Death's Hunt

Chapter 19

Once Chiyoko and I returned to the clearing, Anga and Vlagor quickly pelted us with questions about what had happened, where Chiyoko had been, why she had left and many more. I simply raised my hand before gesturing for them to follow me. Once I had pulled them to the side, I began to tell them everything. When I was done recounting the incident with Sheri, Anga immediately flew into a rage.
“I swear if I ever get my hands on her, I’m going to make sure she dies again!”
“Anga… I’m not done… I have… something else to say. Something that I’ve… been meaning to say for a long time. Chiyoko knows about it, so it’s only fair that you two also be aware of it.” Taking a deep breath, I looked both of them in the eyes before telling them my story. I didn’t leave anything out. I gave them every single piece of information that was needed. Once I had finished, everything was completely silent.
“Bloody hell!” Anga simply muttered.
“No wonder you were so angry,” Vlagor said, a clear look of shock on his face. “That definitely explains why you always lost your temper when someone asked about your past.”
“It’s still no excuse for lashing out at everyone, especially you two,” I replied. “I understand if after this round you don’t want to see me anymore.”
“Are you kidding me?” Anga asked in an oddly calm tone. “How could you think that we wouldn’t want to be around you anymore?” I looked at her surprised by her response. “You think that just because you killed some babies, we wouldn’t like you?”
“Anga is correct, my friend. I mean, we have all done some things in our past lives that would be considered questionable. The only true difference between you and us is that you have been holding on to it for so long.”
I didn’t say anything. I simply watched them, having a difficult time believing their reactions. “You aren’t even disgusted by this?”
“Why the heck would we be?” Anga wondered. “I mean, you’re a death. I’m a death. Even caveman over there is a death.”
“For the millionth time, it’s Cro-Magnon!”
“Whatever! Listen Kakrix, what I’m trying to say is we’re deaths. We just do what we do. I don’t really care about our pasts. When you think about it, they don’t really affect us now, do they?”
I thought about this for some time before agreeing, “Yes, I guess they don’t.”
Once we were done speaking with each other, we returned to Chiyoko who had been patiently waiting for us.
“So?” she asked.
“It’s all right. Everything is all right,” I answered giving her a small smile as we all made our way to the center of the clearing and got ready for the final round. There we stood facing Sheri’s team. Standing in between us was Alger, once again holding that blasted megaphone.
“This is it, everybody! The final showdown! Black versus White! Death versus Death! The…”
“Would you just get on with it? I want to end this,” Sheri interrupted as her gaze turned to Anga who retaliated with a dirty look of her own.
“Okay, okay. So, the final challenge to decide who is the best – as well as who gets to keep their establishment – is a free-for-all! Now since this time I didn’t really give out pamphlets explaining the rules, I’ll explain them myself. The rules are as follows and are very simple if I have to be honest: whichever team gets the most souls wins. How you do it? Hein! That’s your choice. And that’s it! Those are all the rules.”
“Not much of a rule,” I mumbled. I looked down at Chiyoko and I could see that she was somewhat worried. I wrapped my tail around her and gave her a slightly reassuring smile. But if I was to be radically self-honest, I was probably just as nervous as she was.
“Now normally I’d say shake hands, but considering that these two ladies are more likely to tear each other apart, we’ll just get to the event. Now, when I press this, whatever it is…”
“Airhorn, Alger. It’s called an airhorn,” I said with some annoyance.
“When I press this airhorn, the final match will begin. Now everyone, get ready.” Each team walked to the other end of the field as we waited for his signal.
“Are you sure you will be okay my friend?” Vlagor asked with some concern in his voice.
“Yes Vlagor. I’ll be fine.”
“I still can’t believe you got eaten by a dinosaur. And here I thought my death had been nasty,” Anga remarked.
“Listen, whatever happens out there, I just want you all to know that I’m… that I’m sorry for… being… who I was.”
“It is not your fault my friend. We must all face our past at some point.”
“Vlagor is right you know,” Chiyoko agreed. “I mean, well I myself know that I had a hard time with… well… with figuring out what I should do about what had happened to me, but… when I told you my past, it felt like getting a big weight off me.” I patted her head and smiled.
“Thank you. All of you,” I gratefully told them.
We were suddenly interrupted when Alger blared out of his megaphone while simultaneously blasting the horn, “And GOOOOO!!!”
We all rushed into the dark mist and disappeared from view. After a few seconds, we emerged from the fog to see a small town on the edge of a dark forest. It’s dim lights barely distinguishable from the millions of stars in the clear night sky.
