Unsainted

13: Heavy Water

Atrox walked towards Andrey, standing as upright as possible. Andrey moved his goggles to the top of his head, leaving a clean outline around his eyes; he stared Atrox down as he approached. Atrox came to the edge of the clearing; a column of hot air had moved the denser smoke high into the atmosphere leaving this small patch, what would end as Atrox's or Andrey's final resting place.

"It was you wasn't it?" Andrey asked,

"the surgeons, the campers; the fire. It was all you wasn't it? We spent so long, tracking down someone who we thought stole your body, but.... you never died."

Andrey slowly nodded and looked Atrox up and down,

"what happened?" He asked; Atrox didn't answer

"what, happened?" Andrey asked again.

Atrox sighed and broke eye contact with Andrey, 

"he..." Atrox couldn't bring himself to say the words.

"Molested you?" Andrey said, finishing Atrox's sentence for him,

"drugged you, kidnaped you, raped you. Had you killed and sent to us to be autopsied, too men who were in on the game all along, just to cover his tracks; and he would have succeeded, if not for you." 

Andrey sighed and rolled his shoulders, 

"you bleed, you kill, but you don't live. You just exist. Do you know, for what purpose you exist?" Andrey asked.

"The answer is simple" Andrey said, not waiting for an answer from Atrox "you shouldn't." 

Andrey lifted his machine gun off the ground, and rested it in his arms. He manually chambered the next round, ejecting the empty casing from the barrel. 

"I'm going to kill you Atrox, do yourself a favour; don't try to fight it."

"Wait stop!" Atrox said raising his hand, he didn't want to kill Andrey; whether he liked it or not he was one of the few people who was looking for him.

"no I won't, you fucking monster!" Andrey screamed, taking his gun into a offensive stance,

"I know John has done terrible... horrible things to you..." Andrey said. "You know he made you a saint, the day after you went missing"

Atrox frowned, and slowly that frown turned into scalding anger.

"He. Did. What?" Atrox said growled, Andrey noticed his shift in emotion; and took a cautious step back. 

"Yes... he did" Andrey said, "most people have to wait years before the catholic church gives them the title; even then it's usually after they die."

A vicious hiss escaped Atrox's mouth, as his lips curled back. 

"That bastard. Did that to me?" Atrox said "he took everything from me, and he did that to make everything seem better.? 

Andrey shifted his stance, he was becoming nervous; too nervous, enough to frustrate him. Atrox was angry, it radiated out of his eyes and with every word he spoke.

"I'm going to kill him" Atrox growled staring into Andrey's eyes, "I'm going to rip his soul out, and if you stand in my way; I'll kill you as well."

A bolt of lighting streaked across the sky with a near instantaneous thunderclap; above Atrox and Andrey, causing another heavy downpour of dirty rain. Atrox snapped. He hunched closer to the ground, in a pouncing stance and screamed at Andrey. His blood curdled and his heart wanted to explode in his chest, but Andrey kept his head and aimed his gun at Atrox; crushing the trigger under his finger.