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Kaz Reitveld was cold.
Jordie had given him his coat, moth eaten and threadbare though it was, and it did little to protect him from the bitter wind that had started to whistle through the winding streets. It was getting noisy again, the dusk turning to evening, with the pale oranges and pinks of the night sky slowly starting to fade into darkness. Not that it stayed dark for long in Ketterdam, with the bright lights of the clubs and the constant barrage of fireworks and dancers and theatre that took place on the streets being commonplace once night fell.
Kaz felt a nudge on his arm, and looked up, spotting Jordie on his left, a soft smile on his face. He reached out and grabbed his brother’s arm, knowing that they were about to head into the busiest area of East Stave, with the loud music and waves of tourists and gamblers making it easy to get separated.
They were determined to find food that night, having gone without lunch due to trying to find any kind of work available. Kaz craved some warm hutspot, but he’d take a cake or maybe some leftover bread from one of the baker’s stalls, as long as it had some flavour and it wasn’t stone cold.
It hadn’t been the most productive day, although Jordie had let him sit and watch the magician on one of the street corners near the canal for nearly half an hour; Kaz had spent most of that time trying to work out just how the man, dressed in bright clothes and sporting an large hat that barely managed to stay on his head, had managed to make the writing pen disappear again and again and again.
Between them they’d managed to earn enough money for at least another night’s stay at the hostel they’d been calling home for the last fortnight, but it was a close run thing - there certainly wasn’t enough Kruge left to spend on all the opulence the two of them witnessed each evening.
An elderly woman called out and approached them then, a slightly dazed expression on her face, her mouth and teeth stained orange as she beamed at the brothers. Her clothes look rumbled, ill fitting, as did most of the clothes of the traders running their stalls in this part of the city; Kruge easily came and went here, fortunes resting on the tourists and locals that wandered through each night looking for a good time and a large payout.
“Fancy some Jurda lads?” the woman crooned, waving some of the stimulant in their faces. Kaz’s face scrunched up as the sweet sickly smell reached his nose, and he took half a step back. Jordie put out an arm to stop him from toppling backwards, and Kaz flashed him a grateful smile. The trader carried on her spiel, undettered by Kaz’s mild disgust. “Something to keep you going? Y’look like you need it - it’s a good batch, strong flavour, fresh from the fields this morning… I’ll give ya a fair price, what’dya say?”
The woman smiled again, her voice lilting and then slurring slightly, as if she was drunk on Kaelish whiskey rather than wired from the drug.
Jordie shook his head, and Kaz followed suit, still peering at the woman, eyebrows furrowed. Something felt…
off
, but he couldn’t put a name to it. He brushed it off, still not fully accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the busy streets.
“No thank you ma’am,” Jordie replied politely, accentuating his Lij accent and standing a little taller, the actions making him appear older than the 12 years old he was. “My brother and I aren’t in need of any Jurda this evening, but we’ll be sure to purchase some from you if the need arises!”
Kaz laughed at his brother’s impression of the infamous Ketterdam merchants, the switch in his stance and demeanour enough to cause him to giggle.
They didn’t wait for the older woman to reply, despite her looking like she wanted to force the Jurda upon them anyway, a glare settling on her brows and a twitch starting in her right shoulder that occurred again and again -
there
were the familiar traces of the stimulant Kaz realised. They moved on swiftly, heading into the busier part of East Stave, towards some of the larger clubs. As they strode away, they listened as the woman accosted the next tourist who wandered past.
There were fireworks going off intermittently from the Lid, a celebration of some sort, although Kaz was sure he heard the odd gunshot or two mixed in. The sky lit up in flashes; beautiful reds and greens and blues transforming the darkening sky into waves after wave of vivid colour, the cheers of joy echoing through the cool night sky, across the rooftops and the still waters of the canals.
The noise was picking up around Kaz and Jordie too; the sound of the gambling halls echoing in the streets as heavy doors swung open to let in new customers from the streets and to release those who were down on their luck and in search of better fortunes elsewhere. A couple of tourists stumbled past Kaz, knocking him off balance as they brushed past him, paying him no mind. He noticed their fingers were stained, but not just with the orange dust from the Jurda they’d obviously been taking, but with deep red blood too, blood that trickled and dripped onto the dirty street beneath their feet with each step they took. Kaz righted himself, grabbing Jordie’s arm for balance and watched as the pair stumbled onwards, knocking into tourists, traders and gamblers alike. They received the odd shove back and the last thing Kaz saw as the pair were lost in the gathering crowd was someone taking a swing for the one on the right and receiving what seemed to be a rather violent bite to the arm in return.
