I held the yellow manila folder close when I exited the office and dawdled aimlessly behind Trypano who chattered away.
I wasn't listening though. The folder, although light, made something inside me feel so heavy.
People in here were expected to do what had been done to them. There were worse options too, which Blood Eagle had hinted at, that I didn't have to worry about.
They were saved for someone who had more potential than a human with no abilities or demons hiding within them.
He was fully expecting me dead within the week and that rattled me.
Could he be right?
"Are you listening to me?" Trypano scolded me when she stopped walking and I almost ran up the back of her.
"Not really" I admitted with a shrug, looking down at the folder I still clutched close "do you think I'm no good here?"
"Well, not if you don't pay attention" she joked, only to make me glare at her.
"I'm being serious."
"And so am I."
Obviously, she didn't want to talk about it. If I was no good here, then I would be no good at surviving long enough to find my chance again.
Demons were crawling everywhere. I could be snapped up by any one of them in an instant, and there would be nothing I could do to stop it.
I had no special abilities. I didn't even have my own demon to protect me. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnGCggLUf6
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I was just me. I didn't know if anyone even wanted to help me other than Trypano.
She was stuck with me though. She most likely felt obliged to see me succeed under her guidance before she kicked me out to fend for myself.
Whatever made her sleep better at night.
I went back to my room to sit down at the table there and look over the contents of the folder I spread outwards.
The papers spilled easily and were loaded with information. I pulled the first one over which had a picture of an odd looking creature on it.
The thing looked like a toddler covered in skin that was as dark as the nights sky. It was thorny too, and had a long tail curled around it. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0fVcpNvrZ
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The ears on top were pointed up in curiosity, and it's shining black eyes were staring straight at me. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleQN51I3ZZ
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In the photo, I saw more of the creatures gathered together in the background behind it.
Apparently these thing were called Kalfar. They weren't demons, just ordinary monsters; herbivores actually.
And my Mission, my actual first Mission to earn a name, was to kill them all.
They were imposing on the grounds of another more important creature the papers refused to go into detail about. All I knew was that they were where the Base didn't want them.
Obviously the most natural solution was to kill them off then.
I had to question the sanity of the leader I had just met. Did he have a hard-on for murder or was he just dense enough to overlook a more simpler option of relocation?
Whatever it was, I didn't need anyone else to help me with it. I could handle a few animals.
But the more I thought about it, the more it unsettled me.
It was one thing to just say I could do it, while it was a completely different game actually killing a living thing.
I had never killed anything, not even accidently with my car. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzsLyZUFbA
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I slowed down for birds and swerved for the odd rabbit darting outwards.
One time, I had been close to tears when I had witnessed a fledgeling leave the nest and hit the side of a car at an intersection. I was even unbuckling my seatbelt to save the chirping creature when the traffic was given the green light and it was promptly crushed by the oncoming wheels.
I couldn't kill a living thing.
Did that make me a coward?
I frowned at the papers and realised the Mission I had been given was a lot tougher than I had initially taken it for.
The leader had purposely given me this one so he could see how it affected me. The Soul Stealers; these missing kids and teens, they were hardened killers.
If I wasn't here, what would I be doing?
Packing bags probably. Or stuffing a tissue into another empty noodle cup.
Instantly, my face burned and I let out a groan when I realised.
I had left my messes around my bed like a fucking shrine. I was a missing person now, although my mother probably didn't realise it yet.
Would police and forensics be combing my place for clues and walk in on that? Stale cum wrapped in tissues that were stuffed as high as they could go.
What a way to be remembered. I could see it now; Birdie and his cum cups spread across page one. If I died here, would they have to identify me through my deposits?
I should have cleaned up. Done something at least for when something like this did happen.
Fuck me. What a way to go.
I glared at the photograph of the monster and shut the folder closed on it.
I wasn't going to die. I couldn't, now that I knew my very dignity was at stake. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRLHgXprv8
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If I made my way home before the police got there, there was no coming back from that. That would be stained on my name forever.
Joining these people and living as someone else would be my only option then.
I had the chance to take two people along for this Mission too. I was sure I didn't need it, but having that demon I barely knew from earlier would help me keep my focus if it wavoired again while facing those creatures.
I wasn't a killer. I needed someone that was.
"You want me?"
"Not want, need" I corrected Tooth leaning against the wall of his little corner we had first found him in. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfUwKT08zO
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He was a creature of habit it seemed; I found him exactly in the same place with another yellow folder identical to mine I held out to him.
