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Zan'tek's eyes fluttered open at the strange sound that woke him. At first, his senses were completely numb, and the smell of blood did not surprise him in the least. But then, he realized that the strength of the scent was too much to just be his bloody lip. Feeling around to find the hard ground, he lifted himself up and quickly regained his composure, feeling about his torso to make sure that the blood was not coming from his own body. Nothing, not a single mark, save his new piercing. But, once he set his hand down again to support his weight as he stood, he touched something wet and thick.

Bringing his hand back up to his face, Zan'tek noticed the burnt orange coloring of the fluid that coated his hand like paint--cold blood. Then, the same noise that had woke him before rang out, and he suddenly recognized the sound as cracking bones. With a small gasp, he turned quickly to catch sight of a dead body, soulless eyes staring up at him from outside of their sockets. The head shifted, causing him to look for the source. His silver eyes shifted upwards, catching the shape of a large male, who had begun to crush the skull of the body with his foot as he glared down at the small boy with scarlet eyes. Zan'tek's heart stopped as he realized just how much trouble he was in--he had just witnessed at least a past tense murder and the murderer was right there. He was dead.

"Hey..." the killer greeted with little more than a faint smile, his sharp teeth blazingly white compared to his black skin. Long, bright gold dreadlocks hung unkempt and mangled around his face and he wore clothing made solely of hide and jewelry of bone. Staring up at the male with wide eyes, Zan'tek waited for some kind of killing motion. He was scared stiff, unable to escape this horrible fate. However, when all was silent for quite some time, the murderer went back to butchering his kill, his bronze hunting knife shifting a hip out of its socket with a sick pop.

His eyes unable to turn away from the hideous sight, the boy tried to find words to form in his mouth. Why was he not running? "Y... y-you're not going to..." he paused, swallowing briefly. "... going to kill me?"

Straightening up to give the boy a mock innocent gaze, he raised his eyebrows, his red eyes glowing in the darkness. "Kill you? Me??" he asked, sounding as if he had never sinned all his life. His rough laughter sounded like the scrape of a rusty, seraded blade against stone. "I would never kill you..." he told the child, before his face grew serious and he raised his knife, jolting forward slightly. "Did you want me to...?"
At this, Zan'tek scrambled back, whimpering sharply. "N-no!" The killer grinned, his eyes narrowing slyly. "Didn't think so..."

For having just murdered someone, this guy seemed awful jolly, Zan'tek thought. Getting to his feet, the boy slowly stepped towards the strange person, looking at his work with a grimace. "H-how come you killed this guy?" Zan'tek asked softly, looking up at the male with curious, silver eyes.
"Well," the male stated, kneeling down to start hacking at the corpse's head, cracking the skull like the shell of a nut, "mostly because I like hearing the screams of those being ripped limb from limb. And because it's a good adrenaline rush. I guess you could say it's like painting a picture, only the canvas is squirming, begging, and screaming, making it more of a challenge. But, mostly just because I like to. I do it for fun..."

Zan'tek, needless to say, was terrified of what the male had said. If he enjoyed killing so much, what was keeping the murderer from wanting to kill him? "That's... that's a selfish reason to kill someone..." he commented before he could stop himself, and to his displeasure, the golden haired monster laughed slowly and wrapped an arm around Zan'tek's neck, bringing him close to whisper into his ear. The boy breathed in all kinds of smells from the murderer and coughed a bit at it, not to mention the pressure on his neck. The smell of death, entrails, and bodily musk twisted his stomach into a knot. Didn't this guy ever bathe?

"I'm sure you've got better reasons for killing people..." The male hissed like a treacherous snake. "Especially certain people..."
The boy shivered at the male's cold, rank breath as he tried to wriggle from his headlock. "I-I don't kill people..." he half whimpered as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Well, now," the male commented as he scowled slightly, "that's a crying shame. A kid like you would benefit from it. The way I see it, the only way you're ever gonna live is you'll either stay clean and be miserable forever... or you'll stand up for yourself and break free of the cocksuckers that run your life--and to do that you'll probably end up having to show them who's boss by killing a couple of them."

Pausing, Zan'tek shifted his eyes towards the ground, no longer squirming in the criminal's grip. He was right. But he couldn't kill someone, he was too weak for that. He would never be able to live with something like that at the back of his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he tried to decide who he would kill first--if he were to take such action.

"Wait a minute..." Zan'tek mumbled, looking back up into those eerie, red eyes. "How did you know about... my family?"

The question made the murderer grin slyly and release Zan'tek's neck. "Let's just say, I'm kind of like your guardian angel..." the male chimed, going back to his work with little energy or care.

