Element Oasis: Project Zero

Chapter 15

Lost Will May Return

Zero walked the streets of Hollowfield slowly and with no destination. His eyes never left the ground, not even to look at the many people he had bumped into as he traveled. The sun still felt cold against his skin even though it was the middle of the day and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. There was hardly a breeze that could cool the sweaty bodies of everyone in the streets, yet Zero still felt as cold as the night sky.

He continued to walk until he bumped into something that didn't allow him to walk anymore. He tried to take a step forward again, but whatever was blocking his path was unmoving and when he tried to move out of the way, the object seemed to follow him and not allow him to get around. It took him a few seconds before he finally decided to lift his head and his eyes were met with a very familiar face once he was able to adjust to the sunlight blinding him.

"Zero," the large man said as he stood tall in front of the teen. His full height made him much taller than Zero and his large frame made him look like a giant, but he was still human. Just a muscular human who did absolutely no cardio. "We've been worrying about you for days now."

"Why?" he asks as a response.

"You sent Valeria and that boy to look for me, yet we've been looking for you. It's been three days."

Zero looked up into the sky. "Oh," he said as he stared up into the bright blue sky. There wasn't a sliver of life left in his eyes. It was like Zero had been a walking corpse that could somehow speak and for coherent words but still a corpse all the same.

"We are waiting on you so that we can start this mission. Are you ready?" Till asks, knowing the answer to that question but still wanting to make sure.

"Mission?" Zero asks in return.

Till nodded his head.

Looking down, he began to think about whatever mission Till was talking about and when it finally hit him, he just sigh. "Right," he said. His voice was weak and the words sounded dry as the words spilled from his mouth. It was like he hadn't drank anything in days. "Just forget about everything."

"What?" someone said from behind him but the voice was so familiar that he didn't even need to turn around and confront the owner of the voice. "What do you mean?"

"I quit," he responded slowly.

"Why do you keep saying stuff like this without explaining yourself? Explain to us why you are quitting. You brought us all together and now you want us to disband without even the slightest explanation and that isn't fair to us."

"I quit because there is no way we can achieve this goal. Plus I never even asked what you all wanted. I've been selfish since day one without ever stopping to consider what you all wanted out of this."

Valeria tightened his fist in anger. "Zero that doesn't matter."

"It does!" he yelled. Everyone in the street stopped what they were doing and turned to face them. "I've been dragging you all around here for a mission that will never be accomplished because I'm trying to interrupt an already established balance. We should just focus on other things without worrying about others. Complete your own goals and become the best versions of yourself instead of following me to nowhere."

Till looked down at the teen before taking a deep breath and looking past him to see what Valeria's reaction was to Zero's words.

She just stared into the back of Zero's head without saying a word. Till could see in her eyes that many thoughts had crossed her mind. He could see it in her hazel eyes that she had tons of things to say but for some reason, no words were coming out of her mouth. Everyone seemed to wait for her to say something but nothing was coming out of her mouth. It took for Zero to take a single step forward for her to finally speak.