But I’m a murderer. Killing wounded and unarmed people. They were my enemy, though. They were against me.
But they didn’t even have a chance.
His mind flashed back to the confused look the woman had had on her face a moment before her brain had been turned into a microwave dinner.
Felix felt his lips tremble, his mouth going dry as his stomach pushed upwards, threatening to make him throw up.
Miu, Victoria, Ioana, Andrea. Miu, Victoria, Ioana, Andrea. Doing this to bring them back. Miu, Victoria, Ioana, Andrea. Save Kit, bring them back. Doing this for them.
Felix muttered in the quiet dark of his Warden, no one hearing him, no one seeing him.
Alone with his thoughts.
“You in there?” Lily asked, her finger poking at the camera, getting his attention.
“Huh? Yeah,” said Felix. She’d caught him off guard; he hadn’t noticed her arrival.
“Open up, let me see you.” Lily folded her arms across the tactical gear she’d put on from the armory.
“Lily, I’m fine. If I do th—”
“Open up.” Her voice was calm, clear, and commanding. There would be no arguments.
Felix triggered the opening sequence. The smell of the room hit him in the face. Coppery and rich. The stink of blood was all-encompassing.
“Yes. That smell. Remember it. You can never go back from here,” Lily said, pinning him in place in the open cockpit with her glare. “There is no hemming or hawing in this situation. You did this. You killed them. And that’s something you have to live with for the rest of your life.”
Reaching into the Warden, she pressed a cool hand to his face.
“But you won’t hold that guilt alone. This is to save our people. Your people. You did this with good intentions and a belief that it’s what you had to do.
“It’s only death. Death isn’t the end. They’re all already moving on.
“I’m afraid I realized that fact after the first time I took someone’s soul.” Lily sighed while giving him a bitter smile.
“You, on the other hand, Mr. Campbell, have to help me carry my burden as well. I expect to be spoiled.”
Felix nodded his head slowly, digesting her words.
She was right, of course. In many ways, she probably carried more guilt around than he ever could.
“Thanks… Lily. You’re right. And yeah, I’ll do my best to spoil you. Haven’t had our first date yet, though. Kinda hard when we keep having to reschedule.”
Lily’s tragic smile turned bright at that. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll make sure to make it memorable, then, so it overshadows all the problems we had getting there. Now. Button yourself back up and get ready. There’s a number of people waiting for us, and we can’t keep them waiting, can we?”
She leaned back away from him, her eyes glowing in the soft light, her smile truly bringing out her beauty.
Then a lightning bolt sprang out of the dark hallway and went into one side of her head and exited the other. Her hair caught fire, her skin crisped, and her ears smoked.
Her body locked up into a rigid pose, and then collapsed.
In that moment, Lily fell to the ground.
All around him, his people opened up with their rifles, firing down the dark hallway.
Desperately, agonizingly, Felix pulled at his character screen for Lily. He wanted to make her healthy, put her back to rights. Victoria had been struck by a similar attack and had gone into cardiac arrest.
Maybe this would be easier or fewer points or—
Status Correction: Dead -> Living and Healthy
Correct Status? (60,000 points)
She’s dead.
Felix stared at the smoldering corpse of Lily. The fire in her hair went out on its own, and all that was left behind was the sickening smell of burnt flesh and hair.
Lilian Lux was no more.
Chapter 34 - Hitting Rock Bottom -
Felix stared at Lily as she lay there unmoving.
He didn’t understand. It was the same type of attack that had nearly killed Victoria.
Why did it kill Lily outright? It’s not fair.
It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.
It’s NOT FAIR. IT’S NOT FAIR!
The Warden’s cockpit closed up on Felix and he turned down the hallway.
He lifted up the black metal shield and activated it. Setting his feet, he did his best to get into a stable stance. Then he flipped on his jump jets.
Leaning forward behind the expanding magical shield, he rocketed down the tunnel.
“IT’S NOT FAIR!” Felix screamed.
His shield bucked and smashed into his arm as if struck by something. Felix didn’t care. His shout carried him onward as the jump jets continued to build up speed down the tunnel.
As rapidly as he gained speed, he lost it. All of it.
He slammed to a standstill against what he could only assume was the end of the hall.
Deactivating his jump jets, he pulled his shield to one side to take a look around it.
Smashed between his shield and the wall was the hero who had killed Lily. The damned electrical spawn of the devil.
Felix smiled when he realized the man was alive. Moaning, breathing heavily, and looking like he’d been hit by a car, but alive.
The metal shield flickered and went out, the magical enchantment having been completely spent.
Disconnecting the shield and tossing it to one side, Felix hung his rifle on one of his ammo pods. Then he reached out for the hero with both hands.
Grabbing him by the arms, Felix got a good hold. Then he yanked his arms apart, one to each side with as much strength as he could.
With a sickening crunch and pop, one arm tore off from the man’s torso and the other crackled sickeningly and went limp.
Flinging the torn arm over his shoulder, Felix pressed his free hand against the man’s torso.
The man had been screaming since the moment Felix had started. Rather than deal with it, Felix lowered the receiver, then pulled again on the man’s remaining arm.
With a wet squish, the arm came free. Dropping it to the ground, Felix pushed the dying hero to one side.
Pulling his rifle free, Felix stomped over to the door and kicked it in with a single boot strike.
His low-light vision flickered on and he could immediately pick out where the enemies were.
Pulling the rifle into position, he began firing quick one-second-long shots at each hostile.
As they were turned into bonfires, they began to return fire at him.
The rounds pinged off him, doing little to no damage to the Legion’s Fist.
Felix moved forward, slinging his rifle and pulling a grenade out of his pod. As the men and women around him screamed, burned, and died, he casually stepped amongst them and threw a grenade down the next hall.
Lining up his rifle, Felix waited.
The explosion was a dull echo, but he moved the moment he heard it.
This time, he happened upon a group of stunned and disoriented enemies.
Using his rifle as precisely as he could given the blood-curdling rage he felt, Felix kept moving forward.
A wounded man was squirming around on the ground at the center of a hastily put-together barricade.
Felix aimed his foot and stepped down hard on the man’s skull as he went by. The wet pop and crunch of his own skull was probably the last thing the man heard.
Felix couldn’t get his breathing under control; he was panting, gasping, and shivering inside his cockpit.
Reaching the end of the hall, he found a heavy-duty service elevator bay.
There was no elevator, though.
Looking down the shaft, Felix let out a choked huff. There was nothing but darkness below him.
Stepping into that abyss, Felix braced himself.
Seconds passed by as he plummeted down.