"Sure he's in there?" Leather jacket pulled out his switch, his GLOCKY-GLOCKY, and checked the chamber to see a sliver of silver that'll shiver the timbers.
"He is, stop askin questions. Just fire when you're told." He then snatched the cigarette from the guy's lips and took another hit. Hit-Hit-Oh-shit-COUGH-Argh-
"Right..." The big guy said with a tense of uncertainty in his voice. His partner lowered his sunglasses, raising a brow, not believing that he's having doubts. "He's still there, he won't go anytime soon." He reassured, smacking his teeth while playing with the cig with his teeth. "I'd sleep in the graveyard if MY wife was killed. All is in control, Bart. All mine."
Bart hmphs and looking into the alleyway where a hidden entrance can be found. It was an old rusty gate that had a wet wooden plank that was supposed to cover it but is noticeably moved to the side.
"If we go in there and he's gone, it's on you, Martin."
Martin shoos his hand away, not even acknowledging what Bart said. Just nodded and took another hit from his trusty lung-destroyer. He leans on the wall with his back hunched and neck forward, eyeing a newcomer, whom they immediately recognized. The three acknowledged each other with a quick nod and brow raise. This guy wore all black, looking like the Green Day guy: black guyliner, lipstick, and hair. His coat dramatically flows down to his spiky boots, keeping his inner clothes dry from the brisk of rain. Martin looked him up and down and was like "This the guy?" then dabbed him up. The hand he shook felt too stiff, too cold. A quick raise the hand shake revealed a metal prosthetic hand from beneath.
"Dayum... What happened to the arm?"
"Long story, messed with the wrong guys and got myself tortured."
Martin looked back at Bart, fanning his mouth saying "Oooo, okay, okay", then Bart was like "Yeah fn" and dabbed the emo boy up too.
"That's my boy Damien. Damn good with a gun. Grew up in the Vons neighborhood, so you know he means business."
Damien inserted his hands into his coat pockets, kicking the wet floor as he swayed his body around, "I don't... want to talk about my past. Let's just move on with it, my skills can speak for me."
Martin nods while hitting his cancer-giver, "Okay, Okay, would love to see that in action, ye"
Martin jogged to the hidden entrance and entered through the bars with his arms pocketed. Damien followed through, creaking the fence a bit to get through. Bart reached from his back and used his barbed fire-axe to hack the entrance bigger. Martin straightened his back from the loud clangs of metal. He twisted and looked back, eyeing and shushing him. The walk to the graveyard was silent and eerie, they just locked in and continued walking. The glowing fog wraps the lively city at night, swallowing the three into a thick puff cloud as they enter the mist. Martin's fingers started numbing from the cold, so he exhaled to heat them up. The two behind him are just chillin, they wore clothes suited for the cold after all. After exiting the alleyway, they get shined down upon by the looming building from the distance. A tall beacon of light called the Luxanna tower in the distance, shining brighter than the moonlight. It's surrounded by smaller buildings, each having competing lights but is refracted by the fog swallowing the city. After crossing the junkyard, they reached the outskirts of the city, away from all the cop lights, flashlights, spotlights, strobe lights, street lights, all of the lights, all of the lights.
"CDC" spelled on the arching gateway, the letters rusting and crusting. The ground that they stepped inside was softer than dirty, almost grainy like and ashy looking, even having a color gray to fit the graveyard's dull and somber atmosphere. The tombs are all dusty, the trash littered around were eaten into the ground. The three sneaked their way past the dilapidated graves. Suddenly, Martin raised a hand to halt the move. He pointed at a visibly aged man along with a young teenager (No it's not Rick and Morty) mourning an epitaph. The three hid behind mausoleums and sneaked their way closer to the two. The old man placed his shaky hand on the young man's shoulder and said "Maverick, my child, look at what they've done to your mother..."
Little Maverick read the name "Nanna Sheridan" etched on the tomb. The boy's eyes were shallow, bearing no weight at all. His face is covered by linen bondages like a mummy, wrapping his skin. He also had thick clothing on top of that. The old man kneeled down, resting his forehead into the tomb and whispered "I'll make them pay for what they did to you... Root them out like the weeds that they are..."
While his father was leaning down, Maverick's unusually shaped, almost animalistic and shaky pupils caught a flash from the dark. It was light reflecting from a pistol aimed at their direction. Damien, who's aiming his Silver Deagle, opened his other eye when the kid suddenly turned to look at him.
"Damn, that kid is supernatural, for real..." Martin remarked, chuckling while tapping Damien's shoulders. Maverick tugged his father's fur wintercoat then pointed at the three men revealing themselves.
