THE BULLET
1591 Words
*BANG.*
Time stopped.
The sound was too loud. It bounced off the walls of Floor 40 and hit everyone in the chest.
Hana screamed.
Jin froze.
Aoi’s sword clattered to the floor.
Smoke.
Enma stood there.
Eyes open.
Gun pressed to his forehead.
Kuroda’s finger still on the trigger.
And between them: *RED LIGHT.*
A barrier. Thin. Jagged. Pulsing like a heartbeat.
The bullet was frozen. Half an inch from Enma’s skin. Caught in the red.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 70%*
The King was laughing.
_“Finally,”_ it whispered. _“Finally you let me in.”_
Kuroda’s eyes went wide. “What—”
Enma blinked. Once.
The red exploded outward.
Kuroda was thrown back 10 meters. The gun flew from his hand.
Every guard still standing hit the walls.
Every light in Floor 40 shattered.
Darkness. Except for Enma.
He was glowing. Red lines covered his entire body. Up his neck. Across his face. In his eyes.
He didn’t look human anymore.
Aoi ran to him. “Enma! Enma, can you hear me?”
Enma turned his head. Slow.
His eyes met hers. Red. No pupils.
“Get... back,” he said. His voice was layered. Two voices.
Aoi didn’t. She grabbed his face. “Fight it. Remember the stone. Remember Jin.”
Enma looked past her. At Jin.
Jin was on his knees. Hands over his ears. “Brother? Brother, please—”
Something in Enma cracked.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 68%*
The glow dimmed. A little.
“Run,” Enma choked out. “All of you. Run. Now.”
Kuroda was getting up. Blood on his mouth. Grinning. “Yes. Yes! This is it. This is the weapon!”
He snapped his fingers.
The ceiling opened.
Drones. 20 of them. Armed.
“Kill them,” Kuroda ordered. “All except the Null. I want him alive.”
The drones fired.
Aoi moved. She cut the first 3 out of the air.
“GO!” she screamed.
The freed kids ran. Hana was being carried by two of them.
Jin didn’t move. He was staring at Enma.
Enma took a step toward him. 72%.
The King was screaming. _“KILL THEM. THEY’RE WEAK. THEY’LL DRAG YOU DOWN.”_
Enma’s hands were shaking. He could feel it. The urge to burn everything.
“Jin,” Enma said. “Run.”
Jin shook his head. “No. Not without you.”
A drone locked on Jin.
Enma moved.
He was a blur of red. He caught the laser in his hand. Crushed it.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 75%*
Pain. But not his. The King’s.
Aoi grabbed Jin and threw him over her shoulder. “I’ve got him!”
She looked at Enma. “What do I do?”
Enma looked at her. Really looked. Through the red.
“Buy me 60 seconds,” he said.
“What?”
“I need 60 seconds,” Enma said. “Alone.”
Aoi understood. She nodded. “Okay.”
She turned and ran, cutting through drones as she went. “Everyone! To the elevator!”
Kuroda laughed. “You’re letting him go? He’s a monster now!”
“He’s my monster,” Aoi said and threw a blade through Kuroda’s shoulder.
Kuroda screamed.
The last drone exploded.
Silence.
Just Enma. And the dark. And the red.
---
*INSIDE.*
_“YES,”_ the King roared. _“THIS IS POWER. THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE BORN FOR.”_
Enma was on his knees. Hands clawing at his head.
“Shut up,” he whispered.
_“You can’t. You need me. Without me you’re nothing. A null. A trash D-Class.”_
Enma thought of F-Block. Of the smell. Of Hana’s rice.
“Without you I’m me,” Enma said.
_“YOU’RE WEAK.”_
Enma stood. 74%.
He thought of Jin’s face. _“Don’t hit 100%.”_
He thought of Aoi’s scar. _“Run at 70%.”_
He thought of the 100 people. Free.
He thought of the gray stone.
He squeezed it in his fist until it cut his palm.
Real pain.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 71%*
_“NO! FIGHT ME!”_
“I am,” Enma said. “Every second.”
71% to 70%.
He opened his eyes.
The red was still there. But he was on top of it now. Not under.
He walked to the elevator.
---
*ELEVATOR. DESCENDING.*
Everyone was inside. Packed. Breathing hard.
Jin was in Aoi’s arms. Staring at the doors.
“Is he—” Jin started.
The doors opened.
Enma stood there.
Red lines were still up his neck. But his eyes were his own. Brown. Tired.