Kaz felt Jordie nudge him again and he looked up, catching the slight smile on his brother’s face as he pointed towards a particularly colourful flash of light in the sky.
“You okay?” Jordie asked, peering down at him. Kaz nodded, reaching for his brother’s hand again whilst shoving his other into his coat and feeling for the pocket watch Jordie had given him earlier that day; a present for his 9th birthday. Jordie had said it hadn’t cost a lot, just a little second hand gift he’d managed to scrounge some Kruge for, but Kaz didn’t care; it was
his
.
“It’s always important to be punctual,” Jordie confided, clipping the chain to Kaz’s ragged waistcoat as they huddled together in their rented room preparing for a day on the streets of Ketterdam. “If nothing else, showing up on time, or even early, shows a willingness to work and people appreciate that.”
“Alright,” Kaz answered, not really paying attention, but looking at the watch face, peering at the symbols and the hand ticking its way around the face. It was a beautiful piece, silvered and polished and so shiny Kaz could see his reflection in the outer case.
Kaz was suddenly brought out of his reverie by a loud shout from his right, and he felt Jordie squeeze his hand.
Someone was coming towards them, posture rigid and lax in turn, as if their muscles were having problems working out what to do. He was lit up by the lights of the White Rose, the club he’d clearly just been thrown out of judging by the look of the guards outside, the gas lamps reflecting off the beads of sweat that pooled on his brow and highlighting the hint of orange around his mouth. Kaz stopped and stared.
He realised belatedly that the fireworks had stopped, as had the cheers that had accompanied them. Instead, there was a low rumble, a few distant shouts and a couple of the gunshots he thought he’d heard before. He pulled out his new watch and flicked it open, frowning at what he saw.
“They’ve stopped early…”
“What?”
“The fireworks,” Kaz replied, gaze drifting up to the night sky before fixing on Jordie. “They’ve stopped – they should be going on for at least another 2 bells…”
Jordie shrugged and took a couple of steps towards the wall of the White Rose.
“Maybe they ran out, maybe someone forgot to light the rest of the fuses, who knows. Come on,” he uttered, pointing at the man coming down the street, “let’s go – this guy’s clearly having a rough night and I don’t think we should be in his way…”
The man was still ambling towards them, eyes unfocused, head moving left and right as his shoulders and arms twitching. His legs nearly gave out but he managed to right himself and continue stumbling forward, like someone drunk and unsteady but with a clear destination in mind.
Jordie tugged at Kaz's hand again, but Kaz was fascinated, eyes taking in the strange movements of the man ahead. He heard Jordie sigh, but he ignored him.
Suddenly, the lumbering man seemed to spot the pair of them, and moved forwards again, eyes now focused on the two boys.
A man, taller than the one aiming for them, moved from across the street towards the shambling man, seemingly oblivious to both Kaz and Jordie’s presence, eyes trained on the man walking towards them.
“Hey,” shouted the stranger, moving in front of both Kaz and Jordie, “are you okay sir? Are you unwell?”
The sick man, because he was obviously ill, Kaz decided, ignored the newly arrived stranger, his sights still set on Kaz and Jordie. He made no effort to stop, and made no sound apart from a deep growl, more akin to a dog or a wolf than a human.
The stranger who had stepped in front of them was dressed in purple, a familiar uniform Kaz now knew and recognised. The
Stadwatch
. Kaz watched as the man placed his hand on the butt of his rifle, ready to use it if necessary. Normally the gesture was enough to startle those in a stupor, but the ill man shuffling down the street was unperturbed.
The officer from the Stadwatch called out to the man again, and finally caught his attention. Other passersby were noticing now too, gazes shifting over to observe what was going on over the usual commotion of the Ketterdam streets.
A couple of shouts and screams rang out through the alleys, but Kaz again paid them no mind; they were commonplace on the streets here, crimes and injuries and terrible things happened here all the time, no one paid any attention to the wails of those in distress.
But then… this seemed different .
The Stadwatch officer pushed Jordie on his shoulder with a “Get out of here kid,” and Jordie nodded, turning back the way they had come, hand reaching for Kaz’s once more.