"How did he see us?" Damien asked. Martin whispered back "Looks like we're doing it my way."
The old man stands up and gives the men a stern gaze. He calmly raised his index finger to his face, giving the end of his jawline a tap. A ripple effect waved outwards from the point of contact to reveal a translucent forcefield only inches away from his skin but quickly transparent right after. Martin grins as he calls out his name over and over again, clapping like a stereotypical bad guy entrance.
"Sheridan, Sheridan, Sheridan. Professor Sheridan! You knew it would come to th-"
Sheridan fixes his glasses, "It would come to this, yes. But I didn't expe-" Then Martin follows his words and rushes to end it, "D-Didn't expect us to respond this fast!" Bart and Damien in the back looked at each other. Martin pulled out his gun and shouted "Don't you FUCKING cut me off MANE!"
Sheridan pulls his son behind him. Bart taps Martin's back, saying "You good, You good" while he complains, swaying his gun around, "I was monologue-ing! A-And he fucking cut me off!"
Damien looked at the kid behind the professor, peeking to the side while tightly grabbing on to the old man's coat. Martin beat his chest a few times, took a deep breath before facing Sheridan again. "You know what they say, curiosity is what defines us humans-" "Us? Do not count yourself amongst my people, parasite." "I SAID-" Martin looks up, breathes in before laughing at Sheridan, wagging his finger, "We also dug some info on you... You're not any better than me, professor. Kidnapping, experimenting on unwilling subjects, smuggling equipment, steali-" "YOU DO NOT HAVE THE GROUND TO LECTURE ME ABOUT MORALITY!" Sheridan snapped, his eyes shaking and fists bawled up. Martin was just like "Woah..." hands up and a head shake. Bart equips his barbed fire-axe, nudging Martin to the side, "'nuff said, let's get straight to it. You digged too deep, you old wrinkly-ass prune. Just like the cat, we'll kill you too." Martin shook his head, "My mane?! I was supposed to-"
"You two! The black individual and the individual in black. I haven't seen you two before. Best to believe that you two are still humans?"
Damien felt fear creeping in, but he kept an unfazed look. His eyes dart towards his comrades, looking for an explanation. "What did he mean by that..." He mumbled to himself. Bart ignored him and stomped towards Sheridan, his foot digging deep the grey snow-like ground, hand firmly gripping the wooden handle of his axe, "What's it to you?" The professor stepped back in response.
"Look at yourselves, working with these hell walkers. Going against the future of humanity, succumbing to your fear!"
Sheridan continues to inch away for every step Bart takes. He raises his index finger to the sky and adjusts his glasses, "For the record, while my scientific pursuits in the past were not all ethical, they've all been for humanity! For YOU and ME, not THEM."
Sheridan grabs his son's hand and forces it to let go, shoving Maverick to the ground. The kid ouched, narrowed eyes still glued to his dad. His father then stomps in the opposite direction to lead the two away. His limbs stiff but moves with a direction, eyes locked in with Bart's, entangled and tugging him to follow. "I dreamed of the next evolution for mankind! To imbue humanity with the unique capabilities of animals! For us to be ONE with nature against a common enemy." Sheridan dialogued, his hands clasping together before pointing at Martin, who's smirking the entire time. Sheridan takes a quick glance at how his kid gets ignored by Bart, a slight chin up to show relief. He successfully led them away from Mav. Then he's back to his tensed face, brows down and locked jaw.
"I've given humanity a fair chance against the demons and yet they refused! Like forcing a kid to eat a vegetable that's beneficial to them! And scums like you two, working with them- TRAITORS!" Veins started popping in the old man's forehead, his face redding as heat fills his face.
Instead of following his partners, Damien remained behind to check on the kid. He helped Maverick get back on his feet before urging him to run away, "You don't want to be here..."
Damien tried to turn Maverick by the shoulders but the boy stood his ground, his eyes following his father's.
"Come on."
"They're going to kill him, right? I want to see."
Damien crunched his eyebrows. "Did... Did the boy just say that?" He asked himself.
"You shouldn't be saying that. Trust me, you don't want to see someone die. Especially since he's your father, come on." Damien tried to gently guide the boy away but he slapped his hand away and yelled "I don't care! He's a monster and he deserves it!"
