Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War) ❯ In the Jaws of a Predator ( Chapter 20 )

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Le Maree Della Guerra (Tides of War)

Movement 20: In The Jaws of a Predator

By: Revamp

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Suddenly, the power turned back on and the penguin could hear the faint whirr of the engines come back on as he sighed in relief. Red eyes with black pupils glanced around the room to check and see if anyone was in there with him. When the coast looked clear Hiroto relaxed his tense body and trembled a bit, feeling lucky to be alive.

“I can't believe I made it. Hoooly fuck, I shouldn't be alive right now,” his relieved tone soon took on a determined tone. “I'm like an animal when I get cornered; I'll punch you straight in the balls!”

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Soon, the last night was upon him and it felt both relieving and made him feel on edge as well. He had to get the wiring done today and he was on a strict time limit. Before he even got his call, he got to work at digging in the circuitry of the cameras and making sure that the generals hadn't walked out of were doing anything suspicious. Hiroto was going to get down and serious tonight. Shit had to get done!

“Okay, this is the last night. I'm ready for this. Call me up!” Hiroto said to himself as he could hear the familiar ringing of the phone. The penguin darted from his position and picked it up. “Yes hello, I'm ready.”

“Hello,” the familiar voice on the other end greeted him. “Wow, most people don't last this long. Well I mean they usually go and do other things.”

“Heh, yeah,” the penguin uttered nervously.

“I'm not saying they get murdered,” the voice sounded as if he was overcorrecting how his last sentence could have been taken.

“Yeah! Of course not! Who would?” Hiroto was starting to get nervous. He didn't even want to know what that voice meant by that.

“But anyway,” the other male was quick to dismiss the current topic, “I don't want to take up too much of your time. They're probably starting to come onto the fact that you're here. I'll leave you to it now.”

Without even missing a queue, the Rockhopper Penguin began to check his tablet frantically to check the positions of all of the generals. However, when he put the tablet down he was in for a shock of a different kind. Hiroto didn't know if it was fear or something else that caused him to see what he did but the image made his blood run cold. Before him on the ground was his own body, sitting with no head. Blood ran down the severed neck and a spinal cord coated in viscera stuck out. A sanguine pool gathered below him.

Hiroto covered his mouth to keep himself from screaming as he darted behind his safety box and threw his tablet down. It made a clattering sound as it hit the tile floor. His blood raced and his heart pounded so hard that he felt it slamming against his sternum. He took ragged breaths and tried to calm himself down. “Ah! Fuck you! Oh god! What the fuck?! What the fuck, okay? Not okay! I was just…listening to a nice conversation! No! None of that! Oh my god that was not cool. I thought all I had to worry about was them. What was that?”

Just then, he heard a banging noise and he couldn't tell if it was a door slamming shut or if it was someone slamming something around in the hallway but it was close and he didn't like that. “I've had just about enough of you! Stop making noises around me. It's not cool. Deep Sea do-do. Deep Sea don't. Deep ea don't fuck with me. Deep Sea go to hell,” Hiroto muttered to himself and took his tablet in his hands once again and began to check the device. Flipping through the different rooms, he thought he saw something and backtracked himself.

“What was that? I swear no mission has made me this jump or this paranoid. God, this is such a psychological thing. I can't do anything but wait for them to come by and kill me,” he continued to complain and tapped on the screen. Soon, he saw feed of Topeka standing in the hall and talking on his phone. “Okay, you're close but not quite here.”

He then checked on Accord, who also had moved in the hallway. “Mr. Accord, you're getting a little close for me. If I screw up…I'm so spastic right now!” Hiroto continued to tap on the screen, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “Nothing's happening. Is someone in the kitchen? If you want to go eat that's fine. Accord. Accord god damn it. Accord, Accord go away. Accord, Accord no one loves you.”

The beautiful tune of someone singing a solemn song echoed through the hallway and infiltrated his senses. In any other setting, it would have been something to admire as whoever sang it had a nice voice, but in this case it terrified Hiroto. Something that would be calming and joyous was now taken as unnerving and something that would soon be the last thing he'd ever hear before taking his last breath. “What is with that? What is with the singing? I don't even know anymore.”

