Monochromatic

Chapter 21

Unknown
The plan was simply complex, like things always were here. However, it would be foolish to believe they wouldn't rebel at some point, those children are unstable. However, I didn't expect so many to help to escape, goodness knows I at least tried to pick the most loyal. Turns out they all serve under a different leader. She's dead now, but I'll have to get rid of the next one before our plans are set back any further.
A small woman was thrown at my feet. Her once decent looking face was screwed as she cried in desperation. The woman didn't dare look up at me, nor did she attempt to fight back.
'I guess she understands that the results are still the same.'
The rule is simple. If you're taken to this room and are kneeling before me, it means you're about to die. The crying ceased, and I kneeled down, lifting her chin with my finger to observe the woman's face. Her eyes were clenched shut, her cheeks redder than her pink face from biting down on her teeth.
"You haven't changed much Emilia, or should I say, Emi?"
I could hear my voice echo through the silence in the room. Emilia still wouldn't open her eyes to face me, as if she felt ashamed for what she's done.
"You know, you've always been a great hider, someone who always had her partners back when in need of backup. You did well too, destroying almost everything we have to keep an eye on you then running so far off. Say, you almost left the country, too bad you and your 'partner' never completely got along; you might have made it out alive! I was secretly rooting for you too!"
"I..."
"Don't say a word sweetheart, I know you tried to stop this madness. Nonetheless, I know you planned not to take Azoria back, but to raise her as your own. If you really wanted a kid that badly, I could have arranged that for you~" I smirked lightly, "Just kidding!"
Emi didn't seem to enjoy the joke. Her blonde hair, although unnoticeable to most, began to turn white. Nonetheless, her skin had not a wrinkle. She would have aged well, too bad. . I grew closer, Emi's chains sliding frantically away from me until she hit the wall. Her olive eyes finally opened, staring me right in the face as my smile widened, then slamming shut again. It was time for her punishment.
            I lifted her by her sides and slammed her into the wall, prying my nails into her just enough to make her cry. She was lucky I stopped there, for now.
"You know, I'm curious, what happened? Why'd you run?"
She still refused to speak a word, and I was growing impatient.
"Stubborn, just like your sister. Too bad she ran away from you, are you still trying to protect her?"
"You killed her!"
"She speaks!"
I let Emilia go, the woman falling to the ground as if she didn't see that coming. She got up as quickly as she could, and I walked away to the other side of the room. It was strange, but the scent of a dead corpse finally hit my nose. It was a delightful scent, more calming to me than the freshness of a newborn baby which in contrast irritated me. Emilia stayed still on the opposite side of the room, her eyes glaring sharply at my own, my optimistic expression taunting her, reminding her of how weak she is in comparison. In her eyes, I was nothing but a vicious tiger; the tiger that killed her beloved little sister; the mastermind behind the fire.
            The room was dead silent for about 5 minutes, two subjects, not even thought of as human to the rest of society for two completely distinct reasons. A wolf and a chicken, a lion and a deer, the hunter and its prey; the rush was exciting.
"Well, now that we've got the ball rolling, why don't you answer my question? Why did you run?" I asked
"Why...?"
Emi took a hesitant step forward.
"You knew how much she meant to me...yet-"
"That doesn't sound like an answer, Emilia."
Her hand tightened into a fist, Emi took another step forward before...
Bang
Emi was vibrating in shock, just 3 inches closer and that knife would have pierced that fragile skull of hers. I put the rat back in its place.
"I thought I had a chance."
"She thought she had a chance? And why was that?"
"I don't know!"
"You should! Why else would someone like you do something so stupid when they know firsthand our methods and how impossible the odds are?"
"I...was willing to take that risk."
"Aw c'mon Emi! Die with some dignity and own up to your mistakes! At least Lucile didn't run, and she let the kids she was assigned to slip away multiple times!"
"I know!"
"I think you don't!"
"Okay! Look, I was planning to go through with the mission at first. I wanted to keep Azoria with us and earn her trust, then, I would secretly take her back before our deadline, but Joseph had other plans. He wanted to let them go and give them the chance of a normal life, at least, that's what it looked like on the surface."
I nodded, giving her the signal to continue.
"He felt like it would be too risky, after all, from the information given to us, Azoria knows when people lie, among other things, although both of us are pretty decent liars, we'd be no match for her. So we decided to leave her in an orphanage until we made a new plan."
"You know, you're right. JD and you both lie a lot."
I walked towards Emilia, once again pressing her against the wall, but this time, she wasn't smiling.
"However, you've gotten rusty against me, truly. I never expected that you'd lie until the very end, Emilia."
The woman shuttered from the cold end of my pistol pressed against the bottom of her chin.
