage the people of the city to vote for Manning for the Top Senator position, was dragging on as they turned down corner after corner. The people, all of different genders, sizes, shapes, and colors, stood along the sidewalk and leaned out of windows in order to see and cheer. Every soldier had turned their audio receptors in their helmets to low in order to keep from going deaf. The candidate, standing out of the center window on the roof, was waving at the millions of people. The soldiers had been hired to give him protection in exchange for legal protection when it came to their mercenary business.

That is, if he won.

Someone hurled a rock at the slow moving limo, hitting Mau in the head. If it hadn’t been for his helmet, he would have been seriously hurt. Every soldier trained their weapons instantly on the thrower, who shrank back into the crowd in fear. Mau raised his fist and extended only his middle finger.

“B******”, he mumbled to himself.

Up ahead a fork in the road was drawing closer, and upon the large building at the split, a large banner was hung which had the words
Manning Yur end is Near
in red, dripping letters.

“The hell’s up with that?” Mau said in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t take it too seriously”, Versai dismissed it, “they don’t even have it all spelled right, and two letters are capitalized in the wrong spots. It’s just a bunch of dumba**es”.

Mau said nothing, just looked at the banner with a strange sort of interest. Versai thought this strange but said nothing. As they neared the fork, Mau finally spoke,

“I got a bad feeling abou-“

BANG

The report of a very high caliber weapon managed to break the wall of yelling people. The bullet smashed through the windshield of the limo, the front half of the vehicle disintegrated into tiny fragments of metal, glass, and meat. The only remains of the driver were his left arm, still clutching the left side of the steering wheel. The car instantly caught fire, and everyone scrambled off the sides. Versai grabbed Manning and pulled him from the car with his left hand. The candidate’s face was contorted with pain, his left leg missing from the knee down. Blood trailed behind as he was dragged from the limo.

“Take cover!” Versai barked into his com. Every man broke formation and ran to different pieces of cover, cars, a bus, and a large concrete water fountain. Another shot rang out, as it hit the limo the vehicle exploded in a large fiery eruption. Chunks of metal flew into the confused crowd of citizens, smashing some to death, one piece cut clean through one man’s neck, decapitating him on the spot. Another pinned a woman to the road, cracking three of her ribs in the process. The debris rained down, causing the crowd to begin scrambling out of the way. Screams and shrieks sounded form the massed body of people as they ran in all directions.

“What is happening!?” yelled Manning, at Versai’s side.

“There’s been an attempt on your life!” he shouted back. He popped up for a second in time to see a third shot smash into the concrete fountain, destroying it and the soldier behind it. Blood ran thick into the streaming water. He could see Mau some distance ahead, using binoculars to search out the snipers nest. “Watch yourself Mau”.

“Yea yea”, he replied, “Get a sniper to check out the third floor, the fifteenth window from the right”.

“Alpha protocol!” Versai voiced into the open com, “Snipers, check the TF three W fifteen!” To his left he could see the long barrel of an Arc Rifle pointed out the window of a Ferrari. One short blue line exploded out of the barrel, smashing into the window that Mau indicated. A limp body fell from the shattered window, making a sickening smack as it hit the concrete.

“Nice shot”, he complimented the sniper, “and nice eyesight Mau”. Mau just turned and did a quick salute in a comical manner. “Stay here”, he instructed Manning before rushing forward to Mau’s position.

“Am I good or what?” He spread his arms in a shrugging expression. Versei slapped his hand on Mau’s shoulder. Just then, The Candidate came crawling over to their position, grabbed onto Mau’s coat, and hoisted himself up.

“You’re supposed to be protecting me!” he sounded outraged. He was so p***ed that he was actually foaming at the mouth a bit. Versai slapped him across the face,

“Listen to me when I give you an order!” he yelled, “I’m doing my job!” Manning just gaped at him. Then he glanced up at the building where the sniper had been. He quickly ducked behind Mau.

Then another shot rang out, and this one Versai would never forget, he would dream about it for years to come. The bullet pierced the back of Mau’s helmet, his skull, and straight through his brain. The visor of his helmet blew out and blood poured from the opening. His body fell to the ground limp. Versai’s cry caught in his throat. He fell to his knees, and while the other soldiers stormed the building, he removed his helmet, bent over the body of his comrade, his friend, and wept. He gripped Mau’s hand tightly in both of his, dropping his rifle to the ground.

Manning got to his good knee and held himself up against the side of the bench nearby.

“Get me out of here”, he demanded with a shaky voice. Versai ignored him.

“Did you hear me?! GET ME OUT OF HERE!” he screamed madly.

Versai let Mau’s hand drop onto his body, got to his feet, and stared at the Candidate with cold eyes. He placed his helmet back on, drew his sidearm, and walked calmly over to Manning. He tried to slip away, but his lack of one leg prevented his getaway. He fell to the concrete bumbling like a child. Versai gripped him by the collar of his jacket, hauled him up to eye level, and dropped him back against the bench. He slowly raised his pistol to the center of Manning’s forehead.

“Your contract is nullified”, and placed a bullet between his eyes. He turned, picked up Mau’s body, and walked calmly away. The bus that had been idling nearby the bench ignited and exploded, eradicating Manning’s body.

“My service here is done”.