Her-licopters thundered overhead; in the distance, dogs barked and sirens wailed in the darkness.
John jumped over the wire fence and dropped into a rubbish-strewn ally.
He leaned against the wall, hands on knees, trying to catch his breath.
He'd outrun them; he'd left the hunters behind.
How long he could stay out of their clutches he didn't know. He'd escaped the last four hunts he was eligible for, but how long could he expect his luck to last?
Since the plague, there were perhaps only a hundred thousand men left on the planet and free-range roamers like himself. Maybe less than twenty thousand.
They were permitted to live outside the breeding camps on the whim of the empress, for sport and entertainment only.
The waiting list to join the hunting parties was long, and the desire to run the free men down was strong.
Then every six months, the Harvest would begin.
The barking of dogs got closer; John turned to go, but two shadows walked into the light at the end of the alley, ominously outlining their stun guns in silhouette. He looked behind him at the fence he had just scaled, but it was useless. The chase was over.
"Stay there, Penis!" The taller of the two shadows called.
"Give it up, Cumbag, it's time!" The other yelled happily, pointing her weapon at him.
A knot formed in John's stomach. Fear.
Or was it something else?
He'd heard varying tales from the few other males he'd met, some alluding to the pleasure that was to be had by being harvested.
The pair strode closer, the clomping of their knee-high leather boots echoing in the alley.
"Going to make this easy cowboy? Or you want it the hard way?" The taller one said.
As her silhouettes resolved themselves, he noticed only the taller one wore the uniform visor fronted helmet, so the only feature he could see was her red lipped mouth.
The shorter of the two was bare faced and wearing an excited, wild expression.
The knot in John's stomach grew tighter.
"You can't do this!" John pleaded plaintively, "I am a human being; I have the same rights as you; this is a crime against humanity the way you treat us men.
"There will come a time, maybe not today, nor tomorrow, but there'll be a time you regret your actions here and see them as the cruel abuse that they are!
There will come a time where men will be recognised as equals, and the reckoning will fall on your heads!"
The two women slowed and turned to each other, indecision in their body language.
*Shit!* John thought, *shit, are they going to change their mind? Fuck!*
"I mean, of course this is the system I live in, and I will let myself be used by the regime, but know this, I object fully," he continued insincerely.
Helmet strode up to him and pushed her pistol up under his chin. "Listen to me, pal. I don't give a fuck what you're objecting to, or whatever the fuck you think about the 'regime', but you are going to give us what we came for.
"Trousers off!" She commanded.
Bareface had already sat on the floor, back to the alley wall.