I Don't Want to Die

After the boy lunged past me, he went straight without breaks, crashing into the monolith with a loud boom and a loud quake could be felt. The monolith shook for a moment but that was it. Not even a crack could be seen.

As you would expect from an object of worship. It seems to be indestructible.

It would take him a couple of moments to recover and another couple to rebalance himself back. I used those precious seconds to look around me. This time, it was not to assess the situation but to scout anything that could be of leverage in my battle.

Anything. From geography to the positioning of the holes surrounding the monolith to any scattered items within arm's length that could help me even a little bit.

Every little matter counts.

It was only a few breath time before the boy howled again. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that could be of use to me.

I only took an eye off the boy for a moment and when I looked at him back he was already on his feet. He tried to lunge his way towards me again. This time with his body and leg bent.

'Hmm? That's new…'

Previously he never did any proper stance before making a move. This should result in diminished force from his jumps but with his abnormal strength that issue was countered.

Then what would happen if he incorporated proper stance in his action. Of course the force would be multiplied further than before.

Tingling sensations flared up all across my body. My brain screamed at me to move as soon as I saw that form. And that was what I did.

I rolled forward, missing his outstretched hand as I went below him. He would have caught me if I moved even a milliseconds late. As fate would have it, my hand caught something on the ground from.

Instantaneously I could tell that it was an ore. A miracle item that would later save my life.

The ores never caught my attention as our surroundings were full with them scattered on the ground. Why wouldn't it be? People came to exchange their ores with the monolith.

If they value their lives they would drop their precious ores and run from the scene without a second thought.

Without missing a beat, I reposition myself to face him while quickly jumping back to increase our distance.

I felt something bumping my back. It was the monolith! Now my way of retreat is only to the sides.

When I expected things to go my way, it suddenly didn't.

The boy used his legs to break. This meant two things; one, he took less time to make his subsequent move and two, I had less time to plan for my next move. In other words…

'This is bad!'

He didn't even wait until he stopped completely. With his legs stretched forward and his body completely facing me, he looked exactly like his previous pose albeit in a moving manner.

His leg kicked as he shot himself towards me like a speeding arrow.

And I was totally unprepared for it!

I was unprepared for it, but as fate would have it, it was not the time for me to die just yet. The time. It slowed down to the nanoest of seconds that on my first impression I thought the 'Time' just stopped.

It was like I could see the smallest gear of a clock moving ever so slowly making a one full rotation.

My opponent had the same fate. I could see his minute movement as he bridged the distance between us, his arm outstretched, trying to punch me. I would without a doubt die if it hits me.

'What should I do?'

In front of me, a crying cannibal asking someone for help to stop him from eating anybody else whilst at the same time trying to kill me and behind me, the indestructible monolith.

In my hands, one was my loyal pickaxe and the other an ore I just randomly grabbed earlier.

'Should I roll to the side? But then what?'

The one who controlled the boy seemed to be getting the hang of it as time passed. If I rolled to the side and he attacked again before I had time to counter him, then what?

Relying on some lucky encounter that time would slow down each time my life was in peril? Fat chance!

This is my chance. I should counter him now! I had to plan for a counter that would reduce his fighting capabilities further on.

If things kept like this, the perpetrator would become better and better at controlling the boy and I would have less chance of survival.

I had a stroke of inspiration. It was a high risk high return move. But at this point in my life, facing this abomination, everything is high risk. What I needed was the high return.

If I failed, I would die. And if somehow I manage to succeed, well another day for me. It wasn't any different from any days in The Mine. Everyday I went out in search of ores and if I failed to get the targeted amount it would mean death to me.

I had been starving all this time and a day without a slice of bread would mean a death sentence to me.

It was no different now. Only this time, it was up to me to decide whether I got to live another day or not.

With no second thought on my plan, I went ahead with it.

Just 'in time,' the miracle started wear off. As if 'Time' was saying to me, "You will be okay now."

As the slow motion effect wore off, the scene before me gradually sped up to its usual pace. The boy's movement, with each passing thought, became faster and faster. And closer too.

I tossed the ore up and ducked my body down, now holding my pickaxe with both hands.

The boy came like lightning and his punch resounded like thunder.

"Arghhh!"

A heart wrenching scream. A splash of blood splattered on my face. His hand was badly injured from ramming into the ore I had thrown earlier.

I was quite lucky to get the timing right. I knew he was aiming for my head. So the tossed ores came down perfectly, replacing my head as the target.

With the ores, ridiculous hardness and the indestructible monolith as its supporter, the boy's punch slammed into them.

And surprise me not that the boy's hand came out lost in this exchange.

And now what had to be done must be done!

I swung my pickaxe as hard as I could, mustering every single fiber of my muscle to move for this swing. My aim, his heart. As ruthless as it sounds, it was me or him now.

The boy still had his forward momentum and I used it against him.

By this time, my ear was still ringing from the punch's shockwave to describe what kind of sound it produced. But what I could definitely not forget was the sensation.

The sensation of piercing flesh. My hands started to get slippery as warm liquid washed them, dripping down to the cold hard ground. Resulting in the same red puddle I just saw earlier in the day.

This time, it was not my blood.

The pickaxe's blade protruded out of the boy's body. I could no longer feel his monstrous strength. The only thing left were his heaving body and sobbing eyes.

I slowly let go of my pickaxe only to find the boy's body falling forward towards me. However inhuman he had been, it was over. I gingerly supported him and laid him down on the ground gently.

Regaining his sanity back, his eyes were back to normal. Before, in his possession, his eyes were bloodshot while tears were dripping down from them. Such a contradiction.

Currently in my embrace, his eyes had returned to their original colour. Beautiful hazel irises.

'Isn't this…'

"J-Jack?"

Only now did I recognize him. It was the boy who instigated the 'rock throwing session' earlier, Jack!

Of course I would remember him. Jack here had long been my hardcore fans with the hardcore stuffs.

"I-I'm sorry…" he sobbed.

I was left speechless. What should I say to him? I think he wouldn't listen to words from the outlander, would he? What I think the most appropriate thing to do was to listen to his rambles.

The rambling of a dying man… and I was the one who killed him.

"I-I never want to do… those things…"

As I have expected, he was conscious while not in control of his actions. For how many people he had killed, it was ultimately on his hands from a third party perspective.

"I know…" I whispered.

I could only offer words of assurance and in response he gave me a weak chuckle.

"If…if not for you, I wouldn't be like this…"

Is he being sarcastic right now? Was my sarcasticness contagious? Or is this his serious blaming on me for putting a pickaxe through his body?

He catch up to my weird look and let out a sad chuckle. He was still crying.

"It was… no coincidence… I was your bully… after all. The role of your… exterminator… naturally… falls on me."

He was heaving between words. I had no time to consider his choice of words as he meekly lifted up his hands to which I grabbed reflectively.

"I'm… so sorry… Aero…" he said again.

So his apology earlier was for me and from his previous words, I now know what he's apologizing for.

"I'm so… so… sorry…" he sobbed. His voice is getting weaker.

I looked into his eyes and I knew that he meant every single word that he said to which I could only reply, "I know…"

The grip from his hand gradually loosened up.

"A-aahh… ahhh" he no longer had any energy to mutter anything, still he struggled.

"Yes, I would find whoever did this to you," through his eyes was a hint of vengeance.

He only offered me a weak smile.

As the black smoke of vengeance got swept away, only one emotion remained.

'Aero… I don't want to die…' his glimmering eyes emitted those words. They glimmered one last time as they dimmed down. The light got washed away with the last tears.

His last glimmering tears… and his last breath.