Wildfire, Part I

Baptism.

Deep within The Forest of Hollows, the body of a woman lies in front of Xess and Dora. The target's Tracer had separated from her wrist, now sitting in a pool of blood. As Xess lets go of the dead body's feet, he checks his Tracer and confirms the timer has fully stopped at 58 minutes, signaling the end of Hunt #3.

"It's over" mutters Xess to himself.

At the other side of the corpse, Dora stands with the blood-dripping saw in hand. She seems agitated, breathing as if she just ran a marathon. As the sweat fully covers her face, she stares at the body of the woman she just killed. Xess — fully aware of the psychological situation she is in — starts approaching her when suddenly he notices something.

"Hey, hey!" he yells.

Dora loses all consciousness and starts falling down. Xess quickly catches her before her head hits the ground.

"Dora! What happened? What's wrong?" he calls without receiving any sort of answer from her, "Dora, answer me! What's going on?". He opens one of her eyelids to see if there is any reaction, but it was clear then that she was out cold.

(("She's got pulse, it must have been the stress. I've got no choice but to carry her back")) thinks Xess before placing her on his back. Before making his way back, though, he turns to the corpse of the woman left behind.

He examines it deep in thought.

Xess scans the area of the execution. The severed head. The blood-pool. The saw. And finally, the Tracer. This last item is the one that most catches Xess's attention. His mind is taken back to that fateful first hunt, specifically the moment he was stabbing Reese.

(("At that moment... It also...")) thinks Xess, recalling the moment when Reese's Tracer fell off his wrist seconds after he had stopped struggling.

(("What could it mean...?")) he ponders while still staring at the woman's Tracer. After thinking it over for a few moments, he leaves the area towards the facility with Dora on his back.

The slow walk back starts calm, not running into any of the other participants. Nevertheless, this quickly changes as he gets closer to the facility. Voices of different participants are heard close by and while Xess does not pay any attention to them — eventually — he can make out some of the words.

"I-I-I-I can't take this SHIT anymore! We were minutes away from having to- to sacrifice someone!"

"Call the others back now! He is having a panic attack!"

"My legs are shaking I can't... that was too close again... I just can't..."

Cries. Panic. Sorrow. These are some of the feelings Xess can perceive from the rest of the participants. Yet, he does not change his pace and eventually runs into some participants lying around the same route he is taking. Some of them are vomiting next to a tree. Others are crying as hard as they can on the ground. As they all eventually see Xess walk by with Dora on his back, he starts to feel it. He never takes his eyes away from the road ahead of him, but he can feel the stares coming from these participants he slowly leaves behind.

Hatred. Rejection. Resentment. Xess feels all of it like a set of knives stabbing his back. The road again turns silent, but there are no lack of words being spoken to Xess right this instant. The atmosphere is fully covered in an invisible cloud of hostility that Xess is willing to tolerate.

He leaves these participants behind and finally reaches the facility's entrance. There, as he climbs the hill to the giant door, he is approached by a boy whose name he does not know.

"If you are going to try and hit me, at least let me get this girl off my back. She has nothing to do with it" says Xess as the boy approaches.

"Sorry to disappoint, but sadly I take no part in the grudge held against you, Xess," replies the boy, "I am actually here for her" says the boy as he points to Dora.

Xess glances back at the unconscious Dora for a split second and replies, "Then you must be-".

"Her brother, precisely," replies the boy completing Xess's initial thought, "the name is 'Dantes', I'm surprised she mentioned our relation at all, to be honest" says the boy calling himself "Dantes" as he extends his hand in a greeting gesture.

When Xess first sees Dante's hand, he initially hesitates. Such a simple gesture, yet, one he had not yet received — nor offered — since waking up in the facility. A clear sign of how on edge everyone has been. The fact Xess is surprised to see this gesture is — in and of itself — a bigger surprise and realization of how "accustomed" they are to not be polite amongst themselves.

Deep in this inner-psyche analysis, Xess ponders, (("It's all of this my responsibility?")) There is no one to answer him.

Coming back to the interaction, Xess shakes his hand replying, "It seems she thought highly enough of me for a change" all the while thinking about a question he himself asked Cross while reading the results of Hunt #2.

(("He's the one who killed one of the targets from Hunt 2..."))

After identifying him, he continues his original thought to Dantes, "I can understand your relationship being a sensitive topic in this kind of environment."

