I felt a dribble of blood escape my ears as violent echoes overtook the tunnel. I opened my eyes and saw my choices before me, four men laid on the ground, adorned in blood and lifelessness. Their heads were open, caved in on one side while burst apart on the other. They spilled blood by the pint, soaking the floor.

I felt my stomach churn, and I’d have thrown up at the sight, but I simply didn't have the strength. The pain in my shoulder persisted, and I struggled to hoist myself from the ground, using the wall for support.

There was no way the noise didn’t attract some attention, so I needed to move before it was too late. I got my ass off the ground slightly before crumbling again. My left shoulder no longer burned as it did before, but the aches and numbness remained. My legs felt like straw, loosely bound together with unrealistic expectations of holding my weight.

I tried to push again, pressing my right hand firmly on the blood-soaked stone. My left arm hung loosely at the shoulder where I was struck, and as I forced myself up, I managed to slide a knee beneath my body to support myself. My breathing had grown harsh and choppy as I struggled to inhale through fits of coughing blood. I'd probably had my lungs punctured by fragments of the bones broken within me.

“Shit, I couldn’t have had an ability to heal injuries too? What good is saving myself from death if I’m still going to die anyway?”

I trudged forward, my feet scraping through the red as I drag them along. All my victims were unrecognizable, their faces painted across the floor like abstract splash art.

“I hope for their families’ sake that they carry some ID. What kind of person needs weapons like this?”

I noticed one of the guns resting peacefully in a pool of the owner's blood. We were always warned by the media to be careful of Cambions and their dangerous abilities. Yet, weapons meant to maim and disfigure people like these flew under the radar, carried by the city's 'protectors.' I fought my ailing body but managed to pick the weapon up.

It was cold to the touch, heavy and metallic. I turned it over and traced my finger over metal notches, buttons, and tiny levers. The idea that something so seemingly fragile could cause so much destruction was frightening to me.

“It came from this way!”

I quickly put the gun into my jacket pocket and turned to see more flashlights beaming down the tunnel. I stepped over the dead men and moved as fast as my body would allow me in the direction the kids went. My left leg dragged, limping behind in my stride. I didn’t feel the same pain as before; it’d been replaced with dullness overtaking the left side of my body. I was still losing blood, but the flow has slowed since my ability activated.

Shit.

Not only was I moving too slow, but I was leaving behind a trail of blood to follow. I guess it didn’t matter; I was dead whether I ran or not. The kids shouldn’t have gone far. The sewer was a winding maze, but I'd taught them how to get around. Our rendezvous point was only a few streets away, and we knew how to count streets based on the sewer grates overhead.

“It's getting dark out, but the fact that there is still light coming in tells me I was partially right. Time must have stopped completely, and not just around me.”

The lights shining behind me disappeared for a moment.

“We got bodies here! Four dead, the Cambion has to be down here!”

“Shit, there’s no more time. I have to find the kids.”

The fleeting light from above quickly dissolved, leaving me alone in dank shadows. I pressed myself into the side of the tunnel, both to help guide me forward and to help wavering body. It shouldn’t be much further, one more street and I would be there. But, I found that I had hit my limit. I collapsed onto the ground, barely staying upright with the help of the wall.

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My brain told my muscles to move, but I felt nothing. Damn it, if I was a Cambion, then where was my supernatural strength? Where was my durability? Cambions were supposed to be superior to humans; it was the reason humans hated them. Yet, of all the Cambions hidden in the world, I must have been the only one dying from blood loss in a sewer.

"How fucking lame is this-" I choked on the blood in my mouth while trying to speak.

No matter what I was in life, it didn't seem to matter. All roads for me would lead here, a worthless and meaningless death to cap off a useless and empty life. I felt terrible for the kids that they looked up to someone like me.

Wait, the kids. No matter how much I griped about my life, I was the only one in the world that could do anything to help them. Despite how meaningless I felt, right then, I was one of a kind, the only person capable of doing this job. No matter what happened to me, I would make sure those kids made it out of this tunnel alive.

By this point, my left side was dead, unmoving despite my efforts. I reached for the pistol in my coat, barely able to pull it out with my shaking hands. If I was going to help Palm, Lucas, Bonnie, and Kay, I needed to jumpstart and get over this hump of fatigue. Despite the pain that getting shot initially had caused, it also filled me with adrenaline.

I took the gun and pressed the barrel into my right thigh, then pulled the trigger. The shot would've alerted everyone in the tunnel, but that was what I wanted. I wanted every murderer in here to know I was still alive, and I was ready to take as many of them with me as I could so the kids could escape.

