For a moment there was only intense eye contact between me and my dear brother-Sebastian. Though, I would not consider him my brother because we are not related by blood, but even if we don't share the same bloodline father taught me to treat him like my brother. At some point I can say that father may have gotten too carried away with Sebastian by raising him, that he completely forgot about my existence. Sounds crazy but my own father has entirely met me, a number of times that you can count on a set of fingers, so do the maths and realise.
"As promised, we meet after 4 years." I replied.
One thing he's well known for, is for never breaking any promise. I'd say that it truly is a pretty good life skill but not in these type of situations. Truthfully, I knew about this and expected this to happen but for some odd reason I thought that 4 years was too long and i started to think that it was all a silly lie to make me afraid. I was mistaking.
"Correct. It wasn't hard to find you." He said.
With the corner of my eye, i noticed his hand slowly sliding behind his back. That meant only one thing- he will shoot any moment. If I say something wrong then I'm dead, to think about it, if he wants revenge he'll most likely kill me anyway. But I will not leave this just like that, I won't allow myself to die without fighting for a change.
"Yet it took you four years. I thought father taught you better, than to wait so long, or perhaps it wasn't as easy to find me after all?" I have no clue of how this can possibly affect the situation but maybe, stepping on his nerves is the only solution left.
"Don't mention father, the man was nothing but a coward." He said.
"You think that he was a coward just because he didn't tell you the truth of the inheritance process? God you really are stupid." I said, waiting for his next move that might possibly be fatal.
Click. He had pulled the slide lock of the pistol, meaning that he can and will shoot any moment. With a smirk on his face, he finally pointed the gun right at me. The moment that I waited for so long was finally here.
"Come on, shoot. Pull the trigger and that is it, I'll be dead, just as you wanted." I encouraged him.
"Really, you are allowing me to do it? Just like that? Do you really want to die that badly?" He gave me a confused look.
"Of course not." I replied, pausing for a bit to see the confusion spread over Sebastian's face, "Ash, now!" I signalised, to Ash. A signal I was not entirely sure if he understood but for my luck he did.
Ash pulled the trigger of the pistol he had, thankfully not shooting him in a vital point, just his arm. Blood splattered from Sebastian's wound making all of the gang members that had followed him, go in action- load their guns and shoot. This only meant one thing for us- it's time to go, time to run. Quickly I studied our the surroundings, looking for our potential exit.
"Here!" Trough the loud gun shots, Ash yelled, pointing at a dumpster that was nearby. As stupid as it sounds and looks it was our only way of staying alive. The only exit of this unpleasant situation.
I went into a dead sprint to the dumpster and climbed on it as fast as I could. The faster I get over this god damn wall the better. My mind was racing and at that moment I didn't think of the possibility that either one of us will be shot.I felt my body falling over the edge of the wall, with a loud thud, my body hit the ground. It was at least a 9 feet fall, possibly even more, but there was no time to lay there, to take a break, we had to run and this time we seriously need to run.I looked around but Ash was nowhere to be seen, only gunshots from the other side of the wall could be heard. Gunshots that kill, gunshots that ruin lives forever, gunshots that break people in pieces as soon as they hear the terrible news of death. Soul like a gunshot wound, take out the bullet soon or leave it hurting. Let it become a part of you, let it become something that is eternal just like death is eternal, you cannot just choose to come back. Too late to come back to the 'living', too late to change something. Once you're gone, you are gone for real because there is no way back home, because there is no road back to life. There is no golden gate that leads back to life, neither is there a gate to a better place. Death shadows, over the street where dozens of mean lay lifeless, faces down, right in the dirt; drowning in puddles of blood, drowning in the puddles of their own blood. Everything splattered in crimson red, stained clothes, stained bodies; but what is there to worry about? Once they'll be found in the morning, they'll be taken way, leaving the street, peaceful as it once was.
"Your brother and some of the survivors managed to escape." Ash said, landing on his feet on the ground, besides me.
"How many of them are there?" I asked, wanting to know a specific number of men that are dead because of me.
"At least 8, one or too, less or more don't really change anything." He sighed, safely hiding the pistol in the pocket of his jacket.
"I see. Why did you kill them? You could of run away, without looking back. You could of forgotten that this even happened." .........
