“Well.. hm.. I guess.. So how long will he take to recover?”
“N-not too long...”
Lahai somewhat hesitantly grabs a small, emerald-colored plastic tub from the depths of his bag, twists off the lid, and reveals a cloudy, viscous gel within.
“Hey, that’s-”
“Yeah, these are Seraph Tears.”
“Wow… Gordon was telling me about this stuff a while back.. He said it’s extremely effective, even with the biggest wounds.”
“It is. It’s a, um.. A stem cell-based cellular regenerative salve.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Y-yeah.. It heals damaged muscle tissue and flesh over a very short period of time. The only bad thing about it is that it sometimes leaves behind discolored scars.”
“Well, that’s not a big deal. So, he’ll be okay then?”
“Most likely. Just give him some time to circulate the synthetic blood I put in him, and he should be fine.”
“Thank you..”
Feeling the panic ebbing out of her body like a poison, Elena gives Lahai a short, one-armed hug, and whispers gratefully, unable to hide her relief –
“Thank you so much. You’re so kind..”
“Kind…?”
Scratching his bald head in thoughtful confusion, Lahai looks inquisitively at Seymour’s pale, unresponsive face for a time, and back to Elena.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Uhh.. Sure..”
“Had I refused to help you, you would’ve killed me, right?”
Elena glares at Lahai agitatedly, but he stands his ground, and Elena concedes in a low voice –
“… Maybe.”
“So then.. You would’ve ended the life of this ‘kind’ man; a defenseless, unarmed medic, the only one who could save the life of this so-called ‘evil’ man. The man responsible for killing over nine billion people.”
“Well, I…”
“Isn’t it funny how things play out?”
“I-if you look at it that way.. But he really is a good person. He’s just had.. bad luck.”
“Bad luck? Bad luck is losing your wallet, or tripping over your untied shoelace.
Bad luck is not slaughtering nine billion people. That is what we call an ‘atrocity’.”
Apprehensive of Lahai’s sudden audacity, Elena exclaims defensively, while gripping the edge of the steel slab –
“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Lahai..”
“Well, I simply want to understand why I SAVED the life of this man without explanation, when he has TAKEN so very many lives without explanation.”
Elena looks down at Seymour’s ghostly visage with a sinking feeling in her heart, and unable to lie to herself, she says softly –
“… I do too. We all do. But there has to be a reason. I just need the right moment to ask. B-but, none of that matters! Just finish what you started!”
“… Right.”
On that note, Lahai hesitantly applies the clear, gelatinous mass of Seraph Tears within the gaping wound, and delicately sutures it closed.
With a relieved sigh, he removes his bloodstained latex gloves, throws them into the small metal bin near the front wall, and closes his eyes in thought.
“… Give him an hour or so, and he should regain consciousness.”
“… Sounds great.”
“Right, so, I’m done.. Can you let me out now? … I promise I won’t tell anybody what happened in here.”
Elena takes hold of Seymour’s hand with a despondent look upon her pale visage. She knows what he would do in this situation.
With sorrowful resolve, she pulls out the pilfered pistol, and shoots Lahai through the forehead, splattering the doors with a sheet of crimson blood.
“I’m sorry, you kind man… I wish I could’ve believed you. But you just had to have a.. conscience.”
She opens the back door, and kicks Lahai’s corpse out onto the road. Closing the door slowly, her eyes burning with hot tears, she pulls Seymour off of the slab, and onto the floor. She props him back up against the back wall, sits down beside him quietly, and slides her hand into his cold ashen one. Leaning her head on his shoulder gently, tears creep silently down her face and fall into the strands of his stark white hair.
“Seymour.. I just killed another man for you.. I hope.. when you wake up… you’ll be grateful enough to tell me everything.”
Hearing the distant sound of tires screeching, Seymour opens his eyes slowly, his head pounding and swimming, body shivering, and vision blurry. Feeling a warm weight on his side, he weakly looks to his left, to find Elena leaning gently against him, her hand in his, and fast asleep.
He shrugs his shoulder to shake her off, and tries to stand, but he can’t steady himself inside the moving medivac. He grips the slab in the middle of the vehicle tightly, willing himself not to pass out from lack of blood, and inspects the wound on his stomach, but there is no wound, only a long, discolored scar that stands out drastically on his pale skin amid the other scars. Having no more shoulder to lean on, Elena opens her eyes, raises her head slowly, and is slightly shocked to see Seymour standing.
“O-oh, hey… Welcome back, Seymour.”
His initial shock from finding himself alive is replaced with a sudden surge of fearful surprise. With difficulty, he turns to face her, still gripping the edge of the slab tightly, and says quietly –
“I’m.. surprised you went to all that trouble to help me.”
“.. What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m just a bit surprised you didn’t just leave me for dead. That’s what I would’ve done.. if I was in your position.”
Elena raises her eyebrows in surprise, and declares in a subdued, but somewhat hurt voice –
“I’m surprised you’d say something like that.”
