The Dark World

Chapter 2

Tyler

I ran outside the mall's emergency exit catching my breath and blood stained hands. My head is throbbing with pain. I think I am gonna pass out soon.

I leaned my head against the iron pillar for support. Acid spots on my left arm and the knife wound bleeding in my right.

This was the worst one I have been through over the years. They know how to bring me to the edge just enough to prevent me from jumping.

It's not that they care If I die.
Not to mention that the puzzle had everything to kill me.

The ache in my arms grows and I gather my left over strength to walk to the nearest water pump. The running water washing my acid and blood stains.

I should feel something, sad, horrified even. But it is just empty now. Instead, I silently prayed for the ones whom I brutally killed tonight. Not that believe in God or something. But for me to remember them makes my purpose only stronger.

I used to cry for hours when 'The Life Cycle' first started, After I barely used to make out alive. The ones that I killed had the same purpose as mine.

To live.

Now it only feels like a bad day fixed for me every year to murder and to survive. I don't know how I even feel about it now. But one thing I know for sure is that I am not dying in their hands. I won't allow the puzzle makers to have the satisfaction to kill me. Even if one day I have to kill the whole country one by one.

I would never let them win.

The phone rang in my pocket and I am surprised it was still there but with a cracked screen.

"Hey Baby." I picked up the call breathlessly.

"Where are you, Ty?
You told me you wouldn't be late." My girlfriend River was on the call reminding me I missed the movie night.

Well, I went inside the mall for the same purpose but it turned out to be my Oblivion Day of mass murder.

"I'll be in an hour. Just got
late at work".

"Okay, I will be waiting. Come soon, I miss you already". Sweetness flooding in her voice. My pretty princess.

"Save the popcorns for me". I hung up and searched for a taxi in the wet NY night. The yellow and red lights glittering the busy roads.

I made sure there were no visible blood stains. Neither on me nor anywhere the police could reach.

I don't get why they couldn't clean their mess. When it's them who set me on a kill mission, It should be them to clean the tracks too.

It's like someone is setting me to become the killer and then I am the only one to hold guilty. In some way I am, after all, it was me who brought there deaths.

I sighed as the taxi stopped near my small apartment. I went back and took a warm shower dressing my knife wound. That guy had some guts to stab me when I was holding on to his throat.

I sat in my room and took some painkillers. The big bulletin board in my room tracking the orange strings on the photos and data that I collected.

"Phantom" I murmured while sitting on the chair. In my hand is a plastic bag containing a single gold coin with the Capitol letter 'P'. It's very difficult to steal a piece from their puzzles as it risks your chances of winning. But I excel at risk taking.

I put the coin in the drawer with the other evidences. I may be a puppet of them playing a game of death. But I will cut the strings soon.

They will regret everything they did to me. I will not rest until the Phantom is burned down to the ground.