"It's too bad, really; I was going to play with you Emi! However, we both know, I don't play with lying cheaters!"
            Blood covered the cold stained walls, a little of his painting my face. I licked the drops of it just missing my lips, dropping the gun there letting it fire one more time in the corpse's chest.
"Send the next one in."
JD, a long time ago, was thought of as a friend of mine, yet like a child I was naive to think he wouldn't betray me. Nevertheless, I didn't blame him too harshly; like they say, if you want it done right, do it yourself. JD walked confidently into my room as if he could get out alive or something. He no longer looked like himself, of course at his age his hair would be a dark silver color, but I wasn't focusing on that.
"My my, what do we have here?" I chuckled, JD returning my smirk, "The great master of disguise finally reveals his true form? Hmm and his age as well I see?"
"Well, I thought it would be nice for you to see the real me for the last time, old friend."
"How considerate of you, old pal."
JD slid down the blood-stained wall next to his ex-partner's fresh corpse, looking at it unphased as if it was just a toy covered in red paint. He looked up at me with a more serious expression again.
"I know you love to talk, but I'd like to get the point already, I'm not getting any younger."
"Straightforward as always." I laughed once again, "Alright, but could you answer a question for me? It's been bothering me all day and Emilia didn't help!"
"We ran because we knew this would happen. We both knew sooner or later you'd find us both and kill each other and force us to kill each other. We both just had one last thing to do before that day came."
"I see...."
"You wanted the truth, right?"
"Thank you."
"You're acting off today, smelled too little dead corpses?"
            JD still had a humor in him even when he knew he was going to die. I admired that in him, too bad it will go to waste. He scratched the black and gray stubbles on his chin shortly after getting up, whipping out a kitchen knife he held dangerously close to his bare thighs. His green-brown eyes glinted with the rush of adrenaline running through his veins.
"Just like old times, huh?" JD's raspy voice deepened, "I call first hit!"
I already had a gun gripped tightly in my palm.
"Yes, but this time, I'll finish the job."
             I started the fight off like usual, shooting almost endless bullets in JD's direction. Nonetheless, he managed to dodge almost all of them.
"You've improved, young grasshopper!" JD joked,
"That's because I use the ancient one's methods!"
I reloaded quickly, but not quick enough. JD took the chance to hold me at knife-point. He was so close to my neck I could smell the faint scent of deceit and old blood coming off of his body. JD chuckled lightly, and I felt a dice on my stomach and rib cage. Blood gently glided down my torso, he was right.
"You called the first hit, didn't you?"
Thud
"....."
Tsk...
His hands were stuck behind him, protecting him from the blow. He slid up quietly, I waited for his next move.
            The look in JD's eyes changed; they were no longer that dull green-brown color, no, they were a deadly red like green. That look in his eye felt all too familiar, we were finally going somewhere!
            Gusts of wind and a blurred image of a man surrounded the edges of the room, steadily growing closer and closer towards me. It would be stupid to shoot, I'd run out of bullets before one even grazed him. That's what he wanted, that's what I adored about him. The only thing I could do was wait until...
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop
The window for me to attack opened quicker than I expected, but I had a limited amount of time before it closed for good. JD was at last the perfect distance for me to fire, nonetheless, even with my skill only a few bullets would hit. I held two guns for the job, both quite difficult to handle single handedly, but still a significant advantage. The vibrations of sounds from each hit, although not very many, sent chills down my spine.
            My time to shine passed, I ran out of bullets, and JD had gotten too close.
'1...2...3, 4, 5, 6...'
Every cut burned like hell, and I began losing count of how many I obtained.
'Daggers with salt? JD really hasn't changed much after all huh?'
It really was quite alarming to the average eye, how someone so old could still move so precisely; but JD doesn't change, I've learned that now.
I failed to the ground, my body bled from every angle. It wasn't deep enough to kill me, JD liked to have that pleasure himself. JD fell a couple of meters away from me in as much pain as I felt. If could have stopped the fight there; his fines were paid off, but neither of us would have been satisfied with it, besides he would die an hour later from the poison in those bullets.
            "It's time to end this JD..."
"Oh, I will!"
"Are you sure about that?"
I ran towards the old man with new fully loaded guns. It was as time stopped but yet moved too quickly for me to focus. I just started shooting, knives all once hidden being thrown one by one at the speed of time. The adrenaline rush we had was beyond words, it was like we were kids again! I watched as JD ran from the bullets targeting him as he reached for the discarded knives on the walls and floors; I did the same once I ran out of bullets, fighting desperately to keep each knife from hitting something lethal while I reloaded. I lasted a lifetime, yet it was over too soon.
            He collapsed on the floor empty handed. JD gave me one last smile as I kneel to his side with a smile of my own. He sat up with the last of his strength, giving me one last hug.
