Chapter 10
Murdering someone is more traumatizing in real life than imagining it.
I was mortified.
I looked through a window to see Alex's lifeless corpse. I just stood there on that spot. What the hell had I done? Then emotions started to kick in. I was slammed with remorse, regret and melancholy. What kind of person did this make me? The world around me stood still. I felt like I was drowning. I tried to keep calm but how could I whilst I was stained with the blood of Alex??
"Jamie are you ok? Jamie, can you hear me?" God the number of times I have heard people say are you ok? Constantly replying with I'm fine but I don't mean it inside.
I was a murderer.
Hazel held my hand and tried to help me but nothing was working. I just continued with what we had to do. Hiding the emotions within hoping that I could control them before they control me.
"Let's get going," I explained. I knew that before I left I had to do something. Something horrible. Before we were about to ride on the motorcycle and leave I took a match from my bag and ignited a weak orange fire.
"Jamie, what are you doing? Hazel asked.
"Hazel, what do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to push away the feeling that I just killed someone. I know that he was a sick person but that did not give me the right to kill him," I explained. I just couldn't take it. Hazel came off the motorcycle and held her hand out. I pushed her away whilst keeping the match at bay.
"Jamie"- Hazel spoke but I stopped her.
"Hazel what are you going to say? That it was ok or it's going to be alright?? I can't do it. I can't face the fact that just killed someone! All these emotions it just too much and now I have the blood of Alex stained on me for eternity. I'm a murderer and nothing can change the truth!!" I screamed, trying to catch my breath.
"Jamie I know that this is hard for you but are you sure that you want to burn the cabin down?" Hazel replied.
I tried to understand what I was willing to do and if it was worth it and then an answer started forming one word.
Yes.
I walked to the front door of the house. Alex's body on the floor filled with blood splattering everywhere. I knew that this was only a temperamental mechanism but I had to try. I threw the burning match inside the cabin watching each object get blown to fragments and Alex's corpse being incinerated into fragments. Then I slowly closed the front door. Smoke was already starting to produce. I casually walked on the motorcycle and held my bag.
"You coming?" I requested.
Hazel looked shocked as ever. She gave me a slight nod. Together we started driving away from the blazing cabin...
From time to time I kept glancing back. Hazel wrapped her arms around my waist and together we travelled to find the first building we found. We arrived in an abandoned building just outside of the forest. It had at least three storeys and looked very old from the plaster of walls coming off. Windows were smashed, doors were boarded with pieces of wood. Hazel suggested that we should go behind the building to try and find an entrance. It took only a few minutes before we found a door locked with a lock that we cracked within seconds. I kept trying to block the images of Alex's death from coming back to me but I kept seeing them repeatedly. Like on a loop.
"After you," Hazel answered. We walked inside where the only light was coming from the windows. Dust was everywhere and I might have inhaled it three times. All around the building were boxes scattered around. I thought that maybe it belonged to an old business that got bankrupt or something. We searched the place and found nothing of use or anything that could help us. We started to settle on the top floor as then we could see everything that was outside. Whilst Hazel was clearing up some space I glanced out the window to see that the smoke from the fire was already covering the atmosphere. As if to block any light from coming towards us. I looked closer to see a bunch of figures nearby the cabin but maybe I was seeing things?
For just in case purposes, I told Hazel about what I had seen and her face was already starting to be filled with dread. I then remembered something that Alex had said before he died.
"Do you think that other bounty hunters are after us?" I asked Hazel.
"Jamie remember when we were about to leave the cabin and we heard that screeching sound coming from Alex?" Hazel mentioned.
"Yeah, that small box I smashed. Why are you thinking?" I replied.
"Jamie maybe that noise summons the Alphas like a distress call when one is hurt," Hazel suggested.
I made a small yelp and started to look out the window to see if Hazel was right.
"Jamie what is it?! What do you see?!" Hazel yelled.
I ignored her voice and concentrated on the cabin. Most of it was burned but then I took out a pair of binoculars I found in the cabin and examined it again. Oh good lord. I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me but they were not. I saw the same figures from before. They were indeed the Apex Alphas. Whilst yelling at Hazel, I informed her about the problem and she started to dash across the room packing everything up.
"Come on, we need to be as quick as possible!" Hazel screamed. I stopped looking out the window and helped Hazel pack everything up. We then ran down the iron rusty stairs and looked around for anything that might come in handy. We found some pretty good toys.
We kept dashing around until we reached the door we came from.
"Jamie, there is a good chance we might be captured ok? Are you ready?" Hazel asked.
"Let's do this!" I replied.
We ran out of the door and sat on the motorcycle with all our gear. Hazel was trying to turn on the motor but it wasn't working. Then unexpectedly a bullet was fired & barely brushed past me.
"GET THEM AND BRING THEM ALIVE!" roared a woman.
Hazel kept trying and on the fourth or fifth attempt, it came to life as if knowing its value in our little crisis.
We then went into the unknown.