The sweat forming on my forehead began to drip down my eyes, leaving it irritated and sore from the unexpected sudation. My breathing sounded like heckles, as I struggled to steady my heart from all the running I had been doing. I carefully peered out from the corner of the building before catching a glimpse of a shadow coming towards me.

“, I ed up.” I didn’t want to die, but the possibility was riding high on this dreary, dark night. Even the haunting gray clouds above me were telling tales of forbidden nights like these.

---

I didn’t meet up with Kai tonight.

Instead, I wanted to hunt on my own and bring out the inner Hunter that I am. I had never been on my own before, but something told me that I needed to focus, and be by myself if I wanted to become the hunter that everyone proclaims me to be me.

The conversation with Kris left me feeling antsy and dry-throated, but by the time I got to my room and changed out of my dress, I felt my nerves begin to relax. I slipped my arms inside the thick camo jacket that weighed more than a brick and clasped the holster over it. Before I left the camp, I made sure to restock my bullets and have my machete sheath hang on my belt.

With my hair tied up, a black mask that hid the bottom of my face and a gun by my side, I left the gates of the training camp to begin my own Hunter’s test. I can’t be a leader if I don’t know how to Hunt on my own, and the only way was to try this out for myself. It wasn’t going to be easy, but pain is was worth the distraction. I had promised Taemin that I would be back at the center before dawn breaks over, he was hesitant on letting me go at first, but he eventually caved in, knowing well of my Hunter title.

Now, I was in the empty city with sweat soaked clothes, panting for the life of me as I run away from rebels that I accidentally stumbled upon.

What’s worse than Nightcrawlers?

Rebels, obviously.

---

A call was coming from my watch, but I had to ignore it. I figure it was Kai, but I’ll just explain everything to him later when I return to the camp.

Fighting against twenty other Nightcrawlers was no joke; they came from every direction, slashing their dirty claw-like-nail at me and sending hisses to each other, as if speaking in their own language to plan out how they should attack me.

The perfume of my blood and organs must have smelt extremely alluring tonight because I was lucky enough to stumble into a group of them. I had walked into the Wolf tower, curious as to see how the once prestigious tower looked now, only to see all these dirty scumbags lounging around, waiting for their food to arrive. Me.

I wasn’t afraid, no; I was long past that a while ago. The more you see something, the less terrifying it becomes. I guess my eyes just grew accustomed to their revolting sight, but unfortunately my nose didn’t. No matter how many times I find one, their repulsive scent still sends tears to my eyes. This time, however, wasn’t one, but a group of them. Have you ever smelt someone who hasn’t bathed in a month, with to their and piss on their body? That’s what they smelled like.

I hadn’t even stepped foot up the escalator before one started racing towards me. I didn’t need a light to even sense what direction it was coming. The hissing, the scent… it gave it all away. It must’ve been enraged with hunger, because it charged at me with no intention of stopping. It ran right through my machete, and then its thin body stopped moving. I pulled out my knife without a second thought and saw that its heart was stuck at the tip of my blade.

The first time you will ever see a human heart right before your eyes, a natural reaction would be to turn pale, maybe even scream. But the more gruesome your fights get, the more you realize it’s not a big deal. As terrible as it may sound, the sad reality about all of this is that this is something that we have to learn to accept. We have to grow used to seeing blood on the floor and brains scattered all over the pavement. Fear was not an option here on EXODUS.

These are the words that I have ingrained in myself over the last few years, whether I wanted to or not.

I kicked it off with the toe of my boot and watched as the heart continued to pump in motion by itself.

“Might as well let you die together,” I muttered to myself as I kicked the heart towards its body. I lit the body on fire, and it stayed burning until I escaped up the escalators and away from the scene.

I didn’t have much time before the fire began to spread, but I was fast enough to enter the room that filled that lot of them to begin my fight.

Fire downstairs? No problem, I’ll kill them before they even have the chance to blink their eyes twice.

---   

Killing them was fairly easy, but it was tiring to do my own. I should’ve brought my rifle; it would’ve killed them all faster than need be. Nonetheless, my gun held up its own and did not stop to impress me as the bullets flew into each of their heart.

They swiped at me with their hands and legs, but they were no match for me. They looked weak and vulnerable, as if they were waiting for death to come. They weren’t even trying; they were just tired and hungry. I saved them from the pursuit and pulled out my machete instantaneously before slashing through a dozen of their necks. They crumbled to their knees and fell chest forward. They landed with a thud, causing dust to rise up from the rusty floors. It was a fluid smooth movement, alarming the other’s that they had no chance of surviving this fight.

I smirked, forgetting about all of the stress that I had felt earlier with Kris. My eyes gleamed with sheer fascination as I killed all of them on the floor.

How easily death can come to us, when we least expect it. But how dreadful it is to live, and witness Death. The thought struck me as odd, and I pushed it away, hoping not to think of death again. But it came over and over again, with each bullet I shot and each slash I gave.   

Less than twenty minutes later, I had finished my fight and was on my way out of the tower. The smell of smoke and dust was beginning to fill in the atmosphere as I left Wolf Tower. The first nightcrawler that I had killed was beginning to shrink in size, looking no more than a burnt spruce lying on the floor. I had only spared it a quick glimpse before trotting out of there. I faced the tower one last time with my arms crossed and sweat beads rolling down the side of my face, feeling somewhat proud of myself tonight.

Wolf tower wasn’t going to go down in flames; I had made sure of that by fixing the settings in the fire alarm. The body will turn into ashes within one hour, and the alarm will go off immediately then, sending out signals for the water alarm to begin raining down on the flames. Wolf Tower may become charred and blackened afterwards, but at least on the outside it still stood strong as one EXODUS biggest monuments.  

I turned, and began walking the opposite way. The night just wasn’t over for me yet.

A few blocks later, I was reaching Water Drive when I heard the sound of so