Chapter 34 – Kill!

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Terrorism. An act of violence targeting the government. It drove civilians into a panic. Yet, these supposedly panicking people were protesting all over City Q. They used their voices, their slogans, their cardboards… and their fists! Ironic enough, they vandalized and destroyed public and private properties. They resembled terrorists more than anything.

“Fucking cows! Do your work!” Plenty of women hollered at top of their lungs. They wore smug faces and tried to look righteous. And yet, they appeared as stupid as they could be.

A man holding the fort shouted at the megaphone. Behind him was an organized group wearing red shirts. “Pigs, alligators, and snakes! Police, the wealthy, and politicians! They stole our money and they failed to protect us!”

“Mayor, get down from your position! You let the terrorist into the city!” A crying man snarled to the heavens as he slumped to the ground. His wife worked at the mayor and became an unfortunate spirit as she got caught in the crossfire during the incident.

“Education is the key to success! Without educating our sons and daughters, they will be led astray! Just like this brother and sister!” One person presented the photo of Illinois and Aurora together. “See! They are just as innocent as anyone! But their parents destroyed their future!”

These protests didn’t seem to end any sooner. In fact, people became more and more energized because they see no police discouraging them.

They were left to their own devices… It wasn’t long before the first blood was spilled.

…

Three students, still wearing their uniforms, took a repeated puff of smoke. They were like car mufflers filled with smoke. Moreover, they appeared like middle-aged men due to their addiction.

“Crazy that people are this stupid!” One of them looked at his phone and laughed when he saw the first post.

“Isn’t this similar to the movies?” Another student said in a low voice while wearing sneaky eyes. “Maybe we can use this chance to do something…”

“Hehehe.” The trio laughed as they thought of nasty things. They stood and locked their gaze on a grocery store. But things didn’t go as they imagine.

Just right in the corner, a silhouette blocked their path. They raised their hands to block the light from the sun. Only they could see that it was just another student like them. Also, when they saw it was a familiar person, they chuckled.

“Isn’t this the child terrorist, Illinois?” The trio surrounded Illinois. It tickled them seeing the dark expression of the latter.

“Wimpy Illinois is now a terrorist! Pfft!”

“I heard you jump on the bridge. But look at you! You are alive and well!”

“Hahaha! Bro, don’t forget, evil grass live long!” They guffawed and jeered at the boy. Even when Illinois raised a suspiciously familiar toy pointing at them, they didn’t take it seriously.

“Pfft! What is that? A gun?”

“You are funny.” Illinois finally spoke. But it was also the last thing the three will hear from him.

Kachak. Bang!

A projectile shot through one’s eyes and enter his brain. Blood came out of his orifices before he fell to the ground with a thud.

The other two became horrified! Anger overcame one of them and assaulted Illinois. But with a swoosh, his face whitened after seeing his hands disappear!

The last one began to run for his life! But Illinois eyed him with a spherical object in his hand. He threw it lazily and turned around without a care. The object landed in front of the student but he didn’t take notice of it. And thus, with a clicking noise, a small explosion blasted and sent his body flying!

When the smoke was clear, a bloodied body pierced by small blades appeared! The other one with severed hands collapsed on the ground. He retched and wailed like a brat. But no one appeared to pass by no matter how he screamed his lungs out.

Lilia waited for Illinois at a juncture. Even though her face was drained of blood, it couldn’t conceal the sadistic twinkle in her eyes!

“Where’s next?” She asked with a slight tremble in her voice. Her neck was flushed red.

The boy looked at her and saw through her thoughts. “Let’s find one of our good friends.”

“Who?”

“You’ll know.” The boy strolled through the empty streets. Everyone was busy boycotting the government establishments. Now was the perfect time to do certain deeds.

The duo headed straight in one direction. When Lilia saw the place, she was gobsmacked. She only woke up from her stupor when she heard Illinois. “Here we are.”

“What are we doing here?”

Illinois led the confused girl inside. The place was empty. No staff or someone to guard the place. Lilia clicked her tongue in wonder at just how corrupted and lazy those pigs were.

They passed several cells before they reached a singular cell where a lone inmate was being held. The person huddled on the ground and when he heard the noise, he quivered from slumber before peeking. His eyes were still confused but they gradually regained light as he saw the two familiar faces!

“It's you!” The figure jumped like an agile monkey before charging toward the metal bars. He didn’t even hesitate to knock his body to the hard metal just to get close to Illinois and Lilia.

“Get me out of here! Get me out! Or I’ll kill you!” Poopy snarled. His saliva stuck out and yellowish gunk accumulated on his eyes. He looked pathetic. But his eyes were as fierce as they could be. After all, his most hated people were in front of him!

Lilia’s shoulder quivered. Beside her, Illinois remained collected and took out two objects from his bag. One of them he gave to Lilia while the other was placed in front of Poopy.

“I know how excited you are.” The boy smirked but it vanished in almost an instant. “But we need to know more about their hideout, don’t we?”

Poopy became confused. But he shook his head and desperately tried to reach Illinois from his cell. “Come here if you got guts!”

“You don’t recognize this?” Asked Illinois. He tapped on the container being held by Lilia. “This is gasoline.”

“You like burning things, right?” Lilia trembled even more. She was both scared and excited. Scared of Illinois knowing her past actions. And excited because she could identify what Illinois wanted!

“This pill is yours. If you don’t eat this, you are going to die alone in this cell.”

The dirty kid finally got the gist. He began to get scared but he still tried to put a front. “What the fuck you are talking about?” He shouted.

“It means, you don’t have a choice.” Lilia giggled. She thought she couldn’t control her arms anymore as they trembled like they have their own consciousness. But she didn’t care. Instead, she reveled in the unfamiliar feelings. It was ecstasy!

“Take this pill. It’s poison by the way. It will feel like a lead entering every corner of your bloodstream. If you consume it, you will wish to live so much you’ll do anything.”

“Or wait for Lilia to burn this station. By then, you will just want to die as fast as possible. But the heat will cook you so slowly that you feel like minutes are hours.”

“I’m just giving you rare options. It’s just A and B.”

“Of course, you can try blindly choosing just like what you always do in every test.”

Illinois’ face was as cold as winter snow. There was no hurry in his voice. He enunciated every word as clearly as glass.  It didn’t feel like he was the same age as them. The other kids trembled at seeing his merciless yet mechanical visage. Albeit, Lilia trembled from the anticipation of where Illinois will lead her next!

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