<P>But then there was a flash of red, against the pouring rain, behind it, so that the color came chopped and smeared, a distorted costume of movement. She shot - The red-clad man screamed loudly and fell into the open, where the contents of his head spilled and mixed with the impacting rain.
<P>
<P>That was one. The others were nowhere to be seen. Jess could only imagine that they had either fled, went into hiding, or were circling her now, as a predator does its prey.
<P>
<P>The cat hissed.
<P>
<P>Jess turned, ran, fired, sprinting as quickly as possible. Rain hit her in the face. She fired. Again. Bullets hit her targets. Two of them bled. One of them shot at her. She rolled.
<P>
<P>There was a pause.
<P>
<P>She leaned out from behind the wall, which a bullet struck, generating splintered debris. She squinted and fired at where the flash of light had split the air - There was no more firing.
<P>
<P>Her chest heaved with breath. She staggered back behind the corner and sat, with her gun in her lap.
<P>
<P>Gordon Quick's corpse was before her. It stared blankly at the ground. A part of its neck had gone missing.
<P>
<P>She breathed heavily. There was no more firing.
<P>
<P><JC>--- --- --- ---
<P>
<P>The sky was calm. 
<P>
<P>Dominic stood on the slick pavement, and looked down upon it. It reflected everything so that there might have been a parallel world beneath him, so that while he might have been looking upon his own surroundings, there was indeed a second copy of the same Earth beneath his feet, turned upside down so that everything was reversed, and that is indeed how he felt.