**20 YEARS AGO**
Strange white objects danced in the child's vision. The quiet beeping of the monitor attached to her overlapped the strange hissing noise that eventually rose amid the chaos.
A gentle but firm squeeze helped the child regain her focus. But only for a brief moment, letting her see the blurry image of a beautiful woman's face hovering above her.
"Stay with me, darling."
The child opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Instead of forcing to voice out her response, she tried to reach out, wanting to touch the woman's face.
But her strength left her, lulling her head to the side, her eyes fluttering close. The hand that tried to reach out instantly fell as the monitor beeped loudly, drawing a flat line.
***
SHAY
I stood stoically watching while the doctors tried to revive the man named Peter Trellis. The heart monitor had already sounded the death line for his heartbeat.
It was already futile to hope that he had a chance to live.
I knew.
Even before they tried shocking him, I knew he was a goner.
His lifeless eyes were now staring back at me. They declared him to have died of a heart attack. But I knew better.
Peter Trellis didn't die of natural death. He was murdered, just like everyone else who was part of Marcus Zephanie's inner circle.
One by one, Marcus' closest friends fell victim to the hands of a mysterious killer known as X.
Twenty years ago, the apocalypse destroyed everything. They considered it a miracle that some humans had lived, and people say that Marcus Zephanie was at the center of it all.
They had claimed that Marcus had done the impossible and made him ruler.
Everyone loves Marcus.
He was seen as a hero.
However, X seemed to think otherwise.
Five years ago, Alice Zephanie, Marcus' wife, became the first victim.
Losing her has changed Marcus. Though he was still the same man everyone believed him to be, he became an alcoholic and a womanizer.
It would seem like a simple change, but to me, who had lived with him under the same roof for over ten years, it wasn't pleasing at all.
However, I owe everything that I am today to Marcus.
If it hadn't been for him, I would have remained an orphan.
Both of my parents were dead.
I did not know any other relatives.
Well, who would want to take me in any way? I was too traumatized after my parents' death. Memories of them tormented me. I lost my voice and my willpower to live.
I had wanted to die, but at the same time, I was afraid to.
I think I had gone a little crazy at some point, imagining monsters and people that didn't exist. I began to believe that I could see ghosts.
I was a complete mess. A chaos.
But Marcus Zephanie overlooked all of that and took me in.
And I'm grateful that he raised me like his own.
I'm grateful to him. Period.
But if I'd be totally honest with myself, no matter what he had done for me, I am, in reality, living a one-of-a-kind nightmare.
--
RAFAEL
In this reformed world that Marcus Zephanie had created, there was no need for cars, ships, or planes for transportation.
There were no more countries and large bodies of land and sea that separated continents. Instead, there were only zones.
Each zone was composed of several buildings closely interconnected, making it possible to travel by elevator throughout an entire zone.
We can find the necessities in various buildings within our assigned zones. As much as possible, crossing to another zone was limited, though not completely prohibited.
To cross zone to zone, one needed to pass through The Mesial. The Mesial is like the capital, the very center of all zones. It is where Marcus Zephanie, the one hailed hero after the apocalypse, resides.
Aside from that change, everything else was the same.
We still call doctors as doctors, and there were still cats and dogs, animals, and water.
People still needed to work to earn money, which was all electronically credited. That was one of the many things that disappeared: paper money and coins.
The technology was still thriving. It appeared that the apocalypse paved the way for a better world.
Everything was picture-perfect.
One could say that Marcus Zephanie had created something so beautiful. But then, in this too perfect world of his, X was a variable he had not expected.
"Peter Trellis, our latest vic. They rushed him to the medical building, hoping to save him, but to no avail. They declared him to have died of a heart attack." Detective Ronald Evans, my partner in crime both at work and outside of work, threw a picture of a man in his forties on my desk.
I looked up from the computer screen and waited for him to go on.
"But my guess is that it wasn't an ordinary heart attack."
"Did you send his body to forensics?" Ronald nodded.
"How did you find him?" My friend pointed to the flat screen across from my desk, where the report of Peter Trellis's death was already on the news.
I sighed.
"It's the same as always. The scene of the crime was spotless." Of course. X would have been easily found if he wasn't that meticulous.
Whoever this X person was, he or she had everything planned down to the tiniest detail.
This lethal murderer would stop at nothing to make Marcus Zephanie suffer and ultimately kill him.
It will be his ultimate act.
That was everyone's conclusion.
I think even Marcus Zephanie knew his death would be X's endgame. The only question was; when and how.
But whatever crimes X was accusing Marcus Zephanie of, I can't let him do the deed.
No matter the depth of it, X's offences were far more incriminating.
I can't let Marcus Zephanie die.
I will catch X, and when I do, I'll make sure he pays for every person he killed, for the sorrow he has incurred to the families of his victims and for causing so much fear amongst the people.
However righteous he would claim his act to be, it wasn't fair.
Not one person has the right to judge whether someone deserves to die or live.
I looked at the framed photo on my desk.
I made a promise a long time ago that I will find X. And I will.
I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that my mother's death and the death of many others will be avenged.