VAGABOND

XXVIII: Suicide Pit

» [XXXTENTACION - What I Do When Alone] «
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The Night of the Fire

Nurse Katuya Hinto gripped the steering wheel tight, her knuckles turning pale as she neared Dr. Wonk's Behavioral Center.
Her mind was in turmoil, but only a few thoughts cut through the chaos, growing louder in her head:

The dormant gene wasn't just a theory.

The XXX Rank is real.

Dr. Wonk was dead.

Kamiwaii had confirmed it himself, his voice carrying more weight than she had ever heard before. The look in his eyes was something she would never forget—part disbelief, part fury, and something else.

Something much worse.

And now, she was here to clean up the mess.

She wasn't doing this for Wonk—he had been reckless, and in some ways, she had always known his weird obsessions would get him killed. No, she was doing this for Kamiwaii and the boys. They had already been through too much. If the Board or the PSA caught wind of what had happened—if they discovered what Kamiwaii had become—there would be no saving him.

As she turned onto the final stretch of road, her heart pounded.

Then—her breath caught in her throat.

Katuya's eyes widened in disbelief. "What the—"

The facility was gone.

Where the towering building had once stood, only a blackened ruin remained. The skeletal remains of the structure jutted into the night like charred bones, smoke still curling from the wreckage. The scent of burnt chemicals and scorched wood clung to the damp air.

Her fingers twitched as she threw the car into park. This wasn't right. The fire had happened recently—too recently. There should have been emergency crews, flashing lights, containment barriers. But there was nothing. No sirens. No firefighters. No curious onlookers.

Just silence.

The wrong kind of silence.

Slowly, she stepped out of the car, the moisture in the air making her skin feel sticky. The moment her boots touched the pavement, a low crunch echoed beneath her. Glass. Scattered shards glittered under the moonlight, spread far beyond the wreckage to have come just from a fire.

"What is going on?" She breathed.

Her breath shallow, she took cautious steps forward, eyes scanning every detail. The fire hadn't burned everything—parts of the outer walls still stood, blackened but intact.

Stepping through the ruined entrance, she carefully maneuvered past fallen beams and debris. The deeper she went, the heavier the air felt. It wasn't just smoke—there was something else beneath it.

Something foul.

"I can still take the stairs." She said to herself.

The hallway that once led to Dr. Wonk's office was nearly unrecognizable, but she knew the layout well enough to find her way. As she reached what remained of his office, her stomach turned. The floor had collapsed in some areas, the burnt remains of his desk barely distinguishable among the rubble.

Through the haze of smoke and ash, she spotted the charred remnants of Dr. Wonk's shelf—a place where he kept his various oddities and keepsakes. Books, strange artifacts, and odd trinkets had been neatly arranged there in life, but now, everything was reduced to blackened husks.