His son's voice caught his attention, but Sheridan is too far away for him to do something, making him grind his teeth. Sheridan quickly gazed back at the two following him with weapons. Bart started speeding up but the old man covered behind a concrete table, moving to the opposite side of him so he couldn't come close. "And YOU! How could you actively work against your own PEOPLE?" Bart throws the axe, Sheridan ducks down. He jumps over the table to get his axe to strike the ground, the old man rolling and slipping away. Sheridan's chest is already heaving for air after struggling to get himself up.
"I did the hard work, I tore into flesh, spliced genes, all you need to do is BELIEVE! WE STILL-" Bart swings his axe at the old man but he's unnaturally agile, making him go "What thef-" Sheridan's legs jerked like a horse's kick, slamming Bart into a concrete wall, debris falling down to the floor with him. Martin struts towards him, spinning his glocky glocky.
"You done?"
"Fuck no."
Bart wipes the dust off his mouth, shimmies the debris from his shirt, and continues going after the professor.
"WE HAVE A CHANCE! You just can't see the vision that I have!"
Sheridan enters a dim mausoleum, only lit by the moonlight entering through the glassless windows. Bart follows blindly to sate his annoyance. The visionary's voice echoes through the hollow room, ringing the non-believer's ears.
"I played god, but the results are undeniable! See the strength I sought for our people!"
Bart narrowed his eyes, pupils dilating to see where the fucker is. Suddenly, he feels a sharp jab to his abdomen. His arm instinctively guarded up. Sheridan's glowing eyes flashed in the dark, the sound of wrinkling fabric gave away the location, Bart strikes in that direction. The axe however stops midway through, it was like pushing two opposite pole magnets together. "The fuck?!"
Sheridan strikes a solid blow to his face, sending Bart flying out and crashing into a casket. The professor leans on the mausoleum's inner entrance after schooling Bart, catching his breath. "TECHNOLOGY! On top of supernatural strength! THIS! This is our next evolution!"
Once Sheridan exited the room, Martin revealed himself from the corner of the outer entrance and popped a bullet into his head. Instead of seeing the old man's brains splash out, the bullet hovered like two opposite magnets pushing together. The concentrated point of penetration lit up in a bright blue light until it rips, causing a blast that flung the bullet away. Sheridan and Martin hurled away from each other from the shockwave. Closest to the explosion, the high pitched noise that the shockwave emitted rang Martin's ears, shaking his head and vision. He felt his ears clenching. A quick swipe on his neck coated his finger with blood. The old man groaned, struggling to get up. But still, he laughed, his beard now wet like noodles. Spit followed every word he spoke.
"My sins laid bare, but I did it for you! For Humanity! Aack! This hurts..." He then helped himself up by leaning on a tomb. "My shield's gone... The next blow will be lethal..." he thought to himself, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.
Bart stirred up to a sharp pain down his sticky shoulder. Realizing that he fell on his axe, he forcefully stick it out, gritting his teeth. His arms started shaking, his eyes clenching and tearing up. "FUCK! FUCKK!! FUCKKKK!!!" The barbed wires were pulling on his skin, ripping holes and inflicting sharp and burning pain for every inch that he moved. Bart groaned in pain detaching the axe from his torn skin, looking like velcro with how tangled the wires are from his strings of muscles.
Maverick held his breath, looking at his struggling father. Anticipating for what's about to come, but also fearing it. Damien held the boy's hand and tried to pull him away.
"Get off me! Stop acting like you care! I don't trust you!" He lashed out, tugging his arm away from the man.
"Seeing him die will still scar you no matter how much you hate him"
"Then why don't you stop them?!"
The teen started tearing up weak. His voice cracking, his arms shaking as he wiped his cheeks. Damien noticed how the boy's eye lids were flickering fast as if it was taking a toll on his body just to cry. There were no tears coming out. "This kid..." Damien thought to himself.
"I may be a monster in your eyes..." Sheridan coughs but then reaches his arms up to the sky, his eyes aiming for the stars, "But in the war of humanity against demons, I CHOOSE US! US!"
Bart tossed his bloodied axe behind and pounced at Sheridan, breaking through the tombstone. While whining, the old man tried his best to block Bart's heavy hits, covering his head with his frail arms. His bones could audibly be heard cracking, blood painting his assaulter's knuckles, and vision blurring from the tears. In a desperate attempt to break away, he grabbed a debris and smashed it into Bart's head so that he could crawl away. Sheridan then slithered away, wiggling on the ashy ground. When he turns around, he's faced with Martin's gun. Eyeing the dark hole of the barrel, old ahh bro knew it was over. His heart sank into the ocean of black goo, coating and readying it for harvest by the grim reaper. Martin smirked as he pulled the geezer's collar and made him stand on his feet. Sheridan followed for mercy.
