With A Slit To The Throat.

 The surrounding area was vast, open land for miles. Despite the fact it was entirely gray and could be called nothing but dead in the distance, it evoked awe from the boy who, until today, could barely even admire the sky. Becoming entranced in the sprawling landscape before him, Slater let out his thoughts.

“Just a straight line that way, and it’s the East…” He trailed off, as if the words were simply bobbing out of his head to take a short breath.

“Yep! Feels especially easy with a ride as quick as Tom over here, even if it can’t get past the river.” Theo walked over and slapped the front of the bike he continued to flatter. Slater smiled fondly at his display of passion.

“Have you ever thought about crossing over, Theo?” Slater’s curiosity got the better of him.

Theo took no time answering. “Nope!” He put his hands behind his head, giving a small laugh that Slater felt verged on self-deprecating. “I’m already where I belong. There are so many people with bright futures ahead of them if they head there, if I went over I’d just be takin’ the place of someone who could benefit way more.”

“So, you just accept things how they are?” Turning his head, trying to understand what Theo was saying, Slater inquired further.

“’Accept’ isn’t the right word, I love what I do! I bring much more good to the world by getting people of value over there.” Theo climbed up onto the Tomcat and laid himself down, taking in the tranquil scene. “Y’know, the kind of people who’ll slice this world apart.”

“Slice… the world?”

Theo popped up and put up a hand. “Not like makin’ the world even more divided, we have enough of that!” His hand went down to his side again, and he rested his other on his knee. “I mean, people who’ll slice right through the circumstances we’re stuck in and the things that keep us where we are.”

He memorized his expression. Slater saw on Theo’s face a resigned happiness he had never seen before. It wasn’t long before Theo noticed he was being stared.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry. I got a bit too heavy there, didn’t I?” He laughed off his own remarks and jumped down from the Tomcat. “How’s about we head back and report to Mr. Moretti now? I’m sure he’s—”

A large crash reached the ears of the two boys. A cloud of black smoke was rising from the warehouse, pouring out of the door the Tomcat had originally sped out of.

“What the hell is going on?” Slater yelled out.

“I got no clue, but it can’t be anything good. Let’s hope it’s just a machine malfunction…” Looking to the man next to him, Slater noticed Theo’s constant smile had been completely dropped. Before he could dwell on it though, Theo had already jumped into the driver’s seat and was preparing to return the hoverbike to its garage. Without needing a command, Slater placed himself on the back of the bike, and the two rocketed back towards the base.

As it closed in, the bike blew the thick smoke in its path out of the way with ease, eventually sliding in to the warehouse through the open garage door. The two boys quickly dismounted, but weren’t able to make anything out past the smoke inside.

Slater was the first to acknowledge this. “What are we supposed to do if—“ His mouth was quickly covered by Theo, who put his hand to it, putting his other to his own mouth to indicate the need to stay quiet.

Theo then leaned in and whispered, “If there is an enemy here, we shouldn’t let them know we are.”

At the word ‘enemy,’ Slater drew his blade from his waist and activated it, the blue light reflecting off the surrounding smoke. Whispering back, Slater asked, “But then how will we find them?”

Reaching back into his jumpsuit, Theo pulled out the same silver box he had utilized earlier. Without sparing any words, he pressed one of the miscellaneous buttons. A cool breeze filled the warehouse, the smoke being carried outside with it.

Explaining his achievement, Theo only used two words: “The fans.”

When the smoke cleared out, Slater noticed on the ceiling numerous large fans which had now activated. The air was much chillier now, but he preferred that to not being able to see. As the lack of warmth weighed on his mind, Slater’s eyes did fall on a collection of barrels off to Joseph’s management corner which had noticeably been set ablaze. The flames were being doused by the familiar faces of Elijah and Lillian, who had just spotted Slater as well.

“Oh, thank god you’re okay!” Lillian yelled from across the warehouse, running to her brother with the intent to embrace him. Theo simply ignored the siblings and walked forward to address Elijah.

“Do you know if Mr. Moretti is okay?” He asked, Elijah giving a silent shake of his head in response. Theo looked off to the side.

“You mean this geezer?”

An unbothered voice came from beyond the barrels. Before the group could identify the source, Joseph’s body flew over the barrels and flopped unceremoniously to the ground in front of them.

“Joseph!” Elijah yelled out, immediately noticing the gaping wounds on his body. He crouched and began trying to stop the bleeding, with Theo ripping off his jumpsuit sleeves and offering them up as makeshift bandages.