“Any idea where this is?” Anga asked as she pushed her glasses up her nose.
“This place does not look familiar,” Vlagor remarked.
“Same here,” I added.
“I’ll be honest, I was expecting this final match to be in a big city or something,” Anga commented.
“So, what’s the plan?” Chiyoko asked.
I thought for a bit before speaking. “If Chiyoko and I managed to get those souls unnoticed back in Rio, then we might be able to do the same thing in a small town like this.”
“Why don’t we just grab Sheri and beat the snot out of her? Like that we could get rid of her super easily and we’d win!” Anga blurted out.
“No Anga. Think about it. This would be exactly what Sheri wants. She will probably have the same idea of looking for us. If we go searching for her team, we are sure to find them but it will only give us a possibility of winning. Remember, the only real rule is for us to get the most souls. I think the four of us should stay together and concentrate on getting as many souls as we can from the town down there. While Sheri and her team are looking around for us, wasting valuable time because of her grudge against you, we will be able to get more souls, therefore an early head start.”
“That sounds like a very good idea Kakrix,” Chiyoko complimented my plan with a smile.
“Thank you.”
“I must agree with Kakrix. Even if he happens to be wrong, it will still allow us to collect many more souls than we would if we searched for the opponent’s team,” Vlagor said.
“But what about…”
“Anga, do you want to keep your bar?” I asked, but this time with a calmer and more sympathetic tone.
“Of course I do! What kind of question is that?” Anga exclaimed.
“Do you want to be able to beat Sheri?”
“Is there a point to this ‘pep talk’?”
“Anga, just answer the question.”
“Yes! Of course, I want to beat her! Both metaphorically and literally!”
“Well then, would it not be better for you to beat her in a way that would allow you to dominate?”
“Well… yes, I guess…”
“Then, please trust me on this, and let go of your obsession for now.”
Anga stayed silent as she grumbled before finally looking back at me. “Fine! I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.”
While my friends ran towards the town, I let my monster birds fly out. “All right, listen to me. Go find Sheri but do not engage. Only watch and report back to me. Now go!” The flock quickly spread out in all directions as they glided into the forest. I then opened my own wings and flew after the others. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the entrance of the town.
“All right. How are we going to do this?” Anga asked. “Quiet… loud…”
“I think we should all do it in our own way,” I said.
“Now that is something I can do,” Anga laughed as she cracked her knuckles.
“Just try to keep the noise to a minimum. The last thing we want is for the opposing team to find us.” Anga and Vlagor quickly ran off, each of them taking one of the houses. “Chiyoko, do you want me to help you?” I asked. She first looked at me, then to one of the empty buildings.
“If it’s okay with you, I… I’d like to try it by myself.”
“Very well,” I simply stated. “If you need me, I’ll just be in the house next to yours.” She nodded and snuck towards her target. I watched her look around for an entrance before doing something that surprised me. Using her claws, she grabbed a rock and broke one of the windows.
“She really has gotten over it, hasn’t she?” I silently said to myself. “If she can do it, so can I.” I took a deep breath and with the help of my tail, I unlocked the front door of the neighbouring house. Carefully, I slipped in and began looking around. I searched the ground floor for any signs of a bedroom; however, all I was able to discover were some potted plants. No matter, these were still souls I must collect.
As I took each one of them and wrenched the orb of light from the stem, I heard what sounded like footsteps from the floor above. Once again, I glided through the room until I got to a staircase. At the top of it was a man, seemingly in his late forties, and from the looks of it, it appeared he had just returned from using the bathroom. I quickly leapt to the second floor, the only signs of my presence being a sudden cold wind. The man shivered at the sudden gust and looked around. Heading towards a window he must have assumed had been left cracked open, I quickly seized my chance and ran him through with my tail, the soul stuck on its tip. While blood stained the carpet, I quickly snapped his neck to make sure he was truly dead, a pained expression still painted on his face.
“That’s another soul,” I whispered as I dropped the orb in my bag. I then slithered over to the next room and opened the door. It was a bedroom. In it were a large bed, a walk-in closet and a large mirror. I moved towards the bed to find what I assumed to be the man’s wife fast asleep. In one fluid movement, I ripped out her throat. As blood spurted everywhere, she suddenly woke up and desperately gripped the hole where her windpipe had been. I then revealed myself to her as I saw terror flood her eyes. With one more slash, I opened her stomach before reaching in and pulling out her soul. I then looked down at the bloody mess I had made. Fluid and organs spilled out over the mattress before I exited the room. I searched every other room until I found something I knew I was dreading.
