The two men wasted no time in grabbing their shoulders and dragging them across the grand hallway, while still being sensibly careful enough to not cause a wreckage inside. And so, they wasted no time making their way to the glass elevator.
The ride in the elevator was quiet, just like any other time Zoey was in this damned elevator. But this time, it was dangerously quiet. Simply for the fact of the two men here in the elevator with them.
'When will I ever catch a break...'
Zoey didn't like the two men one bit. They most definitely heard even if not all, then at least some of the conversation Zoey and Peter had with Coin.
Which was really unfortunate since they were part of not only Coin's Circle, but they also had their own group of vile creatures. Namely, as what they'd like to call themselves, the northern association.
Zoey smirked weakly. 'The Northern Association. What a joke. Half of them weren't even from the north. Just thugs with a fancy name.'
They just happened to form their own group at the beginning with a few people who worked there at the time. It's now way more dispersed and all over the place.
That aside, their cause at first was pretty beautiful and inspiring. But as time went by, which wasn't much time at all might I add, they simply lost their cause.
Now they're just a bunch of thugs. A bunch of very mean and dangerous thugs, trying their best to live their life to the fullest in this "fleeting memory of a life" as they'd like to call it.
They don't call it that. I'm the only one that says such things. It just sounds cool and makes me feel sophisticated.
Anyways, where was I? Ah yes I was currently
getting the living shit beaten out of me right outside the complex of the circle.
The crisp sound of their fists and legs connecting with my bloodied face mixed with the sounds of everyday life as people walked by, factories churned their machines, public airway trams whizzed past and the voice of the announcer lady ringing all around.
One good thing about having your shit absolutely rocked is that, at the very least, it adds a bit of color to the world.
Now instead of the monotonous white lights of everyday lights, it was both white AND red. How cool is that? Personally I'd say it's a huge upgrade.
What the hell was someone like Zoey doing in this fucked up place? He should be somewhere else, at home reading books and eating and sleeping. He should go to what they refer to as a school like a normal kid his age, have fun while making trouble. He should eat "instant noodles" in a "convenience store" while looking outside through a glass wall.
'Nah, this is my first nightmare. After I beat this trial I'll become a sleeper and then go to the academy and make weird friends like Sunny and the blind girl.'
Zoey would really like to believe that he was from the world of the novels and such, but the thing was that...
He's been in this particular "nightmare" for a while now. He has been here for so long, that it's the only place he knows. He's practically grown up here.
'But hey, I don't have an overly privileged sister that doesn't give two damnations about me... I think at least. On the bright s-'
"BOOM! And he scooores! That's a hat trick fuckers!"
One of the men shouted as he kicked Zoey's head right at the temples. If he was seeing red and white only, now he was seeing all the colors of the rainbow for sure. Blue, green, orange, but mostly yellow.
'What the hell, why yellow? Ah damnation, it's warm on my face. He's taking a piss isn't he?"
That he was. One of the two men, the one who was using Zoey's head as a kick ball, really needed to empty his bladder. Then, he had the brightest idea of using Zoey's face as a makeshift toilet. He really outsmarted himself there. The man smiled proudly at his own cleverness.
A man quickly scuttled away, walking around the puddle of piss enlarging on the smooth pavement, annoyingly muttering to himself.
"Less than optimal commencing of morning. Pay will be decreased by 0.003 credits..."
The other thug seemed to have taken out a bag of synthetic plastic. Inside, there were small pieces of crystal like rock.
The man carefully cradled the pieces of rocks and gently placed them on the floor. He licked his lips and took out a slick metal card. He then crushed the rocks into fine white dust on the floor, grouped them together with the card and cupped one of his hands around it as he quickly got on all fours.
He furtively glanced at all the people walking by around him, and proceeded to bring his bald head to his cupped hands and inhale sharply.
Taking in all of the white powder up his nose, he threw his head back and held his breath for a while, his eyes closed.
His head shook a few times erratically, until he finally exhaled slowly. Relaxing his body, he let out a long sigh.
"Ahhhhh..."
All of a sudden though, his movements became quick and active. He felt energized, as if he was the most happy person in the world.
