The Garden of Sinners

Blood Lust

Metal shavings danced in the gentle wind accompanying the howling screeches of the saw blade grinding its sharp teeth against the steel gate that stood firmly in place for thousands of years. Kazer, with his only hand, was crouched near the ground, cutting out a final line that would allow them access into the old clinic. With worry painted clearly on her face, Laetitia paced frantically back and forth behind him. Kazer glanced back every now and then with a creepy grin.

“Annnnnd done.” A large, crooked, rectangular chunk of metal fell onto the ground with a hefty thump. Kazer’s saw hissed as a stale wind blow out of the clinic. A strong odor stopped Kazer for a few seconds before he placed his mask back on. Kazer placed his tool on the metal chunk and walked in. The inside of the clinic was covered in dust and mold. A gentle white light shined from a dozen brass-coated, hanging ceiling lights. Two skeletal remains of humans sitting at a desk with their heads resting on the table and their bodies in faded chairs. A colony of dead roaches was stacked up in a corner of the room, where a small amount of natural light poked through the thick steel wall that preserved the room. The lobby has faded posters of people showcasing their mechanical human parts. Kazer walked towards a display shelf that was covered in a thick layer of dust. He wiped off the dust, revealing a thick glass chamber that housed twenty persevered mechanical arms free from corrosion and dust. They sat comfortably on top of a brass-colored pillow with a light blue light illuminated the sides of the display shelf.

“EEK!” Kazer turned back to Laetitia and chuckled. She was holding her hand in pain after trying to pick up the saw blade that Kazer had placed on the steel chunk. “Why is it so hot!?”

“Because it was a metal tool grinding against metal.” Kazer turned back to the display shelf and pulled out his pistol. He shot it a few times. “Tch.” The bullets ricocheted off the glass and bounced into the lights above. It grazed one of the lights, causing its wires to struggle while supporting it. He then walked over to Laetitia and sat down.

“So why is this place so secure? I mean, with that thick gate that prevented those people outside from coming in.” Laetitia sat next to him, twisting her hair. Her eyes jolted from corner to corner as if she avoiding eye contact with Kazer.

“Because these clinics make a shit ton of money… well, used to.” He traced his finger across the steel chuck. “Back before the war, these bio-clinics were essentially a gold mine as everyone, rich and poor, would come to one to replace some part of their body. However, these are not just your average prosthetics to which they act as a substitute for a body part they lost, rather thanks to the invention of bio-coding, these prosthetics would link to your central nervous system.” He grabbed Laetitia’s right hand and wrap his thumb and index finger around her wrist. “Meaning that if I were to cut your hand and replace it with a bio-coded one, you would be able to touch, feel, and control it as if it were a real one. And to top it off, the store owners would see the arms, legs, or organs of the clients and sell them to the black market to earn bonus money.”

“But why would people want to buy one?” Laetitia glanced at the display shelf in the distance. “They look so bland.”

Kazer stood up and walked towards jumped over the desk, knocking one skull onto the ground. He found a locked drew and shot it open. A slightly faded book rested inside with five 500-euro banknotes stuffed inside with a letter attached. Kazer, forgetting what he was originally doing, opened the letter. It was written in English.

‘Thank you for giving me this new arm for free. I have left five, five-hundred collector notes attached to his letter.’

“Why would you still pay the person even though he gave you it for free?” Kazer scratched his head. He grabbed the book and returned to Laetitia. “To answer your question, there is an option to have some skin attached to the limbs.”

“Real or artificial?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Laetitia sighed. “But how do you know all of this?” Laetitia threw an incrimination stare. “I may not know how to read, but you seem to know a whole lot about this stuff, despite not knowing anything about the history of this world.”

“Back on M——” Kazer bit his lip. As blood dripped down his mouth, Laetitia’s eyes widen. She reached for the blade on her back. As Kazer looked at her, she moved her hands away and gave a forced smile. “Back on Miller-002, which is a settlement that is carved into a large spaceship that crashed far east from here, a clinic like this is still operational. But~ it just isn't sanitary, because of it being on a hunk of rust and all that.”

“Liar.” Laetitia glared at him with a dirty look. “I thought you lost your memory.”