"I trust her. She must have had her reasons," replies Dantes looking straight at Xess with a demeanor very few people have had in the facility, "do you mind carrying her back towards her room? I'll show you the way" asks Dantes.

"Sure" says Xess in agreement.

Both head into the bedroom hallway in the facility, as Dantes shows Xess the room where Dora stays in. Xess gently proceeds to leave her on one of the beds.

"I appreciate you carrying her all the way back from the forest. Most would have just left her there" says Dantes as he fixes the pillows underneath her sister's head.

"She fell unconscious as soon as she..." says Xess not wanting to complete that sentence.

"Hunted the target, right?" asks Dantes as he continues to tend to his sister.

"Not even a minute went by... she just stood there, watching the woman's corpse and all of a sudden..." says Xess as he notices that Dantes turns to look at him.

"Did it happen to you, as well? When you killed yours?" asks Xess.

Dantes does not answer. He walks towards the room's door, looks around the hall noticing most participants are heading back to their rooms and closes it.

"Yes, it happened to me as well. Nevertheless, in my case that is hardly a sign of any sort of foul play" Dantes replie as he approaches Xess a few steps.

"How come?" asks a confused Xess.

"Never mind about it. Do you recall what happened with you after Reese?" asks Dantes.

"What I recall," says Xess before pausing and taking his eyes away from Dantes, "is sitting on top of Reese's body for what it felt like forever, not knowing what to do next. All that time — since the very first moment we stepped foot in that forest — there was only one thing I could focus on."

Xess turns to look at Dora as if he is looking at a reflection of himself and continues, "After that, I just woke up staring at an unknown ceiling" says Xess as he turns to look at his Tracer. Noticing this, Dantes proceeds to sit down on the other bed while glancing at his sister.

"There is something else going on around her," says Dantes.

"You think so too, huh?" replies Xess while looking back at Dantes.

"Obviously I have yet to determine what it is, but, ever since I woke up I've had this odd feeling that I haven't been myself here," says Dantes while now staring at the Tracer, "there is something else going on with these Tracers" he concludes.

"Your sister will probably tell you when she wakes up so I might as well," says Xess as he grabs his knuckles, "I hit a tree, not even with all my strength, and I brought it down."

Dantes remains silent listening to Xess closely.

"Even saying it right now, I can't believe how ridiculous it sounds" Xess chuckles as he says these words.

Dantes does not react to Xess's comment at all. He gets up from the bed and heads over to his sister. He checks up on her gently touching her forehead and says, "Xess, I will say this out of gratitude for taking care of Dora," as he turns around to face Xess once again, "whatever it is that you believe is going on inside of you," says Dantes looking straight at Xess with a considerably changed demeanor, "you better learn how to control it, because you will need it sooner than you think."

After a short pause, Dantes concludes, "And I don't mean just against hunt targets."

After this statement, Xess immediately understands the warning Dantes is giving him. Believing he does not need to hear anything else, Xess proceeds to leave the room.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," he says.

Before he does leave, however, Xess stops at the doorstep and says, "I'll check on her later, if you don't mind."

"Xess," says Dantes maiking him stop almost at the hallway, "surviving is what we all do. Whether we are stuck in here or living mundane lives. Some are better equipped than others, but no one is exempt from it. Even those who take their own lives believe it is the best way to cope with their own struggles. The targets. The others participants... You... We all struggle in an endless attempt to find peace... Yet, it is not what we achieve, but how we do it that brings us true peace. Perception is the foundation for our peace. If you truly want to make it out of here alive..."

With doorknob in hand, Xess waits for Dantes to finish his comment.

"Then harness that which gives you the highest chance to survive" Dantes concludes.

A few seconds later, Xess leaves and closes the door.

He walks back towards his own room, with Dantes's words running rampant on his mind. It is here when Xess recalls when Dora had told him that her brother was special. Originally considering it a family-biased comment, Xess now believes a few minutes with Dantes was all the twin brother needed to see right through him. It was impressive, to say the least.

Shortly thereafter, Xess arrives to his room, where Cross does not seem to be in. He gently closes the door and sits on the edge of his bed. The room is dark with noise coming from outside as the rest debate about the hunt. He stares down at the floor without moving an inch, loosing himself in thought for a very long time.

Here, one question dominates his mind.

(("What the hell am I?"))

Chapter 09 - Wildfire, Part I: END

to be continued...