2

"Darek... I'll never leave you..."

When I woke up, my brother's voice still sounded in my ears like it was real.

Something burns my eyes.

And I can cry, it turns out...

I get up and get dressed.

Now I have much less time - after all, I need to get to the bus, and then travel around a couple of cities on it.

It's strange how everyone turns a blind eye to this...

I take a bag of clothes, a gold badge with my serial number, which I call the "price tag".

And the mask, of course...

I always go on missions wearing a stupid glowing ghost mask that I bought during the first murder in my life.

After all, I've been a killer since I was eleven...

My childhood was just stolen...

Squeezing almost all the speeds out of my motorcycle, I sing, at first almost soundlessly, and then at the top of my voice - why be quiet if no one hears me behind this noise anyway? I wouldn

't say that I can sing... I just like to be loud sometimes.

When there is too little space on the road, I jump on my motorcycle and ride along the curb.

I remember how my father and I went to the nitrodrome, watched Cornelius snatch places from opponents, stably, although not the first, but always in the top three ...

I did not see when the curb by the road ended.

The motorcycle soars up... Do I hit a rock...

or the ground?

I close my eyes.

Let something happen already...

***

I look around.

Am I conscious?

— Hi, Darek...—

He's sitting next to me and smiling. The sun is shining on my bedroom in our house on Gloriaterra...

— Cornelius...— I can hardly pronounce it.—So this is heaven? Are we dead?—

— We'll be together.—Cornelius says, smiling.— You just wait...—

He suddenly bends down and whispers:

— You heard that I was there... Wake up, Darek! —

... I open my eyes.

Of course, all that is good in life is a dream...

I touched my fingers to the back of my head and miraculously refrained from screaming.

It seems that the blood has already flowed down the back of my neck... The bike is intact, and all the bumps, apparently, are for me...

I hit my hip, during my first serious incident I realized that this is the best way to determine damage.

I don't seem to have broken anything... But my head hurts terribly...

I unbend my arm and this time I scream with pain at the top of my voice when the bone falls into place.

I fall back on the grass, gasp for air, the wound on the back of my head stings, but it's even good, it keeps me conscious.

A branch snapped somewhere nearby.

Hmm, am I going to be afraid of forest animals?

I sit down on the largest rock and look at myself as much as possible.

And why do I have bad days just when I'm wearing what I love?

There is definitely no way to save the jacket, the T-shirt now consists more of dirt than of fabric, one sleeve is torn off right up to the collarbone...

Remembering the medallion, I immediately put my hand under the T-shirt.

Here... It's good that it's here!

I'm looking at it. In this light, as it is now, it is not very clear to see all the photos, but I can see my elder brother Cornelius well even in the dark.

It's like he's glowing. I've been watching him like this all my life...

It always seemed like there was a glow coming from him...

The branch is crunching again!

I remembered the flashlight on my tactical wristband. I hope that he did not crash in the fall ...

At the first two attempts to press the button, the button is pushed through, and on the third a small space is illuminated by a narrow ray of light that disappears in the dark.

The branch crunches once more.

I direct my meager light source towards the noise.

My scream beats with a pulse in my head and echoes in my blood vessels.

I take some knives off my belt and throw them at what I saw there.

This creature looks like a spider, but it is woven from human bodies!

I crawl away to the side of my bike.

My heart is beating terribly fast right now.

This terrible creature growled at me.

— Damn it!—I blurted out softly.

Pulling the motorcycle, but it seems that fate is not kind to me now - my faithful iron horse was trapped between two stones.

I run to the road from the bottom up and run out onto a busy highway.

The bag, oddly enough, is still in my hands.

I walk along the road, with very little hope that someone will agree to give me a ride.

Suddenly, a long limousine stops in front of me.

— Sit down, Dariusz...—Mariusz rolls down the window.— What happened to you?—

— I caught a couple of monsters, as always, why you asking?—I say.— Do you have food in the car?—

— Of course...—

***

I stand in the shower for a very long time, change my clothes, make sure that the mask covers my entire face.

