At that moment, hearing him laugh as he did and listening to what he said next… it set me on edge. Everything had already been piling up but seeing him react like that, did something to me. My hands were already extended towards his neck before I knew what was happening.

The man swatted my hands away like I was a little kid without any considerable effort and, as if to make a point, his hand closed around mine. He lifted me off the ground with a single hand, smashing me against the wall. Pain shot through me from my back and I could feel a slight ache at the back of my head.

His grip tightened and I fought to get his hand off me. I tried prying it off before trying to attack home directly. As if to mock my efforts, he used his other hand to shift his mask a little bit so that I could stare into his eyes.

Light blue eyes stared into mine and at that moment, I gave up on fighting. I was going to die and no one would know. I wouldn’t have found Katie and I wouldn’t have found my sister.

As my eyes began to roll over, struggling for air as I was, I heard the door open and another voice cut through my gargles of help and death.

“What the fuck are you doing?” the voice said.

The hands around my throat lessened and eventually left, allowing me to fall to the floor, into the puddle of piss I had created for myself. I coughed as I struggled for air, doing my best to take deep breaths.

“He tried to put his hands on me,” Oni-Masked Guy replied.

“Did he? And you decided the next cause of action is to strangle him? Are you being serious?” the other voice said in an annoyed tone.

“Hey, what can I say? I don’t like being threatened,” Oni-Masked Guy said and I watched as he sneered at me and walked out of the room.

As my breathing became clearer, my vision sharpened and I saw who the other guest was.

The new guy in the room was taller than me and slimmer, wearing some tight-fitted, faded jeans, a white shirt and a brown jacket over the shirt. He was also wearing a mask, like the Oni-guy, except his mask was remarkably different from my assaulter.

Unlike the markings of a beast, the man had a mask that was just white. No eye-holes, slits or colour markings. It didn’t even have indents to indicate where the eyes, nostrils or mouth might be. It was just…

“...Blank?” I said, my voice hoarse.

“In the flesh, Compadre!” he replied as extended a hand towards me.

I looked at the hand and then at the man once more, unsure of how much more I could take. After all, it was only two days ago that Blank had caused the incident at the office. He shook the hand impatiently in my face and I extended mine to grab it. I could still feel the Oni’s hands around my throat and I didn’t want a repeat.

He pulled me off to my feet before indicating that I return to the seat I was on. I obliged, rubbing my throat and staving off the consistent terror that still had me in its grips.

“Did he confirm who you were?” Blank asked.

I nodded. But Blank’s face just continued to look at me, so I spoke instead.

“Yes.”

“Great stuff!” Black said with a sigh, before removing his mask and placing it on his knee.

Behind the mask, was a young face with deep gouging scars. One, in particular, ran from his right ear, diagonally across his face, ending just past his lips. Messy red hair and a pale dirtied face, Blank smiled at me warmly as he moved his chair closer.

“The last couple of days must have felt like hell. Heck, I’d admit we went a bit farther than we needed to and yet, I don’t think we went far enough,” he said.

I remained quiet, unsure as to whether I was allowed to speak. He hadn’t asked a question and I wasn’t planning to test the limit of what insubordination would get me. Besides, my throat still hurt from the effort to talk.

“My name is Blake. My last name is not relevant. The other guy’s called Mark. We are...” he said, pausing as he frowned as if looking for the right word to use, “...We are part of a group of sorts.”

I nodded, nervously, and he smiled.

“The primary aim of the group is to save humanity. It is our task. Our… creed, for lack of a better word,” he explained.

I thought about what he said before responding.

“Save humanity from what?” I asked.

He grinned, showing a clean set of white teeth.

“Itself!” he said with a short laugh.

As if on cue, the door opened and the Oni-Guy, Mark, came back in dragging what I could only describe as a body bag. Someone was in it, thrashing around wildly. He was being assisted by a woman wearing a light brown fox mask over her face. They dropped the body close to Blake before stepping away.

The fox-mask woman left the room while Mark just retreated to stand next to the door. Blake got to his feet, standing over the body bag and a knife flashed in his hand, just like it had done when Mark was questioning me.

“I was joking when I said we save humanity from itself. What I meant to say is, we save humanity from those who would deceive us,” Blake said, his eyes fixed on the body bag.

I heard a moan from the bag and it sounded like that of a female.

“Who?” I asked, my voice suddenly shaky.

My instincts were flaring intensely, screaming at me about who was in the bag. My breathing sped up as I shook on the seat. I glanced at Mark who sneered at me. A larger knife appeared in his hand before disappearing just as quickly. I got the message.

Don’t move.

“W-who is… deceiving hu-humanity?” I stuttered.

Blake glanced up at me, a sad look crossing his features, before sinking the knife into the bag. The sharp blade tore into the black body bag in a motion so smooth, I thought time had slowed for a moment. The body in the bag stopped thrashing and carefully, Blake reached for the zipper, drawing it down.

I was on my feet before Sarah’s face was visible to me. I was a step towards Blake before a knife flashed in front of me at the level of where my head was going to be if I had taken the second step. Hot tears rolled down my face as her dead eyes stared blankly at me.

“I understand some of what you’re feeling,” Blake said in a low voice, as he got to his feet.

“You understand nothing,” I replied coldly.

He touched the deepest scar on his face and returned my gaze. His eyes portrayed sadness and I took a step back. Running the finger along the scar, he held my attention and repeated.

“I understand, Will,” he said.

“You have killed my mother, my sister and my colleagues. You have no fucking-”

Blake pointed towards Sarah’s body wordlessly and my words got caught in my throat. My eyes followed his finger to where her body lay but in place of my sister, there was another body laying there. With blackened eyes and a skin so pale it might as well been white. Blue veins were visible on the figure’s neck and just above its forehead, were three small horns.