Hunger

Descending the stairs, James clung tightly to Cain's shadow, as it was now Beta-6 leading the charge.

'He's all reserved and confident until he gets shaken. At least he dared to follow me in.' Cain rolled his eyes in amusement. 

Reaching the bottom, it was apparent that they had entered some sort of prison.

"Why is it that people always build these places underground?"

The dungeon was pretty barren; the cells did seem recently used, but the inhabitants were long gone. The majority of cells seemed to keep more than one person, like keeping cattle before an execution.

"Is this where they took the exiles?" James muttered while behind Cain, protected and safe.

"Probably. There are signs of blood and filth. Whoever was brought down here, they sure were not treated well."

The prison wasn't huge; it seemed to be one of many the Family had. Cain soon came to a dead end. Turning around, he walked the other way. Eventually, he reached a few offices; the only thing they found were papers with records of numbers, but it seemed encoded.

Putting the papers down, he saw a door, behind it was an even longer corridor. Next to the door was a plaque that read, "Punishment."

Cain tilted his head, "Punishment for rowdy prisoners?"

Grabbing a lantern on one of the desks, Cain headed into the darkness. James stayed behind, using the excuse that he was going to try and decode the papers.

Cain didn't mind James's cowardice and entered through the long dark tunnel to what seemed to be a small cell. The cell itself seemed to fit eight prisoners who would be chained to the walls. Cain could guess this because there was still a prisoner there.

They were chained against the wall, their head pointing downward.

"Are you a vagrant?"

Hearing Cain's voice, the man chained against the wall first lifted his head in fear before seeing Cain. The chains raddled with his every movement.

"Y-You're not with the Family! Who are you?"

"I asked first," Cain rebuked.

The chained man seemed to have his thoughts turn blank. After a bit, the light returned to his eyes, and he looked back at Cain. "You have to save me! You don't understand what these people are! We have to leave!"

Cain wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he pressed the man.

"Explain."

"They're not human! They...I... it's not right! It's against nature! I couldn't help it; I didn't mean to, but it was just so good!"

Hearing the semi-crazed speech, Cain tilted his head, "What are you talking about?"

The prisoner tried to hold his face with his hands, but the chains stopped him from doing so. It was then Cain realized the chains weren't normal; they were constructed in a way to restrict the victim so they couldn't use the full motion of the body. In other words, it was stopping them from using their full strength, leaving them in uncomfortable positions.

The prisoner began to ramble, "My sweet Angela, you were so sweet!"

Seeing him lick his lips, Cain got a bad premonition, one that came from being a human.

The prisoner continued. "It all started when they told me! My cousin finally told me the family secret! All along....all along I was eating....."

The man gagged, he was trying to throw up, but his body didn't seem to want to let go of the food in his stomach.

Seeing his own body was against him, the prisoner could only laugh, "Hehehahaha! Cousin told me how much better it was raw! No, I couldn't, I had to escape, it would be Angela next on the menu hahaha! I couldn't let them, I had to escape with her!"

Cain's brow raised, "That's the secret? Do you eat human flesh? Are you a bunch of cannibals?"

Ignoring him, the chained man laughed harder, "I had to wait; I had to seem normal. Angela visited; I told her the truth, but she then smiled and asked me to take a bite!

"I...I couldn't help it; it was an instinct. She tasted so good! But no! No, we had to escape! My plan worked; we were only a few steps away from freedom, but my sweet Angela had no more meat! She was covered in bandages, not that sweet succulent flesh! Angela, forgive me! Forgive me for tasting the rest, hahaha! You're still in my stomach, right? You giving me strength heheheahaha...."

The man turned depressed; he radically changed as tears rolled down his face, "Angela! What have I done? If only we left sooner, if only I didn't have time to taste you! It's my family's fault; it's a curse upon our bloodline! What have I done!? Why! Angela, forgive me!"

The man moped and sobbed; his cries echoed in the chamber.

'So, this guy ate his lover while trying to escape? Did he get caught while he was eating her? What type of faces did the guards have, or maybe they smiled and joined in for a piece.' Cain looked at the man, his face filled with revulsion.

'Disgusting. My way of consuming people is much more appropriate. Wait, perhaps eating people is this place's power? No, it looks like it's just some sick practice.'

Now that the man was unresponsive, only calling out for Angela and crying, Cain sighed and knocked him out.

"I have to take you back....hah, what a sad life. He tried to save her from those who would eat her, only to be the one who ate her. Ironic."

Putting the man over his shoulder after destroying the chains, Cain walked back to the larger dungeon.

As he returned, he slowly heard voices in the distance, multiple. He quickly snuffed out the flame in his lantern and hid in the darkness, heading closer to the door to hear what was going on.

"You killed him too quickly! He'll rot before we get him to the kitchen!"

Another distinct voice snapped back, "Relax; they're way better like this."

Wet noises resounded; it sounded like a butcher rummaging through the insides of some animal. It then transformed into chewing and a loud gulp.

The first voice then spoke, "How unrefined; you animals only know how to eat; you can never take in the flavor of the meat."

"There's a flavor all right; they taste way better like this anyway." The second voice answered.

Cain waited a little longer, revealing himself wouldn't fit his new persona, it was far better to just wait it all out.

The voices and their footsteps soon turned soft and disappeared.

Coming out of the darkness, Cain could see a pool of blood and a trail.

"They took him..."

Avoiding the blood, Cain stealthily escaped the prison. When he reached the surface, he could hear shouts and screams. The happy shouts came from guards hunting, while the screams came from those who were caught.

"Seems this mission only went to fill up their stomachs. What a mess."

Using his mist with the fog, Cain easily escaped and headed back to his designated return point. From there, he would be blindfolded and taken to the Organization's headquarters to give his report straight to Omega.

'This mission better helps me climb the ranks; otherwise, I won't be able to affect anything. All I can do from here is probably take over Omega and just not override him yet. Well, that actually might be a good idea anyway...'

Cain disappeared into the gray fog; he was never seen, not once.