Cyrus couldn’t help thinking that there was something wrong with him. What normal person could kill people so callously and brutally without the smallest sense of hesitation and remorse?
As much as Cyrus wanted to feel bad for what he had done, he just could not. He had been protecting someone he loved, and he knew that nothing could get in the way of that. Nothing was more important than keeping Aspen alive, and if a couple of Landies had to die for her, what did it matter to him?
Should it matter? Should he care about Landies to begin with? After all, they were fighting for HQ’s cause.
Why shouldn’t he kill them?
Cyrus didn’t even have a second thought about it until Aspen had had her episode upon seeing the dead bodies again. Aspen had been doing everything in her power to spare lives, not take them, unlike himself. He hadn’t left one official get out alive. Everyone who had stepped foot in his path, had been killed, and he still had time to simply watch in admiration as Aspen kicked HQ ass, knowing she could easily take them.
For soldiers, they weren’t trained at all, which was the complete opposite of Cyrus. Cyrus knew every defensive maneuver in the book: he knew how to anticipate when the enemy would strike, and when to time his own blows.
Maybe one day he would teach Aspen his ways, she still had the tendency to stop herself from doing what needed to be done. Next time, Cyrus would not allow any survivors, whether or not they were his own, or Aspen’s.
Cyrus inwardly corrected himself.
No. He said. Next time, I will only kill if it’s necessary.
But is there ever a reason to kill?
Listen to me now, I sound like a first-class Landie.
Surely, there was always a good reason to kill. If you are fighting for someone you love, or a worthwhile cause, or freedom.
Cyrus kept telling himself this, but he didn’t want to reveal this side of him to Aspen quite yet. From what he could tell, she was just barely able to look at him, and that would take a while to wear off. He saw how hard she was trying to stuff down any unease, to push it away, and replace it with the love for the soft-hearted boy she had kissed that very morning right before their execution.
The thought hurt him slightly, but the fact that she already was trying to forgive him was good, right?
Her words echoed in his mind, though.
“How many people?”
“How many people?”
“How many people?”
Off the top of his head, he wasn’t quite sure, but as he counted off the people, he began to run out of fingers.
If he was supposed to feel ashamed of this, he didn’t. He felt proud that he had fought so valiantly for his cause, and for Aspen.
Especially for Aspen.
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The Mindless Man's Paradise
Teen FictionIn The Land, nobody has names. There are no such things as weddings, culture, ethnicities, or cities. In a post apocalyptic era, taking place in the only habitable part of the world, all survivors of the last war gather. Under their government's co...
