Two Weeks Later
Back
I had seen nothing of Bronze and it was really starting to bug me.
I had moved my things, the few that I had acquired over the years, down to the smaller post at the school site and left the hill to the people who once lived there. I couldn�t stand to be around that area knowing that because of me, they had died. It was my fault they were dead and I didn�t want to be near their graves any longer than I had to, that way I didn�t dishonor them any further. I had failed, plain and simple. I didn�t kill Bronze when I had the chance, and now I doubt I�d be able to. Maybe I could though. I don�t know anymore.
The letter to Natashia still lay on the table in front of me when I had left it long ago. A thin layer of dust covered it and the words were beginning to fade. I felt really bad for Natashia. She�d never know that her boyfriend, finance, whatever, had been killed by a creation of man known as a Neoweapon.
That was the other thing. I had gone back down to the lab and found out a few things. The name Neoweapon was not the actual name of Bronze. The experiment name was Neoweapon including Jene, Bronze and the others. The Class and Subject were self explanatory. The sub-experiment names were what got me.
Jene DeVowe was sub-experiment one. This meant that the file name of the ex-periment was Jene DeVowe. The overall experiment was Neoweapon. The sub-experiments were the names of the creations. Jene, Bronze and the other two I hadn�t met. Steele and Akira. If they were even completed is a mystery to me.
I stood up from the table and walked to the ladder, climbing to the surface. The math building was still in shambles and nothing seemed to change. Still, something didn�t feel right to me. Something was wrong here. I could feel it.
Stepping forwards, I tripped on a rock and fell face first into the cracked pave-ment. I bit my lip and I could taste blood as I picked myself up off the ground. I paused at my hands and knees and sniffed�my nose was a bit stuffy and I had a headache. Then I sat back on my knees to see him.
�Bronze Seid�.� I stood up as he leaned on the side of the math building.
�Hey, Burns, how�s it going? Just thought I�d see what you were up to. You ready to fight me yet? Or are you still willing to die like a coward?�
�Fuck you.�
�See there you go again. You got the action to back up words like that Burns? Or are you still dwelling on the past?�
I snapped. Standing there, something inside just snapped and I finally knew what Dad meant. All these years had changed me in some way. I had grown up, learned so much, yet nothing at all. Where would this get if the world was still the way it was three years ago? How could Jene and this guy be the same yet so different? Would Jene have really killed me if he had been handed a gun? Seid� wanted a fight and he was going to get one.
Bronze just blinked and nodded. �Looks as if I�ve struck a nerve Burns? What�s up? Come on?; tell me. Are you finally ready to fight me? Huh? Or are we just going to stand here while you make a complete fool of yourself?�
I couldn�t take my eyes off him. He was mocking me. I knew it and boy did he know it. I clutched the knife tighter in my grip and I could feel my whole body start to tremble. But why? Nerves, it was the only thing I could think off. Maybe from fear, stress or anticipation because maybe I could actually kill the damn son of a bitch today. Oh boy was he getting on my nerves! �Shut the fuck up! God damn you Seid�!� Bronze stopped laughing and his face set blank again.
�What?�
�This has gone far enough!�
�You do know you keep contradicting yourself right?� he laughed again and kept the smile as he sighed. �So you agree with me then?! Fine anytime you decide to come over here with�what is that? A knife?�Fine. Bring it Honey.�
I really hate him. The grip tightened around the handle and I stepped forward one pace. Bronze didn�t even blink. Fuck it! I took a running lunge forward and cut forward with the knife when I came into range. The next thing I knew, I was on my back looking up at Bronze, my own knife at my throat. My breath caught in my throat and I couldn�t breathe. Bronze�s foot was pressing into my chest and he was crouching over me.
�Speechless aren�t you? Listen to me Burns, you and I both know you had no chance of ever winning this little thing that I so lovingly call a game. To me it is. All you are is just an obstacle I needed to get rid of, you know that right? I thought so.� He paused to take a breath and closed his eyes for a second. �But you know what?� he pressed the knife tighter against my throat. �I, despite your popular belief; I�m Human just like you. Surprising?�
I shook my head and swallowed. �I know that Bronze Seid�. I�ve learned a lot about you. All of you.�
Bronze grunted. �Never the less. You are so easy to kill. The Human Being. Such a poor helpless creature. I could slit your throat and nobody but me would even think of caring and you know I don�t. But one thing I do hate, besides the fact that I am Hu-man�� he took the knife from my throat and looked at it. He flipped it in his hand and slammed the sharpened edge into the muscle of his shin. He didn�t seem to react at all as the blood ran over the knife, his hand, down his work boot, through his jeans and over my chest to the ground, where it traced trails in the cracked pavement. He pulled the blade and sighed.
I was still speechless. How could he just so willingly hurt himself?! It had to hurt. It must have, but he didn�t react. I felt like I was going to throw up. A mix of fear and sickness combined.
�I hate the fact that I bleed like one. Am I hard to kill? Yeah. Is it impossible? No. I can be killed, but not before you�� he pressed the blade to my throat again. The blood from his own wound running against my skin. I swallowed hard. This was it. This was to be the way I died. By Blake�s own weapon. At the hands of a man I feared so much. It was not the end I had hoped