A couple of minutes ter…

  (Agent Briggs) I’ve had enough fill for today.

  He pulled back his right foot, his boot stained with crimson blood that drenched even his socks.

  Lying in front of him, was a young man with light brown hair, barely breathing in through his motored throat. His entire body was numb from the pain, it was almost as if his nerves failed to signal the burning sensation, a sensation that rippled his toes up to his hair.

  Blood oozed from out his mouth, his face swollen red and purple. With half of his pearly white teeth littering the floor in front of his nose, feeling his jaw almost split in two, his bones ached and went cold. Letting his body twitch one st time, he opened his mouth an inch wide and stared deep into the early night horizon.

  (Agent Briggs) From what you said earlier, you’re probably right. Maybe you aren’t the leader of that cartel group.

  Grabbing the top of his head, his fingers wrapped themselves around his hair, making his scalp pop. His head going along with the motion of Brigg’s strength, he uttered a groan, a groan that gurgled the blood stuck in his throat.

  Looking up at the night sky, his vision blurred, as tears that strangled his lower eyelids were dosed with blood.

  (Agent Briggs) And maybe you’re nothing but a doppelganger or even a clone. Even if that’s true…

  The hand that gripped his hair, immediately swished the air as it moved to his neck. Feeling his fingers dig deep, clogging the air for him to breathe, Briggs’s nails scratched and cleaved off blood.

  Slowly, he lifted the bloodied Luke in the air, with the young man’s arms motionless to his thighs. Everything was numb, his lungs squeezing themselves into ribbons, he tried to clench whatever air littering his stomach or insides.

  (Agent Briggs) Then I could sleep quietly after I finish killing you.

  He trenched his fingers deep into his throat evermore, leading more blood to river down his fingers. His skin painted red, his knuckles softly shaking with strength, and the hot desert wind ceased it's endlessly rippling.

  His vision was already blurred, his hands lost the will and strength to pry himself out, as he couldn’t even move the muscles along his fingers. Having his life drained out from him, he felt his soul was already escaping his body.

  He saw a light. His body felt warm as if a bnket was trying to snuggle him.

  Then a gush of life assaulted his airways.

  His sense of touch yelled across the back of his head down to his lower back. That heavenly light, that he saw for just a split second, had ceased glowing on him, once his eyes took in the early night sky with a heavy blur.

  His vision rang against his ears, and a rge whipsh of air sshed through him and even the metallic roof. An explosion, a herculean one, must’ve taken hold. Despite barely breathing, some oxygen caressed his brain, leading him to deliver that thought like a grandma's maid.

  (Luke’s thoughts) What … happened …

  Briggs let go of Luke, taking in the rge eruption of fire and smoke from behind. Grinding the mors of his teeth, his knuckles shivered, making him turn around to face the barely breathing Luke.

  His hands balled, and he thrusted his right hand forward, grabbing his colr as he pulled him close.

  (Agent Briggs) What did your men do?!

  Luke couldn’t hold his head straight, leading him to arch it back as his eyes slumped to his lower eyelids. Eyebags, swollen with a hideous purple, took hold of his bloodied and bruised face. Trying to push his smile, the pain of just twitching his lips was like trying to kiss a hot metal pan.

  But shivering through the pain, his throat convulsed, as a ball of blood vomited out through his mouth. Drenching and flowing down his chin, it ran down his throat, as it mingled with his chest and onto his stomach.

  (Luke) I … they …

  (Agent Briggs) Speak up, you bastard.

  His grip, on the verge of tearing apart his colr, only worsened as he was an inch from his face. A vein, popping from his right temple, barely took hold of the exhausted Luke, whose eyes clouded and damned bloody tears.

  Unable to contain them any longer, he let them flow, his mouth opening agape as they ran down his cheeks. Stinging his eyes, more so than regur tears, a crazed chuckle came out of Luke.

