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PROJECT: Lullaby

Okay, is this thing on? No? I’m moving the camera… It’s not working? What do you mean it’s not working, do you know how hard it is for me to get this? What, you said that the audio just works fine but the camera isn’t? Fine… but do you think I should start with… “Yo, this is Death and welcome to my vlog?” The hell do you mean that it’s not a vlog? Fine… fine, I’ll just do it normally. … Hello, this is Death… Yes, that Death but not the one that goes for dogs or visits old ladies or men in their rooms to take them out, which I have to say that I’m not… I don’t do that anymore. But, moving on… since we, as part of the enterprise that screens the dead and basically one of the few core institutions that manage the underworld itself, are alarmed at this current number of deaths we’re having right now, with the virus and all. Thus, as part of the company’s policy, we are here right now to deliver this public service announcement. Like the other institutions that you, humans, have, we strongly advise that you should keep yourself indoors and of course, keep yourselves healthy and wash your hands. In accordance with that, we have assigned a group of talented people to document, compile and rewrite their fellow reaper’s reports for your viewing pleasure. Thus, we would very much proud to show you this collective story, that was rewritten to follow a coherent narrative about our own Reapers, born of you, humans as well, who chose to end their own lives, doing their jobs to help the souls of other people still bound to the earth. This is the Project Lullaby and we sincerely hope that you would enjoy our story and keep yourself at home where you’re safe from the virus, please… like seriously. That is all, thank you.

Vertgren · Kỳ huyễn
Không đủ số lượng người đọc
49 Chs

Day 4: 05:45PM

"What the hell was that?" The man said to the other as he dodged a piece of rubble was about to bite through his head as they ran.

They found themselves running in the middle of the road with the sights of a nearby forest park set on their tired eyes. Both of them were covered with blood, dust, and sweat after a few confrontations that did nothing but fail with their last being an attempt to cut their way short by going through some alleyways and over some urban houses' fences. They did so, as planned; they jumped over a few gates as silently as possible, and there were times that they trudged on the concrete roof of a house one after another. Soon enough, they got on top of a clothes shop that ushered them towards the main road. They found themselves back down not long after but when they thought that all they needed to do was to bolt through the sidewalk to get to their designated safe zone, the man that they were trying to cut themselves off had returned with a bang. He appeared as though he flew and brought himself down with one knee and his fist pressing against the crater he had created as his cape floated in the wind.

"Spirit, a jacked-up one, Juanito-chan," the other replied, turning his body sideways with and cocking his sub-machine gun. He parted his lips to smile and after a moment, he pressed the trigger to make his bullets rain towards the shadow of an armored man in the distance. "Tough luck though, we need to buy some time… we'll have to make way for the treeline."

"Got it, Sir Rei, do we have to—"

"Heads up," Rei interrupted him, still with that nervous smile as he chucked out a grenade from the black pouch strapped on the side of his hips. The bomb blew off right after, sending a bit of rubble and shards of concretes on their way. Taking that as a chance, the other man, who wore a plain white v-necked shirt paired with jogging pants and black rubber shoes under his cloak, dashed out and jumped over the small fence that separated the concrete road from the nearby trees.

"Be careful, sir!" Juanito shouted as his voice faded from his ears.

"Sure, you too… keep your distance from me so I could find you easily and have that pistol of yours ready," he shouted back as he stepped forward to gaze at the silhouette of the emerging from the cloud of dust that thinned as the wind blew. Then, after a moment, he sharpened his gaze and pulled out a battered shortsword from his side. "We don't know if this bastard has friends other than that bitch."

"I do have to commend you for your bravery, however!" The knight then yelled as he moved out and revealed the grace of his silver armor that remained in its pure unscathed whiteness. He started from his great helm to his shoulder guards that kept his silver fur-collared cape from flying along with the cold midnight wind. Then, he presented his cuirass that covered even the sides of his legs and to the metal that protected his groin and thighs, and even down to his boots that mowed through the dirt and rubble beneath his feet as it rang. "HOWEVER!" He continued with his voice full of might and almost kingly. "HOWWWWEEEVVEERRR, I'll have you know that all women are queens, thus, I cannot let you talk about her highness that way."

Rei wiped the dripping sweat off the bottom of his chin with the back of his hand as a response. He swallowed his saliva, doing his best not to laugh and realizing that there was a joke here that needed to be made but in the end, he moved towards him with a mocking grin, saying, "Oh, that girl is a goddamn thot—well, I'll just say that she's a whore."

"Bastard! Is that all you have to say for your last words, you vile criminal?!" The knight roared as he stomped the ground and clenched both of his fists. "Then if so, prepare to meet your end!"

