CHAPTER 18
THE SMEARS OF LIVING AND CLEANLINESS OF DEATH
The shot zipped a fraction of an inch past Nox’s head and into the ceiling, causing plaster crumbs to rain down on Nox briefly, then ceasing.
You couldn’t do it, could ya’? You fucking wimp…you disgust me…
That night, Nox went to sleep early, but not permanently. It was the last time he ever saw Kanna. Possibly a good friend lost.
♠♠♠♠♠
Nox’s behavior reached its peak, acting erratic and often violently, soon losing his grip on the real world altogether. It was no fun experience. A few days after his attempted suicide, Nox lost total sanity, and a revelation came about him once again, like in prison about the escape, but this one was much bigger.
It dawned on him during his working hours, in the afternoon. Suddenly…it was so crystal clear…just so…so obvious. He had to eliminate the captain that had turned down his promotion. He was the source of his misery. And if anyone got in his way, he would eliminate them also. No matter who they were. He set off for the captain’s office, his beloved rifle loaded up and ready to kill.
He knew what he’d do. He’d just be another slig asking for a promotion in the mudokon secretary’s eyes, he wouldn’t realize it was him. That was his free pass into heaven.
He reached the office, and said to the mudokon behind the desk;
“I’ve come to ask for a promotion.”
“Oh…go on through, he’s free. But –”
Nox looked at him.
Have I been caught out? Already?!
“You’ll have to leave that here.” He said, pointing at Nox’s rifle.
He’ll be fucking dead soon, pal…
He did as he was told, and left his rifle on the desk…the mudokon obviously hadn’t seen his pistol holstered on his leg.
He knocked on the door again, and as usual there was no reply, so he went on in anyway. The captain had his back to Nox, seated in his swivel chair, talking on the phone again. Nox sat down, and made himself comfortable.
“Yeah…yeah, I get yeh…yeah…” He turned to face Nox as he babbled down the phone.
Nox saw the moment he realized it was him. He must of thought he’d come to badger him some more.
“Yeah…can I phone you later, something’s just come up…ok, see ya’.” He said, then placing the phone back on its hook and standing up. “What the fuck do you want?!” He snapped rudely.
Nox merely said “A little politeness.” And at that moment he stood up, pulled his pistol out of the holster and fired it at the captain’s chest four times.
Each shot was loud and the gun recoiled in Nox’s hand as blood splattered over the desk and the well-used phone. He shook on the spot for a few seconds, and then dropped behind the desk.
Nox held his smoking pistol up for a while longer, admiring the silence, soon interrupted by a loud, whining siren. The alarms. Nox’s heart was already racing, and he felt nothing for having killed the captain or set off the alarms. He lowered his gun, and calmly walked over to the desk to look at the corpse lying behind it. The captain’s chest was now a bloody mess, much to the disapproval of him…if he were still alive. Nox took pleasure in this thought.
He then tipped the desk on its side, letting the blood-splattered phone and some stained paperwork fall to the floor with a clatter. Nox knelt behind it, and waited for security.
Soon enough, two sligs burst into the room, letting the door fall of its hinges in the ruckus.
“Freeze!” One of them shouted, to which Nox replied to with one carefully aimed shot, tearing its way through the sligs face-tentacles and into the slig’s neck, killing him instantly with a spurt of blood.
Nox then yelled “Hands up!” And to his own surprise, the second slig, now alone, did so, by dropping his rifle.
“Good lad…good, good lad.” Nox cooed gently, easing himself up from behind the desk. “Now as long as you don’t reach for ya’ gun, I’m not gonna’ fire, you hear?” He said, trying to bargain with the potentially dangerous slig.
Nox made his way out of the room, not letting its pistol lower from its target. He then reached outside the office, to see the mudokon back into his desk in fear, his hands up. Nox then fled the scene for the warehouse, totally forgetting his devoted rifle. It was now or never for Lage.
He reached the warehouse in an unusually short amount of time, to find two sligs already there, and they had Lage.
“What’s this little shit doin’ here?” One of them said, grabbing hold of the kid and shaking it.
“Where the hell’s it come from? I mean really?!” The other said.
The other slig then slapped the kid around the face, hard, and the child fell to the floor with a cry.
Nox’s anger bubbled up so strong this time, stronger than he’d ever experienced it. He’d protected this child through thick and thin, and there were these two bastards slapping the poor soul around for fun!
KILL THEM FUCKERS!!
He did so, and just let his rage take over. He picked out his combat knife that he hadn’t used in a long time, and had luckily found in his locker and stored in the metal compartment behind his robotic legs, and threw it with all his army expertise, making the throw pinpoint accurate.
It spun and sliced its way through the layer of fat behind the slig’s head, burying its blade deep, up to the handle, forcing its sharpened point through the slig’s skull and into the brain. He fell over, dead. That’s when the other slig, the one that had slapped the child, realized Nox was there.
“Freeze you piece of shit!!” Nox yelled, aiming his gun at the second slig.
“Whoa, whoa!! I’m a slig! Like you!” He said, confused.
“You’ll never be like me.” Nox replied.
And with that, he fired one shot, which passed through the head of the slig, leaving a red mist behind it. He stood stiff for a moment, then fell over backwards. Dead.
“Uncle!” Lafe screamed as it ran towards Nox, terrified by all that it had just experienced.
“Don’t worry,” Nox said, picking the kid up with his pistol still in hand. “They’ve gone now. Nothin’ to worry about.”
“I was afraid you weren’t coming back! I thought they’d finally caught me!!” It sobbed hysterically.
Nox hushed the kid, and settled it down.
More shit-heads are gonna’ be here soon! Hurry!!
Nox set the child down, and immediately walked over to a panel on the wall; the circuit board for the alarms on the warehouse. He opened it, remembering all the bomb-deactivating lessons he’d received from Dran during the war. He pulled one wire until it snapped, and then crossed it over to another fuse. It set the alarms permanently active. Now if anyone entered the warehouse, they’d set off the alarms. Nox had to think what he was going to do next.
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almost at the end now! only one chapter left!
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