Hiroto went back to the camera and checked Party Corner to find that Cristo was in there for his daily drink. He seemed to like to go there to drink liquor by himself a lot. “Why? Oh my god. God damn it, you're already there. Don't do that! I don't care who you are. You go to hell, Cristo! You go to hell and you die.”

He continued to flip through the rooms and saw that Topeka was nearing him. “Oh piss and balls! Oh, is it Topeka coming out of his hidey hole? God I'm so freaking spazztic right now. I think Topeka came out,” he went back to check on the Black-Tipped Reef Shark only to see him in the same position he was in moments before. “No, he's not. Why is he not? Why is nothing happening to me? Besides that weird experience with the decapitated me…bleeding out on the floor…”

Hiroto tried to rid himself of the memory of that apparition…or was it a hallucination? Either way it could fuck right on off. After messing with the wires a bit and reconnecting a few of them, he went back to checking his tablet, only to find that they had all left their chambers.

“Oh god, they're all out! Oh my god when did they all get out? Oh my god! Where are they? No no no no!” Hiroto slammed down the tablet and glanced around the room, his eyes wide with paranoia. “Oh my god! What was that? Oh crap! Oh eff me! Oh they are all out.”

Tapping through the rooms frantically, the penguin went back to hunting them all down. “Where the frick-a-frack are they? I know where Symphony is,” Hiroto continued to zoom through the rooms, eventually finding a few of them. “One is in the west wing. Where are the other two? The other two are unaccounted for!”

He checked to see that Topeka was in the hall, still talking on his phone. “There's one,” then he saw Cristo, still enjoying his wine. “There's two,” Hiroto continued to search for Accord and checked the places that the Sickle-Finned Lemon Shark usually hid, only to find him absent. “Accord just moved! Crimeny Christmas!”

A loud boom sounded again, which made him jump and almost drop his tablet. “Adaadaaadaa!” The penguin couldn't help but let out a loud noise in response as he glanced around the room. “Oh my god. What was that?” Then he heard two more booms afterwards. “Something! Oh my god you stop that right now.”

He went back to tapping away at his screen as he saw that Topeka was standing in front of the door. “Oh, he's close. He's right outside of the door. He's either coming this way or-“ The penguin peeked out to see that he could clearly see Topeka from the window of the room and shrank back into the shadows of the box. “Oh my god he's here! Augh! God damn it! Why you gotta do this to me? I knew it! I knew your number! I had it.”

The clattering of pans was heard. It was as if someone had dropped a bunch of them, or that someone was getting them out to cook. Either way they sure had some timing. Way to scare him and come in at the precise moment that Topeka showed up outside of his door. “Someone's in the kitchen,” Hiroto whispered to himself before his tone turned from shaky to confident as he tried to put up his false front. “I can make it! I can make it! You stay by that door all you want! I can make it you sassafras! You son of a bitch! Shove it up your ass!”As he was whispering to himself his elbow accidentally hit the wall and produced a small bang. It sent a small wave of pain through his body but at the same time he realized how stupid he was for that little mishap. “Ohnono! Why did I do that for? Wrong timing! Just because my voice is cracking doesn't mean you're affecting me. You ain't got nothing on me! I'm in a winner! I'm a winner!”

He laughed a little but even he could tell that his confidence was fake. “Nah-Nah! That's not okay!” Peeking out from behind his box, he saw that Topeka was on one side of the room and Topeka was on the other. He could see them clearly on both sides out of the window and never had he felt a bigger wave of paranoia as he did at that moment. “Oh my god! Both of you! You can go screw yourselves. Oh my god! What if they're still there? Will I die? Oh no! Nononono! No! Come on! Please! No!”

Just then, the phone rang and he picked it up as fast as he could without it making too much noise. “Oh, he's back. Hello? Yes? Please?” His voice squeaked as he heard the voice on the other side of the phone. There was a good amount of static in this call and it was more garbled than calls made prior.

“You're still here?” He could barely hear the male voice as it cut in and out. “I knew you could do it. I may not be around to sit through a message tomorrow if you stayed. It's…bad here. Try to hold out, and get out as soon as you can.”

A bang sounded loudly, which caused Hiroto to jump and inhale sharply. The penguin began to cough violently. “I think I just hacked up part of my lung. This asshole doesn't even know what he's doing.”

“And well-“ the phone line fell silent as the other's voice was cut off.