"A-A-A-A-Ah-Go back, Go back. Yeah, thaz right, let Bart have fun with ya."
Shaking, Sheridan turned to Bart, who charged with a right hook, a hit that crushed his cheek bones, his lower jaw deforming downwards like a neon sign dangling off on one of its two threads. The old man's tears just started flowing. Blow after blow, his voice started to waiver, throwing cries of help into the wind. Yet despite the brutal beatdown, Sheridan's legs held each other up, a stomp to support a shaky step.
"Aight that's enough. Let's finish this."
Bart exhaled and cracked his neck before pulling back, allowing Martin to shove the scientist in the middle of the graveyard. Sheridan stands under the Luxanna tower's light as if he was in a theatre with an imaginary audience, highlighted from the darkness that surrounds him. He knew that none but those who cover their ears were his listeners yet what defines ambition in a man if he not preach what he envisions to those who oppose him (wtf did I just write). His heart's beatin, mouth's gaspin, head's spinnin, it's time for the climax, the cadence of an opera, the last note that's prolonged to leave a lasting impression for the audience.
"HUMANITY PREVAIL! DEFEND THE LIIIIGGGHTT!!!" Sheridan cried out, yelling each word to hopefully shake a heart with his last call. His body's rocking back and forth to really let it all out, fists shaking but feet grounded.
His breathing halted when blood splattered all over the ground. Six loud bangs that rang everyone's ears in a radius. Damien and the boy watched in horror as the scientist gets silenced, stumbling on his feet, clutching his chest, scooping the blood and trying to pour it back in. It wouldn't be long before Sheridan loses balance and falls. But before he bites the dust, he turns his body mid-descend and looks up at the Luxanna Tower. Suddenly, he was a kid again, looking at the distant light that the tower provided. He asked his mother, "what's that, mom?"
His mother held him tight, drawing him close to her until their faces touched. "That's the beacon of hope and progress, son. No matter how dark and gray your surroundings are, just look at that tower and see how it continues to guide others through the fog. We won't be lost as long as there's a light at the end of the tunnel"
Ants to humans they were. Cockroaches lurking in the shadows, scattering when car lights pass through the alleyway. Nobodies, insignificant to the grand scheme of things. But they had dreams, hope, that maybe some day, they could know what it's like to be the ones to bring change.
"Unity... In Humanity..." Sheridan squeezed out of his lungs before falling into a grave-robbed hole.
There he laid on top of a broken-in casket, a skull behind his ear to share the tears that he cried, the blood he poured seeping through the wooden cracks. Just looking at the nightsky from down under with the only person willing to listen to him. Then Martin appears with a poker face, blocking the light and shedding darkness down on him. Just watching as a pool of blood forms in the hole, until Sheridan's last finger twitch. Damien on the other hand is hugging Maverick, holding him close to his chest. He could feel the boy's tears dropping down his neck and the subtle twitching of his chest, but hears no cries from his mouth.
"I'm sorry, you had to go through this..." He whispered, patting the boy's back and clutching him close. Then he pulls back, his hands clutching his arms.
"Must be a confusing situation... I don't know how you feel right now, nor do I know how to fix everything, but I know that you shouldn't be here. Let's get you out of here."
The boy breathes in hard to slurp back the snot and hold back tears. Damien smiled, brushing his hair a bit before standing and holding his hand.
"You're out."
Damien and Martin meet eye-to-eye, both of them stiffening up as if their gazes were aiming barrels, ready to click.
"You're not cut out for this"
The two men had a stare down. Their hands holding on to their holstered guns. Maverick hides behind Damien, his unusually long ears twitching.
"All this time, when we needed your help, you're here with the kid."
Before Damien could even utter a response, Martin has already drawed his gun. Aimed it at him. "Ah-Ah-Ah, you know I don't like getting interrupted when I'm talking" he taunted, waving his index finger.
"You failed the initiation, buuuuut you're a damn good shooter. I wonder if skills transfer over to the crawlers..."
Maverick's ears twitched again, sensing a ruffling noise from the dark buildings behind him. He turns around to look at the abandoned buildings, his animalistic eyes glowing in the dark. Through his nocturnal pupils, he inspected his gray surroundings, looking for the source of sound. All he saw was broken furniture.
"How about this, prove yourself by shooting the kid."
Without hesitation, Damien draws his heavy-grade pistol.
"Yo, don't mov-" Martin knows its too late. He just nodded, a smirk curling on his lips. "Aight, aight..."
