One of our brothers stole from us.

Brother Dagger ran off with a few hundred cigarettes worth of product. He didn't have the courage to kill us or even to take everything we had. Instead, he snuck away in the middle of the night with a small portion of what he was supposed to be guarding. His greed must have gotten the better of him. He saw an opportunity to enrich himself at the expense of his Brothers and he took it.

My friend Death Smoke and I led a team to look for Brother Dagger. It took several days for us to track him down, but he hadn’t gotten very far. Brother Dagger met his ultimate fate in the woods a few miles away from the Animal Mansion. We ripped him apart like a pack of savage beasts. After we finished with him, his body was so mangled that it was barely even recognizable as human. No, he was no longer human or Animal. At best he could be considered raw meat. Regrettably, our team was never able to recover what he stole from us.

I couldn't say what possessed him to do what he did. Did he think he'd be spared because he only took a little bit of what we had? Did he think that if he only stole a little bit, we wouldn't care? Even if he only took a single cigarette and abandoned us, or even if he took nothing, we still would have killed him. He had violated one of the fundamental rules of our Brotherhood by leaving without an explanation as if he couldn't stand the sight of us any longer.

I wished I could have spoken with him before he left us. I would have told him that he could have whatever he needed. All he had to do was ask. I would have helped him in any way I could. Sadly, it was not meant to be. Dagger sealed his fate when he abandoned us. His name would never be mentioned again within the Brotherhood.

I led our team of eight through the woods back towards the Animal Mansion where we belonged. My backpack felt heavy on my shoulders. We were all filthy and exhausted. I felt sickened by what we had just done. That was my second time killing someone. The first was a Devil Skin, and that was in self-defense. This time, we killed a helpless person who was begging for his life. He was terrified of us.

I tried not to let my emotions show. I couldn't let the others see me as weak. Even so, Death Smoke could tell that I was upset about what we'd done. He patted me on my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

"I know it's hard, little Rex. He left us no choice. It's a great tragedy, isn't it? But sometimes we must do terrible things to protect the ones we love."

"I just wish things could have been different," I muttered back.

"It was his decision... there's nothing any of us could have done about it," whispered Death Smoke quietly.

Despite his calm words, I knew Death Smoke was even more saddened by the situation than I was. He was clenching his fists and his face was shifting around like he was about to start crying.

We made our way through the woods in silence and arrived at the Animal Mansion a few hours before dawn. The mansion was a huge brick house located in the woods in the northmost part of the Pit. We all lived there together, with the leaders each enjoying their own private rooms. The rest of us had to share, and as a result I'd become very close with my roommates Trapjaw and Worm. I was tired after the long mission and eager to get back to my shared room to rest.

The Animal Mansion was a peaceful, quiet place away from the bustle of the city. It was completely dark inside. The only noise to be heard was the owls hooting from the trees. We were quiet as we entered, careful not to wake the others. I turned from the others to head towards my shared room, but Death Smoke grabbed my arm before I could go.

"Come with me," he said quietly.

I followed him upstairs without a second's hesitation. He led me to the third floor, the very top floor of the mansion. It seemed like Death Smoke wanted to have a private conversation with me. We entered the bedroom at the far end of the hallway. Death Smoke gestured for me to sit in his office chair, and he took a seat on his bed.

"I have something for you," he said. "You can't tell the others. You can't even give them a hint that you know about this."
"What is it?"

Death Smoke took his backpack off and reached inside. He pulled out a paper box that was covered in mud, tearing it open with his thumb to show me it was filled with cigarettes. This was the Nuke that Brother Dagger tried to run off with. Death Smoke must have discovered his stash while we were tracking him and kept it hidden from the rest of the Brothers.

"It was hard work hunting that traitor," he said in a low voice. "Let's celebrate a little.”

He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Then, he passed one to me. I wordlessly accepted the gift and put it between my lips, closing my eyes as he lit it for me. The harsh chemical taste filled the inside of my mouth. I sucked it down and held it in my lungs for a moment, then blew out a wall of gray smoke. I felt relaxed within seconds. The Nuke was already racing through my veins, relieving me of all my worries. Death Smoke exhaled and chuckled.

"Don't smoke it too fast... Enjoy it," he said gently.

I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. I smoked as slowly as I could, relishing the moment. The tension in my body disappeared into nothing. This was exactly what I needed, and I didn’t even know I wanted it. Death Smoke looked at me and smiled.

"Isn't this grand? You're too serious, Rex... You need to learn to enjoy things a little more. I celebrate like this every time I finish an assignment."

I stared at the cigarette which was already close to my fingers, about to burn them. I finished it off with a deep breath and exhaled slowly, enjoying the taste of the Nuke on my tongue. Death Smoke was a wise man, one of the wisest and kindest people on the planet.