38 The sins of the city

Looking from above the crowd, Mark could clearly see the exact moment when the two groups of people clashed, but things were not happening as any normal battle, because this battle was not about the army versus the people, but was more deep, it was a battle of principles.

Soldiers shooting soldiers, a rioter punched another rioter, it was a battle of the ones who believed in the union against the ones who wanted freedom, but a battle was never that simple, it was chaos, and some people took the opportunity to settle old grudges, while others were shooting at their former sergeants, or captains, killing the ones they hated the most.

Seeing the chaos of the battle, hearing the shots, and seeing the barricades that were raised, the grenades that were thrown, Mark knew, today only a bloodbath would wash away the sins of the city.

"Hey you kid!" shouted Mark, seeing a kid that could not have more than 12 years rushing from behind him and heading in the fight's direction.

The kid stopped and looked up at Mark, "I'm not a kid!"

Mark shook his head and jumped down to the street.

"Where are your fathers?" asked Mark, because he could not understand what a kid was doing there, in a riot.

"Dead, they died a year ago!" said the kid, and only now Mark realized that the kid was another kind of survivor from the apocalypse, the worst kind that someone could be, a orphan kid.

Mark looked at the katana the kid was holding, and said, "Lets do a deal, give me that katana, and I give you a pistol, but only if you go back from this fight, you didn't survive till now to just die in a battle like this, did you?"

"A pistol?" asked the kid with glimmering eyes, because in the apocalypse, pistols were highly regarded.

Mark nodded and grabbed the pistol from his holster, and after removing all the bullets, he extended his hand, offering it to the kid.

"No bullets?" asked the kid, a bit dumbfounded when seeing Mark removing the bullets.

"I offered a pistol, not the bullets, deal?" said Mark, a pistol was still a pistol, but he only wanted the kid to leave the battle and go home. This was not a place for kids.

The kid seemed reluctant as he kept looking at the pistol and the katana, and could not decide.

"Look, go home, and wait for this mess to end, and tomorrow come look for me, I will give your bullets and teach you how to shoot, ok?" said Mark, trying to convince the kid to leave the place.

The kid looked at the katana one last time and grabbed the pistol while offering its katana. The allure of a gun to a kid, especially in the apocalypse, could not be more tempting.

"Deal," said the kid, holding the gun with both hands.

"Now go, and stay safe!" said Mark, shoving the kid away.

Mark saw the kid running back to the dark streets, and looked at the katana in his hand, "What I will do with this? I never used a sword before", but in the end Mark decided it was for the best, he could rely on guns for the time been, but he knew the changes brought by the mutations would make everyone stop using them somewhere in the future, people would start to rely more on their powers.

Mark put the katana inside the sheath and threw behind his back, tying her to his body, he was not planning to use that thing for the time being, and took off the rifle that hanged on his shoulder, checked the ammunition, and seeing everything was good, looked in the direction of the second floor of the barracks building.

The place was a few blocks away, but even in the dark of the night, it could be fully seen from Mark's position.

Mark crouched on the ground, aimed his rifle at the second floor, and looked through the scope of the gun.

Now, less and less people passed by Mark, and he was behind the entire fight. Shots brightened the night. Grenade explosions shook the ground, but Mark stood still, looking through his scope and aiming at the second floor, waiting for his prey, waiting for the commanders of the army.

The scope on Mark rifle was not the best, it only had a zoom of 1.5x the normal view, but considering the distance that Mark was from the building it was enough for him to differentiate the soldiers from officers, but the heads that appeared on the scope were still small, it was hard to aim, but Mark had his ways, and his ability.

~thump~

Everything seemed to become still, as Mark activated his ability, focused on the head of the captain in his scope, and pulled the trigger.

~bang~

The shot hit the target, but it was not in the head, but in the chest, but Mark knew the man was dead either way.

Searching with his scope, Mark finally found the one he was searching for, a colonel, but before he could aim and press the trigger, his ability turned off.

Mark lowered the rifle, and sighted, he would need to wait about three minutes to be able to use his ability again and by that time they would already be protecting themselves, because Mark knew that a trick like that could only work once, the moment they noticed that someone snipped that captain they would hide inside the building.

Mark stood up from the ground and put his rifle in automatic mode. It was time to fight the old way. It was time to fight like he fought against the beasts, robbers, and everyone that came in his way in this long year since the apocalypse started.

It was time to wash away the sins of the city, in the only way that Mark knew, killing them all.