Not a single feature should be visible...

everything in the hall is plastic and unnatural as always.

It's good that there are unlimited treats here...

I really want to take the first glass I see and cut everyone's throats, like cutting flowers from a flower bed.

And it would be better to go back to that stretch of road and give that terrible monster a thrashing...

whether he exhales some kind of gas that disorients people, or... Well, this monster scared me very much...

One of the guys like me, a long-haired guy in a mask, handed me a glass.

— No, thanks...—I waved it off.

— I advise you to taste it, Dariusz. It's you, isn't it? Are you the one they call Ghost?—He asked me.

— I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk to anyone.— I stepped aside.

I've been pestered by strange people before, but such conversations always end with the transmitter being turned off...

I haven't been afraid for myself for a long time, I don't want others to risk themselves...

I'm sure many people know me by sight, but that doesn't give them the right to chat with me like that...

They can all die like that...

— I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk to anyone.— I stepped aside.

I've been pestered by strange people before, but such conversations always end with the transmitter being turned off...

I haven't been afraid for myself for a long time, I don't want others to risk themselves...

I'm sure many people know me by sight, but that doesn't give them the right to chat with me like that...

They can all die like that...

— Do you think I'll leave you alone so easily?—

Fingers are digging into my shoulder, thin but incredibly strong.

— I still don't understand what you want from me...—I turn to my pursuer.

A glass is pressed into my hand.

— Have a drink first.—

Opening the lower part of the mask wider, I put a glass to my lips and tip the contents into my mouth.

My head starts to feel a little dizzy.

— What did you give me? If it was poison, I can't even explain how stupid you are. He's always watching me...—I say, my lips moving weakly.

— I would have poisoned anyone but you...—

We left the hall.

— And what do you want from me?— I feel him grab my mask and slap his hands.—If you take off your mask, I'll show you my face too. And by the way, you know my name, but I don't know yours.—

— Enrique. It's better without surnames, you'll be afraid of me if you find out everything about me.—

He closed the curtains on all sides. We ended up on a tiny piece of parquet floor.

I took a deep breath, keeping my fingers on the mask.

— If you don't trust me, let's do it at the same time...—

He slowly lifted his mask up.

For some reason, I sincerely hoped to see something ugly there, but it was not so.

A very handsome boy, not much older than me, dark-skinned, small black eyes looked at me mockingly.

— You look like you've seen a ghost.— He said and laughed.— Although I see the ghost now. When you stop looking at me like that, I'll explain what I was going to tell you...—

— I'm sorry, I thought I'd see something else...—I said.

— Me too. You're too young for such a long career.—Enrique sat down on a chair.—I've been serving Mariusz for too long to see that he cares about you very much. If

If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't have included a tracking device in your chip. The drug I gave you is jamming your chip's signal. Of course, I added something there and it can make you drunk very quickly, but without it it would be very painful...—

— And what do you want from me?—I asked.

— Of all those who are close to Mariusz, you are the closest to him.—Enrique said.—And no one else can kill him...—

These words shocked me.

— And what am I supposed to do?— I feel like my knees are buckling.— Do you think Mariusz can be killed?—

— Even death can be killed.—Enrique took my hand and wrote something on my palm in an uneven handwriting.— It would be better to discuss all this in this place. —

— Your house?—I ask.

— You'll see.—The guy smiled fervently.

— Are you Mexican?—I ask the question in an undertone.

— Dariusz, if you are so poorly versed in nationalities, you immediately fell in my eyes...—Enrique frowned playfully.— You're a smart guy.—

— An Indian, then, as I originally thought... It's just that one person told me that Indians are the smartest people in the world. This may sound strange, but I always

I was hoping to check it out...—I smiled.— Don't look at me like that, I'm in business!—

— Then tomorrow, at about two o'clock in the afternoon...—Enrique pulled back the curtain.— In the meantime, we're splitting up...—