The plot thickens, indeed. Thankyou all for your kind reviews. Though you have said otherwise, I will continue to growl at my writing, because I can say that it isn't as good as I'd like it to be.

I am honestly not satisfied with the beginning of this chapter - it was prety good in my mind, but I'm not the best at conveying my thoughts into writing. But it'll do for now. And I am sorry for the horribly long chapter.

Chapter 11: Kill Or Be Killed

There were more than he could count in the room. Intruders, all of them seeming to have a specific job to do. None of those jobs were friendly towards the occupants of this apartment. Walls were being smashed, ropes were being thrown, some defending, others attacking.

It was chaos.

Devi and Scott were trying to fight them off, and Tess was already gagged and slung heavily over a man's shoulder. Johnny pushed past Todd, who was standing, dumbstruck, in the hall, and ran into the room the boy had been in not ten seconds ago.

Tenna cried out in pain as she was thrown against a wall. She scrambled up and was about to run, but one of them tackled her to the ground. Another raced over to her, going to help his comrade, but Todd's knife reached him first.

He fell to the ground without a sound as the blade was lodged in his skull. Todd raced over to collect it, slicing through another's chest on the way.

'Yes, boy! That's the way! Smell their fear, Squee, revel in their pain...' The voice was joyous, laughing between sentences.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY KNIVES!?" The shout was coming from the bedroom, where Johnny had undoubtedly noticed the absence of his weapons. He yelled again and reentered the room to see a sight he had never wanted to see.

Two intruders were on the floor, blood pooling slowly around large gashes. Another followed quickly, one of his knives being torn out of the man's flesh by the one person Johnny had hoped would stay innocent throughout life.

Todd swung the blade skilfully, feeling it sever muscle and bone. Though he tried to resent what he was being forced to do by circumstance, Todd couldn't help but feel the fire in his veins; the thrill of the kill jolting him from head to toe.

So instead of fighting it, Todd let the adrenaline and the voice control him. His grip tightened on his weapon and stabbed an intruder in the gut, then followed through in an arc, wounding the next one in the arm. But, rather than the expected cry of pain, a woman's scream erupted from his victim's lips. A flash of purple hair; then a heavy boot was flying towards his face.

Johnny was still standing in the hall, shocked at what he had seen; if the backdrop were different, this must have looked much like when he and Devi... Johnny felt like he was watching his own life in fast-forward in the boy before him.

It wasn't a comforting thought. "No..." he pleaded futilely with whatever was controlling Squee. "Anyone but him..."

He shook off the disconnected feeling and raced through the mass of limbs and bodies. Grabbing Devi's arm, he practically dragged her towards the door. Scott was the next in reach, but Johnny grimaced and got Tess to follow him instead.

Todd was lost to him now; it was already too late. The monster already had too firm a grasp on the boy's mind... There was no saving him now. There was no point in going back for him.

Maybe it was for the best if he were killed by these intruders.

Johnny cursed the creature that had abandoned him when he died, and latched onto Todd's innocent mind. It would force him to paint his home with blood... And then what? What was the creature's plan?

It doesn't matter, he told himself. What mattered was that one of the few humans he had met was now gone. So Johnny fled the apartment with the two he had left.

Todd's blade skittered across the floor as he landed on a discarded and disgruntled Tenna, bound and gagged so she couldn't move or make a sound. He was soon overcome by the remaining intruders.

'Play dead.'

Squee did as he was told, and pretended to fall unconscious. He didn't move at all when he was heaved into the air, or when he was roughly being carried outside.

-X-

"And? What are the results of your expedition?"

"We found another rebel camp, sir! We managed to capture two of them, but the remaining four escaped. We lost four men to the boy," a large, dark-skinned guard informed obediently. "He is in custody, and being transported to the storage chambers at this moment."

"Not our best raid," Pepito commented sourly. "Keep them as prisoners. Maybe the others will come back for them. You're sure they were rebels?"

"Yes, sir. They refused our invitation and reacted offensively when we stated out cause," he lied smoothly. Pepito nodded, but his attention was caught when a procession of seven men entered the room, carrying two limp forms.

