TARGET

死

He could barely see anything in the murky black room as he felt his way to the light switch, aimlessly patting the moldy, decaying wall. With a lanky finger, he flicked the switch, gracing luminescence upon the room with chipped paint gracefully plummeting to the ground.

The man sat in the middle of the room, head hung, and most likely still drugged.

The standing boy sweat feverishly as he trembled, approaching the seemingly sleeping target strapped to the chair.

"You good, Hao?" He heard from his in-ear piece.

"Y-yeah." He coughed out, the other end let out a hum in suspicion but left him to his operation.

He lied. He was far from good.

His head throbbed with a numbing pain, body weary with fatigue causing him to sway with each step. His vision blurred, throat parched, and unease settled in the pit of his stomach.

He wished the dim-lit room could stop him from seeing everything, but it couldn't.

He loomed over the hunched silhouette before him, yet he was the one feeling small.

The boy lifted the limp hand, he knew he wouldn't get vivid imagery from this action but it was better than kissing the rather foul-smelling sweaty man on the face or worse, the lips.

He grabbed the disinfectant wipe from his small pack in his back pocket and wiped the man's hand.

He quickly placed his lips on the area and walked away from the man, as if his sleeping state fazed any threat to him.

He warily closed his eyes to go through the information he collected, but suddenly, he felling wet liquid on his stomach-

correction,

seeping from his stomach.

He didn't dare look down but felt with his hand hot sticky liquid that smelling like rusted iron.

He lifted his hand to his eyesight to see it painted in ruby red, glimmering under the single bulb that hung from the copper-colored ceiling.

His heart rate spiked at once, feeling the overwhelmingly sharp pain in his stomach, and toppled over, looking at the dagger embedded deep in his stomach.

"HAO! MINGHAO! HOLD ON!" His earpiece roared into his ear, but the sound drowned out as his eyes got heavy and his body going limp...