Irradiated

Chapter 8: Life or Death

My back thudded against the cold floor below me. Not only did pain shock my entire body, but the back of my head crashed down onto pure stone. Already, I could feel the thick liquid pooling around my head and soak the collar of my shirt.

"Did you think you would be able to escape, Mathias?" He bellowed coldly and stared at me straight in the eyes, where my vision was going blurry around the edges."Just look at you. Weak, spineless... can not even pick yourself up."

Slowly, I began to succumb to the darkness wanting to get a hold of me. I had avoided this dark void for so long, and I never thought it would be this way, that I would finally come to see it.

"Y-you're... a monster..." I whispered silently, letting the blood drip down the corners of my mouth and onto the side of my face.

"I have heard that so many times before, it does not phase me." He played with the gun in his hand, while his other was hidden away behind him.

"Not... surprised." My voice kept cracking at an attempt to keep myself steady. It was no use. I knew what was going to happen, before it happened. Don't call me psychic or anything. It was just obvious at this point.

"Good. I would hate to surprise you." He sneered and leaned against the wall opposite of me. I could feel a heart pounding against my chest, but I wasn't sure if it was mine. I could faintly remember what it was, but I couldn't think of it. I longed to feel it for a while longer and I only wanted to feel it until I ran out of breaths to breathe.

"Nothing to say?" He asked.

"Traitor." I growled lowly and burned with hatred all of a sudden. I thought I could trust him, and this happens? I had enough of being betrayed up and down, all around. It was enough to make someone go insane.

"Oh, really? Interesting for you to say that. I am not the only one who would have betrayed you, huh?" His mind games were making my head hurt even more than it already was. I gritted my teeth in pain as I tried to sit up, but just as fast as I had gotten up, he punched me back to the ground. "Do not even try, Mathias."

So, I didn't, I couldn't, and I wouldn't. It wasn't just the seething agony that was gradually eating away at me. It wasn't just the shock of this sudden betrayal from someone I felt was at least "moderately" trustworthy. No, it was the fact that if I slipped away now, I would never be able to tell her.

Tell her what she really meant to me.

As that final idea passed right by my short train of thought, I felt my heartbeat carefully begin to slow. It echoed in my ears, every beat becoming slower and slower, until it felt as if it wasn't beating anymore. My eyelids silently closed as a single tear ran down my cheek and towards the ground, right where my hand was placed beside my head. I closed my fingers around it and gave out a last exhale.

I know knew whose heartbeat it was that I was feeling only moments before. Her heart silently came back to me, where it beat in place of mine whenever she hugged me. Her soft and gentle eyes that welcomed me whenever I knew no one else's would and that smile she gave me when I smiled at her warmed my stilling heart. It was a connection, like no other I had ever experienced before. The only thing I regretted was never being able to find out what it was.

A faint whisper escaped along with my exhale, where my last words tragically reminded me of a promise I couldn't keep to her. It was the only one I intended to keep.

"I'm sorry..."

~One Hour Earlier~

"So, I go this way?" I turned my face to look at Angeli and she nodded quickly before looking behind herself nervously. "Hey, don't worry, ok? We're not gonna get caught. All the masters are resting at this time. No one would be lurking around here for fun."