The Poison in our Veins, Part I

Xess wakes up on a bed inside the facility.

After realizing he was unconscious, he raises his body and sits down on the bed. He finds himself inside a well-lit, albeit empty, grey room. No windows anywhere. No desks. A door to a restroom. An empty bed on the other side of the room. He stays seated as he grabs his forehead. He seems to feel tired, as he lowers his neck just enough to massage it.

"How long was I out?" he wonders.

Immediately, as if by an act of Fate, Xess recalls the moment he was stabbing Reese to death in the Forest of Hollows.The flashes of violence change his expression to a neutral one. As the light in the room dims back and forth for a few seconds, the young man sits motionless on the bed. Although the room is silent, inside of Xess's head are the screams of agony of his victim. Looking down to the bed, he can perfectly hear Reese's scream from within. This memory reminded him to check something on his Tracer. He opens it and scrolls the information of the hunt. He finds the information he is looking for and reads it.

"Total number of Prey hunted: 3."

"Total number of Prey forgiven: 0..."

"That's right..." Xess closes the Tracer information and stares at the door, leading into a hall, and finishes his sentence.

"We got them all..."

Xess gets up from his bed and leaves the room. Starting to walk through the long, also grey, hall, the route is filled with the entrances other rooms. Each room in the facility has a pair of beds. As he traverses the hall, however, he notices that he does not run into anyone, recognizing he is in the facility.

"Are they all in the main hall?" he wonders.

He reaches a door leading to the main hall at the opposite end of his room. This is where everyone was when they first heard the news about the hunts. Still, Xess is very confused, "Where is everybody?" as there is no one in the main hall, either. The white door leading to the forest, as expected, remains open. It is here when he hears someone from his left side, as he enters the main hall.

"Finally up, I see" says Cross.

Xess turns around and sees Cross leaning against the wall next to the main hall entrance with his arms crossed. "You are..." says Xess before stopping.

Cross stays silent waiting for Xess to finish until finally deciding to end the uncomfortable moment, "You going to finish that sentence or what?"

"Well, you know, I was expecting you'd..." Xess replies.

"Give you a clue? Like a puzzle?"

Xess turns his head away from Cross in a clear sign of embarrassment. (("Who the hell was this guy, again?")) he wonders.

"Barney-" says Cross.

"Barney, that's right, I forgot" says Xess immediately after hearing Cross say the name."

"Yeah, that's right, 'Barney', that's my fucking name" Cross says, moving his head slightly up and down as if agreeing with Xess.

Xess catches Cross's sarcastic tone, "... It's not Barney."

"Of course not, you lunatic."

As soon as Cross uses the word "lunatic" Xess seems to recall the moment Cross spoke to Reese as he approached him. Before he could say anything, though, Cross speaks once again, "You killed someone inches away from me. So close that I can still smell the blood on me. All of this after I introduced myself to everyone out there... including you."

Xess remains silent.

"The name is 'Cross'. Don't you forget my name... because I sure won't forget yours" Cross says in a serious tone.

"Fair enough" Xess replies.

The noticeable tension is immediately lowered as Cross's expression shifts to a calmer one, "You were asleep so it figures you don't know. There are only three of us here in the facility right now. The rest are out in the Forest" Cross explains.

"What for?" Xess asks, confused.

"The second hunt."

"WHAT!? But I have no cluster assigned I just checked my Tracer!" Xess exclaims, alarmed.

"It seems those who somehow are involved with getting at least one prey are excluded from the subsequent hunt," Cross explains, "so rejoice we are both top performant hitmen."

"So... that means..."

"You left us no other choice, comrade," Cross says as he backs away from the wall, allowing Xess to see the left side of his face. Alarmed, Xess notices that Cross's left side of his face is extremely injured. Signs of cuts and bruises catch Xess's attention. Cross does not mention anything about it, though, "after you killed Reese, every single cluster was on the hook. So... we ran as fast as we could, with no plan on how to react the moment we'd find the other two."

Cross's words echoed deeply within Xess, as he remembers feeling the same way while they were searching around the forest.

"The way we searched that forest," Cross began, his voice heavy with emotion, "only the power of absolute terror and fear could make us move like that. If we'd miss either of the two..."

Xess remained silent, his thoughts racing. Cross takes out a knife, very similar to the one Xess had used to kill Reese. He stares at it with an expression of loss.

