A Vow of Vengeance, Made Under The Crimson Sunset

As Zax turned his attention to the bespectacled young girl, an uneasy silence fell over the group. Alex could feel the soldiers' eyes constantly trained on him, their stances rigid, ready for any sudden movement. But at this point, all he could do was wait for his fate. He knew he was unlikely to be treated well by Sarah and James's group, given how they had treated him since their reunion.

Nearby, he overheard the other soldiers gossiping, their voices a mix of pride and callousness as they discussed their earlier operation.

"We're doing society a great service," one soldier proudly declared, even going on to describe, with sickening relish, how he had enjoyed shooting a scientist who had crawled away while begging for his life.

A strange sense of anger began to build within Alex, though he didn't fully understand why. The scientists had been his captors and torturers for months, yet he couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for how they had met their ends—ruthlessly shot by these soldiers, even as they pleaded for mercy.

A bit further away, Alex could see Sarah and James in conversation. Sarah's expression showed no remorse; if anything, she seemed proud of her actions. This only fuelled Alex's growing anger.

Why did these people think they could take away a person's life like it was some heroic deed? Even if the person they had killed had committed heinous acts like torture, shouldn't they feel the weight of having done something equally heinous? 'Justified' murder is still murder, regardless of the circumstances.

They should have felt some form of remorse for taking a life, yet all of them seemed to believe that they were heroes and that they were serving the greater good and delivering justice for the sake of society. It didn't make sense to Alex. How could they justify such cruelty? How could they take pride in their actions without feeling a shred of guilt or doubt?

He couldn't understand it. The soldiers continued to talk about their 'scores' with pride, as if executing unarmed, begging individuals was some noble duty. Even animal farmers felt some reluctance when butchering struggling animals, no matter how many times they did so.

He had seen and experienced the horrors that these scientists had inflicted on him directly, but even in their cruelty, even as their victim, he saw them as human beings in their final moments. The cold, detached satisfaction these soldiers seemed to derive from their violence was baffling.

Putting the soldiers aside, what happened to Sarah and James to make them this way? What on earth had turned them into such cold-blooded killers? They were once his only friends, the only people who seemed to care about him, the only ones he cared about, even worrying about them during his worst hardships.

Now, they were completely unrecognisable, their humanity seemingly stripped away. The bitterness of Alex's thoughts started to mix with the raw grief of losing Dr. Shun and the anger from all the injustices that had been happening to him. What did he do to deserve all of this? The question began to boil inside him, creating a storm of emotions that threatened to engulf him.

He wanted to scream, to lash out, to deliver some payback to them, to demonstrate the same horror of what they had become. But he was helpless, bound and surrounded, his fate resting in the hands of these people who had forsaken their humanity.

Alex's attention snapped back to the present as he heard Zax call over Sarah and James. As they gathered around him, Alex could sense a worrying tension rising. He watched as Zax's agitation grew, though he couldn't quite make out what was being said, and a while later, the tension hit a startling conclusion.

"Enough stalling! That thing deserves no pity," Zax decisively declared, approaching Alex with a look of twisted disdain. "Whatever this is, it was created in the lab. As the world government decreed and my judgement as Commander, it must be put down immediately!"

This immediately sparked a stinging anger in Alex's chest. Did this man just refer to him as…a thing? Did he take away his humanity without hearing him out and judge him like an animal to be butchered? How dare they condemn him without understanding what he had endured?!

Alex's anger hit his limit, and he could no longer stay silent.

"Put me down? What the hell is wrong with you?! You haven't even…" Before Alex couldn't finish his following sentence, Commander Zax grabbed him by the neck and started to strangle him, lifting him into the air with a strength that indicated Commander Zax's intent to kill.

"Silence, you monster. It would be best if you showed gratitude if I put you down. Clearly, it's the highest honour for the likes of you can even receive."

Zax released his grip on Alex's neck with a bit of a hurl, and he wiped his hands on his clothes like one would after touching something dirty. The surrounding soldiers quickly suppressed Alex once again.

Zax looked at James, then at Sarah, and nodded. "Finish him."