Now they both stare into each other's barrels. The bottomless void calls for them to pull the trigger. Damien entered a flow state of calmness and awareness of inner and outside obstruction. Fog brushing off his skin. Sweat sliding down his cheek. Slowly breathe in, feel the air fill his lungs. Eyes rolling back while his lids shut down. Cold metal of his pistol. Warm palm and fingers of the kid. He slowly exhales, opening his gaze once more, looking at Martin with hooded lids. In a calm voice, he whispered, "We came here only for the old man, not the kid."
While Bart was going to regroup with Martin, he heard something that stopped him in his tracks. There were rustles of leaves on solid ground, as if they were getting dragged along. His intuition thinks that the sound comes from inside the trashed buildings. Someone's stalking.
"Ain't much trees or leaves in the city, let 'lone a gotdamn cemetery." Bart whispered to himself, his eyes searching through the dark windows with broken glass panes. Martin tries to holler at him but he ignores his call. Up on the roof, a liquid substance is dripping down the ground. He quickly got up on a mausoleum to get a better view. There were slither tracks, the roofs looked as if a painter stroked on them, but not for art, but to warn that this place is marked. Someone is slithering in the shadows and Bart could only have one guess. "Is it... Her?"
Martin warned him before about a certain figure that hunts for his kind. "But he said she wouldn't..." be a problem, but now that's uncertain. Bart looked at Martin down at the ground, hesitating to warn him, but he also didn't want to look like a bitch, so he got up on the roofs to see for himself. Kneeling down, he examined the clear, yellow liquid on the roof, bubbling and sizzling on a small scale. The smell coming off attacked his sense of smell, irritating his nose. But he's no mere human, so it's nothing. Just a nose crunch and pinch to the nostrils. "This shit..." Bart touched the liquid and it quickly burned his finger, a sharp pain followed by a continued throbbing jolted down his arm. His finger tips quickly swelled, his entire palm reddening. "This some kinda acid" Bart thought to himself before nodding. She's here, Martin needs to be alarmed. He tries standing up but suddenly loses his balance and falls down the building. His body slams into the grainy ground, a puff of ash spreading around him. "I-I c... can't bre..." Bart hoarsely emitted, his breathing shortened and came in rapid and throat tightened. Bart tried hard to utter a word but he had to focus on breathing, his fingers grasping the sandy ground. Martin is just right there, just a shout away, unknown to what's happening to him. Through teary eyes, he managed to draw a form, caught a glimpse of the snake that paralyzed him. The snake that's been slithering in the shadows this entire time. He could only make sense of her hood that looked like a cobra's mane and her piercing eyes that glowed in the dark. The discernable figure snubbed on him before leaping from one building's window to another, her leaf cape slithering inside and ending the trail of goo. The serpent eyed her next prey, in the middle of the graveyard, standing tall, eyes leering over the murder he committed. You could say she's a serpent in suffocating scarlet... A Scarlet Serpent (Peak Writing)
"Come on, mane. You know I don't take half measures. We killed this kid's mom, his crazy old father wanted revenge. Now we kill the dad, and you expect the kid not to do the same?"
Damien looks back at the kid, whose gaze seems to be fixated on the distance beyond Martin. Then he just ignores whatever the fuck this guy was talking about and also looks into a dim dilapidated building, noticing a leg rested on the window frame. Finally, the hooded figure steps into the night light for a better aim of her target, holding a slingshot that forked like a snake's tongue. Itssssss elasssssstic band hissssssed like a rattlesssssssnake when ssssssstretched, a sssssshiny metal ball that fit her entire hand, pulling it from the fork. Her arms are armored with spiky scales but only on the "outsides", meaning there aren't pieces that would obstruct the wrists and crooks of her elbow for maximum mobility and protection. Her elastic suit weaved her body like a second skin, stretching to allow her every move.
*BANG!*
Damien snaps back to himself, thinking that he shot. Looking down to pat himself, checking for any blood or wound. A quick check to Maverick behind him before he realizes there were no gunshots and this madman just wanted to get his attention. If Damien was any other, the standoff would've already turned into a shootout.
"AYE MANE?! YOU LISTENING?! I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY AND LET ME SHOOT THE GOTDAYM KID!"
Martin's settled demeanor was quickly gone like before, his neutral gray face now red and tensed. He shook his head, asking what the fuck they were looking at behind him.
