The sound of desperate panting just ahead of me. Through the halls and stairways, an echoing scream makes itself heard. I watch him trip over himself, slamming into one of the broken stairwell entrance doors. He seems tired. Angry. In a state of pure agony, in every way one could imagine agony to take shape. God, though, that anger really showed through. His red face as he desperately tried to choke back tears. I’d feel bad, if I didn’t loathe him. I morph my foot into something about as heavy as a cinder block, and see him try to evade too late as I stamp down and break his knee to splintered shards. His scream was satisfying.
“Don’t go too far.” I spoke out loud, earning an “I won’t.” from myself, before repeating the same with my other foot on his remaining leg. “We aren’t gonna kill anyone.” A whisper meant only for us that he seemed to pick up on. It caused a rather strange reaction.
“LIAR! FUCKING LIAR!” His scream mixed with his sobbing as he fought to look back at us. I could see it. The absolute terror that had turned his anger into unfocused tears in his eyes. “JUST KILL ME! DON’T HURT ME! DON’T HURT ME ANYMORE!” He screamed and screamed as I bent down.
“Are you afraid?”
“Ngh-! GET AWAY YOU BITCH!” He tried to hit me but my arm formed a tendril, wrapping around his.
“Nah.” I snap it backwards. Satisfied, I step off him, watching him sob into the ground before wrapping my new arm all round him, holding his broken body in the air.
“Freaky. Where’d you learn a trick like that?’ I turn to see the man in his long coat smiling at me, rubbing his chin.
“...so, you’re dad, huh?” I snickered.
“Mmm…am I not speaking to my kid?”
“Hard to say. Better to say you’re talking to half of me. Very hard to consider the concept, yeah?”
“Mmm? What’s the other 50 percent?” We talked as we walked down the stairs, feeling our little killer squirming in my arm’s tight grip.
“A pretty cool girl. Ah-” I felt my cheeks turn red. A chuckle escaped his lips.
“Fun.” We were both stopped by a fist penetrating through one of the steps. A man, wearing a torn police uniform, began pulling himself up, panting like a dog.
“I’m…so fucking…lost…” The officer complained, his head sinking before looking up at us. “Damn…still stuck in bizzaro-land, huh?” He sighed.
“I’d say more normal than whatever the hell you’ve been through. Need a hand?” The man walked past me, grabbing the man’s uniform and, with a pull, got him on the stairs with us.
“Christ! Got some strong arms on ya, huh?” The officer seemed in good spirits despite looking like he’d dragged himself out of hell. His eyes move between us, stopping on the guy wrapped up in my tendril. “There you are. Thought I wouldn’t get the chance. Hey asshole, take a look at this.” The man started reaching into his pocket, and that seemed to set him off.
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“DON’T!” His terrified scream echoed beyond just the stairwell. It felt as though it was loud enough to travel across the whole world. I grit my teeth, feeling my tendril loosen its grip, letting him fall onto the stairs. He was still screaming, but from the looks on the other two’s faces, only I could hear him. “YOU ALL WANNA HURT ME! YOU ALWAYS WANNA HURT ME! I WON’T LET YOU! I WON’T LET ANYONE TOUCH ME! I’M A GOD! I’M SAFE NOW! I’M SAFE I’M SAFE I’M SAFE!” I tried to move, but my head wouldn’t stop rattling. I tried to speak, but it sounded like nothing.
“DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE YOU CAN ALL DIE! JUST DIE!” That wasn’t some fear induced nonsense. I could feel it. My eyes widened as his body started to convulse. My arm sharped into some nonsense shaped blade, acting on my bloodier half’s instincts, but it was too late. It was too late before I even got the chance to realize it was too late.
It started with a small pinch. Then my whole body exploded. I was still observing, but I could see my eyes, my stomach, my meat and skin all blowing around me. Same for the two men in front of me. Everything else followed after, and I watched as the whole world turned to ashy black. What? Wait, what? How the hell…I thought I…but I didn’t kill him? Didn’t I do what I was supposed to do? I did, right? So…so what the hell? What the hell! What just happened?! Just as I wonder that, I feel something against my cheek. I raise my head, and I see…white. Dunes of white. Not cold, not warm, in fact, just nothing. I stood up, and felt my whole body go still. Jesus.
There’s nothing.
Nothing but white.
I take another step forward. Then another. Another.
We should have killed him
Another, another, another.
Why didn’t we kill him?
Another, another, my foot falters.
Oh god. This is our fault, isn’t it?
“Hey.”
I turn my head.
He’s sitting there. Just sitting, staring out at the vast landscape of nothing. W-what? You…why are you…right there…
“What…did…”
“...everyone.”
“You-”
“I killed everyone.”
“Oh. Huh.” I fall back on my butt.
“Yeah. Pretty crazy. Surprised you’re even still here.”
“Me…too…”
“Guess that’s nothing new. You don’t seem to leave me alone.” He sighed, placing his chin on his knees. “Man. What a shitty ending.”
“You…killed everyone…that’s…yeah, that’s a pretty shitty ending.”
“Mmm.” He didn’t respond after that, just continuing to look out at the vast horizon. “Well, if you’re here, I suppose I’ll enjoy the company.”
“You will, huh?” I look down at my hands.
“Fellow killer of all humanity. Guess we’ll be the only gods left to tell their tale.”
“That…so?” I follow his gaze to the horizon. “How disappointing.”
And so, we stayed just like that, until both our consciousnesses faded away.