I will never forgive that bastard for what he did. So cold, heartless, hell, even inhumane of him. Just sat there as I watched my brother die in my own hands. I was so angry, raging essentially, but inside.
We gathered whatever was left in the vault, which was little to nothing, some meds, alcohol, and ammo for our weapons.
I realized Hunter standing between myself and Kross most of the time, probably to stop me from murdering the asshole. I don't blame him either.
"Where to next?" Hunter asked.
"Where else, fucking Manchester to help Daniel fucking Hughes." I said in annoyance.
"He is the main priority." Kross said after a scoff.
Hunter placed his hand on my shoulder to calm me down, I just nodded at him.
Kross was trying to rile me up, he knows damn well I would completely lose it on him if I got riled up, so I did my best to remain calm.
"Through Birmingham right?" Hunter asked.
"We are on that route, so yeah." I answered.
We placed all the gathered loot in duffle bags, and slotted them around the backseat of the buggy where Hunter would normally sit.
"You alright brother?" Hunter asked me as we gathered around the buggy.
"Don't think I can drive, here, take this and you drive." I said as I handed him my keychain.
"You sure about this?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.
"What else can I do? I'm not in the right headspace to drive, so you take care of it." I nodded slightly as I forced a weak smile.
"We can chill until you are good to go." He suggested.
"No, we should have been there by now." Kross snapped.
"Tom is not alright doc, we need him to be a hundred percent." Hunter said.
"Ben Hughes does not care who is alright and who is not, we need to reach Daniel before he does." Kross said as he got in the buggy's passenger seat.
Hunter sighed before getting into the driver seat after I nodded at him, I jumped on the turret seat and awkwardly laid down, it was surprisingly comfortable.
"Thomas, you alright brother?" Hunter said as he looked back from the driver seat.
"I have been better and have been worse. Actually, that was a lie, I have been better, not worse." I replied.
Hunter stuttered, didn't know what to say to that, so he just kept silent, looking back at me through the side mirror, tears running down his face, George was his friend too, but couldn't show it in the syndicate or in front of Kross.
"We have been working with the syndicate, done some despicable things yes, but we are still human, and this was a sign." Hunter whispered but loud enough for me to hear.
He was right though, we did do unimaginable monstrosities in our time with the syndicate, but that doesn't mean we lost what was human in us too. Well, at least me and Hunter didn't.
At first the syndicate was a private military force paying higher than any other job in the world, we joined it 6 years ago together. George and Hunter had applied, told me and made me apply too. It was nice at first, some extreme training, we thought they wanted the best, it was a private force after all. But then the uncomfortable things started happening. We went twenty days with no food, forced to eat raw animal meat and bugs in the forest we were dumped in for that training. Then the most grueling training came, it was a cold December evening when they came and took us to the edge of camp which was on Table Mountain near the heart of Nevada. They blocked us from exiting and told us to wait for intel about the training. We stayed like that, waiting, for five days, in the cold, snowy wind of the mountain. We starved, and waited for anything but to no avail. Then came the chilling call through the loudspeakers. "If you are feeling hungry then just eat your fucking mate." Then... silence....
No sound, no info, no nothing. They just told us to eat each other and nothing else, that was the mission, to make us cannibalistic.
All but one of trainees refused to partake in this sick, twisted game, the one who wanted to, got his head bashed against a tree stump so hard that his brain fluid was on our boots.
The syndicate was brutal in many ways, but it was good for us, because of the finances. We needed it, so did everyone else on the force.
We undertook so many missions for Ben that he became family, it is odd why we are trying to stop him now, even worse, helping his long lasting rival of a brother.
Daniel and Ben, they have been... weird. Back when everything was okay, they were on and off a lot I know this because of our close relationship, or should I say past close relationship, to Ben, now after everything went to shit Daniel isn't really aware of the scope of what is happening and Ben is taking advantage of it all, claiming all control over the elders and everything else, as the rightful owner of Anshin, the company that made the world go haywire.
'What am I doing thinking of all of this?' I snapped back to reality. 'Work needs to be done. I have to focus, can't lose anyone else.'
The road felt like it was much longer than it was. Three hours it was, yes, but it was the longest drive of my life, agony, anxiety and fear of the unknown, all clouding my judgement of what is to come.