My analysis of the president's character and the type of governing system that was implemented in this town was correct.
Thus, I was still alive.
The first thing that I noticed after I awoke from my sedative-induced sleep was the smell of feces and how cold the cement my left cheek was resting against was.
"Aaahg," I groaned and lifted my upper body off of the ground.
After I managed to lift my upper body off the ground, I looked around to see that the cell I was in was just a room made fully out of concrete with nothing in it.
I got myself into a sitting position and backed myself against a wall that I could use as a back rest while I waited.
There were no lights in the cell, so the only light that there was in the room came from the opening opposite where I sat. The opening was blocked by bars, and it led to a hallway full of cells, of which my cell was at the end of the hallway.
There was nothing I could entertain myself with other than my thoughts, but on this rare occasion, I preferred not to think about anything, so I just sat in complete silence.
I was not waiting for any certain person, but just for something to happen. I had already taken all different possibilities into account, but I could not perfectly predict the actions of humans, so I could only wait to be told what conclusion the president had come to and then decide my actions based on the president's actions.
"Hey, you! The new kid. Can you hear me?" A ragged and tired voice of an old man came from one of the cells I assumed to be empty.
It came to me as a surprise that there were people here, since I would have expected these cells to be for people who were going to be executed since imprisonment was pointless if killing criminals was an option, but I guess imprisonment was more of a sadistic punishment than the execution.
So in conclusion, the people here were most likely personal enemies of the president.
"Yes, I can hear you. What do you want?" I answered straightforwardly.
"Nothing much, I was just curious about what you did to end up here," the old man said in a laid-back manner.
"Murder," I answered. "Anything else you want to know?"
"Well, aren't you a straightforward fellow," the old man said with a laugh that ended in multiple coughs. "Well, you seem like you don't want to talk, so I won't bother you any more than I already have."
"Wait a second, I answered a question of yours, so it's only right that you answer one of mine," I said.
"Of course, what do you wish to know?" the old man answered, seemingly glad to keep talking.
"Are you interested in helping me burn this town down to the ground?" I asked in a completely serious tone.
"Huh?" the old man made one sound and then went quiet.
Then he burst into laughter.
"Hahahhahah! Son, I don't know if you have noticed, but we're in concrete cells full of shit and all types of other dirt, and unless you can bend metal with those young hands of yours, you aren't going anywhere," the old man said.
"Please answer the question like you said you would, and let me worry about how we'll escape," I said.
"Fine, I'll entertain this fantasy of yours. Yes, I hate this place more than anything in this world, and if you'll allow me to help in burning it to the ground, I will help you the best I can," the old man answered.
"Good, now that we're partners in this plan. You don't mind telling me if there are others in this place than us."
"There are five of us here, excluding you. They're asleep currently, like I was before you woke me up."
"I woke you up? How? I didn't make any noise." I asked in a confused manner.
"I'm a light sleeper. Your groaning awoke me in an instant," the old man explained.
"I see. About the others. I would like to make them a part of our plan too." I said, purposefully using the word "our" instead of "my".
"Great idea. Hey! Wake up, ya slugs! Marco, Sam, Jeffrey, Walter!" The old man affirmed my idea and started waking the others up.
It didn't take long until they were all awake and listing.
"What is it?" a man asked sluggishly with a groggy voice.
"You remember that boy who was brought here earlier today?"
"Yeah, what about it?" the man asked, sounding curious.
"Well, listen up. He has something to say." the old man said, and everybody's gaze turned towards me.
***
After approximately 4 hours, I was in my cell, sitting with my back against the wall and my gaze focused on the door in the distance, when the metal door opened and a man with sharp features and a muscular build walked into the hallway and started heading towards me.
The man had black hair and dark brown eyes and exuded confidence as he walked toward me with his gaze directed at my forehead.
"What is it?" I asked as if I was irritated.
The man stopped right in front of my cell "Hello, my name is Matthew. I'm the leader of the agents and the president's right hand," the man introduced himself calmly, ignoring my question completely.
"I don't care. Now what do you want?" I said bluntly.
"I want one simple question answered," the man named Matthew answered.
"And why would I answer you?"
"I don't have permission to kill you, but I can dislocate some bones. So in your own best interest, you should simply answer my question." Matthew said.
"Heh, the president wants me in one piece for the public execution, huh?" I said with a laugh.
"..." Matthew didn't respond.
"Oh, give me a break. I murdered 14 people. Of course I'll get executed."
"You're quite carefree for a dead man," Matthew noted.
"So are you," I responded.
Matthew scoffed at my comment. "Well, onto the question now. Why?"
"What do you mean, why? You're going to have to be a little more specific." I said with the intention of annoying the man.
"Why did you kill those people? Especially your friend, Eddie, whose apartment you had been staying at for the past 4 days or so?" Matthew asked.