“I did.” Kazer explained that during the past few days, he had been regaining part of his memory. Though he didn’t explain the contents of the memory, he explained that the fragments he remembered are related to why he “first woke up” in the ruins near the city. Laetitia’s glare only grew harsher as Kazer failed to convince her.

“I did tell you I hate liars, right?” She spoke in an emotionless tone. Her eyes were fixed on the wound on his lip. Her pale face gave a hungry look as she licked her lips. Kazer stepped back a little and remembered what she had said on that first day they meet.

“Look, I’m sorry. I have my reasons so pleasedonteatme.” Kazer panicked and babbled. Laetitia blinked a few times and her glare stopped. Her face grew a soft shade of red as she turned her head.

“I’m not gonna eat you…” she shyly said, “…I hope.” The last part was too quiet for Kazer to hear. Kazer breathes a breath of relief before forcefully grabbing her hand. “!?” Laetitia was taken off guard as Kazer led her towards a back door. “W-wait!” She pulled back a bit too hard and picked Kazer off the ground.

“Huh?” Kazer felt weightless as he flew behind her and into a self full of self-maintenance kits. A cloud of dust blanketed the area.

“Oops…” Laetitia walked over to Kazer and helped him up. Kazer removed his mask and gave her a sour look as he grabbed her hand. “Sorry… But before we go back there, there’s something that’s been bothering me about what you said.” Kazer looked at her while brushing off his cloak. “If this place was as popular as you said, how come none of the corpses outside have these ‘bio-coded prosthetics’?”

“That’s probably because they have deteriorated over the years. But that’s not a justifiable statement.” He turned to look at the bones at the desk. “This planet has persevered most of the human remains from the war. Which makes little sense because the bones have been exposed to the elements. So… until I can figure that one out, I’m just gonna work with that fact that the other non-preserved bio-coded prosthetics have deteriorated over the years.” Kazer re-grabbed the uncertain woman’s hand. “But you can trust me with these prosthetics. They might not look like much, but they offer much better utility than normal flesh and bones.” Kazer led Laetitia into the back room and began the procedure.

After hours of agonizing pain due to the lack of pain-killing drugs, both Laetitia and Kazer walk out of the back room with exhausted looks on their faces. Kazer, who was recently right armless, now had a right arm that had a skin color that was a shade darker than his own. He moved it around a bit to test how it feels. Afterward, he moved towards the bulletproof display self and punched it. While he still could not break through the glass, an enormous crater of uniformed cracks traveled outwards from where he had punched. Impressed with the results, Kazer smiled and walked over to the steel chunk at the entrance and picked up his tool.

While he was doing this, Laetitia drunkenly walked towards the front. Her eyes were completely dazed as she stared only at Kazer, specifically at a blood-stained part of his suit near his new arm. Her new hands were identical to her original ones, except there was no giant hole in the middle of either hand. As Kazer’s back was turned, she leaped onto him and licked the blood off his suit.

“HUH!?” Kazer tried to get her off.

“Hmmm…” Laetitia’s mind was completely blank. She breathed softly on his neck and rubbed her index finger across it. Terrified, he tried to shake her off. However, her grip was inhumanely strong. Without hesitation, she reached her right hand in front of Kazer and punched him in the gut, causing him to vomit old food and blood. He then fell to his knees, and Laetitia pushed him down and covered his mouth. She sat on his legs. “I told you not to blindly trust me.” She said calmly while slowly moving towards his neck. She licked her lips hungrily while Kazer tried to move his new arm and push her off. However, she grabbed it with her other hand and crushed it. “To think that these were much stronger than I thought. I will enjoy this parting gift of yours.” Kazer let out muffled a scream as she slowly licked all over his neck.

As Laetitia sat on top of him, her cloak was full spread open, revealing her entire front to him. Kazer looked inside her cloak and noticed a familiar object resting in a pocket beside her left breast. A very damaged pistol resembling his own sat in her pocket. The pistol gave off a blue glow, indicating that the safety was off and the gun still had some juice left in it. Above her was a hanging light that was dangling loosely on a single wire. Laetitia sat up straight and removed her cloak and threw it on top of Kazer’s left hand.