“That would’ve made more sense.. I can tell.. you’re still mad at me…”
“Of course I am, Seymour. But I think.. letting you live is the right thing to do.”
Examining the bloodstained bullet in the metal plate affixed to the side of the slab curiously, Seymour asks, somewhat nonplussed –
“What makes you say that?”
“Because, I told you before… I need you to be alive, Seymour. I don’t have a life without you.”
Seymour considers her words for a moment, the pain in his head and his anger easing slightly, and says with a long, wearied sigh –
“… Well, I guess I should thank you..”
“Mm, yeah, you’re welcome..”
Elena and Seymour fall silent, and the two sit in an awkward, musing hush for at least twenty minutes, swaying stiffly with the jerky motions of the medivac, before Elena opens her mouth again.
“Hey… Can I ask you something?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure..”
Rising to her feet, Elena puts a finger to her temple, and asks Seymour nervously –
“I.. want to know why you controlled me with those nanobot things. A-and.. I want you to tell me why you led me on for so long.. Was everything you did for me, like bringing me to Konsai and showing me the sunlight… Was it all just because you needed me, and not because you care about me?”
He hadn’t been prepared for that question. He ponders it hurriedly, trying to put his feelings into words, but has immense difficulty. After another minute or so of silence, Seymour says in a voice barely more than a whisper –
“… Look, Elena, you have to believe that I had a good reason for deceiving you. I wouldn’t have done so if it weren’t imperative for you to follow my orders.”
“That’s.. not much of an answer.”
Sighing impatiently, his head still light and unfocused, Seymour sits down on the slab, his eyes fixed on his shaking, interlocked fingers while he tries to think of a way to express his situation without making Elena upset. She waits for his response in silence, mindlessly inspecting the empty jar of Seraph Tears rolling around languidly on the medivac floor while rubbing her temple expectantly, yet su
btly. Finally, Seymour takes a deep breath, steeling himself, and responds quietly –
“Alright, look.. I.. I controlled you and the others because… because I had to make this all work, at any cost...”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
Seymour drums his fingers on his knee thoughtfully while staring at the still-wet bloodstain on the medivac doors, trying to get his sluggish thoughts to sharpen. After a moment passes in a tense hush, Elena breaks it by asking impatiently –
“Well? Are you gonna explain or not?”
“Mm… Well, how can I put it… You, Sakura, Sam and Erik were all involuntary pieces in my plan. In truth, I could’ve chosen anyone else to assist me, but I was in a hurry, and… well… I was terrified that you and the others wouldn’t go along with me, so I had to find a way to make you obey…”
Elena laughs mirthlessly under her breath, and says with a steely expression –
“Yes, I would think that killing off humankind might be something most people would not agree to. But, you know, instead of stripping away our free will, couldn’t you have tried maybe, oh, I dunno.. asking us? If we had refused, THEN you could’ve shot us full of those nanobots. Why was mind control as your first option?”
“.. I just… didn’t want to risk anything, Elena.”
“Okay, but, what were you risking?”
Seymour glances at Elena nervously, one hand on his sutured stomach, and exclaims quietly, knowing full-well she will hate his answer –
“Well, I.. I’d rather not get into that right now..”
Elena sighs, irritated, and folds her arms defiantly. Having finally broached the subject, she refuses to let it die. She snatches up the jar of Seraph Tears as it rolls into the doors, and declares stonily, as if speaking to its crinkled white label instead of her companion –
“Tch… You are so confusing, Seymour. You remember the past? Back in Konsai; you said that you treasured my friendship above anything else.”
“That’s right… And I.. I really did mean it…”
“Then, if I was so precious to you, why did you make us kill all those people?! That’s not how you treat something you love! How could you do something so cruel, not just to me, but to all of us?! I know that you’ve had hard times in the past, but it doesn’t justify destroying the world, Seymour! Just what are you trying to prove?!”
Clenching his trembling hands together so tightly in his lap that his knuckles turn white, Seymour finally looks up into Elena’s betrayed, ire-filled eyes after a long silence prevails inside the speeding medivac, and exclaims sadly –
“… I wish I could tell you everything, but there’s little point..
You’d never believe me.”
“What makes you say that?”
“… Because you-”
Elena furiously slams her fist into the front wall of the medivac, cutting Seymour off, and with her burning blue eyes fixed dangerously on Seymour’s piercing, penitent ones, she shouts indignantly –
“C’mon, Seymour! You’re the one who dragged me into this, so you owe me an explanation!”
She approaches Seymour, puts her hands on his shoulders, and grips him tightly; radiating resolve, she keeps her gaze locked onto Seymour’s, and waits for his response in bated breath. However, Seymour merely sighs with a wearied smile, wordlessly brushes Elena’s hands from his shoulders, and says in a hush –
“Look, Elena. I understand that I’ve put you in a terrible situation, but I won’t bother explaining my reasons to you. Thanks to Adrian’s electrical shock on the tram, I’ve lost control of you. And if I tell you what you want to hear, and you go free, it’ll compromise everything, so you don’t need to know. ”
Elena backs away Seymour slowly, her bright blue eyes shining with merciless anger. She raises a trembling hand, and suddenly smacks him across the face as hard as she can.
