38 No Sympathy Needed

Damian snapped out of his reverie and asked Mark, "Did he say anything else?"

"Uh, no… No, he didn't." Mark started the truck and tried his best to avoid contact with Damian's eyes.

Of course, Damian already knew Mark was lying but he decided to not say anything about it and exercise patience. He knew Mark wasn't the type to be able to keep shut for a long time.

About 3 minutes in, Mark struck a conversation, "Have you seen the news?"

Damian lagged for about 3 seconds before he answered, "Yeah…"

"Really shitty to be honest. No one's doing anything…" Mark shook his head, "...Is this what that one-eyeball creature meant when it said it already took care of the government?"

"Who knows…" Damian said half-heartedly as he leaned on the window.

Mark took a glimpse at Damian and noticed his cold gaze. For him, it felt like that cold gaze just hid so much sadness.

"Damian… I'm uh… I'm sorry for your loss." Mark solaced.

Damian didn't say or do a thing. Mark said what he said out of politeness and Damian understood. But to Damian, those words held no meaning because he knew Mark was also lying about that. In other words, he wasn't really feeling sorry for Damian.

Damian felt Mark would've been genuinely sorry if it was someone other than him that lost their whole family, which led him to think Mark felt a bit of resentment towards him.

…I'll assume Ivan knows everything related to me and David Dolan, which means he also told him 'that'. Should I get rid of Mark? Hmm, no. I'll capitalize on the fact that he doesn't know I know he knows… 

Mark took another glance at Damian and noticed he was lost in thought, mistaking that for sadness, he said, "I… lost my parents…

"My dad died when I was 11 in a drive-through. Following that, my mom had to raise us alone. She died 4 years back due to ovarian cancer…

"I know how it feels to---"

"Piss off. Asshole." Damian cut Mark short. He hated it when people tried to act sympathetic with him. 

Not because he knew if they're genuine or not, but rather he didn't care about their sympathy. No matter how much they sympathize it can't raise the dead. Sympathy is just a way to show care and he knew, but people's care was the last thing he needed.

He had stopped coughing up blood but he still felt severe pains in his back and chest area.

He used [Demotion] repeatedly, immediately after the cooldown time of 3 minutes elapses.

Mark was silent all through the journey to Spring Street Subway Station.

After parking the truck in a secure place in Spring Street, Damian removed the bandages on his head and the oversized t-shirt. He then wore the overcoat and buttoned it up. 

He put the underarm holster holding his gun in the left pocket of his overcoat.

Mark went down the subway station and headed for the underground sanctuary without waiting for Damian.

Damian checked if the bodies of the demons were still on the flatbed.

After confirming they were there, he went down the subway station and headed for the underground sanctuary.

The men guarding the entrance shot Damian looks of hatred but said nothing and did nothing as he walked right by them. While Damian on the other hand didn't even acknowledge their existence.

"Hey. Wait up."

Mark was about 20 steps ahead of Damian.

…What does he want? Mark leisurely turned his upper body around as his hands were in the two slash pockets of the brown denim jacket on him.

Damian didn't quicken his pace despite calling for Mark.

When he got up to Mark, he nudged his glasses with his right hand and dropped his other hand across Mark's shoulder with a smirk on his face.

"What?" Mark asked spitefully.

"What do you say? Let's not have problems with each other, ok?" 

Mark was dumbfounded and couldn't believe his ears but Damian's smirk made his words seem like a joke. If anything, to him Damian's actions were random and didn't fit his cold demeanour, which made Mark conclude Damian was just trying to provoke him. 

To make light of a matter related to his deceased parents made it even more annoying to Mark.

"Ok." Mark said casually and shrugged Damian's hand off him then continued his journey. 

Damian's face returned to its calm and apathetic state and he went along with his journey.

…That's enough I guess. I'd like to see how this plays out… 

Damian was purposely trying to annoy Mark but not overdo it. The reason behind his sudden act was unknown.

…

"It's him."

"He's back."

"It's the dude that shot Stuart and Rufus."

"It would've been better if he didn't come back."

"Such a f*ckin' coward."

"Asshole."

"P*ssy white boy."

"He's lucky David pleaded for him."

Whispers of mockery could be heard here and there. 

Damian walked to his tent at a regular pace despite the cold glares and insults he overheard.

"He's probably one of those type of men that didn't get a good childhood and come out as f*cked up menaces of society with no regard for the people around them."

"I bet he was raised by f*ckin' cowards."

At that comment, Damian, who was already in front of his tent, halted.

The words weren't loud enough for Damian to hear but he still did.

He took out his gun and pointed it at the person that said the last sentence.

It was Suzie. She looked at Damian in horror. She felt a chill run down her spine.

She was 4 tents away from Damian so she couldn't run and grab his hand.

Damian smirked as his finger slowly pressed on the trigger.

"Please don't---"

Click!

No bullet was fired. The pistol's magazine was empty.

Suzie's legs wobbled. Damian let out a slight chuckle and entered his tent.

"He's… He's a mad man." Claudia uttered in complete disgust as she helped Suzie up. She was the one that spoke of Damian being a menace with no regard for society and life as a whole.

…

Inside the tent, Damian saw Arthur tucked into a blanket.

He touched the blanket, making Arthur quickly remove the blanket and move back in fright.

"Damian!" Arthur realized it was Damian and hugged him.

Damian was shocked. Arthur's actions made him believe that maybe the other residents must have tried to harm him.

"Arthur, what's wrong?"

"Please! Please don't let that man come near me again!"

"What? Calm down. Who?" Damian gently released Arthur's grip around his body.

"That-That girl's father."

"Why? What did he do to you?"

"He's like that other guy."

Damian was perplexed, "What other guy?"

"The… The guy at the elevator."

…

Mark was already in his tent. Thus, he didn't know what transpired outside.

He laid down tucked on the tent floor and put his head on his bag of supplies.

"Argh… finally."

After resting for about 30 minutes, he had something to eat.

He felt hungrier than normal and decided to go all out. After all, he could restock his supplies and doesn't need to worry about demons attacking him.

After eating to his fill, he checked his wristwatch and the time read 20 minutes past 5 pm.

He inspected his pistol several times until he heard a voice outside his tent.

"Mr. Jordan, it's me, David Dolan. I'm holding a meeting to discuss our plans for the coming phase."