Mist of Doom

5. The Creature Within

Mika frowned; she wouldn't want to visit the heart of the slum again, at least not right now. However, the fish man's sudden appearance would definitely make Brandon reconsider about leaving her at the highlands.

Blood and chunks of silvery flesh rained down upon the road before Mika. Then the coffin-toting Brandon landed beside the mess, spreading cracks across the cratered ground.

As Brandon dropped the coffin and let its chains wrap around his upper arms, Mika approached him with a gulp. "Brandon," she began, her skin tingling at the unnaturally cool mountain breeze, "I... I th-think this m-means the highlands aren't that s-safe and we'll g-go back to the slum together now? But the mist... I d-don't like it!"

Brandon looked at her, the corner of his eye drooping in worry. After a moment of contemplative silence, he muttered, "You're coming with me."

"Wh-what?" Mika's eyes widened. Please, not again! Upon contacting the mist earlier, Mika felt like having barbed wires snake around her left arm and leg. The imaginary object pricked her, crushed her, and then the Seed alien called "Orion" told her to relax. Nothing outside her head could hear its voice, at least not until Orion hijacked her left arm.

Everyone had their own set of ropes that bound them to a state called "sane," and Mika knew the one in her was ready to snap.

Brandon wrapped his brawny arms around her and pulled her close. She knew what he meant; whatever happened, he'd deal with it, even if she would actually need a psychiatrist more than a fighter.

"What am I to you?" he suddenly asked. "More than just a fighter, I bet."

Had he just read her mind? Mika looked up to see his gentle- no, fatherly smile. It warmed her to the core, and she returned it with her childlike one.

Maybe she should start calling him "Father" instead of "Brandon" now. And yes, a father knew the best for his child.

After releasing her, Brandon walked past her and towards their motorbike, or rather, what remained of it. A lump formed in Mika's throat as she approached the wreckage; for four years it had served her and Brandon, and now it was cut up like a carrot thanks to the fish man. Tears streamed out of her eyes when she placed her hands on the sliced sidecar and remembered her rides across the slum.

Brandon patted her on the back. "I can always steal another one."

Those words might sound insensitive for others, but not for Mika. Aside from sensing the tinge of sadness in his voice, she knew Brandon's love for mementos. His trailer - his home - was eighteen years old and had undergone numerous repairs and upgrades, but he just insisted on keeping it.

"I'll only consider getting a new one when the trailer truly 'dies,'" he once told her. "It'll be a sad day, but I'll get over it at the end."

"Yeah," she muttered, sobbing, "I guess it's time to let it go and move on."

Brandon nodded and picked her up. As he ran along the desolate road to the heart of the slum, the tearful Mika couldn't help but keep staring at the wreckage until it finally vanished from her sight.

Mika could've asked Brandon to carry her all the way to the highlands since he could run as fast as a speeding motorbike for hours; his well-developed muscles could store so much oxygen that his body took a long time to start producing fatigue poisons. Unfortunately, blood was his fuel and unlike a motor vehicle, Brandon would disintegrate as soon as he ran out of blood.

It's all thanks to that Seed parasite in him! Mika clenched her fists, her brow scrunched and her teeth gritted. I'll get rid of it someday!