“Your pizza... is here.”

 

In that dark, cold place, where only the light of the lamp reached, words that seemed surreal to my ears echoed.

 

If I could, I would have gotten a cochlear implant just to confirm his words.

 

“Hey, what the fuck is this?” The boss from before scratched his head. “Who ordered fucking pizza over here?”

 

“Uh... I didn’t. Jimmy?”

“Nope, it can’t be the creep, either. I have his phone.”

 

The two others confusedly shook their heads and answered to the boss, who sighed.

 

“How strange,” I heard Vera’s voice again. “I am sure this is the right address.”

 

“Fuck, is this guy blind or insane?” The boss spat on the ground. “Pizza boy, put everything down on the floor and get tied up. We might just fucking let you leave once things are done here, alright?”

 

“I am afraid that won’t work. I have to make more deliveries to finish this quest.”

 

“Do you not understand your situation, bastard!? Get over here right now—”

 

“STOP!”

 

Vera’s scream, his voice as deep as the depths of an abyss, froze everyone once again. Even the perennially annoyed boss flinched. All of our gazes turned to Vera as he slowly lowered his head and grabbed his pizza hand with his right hand.

 

“Don’t provoke me... The powers sealed within my left arm might come flooding out.”

 

“...”

 

“What in the world?” 

 

One of the two kidnappers on the sidelines stomped his feet and rushed to us. Dangerous, I had to get out of here. I was about to grab Vera’s leg and push us both down the stairs when he suddenly let go of his hand and dived into the pocket of his company jacket.

 

Vera pulled out a promotion card for the pizza place and threw it. The card arched through the air and landed right in the kidnapper's mouth.

 

The other three looked at their accomplice in shock while I stared at the man behind me. As if he hadn’t even noticed my existence, his face widened in a fleeting moment of remembrance as he grabbed his hand again.

 

“Don’t come closer! Lives... will be lost.”

 

“Fuck, does this look like a joke to you!?”

“Pizza bastard!”

 

The two remaining kidnappers screamed and charged at us. I fleeting glanced at Vera again to see what he would pull next, but I was pulled by my stomach at that very moment and lifted like a small bag.

 

“Sorry about that! Since this is a misplaced delivery, I’ll be going back!” Vera carried me over his shoulder with one hand and the pizza with the other as he breezed down the stairs. “You can call us from that card. Thanks for your patronage!”

 

“That girl is mine!”

“Stop right there!” 

 

Even the boss and the creep joined the fray as all of them chased us down. Like a stroke of wind, Vera carried me down the stairs while I could only watch. He jumped through the place and rushed toward the large gate at the center of the lowest floor.

 

Maybe it was the dark, or maybe it was his carelessness.

 

“Vera! The door is blocked!”

 

“What? Are you in possession of the ‘inspect’ skill?”

 

The first two of the kidnappers were right behind us!

 

“What are you saying? RUN!”

 

Vera twisted on his heels and let out a sigh as he dashed ahead again. But with my weight added on and the pizza breaking his balance, one of them caught up to us.

 

“It’s over!”

 

The man dived.

 

Vera twisted his body and tightened his grip around my back. I extended my legs as Vera twirled in the air and used me as a weapon to knock that bastard. His masterful movements weren’t hindered a bit as he started running again, but the pizza completely ruined his balance.

 

The others came closer, but Vera was faster. In the blink of an eye, he crossed through the wide floor and came up at the other end. His feet took off as he started climbing up the second set of stairs at the opposite end. 

 

Before we could reach the top, Vera came to a sudden stop.

 

He panted heavily as his feet refused to move. It was a striking thing, considering I couldn’t even breathe.

 

Death was peeking at us, at him.

 

The boss from before had never left the top floor. He stood in front of the stairs with his hands outstretched, wrapped in them...

 

... was a gun.

 

“What is even going on?” The man said. He cocked the gun and took a step closer. “Where did you come from, pizza boy?”

 

“Haah... haah... Delivery, from Pizza Duck.”

 

My breath hastened. 

 

The man sighed.

 

“Fuck, this guy won’t talk sense till the end, huh?”

 

It was as if time itself had slowed down. I could see every moment. 

 

His finger wrapping around the trigger.

 

The metal trigger pulling back.

 

The faint sound of the gun’s chambers.

 

This was the end. For sure.

 

Even if I didn’t die here, it was Vera’s end.

 

In my fear, I closed my eyes and tightened my grip on Vera’s clothes. My lips clenched as I looked away.

 

But, it didn’t come.

 

The dreadful sound of the bullet didn’t come.

 

The seventh bell didn’t ring.

 

A second, two, half a minute.

 

Instead of falling over after being shot, Vera’s hold trembled. No, his entire body shook.

 

I slowly opened my eyes again and looked ahead.

 

Something stood in front of us. Its gleaming red eyes and grotesque black figure quaked as its hands and feet were muddled with the crimson blood and fragments of the steel gun. Its back was turned to the ground and its torso upward as its eyes stared us down.

 

Bridging. Something was bridging again.

 

“Mo... nster?