He slapped the floor a couple times and threw his hands up in the air. "WOOOO!"
The man stood up and made his way to the other two with a spring on his steps. His face abnormally twitched frequently as he carelessly made his way to his destination. The metal card, still in the man's hand, was now gripped tighter.
By now, Zoey should have introduced these two people, but the thing is that Zoey himself could not, for the life of him, remember their names. Zoey wished he knew though.
Of course he needed to know the name of the people on his To Kill list. But he just felt too bothered to ask them or put in the effort to find out.
And so, he unconsciously named them Mr. Baldy and Mr. Brickhead, first one being the man that was skipping in his direction after snorting God knows what, the second being the one pissing on Zoey's face. Such impeccable naming skills! Zoey couldn't imagine how boring the world could be without people like him.
Actually, he could. He was living in it right now. All these boring people monotonously working, eating, getting barely any sleep and repeat. It's just that the only non boring people just so happened to always end up on one of Zoey's lists.
Whether it'd be people he wanted to beat up, people he wanted to get rid of, or people he needed to avoid. Never someone that could beneficially affect him. With the special exception of his dearest friend Peter of course.
'I wonder what they're doing to him, though? I hope he's okay.'
The man finally finished his business and let out a relaxed sigh.
"Shake for good luck."
The stupid Brickhead then turned around as Mr. Baldy skipped towards them like a kid. While this was going on, Zoey started crawling towards the edge of the pavement.
"Hey boss, me beat the boy and piss on face! Ha! Me smart, no boss?"
Mr. Baldy then reached the Brickhead and looked him up and down. He then laughed and replied. "Bloody good job my boy!"
The man patted him on the shoulder and moved past. He then swiftly made his way to Zoey. The beaten up and bloodied boy was sprawled on the smooth pavement, laying on his belly and absentmindedly carving something onto the floor with a piece of rock.
Maybe it was the concussion, maybe exhaustion, but couldn't even be considered lucid at the moment. His hand scratched clumsy shapes into the pavement. He didn't even know what he was carving anymore.
Baldy stopped for a while and watched the boy continue carving into the pavement. Zoey looked almost peaceful, sprawled there and scribbling like a half-dead artist making his final magnum opus. But Zoey paid him no mind.
Krrtch… Krrrtch
Little did Zoey know, that man seemed to be in his own world of... thoughts. Snapping out of his drugged state, the man blinked, shook his head, and then lashed out, he kicked at the boy's ribcage as Zoey rolled on to his back. He stopped drawing and looked up at the cloudy sky, eyes hazy.
'I hope it doesn't rain... Don't wanna get sick again and have another headache.'
The man bent down and examined the boy's battered face like a butcher inspecting his meat. A pair of unfocused eyes followed the man. His eyelids half closed, yet sharp beneath the haze.
"Just who could have left you in such a state, eh Zoey?… Tsk tsk tsk. Don't worry lil chap! We'll figure out who did this to you."
His grin widened, teeth yellow in the gray light. "And when we do, the bastards will pay tenfold. Don't you think so too, Zoey boy?"
The man waited for Zoey to respond. He seemed visibly perplexed by the situation, as if he was actively trying to figure out who the perpetrator was as he waited for Zoey to respond.
Zoey mouthed something, trying to speak. Mr. Baldy couldn't make out what he was saying so he leaned down to try and hear clearly.
Pete's voice slid through Zoey's mind, cold and steady. Wait. Closer. Let him come closer.
The sharp edges of the rock bit into Zoey's palm. His grip iron.
The man grabbed Zoey's cheeks and forcefully brought his face close to his own.
Mr. Baldy's reeking breath coated the boy's face as they both looked each other dead in the eye.
"What ya wanna say boy? I aint got all-" Zoey's arm shot up. He swiftly drove the sharp stone into the left eye of the man in one quick motion of his right arm.
The man let out an ugly scream so loud and close to Zoey's face that his ears started ringing. Baldy clawed at Zoey's arm, trying to pry him off the shard. The boy clenched his teeth. He wasn't about to let go, far from that. Zoey proceeded to twist the shard deeper into his face, grinding it in vicious circles.
