4-4 Witnessing the Impossible

Date: September 5

Place: Reaper's Lounge

[Rei]

Their story continues with us showing up to their rescue. I'm just glad that we made it in time. But to think that the synchronized attacks started way before we arrived is not something that I would have imagined. Something is fishy and I'm quite frustrated that I don't know what it is.

"And what about the past days that you're here?" I asked again.

"Nothing much. We got medication and helped with the things that they assigned us," Vincent tries to recall.

"What about Noel?" I followed.

"He was under someone named Dr. Leon. He was there for him from the start. It seems like he hadn't left him alone until he woke up," answered Patrick. "But I think he knows about our situation," he says but when I batted him a confused look he rephrased it. "I've seen Dr. Leon on the facility way before they brought the mass number of children," that explains everything and to know that Patrick has been there since the start was truly shocking.

Then curiosity ate me.

"How are the other cruxes? What did they do to them?" suddenly, I feel anxious and scared of what might his answer be. They exchanged glances at each other like they're hesitant to tell me.

"The truth is, for some reason after you escaped, all of them died at the same time and reason. They committed suicide," Vincent's word took me a while to process.

"Is what they wanted all of us to think. But I know that they didn't commit suicide," Patrick was shocked to hear Vincent's side of the story and also shared his viewpoint while Shawn was stuck in between just processing all of what they were saying. Somethings going on between these three.

"What do you mean?" asks Vincent.

"The truth is, they didn't want others to know what happened so they altered the story. All of the cruxes were killed," he added. And before any of us can ask why, he answered us without hesitation.

"There was an uprising. They all concluded that the higher-ups wouldn't murder all of them unless they wanted all their hard work to go to vain. But it was all useless when the Director was already a step ahead," he looked at me, like saying that my escape plan was already anticipated from the beginning and they watched us play our role in their chessboards. I held my mouth from the shock and hold my vomit from the disgust I feel towards them. What monsters.

[Patrick]

They made us do all their dirty work whether it was to kill or clean up the bodies. The other two were looking at me, telling me from their gazes to shut my mouth. Vincent has been faking that he doesn't know the real story. While Shawn is listening, ignoring the tension between Vincent and me to save his skin.

"I can't say this directly to Noel or anyone so let me at least tell Rei the truth," I say nervously recalling the memory as I glance at Vincent and Shawn for permission.

"I can't ーI don't want to hide and bury the truth to myself anymore. It's too much," I blurted begging Vincent to allow me to confess the truth. Shawn nodded while Vincent sighed and looked in Rei's direction, I'm uneasy to witness their response.

*     *     *     *     *

Plain white tiles, the cold breeze from the air conditioner, the smell of lab coats and medicines, and exhausted people are coming their way to this empty and vast main hall. Every crux and their parents are allowed and gathered here to witness the speech of their director.

They mumble and talk to each other while waiting for the announcement that they never knew coming. This is the night where everything will change. And this is going to happen whether they like it or not.

Troubled.

Scared.

Tired.

    Everyone feels that way may it be them or us who couldn't take a blink of sleep from the earlier meeting we had. The room was dark, no lights are turned on. But with the help of the red moonlight that shines inside this room, you can see the Director behind the glass window where he stands holding a microphone and a grin displayed on his face.

"I'm sure everyone heard about yesterday's event," his tone as cold as ice like he's looking at his prey with an intent of mass extinction.

    Everyone was silently listening some clenching their hands, some crying, and some unfazed. The room was full of whispers until someone spoke up.

"You cannot order us around anymore! We have our freedom!" says a boy at the top of his lungs, shouting like there is no tomorrow. He steps forward near the place where the Director stands, his parents pulling him back to retreat and not cause a scene. But we all know that they can't stay silent any longer. Especially when they are treated like pigs and not as human beings. Using his ability to float, he looked at everyone and spoke his thoughts. "Yesterday is the sign for us to fight back! Let's take this chance to escape their clutches!" with his speech, some children followed him and used their abilities too.

    Elements are displayed in their bodies as they take a battle stance and are waiting for the timing to attack while their parents begged them to calm down. If I were there with my child, I would've done the same thing. Especially when I know what terror is lurking above me. Some doctors and scientists are also involved in the meeting and from here I see some children obeying their parents, they might have leaked this information.

    The second to the fourth floors are full of snipers ready to shoot at the Director's command. Believe me, I don't want to do this and I think some of us think that way. Not when we got close to someone while we're here.

    But before the leader of the uprising can strike, he was electrified to temporarily stop him. They have a collar on their necks to serve as a backup. While the boy must have thought that it isn't fixed yet because Rei made a scene where she blew up the place where the remote is for everyone but they worked fast to restore it just for today's show.

    The floating boy fell on the floor, trying to remove his collar with all his might. But the voltage was too strong that he cried and choked blood. He was asking for help from his parents but they were already on the floor, bleeding and bathing in their pool of blood. It's common knowledge that everyone in this facility has no escape. If the children have collars, the parents have a chip that is located near their heart that can stop its beating with the Director's power.

