Chapter 8 - Death Row

Stultic could hear the church's golden bell clanging in the distance. It waved back and forth at the top of the tower, though no one was ringing it. It moved on its own. The grass around him was up to his knees. It swayed in the cool spring breeze that wafted a strong natural lavender smell from far away. Was he already dead? Was this what people called the afterlife?

He proceeded down the hill he was on. It was all nature that was around him, moving and alive. The dirt that was under his bare feet felt considerably different than the concrete sidewalks he usually walked over. The trees had leaves that rustled around and branches that clashed against each other. The flowers were in numerous different colours.

Nevertheless, the most interesting part of the scenery was the large, hulking humanoid monstrosity in the distance that was at least seventy metres tall with no discernable facial features. He could've sworn its face was being distorted before his very eyes. It seemed to be made out of organics and mechanical components - a biomechanical creation. He also found the halo-like ring on its back to be equally as interesting.

Stultic couldn't believe what he saw in front of him and all around him. The more he glanced around, the more familiar his surroundings became, though the familiarity wasn't enough to jog his memories. Where was he? There was too much greenery for it to be anywhere near the City of Edtweiser. Was it beyond?

"Isn't this place wonderful?" A hushed voice on his left asked.

Stultic turned to face whoever spoke. It was most certainly a person, but Stultic's theory was confirmed. Their face had the same glitching distortion that covered the humanoid behemoth.

"Yeah," he replied. "Where are we?"

The distorted figure laughed. "I shouldn't tell you that. You'll figure out eventually. For now, all you need to know is that no matter what happens, we'll be here to guide you."

Stultic stared at the figure, confused and lost.

"I'm not sure I understand why you'd say that to me of all people. I get that I'm on some stupid death row right now, but you don't gotta give me your pity. I'm not that pathetic."

"Who said I was supplying you with pity?" the distorted figure inquired.

Stultic couldn't follow along with a word the figure said; for none of it made sense. It was unmistakably a line of pity. There was no other interpretation of those words. What did this person expect Stultic to respond with? Was there some sort of code he had to decipher?

"Just do your best, Sebastian. The others may doubt you, but I believe in you wholeheartedly. Always remember that."

"Wait, then what do you—"

The world began to collapse; their haven became an abyss. The grass withered away under his feet as the quantity of the large monsters grew. Screams were everywhere around him. Sirens wailed to signal the war and incoming death. Missiles flew across the seas and struck down. Mighty beams of devastating potential burned through the sky. The people around him begged from mercy.

The last thing he saw was the image of a purple lit sky.

———^——𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯—

"STULTIC!" Julière's voice yelled out.

The line on the monitor waved up and down once more.

Stultic's eyes had trouble dilating to the bright lights above him. His tongue felt around the rim of his teeth. His hands touched his legs and his sides. He could feel which was a plus, but the bright afterlife had disappeared from view. It was gone. All that was left was the hospital room and the faces that impatiently watched him.

"W-What...?" Stultic's voice was quiet and barely exiting his throat.

Julière and Doctor Singh let out a relieved sigh.

"Glad to see you're back, Mr. Utaliski. You fainted but thankfully, it wasn't anything severe." Doctor Singh reported.

Stultic was still dazed. He felt like his eyes were going to pop out at any moment. He clenched his teeth to deal with the pain. So much information in such little time. He was dying now. A terminally ill patient, waiting for his heart to stop beating. Each second that passed only fed his fear. The monster within was growing stronger.

He couldn't forget the distorted figure or the nightmarish sequence either. Was it just a dream? Maybe he was sleeping and it came to him, but he felt the cool breeze. The grass blades that tickled his legs. The dirt that sunk underneath his feet and stuck between his toes. The cold, demonic presence of mortality. He felt it all and it wasn't a dream. It was too real.

Guide me? More like guide me to my death. This is just a really painful nightmare...

For now, he wanted to relax and forget everything.

—^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯——^𝐯—

Two hours had passed and Stultic's condition normalized. Stultic hadn't moved and his facial expression hadn't changed. It remained dull and bleak. Of course, knowing death is haunting your very existence is quite terrifying indeed. It was something Stultic struggled to grasp. The concept was too vague and large. It was impossible to accurately understand the word "Death."

Was it really necessary to keep on living from this point forward? If he was going to pass on in the next two months, would it be necessary to keep on living? Not much can happen in two months. All he did for the past two months was bother Madica, buy Fries and Sour Cream, work to successfully dismantle an entire criminal society which kidnapped innocent children while making fun of the boss' cartoony moustache for an anonymous client, and laying on "his" couch to watch the news. Ashten never used the couch anyways since he was constantly cooped up in his room, working on his latest technological marvel. Case and point, it's not like anything important happened.

"Darn, I forgot to tell you something." Doctor Singh said while he snapped his fingers. "Since you don't have any insurance, the cost was going to be pricy, but luckily for you, someone from that mega-corporation Vertigal Industries has agreed to anonymously pay for your insurance in full."

"From Vertigal? Why would anyone from that corporation want to pay for my hospital fees?"

