A game of catch
Two months of silence. Living in the forest among the wildlife. Killing to stay alive. Hearing a voice in my head, but somehow remaining sane.
I heard bypassing people speak of some ghost haunting the forest, killing the animals that anger them. Some even made a connection to "the angel of death" that was painted onto the city walls.
It is funny to see how easily people believe in urban legends, or actual legends.
I didn't. At least not until Gilgamesh suddenly introduced themselves in my life. The claws, black veins and shattered irises. The voice I hear in my head.
They have been useful thus far, taught me how to hunt animals. Gave me instructions on how to make clothes and a facemask out of their leather skins to conceal what I look like.
In all honesty I still don't like them that much though.
Last nights I haven't had more than 2 hours sleep each night. Though surprisingly, it doesn't seem to tire me. Wetter it is the adrenaline of knowing something is 'hunting' me, or Gilgamesh's doing is my best guess.
"So let me get this straight, you're a demon possessing me? And it can't be undone for some reason."
"It would mean both our deaths."
"You can't find someone else to feed off can you?"
"No, there are certain conditions which need to be met. But I doubt you would understand those conditions."
"And even if you were to find another 'host', I would die."
"Likely so. You are practically a walking corpse possessed by me."
"Great, just what I needed in my life. More mysteries."
"I am not that much of a mystery, you know. Already told you everything I could."
"You may have told me a lot, but you didn't explain a lot."
"Well, I can try to explain it all a second time."
To my right I heard a twig snap. No, it was too loud to be a twig. Did someone snap off an entire branch?
"Hey? Elena was it? Are you even listening to me?"
Staying silent I try to listen if there were any more sounds.
"Helllooooo?"
Another snap. Less loud, maybe a twig this time around. Closer, that is for sure.
"You know if yo-"
"Shut up, something is nearby."
"Oh great. Miss secrecy is speaking again."
The crunching of the left over winter snow slowly approaching me. Footsteps not that loud. Either an animal, or someone is sneaking up on me.
Without making noise I stood up on the branch I was sitting on.
"I don't get it. Why do you even want to stay hidden? You said yourself you are a well-trained agent. More strength, agility and reaction speed than anyone before you. What are you so scared off?!"
"Those who went unrecorded."
Within the blink of an eye I jumped to a different tree branch, and another. Slowly picking up the speed until suddenly a familiar voice called out my name.
"Elena! Where are you? I saw the tracks, I know you are here. I only wish to speak to you!"
Sophia.
"See?! They only wish to talk to you."
I whispered my reply to Gilgamesh.
"You don't know them, I do. So how about you leave it to me?"
"All right miss on edge all the time. Do you even ever relax?"
I took a deep breath, as my shout echoed through the entire forest.
"What is it you want from me Sophia?"
"I just wish to talk! Can you please show yourself?"
"We can speak like this just fine. What do you want?"
While jumping from branch to branch, I found where she was. What she was. Afraid, desperate but most outstanding, alone.
"I want your help Elena. You know me, and I know you a little."
"And what is it that you want the help of a monster for?"
No longer shouting it so it didn't echo through the forest. Sophia turned around and looked up toward me. Her eyes looking like they could tear up any moment, a posture showing weakness. She is truly desperate.
"The Agency has fallen. An attack. I-it all happened so fast. The Octarians they-"
"In through your nose, out through your mouth. Breathe."
She followed my command as it seemed to calm her down.
And without a thought to it, I dropped myself onto the snow beneath me. The very crunch of my landing startling Sophia.
"Are you calm enough?"
Sophia nodded.
"Good, start telling me what I should know. Then ask me what exactly you want from me."
"Uhm. The Agency fell, Octarians. They attacked us after receiving word from the inside that you were with us. I can only speculate on who, but I know they were after you. Agent 1 and 2 survived alongside me. The rest, gone."
"She is clearly here to ask for your help miss grumpy all the time."
"I know that 1 and 2 are out there searching for anyone else we knew could have survived. They sent me to find you, since you weren't at the attack. We all thought you would still be alive. And with the ghost of the woods being the only lead I had, I ended up here."
"So let me get this straight. The Agency fell, and in an attempt to rebuild it you want me to return?"
Without missing a beat Sophia nodded as she looked almost hopeful.
"Will you help us?"
"Ask that question to yourself. A cause which may have trained me, and perhaps saved my life on one or two occasions. But stabbed me in the back when I most needed them. Why would I help?"
"Even after you ran. When we were in that prison for 2 years they kept searching for you. When you were on the run they kept monitoring activity on any- and everyone searching for you. The Agency kept an eye out for you."
"They may have kept an eye out for me, but only to reach their own goals."
"Elena that's not tr-"
"THAT IS THE TRUTH! You're just not willing to accept it. You're just not able to understand."
