StarGaze

The Death Bringer

"So you were friends?" Raghav asked about Azak.

"Nah, more like people working in the same company and admiring each other," Thomas said as he rambled on.

“Next stop is Zahar. And we better find a car because we have a lot of distance to cover and we will be hunted like pigs after the stunt you people just pulled.” Azak said, laser shaving his beard and using the same laser to cut his hair.

“You speak like you know a lot about this place….Zahar or whatever.” Gabriel said, stepping out of the building and looking around for any unpleasant presence.

“I do. As a matter of fact, I have been there multiple times.” Azak said and turned the laser off.

“There, no one should recognize me now.” He said, looking at his face in a broken mirror on the wall.

They spotted a car coming towards them at a slow pace. Olivia told her companions to hide and stepped into the middle of the road. She waved her hand innocently at the driver. The suit was off her, so she looked like just another white woman. The driver stopped as any other man would.

Inside the car, there were two women in burkhas and another middle-aged man. Olivia didn’t move, she only stood there and smiled. And while the passengers were busy wondering if Olivia was crazy, Azak and Gabriel appeared from the shadows and pointed their gun barrels at the innocents.

“Get out, now!” Azak roared and broke the driver’s window.

The travelers were shocked at this betrayal and rushed out of the tin vehicle with their hands up. The middle-aged bald man eyed Olivia while she just smiled at him. As soon as the agents were inside the old rusty car, Azak lowered the window glass.

“WAIT STOP!” Olivia yelled but it was already too late, and she knew that.

Azak just relieved the bullets from his magazine, punching holes in the woman's head like they were just targets in firing range. The men tried to run, but sadly the bullets moved faster than their feet. They were lying flat on their stomachs after five seconds and Azak was staring at them to watch out for any movement.

After Azak was sure that his targets were dead, he took in a deep breath and suddenly broke into a maniacal laugh. He jumped up and down with his gun barrel waving around in the car, making his companions nervous.

“Take that road and we will be out of this shithole of a town in five minutes,” Azak said after a few minutes of riding.

“So…I understand why you killed those people- no loose ends, right? But why were you laughing?” Olivia asked Azak, who was looking at the buildings passing by the car with stone-cold eyes.

“Because death is funny. Like a…like a string you can break and then they just can’t pull it!” Azak said and waved his hands in circles like a mentally sick patient.

“Who are they?” Olivia asked, trying not to freak out.

“I don’t know,” Azak said like a child.

“You don’t know?!” Olivia asked again.

“They are up there, trying to dance us like puppets. Life is not something to be proud of, it is…it is just the cells you put in a toy to play with them. I took some of the toys away from them.” Azak said and smiled freakishly.

Olivia was visibly shaken, and Azak sort of woke up after seeing her terrified face.

“I’m sorry, I have spent a lot of time being alone. They drugged me every hour and so I was dreaming for months at a time. you will lose sanity too if you were conscious but sleeping for months at a time and seeing no one human face around you.” Azak said and wrapped his hands around his chest.

There are scared humans deep inside the heart of every monster, who has been tortured so much that the only way he can defend himself is to treat everyone like they treated him. Azak had the worst of it, and it took a toll on him a long time ago. He was scared of himself and the man he could become. Olivia thought this was the appropriate time to change the topic.

“So you were saying something about Zahar.” She said.

“Ah yes, Zahar- The epic tales of the wasteland where dead bodies walk without a soul and where the greatest warlords clash to be the superior one. Where there is everything one could wish for, but no guarantee for life. One second you are in a bar talking to the most beautiful girl you ever met, and the next second you are burning with phosphorus on your skin. Yes, that is Zahar for you ladies and gentlemen.” Azak said, like in a Mesmer.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked from the driving wheel.

“Yes my friend, Zahar is no random name. It means poison, essentially signifying the city. It is the mirage of this country, you can see a good life from a distance. But as soon as you enter the city, you are caught in a struggle between life and death and death usually gets lucky.

It is the primary center for American and Russian troops to practice biological weapons and powerful nerve gases. They are dropped from drones in form of capsules. As soon as the capsules hit the ground, invisible gas is released, creeping through the throats to the lungs of children and adults alike. It doesn't know the difference between criminals and innocents, it is as simple as nature intended it to be. The gas is absorbed in the cells and suffocates every part of the body. Within just seconds of the attack, hundreds of people die.

They don’t even scream because, by the time they feel the effects of the gas, it has already ruptured their nervous system, paralyzing them and leading them to a slow death. Not a pretty sight if you ask me.” Azak said and asked for a cigarette with his hand trembling.

“You are speaking like you have seen it happen,” Olivia said, handing him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

“That’s because I have, more than once. The poisonous battlefield claims the lives of tens of people every day, but the stock for sheep to enter the slaughterhouse is never empty.

All you have to do to make people gamble their strings is just make some high buildings and implant the thought that this is the perfect life they could imagine. All you have to do is watch out for sneaky beaky nerve gases which could be dropped anytime. And the fun thing to remember is that this city has plenty of opportunities and top-notch infrastructure…but a suspiciously high shortage of masks to save the residents from the death that lurks just around the corner.

I have watched people die in front of me, people who were just trying to feed their families. But they didn’t get to walk home that evening, while their kids waiting for them with empty eyes. The sores on their skin buffed up and burst while they struggled to breathe in my arms. They looked in my eyes for help while death tightened its ever-presence grip around their bodies.” Azak said, rapidly taking puffs of smoke inside his lungs.

“How did you survive?” Gabriel asked suspiciously.

“When the agency took you in, they modified your DNA and made you immune to all nerve agents ever made and every microbe identified till date. No nerve gas could harm you, but you are not immune to the blisters from the phosphorus they spray from the sky. So you will have to wear a full-body suit round the clock. And after all that, there is still no guarantee that you will see the light of another day. The city is filled with soldiers ready to loot and r**e. And they sure as hell won’t hesitate to slit your throats if they are tired of your screaming.” Azak said and smiled mysteriously.

Olivia and Gabriel needed time to take in this information and hence the rest of the journey passed in silence. On the highway and almost five kilometers behind them was a man riding a heavy bike, speeding on as to not lose the scent of his prey. The beard was flying with the wind and the frowning eyes had a story to tell, but no one to tell it to.