"Goodbye, best friend..."
I closed my eyes, a feeling more painful than any cut hit me.
Pop...
That last gunshot echoed through that lonely room, JD fell peacefully in my arms, letting go of something in his left hand.
'How could this be?...'
Right before he died, he managed to almost hit my heart with his secret pocket knife.
'I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you missed it, friend. I wouldn't be able to go to your funeral, and that would be a travesty!'
I sat JD beside his partner and gathered my few things. Before leaving out I smiled at the two, they'd be taken away soon, never to be seen physically again.
'Everyone's gotten so weak over the years, it's not as fun as it used to be, nor lasts as long...'
            Bzzz....Bzzz...
"You're still such a child I see."
"I don't change, you know that."
"I've trained you well, but please don't make such a mess, it'll scare off visitors!"
"Hm...I guess something's going around here, everyone has been acting odd lately."
"Interesting, but you can investigate later, I need to talk with you in person."
"I'll be there as soon as I finish up something, sir."
"I'll hold you to that."
I grabbed two of JD's knives off the ground, slipping them on my back, then leaving the room.
'The results are inevitable, no matter what gets in our way'
Azoria
            I woke up last week with a box of pills in my hand; and it had been haunting me for days. Every day without fail I'd take that box of medication and I never knew how to cancel the prescription, if there was ever one at all. I didn't even know how they found my house! I made sure no one I didn't trust could. Still, no matter how many times I threw the boxes out, left them on my doorstep, put letters on my door, or took and ignored them I always received another. They knew I wasn't taking them, and they must have known I was withdrawing from it. I woke up every morning with a pillow damp with blood. It had become so constant that I never bothered to wash it anymore, it was a tedious task anyway, blood is difficult to wash out.
            It was always like this, I always received these boxes on Saturday before I ran out. Every day I always took two, it was just routine, a routine I broke after I started that job. You could call my medication a morphine of some sort, strong, numbing almost; nonetheless I felt I needed it to survive, like life support. Even so, I made a promise to Freedom; I wouldn't overdose, I wouldn't even touch those pills no matter how much my body craved it.
Some nights I felt I couldn't take it, I wake up in the middle of the night crying for no reason, sometimes for all reasons. I almost broke that promise I made one night as my body felt like it was boiling in lava although the house was 15 degrees. After that night, Freedom demanded answers, and until I promised that I would give one he wouldn't allow me to leave the house.
"Alright, once I return I'll explain everything."
I could see in his eyes that Freedom wasn't satisfied, but he knew he had no choice.
"I'm not well Freedom, and I know I already told you that many years before. My body depends on me taking those pills, if I don't, then I'll die. However, I'm trying to beat those odds for you. I know that ever since I started overdosing on them your trust in those pills faded, they did for me too. Ever since I started working that job these memories I thought I buried flashed through my mind over and over; the only way I could escape it was through overdosing on those pills. I don't know how, but they give me this kind of relief somehow. It will get harder now that I'm not taking those drugs, yet I won't quit. I'm making too much money now to do so. I'll be fine, it's worth giving you a stable life, so don't worry. I'm trying my best to avoid them so I won't relapse again, nonetheless those things always come back to bite me. I'm sure you've noticed the box of pills returning to our doorstep throughout the years; how I'd take some then set them high up in the cabinets where you couldn't reach. I'd always hide the rest in the same spot, and every time, you'd watch me silently. You had to witness the same cycle over and over as if it was normal. It is our normal, but it isn't everyone else's. I remember the day you wrote down that question. You asked me if you could take my pills one day, but I only dodged the question. The truth is, I don't think so. We aren't completely the same blood Freedom, and if you're lucky, you won't have to take the pills I do. If you're fortunate enough, we don't share the same blood."
  The look in Freedom's eye broke my heart. They were glossed over, his face still. He walked out, passed my reach, into his room, and I followed behind. Freedom reached behind his bed only to pull out a bottle of pills which he had kept hidden from me the whole time. He scooted off his bed, handing me the pills, and looking into my eyes. He still held back, but he forced a dominating and concerned look
"I'll be watching you closely this time, so promise not to overdose" Freedom mouthed
I nodded silently, taking the bottle from his cold, soft hands, then going into the restroom to swallow some. Freedom had gone back to sleep by the time I came out.
The walk to work seemed longer than usual. I wore a smile, but it wasn't sincere, it rarely was. People stared like usual, there were only clouds in the sky; everything was normal, so why couldn't I shake that feeling? People say that weight is lifted off of your shoulders once you tell the truth, yet it feels like that weight has only gotten heavier. All I could do  was stare at the ground. I felt nothing, yet I still had the feeling that I should be worried or afraid. Nonetheless, I had a job to do, I couldn't focus on such things now.
