Act 2.7: Massacre of Dolemeut Square

"AGHHHH!" Daniel lifted the box up the fifth step relenting a mighty roar to bolster his strength.

A snicker came a few steps above him, "Even with all those muscles you can't lift that box up this small flight of stairs?" Sam covered her mouth with a hand teasingly swiping her lashes and bouncing up another step wagging her ponytail tied hair. Daniel stared up the rest of the steps already knowing the number but had to check after Sam's comment in order to remain sane. From where he stood there were still sixty-five steps to go.

"Y-You know... ugh... that's really... ugh... not f-funny… why not help m-me with this?" Sam turned around with a questionable expression.

"I am already helping you though." In her left hand was a small box with a handle, painted a tattered green, on top. Daniel had told her before they left that all that was inside were some wrenches and small drills. What he really needed help with was the huge box that housed the supplies Isaiah and him would use. However, Sam relented to aid with the smallest of the chores, a choice Daniel hadn't even given her.

He carried on this way with Sam's occasional mockery as well as jabs about his slowness. The ridicule pounded harder and harder against him before a headache formed giving way to anger. "FUCK IT~!" Daniel stamped both feet into the concrete step lifting the box by the bottom bringing it on top of his shoulder. What proceeded was a ferocious cry that threw the birds from their nests and scared away any rodent in the vicinity. Daniel jumped the steps two at a time then three when he saw that he wasn't making nearly enough headway until he reached the landing at the top. There he stood victoriously raising the box over his head like a boxer after winning the championship title. For his next move he fell to the pavement having the box come crashing down on his back.

Sam swiftly came by his side relenting a breath or two having had her own trouble catching up due to his abrupt burst in adrenaline. "I guess those muscles really did come in handy."

"M-My arms are d-dead."

Sam gave a sideways laugh lightly kicking Daniel in the shin. "You could've just called some animals to move the boxes instead of working yourself so hard." Daniel got up, rolling the box off him to the side only to grab it once more.

"All that does is stress them out. It doesn't improve myself anymore than what I used to be. This way, I can train further without relying on anyone else."

"You could have them take mine that way you're also working on your ability." Daniel narrowed his eyes with a glare sunk low into Sam's heart. He then released a soft melodic tune from his secondary nostrils bringing forth an array of birds and opossum.

A blue jay perched on Daniel's shoulder resting its head on his neck.

When first testing his abilities in elementary school the doctors discovered that he was immune to the diseases and infections that animals carry with them.A welcome boon to a fledgling ability. Two more birds hooked onto his other shoulder, the closest to his ear squawked a message to him. Daniel blushed at what the bird had said, leering an eye at Sam's waist trying to see through the tight jeans she had worn. The bird next to the one squawking threw a fit with the other which sent them buzzing about in a fight of innocence over carnality. "A-Anyway, I c-can't do that to them. They aren't j-just pets or sl-slaves. I c-can understand them, all their words and d-desires. Even th-th-though it may be simple things like getting some f-food but it's like th-their people. I-If I were to force them to use up all their energy on a few boxes then I d-don't th-think I c-could bear hearing them anymore."

Sam cut in with another question to rouse his resolve, "Don't you have all those squirrels make your food in the morning?"

"W-well that's a little different." Daniel was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the argument the birds were having as well as the soft swearing the bluejay gave under its breath while resting. "Those s-squirrels had lived there for y-years and were on the brink of starving. So, we kinda made a deal. I f-feed them and they feed me. They're cooking is kinda b-bad though. Heh."

Sam was comfortable with the stutters Daniel had. It made her realize he was still the same shy boy who had needed her help beating the bullies who taunted him. Despite all the training, including his relation to Kage, how she despised that piece of trash, he still had these moments of pureness. An innocence she hoped would stay with him. It was like a little brother's first encounter with a butterfly, how could something ever take away such a sight?

A rat came dashing around the corner knocking into an aluminum trash can resulting in its contents spilling over onto their path. The little thing was thin to the bone with lumps of skin flying about while a patch of its hair snipped away. It squeaked hurriedly then jumped down the steps into a grate.

