The Purge
Chapter 43: Conleth

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”

The Merchant of Venice; William Shakespeare

It’s a cold, cold world.

I hate waiting. I watch the goddamn Barriers waiting for them to break. I watch them, wishing they would do something that would bring our team out of the open. I have a death wish, I know. But it is better than sit around all day long waiting for some course of action from walls that would never tell a single soul of what’s behind them. How come we call ourselves soldiers when we can’t even run into battle?

It is selfish of me to want to drag my team out there because I wanna be a hero to the princess I will never have. It’s a martyr thing. I just don’t want to die not having been able to see her or protect her one last time. I would rather die and have her as the last person my eyes would lay upon before darkness come and take me.

I sit there in silence with my army. We’re in an isolated room. No windows. An unknown door hidden somewhere in the wall. The only thing that kept us distracted and ironically bored at the same time is the useless screen where the Barriers are being broadcast. A dull, old looking wall standing so firm that the footage itself looked like it’s not coming from a CCTV.

I looked at each of my teammates. They were all busy with their own business that I cannot even control the war inside of me at all. I wanted so bad to get out there. Every time I try to behave and sit down like a good boy, I think of my former teammates. I think of Bri. And it gets harder and harder. I’m like a time bomb. I’ve been trying to restrain myself from doing something I would regret. But then I always do something I always regret in the end.

I stood up and I glared at the screen.

I know that they are watching us. Somewhere in this room, no matter how blank we think it is, there are a lot of eyes watching.

From across the room, the twins had discovered a fascination with hair braiding. Imogen had her head lolling from left to right with her mouth gaping open; welcoming a snore. She woke up, glanced at each of us and went back to sleep. Behati was fiddling something in a corner. I don’t wanna bother where she hides her geniuses.

I went back into my new found hobby: glaring at the screen.

That’s where I noticed it. It is the same clip they’ve shown us since the Purge started. It’s as if nothing changes. No movement. No assault. I looked clearly at the screen, wielded my powers to focus on to what I was truly seeing.

I am Addonexus. I can do anything.

And that’s where I see it.

“Ha!” Behati exclaimed and all of us turned to her in different masks of emotions. She turned to us like she won a prize.

“Shut your freakin’ gob, Behati! Some people are actually trying to get some sleep while sitting here!” Imogen scowled at her but she was ignored by the enthusiasm of the other.

“I have yet the most amazing discovery!” she said.

Mei muttered something in a foreign language to Ai.

Imogen groaned and covered her face.

She moved towards me at the screen. She grabbed my arm and turned me so that I was facing the screen with her.

“I know you’re smart, Con. I’m sure you’ve noticed some irregularities happening in here as well.”

“I ah… I don’t know. I think you had me at a disadvantage.”

“You’re an offend reason, Behati. Seriously.” Imogen said. “What is it your head is telling you now?” she stood up and walked towards us.

“Conleth, wants to go out there.” She said.

“That is just the most obvious thing you’ve ever said, B! Bravo!” Imogen clapped mockingly and Behati glared at her.

Imogen turned to me with a look of a panther. “And I am still fucking mad at you, young man. So don’t you look at me as if nothing just happened back there.”

“I’m sorry, okay.” I told her. “I know it’s selfish of me to leave you guys but they are my team.”

“Then what do you call us? Some cheap plaster to cover up the scratches of your broken heart?” Imogen prompted. Even though sarcasm was clearly present in her sentence, in her eyes I can see the emotion hiding. “Look around you, Con! She left you behind! Why still fight for someone who already gave up on you?”

“She didn’t.”

“Oh really? Then why are you here?”

I gritted my teeth and I balled my fists. “Maybe when you learn to love someone so bad you’ll know how it feels.”

She scoffed. “Don’t I?” she moved like a storm towards me. “You’re no Wyvern! You belong in my army. And whether you like it or not it is my rules that you will obey not hers. I understand completely how you feel even though you think that I don’t. But we’re your team too, Con. Don’t leave us behind. We need you as much as you think you need to be with Bri.”

“Oh-kay.” Behati chuckled. “That was awkward.”

Imogen sighed. “If it’s really important to you, you will find away.” She said. “If not, you’ll find an excuse.”

