I could have killed Sam—would have––if Hylla hadn't leapt in at the last second. She deflected my STOP sign projectile with her bare hands, knocking it aside with so much force, it spun through the air and impaled itself in a brick wall and rattled from the impact.
Hylla usually looked scary and intimidating even when she wasn't trying to. But the look she was giving me right now would have made me shrink like a turtle inside my vest if I was in my right mind, which of course I wasn't. Her stare was pure venom.
"You hurt my Brody." she whispered icily. She was shaking with barely controlled rage, her teeth clenched. "I'll kill you."
I wanted to fall to my knees and beg and cower and tell her I didn't mean to, that it was all a misunderstanding, but of course, once again, my body wouldn't cooperate.
I was a puppet.
Instead my hands balled into fists and I positioned my body into a weird fighting stance, kind of like a panther ready to pounce on a prey.
Hylla took a step forward, her aura so intimidating I really wished I could just run away.
The worst possible scenario was playing out in front of me and all I could do was watch. And at this rate we could kill each other.
My mind played back to how lethal her hits are when she fights monsters. But surely she would hold back on me …right? It's not like I'm actually a monster…
"Hylla, wai-" Meg tried pleading again, but Hylla didn't let her finish.
"Stay out of this Megan. I just want to knock some sense into your friend." She looked at the Bravo Null team, "back me up, you guys. If he could knock down Brody like that…" She paused, "he's highly dangerous, even for me."
The darkness in my mind thickened, suffocating, almost like it was trying to squeeze the last of my sanity out. And if I let that happen, my life— the lives of the people around me will be lost. This darkness was yearning to conquer the world… much like the monsters that emerge from the core of the earth. I was becoming like them…
No, I was becoming them.
It was the strangest feeling.
Hylla launched herself at me with a blinding speed, her fist aimed straight at my face, but at the last minute, I managed to react, dodging her attack almost matching her superhuman agility. But even then she still managed to graze the side of my head and it stung like crazy.
I tried to counter but she drove her knee into my chest, knocking out all the air in my lungs. I staggered back, feeling like a truck had run over my chest, slowly. I was sure I'd broken a few ribs with just that attack.
The rumors were true. Hylla was a different beast compared to the other soldiers. Brody was known for his ridiculously explosive strength while Hylla made up for it with her speed and agility. And even still, her hits still hurt like hell.
The fight moved too fast for my mind to keep up. It was like trying to track the spinning blades of a fan with your eyes– clear at first, until the speed blurred into a flurry of blades.
That was how watching Hylla attack was like. If I was the one in control of my body I'd have been long dead.
My body was forced to be on defense because Hylla was raining blows on me like a lunatic. There was no glimpse of an opening. Her fists were pure weapons of assault. My entire body was aching from possibly broken bones and bruised muscles. If I wasn't in control of my body, I should at least not feel the pain inflicted, right?
After an intense and painful five minutes, my body jumped backwards in retreat, my chest and arms screaming in pain.
If my brain could sigh in relief, it did.
Maybe now I will stop fighting.
Instead I felt clouded with embarrassment and shame from getting beat so badly by Hylla. And these were not my emotions…
Hylla was also breathing heavily, probably as tired as I was. She'd already just taken down a monster today after all.
She didn't attack immediately again, she just stood there, catching her breath and watching me warily.
The Bravo Null team hadn't moved from their positions once during the fight, probably because there was no opening to attack considering the speed Hylla moved at or they were just scared of getting hit by any of us. I guess that's why she only teamed up with Brody.
Meanwhile, my darkened mind was plotting, twistedly. I want to hurt her so bad. I want to tear her limbs. I want to — I tried to tear my mind from that but I could already feel my legs muscles tightening like a cat ready to pounce.
I jumped with so much force, my boots cracked the road and I tackled Hylla off the ground and slammed her into a brick wall at the side of the road.
"Hylla!" I heard someone from Bravo Null shout.
It would take them sometime for them to catch up with us considering the speed I just moved at. But in the meantime…
I drew my fist back to punch her into the wall but… I can't kill her! I CAN'T KILL HER!