Ashten was most likely the only one at Vertigal who even knew of his existence. Even if Ashten knew about his incident, the man wouldn't pay a single dime to cover his insurance bill. He was still waiting on Stultic to pay his fifty percent of the rent. If Ashten had decided to pay for his insurance, he'd have to be drunk and high at the same time which he would never do since he's also a law-abiding citizen.

"I don't know and I don't care. I'm sorry, Mr. Utaliski, but that stuff is outside of my boundaries. I don't interrogate people as to why they do it. Some people are just kind-hearted!" Rakesh said, going back onto his holographic screen. "Anyways, your fees have been paid for already so don't worry about them."

As Doctor Singh finished his sentence, his holographic screen beeped with a variety of photos, database entries, and messages appearing all at once. One message in particular was displayed in red.

Code Blue: Medlii Raines - RM. 224

"Well I got places to be so if anything unusual happens, just click the bright orange button to your right and it'll page me!" Doctor Singh said in a hurry, rushing out the door.

Stultic sank into his bed and turned on the TV once more to gain some enjoyment out of his hospitalization. Turns out the hospital only shows the news. It was disappointing since all the news spoke of was the latest incident surrounding him.

Even though Julière wanted to stay by Stultic's side, she knew that Stultic wasn't feeling himself.

"Alright... I'll grab something to eat, but I'm coming right back though! I'm really in the mood for some Salisbury Steak!"

"DON'T! I TRIED THE SALISBURY STEAK AND IT'S HORRIBLE!" Stultic cried.

Julière was fearfully shocked into place after Stultic yelled. She was shaken once again when the door opened with a loud bang.

A mysterious armoured man entered and stared directly into her eyes. "I agree. That's even worse than a death sentence. No one should ever go through that pain... Now scram, girl. I have business to attend to."

Julière bowed out of respect and ran off faster than Doctor Singh trying to reach his next patient. She seemed distressed and Stultic didn't take lightly to the tone he used. His gray hair curved to the right cleanly and his eyes were covered by a blue and red visor. His right arm was not made of organic skin but a synthetic metal weave. Even his legs were cut off and replaced with prosthetics. The man grabbed a chair and sat down beside Stultic.

"You wanna go first or should I?" the man asked, stroking his hair back with a comb.

"You shouldn't speak to her like that," Stultic replied in a passive-aggressive tone.

"Hey, don't make me out to be the bad guy! It's because I'm being kind and generous that she was even allowed near you. Anyways, what makes me even more curious is that never in my years of service would I have ever expected the spineless mercenary man-child, to be the son of someone as distinguished as Barrick Utaliski! Good grief! All the planet's gonna be the underworld one day lemme tell you!" the man said. "Well, my name is Hamish Gaelan and I'm the Police Chief of Edtweiser. You and I need are gonna need to have a talk about your future, Sebastian Utaliski; specifically about events thirteen years ago which could make or break a more beneficial prison sentence."

Stultic's gaze sharpened. A certain rageful button was pushed within him.

"You'd be surprised how much of an asshole the distinguished Barrick Utaliski is. I'm sorry, but I don't regret killing the damn guy."

Gaelan pursed his lips. Even though he couldn't see his eyes, he could tell they were just as sharp as his because of the slant of his eyebrows.

"Figured as much. That murder scene was utterly brutal. You killed at least 800 other people that day because of the airliner you shot along with your parents. That airliner exploded upon impact and that's where the rest of the 500 casualties came from. We had a tough time explaining those deaths to their families if there even were families to explain it to."

Stultic went silent.

"I don't care what excuse you had for the murders. I don't care about who you are now. I'm only here to tell you that due to the severity of your crimes, we have no choice but to force you to live out the rest of your life in prison. You must've seen this coming the moment you awoke here." Gaelen said.

Stultic sat in a stern posture to speak. "I'm gonna die in the next two months so what the hell's the point of prison? I'm dead! I'm a dead man walking and I thought I'd only use that sentence against the funky rock-juice drinking drug lord I put out of business three months ago! Well, I also used it this one time I stabbed this human trafficking asshat like 342 times for all his victims a few weeks ago and somehow escaped! The biggest paycheck of my life! You should be thanking me for cleaning the streets by the way! I've been keeping this city pretty damn safe! I'm like the 'Batman' of this city, except this city against Gotham and I don't brood regularly in edgy clothing. Hey, at least we both have dead parents! I killed mine, his were killed before his eyes. Close enough!"

"Please shut your mouth!" he cried. "It's just Abstrainian laws. Even if you're terminal, we'll be bringing you in. It's just the System's orders and if the System says so, we do so. The Administrators don't make bad decisions for the people. If you have any problems, sure! Try and talk to the Administrators. We'll see how that goes, eh?"

Shock was visible on Stultic's face but it went back to being gloomy.

"Fine, whatever," Stultic said willingly.

Gaelan stood up and shoved his comb into the pocket on his pants. Chugging the cold, stale coffee on the desk that Stultic refused to drink, he threw the cup into the trash and wiped his mouth off.