"Killing Kalfar?" he frowned, scanning the area nervously before pulling me to him "I don't know if I want to be stepping on toes like that around here by doing that."
"But you will do it, right?" I fretted at his uncertainty while he continued to read "I need this."
Once I had that name, no-one would suspect me leaving. They'd think it was another Mission.
Well, cleaning up all that evidence was going to be a mission alright...
"I don't know... usually you would pay someone for a job like this..."
I didn't have money. And anything of value I now owned was only clothing and beauty products.
Maybe my expertise in porn plot-lines was actually going to be of use here?
"Perhaps there is another way I could pay you?" I suggested.
God, I could feel every part of me cringing when I looked at his sharp teeth and broad body.
Would it be like it was with Solonine?
"Dude" he snorted and swatted my hand on his knee away "I don't swing that way. Have some more respect about yourself, will you?"
The rejection hurt, but the truth stung deeper.
"I'll do it if you come to dinner tonight" he pointed a finger at me "but it's nothing else. Just food and good company."
I smiled back at his serious face but doubted his sudden sincerity.
"How come?"
He was a demon. I had to keep reminding myself that these creatures weren't as straight-forward as they made themselves out to be. They were tricksters; waiting for the best chance to strike when no-one could stop them.
I had already found that out.
"I'm getting sent on my own Mission" he shrugged and tried to play it off "some Wall place. Doesn't even say how long I'm going to be there, just that I'm needed to hold back some bad guys and be where I am needed most. I kind of wanted to have a nice get-together before I go. It could be a week; it could be a month before I come back, who knows?"
So, he really did just want dinner in return?
I was still skeptical since his story was so convincing.
I wasn't going to push away this chance though. If that's what it was, then that's what it would be.
"You can get a baby Mission like that done with just the two of us" Tooth forced a smile and elbowed my side "two extras is a bit of overkill. We can go get it done now before it gets dark."
I had to admire his enthusiasm. It scared me too seeing how ready he was to slaughter an entire family of creatures because a piece of paper ordered him to.
"Let me just go grab some supplies for the trip. Looks like this group is a good couple of k's away. Need anything, Fresh Meat?"
"Food" I admitted when I felt my stomach twist at the mention of my name "a cup of noodles?"
Tooth just shook his head at me and wandered off to his room only a few doors down. I stayed put, not wanting to dawdle through dangerous territory while so exposed.
He wasn't long at all. I saw him return with a small bag slung over one shoulder, cheerfully greeting someone who called out to him from across the Base.
For a moment, I was jealous of the wild-haired demon.
He had people who actually knew him and loved him anyway. I didn't have any of that. Not even back home. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbYcs1oSgZ
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All I had were people I knew from work. I wouldn't call them friends; it would be too awkward to bring someone I only knew from a name- badge home like we were inseparable. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1L6hwYNVa
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They were only there the moment I walked through the doors and gone as soon as I left them.
Temporary; just like the closest thing I had here to any sort of friendship.
"All good?" Tooth slapped my shoulder cheerfully "let's go get this done!"
I forced a smile, but felt some of it actually becoming genuine.
"You ever short a gun before, Fresh Meat?" he asked when he switched to my Banded side and picked up my arm to look at the blank screen "you've got absolutely no muscle on you. Your fingers don't look like they've ever been around a trigger."
"Bullshit" I snorted back "I lift car seats and microwaves. I've got some muscle here. And as for triggers, I use telazons to scan barcodes."
I flexed my arm to see no difference. I pushed up the bicep with my fingers to make it appear larger and get a laugh from Tooth.
"No to the gun then" he chuckled "got it. You're a shopkeeper."
"Was a shopkeeper" I corrected him but frowned at the sound of it being in the past tense "or... I still am?"
"Hey" he smiled at my fallen face "I get it. I used to be unemployed."
I scoffed.
"Seriously" he laughed at my immediant dismissal "I didn't live long enough to be old enough for a job."
He kept laughing while seriousness formed over me.
He was dead?
But how on earth did he look so.... well, alive?
The demon was the one pulling the strings? Was it the one keeping his body alive too? There were so many questions rising now.
I'd never seen a corpse that moved before.
"First demon?"
"First dead guy, yeah."
"Dead guy" he shoved me lightly "how rude."
I laughed with him and felt myself liking him more already.
Tooth was fun. He didn't take anything too seriously for someone stuck in here like the rest of them.
Maybe he just didn't care. He was already dead; he didn't have to fear death.