  (Luke) They saved me…

  He continued to chuckle, crackling his throat which was ingested with a chock-full of blood and saliva, mixed. Lowering his head, he left the dead air to be filled with his crazed voice. Hearing him go insane, Briggs let out a grilled groan from his throat, making him redden his cheeks the more his ears were assaulted by his bloodied breath.

  Crackling the air like a maniac, it was a big far cry from his shy demeanor, leaving Briggs to pull his head back. Gncing down—

  (Luke’s thoughts) He fell for it…

  It was too te for Briggs.

  If he hadn’t pulled his face close to Luke, he could’ve spotted the gss capsule inside Luke’s left palm. An orange-brown gas circled and weaved through the gss prison, spelling out ‘danger’ for those who inhaled it or even got near it. And yet, Luke knew the danger, and by using all the strength in his battered body…

  He crushed the gss, letting the brown-orange gas free from its prison. Since the train was still moving, and the gas was airborne, it had no other choice but to pass through an unfortunate soul.

  By the time he dug his feet, it was too te. The cloud of Bromine, which smmed and paved through him like slime, assaulted and ripped through his body like a thief in the night.

  (Agent Briggs) A-Ah!

  Taking a couple of steps back, some of the gas cleaved its way through every hole in his body, while most of it faded with the wind. Leaving him in his most vulnerable state yet, Luke couldn’t push his feet up, his body already exhausted and sore to even sit.

  But he remembered.

  (Luke in Luke’s thoughts) I won’t kneel…

  His duel with Kenji, and the wounds Briggs inflicted on him, it was almost identical. But unlike both of them, one of them held back, while the other used his strength for his sadistic ways.

  He pressured his right knee, on the roof, while his left foot firmed and bulged like a muscle cramp. Barely able to see, his right hand hovered over the roof, while his left was blistered with thousands of gss shards. Bleeding whatever blood he had in his body, his palm rashed from the bromine, making his hand go red.

  (Luke’s thoughts) And I won’t bow…

  Both of his feet cmped to the ground, his body hunched as his eyes took in the wheezing Briggs. Seeing him cough out chunks of saliva, followed by blood leaking out from the corners of his eyes, he cwed his cheeks with his long nails.

  Luke swiped away a ke of blood from his lips, stained his sleeve a deep red.

  Straightening his back, he stood tall, his will unrelenting despite his body on the brink of colpsing. Because he had gone through this type of ordeal prior, it was nothing new to him, and better yet…

  He had to get used to it.

  (Luke) You’re not used to this, are you…

  Pointing his finger at Briggs, the blonde-haired agent stared down at him. Coughing up specks of blood, littering the roof with his saliva mixed with his red liquid, his entire body trembled and quaked with pure rage.

  All the while Luke cocked his head to the right, pushing up his right lip despite the pain starting to heat his body.

  (Luke) I’ve been through a few fights where I looked like this. With the exception of one, I …

  His first match with Briggs, his duel with Sean, his spar with Kenji, and now his second match with Briggs… he remembered them all. Every punch he threw, every kick he felt, every tear he shed, and every blood he spared.

  He…

  (Luke) Won them. Fair and square.

  His vision fighting back against him, Briggs spped his face, getting his eyes to return to its duty. Despite his peripheral vision blurred, leading him to only see things straight, he raised his trembling hands to the height of his shoulders. Covering his face, his breathing turned ragged, his lungs feeling like they’d rusted.

  Even so, he slid his right foot back, his body weight situated on the tips of his toes. With just a push of his feet, he split the air, but not as fast compared to when he was healthy.

  Instead of having his hands situated on his waist, he pulled his right arm back, as he gritted his teeth. His pearly whites, showcasing his frustration and rage, caused the exhausted Luke to close his eyes.

  And let his blessing take hold. Jumping back, his feet and legs burned as he stepped on hot coals.

  (Luke’s thoughts) He’s slower…

  His body sweating, his face pale, he saw Brigg’s knuckles push the air, right as it blurred an inch from his nose. Tightening his body, he thrust both of his hands and opened his palms. Using the bottom of them, he smmed them onto Brigg’s lower wrist, causing the man to raise his right fist in the air.