I tried to ignore the guilt but somehow Imogen has gotten into me. I looked back at the screen and ignored the raging emotions inside of me.

But one thing is for sure. Zenith is lying. This footage is a lie. It’s nothing but a picture. A figment to distract us that everything is still okay. But my instincts are strong. Bri and my friends are in trouble. Whatever it is they are hiding from us I will find out the truth. I will go out there. I will find Bri no matter what even if it kills me.

They say: if you’ve never lost your mind then you have never followed your heart.

Well, I’m trying to find a way but these corridors seem to lead me to nowhere. It’s pass bed time and most likely they only give us an approximate three hours of sleep. They’d wake us up and have us stare at a screen that does nothing but to worry me.

Usually, my instincts would tell me that I need to go back to my quarters. But to think I’ve disappointed my commander and my army seems like another world to carry on my shoulders. So I turned the other way around hoping that my feet would lead me out into the jaws of the aliens. But what I found was an open door to the colonel’s office.

Maybe if I speak with him, he’d come around and decide the vanguard needs another man with proper word of persuasion. So without a doubt, I stepped in. The office was empty but I can hear a buzzing sound in the background. It’s like a strong current trying to break out of a container. I went further into the office. My senses open to the noise. It was coming from behind a wall. I leaned in to the sound and it was coming from the inside. I pushed my stigma into motion and through my eyes I can see the machinery inside the secret wall. I break through its contents until I found a way to unlock it. What I found after shock me. It was just enough to make my knees bulk and my stomach churn. A wave of dizziness filled my head.

Rows upon rows of Addonnexus’ body line up inside a glass of human-size container. But the one that terrified me the most was the moment I found the body of Rafa Saladin floating in his death in the glass container. I watch each of my kind one by one as I take a notice of their appearances and realizing the dead among me. Most of them have a huge gaping hole in their chest like some beast ripped their heart out of their body.

I should run away. I should tell the others. But the moment I found my courage to do so, I stumbled upon Colonel Black.

“Ah, fascinating isn’t it?” he said, a glimpse of a treacherous smile formed his lips as he head towards one of the tubes. “What do you think of my collection, Conleth?”

I swallowed my fear down my gut. “They’re already dead. What else could you possibly want from them?”

He smirked at me. “Excellent question, young man. But I’m afraid it’s rather a hard subject to crack. I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”

That earned me a step back from him.

“What’s the matter, Con? Want to pee in your pants?” he chuckled.

I gritted my teeth. “Where are my friends? Where did you send them?”

He threw a knife at me but I caught it with my hand. I felt the wetness of my own blood coursing through the blade.

“You’re faster than I thought.” He said and slowly, his face melted away; revealing a young boy with hair so white it looked like winter and skin so pale it looked like death.

“I’m afraid I wanna give you a head start.” He started to walk across the room. “You like playing games right?”

I balled my fists and I felt heat surge into them. “Where are my friends?”

He sneered at me. “Still looking for them after they abandoned you?”

“Why don’t you just answer the question?”

He beamed at me. “Well, I like puzzles. I like mazes. I like people to solve them.”

I threw a fire ball at him but he caught it and somehow his hand swallowed the force back into his body like the attack didn’t bother him at all.

“You are so hot headed.” He laughed. “I wonder how you would react when you knew what I did to Bri—”

“Where is she? What did you do to her?”

“I guess you have to find out yourself.” He threw my fireball back at me but only twice bigger. I bended my stigma to form a wall of fire in front of me. It gave me an opportunity to run.

“You can’t run from death, Conleth.” He said as he walks steadily along the rows of dead Addonexus. “You can’t hide from me.”

I attacked behind his back and again he swallowed my fireball like it was nothing. The moment he saw me, he threw it right back at me. I caught the blaze back as I extracted my fire causing it to be a whip like weapon against him. I lashed it out at him and he snapped right into few of his precious tubes causing them to break. A deluge forced out of the tubes and it made the floor glow with utmost luminescence. He stood back up on his feet, composure gone. As much as I want to fight and win it, I have to find my friends. I have to find Bri.

I run out of the nightmare.

The alarm blazoned and my display started to give me orders to stop. I am now a fugitive. But I am a force to be reckoned with.