"What the fuck are you even loo-" A SILVER STREAK LINED DOWN TO HIT MARTIN IN A HEADSHOT. The metal ball crushed and deformed his skull, instantly ripping off half of his face. His eye ball splurts out of its sockets, splattering against Mav's petrified face. The kid stumbles back and pukes all over his face. Damien's face was slapped with Martin's blood, the metallic taste stinging his tongue. He wanted to also puke but he managed to keep it in. His chest heaving for air. Martin's body swayed, his feet finding balance to stay still, but with his head so fucking fucked up, his motor skills are thrown out the window.
"ARGUGHGUGHGRGGRR" Martin roared, his mouth gargling his own blood mixed with chipped teeth, his hands quickly jolted upwards, holding his head to keep it together.
Bart struggled on the ground, looking at the figure who shot his partner. There's no mistaking it, even with one eye closed, he could recognize that suit anywhere. "T-that figure in the dark... I-it's-"
Martin contorted his spine to face his assassin, bloodshot eye creeping with veins, convulsing fingers clenching to show the fraction of his primal rage, "SCURLEURNT SEURPUENT!!!"
The figure from the shadows finally revealed itself, jumping down the balcony, her cape flapping about like a flag behind. Martin's back caves in from another projectile piercing his chest. Another ripping his arm away, blood and bone fragments on the ground. Martin looks to see his decapitated arm and an uppercut that shoves his vision to the stars. Scarlet Serpent quickly switched to her fang daggers to mince his torso, slicing and gushing his flesh like mashed potatoes. She twisted her torso to every swing of her arms to really get into it. The hydrogen peroxide flushing out the fang blades bubbled the blood, burning the wounds. Martin tries to tackle her down but she's already behind him, chucking his leg's tendons. In a swift inhumane motion, he twists his body to chomp her forearms. She wasn't able to react, he buried his sharp teeth down her suit. But her spiky scaled armor skewed the tenders of his mouth, making his head jerk and shiver. Eyes stretched open, mouth slobbering blood on her arm. Scarlet Serpent grabs a silver ball from her utility belt and shoves it up his mouth, her other hand locking his jaw in place. A headbutt and a kick slams Martin to the ground where his entire head disappears in a puff of smoke. The ball released a toxic gas that burned away his flesh and rotted his brain, the skull slowly getting unearthed. Her mask protected her from the fumes dissipating into the air.
"Go back to hell, Digger". Scarlet Serpent remarked as she catches her breath.
Damien's gulped, watching Martin's face slowly get peeled off layer by layer, the acid sizzled through skin and face muscle. He knows he should say something but his tensed lips couldn't form a word, his throat lumping. Unlike him who still managed to control his breathing, the boy panted quickly. Maverick's face felt tense, petrified of the corpse dissolving in front of him. Never had he seen this level of brutality before in his life, his hand instinctively grabs on to Damien's coat. Bart's assisting himself on the building walls, limping away, eyes forward. "Gah damn.... He dead asf... I gotta get the fuck outta here..." His voice slowly builds up again due to his inhumane healing capabilities. "I just gotta..."
He continued sneaking out the graveyard, struggling to get over a fence. What he could've hopped over a while ago, he now hugs just to get over to the other side, and he still falls to the concrete. Bart just grinded his teeth, concealing the pain from his back from voicing out. He takes a quick glance back inside, she's looking at him. But she's not moving, just standing there menacingly with a firm grip on her slingshot. Bart could feel the rush of blood pumping throughout his body, snatching the opportunity to run away, no matter how many times he limped.
Damien cautiously pulled Mav off his back to sneak away when they heard something get dropped on the ashy floor. It was a small glass vial filled with a transparent liquid in a green hue.
"Are you a demon? One of them mockers? Ash skins who ruins this country?"
Fuck, looks like he won't getaway that easy. But he won't falter, Damien just lowered his brows and stood in between her and the boy. A firm grip to Mav's arm, assuring that he'll protect him. But despite his defiant look, Damien couldn't help but gulp. He could feel his heart wanting to escape and run away but reinforced himself. "This is for the boy" he thought to himself. He won't let anyone hurt this poor kid.
"No, I'm not."
Scarlet Serpent raised her chin and looked down on him. Eyeing every exposed skin of his. "Pick up the vial and drink. It's non-lethal poison. If you're a demon, you won't feel any discomfort. If you aren't..."
Damien took a quick glance at the vial before matching her piercing gaze once more. "...the effects will subside."
"I won't-"
Scarlet Serpent stretches her sling, a hiss rattled to serve as a warning, "Bottoms up or you're six feet down. I'm not asking."
Damien's trembling fingers slowly reached for the vial, kneeling down to get it. The boy's behind, tugging on his coat to go. He just eyed the vial for a solid while, his other hand massaging his throat.