"I could but there no longer is an escape. I am involved with you. If boss hadn't seen me and if he wouldn't have been here maybe then, I would have chosen to run away, without even looking back, hoping to forget this all but it didn't happen like that. I am now involved and so are you." He said.
Truthfully it made me feel bad, why did he even choose to help me in the first place."Then why did you help me?" I asked.
"Look I don't know, it didn't feel good to see you die. But besides that, why were you even in this part of the town? Not only is the timing weird, but the fact that you are unarmed." He said.
I kept silent, because I didn't want to sound insane. Sometimes and actually quite often it is better to keep quiet, keep your thoughts to yourself and not talk about anything in public.
"Fine, keep quiet. If you don't want to say anything then be it. But from now on, you will be by my side, understood?" He asked.
"I- uh.. what?" .......
"Do you have any better idea of how will you not get yourself killed? Besides, do you even know how to use a gun?" He asked.
"I've never shot anyone but I've been trained how to use it." I replied. Quite frankly I doubt that I could allow myself to kill someone, unless that someone would be Sebastian or the head paper crown. Those two are the only one's i'd wish to kill; because both of them deserve it. Why do they deserve it? Let's start with Sebastian, under unknown circumstances, 2 years ago, my mother had 'died' in an accident, though, I know that those 'accidents' nearly never happen outside of this town because there is barely a living soul out there. Her body was never found but resources say that the remains could possibly be buried somewhere, that is why I suspect that it was him, who did the terrible deed. Mother lived in a small seeker society- a group of only a few people, that she called her closet friends. As for the head paper crown- I believe that they are worthy of death just because they had allowed the crown games to still exist. After nearly 100 years of the existence of the games no one has ever tried to stop this. That makes me wonder, do people really love this way of living, do they really enjoy slaughtering other or perhaps, they just enjoy being on the top of the pyramid? And would killing the head paper crown really end all of this or shutting down the program is the real way to end it all?
"Alright, tomorrow you'll be accompanying me then." Ash said walking off.
"To where?" I asked, following him. As he previously mentioned, i should be by his side, not that I am complaining but, it makes me feel weak and incapable of doing anything.
"To a raid. We will be raiding a few houses in the hider district, a group of friends will also be accompanying us, so you don't need to worry about your safety." He replied.
"Will I have to kill?" I asked. Frankly, there was no use of asking this silly question because I already knew the answer myself.
"Yes, but i'll only ask for you to kill a few of them, as for myself, I have a kill streak to keep up with." He replied.
"What is your current count?" .....
"10 seekers and 2 hiders, I only ranked up to be a hider a few months ago, resulting in taking a break from killing but here i am, ready to return to the game again." He replied.
"I see, that would explain why you only have 12 markings." I said. In result to technological advantage, the count of the victims appear on the killers wrist, thanks to a microchip that is implanted in the persons neck at their birth. As mentioned previously, in order to rank up to the next class the person needs to have a kill streak of 30 hiders and 30 seekers, as soon as the kill streak is fulfilled the markings disappear from the killers wrist, leaving it blank for new markings.
That means that also a paper crown gets a marking on their wrist as soon as they kill someone, only in that case there is no use because there is no higher rank than a paper crown.There might not be a higher rank for a paper crown but only the most intelligent and capable paper crowns are able to be in the court, which is lead by the head paper crown.
The court controls mostly everyone, even us 'regular' paper crowns, though we are still somewhat more superior than the ones below us, we are taken as the leaders.
"Right now I will take you to the 'base'." Ash said, as the two of us walked trough the dark streets of The Dystopian Land.
"The base? What are you in some gang?" I blurted out.
"Uh, no. It's an apartment where me and my friends hang out and live, for now i am spending time with my sister at our family house but normally you would be able to find me in that apartment." He replied.
"Do you kill together?" ......
"Most of the time yes, but sometimes I just go by myself because those losers are just too lazy to even stand up from the couch, yet when it comes to killing they are like animals." Ash sighed.
"It must be some primitive instinct that they act that way, I doubt that people would accept this 100 years ago. Of course there most likely were wars and genocides and other horrible things in the past but not a game of killing, right? Sometimes it feels like some kill people like it would be a sports activity." I said.
"You are probably right. I just wish it would end. It's not like either one of us know how it would be if the world would be normal but I think it would be better to live a calm life without killing." Ash said, taking a sharp and sudden turn to the left side of the street.
"We're here." He added, opening the door to a large apartment building and entering it.
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