Moving towards the body, a minor shiver travels down his spine. He decides to avoid the bloodied body and, instead, moves in the direction of the assassin's phone. Taking up the flip phone, he opens it with concern.
Encrypted.
The clock ticks at 3 am with audible clicks, the late time struck with each measured ring. He drags the dead body inside, weighing his options in a flood of profanity. Anger takes hold of him as he wrestles with the consequences of his actions, wondering why he did not report what had transpired to the authorities.
The walls have a creepy atmosphere of neglect, their former superior framework now breaking down into dismal remains. The wallpaper is ripped to shreds and remains hanging, a physical representation of the emptiness that takes over every corner of the room. The compound is made up of one room with no air ventilation system. In this confined room, there is a dining table,a kitchen, a TV and a surprisingly lavish bed.
As he places the body on his dining table, he scours the bloodied body with a look of unadulterated disgust as he scours it for something that can inform him who this man is beyond an assasin. Amidst the ghoulish tapestry of his blood-soaked cloak, hidden beneath tattered cloth, a harrowing revelation unspools—a body cam.
"Sh*t".
He moves under his bed to get his laptop and plugs it into the body cam while observing the assasin from the other side of the room scared that the lifeless body might turn into a living thing.
Encrypted.
A relief but sorrow surrounds him recognizing that the only thing he has left to do is bury a dead body and get a couple of hours of rest before he is right back to his mundane life.
"Is that what i want ?"
The flip phone lets out a creepy string of beeps, startling Rynor out of his daydream. Startled, he reaches for the phone, only to be met with a chilling message on the screen: "DID YOU KILL THE PRESIDENT?"
With the chaos, the doorbell rings, adding to Saryu's growing anxiety. He is on the verge of a face-to-face confrontation with the person who has the authority to decide his future.
He tentatively looks through the keyhole and sees a dark brown-haired man, tall and wearing all black. There is something familiar about him, evoking a small memory in Rynor's brain.
"Agna-"
The door is violently kicked open, its lock obliterated, and the force of the entry knocks Rynor to the ground. As the dust settles, the man strides into the room, fixing a stern gaze upon the fallen figure of Saryu.
"Hello brother"
Agnar stares into the dead body. Controlled, he wants to know, "Did you do this?". "No, and for you to sink so low as an assassin. What a shame." Rynor mutters, turning away not to behold the man his brother has become.
"And this is your concept of freedom? To have your soul torn to a million pieces"
"Says the killer. You have no idea how hard I work for our family. To send money home every month while I subsist on scrap"
"And that was my idea. You left home. YOU LEFT ME WITHOUT A WORD and now you're talking about providing. You being there would have sufficed!"
Both men silently turn away from each other, neither of them speaking another word. The room is heavy with suppressed tears and stifled sniffs. In a touching gesture, Agnar reaches out his hand to his brother. Rynor stands up by himself.
"He was a long term client of mine. His codename was Rex. We were close but he didn't tell me much of his past "
Agnar heads over to the body and begins to inspect it. He removes the body cam plugging it into the laptop and begins to bypass the encryption.
"I still can't get my head around how that someone so powerful died without a bullet being discharged" says Agnar.
Rynor lets out a sigh.
"Its done" says Agnar as Rynor stands behind him.
The video is played.
He comes up the stairs, panting heavily.
"Ok the body-cam is on. This is Rex executing order 519"
As he hits the top. Rynor identifies the building. "Isn't that the abandoned building 10 blocks from the Terra Moćan?!" Agnar gives a confirmatory nod.
Loading his sniper rifle, The body-cam records the president interacting with other politicians. As he surveys his surroundings, the politicians are not familiar. Too young perhaps in their early 20s with pale white faces,nordic braids. They're dressed in white robes with gold lining, bearing an otherworldly and mysterious presence. "Your reign wasn't so bad despite the fact that you may be a cult member" Rex comments, getting his sniper rifle ready for the coming action.
The president suddenly gets up and urges his fellow comrades to leave the room. There is a tangible sense of confusion covering their faces, but in the wake of the president's desperation, they unwillingly comply, exiting the room in a state of nervous expectation. In the midst of the confusion, Rex prepares for the shot. The crosshair of his sniper rifle focuses in next to the president's head. In a spine-tingling plot twist, the leader suddenly spins around, locking gazes with the far-off assassin. A wicked smile spreads across the president's face.
Agnar and Saryu share uneasy glances as they observe the creepy events unfold.
"WHAT THE F*C-
The deafening report of a gunshot echoes, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces. In the midst of the fading smog, Rex surveys the scene, his eyes bulging in shock. The president is nowhere to be found. Rex's flip-phone rings.
"This is Whitehaze"
"That's me" Agnar tells Rynor.
Video continues.
"Whitehaze, things are tough. Can't finish this one"
"Look for second chances. If none go back to base"
As Rex examines the devastation, his camera starts to shake. In horror, an arm grows out of the floor, grabbing his leg, followed by several appendages bursting out of the ground in a futile attempt to encircle and immobilize his leg. Roused from his terror, Rex screams as he takes off in a sprint down the deserted building But one of Rex's arms explosively bursts out of the ground, flinging Rex to the ground. Struggling to hold onto a thin ledge, adrenaline pumps through his body. With lightning speed, he removes a grappling hook, its rope saving him. Attaching it to the ledge, he springs into space. The heart-stopping plummet leaves him inches from deliverance, but with another jolt, the rope breaks. Time suspends as Rex plunges downward. Miraculously, a pile of construction sand cushions his fall, the adrenaline still flowing through him.
"Whitehaze, do you copy?"
"What the fu.(radio static).Please for the love of god let me know that you edited this like as a birthday gift or something"
"I don't know how to edit. Plot a course to a safe house i don't even want to think that this is not a dream"
"Affirmitive, Get to Outer Koios. I will send you to my brother's house"
A route is created on his flip phone and he hurries to the destination
"From what you have told me, I don't think thats a good idea. Then again looks like I don't have much of a choice!"
As he disappears, slowly becoming one with the crowd, Rex glances sideways at the Terra Moćan. The magnificent waterfall descending from the edifice has mysteriously stopped flowing at midnight. Looking upwards at the seat of authority, he sees a menacing figure, darkly gazing with hands tied behind their back. As the clouds part, permitting the moon to illuminate, a shattering realization begins to strike him—there is no escape, and the realization that he will not leave alive settles in.