The servant gave him fresh clothes and cleaned the room before closing the door and then the heavy silence of the room returned. Jackson look towards at the four potted plants on the windowsill for a long time without moving. The gentle wind circulating through a window crack made their green stems tremble a little. They appeared so weak and simple.
But inside him, the System's chilly countdown chimed away like a clock signaling his death.
[Lifespan Remaining: 2 days 23 hours 41 minutes]
Jackson clenched his fists. Three days... No, time was moving so fast if things going like this then, I don't have time.
He got up and walked toward the window were plant pots his bare feet stifled by the blood-stained floor. The plants had not been watered for days, and their only smells were of dehydration and dirt. His yellow eyes glowed dimly as he knelt down and looked into each plant.
"System…" he whispered to himself. "Show me their life force."
A cold but metallic voice answered inside his skull:
[Scanning…]
Pot 1: Life span remaining – 2 weeks. Extraction potential – 0.5 days.
Pot 2: Life span remaining – 1 week. Extraction potential – 0.3 days.
Pot 3: Life span remaining – 3 weeks. Extraction potential – 0.7 days.
Pot 4: Life span remaining – 4 weeks. Extraction potential – 0.5 days.
Jackson breathed out shakily. So even the healthiest doesn't really give me anything...
In his hands he held the first plant pot. He did it slowly. The plant's tiny buds still appeared to be ready to bloom even though the leaves were starting to fall. He recalled the garden were his mother had tended prior to the accident. He recalled laughing as he spilled more water than the ground could absorb while assisting her in watering some flowers on a bright afternoon.
He swallowed. What am I doing? This is a plant. A plant, not a person. Not an animal. Just a plant.
But the System's timer ticked in his mind louder. Two days left. Two days left.
He whispered "Extract," his lips pressed into a thin line.
As he touched the plant then a faint glow blazed in his palm, the plant lost its green color and the leaves curled inward as though in pain. A thin stream of life energy, pale and sparkling, poured from the plant into his hand and then into his chest.
[+0.5 days. Lifespan: 3 days 11 hours.]
The feeling made Jackson gasp—a warmth that filled his veins, driving back the chill that had been working its way into him since the prior night. He felt better, wanted, needed. Everything about him felt strong and resolutely purposeful again, the secure rhythm of his heartbeat brought him comfort. However, the hollow green plant in the bush was dead and weakly brown when he looked down at it.
He gritted his teeth. I killed it.
His fingers were shaking. But then he glanced back at the System notification. Three days and a half. I'm still not dead yet.
He looked at the second pot. "Extract," he muttered under his breath.
Another plant with the familiar glow, and familiar warmth. Another plant turned to ash within seconds.
[+0.3 days. Lifespan: 3 days 19 hours.]
Jackson's breathing grew heavier. His palms were sweating. He moved to the third pot.
"Extract."
[+0.7 days. Lifespan: 4 days 14 hours.]
The fourth pot. A moment of uncertainty in his fingers. It's just a plant, he repeated to himself. Plants are weak, they will die anyway.
But in his heart, the guilt was gnawing at him. He remembered how the first flower came last night, falling onto his bed like a small comfort. Now he was killing the others.
"Extract."
[+0.5 days. Lifespan: 5 days 0 hours.]
When the last glow disappeared, Jackson stood over four dead pots. All that was left were shriveled stems and dry earth. He was breathing quickly and shallowly.
He examined his hands. They were steady now, steady and strong. The glow dimmed in his eyes intensified. He felt life in him, real life, pulsing.
And yet his chest tightened. I just killed four living beings. Small, weak… living. For what? Five days. That's all.
His knees wobbled, and he fell hard onto the bed, looking unblinkingly at the dead plants. "Five days," he said aloud. "Four plants... five days."
The System was quiet now, as if it were waiting for his next command.
Jackson ran a shaky hand through his hair. "This is not enough, it is hardly anything. I have to stop working with the plants..."
But you are alive, his inner voice hissed back at him. You feel more powerful. Without these plants, you would die last night.
He pressed both palms to his face and closed his eyes. Am I now this person? A parasite? A life thief?
Again the fear of death exploded within him, hot and suffocating. Five days. And then what? More plants? More trees? More animals? Will it ever be enough?
He lowered his hands slowly. His yellow eyes gazed in silence at the distant wall.
Then a thought whispered, cold and sharp: If a weak plant gives me .5 days... what would a strong animal give? A human?
Jackson flinched at the thought. "No..." he whispered. "No. I can't..."
Yet the fear of death began to claw at him once again. If you don't already know, you will die. If you do, you will live.
In a daze, he began calculating. A plant with a few weeks of life gave me hours. A human… a healthy human… decades of life force… how long would that be? Months? Years?
His heart raced. His palms felt clammy.
He shook his head violently, intending to dismiss the thought. "I'm not a monster," he said aloud and his voice breaking.
But all of a sudden inside his mind a different voice, it was quieter but more steady, came out of somewhere inside him, the part that had been mocked, stabbed by people, and left to die. They already attempted to kill you. They wouldn't think twice about sucking up your life! So why should you have to hold back?
Jackson's breath trembled. Once again, he surveyed his hands. They no longer, in his mind, looked like the hands of a weak, cowardly boy. They looked like the hands of someone who has tasted the edge of living.
He whispered, as if to reference someone else, "If I take from humans… how long could I live?"
The question hung terribly before him.