MY ETERNAL

Born to Kill

Yves POV:

The cold steel of the knife gripped tightly in one hand and a gun in the other as I sprinted through the dense, eerie forest. My heart pounded furiously in my chest. Each step was fraternizing on the thin line between life and death. The targets blurred past me like ghosts, and I fired my shots with precision.

My young body ached with pain, tired and weak from all the running it had to do in the last few hours. I knew there was no stopping, giving up meant death.

I have trained all my life for this moment. To pass this test was to escape the gruesome fate that awaited failure, the harvesting of my organs, a fate worse than death itself.

I dashed through the forest, my young heart raced, echoing the years I had spent in the grim orphanage. Life there was a constant battle against despair, and every child knew the grim fate that loomed over us like a shadow. We were raised in an institution that bred killers or victims, with no middle ground.

I knew not who my parents were, none of us did. The only identity I have was my name or should I say number '4'. That was my name '4'.

We weren't even seen as human deserving of even a name. We were useless, abandoned, unwanted, cursed to kill or be killed since the day we were born. They allowed us to know that much very early. We can have our life taken without our will, every single one of us knew that much.

Hatred and pain were my closest allies. I have never known love, never felt the warmth of a comforting embrace. The only emotions etched into my soul were the searing scars of suffering and vengeance and the strong will to survive.

I was in final stage of the test; to survive 24 hours in the forest filled with twenty of my mates. The one with highest number of kills passes, while the others either dead or alive faced the cruel fate that await failure.

I moved with fluidity twisting and turning to evade the dangerous traps that lay hidden in the underbrush.

There was a sickening snap, my heart skipped a beat as a vine twisted around my ankle and hoisted me into the air. I was hanging upside down like a grotesque puppet. My eyes strayed to one of the cameras on top of the tree, I couldn't help but imagine the smug satisfaction on our trainers' faces as they watched us through the cold lens of the camera.

In the distance, another survivor emerged from the shadows. Our eyes locked in a deadly recognition, both of us realizing that only one could leave this forest alive. We raised our guns simultaneously, only to hear the hollow click of empty chambers. Panic washed over me as I fumbled for another magazine, but it was too late, I remembered we were only allowed one magazine each.

My adversary, realizing I was hanging upside down, seized the advantage. He drew his knife in a swift motion and charged toward me, his desperation mirrored in my eyes. I waited patiently for him to get closer, and when he edged dangerously close, I threw my knife swiftly. It stuck in the space between his two eyes. He skidded to an halt and stared at me with an eyes full of pain before falling to ground without a sound.

I stared at the dead body of my only friend. I knew the pain In his eye and the soft thud will haunt me for years to come.