(Frauw – Occupation: Lit) (Zero)

  The Next Day

  Amos began to scream bloody murder, his voice so high-pitched that Zero could swear it would break glass. It didn’t, but it woke every person in the manor. The living room was trashed, holes punctured in the walls, and fires had started before Ship arrived with his half-talisman mask. Chains sprang from the ground to restrain Amos, though the screams continued to echo like a broken record. Zero could bet that even the Frauw townspeople a mile away could hear him.

  After an hour and a half, Amos’s voice box finally broke, though the breathy screams persisted, barely audible until morning. Blank eyes, a dry mouth, opening and closing, and a bleeding nose marked the chaos of the room for all to see.

  The chains were finally removed as they tackled Amos. He attempted to fight them off, but he was outnumbered and weakened. As they lifted him into his room, Ship sat back in a seat as the chains returned, forcing Amos down onto his bed, though they restricted Ship as well.

  Everyone was exhausted, bags under their eyes, and their ears still ringing. They did not speak a single word, simply enjoying the silence.

  Xander placed his hand on Ship’s shoulder. “Will you be okay?”

  “The chains should remain as long as I keep my mask on,” Ship replied. “I can sleep while it’s on.”

  “I want to go back to bed…” Sara said.

  Hypno nodded. “Yeah, let’s deal with this in a few hours.”

  Zero’s eyes widened. “Bed? We need to talk, now.”

  “Zero, no one got to sleep all night. We will deal with him—” Xander was cut off.

  Blood ran cold, and then, like the snap of fingers, his body heated to the sun's surface. “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!”

  “Asshole! No more yelling!” Christ said while crouching.

  Zero whipped his head, sending daggers at Christ. “FUCK YOU! This, all of this, is what Lit wanted! They played their cards right, and now we’re fucked! We knew this was coming and yet did nothing about it! FUCKING NOTHING! And now look at us!”

  “Zero, please…” Vodka said while rubbing his eyes.

  Smokey held Carp behind him.

  Christ jumped to his feet in front of Vodka. “And what the hell did you expect us to do this whole time?”

  “Do what we do best, Christ, KILL them!” Zero yelled.

  “You’re out of your goddamn mind!” Christ yelled back as he pushed Zero into Hypno’s arms.

  Xander positioned himself between the two. “Okay, alright, calm down!”

  “NO! We should be what the world thinks of us and remove the real evil assholes!” Zero shouted.

  “I said, calm down!” Xander repeated.

  Hypno tried to hold Zero back, but failed, as Zero’s nose was an inch from Xander’s. “Listen, you shit fucking leader. I told us multiple times to look further into that file, but you did nothing about it! Nothing! JACK! Now you have two options: either we kill off everyone who agreed to this event, or I leave! REVENGE, OR I’M GONE!” Saliva sprayed from his mouth.

  Xander remained silent until Zero pulled back a foot. He just looked done. “Leave.”

  Zero locked eyes with his leader for a few more seconds before turning away and leaving the room.

  “Zero!” John, Marisa, and Hypno yelled. They kept calling his name to no avail, following him to his room.

  “Zero!” Ship shouted, though he couldn’t move.

  “Zero. Let's calm down for a moment,” Hypno said.

  Zero placed his hand on the blanket and pillow, both vanishing.

  “You’re tired, we’re tired. Let's just get some sleep to calm us down,” Marisa added.

  Zero cleaned out his drawer and chest soon after. Lastly, he checked the closet before knocking John and Hypno out of the way.

  Heading straight for the front doors, John jumped right in front of Zero with his arms wide open. “Zero, wait. You can’t leave.”

  “Move,” Zero said.

  “Brother, please just...” John was cut off.

  Vodka pulled John out of the way. “Let him go.”

  Zero opened the front doors without closing them. They swung hard into the side bushes.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Wait, no! Zero!” John yelled but was held back from running up to his friend. “ZERO!”

  Ignoring everything, Zero continued forward. With each mile, his stomach sank deeper, like a child running away from home after an argument with his parents. What was he doing, leaving them behind? Being out here by himself would surely get him killed. He was leaving the place he called home, where he had lived for three months.

  Zero leaned against the nearest tree; outside the town, Frauw watched from up the road. What's next? A yawn reminded him that he had gotten no sleep last night. Maybe if he got some sleep, he would return home, apologize, and think of something for Amos… But what should he do? Ignore it, let it happen again?

  Zero moved further into the brush, out of view from the road. Some rest would help him think better…

  Laying back, Zero couldn’t help but clench his fists and let out a squeal. Rolling to his knees and elbows, he punched the ground. “FUCK!” Tears streamed down his face, dripping onto the soil. “Damn… damn… damn.” His sobs were sporadic, with his fists pounding the ground. “Mom, please help me… I'm begging.”

  We are best friends…

  Zero’s eyes widened. “What?” Four words were all it took for him to replace the thunder in his head with nostalgia.

  We love each other…

  “Stop…” Zero whimpered.

  We love each other because we're best friends…

  The white room came and went, engulfing his vision as he remembered his old room and his mother… He recalled those moments when nightmares haunted him, and his mom would come to his room to sing to him. Her voice was sweet like honey and smooth like silk. Though the song was simple, it was their song.