“Nonono! Nonono!” Hiroto clenched the phone and desperately looked into the receiver as if the call would come back. “God damn it! It's like I forgot how bad it is because no one comes around during the day but when night comes it's horrifying.”

After putting down the phone, his shaky hands went back to work as he began to check his surroundings once more. “Why? Don't do that to meee! Going to check the camera. Then listen to the creepy fucking noises in my ears. No, no, no! I'm checking frequently but if someone appears, I need to know about it.”

He took a couple of minutes to calm himself and breathe deeply. “Alright, you sons of bitches. I'm settled in for a long night! Don't even think you're gonna sneak up on me!” His voice was full of bravery before it reverted back to its whiny state. “Why do I have to go through three days of this crap? Why did I come back tonight? It's not like I signed a blood pact to come back every night.”

A door slammed and Hiroto peeked from behind the box to see that Topeka had left. “Good, good! At least I have company for my nightmares,” he continued to check the cameras and when he saw that Cristo was so close to it, he went into a coughing fit. “I god-damned choked on my spit! He can't be out already! I just checked there! I barely even missed him.”

Hiroto glanced to the other window where Accord had been to see that no one was there. “You gone? Good. Do I even get to hear them before they come? It isn't so bad anymore. I'm getting used to it.”

He worked on the wires for a few more minutes and finally got them in the proper arrangement, then went back to checking on the generals only to find that Cristo had gotten closer to him. “No! You can't be sneaking out of there. I have my eye on you so hard. No, no, no! How often am I supposed to check you? How often am I supposed to check him?”

A bang sounded and Hiroto threw down the tablet and climbed off of the desk he had been perched on. His eyes darted around the room once more. “Oh! I've got to be even more spazztic!” He picked up the tablet and began checking it once more. “If I see you for a god-damned second not in there. Hiding so quickly!” Hiroto heard the sound of a pan hitting the ground again. “Someone's in the kitchen,” he started to check again and kept his pattern of looking between the windows and the cameras. “Nope. Don't even think about it. Yeah! We're good! Party Corner Man! Partying Corner…Man! Whatever his name is. I think it's Cristo but I don't want to find out. I just want to get through this night. This is my pattern! Until my days are done! Gotta make sure. Party Corner Man!” The penguin continued to check the cameras to see Cristo still sitting in the same place, drinking wine and reading. “If he even moves for a god damned second I'm going to lose my mind!”

A familiar tune reached his ears as someone began to sing once more. There was something about the sound of that song that really unnerved him. It sent chills up and down his spine. “Don't you la la la me! Don't even la la la me!”

“Auwh!” Hiroto darted behind the box once more as Topeka walked past the window. He peeked his head out to check if he was still there, but he was only passing by. “Gone already, huh? That's how you're gonna be with this dumbass mission? I really don't like-“ he cut himself off and checked Party Corner to see that Cristo was gone. “Oh my god! Oh my god! He's gone! Hide! Hide it! Hide everything! Oh my god where did he go? What happened?”

He heard footsteps coming down the hall. They were quick and he could hear them growing louder and louder. Checking the camera, he saw Cristo running down the hall at lightning speed with a dire expression on his face. Hiroto guessed that he was being called to action, or something that was dire was happening out on the battlefield. It was a blessing in disguise since he'd be dealing with one less general.

“Ah! He can't get in!” Hiroto dove behind the box once more, just in case he happened to run into the room. “Oh god! What do I do now? Oh! What was that?” The penguin worried to himself until Cristo darted past and his footsteps faded off into the distance. He was quiet for a while before he began whispering to himself again. “Is he gonna come back? Ah-haaaaa-ha! Can I come out?”

He slowly emerged from his hiding spot and began to work on the wiring once more. “I'm so dead. I'm so dead. Is he gonna kill me? Oh god, he's gonna kill me. What do I do?”

There was an eruption of laughter down the hall that caused the penguin to flinch. “Oh my god I don't know! What am I supposed to dooo? I can't check on them more. I hate this. I hate it. God. I hate it so god damned much. No one even understands.”

A voice neared him, he could hear it becoming louder and louder as sang. “Fuck! Who is la la la-ing?” Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder to see Topeka come into view. Hiroto froze in position for a few moments before he slowly got off of the desk and shark back into his hiding spot. “Aye! Oh god damn it. Why are you ou-ut? So apparently Mr. Creepy Eyes likes to hang outside of my door and kill me dead. I don't appreciate that. God damn why are the nights so god damned long? Don't much care for you. Don't much appreciate it.”