Soldiers started to file out of the hallways and I can see my face on each monitor I pass by. I kept on running. I need to find my way out. I need to find the others before it’s too late. I can hear gun shots in the background. I failed to look back. I refuse to look back. They were calling out to me. They wanted me to stop. To give up. But I kept running until they trapped me.

“Surrender, boy.” One of the soldiers said.

I looked him in the eyes and said, “You know what I am.” I raised my hands slowly and he took a step back and he pointed his gun at me. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

His face crumpled and he shouted order to his men. “Shoot him!”

I enveloped myself in flames and I released my powers out into the open. I heard men screaming in agony as I set the fire burning into their flesh. I kept on running until I reached the station. There were no jets to lead me out of Battle Camp.

“Conleth!” I hear Imogen’s voice.

I will have to follow the tracks then. Wherever it may lead. I will be just hopeful.

Out.

“Conleth!”

I turned back.

“If you leave now,” she breathed through her unshed tears. “you know what will happen.”

I turned my back to her.

“I will hunt you down.” She said.

“I’m sorry.” I said without looking back and I started running away from my old life.

A knight without armor.

That’s what I am. I did not even bother to bring neither any weapon nor some ridiculously looking body armor to protect myself from the disaster up ahead. All I had was myself. And in such a cold walk in the pit, a fog is starting to build a drama along the way.

Images of Addonexus inside those experimental tubes came back to life inside my head. If I had stayed longer I might have gathered some information but then I’d probably end up in one of those tubes and I might never find my friends in time. And in this perilous road without a map, sure, I’m gonna be okay. At least I’m trying to keep my hopes up—trying to be more positive than ever.

If you leave, you know what will happen. I will hunt you down.

I know they’re gonna sent them after me. Like it’s not that obvious. If the time comes, no matter where I go, wherever I hide I will soon come to face them. I will soon come to a point where I have to fight them. I’d rather have a hungry Sanguinarian or a Predator attack me now. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to fight my friends. But then I got my wish.

A guttural growl made proof of that. From the fog building, its eyes glowed with bloodshed. Its features slowly coming into perspective as it comes out of its hiding place. It opened its mouth; flesh from flesh disjointed itself from place, and it let a low piercing cry.

“Oh come on.” I groaned.

It moved towards me like a cyborg. Fast and brisk. Its claws lashed out at me like vines. I caught its arm halfway and I set it into flames. I writhed like a banshee. It gave me an opportunity to go on but it only took me almost a minute before it regenerated itself and lunge at me again. I let the flames out of my palms like a mad whip. It coursed through the air and sailed right at the creature’s chest. It fell. But the second time I tried to incapacitate it, it took a hold of my fiery whip, gripped it harder than I expected and it dragged me towards it like a sea-bass. It got a hold of my neck and it opened its mouth at me. The smell of decay made my head spin. Out of nowhere, one of its hands became a sharp edge blade.

No. I won’t allow it. I cannot die now.

I focused on my display and I search every possible breaking point I can hit it. Like a simulated game, it showed me the vulnerable places that I could hit it. Hitting its stomach might cause it to wince but not literally hurt it. But there’s a possibility that it will move its sharp arm right through my back and pierce me alive. Its other hand tightened the grip on my neck. Air started to leave my body and sparks blurred my vision.

In that state, I can only find Bri. I see her face perfectly like she was there. Smiling at me. The thought of her sent pain through my heart.

Nothing is impossible.

I will live through this to see her once again. It will not end here. I will not die like this. I will be the one to protect her.

Always.

I threw myself backwards so that I can stand on my feet once more behind it. Once my feet touched the ground, I broke his arm from behind and I grab hold of his sharp arm, angling it perfectly to pierce through the back of its head. It made a gurgling sound as it knelt down to its death and fell.

I set its body into flames. Just enough to make sure it will never come back to life again.

It’s time to keep moving. I followed the rail until it led me to station. Blood decorated the walls and a river of soldiers lie dead on the ground, dismembered. I am running out of time. I run further into the pit until I found myself facing tall metallic walls. Engine like sounds fill the background with the wind as the walls move in different places.

I focused once again on my display, hoping it would somehow show a map where I could locate my friends. But just as I tried, my display went blank and I started to see the world normally with my own eyes once again.

No letters. No numbers. No instructions.

Nothing.

Everything started to look just like it was before.

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