The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 60. Heartless.

"Kasper..."

My name is Kasper. 

He opened his eyes. 

Kasper.

A named nothing.

Kasper was surrounded. 

"Khh-" 

Shoulder over shoulder, he rolled, feeling his innards coil and pinch with each turn like snakes. Tighter and tighter, until they tore, spilling themselves in warm, slithering pulses. He was coming apart at the seams. 

Heart...

Don't stop. 

Not now.

He knew it was gone, and willed it to live anyway. 

"Look at you..."

That voice. 

The crushing weight of his shattered ribs against his spine nearly sent him into a squirming fit. His side collapsed. He felt his one good lung shift through the hollow of his chest, untethered. He shoved a hand inside and held it in place. Small air bubbles pop against his skin as he tried for another breath. 

I'm still alive- 

Focus.

His vision darted in and out. Tunneling and centering before settling entirely on the motionless figure ahead.  "Zero-" He wheezed. Polished boots crossed his vision and strode to the unmoving silhouette of his brother.

"You..."

It was him.

It had to be.

"Mal...iver."

The man placed a steady hand on the boy.

"Don't touch him-" Kasper tried again but that airy force had left him. "Don't-" It was all he could manage. 

A soldier settled his sights on Kasper's head. He blinked when the laser clipped his eyes.

"There's no need. He isn't going anywhere." Maliver spoke. "Are you Kasper."

The gun was lowered.

"Shhh... you don't have to fight anymore." Maliver's voice was so smooth... Satin and silk sliding past him. "Now get up. I know you can." 

Get up- get up- get up- PLEASE-

With what will he had left, Kasper drove it into his body. He felt it sink into his bones. "Ghh-" He pulled himself up, and put his frazzled legs beneath him. For the briefest moment, that horrible sun-lit burning stopped and all was still. His blood chilled in his veins and he felt every muscle fiber twitch and lock. 

"Very good." Maliver spoke, placing another hand on Zero. "That's it. One step at a time, I want to see you."

Kasper watched the man's fingers curl around Zero's shoulder as the two took a step back.

"Hhh..."

He mirrored the step.

Then another.

And another.

Until crackling energy raced through him and his legs went numb. He felt the blood abandoning them, traveling upward toward his core. It seeped through his clothing and pooled in the empty places inside him.

He fell again.

Maliver chided. "Recess is over. It's time for you to come with me."

Kasper fought for focus.

Zak where are you...

"No." I can't breathe. I can't think. He snapped the word out with as little breath as he could. His thoughts were beginning to scramble. 

Did I lock my room? 

Maliver sighed into his stride. "Oh I'm not asking." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a capped syringe, along with a marked tube. "Zero, collect a sample and put it out of its misery. Then we can clear the camp."

Kasper watched Zero stand there.

"I haven't got all day. Zero."

Zero moved.

"-run." Kasper tried, his shaking vision followed the blurring shape of his brother. "Z-" 

I'm so cold...

He grimaced when Zero's shaking hands pushed him onto his stomach. 

"Run." 

The weight of his body collapsed his lung. 

It's so hard to breathe...

The needle slipped into his neck, threading between his vertebrae and into his spine. He felt it withdraw and plunge back in again.

Maliver let out a small cluck of his tongue. "So it won't even let us take a piece."

Zero stopped and withdrew the needle. Setting it aside. He was waiting for input.

"Kill it. We'll take what's left."

His blue eyes flashed. "Yes sir."

Kasper closed his eyes. If he was dying, he wouldn't remember his brother having done it. 

...did the alcohol thin my blood? 

How did he get out?

Zero pressed in close and held his hand above Kasper's face.

Is it okay to let go?

He was too tired to do much other than claw for another breath.

Zero was a blur. A smudge of white against the green and black of everything else.

An area of rest.

The only one he had left.

The light hazed through the trees, scattering with the frailest breeze.

Beautiful. 

Kasper felt the edges of himself tug away. He was unraveling, strand by strand. 

"Ah-" A sharp inhale escaped his lips. 

He could feel death creeping through his skin.

He coughed violently when blood filled the back of his throat, the metallic taste settling bitter on his tongue. 

There was shouting all around him. He didn't care. 

Then he felt a hand on his cheek and something forcefully shove into his mouth. No strength, no will coaxed him to swallow. 

He knew the sting of it.

And then... 

Nothing.

He felt his arm moving outside of himself.

No.

Something gave way inside his head.

No.

So Cain razed Abel.