He grabbed his tablet and began tapping around the rooms to search for the other generals before he heard laughing again. “Ahhh! Who's doing that? Don't do the laugh to me! I can't take the laugh! No.”

Hiroto glanced to the door, “Topeka if you're there I'm gonna killll yooooouuuu. I'm gonna pull you out of your skin.” He glanced back down at the tablet to find that Accord was with Topeka, standing outside of his door. “As soon as he leaves. I gotta be ready to roll. Reaction so fast.”

After a few moments, he put the tablet down and peeked from behind the box to see Topeka staring directly into the room with a sinister smile on his face. He slapped his hands over his mouth before he could let out any noise and sank back into the corner as much as he could.

“He's different! He's weird! It's weird!” Topeka's expression was that of a man who had clearly caught onto him. Did he see him stealth across the room? Hiroto had the feeling that shark knew exactly what he had been doing. “Don't do that. You bitch-bastard no! Generally no! Oh god you're so weird.”

Hiroto slowed down his breathing as he tried to will off the trembling of his body. “Better not freak out here. Very calmly-“ He checked his camera to see that Symphony had walked up to Topeka, distracting him from staring in the window. “Oh god no! Not risking that one! Son of a bitch!”

The penguin turned his sights back to the piece of circuitry in his hands as he tried to calm down. “Okay! Fine! Is she still there?” He checked his doorway and the two of them were still there. They seemed to be engaged in casual conversation. “She's still there! She's gonna come in the door and murder me! Oh why are you there? Why are you there? Why are you both making me think about my piss poor choices in life? They're still there. They're still there.”

He continued to tap through the rooms and saw that Cristo walked through the doors and was coming down the hall. “Party Corner Guy is back! Hide it! Hide it! Don't get me!”

Tapping back to his door, he saw that Topeka was still standing outside of his window. “Is Symphony still there? She's gone. Can I lift that-“ he paused and noticed that Topeka wasn't leaving. “Balls! I'm so done! I'm so done! Oh god I'm so done! I'm so dead! I'm so dead! I'm so dead! There's nothing I can do now. There's literally nothing I can do. God damn it! I was so close! I'm dead, so dead! You're dead. You're so dead.”

The phone rang once more and Hiroto hurried to pick it up. “Shut up,” he whispered and held the receiver up to his ear. However, the only sounds he heard were gargling and a bunch of static. It was as if someone was getting strangled over the call. “Augh! Ha-haaaaaaa-ah! Ugh! What the hell was that?” He quickly hung up the phone and laughed a little.

“It'll be fine! Nothing will murder my brains out! I'll be fine! I'll be totally fine. Calm and collected. I am literally sweating right now,” he heard something bang against one of the outside walls of the room, which caused him to jump a little. “N-ah! Nononono!”Hiroto checked the tablet once more and saw that Topeka was walking down the hall and getting closer to him. “What are you doing there, friend? What are you doing there, weirdo?”

The song began to flood his ears again. “lala-lala-lala fuck you!” He then glanced to the window to see Topeka had returned. “Lala-lala go away! I have nothing for you. I'll be fine. I know how to do this. I should be used to it by now.”

No matter how much he talked to himself, it didn't drown out the sound of that song. Hiroto held up his middle finger up in the air. “Lala-lala-lala!” The penguin began to wave his middle finger around above his head. “Do you understand that dumb-dumb? Do you understand a whole lotta this? Huh?”

Hiroto peeked from behind the boxes to see that Topeka hadn't moved. He had a feeling that he was going to be stuck with him the whole night. I don't I'm doing okay?” He tried to calm himself down, but he could still feel those cold eyes on him, no matter how hidden he tried to stay. “I don't think much can shock me now. “

The penguin glanced to the other window and checked to see if anyone was there. “Waiting on you now. Okay. You're not there anymore,” but he spoke too soon as Accord walked back into view. “Oh you are there, Mr. Shark Attack. Are you gone?”

