Chapter 8

8 Life is sometimes funny, isn't it?

Few hours prior, Shitface had made his mind. Together with Beauty, or even probably Scholar, to use Neo as bait if… or when the need arises.

When Neo woke up, Beauty had said that it changed nothing. If anything, they would have been happier, given the fact that they wouldn't have to carry the bait around. It's like leading a ram to the slaughter, but the ram this time was Neo. And about Neo defending or launching an attack himself, that would have been the least of their problems – actually a swing from Shitface's metallic rod would have done the job. For all he knew, his presence must have been the reason the rambunctious muscle glory was holding the metallic rod amongst other things. But eventually, he ended up being made wraith bait by his most trusted companion.

Talk about the irony.

Neo would have laughed out loud if he wasn't too weak. Breathing was enough stress though. But that wouldn't make him stop thinking about what just happened. What happened between Shitface and Beauty was not a preconcorted betrayal scheme of some sort, it was just a calculated action that was most likely executed on the fly by Beauty. Neo might have done the same… most likely.

Shitface had already been infected by the bite. He had lost himself already. Beauty already knew that, she was the one who treated his injury after all. It was only a matter of time before he turned to one of those mindless wraiths lunging at the crew in their most vulnerable state, so Beauty had to kill two birds with one stone, use his body to buy them some time and then prevent future calamities. All in all, it looked like an ingenious twist of fate. Well...not really.

Although most of the work had been done by the elusive abstractness "fate" and it's distant relative named probability, the rest had actually been done by Neo himself. When he was on the roof, alone, he had noticed half-dead --or half-alive-- wraiths snapping and convulsing around . It took him a while, but he eventually discovered that they were snapping at him. That made him the first of the crew to discover that the invisibility they were enjoying was waning, so Neo kept observing the environment, pondering as he walked, but if anyone was nearby, they would have noticed that his pace was not a chaotic mess of steps, instead it was decisive and coordinated as if driving at a certain goal. Actually, he was. He was hiding those half-dead wraiths in the deepest of shadows where it would be the hardest to notice them. It was quite an easy task for Neo, the invisibility was still there then, albeit weak, so he would use himself to lure the wraiths into the shadows. So, if he increased his pace a little, they would lose his scent to the cloaking might he enjoyed, staying put within the confines of the shadows casted by the pale moonlight.

Neo had hoped that the elusive Beauty would be the one to fall to his cryptic machinations, but it seemed her luck was as good her looks. Her boisterous lover fell instead. All in all, Neo was quite proud of his achievements, although eliminating Shitface was not his primary plan, but that way, there would be lesser potential threats that he would have to worry about, thereby granting him the luxury to concentrate on his prime suspects. Also, he found out that eliminating anyone that wasn't the threat didn't actually count as a failure, which put him in a little bit of relief, but that was not to say that he was out of the woods yet. In fact, the real battle had just begun.

Neo was resting on the floor, his chest rising and dropping heavily. His breathing was labored and it was hell painful. He would wince from time to time if he inhaled too deeply. It was quite the torture.

Beauty was right beside him on the floor. She was in a slightly better state, but not in good shape still. Scholar was perhaps the worst of all. He was leaning on the door, his hands dancing across the control panel of the door of the defense HQ.

He was trying really hard to override the security protocol and barge into the building, but his efficiency was diminished as a result of his weariness. His eyes were closing on themselves constantly, as if he was having a tug of war with sleep in his mind. Right behind him, helping him with the rope, was the instinctual will to survive, but on the opponent's side was the mental weariness that kept assaulting his mind. The only iota of relief was that there was a semblance of safety available.

Utilizing the time that Shitface's corpse had bought them, Neo dragged his body along, trying to keep up with Beauty's dashing figure. The defense headquarters was already in sight.

The defense headquarters was the section of the DCC that controlled everything defense and safety, just as its name entailed. So, it had a barricade of its own, fencing round the whole DHQ, which was built in the shape of a pentagon, giving off a military vibe. But Neo didn't have time to admire the structure. Shitface's body, despite being almost twice Neo's size, didn't hold down the horde for long. He could only imagine if he was the bait.

Neo glanced back to see how far from the horde he was, but he quickly forgot why he looked back when an unnerving sight caught his attention. Shitface had lost all his skin to the fangs of the wraiths. What was left of the muscle-packed man were cleanly picked bones and intact innards. The dead heart suddenly picked up, slowly at first, then it started to beat faster and faster. Rotten flesh and viscera started to grow around bare bones. Suddenly, it looked like the dead man was back from the dead. His huge rotten body sprang up and joined the horde in chasing the crew, their eyes burning with corrupted fury.

"Curses!!"

Neo sucked in a hoarse breath as he looked forward. Although the DHQ was quite close, it felt like it was a mile away.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the crew finally got to the DHQ, but they weren't free just yet. The horde was still hot on their heels, but fortunately, the last crew to beat a hasty retreat closed the barricade around the DHQ but didn't lock it. So, Scholar was able to pry it open before the horde got to them, and there they were, resting and tentatively safe.

A crackling sound could be heard not too far away from where Neo was resting. He raised his head only to meet a smirk plastered on Scholar's face. He had finally cracked the lock. Scholar staggered inside, his steps unsteady.

Suddenly, Beauty's voice came from behind.

"Follow him, he needs your help."

Neo hesitated for a while and then finally obliged.

The reason behind her words was clear. She wanted some privacy. Neo didn't really care about what the hell she wanted, but he also wanted to find out Scholar's motives, so he obliged.

The adrenaline seemed to have resisted the weariness somewhat, so Neo was able to stand up without looking awkward.

"Now let's find out what that bastard's up to," Neo thought, his frail figure swaying as it disappeared into the building.