Curious, Xess asks, "Is that the one...?"

Cross shakes his head sadly, "No. This is the one the target I killed had."

Xess's gaze shifts towards the white door leading to the forest. It is daytime outside and strong sunlight streams through the facility, casting shadows where they stand.

"What was the target in for?" Xess inquires.

Cross lets out a faint laugh, gently playing with the knife as he continues to stare at it, "I didn't even ask. Whatever she was in for... We... I..." His voice trails off, filled with sadness.

Xess senses the weight of Cross's emotions.

"I didn't have a choice anymore” Cross reflects, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I understand," Xess says, turning to Cross once again, "I took that away from you. From everyone, actually."

Cross looks at him with eyes filled with sorrow, "Did you know? In the distant past, if you'd choke someone to death you'd be penalized with the toughest sentence of all. The victim is so close to the aggressor, they say it takes a psychopath to kill someone like that... The aggressor, also human, should feel the victim's life slowly fading away... instant by instant... with no choice but to feel some sort of empathy.”

Cross continues, as his grip on the knife tightens, "Not letting go would mean the aggressor was not able to feel such empathy... thus... a psychopath."

Cross's voice grows softer, tinged with sadness, "Yet, it is funny... All those things I was not supposed to feel... I did."

Cross's confession feel like a hammer of judgement crashing down onto Xess's soul, "Their pain. Their grief. Their fear. Scared she was living the very last moments of her life. Scared she was not going to see her loved ones ever again. Scared their loved ones would find out she was gone. Everything... I could feel it all..." Cross continues.

Blood appears on Cross's hand as the knife's blade starts to cut him from the tight grip. Still, Cross does not seem to mind. It is clear that Cross's pain was far greater within his soul.

"Tell me, Xess..." Cross asks, with his voice trembling slightly.

With the knife still in hand, Cross placed his fist against Xess's chest. He raises his head, showing Xess an expression of the worst grief and agony a human being could ever have. In the middle of his pain, Cross cries out in total desperation, "WHY DID YOU KILL HIM???!!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL HIM???!!! DON'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE???!!!"

Xess stands silent, allowing Cross to vent his frustration. Cross continues to hit Xess on the chest with both fists closed multiple times. With each hit, some of the blood on Cross's hand got onto Xess. Nevertheless, Xess does not react nor does he try to defend himself. He simply listens.

"We only had one chance... one chance to prevent all of this from going to shit..." Cross cries, his punches growing weaker while Xess's focus remains. Cross drops the knife and stares at the floor, as if he has let all his emotions out. He stops crying, yet he still has a clear hollow expression. Xess finally replies.

"If you feel that the reason for my choices will somehow help you to cope with your life from now on... survive this" Xess says, with a serious and firm voice.

Cross, looking sad, remains silent.

"Survive the situation you are in," Xess continues with an unwavering tone, "and then ask yourself if — by then — you still care" Xess finishes.

Here, another person approaches from the white door of the forest.

"Who gave you the right to bargain with my life like that?" says the approaching girl aggressively. Xess turns, confused, to see a long black-haired, blue eyed girl approaching.

"If you think we're all like that crying lowlife over there, then you are an even greater moron than I'd thought" she says with a defiant tone.

"Excuse me?" Xess responds, taken aback.

"Are you deaf, now? I'm not going to repeat myself" the girl retorts in clear anger.

As she gets closer, Xess recognizes her, "I know you. You're that very delightful girl I tried talking to back at the forest" he says.

Cross, still sad, interjects, "She's hunted the third target. Her name is Mayu."

Xess quickly turns to Cross, "She's incredibly unpleasant" he remarks.

Cross points to his injuries, "See those injuries on my face?"

Alerted, Xess replies, "That was her? I thought those were from the target!"

As Xess turns back, he notices that Mayu has gotten very close. Before he can react, Mayu hits him on the face with a straight punch, sending him with extreme force towards the wall next to the door of the hallway. The strength with which Xess hits the wall of the facility is so strong that it leaves a crack, essentially breaking it. Cross is in disbelief of Mayu's strength. She then approaches the now on the ground Xess, stares him down with a very violent look and shares two words with him.

"Fuck you!"

Chapter 05 - The Poison in our Veins, Part I: END

to be continued...