Dukken awoke startled to find Milish standing over him, which alarmed him even more. The soldier informed him it was his turn to drive, and Dukken complied without question. It was morning, and their route took them through a large, devastated city. Charred buildings lined the road, looking as though they might collapse at any moment, and corpses and skeletons littered every corner. This grim scene played havoc on Dukken’s nerves. Whispers echoed from behind the buildings and among the vehicles, growing steadily louder and more numerous. His head spun, his vision blurred, and his body weakened, until he was snapped out of his hallucinations by the sound of Geno clapping and saying: “Hold on! Hold on! You’re too young to lose your mind!”
“Mr. Geno, you’re here?”, Dukken said, only just realizing that the elder was seating beside him. Geno replied: “You’re thirty-eight years old, correct?”
“That’s right. How did you know?”
Geno sat motionless like a statue for a few seconds, then suddenly said: “You’re married, aren’t you?”
“Yes… Yes, I am. How did you—?”
The old scientist responded with childlike enthusiasm: “I knew a lot about you from the first look! Yes, yes! But your wife’s name, I only learned that yesterday. Are things bad between you two???”
“No, not at all!”, Dukken with certainty. “Laima loves me more than anyone, and so do I. Those nightmares, however, are from... all of this”, Dukken gestured to the destruction around them, then he continued: “She’s pregnant, and I’m scared I won’t make it back to her, or see my child”
Geno’s face clouded with sorrow, and he seemed close to tears. He stroked his scruffy beard as he tried to console the young doctor: “Stay strong for them. Once we find the Energy Stone, it’ll all be over, I assure you that”
Geno’s confident words gave Dukken a glimmer of hope. After a few moments, Dukken asked: “And you… Are you married?”
“I was, to the most beautiful angel on this mud ball of a planet”
“Was?”
“She was killed…”
The response shocked Dukken into silence. Before he could speak, Geno continued, his lips trembling and movements erratic: “And my seven children… my parents… my seven siblings… their families… my friends... my entire village… everyone I ever loved…”
Geno turned to Dukken and mimicked a falling motion with his hand.
“I watched them all die, one after another, over the past seven hundred years, falling like birds that died mid-flight and plummeted suddenly…”
Staring ahead, Geno added: “Do you know who else was killed? Millions upon millions of Kovkonians… killed and got killed, killed and got killed, killed and got killed…”. He repeated those last two words in a haunting, singsong voice.
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Dukken remained silent, gaining a deeper understanding of the ancient man’s story. Finally, he said empathetically: “I’m sorry for your losses”
“Don’t be sorry, don’t be sorry, no, no”, Geno replied, somewhat reproachfully. “It’s our nature as Kovkonians. Violence and bloodlust run through our veins. We are cursed creatures who sentenced ourselves to death…”
Dukken said nothing, understanding Geno’s point of view to an extent.
“Time and nations change, but the demands remain the same, weapons, plagues, torture devices… And now they’re trying to use you for their sick ambitions, just like they used me. Don’t let them! Don’t allow them! When you go back, stay with your wife and never leave her again, understood???”
Dukken hesitated, then nodded firmly. Geno smiled, leaned back, and drifted off to sleep. Dukken drove alone for hours, wondering why Milish was unusually still out cold.
As the sun approached the horizon, exhaustion overtook Dukken, and Milish still hadn’t stirred. Dukken stopped the vehicle in a secluded spot and checked on him, realizing the soldier had been drugged. He grew anxious, not for Milish’s health but for his reaction when he finds out, especially toward Geno, whom Dukken was sure was responsible. But how? And when?... He pushed the questions aside as he heard a faint voice calling for help outside.
Looking out the window, he saw a small figure approaching, begging for aid. It turned out to be a little boy, heavily wounded, with one of his eyes gouged out.
Dukken froze, unsure of what to do. He glanced at his two sleeping companions, knowing Geno wouldn’t object, but Milish… What if he woke up? Should Dukken drive off and leave the injured child?
“No… I became a doctor to help people. I won’t stand helpless like I did with my parents’ illness...”, Dukken muttered to himself. Grabbing his medical kit, he stepped out quietly.
He approached the boy with light, quick steps. The child recoiled in terror and staggered back upon recognizing Dukken as a Dektarian. But Dukken reassured him and approached gently, showing his good intentions. He learned a little about the boy, that his family was all gone, and he had been wandering the devastated land. The boy finally trusted him, walking toward Dukken with tears streaming down his cheeks, and the doctor waiting for him like a father waiting for his child. Then, the boy’s head exploded in Dukken’s face, without a warning.
It took Dukken a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. He touched the orange-red blood splattered on his face with his trembling hand, then stared at it. His breathing grew erratic, his heart raced, and his eyes darted around. He turned violently to see Milish with his large handgun.
Dukken snapped, lunging at the soldier and screaming at the top of his lungs: “WHY?!! WHY?!!! YOU WRETCHED—”. He stopped short when he found the gun pointed at his head. Milish spoke with cold disdain: “Anyone who aids the enemies of the nation is sentenced to torture, then execution. That’s the law”
Dukken, unfazed by the threat, retorted: “He was just a child!”
“So what? Kill the enemy in the cradle. Or would you prefer he grows up to be a terrorist who torments us? How many of our children have they killed? Wake up from your delusions, you worthless fool!! You want to see tomorrow? Then do your duty to your nation and your people!”
At the mention of ‘seeing tomorrow’, Dukken remembered his pregnant wife. The only reason he accepted this recruitment was for the protection it granted her, the income it provided to support her in his absence, and the promise of safety and comfort away from the war. His goal was to return to her, safe and sound, and meet their child.
Dukken’s thoughts were interrupted, as was Milish’s focus, by the rising sound of Geno’s voice. The elder, glancing from the vehicle’s door, clutched his head, crying out repeatedly: “Poor soul, poor soul, poor soul…”
Fed up, Milish forced the other two back into the vehicle at gunpoint and resumed driving, watching their every move.