Too close. Jadin thought, staring at the hood of the car only inches from his face. Way too close.
"Are you ok?" Issac asked, pulling the boy up as people began to walk out of the two jeeps following them.
He still had the bundle slung over his shoulder.
"Yeah. Fine." Jadin said, shaking as he tried to stand his ground. Ten to fifteen people walked out of the jeeps, and stared at the two with disdain and amusement.
"This is uncomfortable." Issac sighed, looking as the old man walked out of the jeep. "That him?"
"Yeah," Jadin said, clenching his teeth together. "Commander!"
"Jadin. What is the meaning of this?!" The man shouted, turning to Issac who just stood there, with a lollipop in his mouth. "Who is that man you are with?"
"I am Robert Welsh," Issac said, waving at them. "Nice to meet you."
"You are the one that entered the building, didn't you?" The man asked, still standing beside his jeep. "What is your relation to the dead woman?"
"Woman?" Issac asked, tilting his head to the side. "Ah. Her?"
He placed the bundle down, pulling the cloth away as they stared at the dead woman lying there.
"Issac, why did you bring her body-?"
"It is such a shame," Issac said, looking at the man and ignoring Jadin. "I wanted to bury her in my front garden. So that she can be closer to us. But I can't do that now. I wonder why."
"What are you talking about?" Jadin asked, staring at Issac's solemn expression as he looked at the commander intently.
"Ask him."
"Commander?" Jadin asked, turning to him. "W-what is he talking about?"
"How did you find out?" The man shouted, staring at Issac.
"Know what?"
"This isn't Haiti's body," Issac explained. "Everything about this is a machine except her brain. Allow me to guess what you did with her body, will you?"
The commander didn't answer as Issac smiled sarcastically at him, "I will take that as a yes. Now then, I am assuming you killed her.
"Then took out her brain and placed it into a body that took her exact form. As for her body ... you burnt it with the people you killed, am I right? No trace, no evidence. Like old times."
"What?! What is he talking about, commander?!" Jadin asked, body trembling even more now. They do this regularly? I thought ... I thought it was just today.
H-how many people did they kill like that?
"What he says is true, Jadin." The man said, looking at the younger man covering his mouth to try and hold back the bile rising to his throat. "Some people have asked why those of us with so much skill and experience are doing unknown jobs like this.
"It is because we are the only ones that can take care of the situation and leave no trace of us even being there in the first place. People just like you."
"What?" He asked, looking at the old man grinning at him.
"You didn't think we randomly picked people because we were 'kind', did you?" The man asked, grinning. "You had use and we needed to take advantage of that."
"Admitting this to the kid," Issac said, rubbing his chin. "Isn't that a little cruel? What if he does not want to be with you now?"
"Then we will dispose of him." The man shrugged. "Oh, by the way, the ones you killed today. I should thank you for that."
"And why is that?"
"I already dirtied myself so much today already and I am tired." The man said as the others that surrounded them laughed. "So, thank you."
"Why?" Jadin mumbled, staring at the ground. "Why would you do something like that?!?"
"Are you questioning me, Jadin?" The man asked, leaning forward with a sneer on his face. "Just get over here or kill that man."
"No!" Jadin shouted. "Not until you give me a proper reason why I should."
"You were a gamble, kid." The man sneered. "And I took the gamble after how much your mother begged me to take care of you. Just obey me and we will overlook everything, we will even give you double the pay for being the only one to survive from your division. OR … you can die with him."
Jadin stood there, body trembling as he glared at the man in front of him. The man that he respected with his entire existence. He was ready to follow him to the grave but … not like this.
Not when he is killing innocent people left and right. But then … what about his mother? Her treatment … he doesn't have enough even for a quarter of that.
If they give me double, I will be able to pay for it and also get a comfortable place for her to live the rest of her life away in. It'll be easy, I just have to go to him.
