[Attention! Are there any violent scenes in this chapter that may not be pleasant for you! Not recommended for people with a weak psyche and sensitive people!]
I bit her hand–there was no choice. It's either me or her. And then a sharp, disgusting taste of metal flashed under in my teeth. What kind of filth is this? Who has that kind of skin?
No sooner had I realized this nightmare than I was thrown to the floor by a blow to the jaw.
The blow wasn't fatal, but it was enough to send sparks flying from my eyes. That... that thing knocked out my tooth. For the first time in my life, I was hit by an adult. For the first time, I tasted my own blood. And it turned out to be not at all as sweet as it was written in the books. It was nauseating. I spat.
"Kyo, no! Don't touch him! Please!"
Asagi's desperate cry broke through the noise in her ears.
I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't work. Fear gripped my whole body, paralyzed me. I was afraid. I was afraid of what they would do to Asagi, I was afraid of what would happen now… I couldn't even get up.
And she couldn't get to me. The two gorillas squeezed her body so hard that I could hear the bones crunching. And then her scream. An inhuman, soul-rending scream, such as I have not even heard from children in duels. Adults… Are they really worse? Is it really only them that we are need to be afraid of, and not our peers?
But... something had to be done.
"What an abomination you are… You're all... just trash. You have stooped to mutilate defenseless children.… Do you really have no honor at all? Or do you need to force self-esteem into your empty heads?"
I have to be strong for Asagi. I have to hide this damn fear that has made it impossible for me to move. Adrenaline rushed into my blood, overwhelmed me. I hardly understood what I was saying, but I remembered exactly how I grabbed one of the vases. I smashed it on the floor and, clutching the shard in his hand, stepped forward. On them. Those who had nothing sacred about them. In whom there was only an empty human shell.
Emptiness instead of a soul.
I guess I thought I was cool at that moment. For the first time in my life, I went against the adults. Against all this rotten society they've created. I was not a cog in the system, but a hammer ready to crush everything.
But... how wrong I was.… They exchanged glances. And they laughed.
"You're such a funny kid," Yuki drawled, "but your lesson isn't over yet."
She wasn't scared. Not a drop. On the contrary, there was a predatory interest in her eyes, like a cat watching a mouse trapped in a mousetrap. Slowly, as if enjoying my fear, she took a pistol out of her pocket and pointed it at me.
Asagi's eyes were filled with horror. She tried desperately to pull away, but it was all in vain.
"Kyo, save yourself! Run away! Leave me here!"
I froze. I couldn't move. This moment seemed eternal - I was alone with death.
"Please don't touch him! He's a fool...He doesn't know what he makes! And he saved that girl because Kyo has been a kind-hearted man since childhood, ready to lend a hand to anyone in need. Isn't that the point of being human? Or do you have your own ideas about how we should be human? Then tell us, and we'll fix it. If necessary, I'll make him improve himself...Just don't touch him, please!"
I saw tears in Asagi's eyes - I saw her soul screaming in pain and despair that she couldn't save me. On the contrary, Asagi, I should have saved you, and not you me. I was ashamed that I had dragged her into my quarrel - she was suffering because of me right now. But there was nothing I could do, I could only stare like the last piece of shit. What a weakling and coward I am.
There was something in Yuki's eyes that I couldn't understand. But apparently, she calmed down.
"It's very impressive, if you continue in this spirit, you will certainly rise up the career ladder and be able to take a leadership position in our great state..."
Where is everyone bullying each other? Is that their greatness? They're more crazy than I expected.
But looking at Asagi, at the rays of hope that sparkled in her eyes, I myself began to indulge in the hope that there might be at least something left in such scum as them that makes them human, otherwise why would they need such an appearance? They Then they should take off their skins and walk like monsters on the ground.
I wanted to hope that we would be spared, because Asagi is not only the instigator of conflicts, but also knows how to solve them when necessary.
Well done, Asagi! She actually put down her weapon.
I'm proud of you!
"Thank you...Thank you..."
Asagi choked on her tears, but tried to influence Yuki and her pack as much as possible.
"But you better get rid of that parasite that's always clinging to you..."The coldness in her voice made my body shudder with fear.
And then Yuki pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot stunned me. I felt a sharp pain in my ear, as if it had been pierced by a red-hot nail. Blood gushed down his neck.
I screamed. Not from pain, but from terror. She... she shot me in the ear. I felt the blood pouring over my face, as pieces of flesh hung on my hair. I jerked, instinctively trying to pull away, and immediately got another punch in the stomach. I fell to the floor again, writhing in pain.
"That's right, cry, children. Share with me with your pain. Aunt Yuki comfort you!"
The way she looked at me raised more questions than answers. She looked at me as a piece of meat, not a person. Her laughter reverberated throughout the room as if someone had said a funny joke, and began to turn into hysterical laughter. Only the irony was in that - that the situation did not give cause for laughter, it did not even look like a joke in the style of black humor, it was a game with death that amused her. This laughter did not belong to an adequate person, it was the hysterical laughter of a creature who was only a man on the outside. And her whole game with death, which she arranged for us, was similar to the tortures in hell that sinners were subjected to after death. The scary thing was that we were not in hell, it all happened in reality, and we did not know what we were really punished for.
We had only guesses - this is all because I saved the wolf girl, perhaps I did not obey the orders of Commander Friedrich. Or maybe we shouldn't have seen the scene in the medical office - what happened to Hinata. Maybe I shouldn't have bitten her and let her give me that damn shot? But I had to save me!
There is no other way! What she hoped for was that a person would suddenly lose his willpower and drown out his instinct for self-preservation? But is it possible to punish a person for this - for his true nature?
I don't understand anything! My head is bursting at the seams from pain and guesses.
