He was almost human.

                He could walk, talk and move, even though most of his movements were stiff and robotic. The only things that separated him from being a normal boy were his lack of internal organs and his nonexistent conscience. But YongKyu didn’t want Kai to have a conscience; he wanted to keep his human-like doll under control.

                When the last leaves of autumn browned and broke off from the branches, Kai’s eyes also browned and darkened. It wasn’t long before the color ebony replaced the dark brown of his irises, camouflaging his pupils.

                “You know what to do.” one of the minions smirked as he threw a corpse on the table. He lifted a finger to his nose as he went to the bathroom to clean the foul smell off his clothes. He knew he should only retrieve bodies that have died in the past 48 hours, but this corpse's death time was close enough. A few extra hours of decomposition shouldn’t matter, especially since he wasn’t the one cutting up the dead body.

                Like the good little doll he was, Kai sliced into the cadaver, his eyes stayed non-blinking as he removed the heart with his bare hands. A small amount of blood coated his hands but most of it had decomposed and evaporated into thin air over the past few days. Working silently, he removed the other organs, expertly removing the lungs, liver, gallbladders, and everything else that was inside. To them, he was a robot, a machine, the perfect minion. To him, he was merely a slave to a bunch of organ harvesters.

                “Remember to wash your hands and change your clothes.” the boy said as he sat on the couch and the television, “And bring me a cold can of Pepsi when you’re done.”

                “You’re having a lot of fun ordering him around, aren’t you?” YongKyu asked as he closed the cabin door, his eyes glaring at his minion.

                “He’s our slave, we can make him do whatever we want.” the boy said.

                YongKyu smirked, “True. But my orders triumph yours.” He snapped his fingers.

                As the sound of the snap echoed through Kai’s ears, he stopped moving, every inch of him stilled.

               “Put the organs in their respectable containers, refrigerate them, wash yourself, and then meet us in the van.” YongKyu told Kai, his voice a bare hiss.

               Kai nodded silently and did as he was told. Before stepping into the cramped shower room, he brought the boy his can of Pepsi. With his eyes still wide opened, he slowly took off the spotted T-shirt and oversized jeans that they gave him. They had taught him many things over the past week but they still couldn't make him blink. His non-blinking eyes freaked them out but it wasn't a function that he could control; he was programmed to be this way so he wouldn't miss a single shot of his surroundings. His eyes were God and the Devil's cameras and he had to captured everything he saw without fail.

                He stood under the cold showers, allowing the chilly water to cascade down the column of his neck, his chest and down his legs. Ritually, he reached outward to grab hold of the bar of scented soap and rubbed it over himself, concentrating on getting the blood and foul smell off his hands and fingers.

                His hands froze when he reached backward to wash his back, his fingers accidentally touching the V on his back. Slowly, he ran his fingers over the harsh ridges and raised skin, his mind calibrating as he reminded himself of his mission. He had a month left on Earth before the Final Verdict. Like a scared child, he curled his arms around his shoulders and hugged himself, tucking his head between his knees. Emptiness, loneliness, and sorrow filled him, taking up the hollow space inside his body.

                He’d only seen darkness but he wanted to know what light felt like. He wanted to be filled with something less dense, something brighter — something that he didn’t have a name for. What did the angels call it? Love?

                I want love, the words flashed through his brainless mind like the warm kisses of a summer breeze.

                “Hurry up, Voodoo Doll, we have to go!” one of the minions shouted, banging on the wooden door with enough force to break it down.           

                Kai narrowed his eyes at the door but turned off the showers anyway. Shaking his head like a dog, he disposed the excess water from his hair. He would’ve exited the door but he stopped himself before his palm touched the doorknob. The last time he did that, one of the boys almost hit him to death. Disregarding the dirtied shirt, he pulled on the fairly-clean jeans and opened the door.

***

                The Black Market was like a creature of the night, only operating between the hours of midnight and sunrise. The smell of weed filled the crowded space as sellers displayed their stolen good to skittish-looking customers. Most of the items were burgled electronics like plasma TVs and small fridges. There were also illegal drugs and foreign-made guns, but the most intriguing and disgusting part of the trade had to do with humans. Not only were human organs sold, young teen girls were also sold for ion and ual slavery.

                Kai clenched his fists as a burly, bald, tattooed man jerked a girl with reddish-brown hair by her tresses and pushed her onto a podium. She was older than the previous two girls but even so, she was still a teenager. He could tell that she wanted to scream for help but was stuffed with a thick white towel. Her wrists were reddened from the harsh ropes that had been lassoed around her arms, chest and neck.

                “Damn, look at those legs.” whistled one of the minions, his eyes lustful as they traveled over the girl’s body.

                YongKyu scoffed, “You want to buy her?”

                “Why not? We made enough today.” The boy said, displaying his infamous wolfish smile.

                “The bidding for this young lady starts at 10 million won!” the big, tattooed man announced, yelling into the microphone as he held the girl still with one hand.

                Tears welled in her eyes as the bids rose higher. She tried twisting away from him but it was no use; she would be sold and there was nothing she could do about it.

                “25 million won!”

                “30 million won!”

                “32 million won!”

                “40 million won!”

                “45 million won!”

                “60 million won!” shouted one of the minions as he tried to outbid the others. There were loud whispers but no one bid any higher than that.

                “Sold to the young gentleman in the yellow shirt!” the slave trader shouted, banging the gavel against the block.

                The girl screamed into the rag, her head shaking rapidly from side to side as the man dragged her down the stairs. As her feet touched the ground, her gaze shifted over to Kai and her eyes widened.

Author's Note:

I'm back, kiddos! Sorry for being away for 2 weeks, I apologize for not updating. I didn't neglect this story, I was just busy.

Anyway, I know I said I would introduce Guang Mei in Chapter 4 or 5 but I was in the middle of writing this chapter when the trade thing came up and I thought it would be more suspenseful if I inserted our heroine here.

Oh yeah, I need your opinion - SHOULD I MAKE THIS STORY RATED M INSTEAD? 

I really don't want to but I feel like this story is getting a little too gory...and the contents I'm talking about are definitely too mature for some readers. But all my good stories are Rated M ;_; I want to write a good non-Rated story. *sob sob*

Ugh, dilemmas.....

EDITED NOTED: Okay fine, I'm keeping it PG-13.