Hiroto could hear footsteps get farther and farther away and glanced back to the window to see that Accord had gone away, but he appeared at the other window. The penguin's gaze wandered around the room to see that Accord had moved. “Oh you're there now. It's good to see you again!” He said sarcastically. “Hope I see you in hell. “

He began to reassure himself again, “doing okay. Accord is still there, but I'm doing okay. God damn it, go away! Go away. Accord you bastard! You didn't bother me any other time, so why bother me now? Raah! You're such an asshole! Accord go away! I don't want to play today! Ah!” He flinched and thought that he heard something. Clutching a hand to his chest, his eyes darted around the room. “Okay! That was nothing! I panicked about nothing. He's not there. It's all in my mind. You're probably gonna kill me soon.”

Red eyes glanced back to the camera and checked the screen. It revealed that Accord had moved from the window. “Oh, you're not there,” Hiroto glanced back to the screen of his tablet and saw that his sister was now staring into the camera in the hallway. “Oh god Symphony!” He nearly backed up into the wall she had scared him so badly. “God damn it! What's with this door today?”

The penguin could hear that same familiar song drifting through his senses once more. “Lala-Lala you're a da-da-dumb-dumb-dumb. You're a dumby dumb dumb. I am fubber nucked. I'm not gonna make it. Can I come out of hiding or do I not? So boned. So boned.”

He could hear that loud, banging noise once more. It never failed to make him jump in place. “What was that?”

Hiroto peeked from his hiding spot to see that Topeka was looking in the window. His blue eyes pierced the penguin's soul every time he made eye contact with them. “God damn it! I'm so boned! If that door opens I'm dead. I'm so dead. I don't even have to open the door because I know I'm dead.”

The penguin glanced back at his tablet to see that Symphony was still there. “Auuuugh! You asssses!” His teeth grit at the end of that word before he checked the camera again to see that his sister was gone. He sighed in relief, even though he knew that the feeling was only temporary.

“They probably know I'm here and I hate my life,” Hiroto glanced back to the window Topeka was standing there, looming over him and reminding him that he wasn't intending on leaving.

A stern look crossed his face as he stood up and placed the tablet on top of the box that he had been hiding behind. Hiroto was sick of this. He was tired of hiding and shaking in the corner as everyone just looked in the windows and passed him by. Did it even really matter? Hiroto was certain that they already knew he was in there and they were simply just fucking with him. If they already knew he was in there, then they needed to stop playing this game and just come out and get him.

He walked to the middle of the room and stood there, eyes going from one window to another. He knew that shark was there. Topeka already knew that he was there, so why not just give that mind fucker what he wanted?

Hiroto wanted to get this game over with.

He was prepared to fight to the death.

“You know what? Open the flood gates!” He shouted, not caring to whisper anymore at this point. “Come at me! Come on, Symphony! Bring it on! Come on! Want to play like that?” Hiroto began to dance like an idiot around the room a couple of times, taunting them, daring them to come in and try to get him. At this point, he was done with it. Done with this mission and everyone in it. Hiroto had gone through enough and this was the final straw. His sanity or what was left of it was officially gone.

Red eyes with black pupils darted back towards the tablet and grabbed it. The penguin tapped the screen to see his sister walking down the hallway towards him. Any confidence he had at the moment was reduced to a tiny glow within him as fear and unease took over again. “I don't know what to do with you! I do not know what to do about you!”

Just then, Topeka walked into view on the window to his left, which caused him to dart back behind the box once more. “Maybe not. Definitely might maybe die. God damn it. Where is Party Corner Joe? Damn it, damn it, damn it. God damn it!”

Not only did Topeka come back, the song came back to haunt him as well, now being sang by a different person. “Don't you sing, you bitch!” Hiroto didn't even care if he could be heard anymore. He was tired of all of the antics that were going on. “Oh god damn it. Oh god damn it. Come on! Come on! Argh! Fuck! Fuck! Why? Why does everyone have to be a giant douche?”

Just then, Accord showed up at the other window, talking on his phone. “Hey!” Hiroto shouted and darted behind the box, lowering his voice. “I don't like it a lot. You need to go away! There's that lovely music that I love so much. Fudgecicles! Screw you! I don't care that you're the biggest douche on douche alley. I have other problems! Like that Topeka likes to try and visit me too much. I think that fucker knows. God, this is so nerve racking! I need to save power! You guys are fucking aggressive. You need to take some relaxation classes, light some incense, do some drugs…something. Don't take advice in general from me because I don't know what I'm doing. I mean, look at me. I'm terrifying myself for the sake of commanding an army in a war I may or may not die in anyway. That's gotta be some questionable life choices right there.”

