The Corruption

Chapter 30 - Purpose

Kaleigh's sniper rifle had lost it's suppressor during the crash, meaning it will be a lot harder for her to sneak passed the dark creatures, if they were even still there, which with her luck, they were. Waiting. She realized this, and instead of going to the highway she planned on walking alongside on the cornfield to avoid that chaos. Underneath the remains of the firetruck were debris, but also a hatchet, some flashlight batteries, and sharp metal pieces scattered across the dirt. Kaleigh again using her survival training was able to craft a dagger out of these metal pieces, put the flashlight batteries inside a pocket on her utility belt as well as attach the hatchet to her gun holder. Out of the blue, something raced passed Kaleigh's face and she jumped backwards. She unholstered her hatchet and got into a defensive stance, searching around patiently for whatever wanted to play games with her. The black shape passed by the corner of her eye again, behind her, and she turned around to see nothing but a plain corn field. Now she was starting to get mad. Anger took over and she started swinging her hatchet every time she saw the black shape. She knew it was the same thing that was chasing her and the others earlier. Blackness strafed after Kaleigh as she quickly slashed at it, missing by a hair. The dark figure quickly landed onto the corn field a few feet away from her and faced her, revealing two blood red eyes and a creepy smile. 

The face of discomfort, worry and self-hate was looking back at the CPG agent. Kaleigh knew what to do - count on her weapon and asks questions later, but the dark figure was as clever as he was disgusting. A thousand hits seemed like they would only give the creature a minor injury, that is if they were swung by a mediocre agent. This was not Kaleigh at all. She, in fact, was the total opposite of this. All of her anger, emotions and focus started boiling up inside her. She took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. The dark, maniacally sinister demon started creeping towards her with the only intention of murdering anything that dares step in it's way. This was not how Kaleigh pictured this to go down, however. Only days ago, the CPG was a group. However, now, the CPG could be anywhere. Kaleigh wouldn't know how far, or how close they were. Liam's brawn, his goofiness. Nate's intellect, his undying love for what would never be his. Derek getting shot in the shoulder. Derek's story at that campfire. Nate's personality. Liam's personality. The way Derek always offered his coat. The time they met Jaime. That's where Kaleigh drew a blank. When she thought of those memories, something felt different. She could not think of her friends the same way she did moments ago. And as much as it pained her to think about the past she knew she could not let it interfere with her present. Despite all of the nonsense that was filling up her mind, she knew that reality had to be dealt with the way it was meant to. There was nothing she could do at this point except prove to herself that she has given it her all. That is what her life was. Joy. But just like how darkness is the absence of light, joy was the absence of her fear. Joy is what moved her. What inspired her. And when fear visited her, joy went away, or so she thought. Fear accompanied her when she needed joy. Fear was joy's replacement, or so she thought. Kaleigh did not know that Joy was still there, waiting to be recognized. She did not know that when there was fear, sadness, and too much emotion, that her joy, her happiness, her delight were hidden underneath. Lost. Unknowing of what to do, where to go, who to talk to. Childhood. She was broken and fixed all at the same time. That is what she realized that day. She didn't let anyone tell her otherwise and she wasn't going to let this demon take the meaning out of it either. She knew that joining the CPG was the right and wrong thing to do, depending on how you look at it. Nothing was as intense as this very moment. The demon was her. Or at least, it was a side of her that she didn't want to have to face. She didn't want to fight with. So she left it alone. She used to think this demon of fear, this side of her emotion was tough, but then she realized it wasn't. Kaleigh was fragile and wore thick fucking armor. She hurt the corrupted so they wouldn't hurt her. She thought that's what being tough was but it isn't. Being tough was wanting to keep going even when it was understandable if she gave up, if she fell, if she never got up. It felt as if she experienced this before. With the swing of her hatchet, she dashed toward the demon, and started hacking and slashing abruptly, grunting every time she swung. Her started eyes tearing up as she knew this was her last battle. 

Little did Kaleigh know, she was not fighting something violent. She was conquering something. She was hallucinating. This dark demon was not there at all. What was made out to be a dark demon was actually her subconsciousness telling her that she was paranoid. And as she swung that axe, her hallucinations started taking control. They made her see an illusion of this dark demon being broken to bits, never to see the light of day again. And as Kaleigh saw the demon perish, she did not stop there. She continued slashing. Nothing felt as satisfying as defeating whatever this monstrosity was. This, however, was too overwhelming. She burst in tears and started crying on top of the dead demon. She threw the axe on the ground, and rest her arms on the demon's scratched up chest. Yet her hands went through the demon, onto the grass. She sobbed and sobbed until she noticed this, and slowly looked up. She was more aware of time than she had ever been. She was more focused than she had been in any other battle before. Because this battle was not about fighting a corrupted, no. It was something far more special to her. She had conquered her fear.