I could see movements through the fog and darkness. I squinted through it and tried to get a better idea of what I was seeing. I moved forward and stretched out my hands but it was so dark I couldn’t even see them in front of my face. I continued forward confident now that I could see something in the darkness; I didn’t know how long I walked for but I tripped over something and fell forward.

  I looked back. Overhead lights picked out a body on the floor.

  The lights didn’t diminish the darkness around me, only highlighted the body in all its glory. Dressed in fatigues it lay on its front. I took a step forward but needn’t have bothered; I knew who it belonged to. Salt and pepper hair was cut into a buzz cut. I willed my feet to stop moving but they paid me no attention, I didn’t want to see what was on the face-down side; I didn’t want to know what the picture looked like. But like disobedient children, they kept on moving forward of their own accord.

  I stood over the body, and legs that didn’t listen to me bent down. I screamed for my arms to stop but they moved away from my trunk and slowly turned the body over.

  I tried to close my eyes but it was useless.

  I looked down and took in the sight before me. The face of Mr X was motionless, peaceful. Eyes closed, he appeared to be at peace wherever he was. There was no tension in his forehead, there was no vein pulsing along the side of his head.

  He appeared younger than I remembered. Without the tension causing lines on his face, we could have been the same age. I moved one hand slowly towards his face and tried to jump back as his hand shot up and caught my wrist.

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  I tried to pull it away but it was a wasted effort.

  His eyes opened.

  One was nothing but a hollowed-out hole; the other, grey and lifeless, looked into my soul. We stayed trapped in that embrace until his lips pulled into a slow smile. Rotten teeth sent foul breath washing over me.

  “Well, well, look who it isn’t, maggot. Come to gloat?”

  I said nothing as I tried to pull away.

  “I’ll bet your little bitch ass has. Come to gloat because you think you’ve killed the big bad wolf of the story—but that couldn’t be further from the truth, could it?

  “You have done nothing but delay the inevitable.”

  “What… what… what do you mean?” I stammered.

  “Wha… wha… what do you mean?” he said, mocking me with a grin. “You sound like a bitch! A bitch who’s about to get everything that’s coming to him. You think Xcorp will let you get away with their shit and they won’t come looking for you? Then you’re a bigger fool than I took you for. They’ll kill you and those little friends you’ve made. If that asshole Gregory doesn’t do it then some other manager will; it’s not when, it’s just a matter of how and where.”

  I stared into his face, sweat pouring down the small of my back.

  “But, I, I didn’t do anything! I didn’t ask for this!” I said, pleading.

  “Stop being such a pussy. I didn’t ask for any of this, oh why me, why do bad things always happen to bad people, blah, blah, blah. You know what we would do to little bitches like you in the army?” he said, eye gleaming my way. “We’d make you put on a dress then let you get a running head start before the boys would chase you down and once they caught you, oh boy! There was no telling what could happen, or what could end up where, if you catch my drift.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “That’s more like it,” he said, grinning my way. “That’s the fire you’ll need if you want to survive what’s coming, because believe me, there’s a shit storm heading your way that you’d better be prepared for because if you ain’t, you’d better start picking out a pretty dress to wear to the prom, maggot.”