She was a beautiful young thing, or so I was told. She looked hollow to me, nothing like the flowers, fields and rays of sun in the forests I remembered so long ago. They dropped her on me until the decision of her fate was made; to be sold, or to be 'put down.' I was her nurse, solely there to watch and examine her. We sat in silence on opposite sides of the same small, humid room. Her blue-gray eyes attempted to peer into my soul and see what I was thinking. They were so soft and unafraid; at some point, she must have accepted her new reality.
The bleach white clock ticked soundly, and an hour had passed and we still sat there, waiting restlessly. The girl began to cry into her thighs she held onto so tightly that her skin turned pink. She rocked back and forth like any other patient I've seen, nothing new, I let her be. Another hour passed and she began to tug on her braided ginger hair. It was a lot like mine, curly, untamed even in braids, long. By this point, I had gotten tired of just observing her behavior, and began to notice more about her appearance; her pale skin, her dimples, and the few freckles on her neck and face. She never bothered to look at me again, or tell me to stop, as if she was embarrassed. I attempted to give her a reassuring grin, it only frightened the child. Fortunately, our time there was up.
"It will  become a slave; Azoria, start running her tests."
I nodded at my coworker, standing as my patient attempted to run off with shackles still on her legs. She fell rather quickly, yelling out in pain with a loud slam on the ground. The girl refused my hand and got up herself, following me out the door, compliantly this time.
"Don't worry young one, it'll only take another hour and you'll be back in your cell," I calmly explained.
She only glared, as if once more, she had a spark of hope in escaping a free and actual human being.
"Why can't you just let me go!" my patient commanded more than asked
"I cannot, that isn't my job."
"Then what is your job?"
"I am the nurse who will check up on your mental and physical health, then report it to my higher ups as a status report, who will in turn put it in your case files for your future owner to look over."
"Well, I was fine before I was brought here, mentally and physically...sort of!"
"Then how did you end up here?"
We reached my room and I unlocked the door, my patient remaining still and silent the whole time.
"You may explain as I give you your physical."
             "I ran away. I know now that it was for a stupid reason, and that I'll regret it for the rest of my life," The girl began after changing into her hospital gown and lying down on the bed, "Have you ever thought that you've fallen in love? It's like the most amazing feeling, isn't it? Goodness knows that if I knew that he'd betray me like that...You know, my parents didn't approve of him, they didn't approve of anyone! It always pissed me off, I hated it, how they thought they could control who I could and couldn't date! I was a good kid, a responsible, respectful, kind, and honest kid though. I worked hard in school, never wore makeup or skimpy outfits, my friends were nice as well. The only thing my parents hated about me though, was how I'd always wonder around. It was cute when I was younger, and my parents nourished my wanderlust. They'd take me on walks everywhere, it always made me happy to see the world head on. I was confident, fearless, but look at me now, huh? Look where running off once again with that guy has gotten me now."
I let her talk, it seemed to calm her nerves, and distracted her from the pain she was supposed to be feeling right now. I was grateful though, I had heard enough screaming for the week already and hearing her talk was rather interesting to me. She was a special one alright, she reminded me of Freedom, a talking, female, older version of Freedom.
"How old are you, Miss nurse?"
My patient, Hava, caught me off guard.
"That's not important" I replied quietly, trying to regain my focus.
"Ah!"
Hava soon realized what she had been missing out on, holding in her cries.
"We don't believe in pain medicine here, at least for slaves" my monotoned voice didn't make the situation any easier.
I heard Hava hold on to the railings as I worked underneath her. She began grinding her teeth, probably tears up by now, groaning loudly as I finished up.
I plastered a smile on my face, "Good girl!"
Hava rolled her eyes.
The others wouldn't be here for a little while longer, once again, I was forced to keep an eye on her. I gave Hava a new pair of clothes to wear until she was auctioned off, and as she changed I began quickly cleaning the area. I could feel the teen's eyes staring at the back of my head shyly.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go..."
"I know...but it doesn't have to be you doing it."
My head turned, "What do you mean?"
"Make it look like an accident, see!"
Hava unlocked the door, slipping out backwards until she hit something behind her. I forced myself not to look; I shook my head and returned to my duties.
"I'm...sorry"
Hava had landed into the arms of a possible new owner, dying to meet her before the others could. I heard his chuckle as he talked with the other employees in charge of her case. One of my higher ups came in a few seconds afterwards, and I proceeded to hand her the files.
"You are dismissed Azoria, good work. The next patient is waiting down the hall."
I walked out, feeling the short-held grasp of Hava reaching out to me.
'I'm so sorry..'