"I don't know about that..." the boy stammered, watching as the golden-haired male bit off one of the fingers of his kill and spat it across the street. "Even if you were, you're not a very good guardian--especially if you know what's going on... Who are you anyway? Why've you been watching me?"

Stopping his work, the male tossed his head back and let out an irritated sigh. "Watching is a strong term for what I was doing, kid," the male stated, straightening up to look at the child. "It was more like... coming around every once in a while to check on you--pretty much deciding whether or not I should kill you. And I've gotta say... out of all the little freaks I've spawned, you're the only one that seems... promising to me."

It took Zan'tek a few moments to process what the murderer was saying. Once the message reached his brain, his eyes--which had strayed and stayed on the image of the mutilated body--grew wide in surprise and his head jolted back to look at the male. "Wh-what are you talking about?" he asked slowly, taking a step back in disbelief.

"Well, does the name Korju Ma'kwena mean anything to you? Or did they not bother to tell you who your real father was?" he explained simply.

It was him. His b*****d father, the a*****e that brought him into existence.

Suddenly, he found himself balling up his fist and letting it sail into the male's gut, causing him to let out a groan of surprise and double over. Hesitantly, Zan'tek went to swing again, but his small fist was caught by the hand of the much larger and more powerful creature. He hated him. He hated the monster for creating him, for not being there like a real father should be, for coming here to mock him in his hour of need. Why was it always like this? Didn't anyone care about him? No. No one cared. He was alone, and without any real reason to live, yet, he lacked the ability to end his own life for fear of an existence beyond life. Breaking down finally, Zan'tek's face twisted painfully, his eyes smoldering with tears as he fell forward listlessly, his hand gripping at the male's shaggy fur as he buried his face into the same place he had been so eager to strike at just seconds before.

"This is all your fault!" he shrieked as he wept into the male's lower belly. "Why did you have to bring me here?!"

Looking down at the boy with a raised eyebrow, Korju knelt down beside Zan'tek and set a heavy hand on his shoulder. "You know, you've really got your priorities messed up, kid," he told him with a frown. "What makes you think that the cunts that torture you have any more right to live than you do? If anything, they're the ones that should never have been born. You didn't do anything to deserve what you've got. They ruined your life--not the other way around. You need to stop thinking so much about what other people want and start focusing more on what you want..." Pausing, Korju wet his lips and glanced up at the sky before looking straight into Zan'tek's eyes. "Now, what do you want most, right now?"

Looking at his biological father, Zan'tek could see at least some hint of concern on his face, making him start to sob again. "I don't wanna stay here...!" he whimpered. "I'll even go with you if I have to...!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Kid, take a chill pill, alright?" Korju insisted half heartedly. "Rule number one if you wanna be independent, never make a scene--it'll make them think you're weak. And second of all, you can't go with me--that'd be completely defeating the purpose of getting away from your family to live by your own rules."

Zan'tek stiffened his lips to keep from crying, but his voice still cracked with the strain. "B-but, I need--"

"You don't need anybody," the male ushered with an angled stare. "You don't need anybody but yourself, kid. Stay focused on your goal... Now, what exactly is in the way of getting what you want, hm?" He paused, watching as Zan'tek's face gained a look of resentment. "That so-called family of yours... they're the ones keeping you trapped in his bleak form of mind... If you really want to be free, you're gonna have to get rid of them--even if that means killing them."

Stress starting to overtake him, Zan'tek started to hyperventilate as he clutched his head, staring wide eyed at the ground. "No...!" he seethed, squeezing his eyes shut as he covered his ears. "I don't kill people... I don't hurt people..."

"Yeah, well, guess what, kid?" Korju informed forcefully as he rolled his eyes, releasing the boy. "People are killing you. People are hurting you every second of every day of your life. It's either you or them--you decide."

"Why can't I just run...? Why can't I just run away...?"

"Because that's not gonna get anything done. As it is now, you're their puppet and they're your masters. You wanna be free, you can't just cut the string--they'll find new ways to bind you. You've got to destroy the masters."

"Never again... Never again! Never again!"

Pausing, Zan'tek raised his head as the buzzing faded, the awful ringing in his ears as his eyes stared into nothing. "Never again..."

Korju watched him for a moment before shaking his head. "Listen, kid. I gotta get the hell outa here before the clean-up crew gets here. You'll have to learn to do the same thing, someday if you ever wanna be free..."

Turning quickly, Zan'tek tried to catch him before he left. "What happens if I...?"

Korju was gone. Disappeared.

Hearing the howls of other people not far away, Zan'tek staggered to his feet, running again before anyone saw him with the body.

Never again... What did that mean? It didn't matter now. He had to get back to reality. It all seemed like a dream. A nightmare that he was no longer frightened of.