The apartment was quiet when they returned. A quiet too still. The kind of quiet that felt watched.
Thaniel stepped inside first, flicking the hallway light twice. It didn't work, of course. It never did. But he did it anyway. Habit.
He took off his shoes which were muddied with the blood of whatever plants were left in that Naturium. His girlfriend did the same. His socks hit the cold floor, as the door closed behind him.
He took a second to breathe. Back inside his apartment. His safe place. His coffin.
But at least now, it was a coffin for two.
His girlfriend put a hand on his shoulder, sending cold air through his veins, as he smiled, glancing at her. "...I don't feel well."
She had another hand on her stomach, as she took off her scarf. Her eye count returned to two, as she made a faint clicking sound.
Thaniel raised an eyebrow, glancing at her in slight disorientation, a lazy smirk on his face.
And before he could think, it slipped out.
"Didn't know someone like you could even get sick."
His voice was teasing.
But her silence hit like a verdict.
The look on his cute girlfriend's face made it look like a murder confession. "...So you still don't see me as a human."
Thaniel looked up… And saw her differently. Not his girlfriend, not Kagami. Just a silhouette of betrayal outlined in the hallway light.
The walls shrunk once again. He could feel the abyss scratching against his back.
His stomach suddenly churned, as he tried to put a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean-"
She moved away, dodging his hand as she opened the front door. "I should take a walk."
He watched helplessly as she left. Again.
A sigh, as he felt the abyss inching closer, wrapping around him.
Thaniel slammed his head on the walls.
"...Fuck my life."
His coffin had shrunk in size again.
____________________________________________________________________________
It was a rainy day. Drops of green rainwater hit the windshield of the old synth-meat transporting van, now repurposed with a much grimmer task. The engine idled like a smoker's breath.
Ilyjah hated this part of town. It was too clean now. Too quiet. Like someone scrubbed the history out with bleach and shame. And it reminded him of the ticking clock.
Shiv, his short co-worker, spoke up with his usual voice that sounded like a cat dying. "...Ey, would'ya look at that." He said, as he pointed towards the apartment complex.
On the fourth floor, where two once entered… The girl came out. The one his guts told him to avoid at all costs. He let out a sigh of relief.
Shiv adjusted the cable-thin wire around his wrist. "You said she was dangerous."
"I said I had a bad feeling." Ilyjah's voice was low. "That's different."
Shiv chuckled, his voice cold and low. "I'm just joking. Your guts saved us more than once. You a friend, eh? I trust those guts of yours."
Ilyjah smiled faintly. "...Thank you, Shiv."
Mouse chuckled. "She got a face, though. Cute one. Kinda blank. Creepy. Like a haunted doll I'd risk my life for."
"Don't talk like that," Ilyjah muttered, gripping the door handle. "This is the last one. We bag the guy, we're done."
"Gonna move to the Clean Zones?" Shiv asked, hands already on the rusted van door.
"Yeah." Ilyjah smiled faintly, thinking of his daughter. Her smile didn't belong in a hell like this. "Mira's lungs can't take this city. She deserves more."
"Then let's earn her air."
They stepped out, into the rainy streets.
…
The steps to the fourth floor were steep. Shiv once tripped, and fell… Hitting the wall right beside another human-shaped dent. Turns out the handrails couldn't be trusted.
They climbed up silently after, ignoring the shouting and the sound of a gun firing on the lower floors.
Half-masks covered their upper faces.
Ilyjah was still wearing the animal mask Mira had carved out for him. His fists clenched around the pipe-gun in his hand. This was going to be his last mission. He couldn't be hesitating here. Not on this one. Not when Mira was so close to seeing the light.
After a moment, they arrived at the fourth floor. They walked through the hallway, as Shiv's eyes focused on the tracking pad, before stopping in front of the door the girl walked out of. "This is the one," Shiv said, tapping on the pad. "...Y'all ready?"
Ilyjah closed his eyes… Before picturing Mira in the clean zones. Healthy. Out of her blood-stained bed. The lights above cast a shadow over his face. "Let's go."
Mouse nodded… Before smacking the device onto the lock, as it let out the same familiar hum that haunted his dreams, before clicking, as they stormed through the door.