After catching the tail-end of the rat's words, Daniel dropped the box allowing its contents to shatter. Suddenly, he jumped down the corner that the rat had come from.

"Where the Hell are you going?!" Without a response to go off of Sam sprinted after, leaving behind her own box. They turned corner after corner diving deeper into the heart of the city. Soon they had wound the path between townhouses and apartment complexes before the underground section that led to the subway. Sam's upper half toppled to her knees catching her breath. "Daniel… where.. the fuck… are you going?" A second whistle was all that came in response to her plea. The harmonic melody brought forth a second blue jay to land at Daniel's shoulder cawing into his ear.

"This way." He commanded shimmying his way into a narrow alleyway that ran out to another array of apartment complexes on either side. Before Sam went after she swore some red paint had fallen onto those steps to the subway station. Furthermore, not a soul was in sight during rush hour. Sam took out her phone to check with her friends but saw that Daniel was almost out of sight. Deciding against texting while running she followed not far behind.

Minutes more must have passed before Sam found herself out of breath and half heartedly prancing to Daniel's pace. Then, just before she echoed a mounting complaint, they finally stopped. The area opened up to a child's playground in the center of several apartment complexes which towered over with a daunting gloom. Pieces of trash escaped from parking garages and were weighted by the remnants of snow trying to melt away.

Sam had not an idea as to why they were here. She saw nothing that could give a reason away. Yet, the tensed muscles on Daniel's back frightened her. This tenseness spread out his arms then down his legs. All too late a stench caught on the wind. Striking a hand to her mouth, she stopped herself from vomiting. It was immensely pungent and unlike anything she ever smelled. Even in the lower district where the smell of burnt corpses would sometimes blot out the sun did such a thing never exist.

Corpses…

Suddenly she saw. Before, something had blocked the view but after realizing the smell, the illusion was now gone and what was there brought the vomit unabated. Dozens upon dozens of children's bodies, mutilated, eaten, and stringed together with steel wiring to appear as puppets lay about the playground. Each body was unrecognizable with a piece stolen from it. Their gore reached the sides of the buildings leaving not a soul inhabiting these buildings alive. The smashed windows accompanied by strewn bodies were indicative enough for this conclusion.

"Daniel…" Sam spoke between raspy breaths, "We have to get out of here."

His ear perked up, then his body moved deeper into the sea of corpses.

"Come on… DANIEL!" She called out after him. Her bravery was non-existent at this point. This was the site of a Villain's play zone. An area where some decrepit monster marked claiming ownership to all that resided within. Soon they would be encroaching on that ownership.

However, Daniel did not heed these calls but knelt down in the middle of those bodies. The one beneath him was of a young girl. He had recognized her even among all these people. It was an existence although fleeting but substantial to him.

On Tuesday nights he would see her running up then down the apartment rooms depositing newspapers. Bearing rain that even gave the hobbled shops a run for their money, sweltering heat that kept them all awake, as well as in a blue fog that made those rabid dogs' eyes all the hungrier. She worked and worked. Wednesdays, the building heard the arguments of the in-debt father then runaway mother but not a soul judged. Meanwhile, she cleaned the restrooms at the neighboring school for regulars. They couldn't be paying her any more than a few dollars an hour. Then, every Friday the tenants would hold a barbeque, one she never attended but food always found its way to the foot of her door. It was a life he never bore any mind toward. She was just a regular. Another person in those faces Daniel couldn't remember and barely felt the presence of.

So, when he saw her skewered face stuck to the rebar of the banana yellow slide there was something that may have snapped. Not a huge aspect, not initially at least. He wasn't the one to snap. If anything, that would be Kage. No, snapping wasn't his thing. Just because her left eye was missing did not mean a thing.

'Didn't I tap her on the nose one morning?' Well, no more doing that. Her freckled nose was bitten off with one of the Villain's jagged shark teeth stuck buried deep in the cavity.

There was nothing he could have done to save this girl, nor save any of those that fell victim here. It was an unavoidable loss, at least on his part.

"My part, heh. My f-fucking part." Not a soul rushed to help these people. He had to be that person yet failed. In turn the Villains delivered this decision. How could it be that no person, no Hero, no officer, no anyone had heard their cries?