  Seeing an opening, Luke clenched his left fist, letting the pieces of gss shard cut deep into his knuckles and bones. Thrusting it forward, he used all his aching muscles to bulge and gleam along his left arm, his shoulder feeling like it could pop out his colrbone.

  Unsurprisingly, Briggs jerked his head to his left, evading Luke’s fist.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Damn…

  Too slow to pull in his left arm, he had it open in the air, leaving anyone to just … grab onto it. Feeling ten fingers all stabbing into his forearm, he let out a yelp, the nails clobbering deep down in the bone.

  Even though every organ within his body rusted from the bromine, his strength still stood, leaving Briggs to dig his heels into the metallic roof. Then, with a swift twist, he threw the young man with all the strength in his body…

  To the edge of the train.

  Rolling along the metal, all of his bones creaked, since his body was delicate from the heavy kickings he had prior. Luckily for him, he stopped on the edge, his left arm dangling through the air.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Oh no…

  Laying down, he mustered all his muscles to bulge and work, but the rest garnered them to sleep. Lifting his head, he couldn’t push his lower and upper body to do the same, leaving him to grit and showcase his bloodied teeth; or rather half of it.

  Hearing the thumps of metal behind him, a dark cold shadow stood behind him, making every hair within his body freeze. Unwilling to turn back, he kept his eyes widened, staring bnkly at the night desert horizon.

  (Agent Briggs) The reason you got this far … was because of luck.

  Luke grips the ends of the train cart, his palms digging deep into the sharp metal. The pain all over his body continued to carve and torment a rge hole, a hole rge enough to fit in all the blood he lost, he felt practically light.

  Yet still, his body felt heavy, as his muscles couldn't even get himself up.

  (Agent Briggs) And luck, sometimes has to go down, for everyone.

  Grabbing the back of his neck, Briggs raised him in the air, his fingers shriveling and chilling his skin that blistered with red. The wind returned, it smmed onto his face like the startup of a fan, making him close his eyes as it parched his lungs.

  Everything was numb, everything hurting, he wanted to get a break for once.

  While carrying his body, Briggs walked toward a piece of rope he found on the side of the train roof. Clutching it with his left hand, his fingers trailed the hay and straw. Using the rope, he wrapped it around the young man’s ankles, eliminating the chance for Luke to walk or run.

  As he did this, he then dropped Luke to the ground, wielding the rope with both his reddened hands. With a soft kick, it sent Luke…

  To fall off the train.

  But the rope held him back, from falling to the sanded ground.

  His ankles, which were tied up to a piece of hay rope, eliminated the blood flow to enter his feet. Making them feel like he was assaulted by a fire of colony ants, his eyes pushed up rather more on the sight in front of him. Just below him, was the cshing embers of metal sparking beneath the train.

  Seeing it grind against the tracks, he tried to jerk his body away from the horrid screeching.

  (Agent Briggs) Any st words, Fenix?

  Last words?

  That single cliche line was enough to spark every st memory he had throughout his past six years. Remembering his haunting training, The Array, every raid and mission he was sent on… Every night they sat by the campfire, every trip they took outside of Lagefor, every person they needed to help with… Every conversation, every confrontation, and every voice that he held dear… All bred into him like the world’s loudest ultimatum.

  And stly, he remembered two women, women who would be at their necks to hang out with one guy. Why him? Why would they go after him of all people? Luke thought of that, more than anyone, but whenever any other man gives them the slightest bit of affection …

  He dug his mors against one another.

  (Luke) I can’t die yet.

  He frantically lunged his left hand into his jacket pocket, causing Briggs to begin swinging the rope.

  Briggs couldn’t just send Luke into the tracks, because he needed a rge momentum of inertia for the rope to fully take him in. As he did this, Luke took out a simple bottle of a mysterious liquid that even he couldn’t trace.

  But that didn’t matter, as he was in a race against time!