It settled my nerves seeing him do confident.
Tooth strode ahead of me and uncovered a beaten blue car under an equally beaten tarp. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGnMJOewPl
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The body was mangled with dents and even had a long gouge from the front passengers side down to the boot.
"Not from me, I swear" he noticed my staring "that would be this one."
He pointed behind me and I turned to see someone standing there.
I wasn't expecting a follower. The sight of a stranger just lurking there made all the confidence that had seeped into me from Tooth dissappear.
The fact that this person wasn't even a person rattled me the most.
The overall shape was definately human, but that was the extent it went.
Black gleeming scales covered where skin should have. Deep red ones ran down the length of its exposed neck and to the underside of its chin.
There was no hair from what I could see beneath the black hoodie, only scales.
The red eyes were slits as they took in the sight of me. It's face sloped outwards to end at two little nostrils flaring as its forked tongue flicked outwards briefly.
And it's nails. They were the colour of bone and curved like claws that gently ran along its face when it lowered the hood to expose its face. I saw it also had its own scary hood that was flattened to its body.
I never had a fear of snakes. But one the size of a human sure did have me contemplating whether fear in this circumstance would be common sense.
And a cobra netherless. I was certain they were venomous.
"My, my" it spoke in a light voice that sounded disturbingly kind "calm yourself. Your heart is racing."
I placed a hand over it when the eyes lingered there, flicking back up to mine with another slither of its dark tongue.
"Fresh Meat, this is Poison" Tooth introduced me "he can keep an eye out for intruders on your Mission."
He. This snake demon thing was a male. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cDiIdSwNc
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It didn't make me feel better knowing that males of any species were usually taller and heavier than females. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HDcLZy8PI
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He could crush me in a moment from the size of him.
"It is my job, after all" the snake commented, advancing slowly "for a price."
"I...uh...."
"He's getting a share in the kills" Tooth explained "I've already sorted it out."
In what time?
I literally only saw him go to his room and call out to someone else on the way out. What time did he have to recruit someone like this?
"It's cold" Poison commented when he passed me to head to the car "I do hope the heater still works."
"The heater?" I gawked back and peered into the car both Souls climbed into "it's got to be at least twenty-eight degrees out here!"
The sun was bright and the clouds in the clear sky didn't have any hint of oncoming rain within them. The air was warm, if not a little too warm, but nice. There was no breeze to soften the burn of it.
"It could be fourty" Poison spoke with a satisfied sigh and flick of his tongue.
I sat in the back in astonishment. Poison's head touched the roof of the car, only moving to study the dials Tooth turned to blast the car with a noisy gust of air.
"It's going to get really stuffy in here" Tooth smiled apologetically at me through the rear view mirror between them as he pulled the car out of the forestry.
Unbelievable.
A damn human-snake taking control of everything here like he was higher than us. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuMfTpIvpd
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He knew I wouldn't fight back or question him on it too. One scratch from him could probably have me dead in an instant.
I wonder if Tooth had the same fears? 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1MbVDCvej
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He didn't look like he was bothered by Poison looming right beside him as he drove.
They were a weird pair though. And I had seen my fair share of weirdos through the checkouts; druggies mostly, not demons.
Thinking of it, I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary ever pass through our doors. Everyone was human.
Or maybe demons hiding in human skins?
I had so much to learn...
Poison took the lead when Tooth parked up the car after about an hour of driving. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOADMAZoV6
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I had bored myself asleep in the back, watching the same scenary roll past, until the lurching of the car stopping made me realise how exposed I had left myself.
Nothing had happened though. I was well-rested and still had my decency.
At least I knew Tooth and Python weren't like that fucker Nightshade already.
"So, how many are we dealing with?" Tooth took my folder to flick through the papers inside "it doesn't say here. Just 'eliminate the group."
Poison rolled his eyes at Tooth then wandered ahead with his hands stashed into his pockets, his tongue flicking out a few times.
"Twenty-two" he grunted out "maybe thirty-one."
"That's a big difference" I muttered.
"It's hard to tell with all the heat" he bit back.
"Okay" Tooth tapped my head with the folder when we all regrouped "they are where we can't have them. You need to move them along, Freshie."
Poison eyed the handgun Tooth pulled casually from his little backpack to start loading the loose bullets into it.
"Seriously?" he muttered "everything is going to hear that go off and scatter."
"That is why I'm going to box them in" Tooth replied, snapping the barrel in "have some faith in me."
