Three Degrees Of Danger (2019)

|| SIX ||

"You're lying." My reply is automatic.

Lex rolls a thread of his dark, curly hair between his finger and his thumb. "Lying is a con man's tool. I am not as foolish as a con man to rely on the same tools and hope for a better outcome."

"I don't care what you say you are. You're lying." I huff, placing my arms across my chest.

"That's a horrible accusation and I'm not lying." Lex answers swiftly.

"Oh yeah? You say you want to reverse the effects of Danger but what I'm seeing is a full manifestation of Danger- killing people just to shut them up about an operation?"

"What I'm doing is just applying the Greater Good theory. It's nothing against you and definitely a reasonable exchange." Lex crosses over and settles on the edge of my bed. Tension seeps into my muscles and I inch away, making a momentary decision to burn the sheets later.

"Nothing bad is going to come out of letting people go." I argue.

At this, Lex's eyes darken. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I really think I do."

Lex leaps off from my bed and spins towards me, his eyes a hurricane of emotions and his face torn with urgency. "If word gets out that people are attempting to reverse the effects of Danger, the world will be plummeted into chaos. Do you know how important Danger has become in today's world? It has been integrated into our society that it is no longer seen as a virus. It is a norm, a daily habit to practise killing now."

"As evidenced by you." I say shortly.

A scarlet hue strokes Lex's cheeks. "Look, I'm just doing what I have to do. If people die for an outcome that serves for the better, I believe that it is worthy. Reversing Danger means that we can finally have a future where death isn't intentional. Murder isn't natural and everybody's death isn't fated by a mortal's hands. It is by the will of the earth."

I sneer at Lex. "Sounding philosophical doesn't justify what you do. I kill but at least I don't sugarcoat it."

Lex bites on his lower lip, looking thoughtful about what I said for a second. Finally, he shakes his head at me. "Are you going to help me or not?"

There's a knot at the base of my chest, taut with anxiety and fear. I can hear the blood being piped through my veins furiously, anticipating Lex's next move.

Slowly, I speak. "Reversing Danger would be stripping everyone of all they have ever known. The world before Danger was ugly, horrific. People kept their hideous emotions under a lid and those who expressed their feelings openly were shunned. With Danger, there's no need to hide. We are all the same, we can be as foul and vulgar as our hearts tell us to."

I can see Lex's eyes on my facial features with every word I speak. He's hanging on, closely following each syllable, searching for any indication of my choice.

"You want to demolish a system that has proved that the world can only function with it in place. What you're doing is no better than mass murder." I watch as Lex's fingers curl up into fists and they redden by the palms.

"Is this how you view a utopia? A place where people can slaughter each other just because they want to, just because it reaps rewards like money, or prompts a feeling that resembles the effects of drugs?"

"I just think it's cruel," I say, "To force people to tame their monsters when all they know is to channel that inner hate. You can't force everyone to act like it isn't human nature to have a taste for blood."

Lex opens his mouth to defend his point but I cut him off, ignoring the wild look in his eyes. "You can't deny your blood lust. Yet, you expect people to conform to a shape that has proved to be an unstable structure in the past."