Ourselves : A BL Horror Novel

Chapter 20 - Pain is Here

His eyes opened as a fist connected with his face, everything that had happened in Zhao's mind was still there but he was back in the real world. Fighting over a dozen people in various outfits but all with Zhao's face. Growling at the pain of the fish's impact he swung one of his long legs out and his foot connected with the face of the man he had thought of every day for two months. A part of him felt sick at the ides of hurting Zhao again. But there wasn't time to process his emotional well being as he spun and landed a punch on a different Zhao. 

They just kept coming and using the training he had from being a hired killer for the White Lotus syndicate. Every hit from his fist and feet landed decisive blows that broke bones. 

"It's not him. It's not him. It's not him." He repeated as his body ducked to avoid a roundhouse kick and swinging his fist. Connected it with a man's knee. He felt the cartilage give as the knee cap swing freely with the force of his blow. The sound of Zhao's agonized cry of pain made him grunt in frustration. Fighting this battle was torture. Each body that fell had that same slender face, red eyes. Those large round ears and that same thin curved nose. Keaton took a deep breath as he yelled his anger.

It felt like a twisted joke being played on him.  Two months of not seeing the man. Two months of hearing his name on campus just to be here breaking his jaw. Stomping his ankle, it just wasn't right! The thought made him angry, as a Zhao kicked him in the knee bringing him low on his other the clones descended. Punching and kicking him as he tried to defend himself. He just had to get back up but the pain was harder and harder to push through. Strong fingers gripped his shoulders as he was wrenched up only to had a bare foot kick him hard in the stomach. 

The pain of the blow shattered his control as his breath was robbed from him. He reached put and grabbed a Zhao by his head and slammed him into the one who kicked him. He heard the loud thwack of their heads smashing together as he threw himself forward. Catching himself on the palms of his his hands and propelling himself further he rolled away from the small mob. The world around him spun with him as he got up on shakes legs and readies himself for the onslaught to continue.  Blood streamed down his face from a gash along his hair line. The warm liquid ran over his left eye. He whipped his hand across it. His teeth ground together as his anger took over reason. They weren't going to attack first, fine with him. 

His moves once precise were wild. No longer meant to immobilize. No, these were fatal moves. A punch to a throat allowing enough time for him to get his hands on the head and snap the neck. Dropping the body he was already on the next. Thumbs pressing into the eye sockets as the clone screamed. He did not care that it sounded like the man he lusted after. The man he needed to feel again. No he was a beast of burden, carrying his fury the burden. He would see It through.

Zhao sat in a lecture hall. The room was large with brown wood walls with no windows. Around him people he knew in passing only did an exam. Like him they wore the current fashion, no one looked like they didn't come from money. All the students worked dutifully.  He had known the exam was coming. Had studied but all the questions on the paper didn't make sense to him. It was a history class, but the question he was having trouble with was a social sciences question.  He read and read the first question but the words were there.

"If a mother loved her son, why did she leave him with a killer?" He skipped it and moved to the next one. He tried to ignore the bile on his tongue at the memory of being a small boy in dirty clothes. His hand in his mother's as she lead him down the sandstone path toward the mansion. He had to shake himself before they reached the door.

"Should a child molester get to live in prison? Is that a privilege or a right?"  He flipped the page over and saw that all the questions were invasive. The question made him dizzy as it touched on a wound inside his chest he tried to ignore. He knew it was in his heart like a thin needle had been pushed inside. He was acutely aware of it. But he tried not to allow himself to give in to the pain he should feel.