  On repeat, she would sing, “We are best friends; we love each other. We love each other because we are best friends, best friends, best friends…”

  Zero returned to reality sprawled on the ground. “Mom…” He closed his eyes.

  Midday heat left sweat marks under Zero’s armpits. The sounds of wooden wheels grinding against gravel approached along the path nearby. Rubbing his eyes, Zero emerged from the greenery. Nothing… Making his way to the edge of the road, he glanced down toward Frauw.

  Coming for him was a single Lit squadron with cattle towing what was likely a cannon. Just from the sheer size of it, it had to be a brazer artillery cannon. They must have brought that from Flakenwell, dragging it to Tintinaru. They couldn’t possibly put something that large into their inventory.

  Zero stepped out from the middle of the road as the squad drew closer. He picked out eight of them. But the only thing that stood out was their swords in sheaths. That didn’t make sense.

  The cart and men came to a halt thirty yards away. A man from the left and two from the front whispered to each other before approaching Zero. “Can we help you, lad?” the middle man said in a slightly Scottish accent.

  “Yes!” Zero blurted out. “I’m heading south to Storough. I was wondering if you guys were doing the same—maybe have some teleports.” Zero had picked up teleport scrolls to Tintinaru when he, Amos, and Cazel first made it north. But, unfortunately, he had sold them.

  “Sorry, lad, we do not. Nor would we propose you go there; it’ll be a battlefield soon.”

  “Is that why you’re bringing this cannon?” Zero feigned ignorance.

  A man shouted from behind the Scottish man. “Oi, mate, Mamer’ll hang us three feet if we don’t get a move on!”

  The Scottish man turned around, shouting back, “Haud yer wheesht!” After exchanging a few sharp looks, he returned his attention to Zero. “Nothing personal, lad, but we must get going.”

  “Do you at least have a Westpoint teleport?” Zero asked, knowing damn well the man had a few in his inventory.

  The Scottish man sighed. “Hey, laddie, I'm really not supposed to. They’re produced by our crafting sector. But you don’t look too well…” He held out his palm, and a scroll appeared out of thin air. “A ken fine weel A’ll get a bollockin’.”

  Zero reached for the scroll, but in an instant, half the man’s face was gone, brains and skull fragments splattering along the road.

  It was so fast that the two men behind the Scottish man took a few seconds to process the sight of their faceless comrade and the steel warhammer.

  Zero reacted as he would have before all this. Was it necessary? No… No, it wasn’t. But if he hadn’t done it, he might have returned to the manor defeated, just waiting for the next assassination attempt. Sleep hadn’t done a damn thing; his anger only simmered hotter.

  The Scottish man’s body dropped, blood draining from his open skull.

  “Ch-Ch-CHARLIE!” one man screamed, reaching for his sheath.

  Zero knew he had to go deeper—this was the point of no return.

  As the first man’s sword came halfway out of the sheath, Zero grabbed the hilt and brought his warhammer down on the man’s skull, smashing his head into the ground, brain matter splattering in all directions.

  Zero ducked as the next man slashed his sword an inch above his head. With a swift knock, Zero hit the man’s grip, sending the sword flying. He didn’t stop there. Zero gripped the man’s face, digging his fingers into his skin.

  The man clutched Zero’s forearm, trying to break free, but Zero overpowered him, tightening his grip as the man’s skull began to crack.

  The remaining five men swung their blades at Zero, but he evaded them with ease. Leaping back with his grip still on the man’s face, Zero moved so fast he must have broken the man’s neck. He turned his focus back to the five, lifting his fingers as the man’s skull broke under his grip.

  The others gulped, chills running down their spines as they stepped back.

  Zero threw the body at one of them in the middle and darted to the right. Three blocks and two hits were all he needed to drop two more men. The final three jumped at him, struggling to keep up, but they didn’t stand a chance.

  The last man crawled back, panic in his eyes, as Zero picked up his sword and tossed it into the man’s groin. Screams tore from the man as the blade pinned him in place. “OH GOD, PLEA—”

  Zero ended it with a jab through the man’s esophagus and spine before he could finish the plea.

  Standing over the bodies, Zero tried to process what he’d just done. Killing weaker men who hadn’t shown true malice—it was easy. No real struggle, no plan required, and no worry. If this was all that awaited him... Kneeling, Zero accessed his inventory and rifled through the dead men’s belongings, finding nothing of use. No teleport scroll to Tintinaru, as they’d claimed.

  But in the Scottish man’s inventory, he found a letter. It appeared in his hands, and he read a note from General Mamer, thanking Charlie for delivering the cannons to the front lines and for sacrificing his time to level up.

  Zero dropped the letter on the Scottish man’s bloodied torso, watching as the paper absorbed the red stain.

  Mamer… His mind returned to the file in his inventory, and he remembered Mamer’s fake, smug smile and how it made his skin crawl.

  Agreeing to take down WAL behind the shield of numbers and control... such vile actions. Mamer would be the first in a long line of evil people to deal with.

  We are the ten in one.