  Hunching his body like a turtle, while swinging in the air, every swing got him closer and farther from the deadly cshing of metal. His boots, in reach of his hands as well as the vital liquid, began to subject to the devouring of the said liquid. Some of it licked his boots, swaying in the desert air and wind, most of it sunk to the metal hole on the bottom of his shoes.

  Or where his heels were.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Now!

  Briggs pushed one st swing, sending Luke to sway the farthest he was from the grinding of metal. But that meant it was the st push needed.

  Once he began his descent forward, he grits every enamel within his teeth, grinding them together as he got closer and closer. His body stiff, he unclenched his body spread both of his legs and arms away from each other, and turned the opposite way of the fate bestowed upon him—

  A st burst of fme spewed free from his rocket boots.

  With just one st dose of the liquid needed, he used all of it to ricochet away from the metal, making him fly high into the air. Being 5 meters high from the metallic floor, gravity began to make him descend back onto the floor.

  (Agent Briggs) What the—

  And because of the sudden force, and because he was weakened from the Bromine prior, he was unched forward. By the time Luke barely set his chained feet to the floor, Briggs had already…

  Fell off the train.

  And because Luke was weakened from Brigg’s sadistic kicks, he let Brigg’s body weight bring him close to the edge again. But this time, he scraped the metallic part of his boots to the roof, making it lodge down so Briggs wouldn’t hit the floor.

  The st of his strength, the st of his leg, feet, thigh, and toe muscles, all bulged as he tried to keep Briggs still. Briggs may be sadistic…

  (Luke) Briggs! Hold on!

  He was just doing his job. They all were. Unfortunately, they had a horrible owner.

  Clutching the end of the rope with his blistered hands, Briggs swayed far away from the cshing of metal, but unfortunately, that meant—

  He saw his life fsh before his eyes.

  The rope, swinging him to the cshing embers, he remembered all the memories before their deaths.

  The birth of his daughter.

  Dropping out of high school.

  Working part-time jobs to stay afloat.

  Gathering enough money to join the army.

  Cutting a deal with the agency.

  Going through the most brutalist of training.

  And when once he was finally free, finally achieving the very life he worked long and hard for … they were taken from him. For God knows how long, how long did he ever smile again? His eyes taking in the embers which were now inches from his face, he … quivered his lips.

  And frowned. His eyes were brittle with horror, and his face pstered with white. In an act of humanity, his voice cracked, the panic snowing down on him.

  (Agent Briggs) H-Help me—

  (Luke) Briggs!

  It was that fast.

  Without screaming, without gurgling, Luke felt the rope lighten. The cshing of metal, grinding and girthing underneath a ball of flesh and bones, spewed blood and chunks of bone in all directions. With no other choice, he let go of the rope, as Briggs had already succumbed to his cruel demise.

  Of being ground against by a literal train.

  Seeing a mist of red flicker the air, Luke quivered his throat. Unable to mutter a simple groan or word, his knees buckled, and looked at his palms.

  (Luke) Oh … oh …

  His palms were stained with blood, but not from Briggs. Yet even so, it felt like a ball of his flesh was sitting on top of his palms. Shaking, trembling, he looked at the endless horizon of sand, far beyond the reaches of his pupils.

  The wind, the sand, they all coarse his guttering lips.

  (Luke) I didn’t want to …

  Luke won. His group won. The Dark Angels cimed victory.

  (Luke) Kill him…

  His fight, to recim what was taken from him, was a success. Even though he should be basking in the glory of his luck, in the blood he shed, he didn’t. Instead, he bit his lower lip.

  (Luke’s thoughts) You changed … and you didn’t have a choice…

  Turning back, he began his mencholic walk to the very front train cart, as the csh of swords was most likely brought to an end. His hands to his sides, he swayed his body back and forth, as the fruits of his bor brought him to this exhausted state.

  Reaching the edge of the train cart, he looked up at the early night sky, seeing the stars that he couldn’t see in the big city.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Just what happened to you … who brainwashed you …