The lock popped easy. No traps. No alarms. The place smelled like cleaning fluid and sadness.
The apartment was small. Too small for the echoes of what had happened here, too small to contain whatever he was.
Their target was sitting on a worn leather couch in what appeared to be the living room. It felt like he had aged 20 years since they last saw him.
Not tied. Not startled. Not even trying to resist. He just looked… tired.
Mouse was the first to move. "Yo," he muttered, glancing over the rim of his mask. "What's your name?"
He didn't look up. "Thaniel Graves."
Shiv glanced between them. "You know why we're here?"
"No," Thaniel said, letting his head fall back against the cushion. "But you're welcome to explain. I'm not going anywhere."
That made Mouse pause.
Most people screamed. Cried. Fought.
This guy? Just leaned back like he was waiting for a dentist appointment.
"…You're creepy," Mouse muttered, stepping inside. "Even for a freakin' corpse city."
Thaniel exhaled, long and slow. "Yeah. I get that a lot."
Ilyjah felt his grip on his gun loosen, as Mouse sighed.
They spread out. Shiv shut the door behind them, twisting the lock back into place. The hallway light flickered.
"Well," He started. "This certainly is convenient as hell. Let's get this over with. If you could just raise your arms a little, good sir."
Suddenly, as he scanned Thaniel's blank face… Ilyjah's guts churned again.
It was the same feeling. The same ominous sense that something terrible was going to happen.
"Hey, Ilyjah." Shiv saw his face. "You doin' okay?"
It told him he had to run now.
But… He couldn't.
'No…' He thought. 'Not now. Not when I'm so close to curing Mira.'
Forcing the unease down, as he turned towards his partner.
"Yes, Shiv," He nodded. "I'm fine."
He wouldn't have known he would regret a single line so much.
Shiv smiled, as he continued to tie Thaniel's hands. "Ah, good. Would be a shame if you had another 'bad feeling' just when we started, ey?"
Ilyjah forced out a bitter smile. "...Yeah…"
Suddenly, in the exposed kitchen, Mouse was wandering, looking for food, like the usual Mouse he was. They would have called him fat, except for the fact they knew he had a family of 7 to feed.
Ilya… drifted. Drawn to the photo stuck to the fridge with a chipped smiley magnet.
A girl. Black hair. Bright grin. A birthday cake in front of her. The kind of photo the world didn't take anymore.
"Who's this?" Mouse called out, smirking. "Old girlfriend?"
Thaniel didn't answer.
Mouse snorted. And just as the lights flickered, he said it.
"I'd take her. Easy. She looks like she wouldn't scream too much."
That's when the world collapsed.
When Thaniel finally moved.
When his neck finally tilted like he remembered something. Something that never should've been remembered.
And his partners fell to the floor, dead.
And it was over before he knew it.
It happened too fast.
A glint in the light. A hiss of air. A cleaver pulled from behind a potted plant, for godsake.
The man tore through the restraints like something inhuman.
Mouse dropped first. No scream. Just silence and gurgling.
"One cut, two cut… don't forget the smile…"
Shiv backed up, hand reaching for his-
But Thaniel was already there.
Cleaver in, cleaver out.
Smile. Precision.
Blood sprayed in a spiral on the wall.
Shiv hit the ground, mouth trying to form a word. Something starting with why.' But the monster was already on him, carving a smile out of flesh. Precise. Like a twisted lullaby that he had sung before.
"Left side. Right side. Make you happy…"
Ilya didn't breathe.
He stumbled back, falling over a knocked-over chair. His hand reached for his belt, for the stun capsule- anything.
Thaniel stepped through the mess like it didn't matter. Like he was back in the kitchen making tea.
Ilyjah's blood-slick hand trembled. "What… what are you?"
Thaniel tilted his head. Like he was trying to remember.
Like the question was familiar.
A smile. Corrupted. Like it was falling apart.
"...You can call me crazy. They all do."
The world around him turned red, as his heart was exploding in his chest.
That's when he knew he had to escape.
Ilyjah screamed.
He didn't remember if it was out loud or just in his brain, but he scrambled to the window, slamming it open, bleeding and broken and trying to escape, as he fell from the fourth story.
