In a split second, Jaggar slashed his sword from its scabbard level to his right shoulder, cutting in three part his beloved father.
The fluid movement had so much power his blade ended its course halfway through the bearing wall. It became the noise Jaggar will hear when remembering how he took this life. The man in front of him had no nails, bloody hands and a face with few features left. When he was held in the basement, the sick man used his head and forearms to damage the basement's door.
Between the severed hand and the upper torso, the depth the captain managed to dig in the wood was impressive. Many claw and teeth marks remained, the black blood stained the wood like a corrupted tombstone.
His metal helmet was not intact either, several bumps above testified of violent shocks.
Silence fell in the room for ten minutes. Picco had never seen someone being killed, as half of the soldiers present.
"I am sorry father, I can't bury you today, I won't risk to become sick, therefore give you my sword as a last gift." He said, sealing an oath to make a descent grave once the outbreak ends.
"You, you and you, guard our back, you and you on the left side, and the two remaining on the right side, I'll lead the way. Stay alert, anything can happen. We're heading north. I don't want to hear a word outside except if you're in imminent danger or if you find a hideout. Understood?"
All of them nodded, and they begun their way toward the palace. Six hours after Randi's entrance in Varanasi. Around two hundred and six people became lunatics, twice as much were dead from various incidents and eaten by their relatives. Fifty of the casualties were killed by the soldiers because of their aggressive behaviour.
The alert spread in every corners of the city thanks to horsemen sent in eight different directions, allowing the population to become alert and prevent few cases.
The number of lunatics, as they ended up calling them, grew at a steady pace and many of them prowled in the desert streets, they had as company few rats with atrophied bodies. Humans had yet to remark it, but they were the sole living being untouched by the lunatics in the city.
---
In a house, between the palace and the guard's south outpost, Keith and Prem were sitting. A heavy silence thickened the atmosphere in the room where the servant could hardly relax. He could hear rumbling and awkward footstep from every side of the house. The walls were thick and the dwelling desert before they arrived, but the sound passed through barely muffled.
'I managed to get us safe here, but one of them saw us for sure! Now they're what.... Five walking around? For gods' sake I am no warrior, I can't handle this situation alone, how am I supposed to run away from this mess... And HE! He is supposed to be the solution? My king, I am convinced you have brain issues. But it'll be fine, I fought the monster once, I can do it twice, I hope...'
Prem, deep in thought was next to a dining table while Keith sat cross legged, leaning against a pillar, he argued with Mister Show.
'What did you say? No that's impossible, that can't be Randi. He don't even seem to recall how he came here by himself, nor how did he enter the explanation.'
'We can try to ask him.' "Come out you squatter!" Said Show. Nothing happened.
'I don't think he can see you, maybe he has bad sight.' thought Keith, he then said, calmly. "Are you still here? We need to talk, again." An indefinite shape materialised out of thin air. To the kid it looked cool as an ability, but to Show, it was a nuisance he had to take care of.
Air waves undulated on the surface of its face, Randi said."Finally! What is it?"
"Do you remember biting someone? Or just feeling sick, even a little." Keith asked.
"I don't remember. It's all blurry in there." He said, pointing at his forehead.
'Kid, just do what I say...' Said Show, with a new idea blossoming the explanation with thousands of flowers.
Keith woke up from his dizzy state and, guided by Show's words, went to the door. He opened it under Prem's frightened gaze and shouted.
"We're over here! Come for us!"
Keith then slammed the door and put everything nearby against the door. Prem helped with all his might, moving around all the kitchen's furniture and condemning the windows as well. Soon, tens of noises surrounded the house.
"Now that I'm sure you won't go out, I'll use the bathroom." Keith said to the now petrified servant.
Keith entered the only room with a weak locking system and sat again while Show closed it properly behind the kid.
A head appeared in the kid's hands. Unfortunately the liquid around made it slippery and Keith managed to grab it by the two big cavity he created by simply holding it with a clawed hand position. His clumsiness pricked the weak yellowish eyes the head had. It was Randi's after all.
The whole corpse had vanished in the palace and by the time the king was aware of the mysterious event, a distant 'fuck!' could be heard from afar.
'Alright, time for a bite kid.' Said show.
'Are you sure? I'm not hungry yet.'
'It's not for your stomach, it's for our guest's memory. Brain is an organ containing many resources, if you eat it, we may get more than 'I don't remember' answers.' Said Show, a little impatient.
From the other side of the door, Prem held his head in despair. He could hear the cracks of the skull and the noise outside. Lunatics bumping, punching at the front door or on various spots around it. He felt cornered and even his might couldn't handle the feeling of being lost.
The few millimeters of skull bone were already fractured due to an earlier hit in the head. As four the soup contained under the spherical structure, it still had floating bits in it who were slurped down rapidly.
Once not even a hair were left, Keith licked his fingers and lips to not let anything go to waste.
He calmed down in a few minutes and wondered why he never felt the urge to bite himself to get food. Maybe he was still afraid of Show interrupting him. The boy came back into the explanation.
'Ask again now' Said Show.
"How about now, Randi?"
The man appeared like last time. But this time his face looked human, fleshy. His shy smile didn't go unnoticed.
"I may had a slight confrontation last time I met Yotoh. Oh right! All of my friends were here. Oh.... Oh. I might have had a little interaction with them but then..."
The world shook under their feet. The place transformed to look alike a place Keith never visited. Indeed they saw Randi's memory. The explanation was the only place where Show could bear the sunlight. The far away star was about a quarter black. Randi was having an existential crisis, replaying his past as the best comedian ever born.
First, he was in a dark place, alone. A mudhole as he called it, he mumbled few things until came a room-mate, Ned, 'angry Negh' at this time. The man became Randi's first friend in years.
A week later, his body was already missing a hand and the bandage on it actually helped the infection to spread. Time passed, skipping non important parts of Randi's memory thanks to Keith's focus on the main subject.
One day, the two were freed from their jail, and they made their way to Varanasi, determined to find the kid with two more companions.
No doubt for the kid now, Randi was with Picco and Yotoh, but more importantly, Ned was here too, his face seemed smaller as his teeth were missing and his lower jaw dangled forward most of the time.
'Ned followed me... I can't believe it.' Thought Keith while Show replied with a concerned voice. 'Well your midget friend told you when you were too busy to notice him, you were wailing in pain, cuffed between bandages and intensive care.'
Keith's jaw dropped. He realised why the four followed him until Varanasi, but were they still here? Yes, and they had their reasons. Yotoh had not enough answers for his daughter. Ned wanted revenge like Randi and Picco... Maybe he was curious, that's how he has always been after all.
Keith and Mister Show spectated small scenes were the four fought over small matters. What to eat next, what woman was the most beautiful, and even the difference between their bellybuttons.
Every time the scene changed, picturing another memory, the sky darkened, letting more and more black cover it. And at the same time, Randi's arm shortened, like his lifespan.
There was this one day were Randi was the remains of a man. A skeleton with a strong will but tens of contracted diseases at the same time. Between the high fever and his inability to feed himself, his loss of eyesight imbued the landscape. His clavicle was visible and the sun was dark.
Deep in the night, his annoying noisy breath woke up Ned for the umpteenth time. The man left his bed only to suffocate Randi in his sleep.