"Oh god, he has to be roleplaying..." Rei scoffed with a broken smile. "The only crimes I have committed are such acts of love that includes watching children walk out of our nearby elementary school while dreaming of touching them… it is pretty minuscule compared to your mistress that breaks into little the rooms of little boys and—"

He was interrupted when the knight in front of him dashed and threw a fist right at his face. Rei dodged the blow quite easily with a nervous grin, he brought down his sword next and aimed its cold biting teeth right at his enemy's stomach that just bounced off of his armor after making it ring like a bell. Finding out that he had no space left to follow up with another attack, he jumped away just in time to get out of the knight's range as he swung his arm towards him.

"Chill out man, I always make it a point to study my targets…" Rei shouted to the knight after catching his breath. He stole a glance at his blade and as soon as he realized that it was now severely damaged with some parts of its edges nicked, he let out a chuckle and followed, "Of course, I would know about his nasty habit of touching little boys while they're asleep. Ah… now that I think about it…" He then smiled wide like a prospector finding his gold. "That's the reason why you're out of the room when I clapped her naked ass, huh?"

"You bastard!" The knight bellowed once more as he jumped and came into where he was with a flying kick.

Rei, as a response, let out an awkward grin once more as he tossed his sword into the air as if he was just doing a mere coinflip. He stepped to his left to dodge as the knight instinctively looked at the blade wobbling in midair before he made contact. In the midst of the earth-shattering impact and the dense cloud of dust he had created, the knight raised his right arm almost immediately, knowing that Rei would come and attack him from the space beyond of what he could see but to his surprise, he felt some pressure carving through the bottom of his left eye.

The knight pulled his head back to dodge his enemy's sword as soon as he felt it almost cutting through his helm. At that same second, as soon as he saw it being lowered as though Rei was preparing for another strike, he gritted his teeth and forced his enemy's sword to meet his gauntlets. Rei's blade was snapped in two when their attacks collided but his attack still went through, still with an amount of force that was strong enough to widen the gap of the left eyehole of his great helm. The knight, who seemed to be unfazed about what happened, then twisted his upper body to face his enemy. With that, after taking a deep breath, he planted his feet to the ground and he threw a punch that landed on the reaper's chest before he sent him flying towards the treeline.

"Still, I am quite taken aback that you, as the cowardly fighter you are, are this well versed in combat," the knight muttered as soon as he was able to relax his body. Then, after a moment of silence and a realization that his opponent might have escaped, he let out a chuckle. He pressed his thumb to feel the cut on the left eyehole of his great hem and followed it up by caressing the cut that was carved right below it. He looked at the broken blade on the ground and with a sigh, he continued, "I am truly saddened that we had to meet under these circumstances but alas, I know where you are and this fight is not over yet until I have gotten my revenge for my fallen queen."

Then… after a few minutes, deep in the forest of thick trees dressed by the sea of dried leaves on the floor where the other man named Juanito was hiding, Rei emerged and revealed himself to him from the shadows. He let out a pained laugh, crumpling his thick long-sleeved shirt as he pressed his right hand over his left shoulder.

"Well, that's that last of my guns, grenade, and sword," He said, grunting as soon as he was able to sit beside him. "My left arm is fucked and all I have left is a single flashbang."

"I still have my pistol… and," Juanito pulled up his weapon and checked its magazine. "I have around four shots left… wait no, it's five, counting the one on the chamber." He then chuckled as he faced the moon above them accompanied by a few sets of glittering stars around it. "Do we have any chance, of, you know… going back to base?"

"Well, we don't… I don't think so if you want me to be honest, but I'm sure as hell going to try," Rei replied as he closed his eyes after a long breath through his nose. "We basically have an unkillable bastard that we could not harm and could kill us in one hit. To make things worse, it seems like he knows where we are."

"Like Mr. X?" Juanito asked as he raised his brow.

"Oh," Rei opened his eyes and looked at him. "I didn't think about it like that… Resident Evil?"

"Oh yeah, it came about a year or two before I died, I can't remember."

"Wait, you're that old?" Rei smiled.

"Nah, I played the remake."

"Remake?"

"Yeah, it had a remake."

"Okay? I—" Rei smiled in wonder but then, at that same second, he jumped out from his seat as soon as he heard the fallen leaves in the distance rustling along with the sound of clanking metal. Then, with a serious gaze, he turned to Juanito and asked, "Have you checked the map? Do we have any large buildings nearby we could cower in?"

"Yes, I did see an apartment building while I was checking the maps," he replied immediately as he stood up from where he was. "We'll have to head west and break out of the park though."

Rei sighed. "Good, notify Miss MC about our plan and where we are heading. Go to that building too and in the meantime, give me your gun and let me see how far I could drag him away from you."