Day One: Morning

[Hellfighter 17]

Karl Jak placed a hand on Seventeen’s shoulder, which caused him to drift down to the ground, so that he made logical sense like everything else in reality. ‘How did you do that?!’ he asked.

‘Quite easy,’ the host replied, ‘I thought about doing it.’ He then wrapped the golden arm around the contestant, pulling him into a walk. ‘You know, you need to do something for me.’ Jak then stared at the ravenette’s face, noticing the lack of comprehension. ‘What I want you to do is kill someone. Now, I know you might be thinking, “Why me? I have things I want to do, like pick flowers and prove mathematical theorems!” Well, there is more to life than that! I’m sorry you weren’t aware, and it really isn’t your fault that no one told you, but there are other things to be done—sometimes things you don’t want to do.

‘They are, I assure you, a necessity. People like you are the reason why planets keep on spinning and spinning around. If you were not here, or the 2.7 billion like you in the galaxy, well, I’d have to do it all myself. Would you like that?’ he asked. Before Seventeen could give a response, Karl slapped him across the face, with blood splattering over his cheek and sunglasses. ‘That was a rhetorical question. For someone who is named ‘Seventeen,’ you sure aren’t smart. Now, onto what I want you to do.’

Looking from side to side, Mister Jak stopped, placing a hand on each of the ravenettes’s shoulders. The blood on his head twinkled in the light of the mauve day, nearly outshining the golden aura. ‘The person I want you to kill wants to kill themself. If you don’t do it, then a suicide will be committed—I cannot have that on my watch. If they wish to not be alive so bad, then they should do the decent thing and let someone else kill them, right? Right.’ The host stopped his speech for a couple of second to let out an echoing hiss, which seemed to be the snake form of a hiss.

‘Who are they?’ Seventeen asked.

‘Well,’ Karl started, letting his head droop a couple of inches, ‘you’ll know when I tell you. Just be ready for when the time comes.’

The next second, Karl Jak was gone. Seventeen looked down at his clothes and, peculiarly, he saw only smears of red and none of gold—only the blood was left to be seen.

*

Drip. Drip. Drip. The rain had subsided, but some had collected in the crease of Seventeen’s mouth. When he awoke, his mouth spluttered a bit, trying to get the water out of his mouth. Although he would not “drown,” it was quite irritating. Immediately, his eyes widened and he jumped into the air, landing perfectly on the ground. Picking up the metallic tube, he started running. He soon dropped it, and upon picking it up again, he decided to place it in the bag on his back. Now he was free to run again, placing one leg in front of the other quit rapidly, but his arms were splaying all about, whack-whack-whacking against his side every few seconds.