Poison only looked to me as if it was all my fault. I only glared back and saw him mutter something under his breath.
"Just do your job and keep an eye out for the Second."
The Second? 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsgQc9jien
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Why did that sound like it was bad news?
"And you just need to keep your eyes forward" Tooth reminded me while he placed the gun into my hands and forced my fingers around the grip.
It felt heavy. I wasn't expecting weight like this to come from something so small. It was cold and smooth too; the barrel gleaming in the sun when it hit it at specific angles.
"Don't point it anywhere but forward" Tooth pushed the gun away when I turned to inspect the side of it, unknowingly aiming it right as Poison's side.
"You've never shot a gun before" he commented coldly "and now you are going to shoot them."
"I'm going to try" I glared to him but he just smirked and sat down on the grass.
"Go ahead" Poison waved a hand lazily to the group scattered ahead.
"It can't be that hard" I muttered but hesitated when I gripped it tightly and aimed it at the side of the nearest resting creature "right?"
"Right" Tooth smiled and leant over to flick something on the side of the gun for me.
Poison laughed. I felt my blood boil at the shaking sound.
But I was scared. I knew these things were loud. And they kicked back too. Did this one have recoil like the ones in the movies?
I gripped it tighter and felt my fingers ache immediently.
"I find this helps" Tooth's hand slid under the gun to hold out a pink music player wrapped in a mess of white headphone cord.
"You can't hear anything if you turn it up loud enough. It's helped me more than enough times on Missions."
Music? It still wouldn't blind me to what I would see when the bullets lodged into thier bodies.
I scoffed but took it anyway. I wasn't about to look like I was taking an easy way out willingly with them both watching and judging my every move.
For once, I wanted to look cool in front of someone. The pressure of not being the butt of thier jokes was turning me into something I wasn't.
False courage fuelled me. The sounds of a dated pop song deafened me.
I was ready to go.
The trigger fought against me and made me struggle for control. When the gun lurched back, I saw the silent bellow of the creature warble to the song in my head comically. Blood spilled out of the wound as it got to its feet.
The others scattered immediately. Tooth was quick to act, rushing along to the left of me to try and herd them back into a line of sight.
It was funny to see him try so hard for nothing. I laughed at his seriousness until his wide, screaming mouth split at the sides and tore the skin apart on his face.
My next shot missed and only threw up a shower of dirt when endless meters of arm spewed forward to bend around the terrified group.
I felt the gun leave my numb fingers that lost all feeling. The song tried to shake my nerves back into action with its chorus that only hammered its noise inside my head.
Tooth's body fell limp and was immediently tended to by the hands outstretched on the mess of arms.
One covered his face while another wrapped around his hanging body to support it.
I looked to Poison for his reaction to what was happening, only to see his fangs quivering as he yawned.
"Sorry" he spoke when he wiped his eyes "I'm falling asleep here waiting for you."
I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. His acting was good if this was just some part of a bigger joke.
For something so disgusting, the arms and hands didn't scare me. The initial shock was wearing off from seeing it all happen before me. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBeUcQUVQS
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With them being so far away probably helped. Seeing them up close would have terrified me for sure. I was thankful for Tooth and his senseless herding placing distance between us.
No doubt he has done it deliberately. He knew exactly what he was hiding.
Poison slapped the back of my arm and pointed to the gun. He was holding his head up with one hand while fighting through his weariness.
Right. The gun.
I aimed it at one of the creatures looking around frantically as it was trying to decide another escape route and shot.
The bullet lodged in its face, spraying its jaw on the arm beside it, and making the socket start to collapse.
I felt scales when Poison tore the gun from me to fire another bullet promptly into its head, killing the wailing beast.
"Never give them time to suffer" he snapped when he yanked out one of the earphones "not like that."
Suddenly, he had life about him. He looked down on me when he got to his feet and scanned the area while I shoved the eadbud back in, skipped the song, and let loose on the rounds.
Bodies were collapsed on the ground that was slushy with blood. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI78A83zPRo
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It looked like the grass here had been painted from the amount dripping from the blades and snaking underneath the arms and hands keeping them captive.
Bullets were running out too. Tooth had a whole box of them in his bag, but I was a bad shot, and had lodged a few into the arms themselves without so much as a complaint from him.
He wasn't doing much actually. His limp body just hung there in its cocoon of fingers while the thing sprawling from within him did the work.
Was he even still alive dangling like that?
I kept shooting, crippling the creatures before finishing them off.