“I request you all turn yourselves in.” The voice rang out again, this time revealing the source itself. A slim, but defined, young man with light gray hair stepped out from the shadows. His hands were in the pockets of his dark gray uniform pants, and the pristine white of his dress shirt paired with his pale skin seemed to almost mock Mr. Moretti’s current state. One hand of the young man’s went to his neck, giving it a solid crack before he turned his disinterested eyes towards the group once again. “I don’t want to resort to force like I did on him.”

“Turn ourselves in?” Elijah asked. “Who are you to ask that?”

The young man looked at Elijah, displaying a level of annoyance at having to explain himself.

“As a representative of the Wendigo Enforcement Agency, I’m here to arrest you all for smuggling across the border.”

Theo took a defiant step forward. “Smuggling?! What we do is way—“ Elijah’s hand shot up to stop his outburst, however his body stayed close to the ground as he still tended to Joseph.

“Stand down. This man’s a Wendigo…” Elijah’s eyes locked with the young man. Initially he was tense, but something about the young man’s face struck him as something he should know. As if trying to define a blurry face in a distant dream. However, he couldn’t dwell on it long. He shook himself free of the trance when Lillian turned to him.

“A Wendigo..?”

A single sweat drop fell from Elijah’s forehead. “The West’s secret police soldiers—No, assassins. They only are deployed for political missions and acts of treason, so why us?!”

Lillian bit her lip. “Those damn white coats! They must have some deep roots in the government to mobilize a guy this big just to cover a border they didn’t know we would cross…”

One of the workers on the other side of the warehouse saw Joseph’s body and, immediately identifying the trespasser as a threat, rushed forward at him.

Theo saw his coworker and called out to him, “Wait, don’t—“ But his words didn’t reach him in time. As the lone worker scavenged a metal wrench as he ran forward, he jumped and brought it down over his head at the Wendigo. Still not concerned with the situation, the Wendigo put up his right hand as a white orb bracelet clamped down on his wrist, sending blood flying in a circle around the bracelet. The ring of blood in any normal circumstances would’ve been splattered on everyone who was watching, but instead, it remained airborn. Almost using the bracelet as a guide, the blood circulated around the man’s wrist with tendrils seemingly connecting it back to his body. The spinning blood caught the wrench, knocking it away, and in one movement the circle spouted a slender blade which cut the worker down the chest. The body fell to the floor, blood being drawn. His left hand still in his pocket and his right now holding the ruby blade, the Wendigo looked back towards the awestruck group.

“Like I said, you can make this easy and just turn yourselves in.” The sword relaxed down to his side, but notably did not dissipate. Slater clutched his blade.

“After that display…” He straightened himself and brandished his blade with both hands. “How could I stand by and let you do that again?”

“Sorry, then.” The man said, sparing no time in rushing towards Slater’s throat with his blade. He brought the crimson edge at his neck from the side. Before it could hit, though, a blue flash cleaved the blade in two from below, sending his re-liquefied blood splattering away from the clash. Chaining with his cleave from before, Slater brought his blade down across the Wendigo’s chest, but he had back-stepped and reformed his blade before the attack could land. Slater ran forward again, swiping his blade at the enemy, but finding each attack either dodged or parried. The most peculiar aspect of his dodges wasn’t the unorthodox form, Slater was unorthodox himself, the thing which Slater was unnerved by was the sheer speed. It wasn’t reaction speed, it was instinct. Before the thought could develop further, Slater’s sloppy strikes were finally countered by a kick to the gut, sending him sliding away from the intruder with a hand clutching his stomach.

His swordplay… I know it… The officer thought, wiping splattered blood off of his mouth. No matter. He readied his blade again. He pulled his hand back before thrusting it forward like a battering ram, with the force extending his blade like a spear towards Slater. It jetted through the air, but barely stopped short of Slater’s navel, as it had been halted by Lillian’s hands. She grasped the bloody spear as the material composing it stained her bandages maroon.

“Don’t think he’s the only one you have to worry about.” Her hands went in opposite directions as she tore the ruby armament apart. Not wanting to waste the period he needed to recover his weapon, Lillian ran forward and grabbed the core gauntlet she had stashed and placed it on her right arm.

The Wendigo crossed his arms and made a small crimson veil that barely shielded the blow of the stone knuckle. He flew backwards into the warehouse wall, leaving a large indent before sliding down to the ground. He had blood dripping down his face now.

“If you’re all going to resist,” The blood collected into the disk around his wrist yet again, but this time now sprouted two blade opposite of each other. “Then I don’t have to spare any of you, do I?” Accompanying his doubled blade, the blood running down his face had collected around his right eye, which now ran off of it in the form of a watery dark red flame.

The group that was huddled around Joseph shuddered for a moment, the ruby warrior reflecting in their forced-open eyes. The warehouse had ceased being a battleground, and had now become a slaughterhouse.