Dying Star Arc
9th May
After breaking my way into the apartment that the Governor is staying the night in, I was about to go into the bedroom and slit his throat, when I heard movement. Someone other than me is awake. I don't have time to flee the room, but where can I possibly hide that I won't be found the moment the lights are turned on?
The door slowly crawls open, then shuts. After a short pause, the light flicks on. From my hiding spot, the light makes me squint, but once I recover, I see that the one that's awake, is the moonchild. The Governor in the flesh, barely a metre away from me. To call this a hiding spot might be a bit disingenuous, but it was the only option I had. Within a small amount of time that I had, I rotated myself, and used my magnetic boots to latch onto the roof. I'm relying on the fact that the moonchild probably isn't expecting anyone to be here, and that he's probably to tired to notice the shadow that my body is casting from the lights.
The Governor starts moving across the room. I don't move an inch, out of fear that he'll spot me before I can land any sort of meaningful blow. Oblivious to me, the moonchild, half-asleep and naked, stumbles his way forward, heading to the kitchen. He makes it in just a few steps, and he goes to open up the fridge.
This is my chance. His eyes still haven't completely adjusted to the lights in the apartment, and the bright internal lights that will come on when he opens the fridge will completely blind him. I'll do it. While he's blinded by the light, I'll cut him down, and finish him off for good. With my knife at the ready, I start creeping towards the Governor. I carefully track his steps, moving along the ceiling the whole time, trying to match my steps to his, so that he doesn't hear me approaching. His steps are quite large which makes that difficult, but thankfully he seems to be on the verge of falling back to sleep, and oblivious to any noise that I make. When he swings the door to the fridge open, the light catches in his eyes. The adrenaline coursing through my body from this tension almost slows everything down for me. I can see everything in so much detail. I visibly see the Governor squint his eyes to the point where they're completely closed. Now! Now is my chance! I raise the knife (or rather, lower the knife), and plunge it towards his unprotected jugular.
The knife stops however, at the point it makes contact with the moonchild's skin. It stops moving. Why? For a moment, I panic thinking that he's somehow blocked it, but then I realise that isn't the case. I did it. I subconsciously stopped myself from passing the blade through his skin, and cutting out his throat. What is stopping me? I thought I had convinced myself, had the conviction, to carry out this deed. In order to save my people. So, why can't I do it?
The moonchild gasps, bringing me back into the reality of the situation. I can worry about what caused this hesitation later. Now, I need to focus. I need to… recover this situation.
"Don't make a noise," I say. I can't let him speak. If the other person in this apartment wakes up, I don't know if I'd be able to beat both of them, even though I'm the one with the knife.
"Are you going to kill me?" I can hear that he's frightened from his voice. Terrified, even. Up close, I can see clearly just how young he is. He's little more than a child now that I see him up close. It's only his height that makes you think he looks a bit older.
"If your going to kill me, could you do it quietly? I'd rather not wake up Zayd. And could you let me put some clothes on as well?"
It takes me a moment to realise that 'Zayd' must be the owner of this apartment. The person still sleeping just on the other side of the door to the bedroom. I don't know what to do. Where do I go from here? I feel like I'm losing control of the situation. What… what do I do?
"Hey, if-"
"Stop! Don't talk, just… don't," I say, trying to keep my voice down. I can't let him wake up this Zayd. What am I supposed to do in this situation if I can't bring myself to kill him, however? I didn't think this would happen. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
"I don't know what I did to you…" he continues despite my protests, "but, if you were going to kill me you would've done so already, so maybe we can talk about it? What it is that I've done."
I don't know. Why can't I kill him? There's something inside me that's stopping me. He's planning to kill all of us, so what is it that's stopping me. Maybe it was the look on his face – the look of innocence that comes with being as young as he is, that put me off. Perhaps looking at him, I couldn't help but think that there's no way he's really going to kill us all. Something about it just doesn't seem quite right. And it stopped me from finishing him off.
"Okay, we can talk," I say, sighing. I feel weak willed, like I've lost, just by doing this much. I'm not going to be able to kill him now. No matter what he says, I think that now I've heard his voice, I'm not going to have it in me to finish him off. Because I'm a coward.
I detach myself from the roof, and follow at a safe distance, still with the knife out, and the two of us walk over to the lounge. When the moonchild asks, I chuck some of the clothes that are scattered over the floor at him. I hadn't noticed them when I first walked in because the room was in complete darkness. I let him dress before I head back over to the couch that he's sitting down in. The jeans he puts on don't belong to him. Their too short, barely making it halfway up his calf. He's so skinny, however, that they don't even fit that tightly. Over his torso, he wears a dark blue jacket that I first think the shoulders of are missing, but then I realise that it's like that by design. The stuff they wear on the moon never makes any sense to me.
The Governor relaxes, as if he isn't in any danger at all, and asks, "so what is it that I've done to offend you?"