"Jinsei? What are you doing here? Why are you not with the others?"
He slowly makes his way towards me, every step colored in the dark red color of the blood from the professor. He reaches his arm towards me, but I back away.
It's not like I'm mad at him for killing the professor, but something just seems off. It doesn't feel right… Is it because I should have been the one killing him? Maybe it's not that, but what is it-
"Jinsei? I killed the professor, as we planned. Is something wrong?"
How could he look at me with that clueless face of his, even though his body is almost completely covered in blood?
Then the words of the lady are coming back to me. Didn't she say he lied about something? Didn't the little girl who died say something similar? What is it? Was it this? His secret? I don't even know what I should think right now… I'm scared he might kill the people who are dear to me, as soon as he gets tired of me or as soon as he gets bored.
"Someone told me you lied. What was it that you lied about? If you won't be honest with me I'll kill you I swear-"
He smiles and interrupts me with a laugh.
"Lie to you? Why would I lie to you?"
My eyes won't stop staring at him with pure mistrust, which probably gave him the sign that I'm dead serious.
Judging by the looks on his face he understood the sign because now he is dropping his smile.
"Are you serious?"
He asked and as I nod he takes a deep breath and takes a few steps closer. He doesn't look as threatening as when I saw him stabbing the professor, but I'm still wary of him.
"I think we need to talk after this whole thing is over. I will explain it to you."
He grabs my wrist and walks out of the building. I try to pull my arm out of his grip, but he is physically way stronger than me.
I don't know what I expected from a number 0 Cora, but I thought maybe physically I could be stronger. Visually he doesn't look like he is a quite strong person…
He doesn't say anything until we reach a big gathering of people. They look scared, they are crying and screaming and everyone could feel this weird atmosphere that was in the air. It was pure fear.
Shin let go of my wrist and looks at me with a gaze that looks almost pitiful. Does he think I'm scared as well? Too bad for him, because I'm definitely not scared at all. In this hall of people, he is the scariest thing after all and even I managed to survive him.
"Listen carefully now."
He said as he looked at me with a serious tone in his voice. None of those people seemed to mind that he has blood all over him, but I still feel uncomfortable just looking at him.
"The outside world is really big and dangerous. It will be scary at some point and you might not make it. No matter what happens, never give up, okay?"
I think he can see that I'm clearly confused, because he just shakes his head as if he would shake off all my questions.
"Never talk to a girl with stinging red hair. If you see her then run. Never drink water from rivers, be aware of the humans and never get close to any kind of civilisation."
With every word he says I get more confused.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
I ask but he just shakes his head as if my question wasn't worth answering. Even though he looked like he would tell me to shut up, he still responds.
"I will open the gates. If you see the gates opening, run as fast as you can. Away from the lab and away from all the other Coras. I'm sure that not everyone will make it, so don't even look behind."
"What happens to you?"
He smiles but something about his smiles seemed off, as if he was just trying to hold up his usual cockiness.
"Don't worry about me. I will find you at some point if you follow my rules."
I know that something must be off and I'm not sure if I should just accept his words, but without I can say anything to him he disappears.
Did I blink too slow or how did he get away that fast?
I don't think that I should worry about him right now. I don't know why he is helping me, but I'm sure that he must have his own reasons. Maybe he expects something in return from me? Who knows what this boy wants.
Without trying to think about what just happened, I make my way to the crowd of people and blend in as if I was one of the normal Coras here and not a fucking lab rat who just escaped it's worst nightmare.
I think I should calm down.
Time went by and the people started to panick more and more, as the fire comes closer every minute. Kids crying, parents panicking and everyone trying to calm down the other.
After about 20 minutes of pure torture of waiting, the big gates open and everyone screaming in relief and happiness, but little did they know what kind of massacre was about to happen as they storm out the gates.
It happened like a fever dream, no one expected it, we thought we were free, but as the first bullet hit a person and as they fell to the ground, leaving a big blood larch, everyone started to scream in fear instead of happiness and relief…