I felt the adrenaline surge, overtaking the searing pain in my thigh. I managed to avoid an artery but likely cracked or shattered my femur. I pressed anyway, pressing all of my weight on to broken and feeble bones and muscle until I was finally standing again.

Then, I was assaulted by floodlights shining past me deep into the tunnel. I covered my face with my right arm while trying to keep the gun aimed ahead of me. My eyes were getting heavier; they throbbed and became foggy.

“Where are they? What do you want from us?” I screamed. My throat burned as I muscled out the words. I let loose several gunshots into the blinding lights.

I heard a faint clapping, but it grew louder as the lights lowered from my face. I moved my arm to let my eyes readjust. A tall man stepped out in front of me, dressed in a long olive coat, adorned with gold accents and medals on the left breast. His face was vague but fiendish, and his hair was tucked beneath an officer’s cap. He stood over me, poised as if to mock the crumpled posture I struggled to hold against the wall.

“Are you the one we’re looking for?” he said softly. The words slithered off his lips as if flickered into my ear from the mouth of a serpent.

I aimed the gun right between his eyes and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Click.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

What irony, that the gun would run empty before my aimless fighting spirit. I felt my body slip down the wall, but I continued to hold myself up with as much strength as I could.

“We tested the other’s bodies. No matches, unfortunately. But none of those children mentioned someone like you.”

The air in the room grew thick and heavy, and I could feel the color drain from my complexion, leaving my arms paperwhite. The man approached me and extended his arm. He gripped my face, his hand wrapped around my jaw. I tried to recoil but only managed to lose the gun. I had no strength left.

The serpent's eyes were vibrant red but lacked any emotion. There was no shake, quiver, or inconsistency in this creature's gaze. It bored through me, answering questions I hadn’t even been asked from my expression alone.

“You killed my other men, didn’t you? How interesting.”

I was still losing my footing and could feel my loosening grip on reality.

“How did you do it? Was it your Arma? Or did you use some bullets on them too? I have many questions, so please stay awake.”

I could barely keep up with his words. What was this guy talking about? Couldn't he tell I was one foot in death’s door? I couldn't answer any of this sketchy guy’s question, even if I knew what he was asking.

I tried to focus on the man’s face. It was calm, studious as if he was performing some kind of examination just by looking at me. His jaw was sharp, his features tight and angular. I've never forgotten his eyes, pools of flaming blood ready to engulf me in an instant.

“Maybe you just don’t want to talk to me.” He released me, and I collapsed to the floor on my knees.

My head hung low, and the cold stone wall was the only thing that keeping me from toppling over. I watched his feet as he took a few steps back. Then, small footsteps approached me.

“Sylas? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Palm? Palm, is that you?” I frantically responded.

She stepped out of the darkness from behind the man and approached me. My vision continued fading in and out, but I could see her; I could see her pigtails clear enough to know it was Palm.

“The bad men were looking for you, Sylas…we tried to help…to keep them from you-“

“Palm, stop. This is my fault, not yours. I should’ve been more prepared for something like this. I should’ve known how to protect you.”

Tears streamed down my face, carving paths like a river through canyons of blood and dirt.

“I’m going to fix this, so you and the others can continue on like I taught you.” I strained my neck, just enough to see the devil himself standing over Palm. His eyes were glowing red, with a demonic horn extending from his cap. Did I imagine it?

“You…” I coughed, “Take me or kill me or whatever you want. But let the kids go.”

I felt Palm embrace me, wrapping her arms around my hanging shoulders. “Sylas…” Palm’s voice faded as the man’s cheeks pulled into a heinous grin.

Palm’s body collapsed in front of me, and despite my failing eyes, I could see her clearly. A deep gash was carved into her throat. I caught a glimpse of her left eye, lifeless, and grey. Her right eye was…gone…a bloody socket in its place.

My ears began to ring, and my head felt fuzzy and hectic, like a whirlwind drowning my consciousness. The man approached me again, and the horn was gone; his eyes no longer glowed.

“We are alike, you and I. Creatures surviving in a world that hates us.” He wrapped his hand around my neck. “Don’t cry for humans, boy. Humanity has never shed a tear for us.”

He dropped me on the ground with Palm's body and walked away. His expensive boots clicked on the stone, pounding against my eardrum like every step he took shook the earth.

"We'll collect him and bring him to Article C, Commander Rain."

An armed man approached and extended his arm toward Palm's corpse. My body moved without me thinking. I saw the man recoil from me in fear as flashing lights and muffled screams surrounded me. Then, I was standing alone beneath the moonlight, with Palm's body in my arms. I gripped her tightly and couldn’t help but to let my tears rush. I collapsed to the ground, unable to move, waiting for death to reunite me with my family.