They had barely made it a few steps before Kaz was suddenly pulled backwards, his arm under the grip of someone who
wasn’t
Jordie and it was only his brother’s hand holding him upright that stopped him from crashing to the floor.
“Let go!” Kaz shouted as he turned to confront whoever was holding him.
Kaz screamed at the sight before him.
The sick man, the one who had seemed drunk and harmless mere moments ago, was
biting
the officer right on the neck, and Kaz gagged at the sight and smell of the blood that appeared at the man’s wound. The Stadwatch officer gripped Kaz’s sleeve in terror, pulling at the frayed seams and tearing them as Kaz fought to get away. The sleeve ripped off and Kaz stumbled into Jordie’s arms.
People were screaming in terror, panic and disgust hitting in waves as the attack continued and more and more people witnessed it. Kaz tried to step back as the Stadwatch officer eventually fell to his knees, fingers desperately trying to both shove the man off and reach for his neck to stem the flow of blood.
Someone else, a guard at the local gambling den that Kaz vaguely recognised, came forward then, grabbing the sick man’s arm, trying to pull him off the officer, but it was no use; instead, it seemed to infuriate the man, and he reached out, bloody fingers catching hold of the guard’s arm and biting his forearm before the guard managed to snatch his limb away.
The Stadwatch officer had dropped his rifle in the commotion of the attack, not even managing to raise it as the sick man had bitten him, and his blood continued to spill onto the street. Both Jordie and Kaz stood horrified as the officer wailed in agony before the sound stopped abruptly. The sick man, blood around his mouth and skin caught in his teeth, locked eyes with Kaz. Kaz was frozen in place, feet unable to move in fear until Jordie shoved him, grabbed the officer’s rifle and sprinted towards the alleyway to their right. They shoved people out of their way as they ran, and Kaz glanced back to see the Stadwatch officer’s body abandoned and the ill man nowhere to be seen.
Everyone was screaming now, not just those who had witnessed the brutal attack on the Stadwatch officer, but others who had heard the screams, or maybe seen something else. The noise was deafening. Kaz saw people running in every direction, as if there was danger around every corner. Some retreated into the gambling dens, others into the hotels that lined the streets. Some, like the two brothers, just ran, taking their chances in the alleyways and across the bridges. Kaz kept his eyes ahead, trying not to worry about any potential pursuers. Was that man, that monster, still out there somewhere? Were there others?
Kaz and Jordie sprinted to the end of an empty alley and down the next, rushing down a small set of stone steps that led away from the panicked shouts behind them, listening for the sound of footsteps. Eventually they stopped, backs against the dank wall of an unfamiliar hotel, chests heaving as they sucked in breath after breath in an attempt to recover. The air still rang with the screams of the citizens of Ketterdam.
“He… he
bit
him,” Kaz said after a moment, eyes wide and disbelieving, confusion and terror rushing through him all at once. He wanted to run, to hide, to stay calm and to panic, emotions swaying from one extreme to the other.
“Yeah, let’s not think about that okay little brother? Let’s just get out of here…”
Jordie was tugging at him, pulling his sleeve as someone else, a woman, the same woman who’d tried to sell them Jurda, lept over a short railing to their left and grappled with a tourist who was jogging past the top of the steps, ripping at their arm, their neck, their face, discarding the body and moving away. Kaz was still caught up in the violence of the first attack to process the second, his eyes flitting to the body on the floor that stopped moving and then, moments later sat. up.
“But he
bit
him and then that man
died, Jordie
, he
died
…”
The woman must have heard him, because she looked up and screamed, sprinting towards them, but tumbling down the steps at the end of the alley. It gave the brothers precious seconds to respond.
“And we will too if we don’t
move,
Kaz.”
They ran.
They could hear the woman following them as they crashed through the door of a nearby bakery and dashed through, hopping over tables and round display cases as they tried to escape. Kaz’s lungs burnt from exertion and panic, his legs aching as he jumped over a chair that lay strewn across the tiled floor of the building.
He knew where they were now; they’d bought cake here once, back when they’d first arrived in Ketterdam. It had been warm and delicious and he’d smiled all the way home that afternoon because Jordie had bought him a second slice as a treat. He hadn’t been running for his life then…
Kaz heard the woman’s harsh breathing behind him, her heavy and clumsy steps, her grunts as she crashed into tables and chairs as she followed them, seemingly undeterred by pain or broken objects or any other distractions.