"I'd start saying your prayers, Utaliski, 'cause the next few days are gonna be living hell for you."

Gaelan whispered words into the guard's ear then left. Stultic lied back down in his less than comfortable bed. He usually never showed his worry visually, for he was one to smile through most situations. He thought smiling would make everything better around him, even if he wasn't happy internally. After 13 years of doing the same routine, he finally came to the conclusion that smiling through all your problems blissfully only drags you down further.

The clouds sent down their raindrops to pitter and patter across the roofs of buildings, the sidewalks of the city, and those misfortunate enough to be caught in its watery assault without an umbrella. The sky's were gloomy, just like Stultic attitude. The only sources of light in his life were the constant texts he received from Julière, ranting about how she regretted trying the Salisbury Steak.

He stared at the white ceiling to contemplate his future.

"STULTIC!"

He heard a loud, crisp voice scream through the hallway, saying his name on loop.

Oh lord... he thought, trying to clean his bed from the chaotic mess it was in after rolling around in it. He shook his hair to make it look more formal and sat in a relaxed manner.

The door crashed into the wall, nearly smashing a hole through it. The officer swung around to aim the rifle at Madica. In reply, she kicked it from the officer's hands. Her glare was even deadlier than the bullets that were loaded in the rifle. Her glare was so iconic that the officer knew who she was right away, letting her pass. She walked in wearing a hospital gown which made her look surprisingly hotter than she usually did. Stultic was too afraid to admit it though, because he knew he'd get punched. Still, he went and did it anyway.

"If you're here to give me some extraordinarily alluring present because I'm dying, I don't want it... No offence, but I don't think I could ever do that with someone as scary as you..."

As predicted, Madica punched Stultic in the face.

"That's for your ridiculous comment," she said, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

Stultic fell back into his bed with a bleeding nose. Madica handed him a tissue to clog the bleeding.

"No mercy for the dead guy?! Sheesh! You should be bowing down to me like I'm your master!" Stultic said, waiting for Madica's reaction.

Madica let out an ear-bleeding laugh. She laughed so hard, she almost cried midway. It made Stultic's repulsive mood worse to know the only time she chuckled while he was around, was when she thought about showing a minuscule flake of remorse.

"Yeah, right! If I ever did that, it'd be in your dreams!" she said barely getting the words out of her mouth in between deep breaths. "Hey! I heard that Gaelan tore into you. Sorry about that... He's a kind guy when he's not on the job. Being a WARDEN does things to people."

Stultic's smirk faded away in a flash. With Stultic's smirk gone, Madica's own reverted into a frown. They both sat on the bed in silence. Not one willing to engage in a conversation with the other. After enough silence, Madica opened her mouth once again.

"In all seriousness, be real with me. You're the boy who caused the 'July Incident', right?"

He touched his face to find nothing covering it; he was too busy fighting and panicking to notice that his entire arsenal had been taken from him. His lungs almost deflated. He twisted to the opposite direction of Madica, trying his best to avoid eye contact. He could barely even come to say a word.

"Don't worry. I get why you wouldn't say any of that stuff and why you'd usually hide your face behind a mask. Hell, I do too so we're even," Madica timidly laughed. "But no matter what, you shouldn't beat yourself up over it too much."

Stultic apprehensively turned back around to not be so cold and distant all while being more comfortable than on his side.

"Thanks, but I've tried not to for thirteen years! I don't even know how I'm still alive without a therapist!" he jested. "I've just learnt to live with it by this point."

Madica sighed with disappointment.

"Anyways, I also wanna talk about that whole prison sentence thin--"

"Don't talk about it," Stultic responded quietly.

"Stultic, this is grave. The laws don't say that 'really bad criminals' somehow are exempt from the 'Terminal Revoke Act!' Sure, we get most of our information from the System and the administrators who run it, but this is absurd! Firstly, Carmen and I being in the same location where that toxic green madman was not called for and some sort of error. Now, it's trying to put you in some high-level prison even though you're dying... This is not justice! Something is wrong and our System is not working too well as a System."

"Something's amiss Stultic! They wouldn't give prison time to a dying man! The System is wrong and something is tampering with it! It's obvious, don't you see?! Don't you want to live your life freely?! If they take you, you're never going to see the light of day again!" Madica fought back furiously.

Stultic seemed unphased but he glanced at his hands as they shook.

"Even if I did, I could care less. It's only two months."

The atmosphere was stagnant. The lights in the room weren't that strong, solely relying on natural sunlight. With the rain pouring harder against the window, lightning came down along with their sibling, thunder. You could even hear fighting at the entrance of the hospital over medical fees and patient priority. It was the perfect mix of melancholy filling and even more sorrowful sauce all rolled up in a nasty, soggy tortilla to make a depressing burrito that represented their lives.

After waiting long enough, Madica popped the question.

"Hey, Stultic," she said gravely.

"Do you... wish to die?"

—^𝐯——^𝐯— 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 —^𝐯——^𝐯—