“Children. Why did they have to have children?” I asked myself. Once again, making myself invisible to mortals, I moved up to the bunkbed where a pair of twins slept. One male, one female. I looked down at them. They had absolutely no idea of the massacre I had just committed. I raised a hand, my claws ready to rip into them. “Come on. Do it. You can do it.” However, I stepped back. “There’s no way I can,” I sighed as I replayed the last moments of my life. And then everything after it. It all kept moving along as if it were a movie. But then, something caught my attention. It was the memory of Chiyoko smashing the window to get inside. The exact same act that had caused her so much misery. And yet she had conquered it. Clenching my fists, I walked back to the two children. “I can do this.” As I lashed out my tail, I sliced through flesh, bone and wood in one swift movement. As I looked at my tail, I saw two souls clinging to it. “I did it. I actually did it.”
I leaned against the wall as I breathed heavily. Then slowly a smile began to creep unto my face. “I’m done running from my past.” Ripping open the room’s window, I began to fly to the next house with renewed vigor. I carved a path of destruction as I went. A sense of freedom took control. Even though I was dead, I felt more alive than ever before. As the night passed, Anga, Vlagor and Chiyoko saw me flying at great speed through the town, twisting and turning as I collected souls. From time to time, they would shout or wave at me. It was clear that they had noticed a change in my attitude.
Finally, as I finished ransacking one of the few untouched houses, one of my monster birds came flying through a window, smashing the glass as it did so, hissing and squawking the whole time. “Woah! Hey! Hey! What’s wrong?” I asked, picking it up. It quickly climbed up to my shoulder and whispered in my ear.
“What?!? Are you sure?” It nodded its head vigorously. “Right. Go get your siblings and bring them back to me.” My friend flapped away into the night, and I soon followed behind it. “I’ve got to warn the others about this.” Just then, the house I had exited collapsed on itself. I turned around to see Urgaz plowing through the buildings. “Oh no!” Flying around, I quickly searched for Chiyoko, Anga and Vlagor, calling out their names. I could see mayhem beneath me as Sheri and her team searched for us.
I then noticed Vlagor holding his own sack of souls as high as he could. I knew exactly what was going on. I quickly dove and grabbed my teammate’s quarry.
“Hey! That’s mine!” I heard Pennu shout as I flew off.
“Well done, my friend!” Vlagor cheered.
“Do you know where Anga and Chiyoko are?” I asked staying well out of range of our adversaries.
“I do not. My apologies.”
“It’s fine, just try to take care of Pennu. I’ll go look for the others.”
“Very well,” Vlagor shouted as he kept trying to grab Pennu who zoomed all around him.
“All right. Now where’s the rest of them?” I asked myself worriedly. I kept circling the battleground until I noticed something getting thrown out of a window. As I flew closer, I noticed a sack full of white orbs. Using my tail, I tossed it in the air and added it to my cargo, but simultaneously weighing me down. Suddenly, Anga and Sheri came tumbling out of a wall and rolled to the ground, both of them fighting over another bag, clearly trying to get the upper hand over the other by pulling every dirty trick in the book.
“Hey! Anga! Over here!” I yelled.
“Where did you get three bags?!?” they shouted in unisson.
Ignoring the question, I yelled, “Doesn’t matter! Anga, have you seen Chiyoko?”
“No, I haven’t,” she managed to sputter out as she yanked on Sheri’s hair.
“Do you…” I started asking.
“No! Get out of here! I’m fine! This is between me and her.”
“Oh! Just admit it! You’re going to fail!” Sheri sneered.
“Over my dead body!”
“You’re already dead, you brainless…”
Before she could finish, Anga smashed a fence post over Sheri’s head, driving her face into the dirt. “What was that? I didn’t hear you,” Anga sarcastically screamed as she began jumping on top of Sheri while wrenching the bag out of her hands.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Sheri hissed as she spat dirt from her mouth.
“Catch!” Anga blared out as she tossed the bag towards me.
Once again, using my tail to procure another set of points, I watched as the two rivals rolled around in the dirt, trading blows with each other.
“Right, Chiyoko. Where are you?” I thought to myself as I was now barely staying airborne with the load I was carrying. All of a sudden, I spotted something which caused me to freeze. Urgaz was holding Chiyoko in his right hand while Wik stole the souls she had collected in her hood.
“Hey!” I screamed, grabbing their attention. “You drop her right now!”
“Hah! Don’t worry! We’ll drop her as soon as we’re done with this,” Wik mocked me.
“No. Drop her now!”
“You know what? Why don’t I make a deal with you? We’ll drop her if you give us those bags you have. How does that sound?” Wik laughed.
