Chereads / Maestro of Carnage / Chapter 26 - Picking Them Off Bit by Bit

Chapter 26 - Picking Them Off Bit by Bit

Henry Ruthless was unaware that he was under the effects of Undying Inversion of Immortality. As a grounded character in a work of fiction, he understood basic chemistry but not the pseudo-science that Henry Smith experimented on. Yet it was this connection that allowed the sludge in his body to be permanently active. The first shot took down a second body from a distance of a hundred feet. Thirty seconds ago, he was privy to a certain conversation.

"That previous shot definitely came from an automated weapon defense system. Had to be several hundred feet. No way our systems can't detect a trace of gun shot residue"

"So what should we do?"

"Split up to put more strain on the algorithms"

"A little boy isn't capable of one-on-one and whoever activated it is limited to one shot. Otherwise all eight of us would be dead right now"

"I'll go left and you go right"

When the partner turned right into a maze of fruits, the former partner leaned left and fell into the apple bush. Now there were only two groups and six bodies left. Four men, one woman. One child. It went right through the side of the temple and the eyeball constricted for a fraction of a second before lulling. The knees dropped causing the body to atone for its sins. Then the hand let go of the gun and it pushed down on the bush before the branches sprung back up. Then the body leaned left from the wind and the natural weight did the rest. The only issue now were the feet and legs. But this wasn't a covert affair so he didn't care. Checked the feed on his monitor before heading toward the lone man. The other six were far and it would be minutes before their paths crossed. He only needed not more than a tenth of that to reach his target.

The route he took was not the most optimal one but the one favored by artificial intelligence. The circuits had pre-programmed algorithms that let it determine how much noise was being generated. Instead of going fast and loud, he chose slow and silent. There was also the option to see how much time he lost by sacrificing speed and it wasn't much. With the video feed and the crackling of leaves, he was able to keep on pace even though he couldn't see anything in front of him. The garden was unruly in literally every aspect.

His punch came out at supersonic speed. He had followed and caught up to the man by several feet. Because he timed his steps in conjunction with the man's beat, his target was none the wiser to the danger creeping up from behind. He circled around from the left as the man circled to the left. He suddenly cut through the middle and the two became parallel. He side stepped to keep up. He shoved a pebble with his foot and the clack sound generated a ferocious level of momentum and adrenaline in his target. His punch flew forward as the man dived headfirst.

The brain is cushioned in amniotic fluid housed within a cranium of bone. It's deigned to withstand impact but enough momentum can cause the brain to slosh above the liquid and hit the bone with tremendous force. The first hit feels like a bus hitting your head. It's sudden and stuns you for a few seconds. The rebound force causes the brain to hit the other end of the skull. This one feels as though your head is stuck between two trampolines. Then you start wobbling from the effects of the second rebound. You lose control of your limbs, your breath, and you become muddle-headed. The stumbling means you have no sense of the four directions or anything around you. Your lucky if you're still conscious with how many times the brain impacts the skull.

The man fell down without any suspense. Pale face and eyes turned upward and into the socket. The occasional twitch, spasm, of the muscles as the body tried to restart itself. A futile effort. The brain was the relay through which everything else received commands. That goes down and its radio silent. The sound of metal into flesh. A bullet to guarantee he died. 

Three done. Five to go. Three men. One woman. One child.

He went east because the woman ended up trailing behind him, blindly. When she arrived at his location, he had already moved the body. She paused for a second and frowned before continuing on. Her partner, the child, followed behind shortly after. He was eight feet next to them but they couldn't see him. He had camouflaged using the plants and trees. The body was right below him. Provided some height so he could see as much of them as humanly possible. The video feed told him it was a woman and a child but it couldn't tell him that the woman was petite and nimble. She moved four times faster than any of the men and one and a half times faster then him. If he continued, she would've eventually bumped into him and screamed at the top of her lungs. Maybe even throw several quick stabs at him with the dagger in her purse. By hiding at the last second, he eliminated that possibility. The child was just as quick as the woman and sometimes even faster. The grip on their weapons was light, almost scout like. Perhaps they had no intention on a confrontation and only wanted to intimidate.

He continued to wait and wait. Four minutes later, the woman, child, and two of the men came back to the spot in front of him and examined the area where the dead body was located originally. The woman detailed her analysis.

"See the imprint? That fella was killed and his body was moved, yet no one is here"

"So he's nearby?"

"Yes, but four minutes has gone by"

"Could he have gone far in four minutes?"

"Impossible. I have sensitive hearing and an olympic runner. Very few people have the ability to out pace me"

"So where did he go?"

"I think he hid the moment he killed him"

"How would he know that you were following him?"

This stumped the woman who was trying to find an answer to that. The fact that she was trying to find a solution to an answer that had none meant she was an overthinker without a plan. A strong attempt to sound smart when there wasn't a basis for it. Her senses could be manipulated into the ideal outcome and she would have no clue how she was subdued.