Chapter 7

"We gotta go to Hornet NOW! My gang, they have an antidote."

"Right, right, Leif, I..."

He sprinted faster than I imagined any chain smoker could. He cut right between the twins, parting them, and bolted past the circle of chanters. I rubbed my chin, examining the blood on my hands. By the time I looked up, Leif was a speck at the edge of the horizon. I slapped my legs hard to feel the shock, disregarding the pain and dashed after him. The weight of the chains I had concealed in my pockets slowed me down, but I couldn't drop them, I know I'll need them.

He'd run out of my vision, but I followed the long trail of blood he left behind. It sickened me to think that I'd done this to him. My only comrade, and because of me, he may die on his first day. Eventually, Leif came back into full view, along with the colossal presence of Hornet. It was a cluster of three dome mountains, with the middle being the tallest, it looked like brown knuckles rising from the planet's surface. A plethora of caves, five in each row, with a huge one towards the peak. When I looked back down, Leif was collapsed, about fifty yards from Hornet.

"LEIF!" I screamed, he didn't move, but suddenly I was in mid-air, and time stopped briefly.

I was forcefully tackled to the ground, inches from Serene.

"TAG you're it!" a crazed inmate yelled, straddling me.

He had a bald head on top, jet black hair sprouting from the sides, and all of three teeth inside his mouth. There were liver spots on his hands, and he smelled of excrement. I struggled to get up, squirming under the weight of the body, he held my wrist in his hands with astounding strength.

"Tag you're it! Tag you're it!" the bald man manically screamed over and over, thoroughly elated.

Unable to get into my pockets, and too restricted to raise my arms, I rammed my knee so hard into his groin that I felt his pelvic bone on my kneecap. A burst of stars entered his eyes, and he keeled over making a 'Woof' sound. I got up quickly, feeling cowardly, but what else was I to do.

"When you heal, we'll square one on one," I offered to him, as I finally reached Leif lying face down on the ground.

When I turned him over, a grand amount of blood had seeped into his shirt, and his nose was slightly crooked. I patted him on the chest and shoulders to make sure he was dry. He was, aside from the blood. I picked him up in a fireman's carry and felt his fluids drip down the back of my neck. My knee jiggled a little, still worn from the tremors, but I kicked the pain aside and trudged to the lowest point of Hornet.

The caves on the bottom row, a few feet from the ground, lit fires to alert me of their presence. Out of the shadows, a shirtless, long-haired man with his chest puffed out, materialized before me. His stance was exemplary, and goosebumps formed on my arms. Something in his presence showcased to me a cavalier man. Overflowing with guile and venom, mixing into the perfect archetype of a villain. He slowly leaned his head back, scanning me, trying to make sense of what he saw.

"Serene, or he's dead?"

"The lake, he fell into it," I responded.

"Don't seem likely for Leif to fall into Serene accidentally. Not natural of him, he knows better. You push him in?"

Leif coughed up warm blood that tickled my shoulder.

"Put him on the ground, he ain't worthy of being carried. Whether Serene or not Serene."

I kneeled, and my knee gave out. I collapsed to the ground, and Leif rolled from on top of me. I struggled to stand back up, and my leg muscles kept locking, sending me back to the ground. All the running, the interruption with the maniac who wanted to play tag, even the weight of Leif on my back, all of it collided at the worst time.

"You new," he said, licking the top row of his surprisingly white teeth. "Aint used to the gravity yet."

Leif retched up more blood, to the point where no more would come out, that painful empty noise emanating from his gullet. The long-haired man sashayed towards him, his raven-colored mane blowing in the cool breeze. He revealed a small vial from his pocket, filled with a dull yellow substance, and centered it between his index finger and thumb.

Leif crawled towards him with his mouth wide open, an ocean of red staining his teeth, and gums. The long-haired man opened it, and let two drops fall in his mouth. Leif's tongue moved when he felt it land, and he smacked his lips. A minute later he stood up, running his tongue around his mouth, from cheek to cheek. His face indicated that he discovered a funny taste, something foreign.