I had Hylla pinned to the wall, breathing heavily, my fist millimeters away from her face. Hylla locked eyes with me then, as if trying to find the real me in there. Her face was all scratched up and stained with dust.
"Get in control, Zeph." She managed. "You are not a puppet. Fight it.
My reflection on the glass door next to us looked back at me. My black hair mixed with a few strands of blonde, upturned button nose, small mouth and oval face was the same as always, and not the same at all. But my eyes… usually a soft green were now pitch black and depthless.
The expression on my face was twisted, ugly and disturbing. Like my face was a mask and something else was obviously in there.
And that made me so angry.
You are not a puppet. Fight it.
Hell yeah, I'm not a puppet.
This thing used me to hurt my friends.
The nerve of it all.
I was consumed by a new rage, a sense of protectiveness for my friends and colleagues. This was my rage.
And then, like dawn breaking, the dark sensation that choked my mind and body, slowly slipped away.
I'd regained control again
***
I let go of Hylla's shirt, mightily relieved. And ashamed. I could have killed her.
"You okay?" I managed, not meeting her face, "did I hurt you?"
She straightened up from the dent I'd created on the wall with her body, and managed a smirked, "As if–"
Just then I heard a buzz behind me.
"WAIT!" Hylla shouted.
Too late, small Macy from the Bravo Null zapped me with a thousand volts of electricity from her fingertips and my body stiffened and I dropped like a rock.
I sniffed something burning, hopefully not my hair but I didn't have time to think about that now cause I was already drifting into unconsciousness.
I heard Hylla arguing with Macy but it sounded far away.
"I said wait." Hylla complained
"Sorry I didn't hear you." Macy said, not sounding sorry at all. "Did I kill him?"
She sounded happy.
Meg rushed over to check my pulse and I slipped into unconsciousness.
***
I woke up to the scent of a hospital.
I hated hospitals, they made me think of death.
The constant heart monitor beep and drips and smell of medicine and sound of rolling stretchers made me want to weep for some reason.
I heard a few voices nearby arguing. There was a familiar voice too.
Probably Meg.
I opened my eyes to see a stark white sterile looking room.
Definitely a hospital.
Or probably the sickbay I spotted while touring the army camp.
I was chained by my wrists and ankles to the bed. No surprise.
No doubt they'd have run all kinds of tests on me while I was out cold.
The voices I'd heard arguing earlier came from just outside the door.
I still felt grateful to be in control of my own body and mind again, after what happened out there…
I lay there worrying about Brody…and Hylla.
Brody had been nothing but good to me since I joined END and I went ahead and sucker punched him…and right after he'd saved me too.
I couldn't control it but I was responsible for the act. It's still my body.
And Hylla… she somehow helped me get my sanity back.
How could she be so fierce and also…
The door opened and two huge guys stepped in, followed by Meg.
Oh Meg.
If I was grateful for anything, it was that I hadn't hurt her.
She had braided her hair now, two long pink braids with black roots. Her makeup also seemed duller today.
And sadly, the two guys with her reminded me of Brody but without any of the warmth he brought with him.
One of them sported stark white hair, his ebony skin glistening in contrast. He looked like a weathered veteran with a scar above his lip. He had grey unsettling eyes, that reminded me of a brewing storm.
With his tailored neat three-piece black suit and square glass lenses, instead of a muscle shirt and camouflage pants like his red haired colleague, I assumed he was a very high ranking officer.
"You're awake!" Meg exclaimed when she saw me and rushed over, shoving a straw between my lips, forcing me to drink water.
I wanted to hug her and tell her how much she meant to me but the words were kind of stuck in the back of my throat, also there was a straw between my lips.
"Commander Thorne Bloodfang and Captain Korvak were invited from …um, the headquarters of END." Meg whispered to me while I sipped water, "They are here to, uh, assess the situation."
I looked at them over Meg's head but they weren't moving or saying anything, just watching, very intimidatingly.
"They will decide your fate." Meg continued, looking at my face, her expression dull, "If you can be of use…or to be disposed of."
"By disposed of, you mean…" I whispered back.
She drew a line across her neck grimly.
Couldn't have been more clear.
"Execution."