"Escape" is the fifth chapter of Blame!, and the sixth chapter of Volume 1.
Synopsis[]
Amongst a landscape of pipes, wires and television screens, Killy is shown to be sleeping inside a hollow area in the walls. The television screens activate, filling the area with artificial sunlight and rousing him from his slumber. Further up he reaches a village, with signs of battle showing; bloodied corpses litter the area and the entire structure is riddled with bullet holes.
As he examines a corpse, one body - a young woman with her legs crushed beneath rubble - correctly guesses that Killy is looking for cell samples. She tells him that she can show him an archive of genetic information if he carries her to a settlement where her friends are. Instead, he sits down and asks what happened here. She offers to show him using a recording from her neural implants, which he connects to, though she is briefly concerned whether or not he carries any viruses.
The recording shows the strange child from last issue being gunned down and killed for good by the rest of the village. Injured survivors are being found before a section of the ceiling collapses, with dozens of Exterminators pouring in. The villagers try to fight back but are quickly overwhelmed.
With the survivor (now missing her legs) strapped to his back, Killy finds the armory and equips both of them. Along the way she warns him that some Exterminators are still nearby, and they both pass by a long-dead Builder. After they find the corpse of one of her friends, two Exterminators suddenly appear in front of them. Killy runs into a side room, where the survivor guns down one of them as it approaches. As they run, the second Exterminator tackles them off of a ledge; the Exterminator now has them pinned to the ground. The survivor struggles against it's mechanical grip and has her arm snapped as a result. Killy then shoots the Exterminator through the head, also hitting a water pipe far above them, causing a downpour to start. The survivor, weaker from blood loss, asks Killy about his gun before dropping the question.
As they reach what may be the entrance to the settlement, Killy asks her if they've arrived, but gets no answer. He sets her down, only to discover that she has finally succumbed to her injuries. He then looks up at an explosion on the floors above, and sees the villages in battle with a large swarm of the Exterminators.
Character Appearances[]
- Killy
- Injured Woman
- Villagers
- Hezin
- Tohi
- Exterminators
Notes & Trivia[]
- It is more than likely the "Authorities" are actually Safeguard and this was either the name given to them by the village itself, or this was what Nihei called them at the time of writing.
- Further supported by the Master Edition translation, as they are called the "Administration's Exterminators".
- At the beginning of the chapter a large area is shown to be in darkness before a large cluster of television screens activate, filling the area with artificial sunlight. This may be meant to show that, all over the City, this is how the residents determine the daytime and nighttime.