    The place was silent for a few minutes when everyone was processing what happened.

"Since everyone is eager to see blood today, please do enjoy tonight's consequence for yesterday's incident," his voice was calm at first.

"What?"

"Mommy I'm scared"

"What does he mean?"

    Whispers and screams of worries are floating in the air. Everyone is uneasy and terrified of what might happen for the next few minutes. They were only on their guard but some are undaunted by the occurrence.

"If some of you will survive,  blame the girl who escaped for tonight's show. Now let the curtains unfold," he said, dropping the microphone.

    We started shooting, one by one a person falls.

"What's that?" asking the boy whose parents flopped to the ground beside him, trembling.

"Ahh!" another boy shouts.

"It's coming from above!" someone tossed a fireball above to light it up. And all they see was three whole floors packed with snipers ready to take their lives without hesitation, and I am one of them.

    May it be a doctor, a parent, an arrogant kid, or our friends, we didn't stop pulling the trigger. While some experienced to their abilities are rather protecting the people near them or just themselves.

    Cries of kids.

    Shouts of stabbing pain.

    Screams for help.

    The director looks like he is having fun watching this mass-murdering event while a waiter hands him a glass of wine. I saw a bright and blinding light in the middle of the room that distracts our shooting pace and all of us stopped to watch it unwavering. After the light settled, everyone who was suffering and left the walking world all came back to life as if nothing happened. They were in their best condition, the limping doctors all walking straight, some scarred crux was all healed like no one picked the part of their bodies.

"What's going on?"

"I'm alive?"

    Questions of disbelief are all over the place. Even the Director couldn't believe his eyes and so is every soldier that surrounds the whole place. All of the attention returned to the one who did the impossible. But of course, all the crux that was alive and witnessed the resurrection of every dead body run to the source of the power who did the impossible to protect him.

"Protect him!" Someone shouts from afar, pointing and commanding everyone alive to go rescue their unconscious savior. And that was none other than Noel. They placed a barrier around him and some already shoot above them, hunting us down to minimize the number. I can see some soldiers drop to the ground, lifeless. I'm not sure why but I feel relieved that they can at least kill without hesitation when they are faced with this kind of situation.

"Exterminate everyone except the boy," the Director instructed us through the transmitter with an excited tone of voice. And the battle began.

"This is cheating!" the cruxes shout, cursing when everything on their disadvantage was used. All of them dropped to the ground, enduring the high voltage they're receiving while every parent was killed in an instant by detonating the chips buried on them. This is the trump card of the Director and this is why he doesn't fear a single soul.

    The tiles that were once white and cleaned were now full of red blood and dead bodies like the earlier resurrection didn't even occur. The Director walks down the stairs towards the middle, to Noel. We shoot everyone who is planning to touch him while he continues to walk, laughing like the psycho that he is.

"This is incredible!" he took a step back when several cruxes withstand the shock and are now standing, circling Noel. "Look at this, do you think you have a chance of defeating me?" he says shouting like his intention was to scare the children that stand before him. "The one who created all of you?" he repeats, shooting a kid who was bleeding all over his body and is near death between his eyebrows then drops to the ground, dead.

"No!" a girl shouts, shooting a block of ice in his direction but with the pain she's enduring, she couldn't aim properly and only scratched him at his arm.

"Don't shoot" he orders, only making the girl passed out with a punch. He looked at every child that withstood the shock and punched them one by one on the stomach, resulting in all of them to collapse and lose consciousness. He walked slowly to where Noel was sleeping like savoring every bit of second with his prey before he ends his life.

    I looked around me to see everyone finish their job and is already packing their things up. I looked back at the bottom to see only the Director standing.

"Patrick what are you doing?" asks my colleague Dianne. I couldn't let go of the sniper yet, not until I make sure that Noel's unharmed. All that was going through my head was how I'll be able to let Noel meet Rei again or how she'll react if she knows that I just stood, watching him being killed and chopped into pieces.

"Patrick," she shouts this time which made the team leader turn his attention to me.

"What's going on there?" the leader says.

"He won't listen," reasoned Dianne when I didn't budge to her pulling my attention away from the ground floor where I pinpoint the bullet at the Director's head, ready to shoot anytime he lays a hand on Noel.

"Stand down, this is a direct order from your commander," the leader says trying to calm me down. But my fingers were too stiff from holding the trigger and is wanting to pull it one last time. When they knew what I'm trying to do, they gathered around me and held me from every part of my body, trying to stop me but I did my best to stay focused on his head. But he noticed and talked to me through the transmitter.

"I won't kill such a fine piece of art," I can see his psychotic smile through my scope. Then I was brought down to my knees, handcuffs and a punch to my stomach.

*     *     *     *     *

I lift my head back up to look at Rei who's surprised and uncomfortable. Who wouldn't be? We were one of the few soldiers who killed her kind and we couldn't do anything but obey their orders.