Seeming to make up his mind, Jadin tried to walk to the man but his body froze. No matter how hard he tried to take the next step towards them, he couldn't.
Why? Why can't I just-?
"Scared?" Issac asked, a new lollipop hanging from his lips.
"I-I … I have to keep my mother as the most important. She … she is all I have." The younger man said, brows furrowing. He could not bring himself to look Issac in the eyes.
"Hey, I am not holding anything against you," Issac said, pulling the grape flavoured candy from his mouth and pointing it to Jadin. "This is between you and your conscience. Not me."
"I … I don't know what my conscience is saying," Jadin said, body trembling. "I-if I don't go to them. My mother may as well die and it will be all my fault. I … I can't have that happen."
"Then don't." Issac shrugged. "But you aren't deciding if she would live or die right now. You are deciding if you are going to destroy your morals just for her sake. Well, according to you anyway."
"What is that supposed to mean!? Of course, it is for her sake." Jadin shouted, fuming with anger.
"Did she ask you to do this for her?" Issac asked again, turning to the man in front of them growing impatient. "If so, then fine. If not, you are adding another burden on her that she never placed on you."
"I-"
"Base your decision this way." Issac sighed, looking at Jadin intently as the commander raised his hand in the air, three of them charging at Issac. "Say you get the money, and you are finally able to get her the treatment. If it doesn't work out. What will you do?"
"It will work out!" Jadin shouted as Issac dodged them, grabbing one's arm and breaking it over his knee. "I will get the best doctors and-"
"With every treatment and operation, there is always a fifty-fifty chance of it working," Issac said, grabbing the other man charging at them with a gun, on the shoulder and pulled the gun away from him.
Gun in hand, he shot the third man's leg and knocked out the one he got the gun from with the stock bashed against his skull.
"W-what are you trying to say?" Jadin asked, as silence filled the place. "It sounds like you are trying to get me to join your side."
"No. There are cons to being with me." Issac said resting the gun on his shoulder. "They will be after you always. Your mother might not survive, you will always be living in fear, always looking over your shoulder.
"You might suddenly die not knowing or understanding anything that happened and … we might just be the ones in the wrong." He turned to Jadin. "Every side has its pros and cons. Let your morals guide you to the path you are least likely to regret the most.
"Remember what I said, memories have the power to ruin your life, forget killing you."
"Jadin!" The man shouted, pulling the young man's attention back to him. "If you are going to come here, you need to injure him and get the device. Then we will let everything slide!"
"You heard him," Issac said, holding the gun out to Jadin to shoot him with as he took out the HDD from his pocket, holding it up for him to see. "All up to you now."
Jadin stared at the gun Issac shoved in his hands and then at the commander before tuning to Issac.
He held the gun up and pointed to Issac's head, trembling all the while as the gears in his head continued to turn over and over again.
"You are not going to be able to shoot if you shake like that, Jadin," Issac said, tilting his head at the young man.
Shoot him. Hurry. They are growing impatient.
But ... why? You saw what they did to those people right? Shooting Issac now ... he has the thing they are trying so hard to get.
That woman I saved, the one that died and all those people, they would have died and suffered for nothing if that gets in their hands.
But ... I need that money. It is my fault she got injured. Everything that happened to her ... it is all my fault.
If I am not able to save her ... I will never be able to apologise or give her the life she deserved. I HAVE to do this.
Would she want the money you got from hundreds of lives? Would you want to give that money to her to use?
Jadin clenched his teeth, shouting as he turned the gun from Issac and shot it to the man as the image of the screams of the people running out of the building and the blood-filled his vision.
The bullet went right through the man's shoulder, making him shout in pain.
"I would rather die than get money from you!" He shouted, fuming with anger.
Issac whistled as some of the men helped the commander up, the two glaring at each other.
"Rot away then! Engage attack mode!" The man said, as the body of the woman they laid on the ground began to twitch and convulse before getting to her feet.
"What the F-"