“Don’t do it Kakrix!” Chiyoko warned.
I looked at the scene in front of me, “What to do? What to do?” I thought. Just then I noticed a black mass heading towards me over the horizon. “All right Wik. You win.”
“Kakrix! No!”
“Shut it, twerp!” Wik hissed.
I tossed all four bags towards them and then whistled. In a flash, the black mass flew at me and my monster birds grabbed the bags.
“What the…?!?” I cut Wik’s sentence off as I introduced my boot to his face, sending him flying backwards and crash into the ground. I then noticed Chiyoko kick backwards and sink her talons into Urgaz’s face, causing the lumbering giant to let go.
“Not bad,” I said with a laugh.
“Well, I learned from the best,” she giggled back.
I quickly scooped her up and flew off. “Let’s get out of here.”
As the next few hours passed, the challenge wasn’t so much a battle royale as it was a game of keep away. The monster birds kept the souls we got away from Sheri’s team but we still had to intervene from time to time. Eventually, we managed to lose our opponents in the forest, giving us an opportunity to rest.
“All right, is it just me or is this the longest night ever?” Anga sarcastically asked as she propped herself against a tree.
“It just feels like that since we have been running and flying all over the place,” I replied.
“At least, we still have everything we needed,” Chiyoko optimistically said.
“Oh really?!?” All four of us turned around to see Sheri’s team come out of the woods. “I am sick and tired of this stupid game!!”
“What’s the matter? Can’t keep up?” Anga mocked.
“If you weren’t already dead, I would kill you!”
“I can say the exact same thing to you!”
“Just give us the bags!”
“That isn’t happening,” I hissed. “Anyway, your greed is going to be your undoing.”
“Why aren’t you upset? I did everything, EVERYTHING, I could think of to win!!”
I began to laugh. “You know what Sheri? I should actually thank you for forcing me to reveal my past. Because of you, I’m no longer scared.”
Clearly infuriated by my reaction, Sheri threw herself at me and we tumbled down a hill. She began to incessantly batter me with punches. “I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” I grabbed her collar before delivering a headbutt. This caused her to fall backwards as I got back to my feet. “WHY WON’T YOU LET ME WIN?!?” she screamed. By this point, she wasn’t even thinking of using any strategy, she was simply in pure rage mode. I kept dodging her attacks, but because of her sheer ferocity, she eventually managed to throw me to the ground. I did my best to fend off her attacks, but every single time I managed to strike her, she would retaliate with many more of her own. Suddenly, Sheri was knocked off me and fell to the ground.
“You leave him alone!” Chiyoko shouted as she rolled to her feet after tackling Sheri.
“I don’t get you, you know. We should be on the same team. He killed us! He killed both of us! Why aren’t you mad at him?” Sheri cried at Chiyoko.
“Because he cares. He’s only doing what’s best. I know that he killed me. And I know that he killed you. But the difference is that I forgave him, and because of that I’m nothing like you,” Chiyoko retorted.
“I DON’T CARE! If I have to beat both of you to get those bags I WILL!!!” Sheri screamed before charging toward Chiyoko.
Surprised by this, Chiyoko stepped backwards, tripped and fell. Sheri was practically on top of her. I quickly flew towards them and punched Sheri in the gut. “You stay away from her,” I warned. Sheri just kept charging at us. “You take the left. I’ll take the right.” Chiyoko nodded as she realized what I was suggesting. We both side-stepped and tripped Sheri, causing her to roll across the dirt. She screamed in frustration and then ran at us again. I grabbed Chiyoko and flew up into the air before dropping her unto Sheri. I saw Chiyoko act with more savagery then I had ever seen as she kicked, clawed, and even bit our adversary. I then joined in and did a midair backflip, my tail throwing Sheri upwards and away.
“Good job Chiyoko.”
“Same to you Kakrix.”
“YOU! I’m not done yet!”
“Do you want to do the honours?” I asked Chiyoko.
“Oh, well… um…” she then looked at my face. I could see confidence appear on hers. “Okay.” Just as Sheri leapt at us, Chiyoko screamed. The shockwave tossed Sheri through multiple trees before she finally smashed into the ground.
I bent down to Chiyoko’s level and gave her a pat on the head, “I knew you’d make a great death one day.” I smiled at her and she responded in kind. As I stood up, we heard Sheri groan as she attempted to claw out of the crater she had been driven into. Suddenly, a ray of light pierced through the forest as the sun rose. Accompanying it was Alger who shouted, “And… STOP! It’s time to see who won.”