"Hurry up, my other target is getting away."
Damien inhaled in and let it all out to prepare himself. Closing his eyes as he unseals the vial. He could feel the heat from the liquid brushing his skin.
"I'll keep it in my mouth but I won't swallow" he thought to himself. A quick whiff got him coughing and tearing up. The boy just hugs him from behind, silently whimpering. His eyes and nose are turning red, eyelids getting too heavy to keep up. "Fuck..." He snobbed before pinching his eyes and just splashing his mouth with the poison. His tongue quickly got burned with a bitter taste and a stinging sensation. What he planned got thrown out the window when he instinctively swallowed. The poison raked down his throat, scratching his flesh along the way. His vision blurred just as his mind became hazy. All he could feel at the moment is his numbing mouth and the flood of vomit flushing out his system. His back curbed so that he could throw up on the ground, fingers scraping the grain, gasping for air in-between vomits. Meanwhile, Scarlet Serpent didn't flinch one bit, just an eye brow raise. While Damien's bawling his eyes out, she sets her eyes on Mav.
"You kid, pick up the vial and drink what's left."
"N-No...." Damien quickly responded to the boy's defense, his voice raspy from forcing words out of his mouth. Mav's teary eyes hid behind him. "He's not-" His body forces out a cough, rejecting the poison. He had to hold on to the boy's hand just to keep himself together. With a wet mouth and teary eyes, he still managed to give Scarlet Serpent a defiant look. His voice however wavered. "Even if he was... I won't let you..."
Scarlet Serpent slowly unstretches her sling, a sudden change from her rigid movements earlier. She still stood on business, but she dropped the body language to threat when she saw the two of them hugging.
"Y-you're.... a monster... wanting to poison a kid..."
Scarlet Serpent just looks down on them, not a single word forming in her own defense. The SHADOWS OF LUMINA covering her face, no eyes to form human connection. Just thinned, sealed lips and a locked jaw. Then she hears car horns overlapping in the distance from the direction that Bart was earlier. When Damien looks back up, she is already on her move away from them both.
Bartholomew pops out of an alley and runs the fuck out of there, jumping over hoods and trunks of cars passing by, weaving passerbys. He gets hit by a van but he quickly gets up on his feet to gain as much distance as possible from the graveyard. Eyes squinted, arms swinging, and chest tightening, bro did not look back at all. There were some homeless people on the way,
"Can I get some mon-" He just shoves them to the side, "MOVE YOU MOTHER-BITCH MAN!"
One raggedy ass hag grabbed on his coat, he smacks the shit out of her, but now he's looking back. His eyes caught a shade of red jumping from building to building.
"Oh shit, SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT"
Scarlet Serpent parkoured on the rooftops while still keeping her eye on the target. Leaping over edges and rolling on the ground to continue her momentum.
"Run, brimskin, run. You imp." She panted in-between breathes.
Bart tries to lose her by frantically turning corners but she just slows down. Having a bird's eye view of the city, she could always pinpoint his location. They kept this goose chase until he trailed off the buildings and entered a hidden nightclub with just a door and a bouncer outside. Bart jumped over the fence and slammed his body into the door just as a skank was about to enter. Scarlet Serpent slowed her pace, jogging before stopping to rest her hands on her knees.
"Fucking Dhink got away..." She whispered in a disappointing tone, palm on her forehead.
Instead of waiting all night for him to come out or going in, she decided that it's not worth the risk. Scarlet Serpent slams a vent with her hand in anger.
"Fucking Shit!-" she starts shaking her throbbing hand, giving it a kiss and blowing on it.
She eventually calls it a night and stomps away, her jaw shifted to the side. Bart only came out when the night was at its dimmest, when shops closed and few cars shined their lights around the darkest corners. It was usually in these time periods when Lumina Prime was engulfed in a cold thick fog.
Later on at night, somewhere in the city, Damien's leaning on a wall at a local bar, smoking, using the heat from the cigarette to keep himself warm from the fog that's making his face and fingertips numb. He needed to clear his mind after all the bullshit that happened earlier, just block out all the thoughts, close his eyes, and just feel the warmth in his chest.
"I should've stayed the night at the boy's... Keep him company after---" a wheezing cough escaped his mouth. His back curbs at every hack, fingers gripping his knees.
Normally, a cough while taking a hit from the cig wouldn't alarm him but this one's different. Never has he coughed to the point that his mouth's spitting out excess saliva. Damien beat his chest quick, throwing the cig to the tiles and squashing it with his boot.
