6-8 Elimination Completed (2)

Date: September 9-10

Place: Interrogation Room

[Cedrick]

"He hasn't been seen going out on any floors," he said again, probably checking every footage of the cameras.

    I ran to the nearest elevator to try and see where he is headed. Before I took a turn, I bumped into someone.

"Oh—sorry," I apologized, the guy on a hood only bowed and walked away as I continued running to my destination. I saw the elevator closed and it wouldn't open or respond even how many times I try to press the button.

"We found the dead body inside of the elevator," a captain reported.

"Captain, he's still breathing," I hear one of the soldiers who's probably near the body.

"Bring him to the emergency room and make him the top priority," he orders.

"Roger," then their voices and footsteps slowly vanished. I was about to go to the emergency stairs when I realized something.

"And it is most likely that the perpetrator escaped using the elevator right next door," as he let go of those words, I was already running, hoping I could catch up to the guy that I bumped into earlier.

    It's true that I didn't see him directly leaving the elevator but we were the only ones in the vicinity. And now that I think about it, there was an open elevator next to the broken one.

"I'm in pursuit of the suspect, do send back-up to my coordinates," I say in the transmitter in a hurry.

    I did catch up with him but as soon as he realized that I was tailing him, he started to run too. It surely is the guy that they sent to eliminate the subjects who they have no use of anymore. What a cruel organization.

"Stop right there!" I shout. "Or I will shootー" I was just trying to scare him when suddenly he turned in my direction and pulled the trigger. He managed to scratch my shoulder and slowed me down. Now that I know that he also has a gun, I started to be more careful as I get my own. I load it up and stopped for a second to aim and shoot. It was a direct hit from his side. He turned left and took cover from the wall as I started to run with more care.

    When I reached his destination, a flashbang and a smoke bomb were the ones who greeted me. I took assistance from the walls as I run towards the smoke. I finally get to see and when I opened my eyes, the back-up were the ones whom I met at the end of the fog.

"Sir?" They were confused. I looked behind me to see the smoke gone and no one was there. I lost him.

"Look thoroughly on this floor," I ordered and they followed. "I'm sorry," I whispered to myself, clenching my wrists.

~~

    After a few minutes passed, I got my shoulder bandaged and they reported back.

"We're sorry, sir. We couldn't find anyone nor any trace," I told them that I got a clean hit on his side so there should've been some traces of blood that we could follow. There was no one on the vents, no doors nearby, or anywhere he could've escaped. There were also cameras but the Supreme Commander told us that the culprit wasn't seen exiting the smoke.

"Good work everyone, dismissed," I say giving them an order to go back to their beds and leave the rest to me. After that, I received a call from the Supreme Commander that the boy didn't make it.

    They sent their message to Rei, killed the pawn, and made a clean escape. Just how do they do that?

[Kazuma]

"You can't do anything on your own, can you?" The sigh of disappointment of Professor lingers in my ear.

"Thank you for sparing me, sir," I extended my gratitude. Because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it out alive.

"If you were found out it'll be more troublesome because they'll suspect everyone!" So he had no choice but to help me. "But remember, there is no next time," he said furiously, reminding me to lay low and not move hastily.

"Understood," I was answered with a silent sigh and was cut off.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue," I say my gratitude to the one who saved me when I was inside the smoke.

"Shut up. You disturbed my precious sleep," he says yawning. "We better go back before someone notices us," he says, he probably snuck out of his room after he got the order to save me.

"Yeah," I say. "Could you drop me off at my room?" I asked nicely and he couldn't refuse. Because if he did, I'd have to go through the cameras.

"You lucky bastard," he gritted his teeth from irritation.

~~

    Luckily, everyone was asleep in our room but I put a little amount of sleeping gas to make sure they stay asleep until I manage to dress my wound in the bathroom. And I should probably have someone take a look at it tomorrow because I was in a hurry cleaning it.

    Rei and Cedrick haven't come back yet even after I finished with everything I need to do.

    Cedrick...

    Although I am not entirely sure that I wanted to be part of one of his skits, the looked on his panicked face when I pulled the triggerーwhat a sight. Good luck finding the culprit now.

    I closed my eyes and longed to sleep. It was a long day after all.