“Keep going Kaz, we’re nearly there,” Jordie panted next to him, but Kaz could tell he was scared, that he didn’t know what to do. It was okay though, Kaz trusted Jordie, his big brother would get them out of this and they’d escape and they’d find somewhere safe to hide until this was all a forgotten nightmare.
Jordie vaulted over a table and ran to the outer door, shoving it open and letting Kaz dash through it first.
As they sprinted out of the cafe, the footsteps of their pursuer grew louder, her growls and screams more horrific as she got closer to her prey. Jordie stumbled, fell, and Kaz, who had managed to get a step ahead, turned and ran for his brother, pulling him up and along in one motion.
Jordie’s stumble had caused the woman to catch up, and she was reaching, reaching, reaching, fingertips on Kaz’s torn sleeve, hand gripping until…
CRACK!
The sound of a gunshot echoed in the small courtyard they’d run into, and Kaz spun and saw the woman fall to the ground, a hole in her head and blood leaking onto the cobblestones beneath her body.
Jordie came to a halt next to him, but his rifle wasn’t raised; he hadn’t been the one to take the shot. The brothers turned again and spotted the familiar purple of a Stadwatch officer’s uniform.
“Stand still,” came the Kaelish lilt of the officer, accent apparent even over the din of the terrified Ketterdam streets. “Don’t move.”
The boys stopped and looked at the man, his rifle still raised and eyes trained on them. There was blood on his uniform, but it didn’t look like his. Kaz breathed a sigh of relief; someone was here to help.
“Drop the rifle son,” the officer said, gaze not wavering. “And then turn around.”
“Why? What have we done? We just want to escape, there are… people… and they’re…”
“They’re infected ,” the officer stated simply, as if that was all the explanation this whole chaotic night required, “and whatever it is is spreading across the city. Now drop. The. Rifle,” the man repeated, a growl in his tone. Jordie reluctantly placed the rifle at his feet and raised his hands in the air, looking at Kaz and encouraging him to do the same. At that moment there was movement to their left, and all three turned to look. It was another Stadwatch officer, but this one was obviously higher in rank, judging by the way the man holding them at gunpoint stood slightly more at attention.
“Orders Sir?” The officer asked, eyes trained once more on Kaz and Jordie. The other member of the Stadwatch peered at them, scowled, and then shook his head slightly as he whispered in the other officer's ear. “Understood.”
Kaz watched as the other officer broke into a run towards the far side of the courtyard and out of sight, heading to where Kaz vaguely remembered there being a Stadwatch outpost.
“We’re not… infected,” Jordie said calmly after a moment, though Kaz could see the telltale tap of his foot, a faint trace of anxiety and nerves in his brother’s otherwise calm demeanour. “I found the rifle, someone dropped it and we were scared and I need to protect my…”
“Turn
around
,” interrupted the Stadwatch officer, rifle still pointed at them. Kaz couldn’t read the name on the officer’s uniform clearly, couldn’t make out who it was that was threatening him and his brother; he thought it read
Hertzoon
, but he wasn’t sure, not really, not when there was a rifle pointed at Jordie, at his
brother
.
“I said, you little skiv,” the man growled, aiming the rifle at Jordie’s heart, “turn
around
, or I will shoot your little nub of a brother and
then
you… understand?”
There was a look of panic in Jordie’s eye and Kaz had never seen him so afraid. The noise behind them was getting louder, moving closer, echoing through the streets – a cacophony of shouts and screams and eerie wails of things that were less than human.
“Okay, okay,” Jordie muttered and went to turn around, and Kaz knew,
knew
the moment Jordie looked at him that something terrible was going to happen; Jordie couldn’t let things lie, couldn’t let someone tell him what to do, couldn’t
help
himself, he always had to be the hero...
Jordie dropped suddenly, rolled and picked up the rifle, turning to shoot the man. It was a stupid move, one, Kaz would later realise, that was borne of panic and fear for his younger brother, but it was a stupid move all the same.
The officer looked startled for half a second and then…
The shot was deafening, and the pain was intense. Kaz felt himself fall, felt something land on top of him… Jordie… felt something in his leg snap and then… nothing …