The fields were nothing but filled with the remains of the dead men who invaded the Ciphers’ defenses, some got separated from their torsos, some have lost their heads, and some were completely smashed into pieces that one could not recognize anymore. One would be left with trauma seeing this gruesome phenomenon, even I, the author of this book would want to heave. This was indeed a large bloody porridge for anthropophagi, but not for those who would want their tongues clean.

Zhackary and the rest of his team spent their night to find Keisha’s body among the fields filled with corpses from tonight’s activity. The stench of death ruined their noses that it drove them sick.

A familiar chap approached Zhackary, all exhausted and unwell as he was about to state his report. It was Jeffery who was running and panting towards him. He pointed his finger to the far side of the worn-out fields.

“Zhack! Keisha!”

Zhackary, without reluctances, asked, “Did you find her?”

“Yeah, she’s *huffs* strangling the headmaster of Utopia just now. We can’t go near her”, said Jeffery whose eyes tearing up as he gasped for air after his running. He was not just exhausted by his sprints but also, he was one of those men who tried reprimanding the beast that got out from her cage.

The lad’s face lit up after finding out that the girl they have been finding all night was still alive. He runs to where she might be. By the time he saw her, his heart suddenly felt a lot heavier than usual. Keisha was currently feasting over the cadavers surrounding her, holding up her former beau by his neck still struggling to free himself.

Iyaz coughed for three consecutive times while trying to set himself free, “I will kill you! LET GO OF ME!

She never uttered a word yet kept on tormenting the young man in her hands as she fed on to the dead bodies lying on the cold hard ground. Her eyes lit up bright red and everything about her right now was totally different – like a behemoth hunting its prey. None of them could even handle her strength, so they stayed standing still a couple of meters away from her.

Meters from behind her there stood Zhackary, witnessing her beastly self; bathing in with the stench of death and death himself.

“Keisha!”

For a second, she faced Zhackary in a way of not recognizing him anymore then quickly turned back to what she had been doing. She was not necessarily killing the youngster yet; more like giving the same misery she experienced from him.

Zhackary hadn’t thought of other ways to tame her, all he could do was to plead for her to go what she used to be, “We can go home now, Keisha. You can let go of him. Just please come back to us.”

“I’m afraid to tell you how she isn’t into responding to your call. We might need a trigger word for her to calm down”, Shino cut by, pushing his eyeglasses back to his face with his middle finger. And by his tone of voice, he was certain of what he had observed through the unrecognizable behavior of Keisha.

“Iyaz might be taken down anytime soon. The entire raid is against the rules, we might be pulled with their fuckery”, Zhackary answered back, his sweat raining down starting from his forehead down to his neck.

His pal did not respond to him but began moving nonchalantly. His voice grew sharp and loud when he commanded his comrades to commence the clash against Keisha.

“RHIANNA! THE TRANQUILIZER DARTS, NOW!”

“Aye aye!”, the woman he called obeyed. She set up her dart shooter then aimed it at Keisha.

“If this won’t work on her, we’re fucking doomed”, nervous though certain, Shino muttered.

“I’m afraid I would have to agree with you there, doofus”, she replied with a laid-back attitude – just as what her best friend had all the time.

“I bet you haven’t forgotten what you’ve done to K, Rhi”, Shino began to start up an argument.

Although Rhianna kept herself from being distracted, she said, “Don’t ruin my plan.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Infuriatingly, Shino added, “You’re already ruining it. Urgh! Why can’t you let down your ego just this once?”

One could not blame him for being this mad at his bud. Of course, who would have wanted to risk somebody else’s life for the sake of an experiment?

“What do you mean? I’M DOING MY BEST NOW!”

“JUST SHOOT IT!”

Out of the tension between them, Rhianna failed to shoot Keisha and shot a corpse instead. She slammed her face then glared at Shino with an irritated face.

“LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE! I swear I’m gonna tell Czar how fucking annoying you are lately”, she took a quick swing and punched him directly in the face. 