He peeked from behind the box. “Hello?” Curious eyes glanced over to see that Accord was still looming in the hallway, laughing as he was engaged in whatever conversation he was in on the phone. “Goodbye!” He stuck his head back behind the box. “You crude bastards. You need to back off right now because you don't know what I'm gonna do with my brain going a million miles an hour. Weird. What a weirdo over there, huh? Am I right?”

Music started playing in the hallway softly. It sounded like some kind of soothing classical tune that was being played over a radio or a CD. “What's that sound?” He cautiously poked his head out again to investigate and saw that Topeka was still standing there and this time he was back to looking in the window at him. “No thank you! I don't want any Mr. Topeka. Look at this guy hanging on my door like a useless douche nozzle. What a moron! You do you and I'll do me and we will never do each other. Probably.”

Accord burst into short laughter that could be heard from the other wall. “Ho ho ho!” Hiroto imitated him sardonically. “Hahaha! Don't you ha ha ha me.”

He went back to looking at his tablet to see that his sister was at the far end of the hallway.”Symphony! This is so fun, isn't it?”

Everything was silent for a while, minus the sound of the song that played softly. “Lala-lala no one likes you. Lala-lala you are stu-pid.”

Hiroto sighed to himself and felt some of his fearlessness and determination returning from before. “What do I care if they're here? I don't care about nothing! Everything is awesome!” The penguins laughed in defiance. “Ugh. Everything is cool when you're living the dream, yeah! Everythi-“

He looked back at the tablet to see his sister approaching. “Oh crap! Are you there? I'm dead. I'm gonna die. I keep hearing footsteps every time I pull up the damned monitor. I think it's gonna go creepy crawly up my butt. No one's gonna go creepy crawly up my butt. No one's gonna get to me. This is some bull-ass-bull here. No one's fooling with me. You need to not!”

Hiroto continued to complain as he glared at the window he could see from his position. “Come on, you bitches! Huh? Huh!? Hate you! Hate you! Fill my life with hate! Don't kill me! I hate you will all of my being! I hear the radio. Who's playing the radio? Don't screw with me like that.”

He glanced outside of the box to see that Topeka was still there, still looking into the room with that smug smile that he wanted to punch off of his face. “Who? Do I have visitors?” The penguin asked sarcastically, “I wasn't ready! Don't screw me up like that. I will kill you! God damn. God damn. God damn. I'm losing it. I'm losing it. I'm losing it. Damn, I'm losing it. I'm not worried about nothing.”

Hiroto tapped on the camera to see that Topeka hasn't moved. “You son of a bitch you can't do that,” he tapped the screen again to see that the shark had finally disappeared from view. His face contorted back into his default expression. “Oh? You're gone already?” The penguin sighed in relief and crawled out from his hiding place as he began to finish up rewiring the cameras.

“My hand is cramped up from tapping that tablet so much,” he finished the wiring and glanced around the room in a paranoid fashion. “Who's coming after me? Oh boy! Oh boy! Come on fuckers! Symphony no! Accord no! God damn it, get over there,” he ran to his tablet and stood outside of the box, checking it and rapidly tapping on the screen. He tried to ignore the pain that was shooting through his hand as he clicked away. “Don't move! Not even gonna look at you! I'm gonna die. I'm so gonna die.”

Just then, the door clicked and light flooded into the room. His body locked up and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. Hiroto's eyes widened and he stayed in place, afraid to turn around. “That's not a good sound. I hate that sound!”

The penguin finally gathered the courage to turn around and saw an ominous shadow befall him in the shape of a short, slender shark with shoulder-length straight hair. It was Topeka. He let out a loud scream of terror and felt something contact his head. “Oh fuck, no!”

His form fell to the ground and his head throbbed painfully as he struggled to keep his vision. Blood trickled from his mouth and his tablet hit the ground in a clatter a few inches away. All he could see was the legs of what pants that had been perfectly pressed and black shoes that had been finely shined. “Where…the fuck…did Topeka…come from?” His hoarse, ragged voice spoke as he felt himself descend into darkness.

“No…god damn it, I was almost free…” with those words, he lost consciousness.

…To Be Continued