As I slowly made my way out of the bunker, I could only take in large gulps of breath with every single step that I took. Walking by itself was torture, but trying to navigate my way through the place at the same time was even worse.
The Mark had almost disappeared completely from my right arm, and with it, my consciousness.
I felt like vomiting, and I felt like just letting it all go -- to drift into the uncharted seas that I would venture through the moment I returned to being unconscious. And yet, I willed myself to not falter; I pushed on forward even with this lingering beast within me trying to pull me down into the abyss.
I must not pass out here, I told myself over and over again. I gotta get out!
My burnt left arm remained in numbness as if in agreement.
With just sheer determination on my part, I forced myself to get out of the damn place and back to the sewers from which I came from.
Panicking, I looked around myself, scanning the area in a daze -- a mix of both confusion and pure paranoia churning up within me. Were there more coming along my way? How long would it take for me to make my escape? Would I even make it in time?
These questions filled my head with the rapidness of a semi-automatic gun, and I was quickly overwhelmed by them.
Before I even knew it, I was already splashing the water right underneath my feet, disclosing my location to whoever -- or whatever-- was in the sewers within a mile radius.
My steps were so loud that it echoed endlessly throughout the tunnels, certainly not helping my case in getting back "whelmed".
Tsst! Tsst! Tsst!
The walls of the sewers continued to play on this serenade of splashes.
Tsst! Tsst! Tsst!
And so it continued.
Tsst! Tsst! Tsst!
Odd. It was during the third time of hearing these sounds of footsteps that I finally noticed that something was off. This was not repetition of any past harmonies... No! This was something completely different.
Was there someone on my tail?
I turned around, caught my breath and tried to discern whether my suspicions were true or not.
...
Oh, yes, that was definitely someone on my tail!
"Ah shit," I cursed out as I began to run towards the opposite direction.
Even if I did feel like fading out soon, the sudden burst of adrenaline allowed me to be able to run for a few extra minutes. Whatever good that could do, right!?
I had seen the Grim Reaper himself in the flesh, but even I didn't dare to steal a single glance from behind me.
Whatever it was, one thing was for sure... I both did not want to nor was I in any condition where I could be able to fend off myself in any given way. I was at my absolute weakest at the moment, and even with my hockey stick finally back into my possession, I still did not like my chances.
Especially seeing the battered state my body was in after all the shit I'd just been through!
Following every single thought in my brain, I kept on running.
It was only a matter of time before I'd trip on my feet, signaling the end of my escape, but before that nightmare could even take place, I was determined to get myself to a place where I could hide in. At least with that, I might be able to buy myself some time to recharge.
Sadly, the future looked bleaker and bleaker as the sound of the footsteps behind me got louder and louder.
"FOUND YOU, MA'BOY!!" A voice boomed through the air.
Oh snap, it was Big Poppa himself! I thought, too worn out to even try it in an ironic tone.
Confirming my suspicion, it was none other than the leader himself behind me. Oh, how jolly!
...
I swear when I die, my mouth and brain would be the last thing to go down!
As time continued ticking, my feet were slowly beginning to fail me, and my breaths too had become ragged. It was purely a matter of sheer stamina by now, but it was clear for everyone to see that I wasn't doing too hot. The fact that I also had the most intimidating person out of the bunch behind me didn't help even my nerves.
"Where are you running, boy!? I've seen what you've done! You've killed them! You've killed all of them! YOU'LL PAY, YOU BASTARD!!"
The pure hatred and anger that were radiating from these words were more than enough to turn my legs to jelly right there and then. I knew that if I were to fall right at this moment, I would never ever come to see the light of day. I just knew it, straight down to my core.
Gripping to whatever I had left in the tank, as well as some parts of the wall, I kept on going.
Come on, you piece of shit! I thought in absolute despair.
My legs began to show signs of becoming nonexistent, and this caused me to be even more down in the gutter.
With every passing second, I edged closer and closer to my limit. My vision was starting to get blurry, and my legs began wobbling uncontrollably. The splashes echoing through the walls blended in to reality, and all that I could think was... Shit, shit, shit!
However, salvation came to me not long after that.
As if my pleads had been answered by divine intervention, I suddenly saw the sight of a ladder coming along my way. Seeing this, I ran even faster, making all of my senses more wonkey than ever before.
It would certainly be a close call if I chose to climb the thing, but this seemed better than continuing to run aimlessly in the dark.
Reaper! If you're seeing this, I'm not going to let Hell get me without a fight!
As soon as I reached the bottom rung of the ladders, I collected all of my thoughts to focus on one thing and one thing only: climbing this fucking ladder!
"O-ho-ho, you think you can esCAPE FROM ME LIKE THAT! I'LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!"
Hearing that, I wasn't taking any chances in spending one more second with my feet touching the floor of these sewers. Screw that!
Unfortunately for me, the absence of my left arm was going to greatly hinder my progress. Much to my absolute disgust, I couldn't even grasp any of the rungs using my defected hand and this caused me to have to solely rely on my right arm.
I knew that I brought this all to myself, but still...
"Come onnn!!" I yelled out in frustration as the footsteps were becoming closer and closer.
Splash, splash, splash!
Come on!! I climbed as quickly as I could, narrowly avoiding falling in more instances than one.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Just three more rungs! I reached out, the manhole to my escape only inches away from me.
