Chapter 4: …to shout out for help!

Thinking about that sad period in my life got me very depressed so in order to take my mind off of it, I turned my attention to back to the sounds of the wiling man who had just murdered his friend. 

I heard low sounds of metal sliding into metal followed by the distinct sound of a gun being cocked.

The corners of my mouth lifted into a twisted grin upon hearing this… it seems he had settled on the suicide route.

I could feel the subtle shift in emotions he went through as grief and despair slowly morphed into fear. I could his fear and hesitation very well since I had gone through similar motions and had tried to make that very same decision numerous times.

No matter the circumstances one was thrust into, making the decision to take your life was very easy but going through the motions and actually doing it was an entirely different matter altogether. At that moment numerous thoughts would run through your mind such as regrets of things you would still have yet to do and above all, the thing that made people hesitate the most was hope.

I had no doubt that right now no matter how far fetched it was, he was subconsciously hoping that everything that happened was nothing more than a bad dream from which he would wake up from and find everything right. He had hope that that he would be overlooked for his transgressions by his seniors and everything would be alright. Such hope was dangerous and extremely poisonous, I had to do everything I could to twist that hope into despair.

And so, I did…

Slowly but surely, I implanted subconscious suggestions into his mind which promptly made my blood flow faster and my breath hitch as I felt his fear slowly morphing into overwhelming guilt. When one felt guilt, one also felt the need to atone for that guilt… one sought for forgiveness. 

Slowly cutting off all his psychological paths of retreat, I made him discard thoughts about his atonement using other methods one-by-one until eventually he was left with only but one option. It was an option I made more appealing than the rest. What better way to atone to your best friend whom you murdered yourself than by killing yourself and joining him in death. I wanted him to work under the law of equivalent exchange. 

Blow for blow, tooth for tooth and a life for a life. These bastards took the lives of my comrades as well as that of my mother. What exchange was there for them other than to lay down their lives in exchange for the ones they took?

Just as I was finally about to tip him over the edge, the whole building suddenly shook violently with rubble and dust falling from the ceiling and cacking the top of my head. Although I could not see any discernible details due to the blindfold I had on, I was vaguely aware that the bright white lights had suddenly switched to a dim red colour.

Following the sudden switch in the lighting, a blaring alarm started to ring as I heard the distinct sound of footsteps rushing past the door of my isolated cell followed by shrill shouts and screams up until the sound of gunfire being exchanged tore through the shouts.

I was very surprised because this place was so inconspicuous and the prisoners too low-level to draw any attention from the Allied resistance forces. 

It seemed that we had unexpected guests visiting us lonely inmates far out here in the sticks. Very soon all the commotion happening outside was wiped from my mind since it had nothing to do with me. They can kill each other for all I care and I would be glad if they did. The only good people in the Empire and Slade confederacy were the dead ones. It just so happened that today we would have a lot of good people appearing today which was very good. The world would be a much better place if the Empire and the Slade Confederacy were filled with good people, right? 

Any wayward thoughts I had in my mind were literally blown away when the door to my cell exploded into a Hodge podge of flying shrapnel, smoke and flames. Did I mention the shock wave? For a second, I felt like I got sucker punched straight into the diaphragm. It was a feeling I definitely did not want to experience a second time. 

The ringing sound in my ears did not do much to help and feeling the subtle warmth flowing down my ears, I knew I was fucked. I could not see anything right now due to the blindfold and my ears were my only means of keeping up with the outside world. They were now temporarily busted and for the first time in my life, I became scared of the dark. The dim red glow of the Lights I could vaguely make out through my blindfold did not do much to help as I felt like one of those guys trapped in a B-grade horror movie.

Any thoughts of complaint I had were shoved out of my mind when I felt the straps binding my straight jacket getting roughly removed. The gag and the blindfold I had followed right after temporarily blinding me as my eyes painfully adjusted to the light.

Before long, I could make out the face and features of the people before me. They were a rag-tag groups of men and women donned in camouflaged dark military clothing. The soul fluctuations and mana I could feel from them was supressed and sluggish which was probably due to the suppression of the Anti-magic Deployment field (AMDF) towers littered around the island. I was the weird one here for being able to sense their mana and soul fluctuations despite the suppression. It went to show how much of a monster I was…or so I would like to think as my abilities weren't combat oriented. The only things I could do was to do things in the minds of other people…. Nasty things. 

Before my thoughts could go along on any more of a tangent. The man who stood in front of me moved his lips and wildly gestured as he tried to say something to me. I could only tilt my head to one side whist tapping my ears and shaking my head. I could not hear an iota of what he said due to the persistent ringing of my busted ears. For how long was I supposed to endure this annoying ringing sound?!

Lieutenant Moron did not seem to have the brains capable of understanding the universally understandable gestures I was making as he kept on gesturing wildly with his lips moving erratically like dancing worms. 

'Does this guy not understand that I'm trying to say that I can't hear him? And what's with the peanut gallery of his merely standing there and not doing anything. Don't tell me they are also morons?'

Now spittle was flying everywhere and the guy seemed to have a lot of time on his hands. He wouldn't even stop.

One of the soldiers standing behind him finally grew a brain as he moved towards the man. 

Mmmm?! Why did the other guys behind him start shifting uncomfortably? Well, it was probably just my imagination.

The soldier tapped the shoulders of the man to which the man promptly replied by withdrawing a pistol from a holster on his hip and pressing it onto the skull of the soldier.

*BANG!!!*

I could not hear the sound but my mind did a very good job of imagining it due to the distinct muzzle flash, the recoil and finally the brains, skull and blood flying everywhere.

Yikes…. At least now I could understand why the rest of the soldiers remained silent whilst the man went off on his rant. It seems like the man absolutely hated being disturbed whilst he was talking. For a second…. I could not help but worry for my future…. I felt an overwhelming urge to shout out for help.