Poison only moved to pat me on the back when I shot down the last one who looked down at the ground, distraught at the bodies strewn there.
The stench was overwhelming. Each breath stung when it stabbed down my nostrils and crawled into my lungs where it burned like acid.
Fresh shit wafted and mixed with the copper tinge of thier blood. In thier panic and final moments, they had let fear drip down them.
It wasn't a honorable way to go. Nothing about this Mission respected these creatures as living things.
Maybe it was the same thing for us? We were going to eventually be snuffed out and left to rot in shit and tears like garbage?
Poison nudged my shoulder to pull my gaze from the slaughter and the headphones from my ears.
"You good, Freshie?"
I nodded but my trembling lips couldn't hide the choked noise that came from them.
"It's a bit to take in for a first time" he shushed and dragged me into a hug I didn't fight "it's OK. You did really well today."
"I didn't want to do well" I shuddered against his cold scaley hand running over my head and over my ear "I didn't want to do any of it."
"But you did" he soothed, still patting my head "and you actually hit them. I'm impressed."
I looked up at him and smiled. He grinned back briefly and rested his hand over my ear.
"Don't let anyone see that" he tapped the hearing aid with the tip of a nail "they'll use anything against you to make it look like you are weak and get rid of you."
"Even something I can't control?" I held my hand over it now to make it squeal from the feedback.
"Especially something you can't control" his smile came again as he bent to gesture to the inside of his leg he turned for me to see. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdU4t8DxkY7
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A scar ran up the inner side of it, perfectly in line with the one on his other leg.
"All good here?" I heard Tooth grunt out "did you get scared, Freshie? I thought it was a bit much on your first time. I should have g..."
"It was fine" I chuckled at his concern and turned to him but paused when I saw Tooth holding the severed head of one of the creature's whose tongue was lolling out the flaps of skin "what is that for?"
"We don't have a camera, so we take physical proof" he replied with a rub of his jaw and stretch of his neck "just to show you did the job properly. I'm assuming this is the leader."
Poison scanned the area and nodded.
"Biggest one usually is" he agreed "just don't let the Second see it."
"Obviously" Tooth rolled his eyes back to my giggles.
He handed it to me and I felt the tongue and severed spinal cord dangle between my fingers. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYZiG0F54q
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I let out a disgusted groan and whimpered at being forced to carry the disgusting trophy that seemed like it was melting away in my grasp.
Poison and Tooth found the whole ordeal amusing. It wasn't until we were back at the car and I was thrown Poison's hoodie that I could bundle the mess within the fabric that immediently soaked through.
"Drop by mine to bring that back" Poison commented, blasting the heater onto his white shirt "washed, of course. First half, top floor, door opposite the office. Hot water; soaked. One cap liquid detergent; nothing floral. I get rashes from flowers."
His tongue flicked out when I acknowledged his directions with a silent smile and raised eyebrow.
"I need my skin to be top quality" he continued on "my dealers don't want flakey and spotted scales because someone couldn't follow simple instructions and wash my jacket properly. Hot water, no flowers."
"A.... dealer?" I snorted "you aren't serious."
"I need that money somehow" he rubbed his fingers together "and I'm not going to start giving bad product now. Hot water...."
"...no flowers" I finished with a short laugh at his persistence "I'll see what I have under the sink."
Poison sat back with a satisfied smirk to Tooth who only glanced between us in amusement.
Things were going good between us already. I felt like I was actually making friends with Poison and Tooth rather than being lumped with another face that would merge back into the crowd.
I felt happy. Like, actually happy I had this twisted bonding experience with them both today.
Maybe one day, we would be best friends. For now, we still had to tackle that awkward border between acquaintance and friend before I threw myself into anymore Missions with them.
Perhaps, home could wait for a little while longer. I wasn't in a rush to head back to become the gossip of work and listen to my mother berate me for stopping my car for Trypano in the first place, rather than worry about my wellbeing and safe return. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhruagwKp7A
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And the noodle cups I had been so scared of being discovered had gone this long without being unearthed. I was sure my mother wouldn't even know I was missing, let alone frantically searching for me in my bedroom she never opened anyway.
I needed a name first anyway to make my escape perfect. I would get it when I presented this head when we got back to the Base.
And then I would prepare again. It had to be flawless so I didn't have the same problems as the first time.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4ElagILLY
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A little extra time wouldn't hurt, right? One extra day?
I still had to wash this hoodie and have dinner with Tooth to repay both Souls for thier help in my plan.
It would all come together, just not right now.
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