The Devil's Mask

Pt. 0

It was already past midnight and things were quite lively on an abandoned warehouse.

There was shouting and odd laughter from inside it.

A woman just passing by, curious enough to have wondered what was happening, peeked through a hole that the old warehouse had and God only knows how there came a hole on a metal wall.

 She looked without hesitation hoping to see an interesting view and yes, what she saw was certainly something very interesting to the point that it horrified her. 

It was no party. There is neither happiness in the shouting nor in the laughter she heard.

She gasped, loud enough for the other two inside the huge building to hear. 

She regretted her clumsy action immediately because she knew the instant she made that noise, it had cost her her life.

The man that was about to give a hard pounding to a tied man, stopped on his action and looked at where the woman had been peeking. The smile that he directed to the lady gave her shivers to her spine.

The next thing she saw was that a gun was pointed to her direction and she was about to run for her life but, seconds later, she was lying on the ground pooling to her own blood.

The man inside the warehouse, moving freely, smiled dearly after the shot.

"Now, where were we? Ah, I was about to pound you in the head. You're lucky enough to have avoided that situation, aren't you?" He chuckled on the thought.

"Let me ask you a question instead. What does it mean to live?" He asked the man.

More than a minute had passed yet no answer was heard from the tied man with blood on his shirt, clearly showing he's been hurt badly.

Does he not even have an opinion on living? Does he not fear me? The man thought.

He asked again, a similar but different one.

"Why do you wanna live?"

The words came out of the  person's mouth not as a gentle one but rather as a warning.

"F-for my fam- family. I want to-- to live for them!"  The tied man answered immediately even if he was struggling.

He clicked his tongue, showing his displeasure to the man.

"Then why did you come after me?"

"I was just told -ahck *cough *cough" he vomited blood after he kicked him to the face.

"I asked you what it means to live but you didn't answer. I asked why do you live, you said it was because of your family. Did I get anything wrong?"

He stood silent for a mere minute as he pondered to his words before he let out an exasperated groaned.

"I don't think so! You're making me crazy man! Really crazy!

"So why?! Why did you came after me?! You then say you we're just told?! 

"Are you kidding me?!" The man took a deep breath to stop himself from exploding with anger.

 "Some kind of way for living for your family huh!"  A gun was now pointed to the man on the chair.

"Please, I-I'm begging you. Sp-spare me!" He's crying for mercy, terrified of what is bound to happen.

He grabbed the other man's hair as he positioned himself next to him  and whispered menacingly, "Is this part of your ceremony? Or are you still under the initiation period for becoming a soldier to a family?"

He shivered upon his words. Afraid of his near end yet he uttered no answer to the man.

He smirked. Pathetic. Really, really pathetic.

Aiming at the shoulder, he released a bullet from the gun.

The man shouted real loud. 

That's music to my ears! Another shout! I want to hear another shout!

He pointed to the injured man's head and aimed.

He clicked his tongue once more, disappointment painted on his face.

Tsk. He didn't even shout that well before he died. 

"Things got boring, I'm leaving," the said to himself while patting the invisible dirt on his clothes.

He fished out his phone and made a call.

"Clean this mess these people made me do. Leave it spotless, as if no one had set foot on this vicinity."

[Right away Sire.]

He ended the conversation and made his way out of the place.

He was deep in thought as he saunter towards his car.

An image of a certain young man, slightly older than him came to picture. A man very much familiar to him.

You're next on my list.