He should have died. His legs were broken. He couldn't feel his left arm. He felt his ribs pierce his lungs.
He should've told Shiv about the bad feeling. He never should've started this. Why did he come? Why did he start trafficking? Why… Why… Why did the universe hate him so much..?
And yet… He crawled, pulling himself away, with his only remaining arm.
He pulled.
'I have to escape.'
He pulled.
'I can't die here…'
He pulled.
'Mira… Is waiting…'
He pulled… As his hands hit someone's shoes.
"...P-Please… H-Help…"
The rain pounded into his skull, as he pulled on the person's legs, his arms smothering blood all over them… As he looked up.
And met with four glowing red eyes. All focused on him. Full of shock, rage… And grief.
It was Thaniel's girlfriend.
Ilyjah felt a tear run down his face. "...Don't-"
But it was too late. The teeth already fell onto him like judgement. As it all faded to black.
____________________________________________________________________________
She ran.
Her boot fell off as she tripped, but she rolled, her arms extending into clawed trunks as she propelled herself on all fours, storming through the stairs.
The window. The blood, the animal mask…
Thaniel.
How could she have left? Why the hell did she have to leave? She endangered him. Endangered Thaniel. Thaniel. Thaniel, Thaniel, Thaniel!
Her heart was slowly being crushed, as she imagined Thaniel dead, still reaching out for her in a pool of blood. Just like the rest she had failed.
She felt her breath turning cold. Her dreams fading. No warmth would come from a dead body.
Why did she have to leave? Why… If she hadn't met him, met him with her existence that only caused pain… Would Thaniel have been happy..?
She slowed down, as she reached the fourth floor. The air was filled with blood. The scent of death coming from his apartment. Her arms slowly shrunk back, as she shuffled towards the apartment with all her might, hoping to see Thaniel, and not a pile of corpses.
Hands reached out to her from behind, pulling her away, into a hell of a red acrylic overdose. Death grasped her by the neck, as she reached the apartment.
Her vision turned red. All four eyes opened wide. She screamed his name…
Before seeing him.
"...Kagami… You're back…"
Thaniel stood there, in the kitchen, holding the cleaver loosely in one hand.
The entire apartment was red.
He didn't look at her.
She stepped forward slowly.
His cleaver glinted red in the flickering lights.
"...You can't… Leave me again…"
She continued forwards, stepping over the dead bodies, her eyes focused on him, as his hand went to his head.
"Kagami… Kagami..!"
And this time… Thaniel lunged, his eyes locked onto her, body moving like he had already done this in a nightmare.
But before he could raise the cleaver-
She lunged, hands moving forwards, claws extended, as her four eyes locked onto his form…
And she hugged him.
Time seemed to slow. The abyss glowed white.
She held him so tight, it crushed the hallucination in his mind like a brittle paper doll.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
The sound of metal hitting the ground echoed through the apartment as he dropped the cleaver.
It clattered against the tile, sounding too much like a guillotine in reverse.
He blinked. Reality snapped back. His eyes locked into her, almost as if waking up from a bad dream.
And just like that… The nightmare cracked.
A single traitorous tear rolled down his cheek. "You're not… mad?" he asked, voice distant.
"…No," she said softly. "You looked happy."
Thaniel laughed once. A single broken thing. The first time in a while. Color returned to the apartment…
As he buried his head against her shoulder. "Never say that again," he whispered.
And for the first time that night… They didn't feel like monsters.
Just people. Wrecked. But not gone.
However… Her gaze lingered on the carved grins. "...Why the smiles?"
Thaniel didn't answer at first. He just held her tighter. Like if he let go, something would vanish.
Then, softly:
"... Just old habits."
The room fell quiet again. But this time, it didn't feel empty.
It felt like she had never left.
And then... The grumbling came. Her stomach let out a dissatisfied grunt, as she turned into a bright shade of red.
Thaniel sighed. "Right. We didn't even have breakfast today."
She looked around. Two fresh corpses, layed out perfectly for her. "Huh. It's like an all you can eat buffet."
The problems wouldn't stop. They never did. But now, at least, they didn't have to face them alone.