SOMA:
This is not my Luis. No, nothing about the man approaching me can be linked to the one I can confidently call my mate.
The footsteps, his stare, it felt like he was deluded. More like possessed because the range at which he was coming at me felt completely different from the man I know.
And to confirm my skepticism, I call his name, “Luis?”
There was no spark of recognition from him. Not even a reaction to tell that he recognizes me. Immediately I knew how bad the situation is that I have to look up at the supposed mastermind of this whole thing — the masked man on the roof.
“What did you do to him?” I ask, gritting my teeth in anger. I can swear that everything in me was telling me that I should charge at him.
“What did I do to him? You’ll find out soon,” was the instant response I receive from him.
And yeah, I did find out soon because before I could look down, a force has gone right through my guts that sends him flying away from where I am standing.
I crash to the ground while holding on to my stomach because I can feel the amount of pain that had gone right through it. I could swear that I am suffering from internal bleeding at the moment.
It was Luis’ doing. And whatever it is that possessed him has made him much stronger than anything. The force that came with him hitting me was not something I would expect him to deliver but I got served on a doomed plate.
When did he suddenly get in front of me? Has he suddenly become so fast that I cannot keep up or did I become so slow?
Before I can react to the momentum of his speed, he has picked me up from the ground via my neck and then headbutt me straight to the ground once more.
My head starts to throb from what he just did. And it is even worse that I cannot raise my hand to hit him at the moment because I still feel so weak. But I know I have to act now when I see his leg being directed to my face.
All of a sudden, with my hands already raised to my face to prevent the impact, he changes direction. And when I see the reason for that, I realize he has just kicked Mark away.
The fact that he was able to see Mark before Mark’s arrival to save me proves how much stronger he is now. And I cannot sit my ass down while he beats me up.
Quickly I get up and then reach for my sword. It was at that time I realized that it was not in the holster. And when I look ahead, I see it lying on the ground. It dropped from my hand when Luis had stunned me and now I cannot have it until I avoid him.
It’s left for my abs to do a little job here. So when he tries to hit me, I block with my fist, feeling the amount of force in his hand. I counter with my own hit and he does not even bother to block it and so it hits him right in the face.
But he isn’t stunned. Neither does he flinch. And while I am the stunned one here, I get stunned again when he hits me in the gut again.
Air rushes out of me as I bend to relieve myself of the pressure that came with that but it was the biggest mistake ever because immediately I get stomped from the head right into the ground.
If things are still fine, then I hope my skull is still intact because I feel it got crushed. I can’t even feel my neck again. And I am bleeding so bad already.
The air suddenly wheezes right in front of me but I am too weak to even look at the cause of it. What I need to do now is to get up and look for my damn sword because my hands cannot do the job against a possessed Luis. I could not beat him when he was normal, so I can even beat him when he is not himself?
“Geez,” I force that out of my mouth when I sit up to see that the ground my head got stomped into has gotten a little hole in it. How weak could the concrete be not to withstand that much force?
My attempt to stand to my feet was fruitless so I just give in to crawling as I look to get the sword way ahead. On the way to get it, I can see what made that sudden wheeze when I was still on the ground. It was Mark who lunged at Luis and they are fighting it out right now. But I won’t necessarily call it fighting out because it was one-sided. Yeah, the possessed Luis was beating the shit out of him.
I reach for the mind-link with Mark, hoping it is still intact. It is, but I am uncertain if it is blocked by him. Still, I send out the message I have for him: ‘Hold him a little longer,’
Eventually, I get to where the sword is and then pick it up. As soon as I do that, the person that I have forgotten was still here with us suddenly speaks up from the roof:
“So you could not get a hit on him and you think the sword would work? Keep dreaming, ye Alpha, because it’s not going to work,”
I scoff. Whatever it is, I will make it work. Even if it is to ensure that the sword goes deep into Luis’ body, it just gave to work. I cannot die in the hands of my mate all because he is possessed.
With every strength I could muster, I stand up to my feet and then lunge in full force at Luis dealing with Mark. But as expected, he reacts to my incoming blow by turning around to face me directly. So instead of trying to get a sword into him, I go for giving him a cut.
To my amazement, he grabs hold of the mouth of the sword and uses it to shove me away. However, I can withhold being pushed away as I only go back a few steps. From there I rush back at him and then we start to clash.
Every hit that comes from me is blocked why his care hands and even though he bleeds with every cut, he is healing instantly. It is a much faster healing than I have ever encountered in my life. Looks like an instant adrenaline rush or whatever I can call it.
But I tell myself that hitting him more would eventually weaken me. And like every other decision I have made today, I was wrong as well because he does not tire out. I knew I was in for it when he grabs my sword once again and then pulls me close to him, sending out a hit to me with his other hand.
I block with my other hand, but I am pushed back. And before I could regain myself from that, he was in front of me again, but this time gripping my neck.
“Luis,” I call his name in between the chokehold, but still no reaction from him. “This is not you. You would never do this to me. I know you can’t.”
His grip on my neck seems to be getting tighter and stronger. Life was starting to drain out of me and that is when I resort to my last option of saving myself — I put the sword right through him.
He looks down at the sword in his stomach and then at me. What he does after is shove me away, making me hit my head on the ground immediately. I’m in for another round of bleeding.
I can swear that I heard a groan from him and this prompts me to look at him. I can see him taking out the sword from his stomach slowly. Soon after, he has succeeded in doing it and he looks free because there was a twitch of pain on his face initially. The first reaction from him since all these began. Gave me a glamor of hope that I could get a hit through to him that would weaken him.
But that hope is lost when he takes the sword in both hands and then breaks it into two with his knee.
“No,” I mutter, “that was my favorite sword,”
And the next thing was Luis using his elbow to hit a sneaking Mark right in the face. He then turns around, grabs the less composed Mark, and then throws him right into the building ahead.
I don’t Mark is standing up soon from that because it felt kind of lethal to me. Now it is left for me alone to do something because Luis is now walking up to me.
The amount of fear that gets into me is much more overwhelming than what I have ever had in my existence. It was more like I can see death coming straight for me. The aura from Luis right now was enough to choke me, so much that I start moving back while still sitting on the ground so I could get away from him.
I move back until my back hits the lengthy barricade that stopped Mark from escaping from me earlier. This was the end of the road for me. The only thing I can do now is fight and maybe that is the only way I can prevent my death today.
Shock goes through my whole system as I suddenly get electrocuted. The large amount of radiation that went through me almost has me convulsing. But with my willpower, I get away from the barricade.
Why didn’t I think about it earlier? The barricade can’t be there for fancy. Something would definitely be attached to it.
If I had not moved out of instinct, my head would have hit the barricade, because Luis has just tried to hit me in the face. With a lot of force, I roll away from there, keeping a reasonable amount of distance between us.
He is not reacting to the electrocution because he takes his time before taking his hand off the barricade. This might be looking like the end for me but I’ve got one last thing to save myself as I watch with a hand and a knee to the ground.
“Rainia, I think this is where you come in...”