Who knows what's in her mind? What made her raise the trigger on me and shoot me?
The mystery behind her behavior frightened me more than the guesses in my head. She was a walking encyclopedia of madness and mystery for me.
Her intentions could be guessed. But were these guesses correct? You never know what's going on in the head of a madman. Even the adults I knew seemed to me to be very kind - but it turned out to be different. This world is not predictable!
Her step and goals were unpredictable. What will be her next step? It will be scary to imagine!
"Why are you doing this with us? What are we guilty of? You don't even give us a chance to fix our mistakes!"
Asagi's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I heard Asagi screaming - I heard her throwing tantrums and I screamed myself in response to her scream.
But the mad woman did not care about Asagi's grief - she ignored her as if she wasn't in the room with us.
"…It's time to talk," the woman said coldly, looking down at me. There was no pity or sympathy in her eyes. Only icy cruelty.
What is she going to do with the me?
Please, not this! Not a shot again, my mind will not withstand such mockery!
I didn't believe in God before, but now it's the only hope to escape from her clutches! Please, Lord, if you hear me, then stop our suffering! Please!
The stale air in the room was saturated with an acrid, sweet smell. Some kind of chemical shit that slowly crawled into my lungs and clouded my mind. I could feel the poison spreading through my veins, robbing me of my will and confusing my thoughts. It seems that it was because of this stuff that my memories blurred, like watercolor on wet paper, and I could no longer vouch for every word that escaped my lips.
My thoughts were confused, but I understood one thing clearly.: My situation couldn't be worse. The woman started asking questions, and I desperately tried to answer, but the body seemed to belong to someone else. It only got worse with every word he said. Suddenly, an acute, unbearable lack of air flared up in my chest. I think I was suffocating.
I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs refused to work. No air was coming in. The world swam as if through a column of water, and the body went limp, filled with a leaden weight. I fell to my knees and saw the woman holding out her hand. A needle flashed in her fingers. It should have ended right now. I knew it with every cell of my body.
But unlike my body, my mind resisted. I refused to accept this alien choice, this alien fate. How could I let someone decide for me without knowing the consequences? What's going to happen to me after this damn injection? Will I die? Will I become stronger? Or, even worse, will I turn into a puppet, an obedient robot following orders from others? They'll say, let's say, kill Asagi, and I won't even lift a finger to protect her.
Speaking of Asagi… What will happen to her if I don't become strong? How will she survive without me? I looked at her. Pale, exhausted face, bruises under the eyes, heavy breathing… She was holding on with all her strength, but she was looking at me. Like she was trying to say something. Like she was trying to cheer me up. How long have you been awake, Asagi, because of me? She was holding out her hand to me, as if calling for me to get out of this nightmare, but we were trapped in a trap that adults had so carefully woven. And what have we done to them? We were just ordinary kids: frolicking, playing pranks, fighting, defending each other. We did what was in the spirit of the children. And even if children in books don't obey adults, what about real children? They are much more aggressive and unpredictable. But apparently, the adults around us didn't need real children. They wanted to make us inhumans like themselves: soulless machines incapable of empathy.
I didn't want to live in this world.…
But... she needed me.…
And it all happened because of me. If I hadn't stood up for that damn girl, we both would have been safe. And Asagi wouldn't cry because of me. How many scars have I inflicted on her because of my actions-can't I count?
Suddenly, the silence was broken by the eerie scrape of claws on metal. The claws of... something very big and strong. Yuki flinched as if she had been electrocuted.
"Quickly! Herbs! Sprinkle everything around the door!" She hissed, panicking.
The thugs rushed to obey the order, scattering some dry grass at the threshold.
"That's not it, you fools! We need moonlight herbs!"
Are the Moonlight herbs another mystery that I'll have to guess?
The screeching did not stop. It was getting louder and more ominous. For the first time in my life, I saw real fear on the faces of these scumbags.
I heard a wild howl that shook the whole room. The thugs flinched, and the masked woman froze, as if she had heard something very dangerous. But it wasn't just a howl. It was a call. And this call was addressed to me.
The howling died down, but the tension in the room reached its limit. Suddenly, the door shook from a powerful impact, and deep scratches appeared on it. One of the thugs screamed, clutching his face – a deep laceration had crossed his cheek, from which blood was gushing. The second man tried to raise his weapon, but at the same moment collapsed to the floor, twitching in convulsions. Long claws pierced his back, leaving a trail of blood in their wake.
Yuki staggered back, staring in horror at the unfolding carnage. The herbs didn't seem to work. And then the door burst open with a bang, and she burst into the room. The wolf girl. The one I saved.
But why is she here?
"You… You saved me," the wolf girl whispered, looking at me. "I owe you a favor."
"Debt?" Yuki snorted contemptuously. "Do you think debts mean anything in this world?"
The wolf's eyes were burning with rage, and there were still shreds of flesh on her bloody claws.
"Let him go!" She growled, glaring at everyone in the room. "Otherwise..."
Yuki chuckled. "Otherwise what? Do you think you're the only one against all of us?"
She waved her hand, and the wall behind her parted, revealing a view of the next room. My friends were sitting there, tied up and terrified. Minato, Tori, Miku... our whole class was there...All of them were tied to electric chairs, and mechanisms hung over them, ready to immerse them in water at any moment.
"Take one step and they'll die," Yuki hissed, enjoying our horror.
I saw how the face of the wolf girl changed - it was no longer hard, it was only fear and uncertainty. She looked at me and the other children, as if deciding who to save.
And I froze in shock, not believing that this was happening in reality. I didn't want anyone to be sacrificed to save the rest, I just wanted us all to get out unharmed.
But what will happen - how will the wheel of fortune turn? What will she choose? Whose fate will be decided in an instant?
Shit.... shit... shit!!!!