"FOUND YOU!!"
No. Ignore him.
"DON'T THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME, BOY!"
The moment I reached the top of the ladder, the happiness I was expecting was quickly overridden by yet another impossibility I needed to overcome. How the hell was I going to open this manhole!
"Shit, shit, shit! SHITTTT!"
Cursing out loudly, I tried pushing open the manhole using both my head and right arm, while my left hand "held" onto the top rung. Clearly my left arm wasn't in any shape nor form to be trusted, seeing I no longer had control over it, but it was still better than nothing.
In the middle of this whole torture, I decided to steal a quick glance over to our lovely guest here. What I saw did not comfort me the slightest. The hell was he holding!?
Nevertheless, I wasn't planning to stay any longer to find out.
"Come on, you damn piece'a shit!" I let out as the thing above me finally showed an inch of budging. But this was not all though...
"Hey there."
A voice came out of nowhere from above me, and I quickly looked up in response. Where the manhole was just seconds ago was now the face of a boy, who couldn't be older than me! Trust me when I say this, but that moment felt like I was being saved straight out of Tartarus itself.
"Need some help?"
"Oh, God -- yes! Please!" I said without hesitation. Anything to just get out of here! I took his hand with no question whatsoever, and together we pulled myself out of this hellhole.
But, this was not the end just yet.
Curiousity got the best of me, and I looked back. There he was, the leader if the pack, seemingly reloading whatever it was he was holding... Which by the way held a striking resemblance to my-- FUCK THIS!
BANG!
The moment he shot a blood bullet towards me, I knew that it was time to bail. Thankfully, just before I could've had my legs amputated, I was yanked out of the way and out of the sewers. I barely escaped with my life, let alone my legs, but the deed had been done. I now knew who was in possession of my guns and bullets.
No matter what, I was going to go back and get my guns back from the madman. There was just no telling what he could do with such a powerful device in his hands!
But before that, I had more pressing matter at the moment...
Oh wait, this was the scene where I passed out, wasn't i--
***
Oddly enough, this time around I didn't have any weird dream plaguing me just before I came to. In fact, it was a bit too quiet for my liking.
A calm before the storm.
I didn't like it.
"You finally awake?" A voice greeted me as the world slowly came back into view.
A boy's voice, roughly around my age. Had to be the guy from before. Definitely not the kind to have no mental repercussions from living in the Outlands.
But then again who really did?
"Mhm," I answered weakly.
As I slowly focused my eyes onto the soul right in front of me, I came to realise that I was in a very damp and dark place. True to my initial thought however, the boy looked exactly like I thought he would.
Roughly the same height, black unkempt hair, and a face that clearly showed that he'd been through things; I could appreciate the fact that he even found the time to save me.
Yep, I was too tired to even think of suspecting this person.
How professional.
"Where are we?" I managed, after him offering me a drink which I took without much hesitation.
It was water. Nice clean water, healing my throat from all the dryness that it'd been through. "Thanks," I managed softly.
"The edge of Biouldeon. Not too far away from the border of the Holy Land itself."
"The Holy Land? You call the Kingdom of the East the Holy Land?" I asked, noticing this odd usage of a term I'd only read about in history books. "I thought only citizens of that place called it that. Unless..."
"Nah," he denied immediately, able to detect the direction this conversation was moving towards. "I'm not one of those outcasts left to die in the Outlands. Just a guy who grew up seeing those walls in the distance. Trust me, if you see the sky long enough, you'd think it to be something divine. Something beyond your grasp."
"Interesting analogy," I said, standing up to join him in seeing the view.
Not only did I realise that we were in a half-finished construction site from centuries ago, I also found out that my left arm had been given its own makeshift cast. I didn't really know what to say to this. This went far beyond what I thought any drifter would go for a complete stranger.
I was certainly grateful, that much I knew.
But then came the uneasiness. Why would he do something like this?
As soon as I stood right next to him though, all of my concerns were momentarily gone. I immediately saw what he had meant by the previous analogy as the view presented itself right in front of me.
Before today, I had only seen pictures of the thing in books, but even just seeing a glimpse of it from afar, directly with my own eyes, felt so much more 'alive' than a complete sketch made on a piece of paper.
The Walls of the Kingdom of the East. The Ten Commandments as they called it, dubbed at how it was simply ten enormous concrete walls that overlooked the nation within it.
It was called to be a humongous achievement in the times that we were living in, an absolute masterpiece of architecture; a wall that ensured all two hundred million souls living underneath its shadows lead a prosperous life free from any sort of threat. Free from all the crazy raiders who ravaged the Outlands, free from any form of floods nor natural disasters which plagued the outside world, and certainly free from any form of Undead infestation.
Seeing it, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe building inside me. It was a place that I had been wanting to reach for weeks now, and it gave me comfort to know that I was already so close to it.
However, even if it was to my best interest to immediately get going there, I knew that there was still a mess behind me that needed taking care of. Besides, I still did not have my guns with me, and I knew just how much those things were worth in a fight.
If I were to continue with my pursue of the Dark Marksman, I needed them. I needed them badly.
As if having read my mind completely, the boy turned to face me and with an indifferent expression, he asked...
"So, do you still have some unfinished business with those people?"
"Oh, you bet I do."