Future Defenders - Book 1 - Rise of the Murderers

Chapter 13 - Death of the Innocent One

The time read 10am as Riley looked at his watch. One hour till Rusty would start their massacre. Looking out to sea, he could see a boat with a solitary person on it. He assumed it was Rusty, as no one on the island really used boats to go fishing. Plus, he remembered them telling him how they got to the island.

He turned to the pathway to leave the beach. There was just one person standing there, the same person who was the first to die in every massacre. They had to come to the beach every morning to check the slightest chance that someone from outside of the island showed up. It looked like they were getting ready to leave, possibly because their shift had ended. 

Knowing that there'd be a possible chance that someone could be watching through the cameras at anytime, Riley pulled up his hood over his head, to try and hide his identity if somewhere were to notice what he was doing. He approached the student, who turned to look at him before they were leaving.

"Can I help you?" They asked.

Without answering, Riley pulled out his sword and pierced them right in the chest, where their heart was located. They died instantly and dropped to the ground. As he walked off, Riley answered their question.

"I'm the one who's gonna end the torture."

Immediately following that murder, Riley had felt himself get a bit stronger. His theory was right. Getting stronger by murder didn't just go for Rusty. It went for him. It went for everyone. If only he had thought about this earlier. He also figured out why he didn't feel it when he killed Rusty in the past, although it was obvious. Rusty reversed time, meaning that the death never occurred. But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was to continue getting stronger.

Continuing along the path, Riley encountered a group of people making their way to the beach. Whereas he would normally try to remain quite and avoid conversations, this time would be different.

As they group attempted to wave at him like students wouldn't normally do when they see another student, Riley returned the greeting by plunging his sword through one of them. The others stared at him, shocked and scared by what they just witnessed. Using this distraction to his advantage, he murdered the rest of them and continued to walk through the town of the Ruined Villages.

As he continued on, he killed everyone in sight. He didn't bother to check any of the buildings, unless he saw someone through the windows, unlike Rusty. He knew he couldn't afford to waste too much time, as it wouldn't be long till Rusty arrived to do their massacre. Well, try to anyways.

After the next couple of murderers, Riley stopped for a moment, and moved into a small, dark path between two nearby buildings. He slide along the wall towards the ground, trying to hold back the guilt that was trying to escape.

"Keep it together, it'll all be over soon. Just gotta push through. It's the only way." He kept saying to himself quietly, clutching his head with both hands, as if he was trying to prevent himself from going insane.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to prevent the insanity of what he was doing to come, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He remembered that the same teacher who had taught them about this method of getting stronger also told them that it also affects them psychologically. Every murder made them lose a small bit of themselves, and eventually, it could lead to them forget important things. The closer the person they murdered to them were, the more they lost.

Ignoring this fact, Riley re-emerged from the path and continued on with his murderous rampage, looking for the next victim.

Meanwhile at the Academy, Kaedan was on his computer going through the final details of the upcoming exams before heading over to Adam's to study with everyone else. As he took one final at the timetables, he closed tabs that had no need to be open anymore. Before he could close the tab for the cameras, he noticed something happening on one of the cameras in the Ruined Villages. He pulled it up and over the top of the exam timetable and began to scroll through the cameras.