Chapter 156: Getting dark

Strange creatures hovered above our shoulders like embodied consciences. There were no good intentions to these consciences. They were solely bad. Trouble. Trouble to which naivety gave birth. My naivety. 

Hanso walked back over to us, with a sheepish look on his face, much ressembling a blush. But he wasn't blushing. Far from It. He was enraged by what he had just grown witness to. His assigned creature pursued his path, and only stopped when he had. He folded his arms and pouted. "I didn't trust that guy from the beginning. I sensed what he was under that mask of pretentious altruism." 

Looking down at the ground, I qailed, clenching my fists again. "I'm sorry, guys. I was suspicious too but," I shook my head, "I'm a fool. I disregarded my suspicions. It's just that I knew you were in danger, Miguel. So I tried my best to forget about everything else, and focus on aiding you. I'm really, really—"

"Okay, okay," Miguel chimed in, "I forgive you ... for absolutely nothing. Because you literally did nothing wrong. I had my suspicions of that guy as well, but I still let him heal me. My point is," he looked me in the eyes, "where ever you messed up is in the past. Forget about the past, and focus on what matters most. Right now, your focus should be now. The present.

"Let's focus on finding that old man's mentally ill son, Andrew. And secondly, repaying our debt ... whatever that debt is. We have problems at hand. Too much happened in one day. Let's try fixing them before more appears."

He was right. What was the point in fretting and fussing about the things in the past, when there were things to worry about in the present? 

I deflated. My muscles—extremely tiny and probably near nonexistent though scientifically impossible—were relaxed and at ease again. I looked at Hanso. Then at Miguel. I smiled. "You two are both right. Let's get to fixing our problems, shall we?"

***

I stood in the crowded streets of the new world all alone without Hanso and Miguel. The sun started to descend; leaving bright, warm and staggering luminosity in the sky above. 

"Interest increases. Reminder to pay depth!" Shouted the creature that hovered above my shoulder and followed me everywhere. It started spinning relentlessly. 

They all seemed to speak at the same time. In unison like a choir. This was the sixth time it had said the same words to me.

"Can you please be a little quiet?" I asked, glancing at it, irritated to the core. "There are people around here. And you're making me break the first rule."

The creature licked its lips. "There is but one set of rules I have to abide by," it twitched freakishly, "I get to oppose all others." It possesed the most annoying voice I had ever heard. 

Yeah, we were still unfortunately stuck with the ugly one-eyed, winged creatures. 

Admittedly, it was keeping me company while J awaited Hanso and Miguel. Though, it was quite the unwanted company. I looked at it, rolling my eyes a trifle. "Only one set of rules? What are those rules?"

I doubted that it'd tell me. But ...

"That is very simple," it said, hovering. "I forever pursue the person I am assigned to, unless said person repays his debt or dies. As time goes, I must punish the person in any way I prefer. And lastly, I must obey my master if what he asks of me is in my possible executions."

He told me the truth. However, I didn't quite believe him radically. Simply put, I had trouble trusting anything or anyone for that matter at the time. 

I heaved. "Can you be killed?"

"No," it replied, grinning. "I am not alive. You can't kill what's already dead, can you? If you don't want to die as well, I'd suggest you repay your debt as soon as possible."

I scoffed. "Ask again when I know what the debt is."

"Not possible," it said brusquely. "I must remind you to repay your debt at least once every hour."

I scoffed again. 

I heard incoming footsteps from behind me. I slowly turned around. Such that I was able to see Miguel approaching me with bags in his hands, while Hanso just walked out of a house, also coming my way. 

"I assume you guys found a lot of stuff, " I said, looking at Miguel as he approached. 

"Not really," he stopped, raising the bags, "these should last the three of us the rest of the week. Turn around," he commanded, "let me fit what I can in your backpack. We don't want onlookers to see us packing."

I turned around, my back now facing him. I then looked over my shoulder as he bent over and placed the bags on the floor. After doing so, he unzipped my backpack. He started emptying one of the bags on the floor by placing the items in my backpack instead. 

"There," he said, "all done. I only managed to get a single bag to fit in your backpack, but ..." 

Hanso looked at me as I turned to them. Then, he looked down the three remaining bags—filled with items—on the ground. He scoffed. "The onlookers will definitely catch on. Maybe we should ditch those items in those bags and just roll with what Ash has in his."

"Maybe you should repay your depth before the interests escalates," the creature, hovering over his shoulder, said. 

"Shuddap, you ugly piece of shit," Hanso snapped at it. 

Miguel sighed. "I'm not sure what to do here. If we leave these bags, we'll only have food for three days at most. It might to best to carry them with us, because some other scavengers are bound to come and salvage them."

"I mean," I put a hand on my chin, "we are breaking rule one by walking around with bags filled with food. But we actually need the food so ... I guess we have to carry it."

Hanso shrugged. "Well, that's your choice. If some guys jump us for it, then that's on you. Can't say I didn't warn ya."

"You wouldn't be able to do that either when you lose your life because of the debt," Hanso's creature remarked. 

"Shut the fuck up!" Hanso snarled at it. 

I didn't want to carry the bags either. However, only people with super dumb night-vision abilities would be able to notice them. Because ... night was approaching.

It was getting dark.