Pepito was about to inspect the prisoners, but one of them twisted suddenly and punched his captor in the throat. He landed on his feet and lunged for the pair of knives another guard was holding.

He never got that far, for five of the guards were already upon him. The writhing mass of bodies soon dissipated, leaving the truly unconscious form of the prisoner on the hospital floor. One of the guards was holding his pained throat, blood trickling out of his mouth.

Pepito stepped back as the prisoner was hauled into the air once more. His head lolled back to reveal a scarily familiar face; gaunt features, black hair, and covered in blood and gore.

It had to be Todd Casil.

"Kaya!' He barked. She emerged from a shadowy corner, her eyes red and swollen like she had been crying. Pepito had ordered that she always stay within his sights or she will be thrown into the hordes of Shadows roaming the city.

"What is it now?" She croaked, her voice breaking. She remembered promising herself that Pepito would not have any lasting effect on her, but she was wrong. He was the son of Satan, and he could make people crumble with the flick of a finger. Though she was immune to his satanic flames, Kaya was nothing special concerning mental defenses.

Whatever information she had refused to divulge was forcefully sucked from her mind. His eyes... They were hypnotic. Literally. Green fire was constantly swirling within them, and whenever one met his gaze they couldn't blink. If a question was asked, they answered. There was no resistance.

"We are going to visit the prisoners. Come."

"But I-" Her protest died in her throat as she saw the face of the prisoner they were following. "Squee?" She breathed. Before she realised what she was doing, Kaya ran to him. The dark guard held her back easily, but she fought against his solid body with what little force her body could muster. "Squee, please be okay! Squee! Come on, wake up! Wake up! Please!" Her voice was desperate and pleading.

"Let her through," Pepito ordered, a little uncertain. How did the corpse know his friend?

He never expected what he heard next from the man. "No."

"Excuse me?" Pepito asked venomously.

"You heard me." After a second's thought, he grinned. "You see, some of the citizens and I are a little uncomfortable with being ordered around like slaves by a kid."

Pepito saw where this was going, and fury bubbled in his veins. The lights went out and wind began to blow in the room. "I know you've been planning this for a while now, but I had hoped you would come up with something more original. Anyway, without me, this Base would not have any power. There would be no order, and we would certainly be overrun by the Shadows," he hissed. "My barrier is all that keeps them at bay."

"Not true. My men are perfectly capable of protecting the Base and enforcing law. We have no need for magic."

"Are you sure? The supernatural is all-" A fist came out of nowhere, cutting him off. The Antichrist was knocked to the floor and, before he had a chance to set his attackers on fire, he was held down by many more guards. Kaya bolted towards him as the dark man approached, picking up Todd's discarded knife.

She skidded to a stop in front of Pepito, then broke his nose with her foot. She turned to the man and held out a hand. "I am immune to his fire; he can't hurt me. Please," she asked, her voice seething with hatred.

"Traitorous witch!" Pepito growled, struggling against the guards once more, blood oozing down his face.

"Oh, this is sweet," he said, grinning. "How fitting that your death shall be delivered by your personal slave." The man handed Kaya the knife, already covered in gore.

The blade was heavy in her hands as she motioned for the boy to get up. The others let him go, and he stood slowly, glaring daggers at Kaya. She refused to meet his eyes, knowing what effect they could have. For all she knew, Pepito could make her kill herself.

"We're going to visit the prisoners. Come," she said, mimicking what he said before. She poked him in the back painfully hard with Squee's knife whenever he slowed as they approached the storage chambers in the hospital. Only three guards followed the pair.

Kaya waved them away as she found the right one. A little confused, they obeyed. Apparently, this girl now suddenly has a place high in the ranks, or their master would not have given her control of the Antichrist.

When they had left, she motioned for him to enter the storage room. He did so, and before he could meet her eyes, she cut him. A large gash appeared deep in his left leg, and he fell with a groan. Kaya then turned on her heel and slammed the door.

The room was lit dimly by a hanging globe, powered by Pepito, and the walls and floor alike were a grey, dull steel. Empty cardboard boxes lined the walls, cluttering the already too small room. A dark figure was lying limply between a pair, splatters of black blood on the floor around it.