Shino managed to regain his composure and cracked a giggle about it instead. It indeed pleases him to witness Rhianna’s annoyed reactions.

“I’m not surprised, you suck at aiming.”

“YOU PIECE OF-“, Rhianna cut herself off to perfectly shoot Keisha’s leg; successfully piercing her skin with a crunchy sound.

The dart which pierced Keisha’s skin took no effect at all. Instead, she threw Iyaz ruthlessly just for her to quickly remove the shaft. The beaten-up lad took the opportunity to run but was immediately caught by her. She spoke sadistically and that it’s a lot dissimilar from her usual voice.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

A voice came in distracting her that let her guard down. Her brother who ran over hollering for her name.

“ATE KEISHA!”

Zhackary, who’s now filled with hope of finally taming her, said, “Jaden! Finally, you’re here.”

The fourteen-year-old boy let out a stunned face as he encountered his sister’s condition. He never hesitated to run towards her and wrap her around his embrace. Keisha’s eyes deliberately changed colours back to its normal plight. The same eyes now shed their briny tears out of remorse.

“Jaden…”

“We can go home now, ate. Everything’s gonna be fine”, her brother softly spoke to her, giving her a hint of safety. He let go of her when he’s done wrapping her in his embrace.

Before Keisha would decisively free Iyaz, she took the opportunity to whisper into his ear.

“This is just the beginning of hell for you, Iyaz. Try to hurt my friends, especially my brother, I’ll make sure your remaining days will be worse than hell itself.”

He never said a word yet only cowered himself away from the sight of the beast.

Zhackary finally found the courage to walk towards the tamed savage with the face of sadness and guilt. He offered his hand to her as a sign of welcoming her back.

“Can… we go home now?”

Keisha extended her hand to accept his overture, smiling at him as her other hand held his sibling’s. She nodded in approval and was now willing to reunite with them again.

“I’m already home.”

…

Inside the clinic where the chief and his assistant stayed, was the same place where they began their hearty conversation. Although Keisha survived the massive explosion from a while ago, she still had deep cuts and bruises. Somehow, Rhianna’s so-called remedy improved her pain tolerance. Just a fun fact about her though, she had this so-called “hemophobia” within her genes. Although now, she seemed to love crimson more than anybody’s guts.

“Just tell me if anything hurts at all, I’ll be as gentle as I can”, Zhackary spoke to her, appearing like a complete gentleman.

“Don’t mind being tender. I do not feel any ache at all”, coldly, Keisha replied.

Zhackary just smiled bittersweetly with her heartless being, “Oh… I guess Rhianna’s plan must have had some advantages though.”

…

“Zhack?”

Hearing his first name from her unanticipatedly melted his soul. He was waiting for her to call him by his name for a long time now. And today that it happened, he started to repeat it inside of his head – like a single track inside one’s playlist in repeat.

Responding, he gazed at her eyes as a sign of interest in what she wanted to imply.

Then Keisha told him, “I can’t seem to understand what I truly feel as of this moment. But seemingly, it’s like not allowing certain people to leave my side.”

“Are you frightened of losing those people?”, he answered as he might seem to clearly understand what she meant at all.

“If that’s how you call it, I might have to agree”, she responded with her head down, eyes locked on to the floor.

…

“Then I must tell you that I will never let them lose you”, Zhackary broke the silence by giving her the assurance of protecting the people important to her.

“I’m… entirely afraid. That sooner or later, I will never be controlled by anyone anymore”, uttered Keisha while her eyes began to blur because of the unstoppable tears about to come out.

Zhackary noticed it and said, “If I would promise you something, can it be not letting you go ever again?”

Her eyes glistened out of surprise because of what she just heard from him. It slowly gave her a hint to feel more than just anger and agony. It was just so dull to only have two feelings; like she wasn’t human at all.

Zhackary gave his final word, letting out a joyous beam.

“Because… No matter where you go, I’ll come finding you. You… found me too.”