70%.
He looked like hell. Bleeding. Burned.
But he was standing.
Jin ran to him and hugged him so hard Enma thought his ribs would crack.
“You came back,” Jin sobbed. “You came back.”
“I promised,” Enma said. His voice was rough. “Didn’t I?”
Aoi was checking everyone. “We’re missing 4.”
“They didn’t make it,” one of the kids said quietly.
Silence.
Hana was awake. Pale. “Did we win?”
Enma looked up. At the 40 floors above them. At Kuroda.
“No,” he said. “But we’re not done.”
---
*KURODA’S OFFICE. 10 MINUTES LATER.*
Kuroda was bandaging his shoulder. The room was trashed.
An aide: “Sir. They escaped. Through the waste tunnels. We lost them in the Wastes.”
Kuroda threw the bandage. “Lost? LOST?”
He slammed his fist on the desk. “He hit 75% and came back. Do you know what that means?”
The aide didn’t answer.
“It means he’s not a vessel anymore,” Kuroda said. “He’s a rival.”
He looked at the screen. Footage of Enma at 75%. Eyes clear.
Kuroda smiled. Cold. “Floor 11. We stop playing games. We bring the King out.”
“How?”
Kuroda walked to a case. Inside: a syringe. Black liquid.
“The blood of the first King,” he said. “We inject it into the brother. Let’s see how fast the Null comes running.”
---
*THE WASTES. 3 DAYS LATER.*
They made it to the city. Ruins. But safe. For now.
Makeshift camp. 20 kids. Varn was awake. Hana’s leg was healing.
Enma hadn’t slept.
He was sitting on a roof. Watching the Wall. 90 floors away.
Aoi climbed up. Sat next to him.
“You hit 75%,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“And came back.”
“Yeah.”
Aoi was quiet. Then: “How?”
Enma held up the gray stone. Cracked now. “This.”
“That’s it?”
“That and them,” Enma said. “I have something to lose. The King doesn’t.”
Aoi nodded. “Kuroda won’t stop. He saw what you can do.”
“I know,” Enma said. “Floor 11.”
“You can’t go back in yet,” Aoi said. “Not with them.”
“I’m not,” Enma said. “You are.”
Aoi stared. “What?”
“I need you inside,” Enma said. “As my eyes. Kuroda’s planning something. I can feel it.”
Aoi looked at him. “You want me to go back to him.”
“I want you to survive,” Enma said. “And report. And keep Jin safe from the inside.”
Jin climbed up. “I heard my name.”
“No,” Jin said immediately. “I’m not staying here.”
“You are,” Enma said. “You’re the reason I came back from 75%. You’re the reason I’m not a monster.”
Jin looked away. “That’s not fair.”
“I know,” Enma said. “But it’s true.”
Jin was quiet. Then he nodded. “Okay. But you come back for me.”
“I will,” Enma said.
Aoi sighed. “Fine. I’ll go. But if you die, I’m blaming you.”
“Deal,” Enma said.
---
*NIGHT. ENMA ALONE.*
He couldn’t sleep. The red was still under his skin.
He looked at his hands. The scars.
_“You’re mine,”_ the King whispered. Soft now. _“One day you’ll stop fighting.”_
Enma closed his eyes. “Not today.”
His wrist device beeped.
*UNKNOWN SIGNAL.*
He opened it.
Video. Shaky.
Jin. In a cell. Strapped to a table.
A voice: Kuroda. “Hello, Null. Miss your brother? He’s been very brave. But I think he’s ready for an upgrade.”
The camera panned down.
Jin’s arm. And a syringe. Black liquid.
“Meet you on Floor 11,” Kuroda said. “Bring your best.”
The video cut.
Enma stood.
The red flared. 40%. 50%.
He forced it down. 20%.
He looked at the camp. At the sleeping kids. At Jin’s empty bedroll.
He looked at the Wall.
*CRIMSON SYNC: 22%*
“Third option,” Enma whispered.
He started walking.
Alone.
Toward the Wall.
Toward Floor 11.
Toward his brother.
---
*KURODA’S OFFICE.*
Kuroda watched the screen. Enma walking through the desert. Alone. Red faint in the dark.
“Come to me,” Kuroda whispered. “Come save him.”
He looked at the syringe in his hand.
Inside the liquid: something moving. Something with eyes.
“Let’s see which breaks first,” Kuroda said. “The brother, or the King.”
He injected the air.
And smiled.
---
- Writer
