[ IP ] It does n't have to be like this ...

Tundra. Forest. Ocean. Swamp. Terrain forces its way into the stories that play out there. It is both actor and stage. It rams its way into conflicts and cuts off threads before they play out. It is much more than just a background. 
 
 The city is a terrain too. It has its own biome. It has its own rules. It has its own cycles of prey and predator. 
 
 That's where I come in. You'll find me chasing down the herds, picking off the weak ones, ending the paths of their stories in bloody streaks on the concrete. 
 
 Tonight, I've chased my prey to the end of a battleship. He thought he could outrun me by heading for the water. Like trying to escape a bear by climbing up a tree. Now, just like a bear attack, all he can really do is prey. 
 
 He cowers at the lip of the boat's prow. I walk to him, my gait calculatedly steady in the rocking of the waves. He looks up at me, eyes wider than 34th street and bright with the reflection of the moonlight filtering through the smog. I reach into my coat, and when my hand comes back out it has my gun. 
 
 `` It does n't have to be like this...'' he tries. 
 
 `` Give me the watch.'' 
 
 He gives me the watch. 
 
 `` You wo n't steal from us again.'' 
 
 He shakes his head. I smile. My pistol clicks hungrily as I pull back the hammer. 
 
 He begins to cry. `` Please, Miss, I wo n't do it again.'' 
 
 I release the hammer and walk away. He sighs audibly, in relief. 
 
 Too soon for relief, my quarry, my victim, my kill. 
 
 I nod at my goons. 
 
 Behind me, the sickening crack of legs breaking. A soft splash in the water far below. The sound of another story ending.