"Are you okay? That cough, shortness of breath... You should consider stopping..."
Damien looked behind him to see who was talking and he was met with a young man, probably in his early twenties, who had soft features and curly hair. He woooshed the young man away but he stayed, leaning beside him with a vape at hand.
"No, it's not... Just from what happened earlier-Gimme that" he snatches the vape from the young man, hovering it near his mouth before asking "You mind?"
The young man just looked at him with a shrug, "You already have it..."
Damien gave him a short apology before taking a hit. Bubblegum flavor, he could and couldn't taste at the same time.
"Hmm, and you think that vaping would be better?"
He hands the vape back to him.
"No, I just need some right now. Hot or cold, I just needed...."
The young man stared at his vape for a while before wiping it with his vest, making Damien smirk.
"You always stand out from the crowd whenever you come around because of your fashion. I've always wanted to chat but couldn't because, busy..."
Damien's brows rose in realization after putting two and two together, slowly pointing a finger at him, "You're one of the bartenders. Randy, right?"
Randy nods as a confirmation "Yeah, and if you want, I could treat you to a drink? On the house."
Damien pushed himself off the wall and took Randy's offer. After all, who wouldn't want a free drink? So they went inside the bar, same cold same cold. Chatters fill the dimly lit room, clinking of glasses accompanied by laughter. Randy sat his guest on a barstool and jogged behind the glass counter. Damien sighed, resting his arm on the glowing surface. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples.
"I should've never taken Bart's offer... What were you thinking?"
His mind focused on the voice in his head, muffling all the noises around him. Damien's vision blurs as he pulls himself out of reality so that he could talk to himself.
"So desperate for an extra cash that you nearly got yourself killed... or worse yet, get...replaced? what, a demon? Was that an actual demon? I thought they were gone..."
The way Martin's skin hardened, flaking before forming a solid second epidermis. From what he's learned from history, demons were wiped off the planet after the demon invasion. But he was just with one. He's never heard of demons who could hide themselves among humans. And to think that Martin considered "replacing" him, he shudders at the thought.
A sharp cold to his elbow stinged Damien back. Looks like it's his rock glass, slid to him on the table. Randy drops an ice ball into his glass and pours him an orange liquor. The way the ice melts at the flow of alcohol reminded him of Martin's head melting from the acid, making breathe in through his teeth. Randy noticed this and asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"
Damien just shook his head and nodded as a response before touching his lips with the cold brim of the glass. He took a sip that reminded him of the poison that Scarlet Serpent forced him to drink. His body jerked, covering his mouth, wanting to spit it out.
"Okay, you're not okay, okay? Do you mind sharing what's been bothering you?" Randy said as he rubs Damien's shoulder, his face welcoming and ready to listen.
Damien coughs a bit before setting the glass down. His face suddenly tensed, his eyebrows are down and his jaw is locked. He leans close to whisper a question, "You've heard of the news just hours ago? About the found demon corpse at the cemetery?"
Randy leaned on the counter and nodded.
"I saw the whole thing go off, right in front of me. The gruesome death of that demon... I guess I don't really know him anymore because he's not what he seemed. I don't even know if my other former friend is still alive... But what I thought was a gig for quick money turned out to be a whole shitshow..."
Damien looks frantically from side to side, his eyes darting to every face around him. Randy's face stayed still for a second.
"For real? What was it about? I heard that there was murder."
Randy felt his hip vibrate, so he took out his phone to see who messaged him. It was a contact named "Vee", he was delighted to see. He still glanced back at Damien every once in a while to show that he's still listening.
"It's a new thing... a secret cult thing, rather than the usual gang violence. They didn't let me in on everything but it seemed that the scientist was on to them, so they shut him up. I was told to shoot and get paid."
"Sounds rough."
Damien looked beside him and saw a lady in a hoodie. He didn't even noticed her there, but he did recognize her voice. Low and firm, unshaken almost commanding. The mysterious lady exchanged glances with Randy, a subtle smirk tugging at their lips. With a nod, the bartender started mixing another cocktail, but this time, the color mixes into green. He hands it to her and she turns to him, revealing her eyes. Those sharp eyes, it felt like daggers poking at his heart.
"Why don't you... have a drink? On me."
Damien's eyes widen at the sight of the green alcohol she's sliding over to his side. His chest puffed, slowly tightening again. This has to be her... the lady from before. Is she here to finish the job? To kill him? Damien falls to the floor and stumbled his way to the door. Getting the FUCK out that bar.