Cairo

Chapter 32: Gun Shy

"Do you know how to kill someone?"

Xi hovered over Cane, his large frame engulfing Cane in shadow of darkness. He watched Xi's defined jaw frame move as he spoke, his rather large eyebrows calm together when he frowned, the scar on his eyebrow squishing together whenever he moved them. Can felt his his stomach turn when Xi's muscles flexed as he folded his arms across his chest. With all that muscle and the wide build Xi had, Cane knew if he fell right now, he'd be crushed.

"You mean, I actually have to..."

"What did you expect you had to do? We don't take liabilities here."

With one thrust of his hand, Xi slammed it against the table behind Cane. A bolt of fear shot through Cane as Xi leaned in inches from his face. The odor from his mouth clogged Cane's nose, and he held his breath.

His body went stiff, pushed back hard against the chair he sat in. Xi's eyes never left Cane's as he pulled his arm back, shoving a gun hard against Cane's chest. It was hard enough Cane let out a gruff cry, the force pushing hard against his lungs.

"You either learn how to use it or I'll get rid of you myself. You know a lot of fucking secrets, and if you think for a second I'll let you out of here alive, you're dreaming. So, you either learn how to use the damn gun and survive out there, or I'll be using it with your head as the target. And I don't miss. Do you understand, kid?"

"Xi that's enough!" Houri spoke from Xi's side.

Her eyes were shining as she stared him down when he snapped his head to look over at her. Without any hesitation or fear in her body, she stepped over to Xi and placed a hand on his shoulder. She pulled him only a step back from Cane, but it was enough that he could finally take in the long breath his body was screaming for.

"I'll help him since I'm the one who near forced him to come. You know how I can get when... I see 'them.'" Houri wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes locked onto something else in the corner of the room, and seconds later as if it was nothing, she turned back to Xi with the same zeal in her eyes she had previously. "He'll learn, just give him a chance."

"Oh, he'll learn, alright—on his own. The kid's an adult. If he can't do it by himself, there's no point. You're not going to get involved with this. At all. If you understand, let's go."

Cane looked to Houri like a child leaving his parent. She frowned, glancing between him and Xi. As Xi turned around to leave, Houri looked back to Cane one last time, mouthing a quick "I'm sorry" before she too left Cane on his own.

The door locked behind Houri, and Cane sunk into his chair that was just a bit too small for him. He could feel the cold metal against his hand like it was fire burning him. The cracking ceiling didn't do anything for him, but make him realize how alone he was.

There was a hole forming in his heart. Cane bit his lip. It seemed like every action he made caused a rift somewhere in him. The biggest problem was that he had no idea what to do to fix it. Killing people, though, he knew, wasn't going to fix anything. But if not, what was going to do?

.

No sound besides the occasional loud breath was in the room. To anyone else, it was almost the same as no one being there at all—even Cane sometimes forgot where he was. Cane sat hunched over, his arms resting on his legs with the gun held tightly in his hands. It felt like seconds, but Cane had no idea how long it'd really been that he sat there doing nothing but staring at the gun as time ticked on. The metal had warmed up to the same temperature as his skin, and sometimes he even forgot it was there, lost in the thoughts running havoc through his mind.