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"Well, do I need a reason? Not every action has a motive, you know. Sometimes we humans do things just for the sake of it," I answered simply.
"We humans? You think we are in the same category?"
"Eh, no. That was a mistake on my part. Obviously, I'm better than you," I said, correcting my mistake.
Matthew did not immediately respond but walked closer to the bars of the cell, took a hold of them with both hands, brought his face closer, and stared at me with wide eyes.
"You are a filthy piece of shit, incapable of forming rational thoughts. You think you can be better than anything that walks this earth?" Matthew spat out ferociously.
"Hey, if you have your answers now, do you mind leaving? Also, when is the execution exactly?" I slipped a harmless question into my request for the man to leave.
"I'm more than happy to leave this shithole," Matthew said, starting to walk back towards the metal door. "Oh, you'll be executed at noon. I'll enjoy watching something like you be hanged." Matthew left and answered my question in the process without thinking too much in his irritated state.
***
I spent the rest of the time in the cell resting on the floor with my gaze directed at the cement roof, and at some point I even fell asleep.
After waking up, I determined that it was time and stood up.
'Akir's weapon,' I thought, and a black and gold dagger with golden runes on it appeared in my hand.
I then walked close to the bars and raised the dagger. Then I brought the dagger down with full force and hit the lock with it. The lock was destroyed by the impact, and pieces fell to the ground.
"Is it time?" the old man, whose name I had learned to be Harold, asked after he heard the noise and came close to the bars to see what was happening.
"Yeah," I answered simply as I pushed the door open and walked onto the hallway.
I walked over to Harold's cell, broke the lock on the door to his cell, and opened the door, but Harold stayed inside with a fearful expression.
I also couldn't help but notice a bucket in the corner of the room that was likely not given to me because I was to stay here for only a day before my execution.
"What is it?" I asked the fearful Harold in an irritated manner.
"The knife, where did you get it?" Harold asked.
"Mind your own business. Also, it's a dagger, not a knife."
"Uh, yes, sir." Harold said, after gulping.
I proceeded to break the locks on the cells of the other four, and after everyone was awake and standing, I gave the men instructions for later and proceeded to gently pick the lock by shoving my extremely sharp dagger through it.
Once we made it out of the prison, we proceeded silently out of the president's house while I killed all the people we met on the way.
"I did my part, so now it's up to you to fulfill your part of the deal," I said after having led them to an alley from the back entrance of the building that had one agent guarding it, who no longer drew breath.
"We will, I promise," Harold said with a bow.
"Good," I responded, starting to make my way back into the president's house.
I got back into the building unnoticed and killed everyone in the building except the president, who was still in his office with no idea of what I had done.
After I was done killing the people outside the president's office, I opened the doors to the president's office and walked right in while spinning my dagger in my right hand.
In the office, there were five people: Matthew, three other agents and the president himself, who was writing on a piece of paper in a focused manner at the moment.
The president was a fairly skinny man with pale skin and multiple wrinkles on his forehead that made him look rather old, even though, from what I had heard, he was quite young. Matthew was standing on the president's right side, while two agents who had their faces covered like all the other agents except for Matthew were standing on both sides of the room.
"Hello Matthew, I was wondering where you were," I said in a delighted manner, but my expression quickly turned serious as I shifted my focus to the agent who had been waiting for my arrival while hanging on the roof right above the entrance.
I raised my hands, took control of my ambusher's arms, and swung him onto the ground. I took his arm and dislocated his shoulder. His arm relaxed, and his sword dropped to the ground.
I raised my gaze to see Matthew's confident demeanor change into one of surprise and anger.
The two men on either side who were about to launch at me stopped after I picked up the sword and pointed it at the throat of the agent who had unsuccessfully attacked me.
"Let's not get too hasty. I was looking forward to a conversation with you, Matthew." I said.
"Matthew, who is this person and what is going on?!" the president yelled.
"This man is the serial killer we apprehended yesterday, and it seems I have severely underestimated him." Matthew answered.
"Indeed, you have. But I think I underestimated you. It's magnificent that you managed to hear me, even though I made sure to be as silent as possible as I killed everyone in this building." I admitted. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore since your plan did not go very well," I said and shoved the sword through the agent's neck.
Immediately, after my actions, the agents launched at me, and the president hid himself under his desk.
All this violence was getting boring. I would have much rather been painting right now. These people before me were worthless. Even mocking them felt boring just now. I was losing touch again. Just like always. I could never enjoy anything for long. I felt like Matthew would have been a good target to unleash my emotions on, but I no longer cared about that. I felt tired.
My expression turned completely emotionless as I lowered myself into a fighting stance, and one last thought went through my head before the battle began.
'Your deaths will be meaningless.'