“Here. You. Go.” She spoke seductively. “It wouldn’t be fair if you died without a happy thought. So here, enjoy-”

*BANG*

Kazer shot the gun inside the cloak through a small opening. The bullet grazed the already damaged wire that held the hanging light. Kazer tried to shoot again, however, the gun failed to fire.

“You missed.” She opened her mouth, revealing two sharp fangs. “I tried to give you a parting gift, and this is how you repay me?” She brought her fangs towards his neck. “Just die!” Her fangs penetrated his skin. A sharp pain sent Kazer’s mind into shock as his body moved on its own to resist. Her fangs sank deeper, reaching for the outer layer of his neck bone. She began to suck the blood from his neck.

Kazer’s life flashed before his eyes. He knew that there was nothing he could do. He stared at the ceiling above as time around him seemed to move in slow motion. The horrid pain he felt in his neck was nothing to the pain he felt in his heart. ‘Betrayed once again’, these words repeated in his head. Kazer then felt Laetitia’s bottom row of teeth dig deeper into his neck. She ripped out a sizeable chunk from his neck and licked the blood from it. Kazer had now stopped struggling. He sat motionless as he slowly closed his eyes. The warm blood raced down his neck.

‘Just die… Just die… JUST DIE!’ Annamarie’s voice echoed in his head as forgotten memories filled his mind. Horrid memories of the same thing replaying in his mind. Annamarie, a woman who Kazer had thought saw him as an equal, stood on top of him naked with tears streaming down her face with a crazed smile. Despite being in a state of ecstasy, her eyes curse him as a dagger slowly went in and out of his chest. ‘I don’t wanna feel this way about you.’

Kazer’s eyes jolted, open and he noticed that Laetitia was still eating him. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she licked the piece of his neck she ripped from him. She then noticed that his eyes were open and staring straight at her. She quickly donned a sadist mask and backed up a little.

“I’m amazed that you’re still alive. Don’t worry, I’ll finish in a moment because I’m sure that you are in a lot of pain.” As Laetitia tried to taunt Kazer, he noticed that the light above them was about to fall. He forced a brave smile and spoke to his attacker.

“Can…I…have…one…last…request?” He spoke in a broken tone.

“Sure!”

“Kiss…me…” Tears streamed down his cheeks. “I…never…did…it…before…”

Laetitia was taken aback by this request. Her sadist mask broke, revealing a face filled with guilt. She was too far in to stop now. “Sure.” Her blood-stained lips grew closer to his own. Kazer looked above and noticed that the wire was just about to snap as the wire treads were tearing one by one. He smiles faintly as her soft lips touched his. Within moments of their lips touching, the ceiling light fell from the ceiling and slammed into Laetitia’s head with a mighty thump. She immediately lost consciousness and fell to the ground on top of Kazer. The fear he had once felt melted away upon seeing his attacker’s motionless body. He pushed her off of him.

“Sorry, Laetitia.” Kazer walked up and checked for a pulse. A large trail of blood leaked from her head. Kazer gave a weak smile upon feeling a soft beat of her heart. “But I’m a cursed human being. I cannot die normally.” He reached for the large chunk of his neck and placed it back where it was once was. After tying it in place with his cloak, he reached for his tool belt and grabbed the rations that he was saving for Laetitia. “These memories… why? Just how much of a lie have I been living back on mars?” He ignored the pain and ate his ration. Afterward, pulled out his map and found Annmarie’s name. Using his blood, he wrote, ‘Sinner of Lust’, next to her name.

Within moments, the fatal wound on his neck stopped bleeding. Kazer untied the cloak and touched his neck and felt no gap from where the chunk of his neck was ripped out. With a bitter look on his face, he walk towards the back room and searched for a bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, a dusty mirror greeted him. He brushed off the mirror and stared at his neck. He sighed and gave himself a distant look.

“Project REDOS… A project that was recreated to humans to play God.” Kazer then walked out of the bathroom and searched for a new arm to replace the one Laetitia destroyed. After fixing his arm, he walked back to Laetitia and wrapped her cloak around her, and sat her behind the desk. He grabbed the long wire from the fallen light and bound her hands together. He then reached for her water skin and washed off the blood from himself and her. “Eden…” He spoke out loud. “Why do I hate that name so much?”