"That was for treating me like a dog," the girl whispered hatefully through the window. "I'll be back." Then she left him, bleeding, with his unconscious cellmate: Todd.

That was when he really began to wonder where Kaya's loyalties lie.

-X-

"I'll be returning when he's recovered from the pain," Kaya reported to Vincent, the new ruler of the Base. She held up the blade, fresh blood covering the old. "Permission to kill him slowly, sir?"

"Granted," he hissed. Then he waved her off, going to deal with another issue that has risen amongst the citizens.

Kaya chuckled, and settled herself in a chair. She waited, knife in hand. She had no wish to relinquish it to Vincent... She had another use for it in mid.

Fortunately for her, Kaya was exceptional at masking her emotions. If she wasn't, she would be killed in an instant. Because, along with hate for Pepito and joy for Squee being alive, she was also guilty that she had to make the Antichrist think she was on their side.

Because she would never join them. Not as long as Todd was their prisoner.

Kaya planned to change that.

-X-

She slid the window to his cell open. "I'm ba-ack," she sang. Then the door slid open and Kaya slipped inside, gesturing the all-clear to the guards outside the cell. "Are you happy to see me?"

"I can't say that I am, actually," Pepito growled, hearing the guard's receding footsteps. Kaya listened closely until they were completely out of earshot.

Then she dropped the knife and almost fell over Pepito to get to Todd, who was still unconscious. It clattered to the floor, and Pepito just sat there, clutching his wounded leg.

"I thought so," he said, a slight smile on his lips.

Kaya sighed heavily and put her head in her hands. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer," she whispered shakily. Then she turned to him, her eyes awash with unshed tears. "I know I broke your nose, but they would have killed you."

Pepito understood, but he was still a little confused as to why. "You seemed very serious about killing me when you took the knife," he said accusingly.

"Oh, I did want to, truly. But if I did..." she trailed off, looking at Todd again. I would never see Squee again.

"You love him." It wasn't a question.

Kaya met his hypnotic gaze squarely. But when she shook her head, it was because she chose to tell him. To make him understand. "No. It's different..." She paused, thinking. "Just imagine... Forget everything you know, everyone you do or have ever cared about. You are left in the pitch black, confused and... disoriented. Nothing is familiar, everything is terrifying. Then... what would happen if a spark of light appeared? Just a spark... Your only warmth in the cold, your only light in the dark... The only thing you have in this new world." Another pause. Her voice was a broken whisper when she spoke again. "You would hold onto it with your life."

Pepito was speechless. Kaya's tears were flowing freely now, and she collapsed into a sobbing heap over her 'spark'.

He didn't want to admit it, but Pepito felt sorry for the girl. Though she wanted to kill him with every fiber of her being, and vice versa, he didn't think it was extremely fair. In his opinion, one should always get the chance to fuck their own life up knowingly; but, as television cooking shows so often state, this one was prepared earlier. And she had no choice in the matter. She was forced to endure a pain the Antichrist had never known, and it wasn't even her fault.

He still wanted her as far away from him as humanly and inhumanly possible because she was an irritating, obsessive, obtuse little bitch, of course. But the fact remains that she had no choice, and something like that really got on Pepito's nerves. He would have to take it up with his father when he got the chance - this barrier was somehow strong enough to deter the devil himself.

A chuckle pierced the depressing silence, and through the window Vincent's face appeared. "The three of you will be executed officially tomorrow. Don't worry, it'll be fun. Have a nice sleep now," he said. Then the window was shut and the door was locked from the outside. The walls seemed to close in on the trio, and Kaya found it hard to breathe.

But she seemed not to have heard over her tears. Pepito paled slightly. "Kaya, snap out of it, please. This isn't the best time to get irreversably depressed."

Her sobbing ceased and she looked up at him. "Why? We're all dead tomorrow, and I'm sure they'll figure out a way to kill a corpse like me. Burn me, maybe."

Pepito shook his head. "We're escaping. Tonight."

"B-but your leg - and Squee..."

"Trust me."

And in that moment, the girl did. In that moment, she put her 'life' in the hands of her enemy.