Zoey closed his eyes. He wished, wished and wished some more that the man in front of him was Coin. But he just couldn't. Afterall, there was no way in hell Zoey would ever even have a chance of attacking that vile creature, and the… unmanly…screams of Mr. Baldy wasn't helping his cause.
The man finally freed himself from the hands of Zoey and staggered back, howling and holding the left side of his face. Right behind this macabre scene, Brickhead froze, pale, eyes wide. "M-Master! Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay to you, shit for brains?! AAARRGHH" Mr. Baldy shook
The brickhead replied, falling over his own words."N-no boss…"
As Mr. Baldy's screams died down, he started laughing maniacally. Whatever crystal he snorted really seemed to have helped him in a twisted way, transforming all the pain into euphoria.
His ruined eye still bled, but his gaze burned darkly as he made his way back towards Zoey. "Just stand back and watch, you brickhead."
The man set his dark gaze on Zoey and slowly made his way back to the boy. "You're in deep shit now..."
The man picked Zoey up with his hands through the boy's muddy hair. Zoey looked up at the man, betraying not a single hint of emotion in his eyes.
If not for his heavy breathing and half closed eyes because, Zoey would have seemed totally calm and collected at the moment. But that was about to change.
The man took a corner of the slick metal card he had on his hands and started carving onto Zoey's forehead. It was Mr. Blady's turn to be an artist.
Zoey screamed. He let out a loud shriek and shook violently as searing pain ran across his forehead, all throughout his body.
Mr. Baldy grinned as he licked his upper lips in pure delight. Blood streamed down his left eye.
Zoey tried to grab something... anything that he could grab. To his disappointment, he could only feel the cold air pass through his fingertips.
More people walked by the commotion as if nothing was even there. Mr. Baldy leaned his face closer to Zoey's to holler at him louder.
That was a big mistake. It seemed he hadn't learnt his lesson the first time, and so Zoey was obliged to teach him, once again, why one should keep their distance from Zoey.
After flailing his hands around for a while, his crooked fingers with bloody and broken nails finally fell on the man's face.
Zoey positioned his thumbs right on the two soft eye sockets of Mr. Baldy as his nails dug into his cheeks. He pressed his thumbs down with as much strength as he could muster through all the pain, barely staying conscious.
Mr. Baldy screamed once again. He let go of Zoey in a hurry, and in the process of doing so, he left a quick cut straight from his forehead, all the way through his eyebrows and stopped right on top of his right eyelid.
Zoey started gasping for air as he could finally breathe once again. He stayed lying there. He was tired. Dead tired. Certain this was it. No more second wind.
Zoey looked up at the sky once again, the same clouds staring back at him like they had all along. Unmoved. Indifferent.The world was a joke, he thought. A rotten, endless joke. Everyone inside it, ugly, cruel.
Why couldn't it just-
just once-
be something beautiful. Something happy. Something that didn't hurt.
Zoey smiled.
As he smiled, his vision started to become blurry. Everything seemed to be melting before his eyes. Tears fell down his broken and bloodied face as he contemplated.
He thought about what he possibly could have done differently. Should he have sucked up to Coin? Become his little lapdog, like Li. Obey, obey, obey. Easy life.
No, absolutely fucking not. No way. Coin is a lecherous son of a dog. He would probably do unspeakable things to Zoey if he ever fully had him in his grasp.
Zoey's head throbbed. He wanted to laugh, but it came out as a cough. "Geekbar 5000," he muttered. Yeah. That'd fix everything.
As his thoughts started to drift, he started to slowly lose his consciousness. The hazy figure of Mr. Baldy holding his one empty eye socket with blood gushing out, reached for Zoey for maybe the last time. He staggered and exhaustively slowly made his way to Zoey.
Zoey tried to pick his body up, but his half crushed legs wouldn't listen. He used his elbows to push the ground away just to get maybe even an inch further from the man.
Suddenly, the world tilted. The air grew sharp and cold, rushing against his mangled body. The last thing Zoey saw was Baldy's ruined grin, wide as the sky above. Then the world went black.