She almost broke out in tears, her breaths cut off by her shaking in fear.
"Wow, even I am not heartless enough to let someone cry like that."
"You can shut up Gilgamesh, you don't know what they did to me."
Sophia laid her hand on my shoulder while looking like she had lost all hope.
"They are after you Elena… They won't stop until they have you. We can help each other."
My eyes left empty while looking into hers.
"And what is it you can offer that has my interest?"
And at that exact point Sophia looked up in surprise, hooked her leg into one of mine. And pushed me backward.
With a smack I hit the ground, but I didn't hear it. As the sound was masked by the shot of a hunting rifle.
In a whispering and vibrating tone Sophia said something.
"They're… Here."
I lifted Sophia off me and immediately felt the wet spot on her back. But it wasn't water. A sticky red mess. Blood.
Carefully laying her down, I then set it to a sprint, right where the shot came from.
Another loud bang, and without thinking about it I raised my claw in front of my face. Felt nothing but heard the tinkling of iron on stone.
And within the blink of an eye, there I was standing.
My claws right in the guts of the shooter. A mouth filled with sharp teeth, blood and flesh. A heartless display of revenge.
I didn't know what I did, how long passed in that one blink? Why did I eat out their neck like that?! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!
Slowly I walked back to where Sophia was, 5 minutes of walking. That distance in the blink of an eye? My claws covered in blood, my cheeks stained with what I ate. What is this feeling?
"E-Elena?"
It was Sophia standing behind me, her back dripping with blood.
"Are you alright?"
The vibrations in her voice, the soft tone. She was terrified.
Slowly attempting to approach her, she set a step back.
"Elena, answer me please!"
"I'm fine. Let's have a look at that wound."
She was frozen now. Trembling like she was in the middle of an ice age. Meanwhile she kept eyeing the blood that covered my claws and face.
"W-whose blood is that?"
"Don't know, don't care."
"You killed an Octarian sharpshooter. Impaled him through his guts and bit out his artery. Swallowing what you bit out."
"Thanks for the reminder Gilgamesh, I know what happened."
"Who is Gilgamesh?"
I stood silent, not wanting to answer het question.
The wound Sophia had was luckily but a graze wound. The bullet took of some muscle and skin. Nothing fatal. But if she didn't throw me on the ground like she did, neither of us would have survived.
A crisp campfire kept her warm in the evening as she sat near it. With me in a branch of a nearby tree. The silence of the woods was comforting to me, like this nothing could sneak up on us.
"Elena? Thank you, for everything you did today. The makeshift bandages and healing herbs."
"See? There was no reason to be so rude to her."
"Gilgamesh, you don't even bother to learn my name. So I will not be lectured by you when it comes to manners. And you Sophia, you're welcome."
"Who is this Gilgamesh you keep talking to?"
"A voice in my head."
"Correction, the demon in your veins that formed your claws and made it so you are still somewhat alive right now."
"Why do you keep talking to it?"
"It is better than talking to myself."
"Have you gone mad? Hearing voices is usually a sign of insanity."
"Yet I am sane enough to recognize you. Not kill any- and everyone right away. So I am pretty sure I'm still sane."
"She is just worried about you."
"Sophia. You don't know what I went through, and I stood sane all this time. Those 2 years in the prison? Well… Let's say it was more than just a prison. A coverup for the true psychopaths that worked on 'Project E'. A surgical and biological playground, that's what I was to them. Some experiment that needed to show progress and development. Torture, just in the name of their science. And at the day we would be freed, that's when they engaged in the final step of the process."
"So… You are the biological weapon we suspected you to be?"
"As much as I hate to admit it. Yes, I am."
Sophia then remained silent for a long and uncomfortable while.
"So you are actually-"
"Yes I am actually a weapon. No, I am a monster."
"No your just a misunderstood girl who had a bad meeting with fate"
"I am getting sick of your commentary Gilgamesh."
Everyone then stood silent. I examined and treated to Sophia's wounds with what little recourses I had.
"Thank you Elena."
"What would you even want to thank me for?"
"You didn't have to help me, we are no colleagues anymore. But you still decided to help."
"Don't go praise me for what I am not Sophia, you know how everyone sees me."
"Elena? Do you actually see yourself as a monster?"
I let the silent creeks of wood, decorated with the rustling leaves answer for me.
"You know that even monsters can be heroes, right?"
"I am no hero Sophia, I am a monstrous weapon. One that was meant for who knows what sickening goal."
Sophia didn't react with words, instead hugging me.
"Elena, you can still do right. 1 and 2 asked me to have you meet them in a café tomorrow."
"I'll hear them out, but I will not promise to help you with any and everything."
"Elena, I know you still had-"
"That is enough talk."