"Are you sure, Commander? Shouldn't we take him in for questioning? We could extract useful information from him." the bespectacled girl asked.

Zax's eyes blazed with impatience. "No. He's too dangerous to be left alive. We don't know his capabilities, and we don't know if we can contain him in the first place. I'm not taking that risk."

He turned his stern gaze back to Sarah. "What are you waiting for? Didn't you hear me? I gave the command. Or are you planning to disobey orders?"

Sarah stood there in silence, an unusual expression of reluctance crossing her face. An awkward hush fell over the area as the soldiers exchanged uneasy glances, wondering what had come over their usually charismatic and decisive leader.

"I'll do it," James suddenly volunteered.

Sarah, looking slightly stunned, glanced up at James. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." James forced a complicated smile, his expression distraught as he looked at Alex. "I'll bear that cross on my heart."

Without delay, James slowly approached Alex, signalling the soldiers to raise him. He drew a weathered, standard-issue pistol, its non-tech design a noticeable contrast to the advanced weaponry around them.

"Anything to say?" James asked, looking down at Alex.

Alex looked up, his eyes locking with James's—a single emotion burned within his heart—hatred.

"You'll regret this. All of you," Alex spoke softly, but his words were laced with palpable venom. Those who heard him felt the weight of his hate. James's face contorted with inner conflict, but he closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, his resolve was set.

The air around them seemed still, the world holding its breath.

"Goodbye, Alex."

In one swift, practised motion, James aimed and fired. The shot rang out, echoing through the ruins, sealing Alex's fate.

As James fired the pistol, Alex felt the entire world slow down. His senses heightened, every detail around him becoming painfully clear. He watched in surreal, agonising clarity as the bullet emerged from the barrel, spiralling towards him.

Time seemed to stretch, each fraction of a second elongating into an eternity. The faces around him blurred, their expressions caught between shock and indifference. The soldiers holding him tightened their grip instinctively, knuckles white against his arms.

Memories flashed before his eyes—the remaining fragments of his short past life, the experiments, that brief moment of kindness from Dr. Shun, and the ruthless transformation of his former friends. Anger and grief intertwined, forming a searing knot in his chest. He felt the pulse of his heartbeat, each thud echoing louder in his ears.

The bullet inched closer, its trajectory unwavering. He could almost see the minuscule imperfections on its surface and the deadly glint of its tip. Alex's thoughts turned inward, grappling with the inevitability of his fate and the deep sense of betrayal he felt. Hatred surged within him, a white-hot flame that consumed his despair.

As the bullet neared, Alex's vision began to blur, not from the impact but from the tears welling up in his eyes. He felt the overwhelming weight of his emotions pressing down on him, a mixture of sorrow for the life he had lost and rage against those who had brought him to this point.

And then, in that suspended moment, Alex vowed to himself. He would make them all pay if there was any chance—any slim, impossible chance—that he could survive. All those that wronged him, all those that refused to listen, they would suffer his wrath. His rage crystallised into a cold, stern resolve.

Finally, the bullet met its mark. A searing pain exploded in Alex's forehead, radiating outward and engulfing his entire being. The force of the impact and the sharp pain that came with it drove the air from his lungs, and he felt his head convulse as he was thrown back.

The world remained slowed, sound and motion refusing to return as Alex's vision darkened. The edges of his sight closed in as he struggled to remain conscious.

Zax looked on with cold satisfaction. Sarah turned away, and the bespectacled girl hid her face, likely wanting to avoid seeing the scene and James's face, a mask of conflicting emotions.

As Alex's view turned upwards, he felt his body hit the ground with a jarring thud. The echo of the gunshot still reverberated through the air, merging with the fading sounds of his heartbeat. His gaze settled on the crimson-red sunset sky, the fiery hues offering a fleeting, bittersweet comfort.

A single tear slipped from Alex's eye, tracing a path down his cheek as he felt an icy chill spread through his entire body. The warmth of life faded away, leaving him in a profound stillness.

With a final, shuddering breath, everything around him faded to black.