"This piss?" he asked, as he doubled over and hurled more blood to the floor.

The long-haired man released a guttural laugh so gleefully, that if you didn't see him, you'd think it was coming from a cherub. Suddenly a roar of laughter from the caves seeped into the air. The long-haired man pulled out another vial, same dull yellow inside, and tapped Leif on the shoulder.

"Serious this time, open wide, Leif."

The long-haired man poured the whole bottle in Leif's mouth, and he swallowed it in one gulp. Twenty seconds later, his face went aghast, and he threw up more blood, projectile style. A few droplets landed on the long-haired man's naked chest. By now, Leif was tugging at the man's pants leg, begging.

"Please...just..."

"Taking all the fun out this Leif, open wide," he whipped out the third bottle, same dull yellow again, I couldn't even watch Leif drink it that time, but to my surprise, it was the real antidote.

Leif stood up straight, and the next time he coughed, it was the smokers cough I was accustomed too.

'Puck, I was begging you, man. I fell in nearly a mile from here."

"Lighten up, Leif, me and you used to pull this trick all the time. Usually on the fresh meat though, I'm tickled to see it happen to you. Karma's a bitch."

"Only bitch here is you."

"No truer words could warm my heart any further, little brother. When did you decide to crawl back into hell? Miss the taste of the devil? We told you to get out, not built for this, Leif."

"I am built for this. I got pinched sneaking into District 2. Killed two enforcers, sliced them from here to here with a box cutter."

"Double murder, you? Nah, something don't smell right about that."

"It's true, he told me during arrangement, double murder. I don't know about the box cutter part," I chimed in, doing my part of the deal.

"So you did push him in? I'll admit that's funny, what's your name funny man?"

I wanted to tell a lie. I still wasn't sure if any of them would recognize me from my rookie days in District 1. But I already told Leif, and if I switch that part of my story now, who's to say he won't turn on me? Our partnership has to be rooted in truth, even if we're both in on the lie.

"You part of Leif's gang?"

Puck flamboyantly turned his back to me, displaying his living Ouroboros tattoo. However, his snake slithered more seductively than Leif's, and the eyes gleamed like rubies.

"A true Viper, blood in, blood out. Leif was a baby viper few years back till he got locked up."

"I'm Lex, Lex Decan."

"Decan, sound like a District 4 name."

"District 2."

"Make me no nevermind. Come on Leif, you and Lex here got some chores to do."

I stretched my legs, and patted my pockets, making sure the chains were there. Leif side-eyed me, and approached me closely, dangerously close. I could see the lingering pain in his step.

"Next time we walk, I'm pushing you in."

With that, he walked away from me. A part of me wanted to apologize, but it was way beyond that. Nothing could repair what had been done, what I witnessed. Seeing Leif reduced to a cruel joke, in front of everyone, whatever rank he had didn't matter to them. Leif was expendable.

The alluring heat from the low fire caressed my skin. It felt good, stepping into the most extensive cave on the bottom row. It was a karst cave, tall with lines of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see how deep the cave was. After a while, there was just a wall of black, the crevices that the glow of the embers couldn't touch.

On both sides were numerous Vipers, different shapes, and sizes, all shirtless. Ouroboros tattoo on their backs, chest, neck, and a few on their face. A giant of a man, opened his palm to me, messaging me to halt. I stopped dead in my tracks. His tattoo circled his face, with the snakehead on his forehead, the tail rounding his sideburns, ending at his chin. The color of the snake was a deep purple, and it moved slower than Puck's or Leif's. Despite his solid body, I didn't feel threatened by him. I felt welcomed.

"I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet, I am the confidence of all. To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?" the giant said.

Solving riddles never came naturally to me, Darius would've figured it out in seconds. I fished through my collection of compliments and attempted an excellent first impression. "The...leader?"