232 Fault

The sound of footsteps became louder and louder at an astounding rate. I quickly looked over my shoulder and peered into the darkness of the hallway, holding my breath as I began to see the faint outline of the Warden's deformed and yet muscular body. As he approached, I heard the sound of keys jingly, a sound that was nightmarish in this environment.

Damn it, I cursed in my mind. How the hell did he still hear that?

"Run!"

I grabbed onto Muria's hand and began pulling her along with me as I sped down the hallway at a slowed sprint. I looked over my shoulders, checking to see the distance between the Warden and us. With wide eyes of horror, I fell into a state of despair as I saw the Warden enter into a sprint of his own and rapidly closing in on us. I looked ahead down the hallway, hoping that maybe if we were able to sprint a bit faster, we would be able to escape the Warden's wrath.

My eyes rapidly scanned the hallway, searching for a place that we could hide in. However, all that there is was prison cells after prison cells. There was nothing. Nothing to fight back with and nowhere to hide. All we have is this hallway and the precious tens of meters that separated us from this hideous monster creation of the Jorzan's.

"Damn it!" I cursed as I released Muria's hand and grabbed the rifle. "Keep running!"

I pressed the stock of the rifle where my shoulder and chest intersected, aiming through the iron sights of the old rifle at the large man that is rapidly approaching. With the Warden in the center of the sights, I pulled the trigger and watched as the tracer round shot towards the Warden's figure in the darkness. However, the bullet did not go in the direction that I wanted it to, hitting the roof due to recoil.

I guess I shouldn't be expecting that much from a vintage rifle that has probably never been properly maintained.

With a rapid and experienced motion, I pulled the bolt back and allowed the empty round to be flung out of the barrel and for the next bullet to be pushed up into place. After letting go of the bolt and allowing it to snap back, I immediately opened fire.

I fired at the man and immediately cleared the chamber before repeating the process again. As I did so, the distance between the Warden and I greatly decreased, and soon, I saw more than just the silhouette of the Warden. As he passed underneath a light bulb and stepped foot into the ring of light, I saw the Warden's dark grayish skin that covered his bulging muscles. Scattered throughout his body in close colonies were large warts that seemed to be oozing pus, a tumor of sorts, and where the bullets did penetrate his body, dark red blood along with a grayish white pus flooded out. However, the bleeding did not last for long as the pus quickly clogged the wound.

The Warden was simply a few meters from me, and when I pulled the trigger to fire again, I realized that I am all out of bullets. I do have one more clip of seven bullets in my pockets, but it is too late to reload this rifle now. With the speed that the Warden is sprinting at me, there is no way that I will be able to even get away.

My eyes instinctively darted to the blood-stained bayonet at the end of the rifle. As the Warden entered into striking distance, I planted my feet and thrust the dull bayonet blade towards the heart of the Warden, imbuing into this attack with my entire body's strength. The bayonet blade ripped through the air as it stabbed towards the Warden's naked chest, penetrating the tough skin and dug itself into the dense chest muscles before it stopped and my wrists were met with a painful reaction force.

The Warden didn't pause in its charge, using its muscular right arm to rip the rifle out of my hands and slammed me to the side with a swing of its powerful fists. The large, dense fist of the Warden struck me on the side of my stomach, knocking the air out of me as I was launched towards the metal bars of the prison cell to my left. With great speed, I flew through the air and was finally stopped when my back banged against the metal bars. Due to the impact, my head suffered from the whiplash of my neck, slamming hard into the solid, metal bars and caused the world around me to start darkening.

I felt my body slide down to the ground and rest there, limp and badly wounded. I could feel something trickle down the back of my head and down my neck as well as down my face from my forehead. My body felt cold, my head felt battered, and my vision seemed to slowly fade to black. Nearby, the rifle that I had used to desperately fend off this monster is now ruined, shattering and splintering into multiple pieces

"Stop!"

I heard a shriek from nearby followed by the sound of weeping. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Warden's large back hunched over on the ground. It's sewn on baby arm flapped about in the air as his right hand reached down and immediately rose into the air while grasping onto shreds of cloth followed by a loud ripping sound.

"No, please!"

The weeping continued as she struggled. Yet, her skinny arms were of no match for the Warden's muscular arm that continued to grab at and rip off her clothing. In this state of despair, she cried and cried, but she continued the struggle. With her two hands, she tried punching away the Warden's iron grasp, and with her legs that were pinned underneath the Warden's massive and heavy body, she kicked and tried to bring the Warden off of her. But...it was to no avail. And yet, she continued. Her cries were so loud that it was piercing to my ears, and it felt as if she was tearing apart her own throat.

Didn't I tell you to run away? I thought in my hazy and drowsy state. Why didn't you run away? What's the point of me fighting back if you're just gonna stand there and let him catch up? What are you? Stupid? Why did you let all my efforts go to waste?

In my cloudy mind, I could feel a sense of anger towards Muria. I blamed her for wasting this sacrifice that I made. She only have herself to blame for being raped right now. I did what I can already. It's her fault. It's not my fault. I did my part. It's her. Right... it's her fault. This has nothing to do with me.

"What's wrong?!" Alvelyn's voice rang in my slipping mind with a sense of great urgency and worry.

"The...Warden," I responded in my mind to her inquiries. "He's got Muria..."

"We've already radioed for help!" Alvelyn's voice said to me. "Hang in there. We're heading down right now."

"What's the point? " I chuckled to myself. "There's nothing you could do. You'll be too late to arrive, and Muria will be violated by then. It's all pointless. All...pointless. This is a losing battle."

"Listen..." Alvelyn's voice sounded extremely light and far away. "We..."

That connection I have with Alvelyn seemed to fade away. I couldn't hear her voice anymore. In fact, I could hardly hear anything right now, with the only sound reaching my brain being the crying and screams for help.

Wait...

Muria's cries reminded me of that vision that I saw earlier. The cries...it sounds so similar to the one I heard...in that vision, the one where the man's hand is reaching out in the direction of the woman that is being raped by the group of Jorzan soldiers.

This helplessness...I think I can understand how you felt now.

I couldn't move my mouth, but if I could, then my countenance will most definitively be a smile of despair.

How naive? To think that you can stand up against an enemy of such strength? This mockery goes both to me and that man in the vision. We are both fools that fought in a losing war.

As I mocked the two of us, I suddenly felt a feeling of emptiness in my drowsy mind. It was a feeling that seemed to be laced with paranoia and fear.

Oh... I thought as I was suddenly greeted by a revelation. I failed her. It's not her fault. It's my fault. I wasn't able to protect her...

I...broke that promise...again.

Then, the world around me faded to black and the sounds of her cries for help faded away. All that I was left with was a sense of tranquility and darkness.