WebNovels

Chapter 18 - Chapter 18 The betrayal

Joel leaned back, arms crossed, a triumphant grin stretching across his face. "Of course. And that's only the beginning. If we keep this precision, if we keep pushing, nothing will stop us. Absolute control, Ducce. We bend the world to our will."

I nodded, a shadow of obsession passing over my features. The night outside was silent, unaware of the chaos we had orchestrated in calculated silence. We had succeeded, yes, but in our success, a darker thrill simmered beneath the surface.

I slammed the car door, the rusted engine humming beneath us. I flung the cash across the backseat, eyes wild. "That's almost $200,000! Fuck! We are rich!"

Joel's grin stretched unnaturally wide. "Yeah, baby! Wooow! Can you feel it? We're unstoppable!"

I laughed, running my hand through my hair. "I don't even care about living in this simulation now. Feels… real enough."

Joel leaned back, shoulders shaking with laughter. "Hahaha, for real. we are gonna throw the biggest party now, live in the best hotel and eat the best food, drink the most expensive liquor, drive a good car. Let's ride this wave!"

My eyes flicked to the horizon, sharp and calculating. "Hell yeah. Wait… there's another one up there. The biggest store in the area. If we pull this off, we're talking almost half a million dollars."

Joel's grin twisted, almost maniac. "Fuck this, let's do it again. No stopping us now. The world is ours."

I slammed the car into gear, tires screeching lightly on the asphalt. "Let's gooo."

We arrived under the dim glow of streetlights. The store loomed like a fortress, silent but brimming with unseen surveillance. Our movements were precise, rehearsed. Cameras disabled, security immobilized, every body motionless under the precision manipulation. Joel's presence magnified fear, each heartbeat a pulse of panic inside the building, making it easy to make them comply, we injected them all with anesthesia.

"Wow," Joel muttered, scanning the stacks of cash. "This is… ridiculous. They wouldn't even notice if a few hundred thousand disappeared."

My hands shook with anticipation as I shoved bundles into the bag. "Fuck yeah!"

A faint whisper sliced through the air. "Hey… hey… they're here… come… quickly… thieves, thieves!"

Joel's voice hardened. "Ducce, do your thing. I'll handle the footage."

I nodded, moving like a predator, erasing memories with careful precision.

Thirty minutes passed like eternity.

"It's done, Let's go," Joel whispered.

I nodded, gripping the bag tight. "Alright, let's go."

Joel reached for the door. It wouldn't budge. "What?? Fuck, the door's locked."

I froze. "Wait… how? Everyone's asleep…"

A wailing siren erupted down the street, urgent and unyielding.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I hissed, panic creeping into my voice.

Joel's eyes darted across the room. "Relax, it's a door that can close through a remote. We missed someone. Check everywhere. Now."

My stomach twisted. "Ohhh fuck… man… this is it."

Movement caught Joel's attention. "There! There you are."

A terrified man stumbled back, voice cracking. "Ahhh! Leave me alone!"

We subdued him, tying him fast.

Joel pressed a knife to his side. "Where's the controller?"

The man stammered, shaking. "H-here… here…"

I grabbed it, pulse racing. "We're out of anesthesia."

"Blindfold him. Erase his memory," Joel instructed.

My brow furrowed. "It's… not working."

Joel froze. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"His brain… it's different. I can't access it."

Joel cursed under his breath. "The fuck do we do now?"

The sirens grew louder, closer.

My hands trembled. "Shit… he saw our faces, and heard everything…"

"No, you do it. You always keep your hands clean."

"WTF?! Who cares?! It's all just a simulation! No?? Coward!"

I roared. "WELL THEN YOU DO IT, SCHEMING LITTLE BITCH!"

Joel's words hit me like fire. "That's why Thea died! You couldn't even get her after killing Ronnie!"

My hands shook violently. "How… how… how do you know?! Wait… wait…"

Joel's voice was calm, cold. "What now? You gonna kill me too?"

I lunged, knife pressing to Joel's neck. A thin line of blood appeared. My rage was no longer emotional; it was obsession, desperation, controlled preventing Joel from manipulating my emotions.

Joel's eyes locked on me. "Listen, man. You need me. If you kill me, you lose your only chance of reviving Thea. And if we get caught here… everything ends."

My face contorted. "I DON'T CARE!!! WHY? WHY? JUST WHY?!"

Joel's voice softened, deadly serious. "I'm sorry. I wanted you, above anyone else, to understand the futility of this world. Why do we keep suffering… Human consciousness is a curse, we are like prey and predators in the wild, unable to change our fate, our predispositions, yet struggling and struggling to be better with no positive outcome.

"I don't give a shit! Fuck you!" I spat.

Joel's grin was grim. "The dark twist? We're too self-aware. We know our position, it's like a deer being aware that it is too weak to fight back and was created to run, hide and be food for the predators, while the tiger is well aware of his superior position, mocking the deer while it devours it. Our inadequacy and powerlessness combined with our unmatched self-awareness makes suffering an essence of our life"

"Shut the fuck up!" I shouted, knife pressing closer.

Joel's voice continued, relentless. "Some people are predisposed to suffer. Literally, look around, the disabled, the weak, the fragile, the hideous looking, the poor, those born with defects. Society values the strong, mocks the inadequate, and pushes them aside, so that the people above in the social hierarchy can feel better about themselves while the ones at the bottom are either put in a pedestal of pity or mockery, it is like they merely exists to bear the weight of the societal mechanism, while the fortunate ones enjoy the yield of their suffering, yet we can't blame anyone because it was nature that designed this framework"

My knuckles whitened. "seriously, why Joel why did you make me do that, JOEL"

Joel leaned forward. "If we're not supposed to have equal opportunities, why exist at all? So the blessed can feed their ego through the unfortunate and feel good about themselves? Huh?! Is that justice?"

My mind spun, obsession and fury consuming me. The room seemed to shrink around the two of us, the sirens outside a distant echo. Nothing mattered beyond the knife, the threat, the world that had betrayed me, and the single burning obsession that had driven me this far.

Police sirens screamed through the building, bouncing off the walls, rattling the shelves. A voice blasted from the loudspeaker: "Come out immediately! We have surrounded you. There is no escape. Voluntarily surrender and you will not be harmed. Resistance will be met with lethal force!"

My hands trembled, veins pulsing. "Fuck it." In a flash, I released Joel, lunged at Josh, the terrified man who called the police, and drove the knife into his neck repeatedly, over and over, the metallic hiss of blood filling the air. Josh's body convulsed, grasping for air, choking on life as it drained from him. Each strike was a manic punctuation to my fury, an eruption of blood met with my obsession

Joel shouted, "Hide! Hide now!"

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