“How can you say that, Seymour?! How can you think I’d just leave things the way they are now?! How many fucking times do I have to say it?! I have no life, other than the one you gave me! I’m a wanted criminal; I have nothing else to go back to! I never said I was going to leave you, I only want to know why you hurt me! But if you’re not going to tell me, then fine! I can wait! Because I’d rather be dead than have no path to follow, even if I have to hold your hand as you walk through the gates of Hell itself!”
Seymour stares speechlessly at Elena, lightly touching the red mark on his face where she assaulted him. Breathing heavily, Elena quickly shifts her livid gaze from Seymour’s, and stares determinedly at the vibrating floor, waiting for a response, hoping that it not be a physical one. After a few protracted moments, Seymour’s shock gives way to a satisfied smile. He gets to his feet, puts his hand on Elena’s shoulder, and declares seriously, his vitreous eyes over-bright –
“.. Right then. Okay, well, I now see your dedication to my cause. If you wish to accompany me on my mission of destruction, then so be it. You have to understand that I can’t tell you everything right now, but from now on, you are free to do as you choose.”
Elena’s smile flickers slightly, though she nods with resolve, and, indicating her approval, she gives Seymour a quick hug, but he doesn’t return it. A few seconds later, Elena pulls away from him, and says with a confident voice, shaking her hair back assertively –
“So, where to now?”
“Well, we need to find- Oh, wait, where is Sakura?”
“Oh yeah, she’s driving the medivac.”
“Alright then. Our task now is to locate Sam and Adrian. Do you still have my tracer? You didn’t lose it, did you?”
“No, no, it’s right here.”
She grabs the tracer from her pocket, and hands it to Seymour with a smile. He activates the screen, and finds their location; driving along the elevated freeway of Mesa District. He scrolls the screen, and locates Sam, Adrian, and Gordon just a few blocks away from the freeway.
“There they are. They’re really close. Heh, what good timing.”
Seymour pounds on the back wall of the medivac, and yells to Sakura to stop the vehicle. Instantly, the medivac screeches to a halt in the middle of the elevated freeway surrounded by speeding traffic. Seymour and Elena quickly jump out of the back of the medivac, and round to the driver’s seat. Seymour opens the door, and pulls Sakura out complacently.
“Sakura, let me drive. We have to get down the street quickly.”
“Look out!”
Elena reacts just in time to push Sakura and Seymour out of the way of a speeding truck, which smashes into the medivac, completely destroying it. Despite the crash, the traffic simply continues to race on by. Standing dumbstruck on the median of the freeway, Seymour smiles at Elena with pale-faced relief.
“Good reflexes.”
“Thanks. But how’re we gonna get across? This traffic is too thick.”
“I’m good at dodging stuff, but not this good..”
“Wait here, both of you.”
Without waiting for a response from Seymour, Sakura raises her hands, activates the MFIs on her palms, and attaches herself to a car that races past. She climbs onto the roof of the car as it jerks back and forth, trying to shake her off, kneels down against the wind, and magnetically steers the oncoming cars behind her own into each other, creating a dense wall of crashed cars, and causing the other vehicles behind them to stop in their tracks. Satisfied, as the sounds of grating metal and anguished cries fill the smoggy air, Sakura jumps off of the roof of the now-slowed car onto the freeway road, which is now devoid of moving traffic, and rejoins Seymour and Elena on the median. Seymour nods in gratitude, slightly taken aback, and all together, the trio cross to the edge of the elevated freeway road, and carefully climb down the massive concrete pillars supporting the road above to the streets of Mesa below.
~Santuc TerraDome: Mesa District~
Traversing the muggy streets of Mesa District together as fast as they can, hastily shoving the dense throngs of crowds aside and following the tracer
scan carefully through the dense, snaking roads, Seymour and the girls eventually arrive right near the source of the signature, which emanates from around the street corner. Hastily, Seymour pulls out his revolver, rounds the corner, and runs out into the street just in time to see the white eXo PRIME weapons transport van that the PRIME soldiers were chasing speed away, and out of his sight. Elena and Sakura catch up to Seymour, who is studying the tracer screen carefully with an irritated frown. Doubled over, completely out of breath, Elena manages to gasp –
“W-what’s going on? Where’d they go?”
“They.. shit.. just got away in that van..”
Finally catching her breath, Elena straightens up, puts her hand on Seymour’s shoulder while he studies the tracer screen with an irritated frown, and peers after the hastily retreating, bullethole-riddled vehicle curiously, a spark of familiarity creeping on the annals of her mind.
“Hold up.. Isn’t that the van you found me in?”
“I dunno.”
“Huh. So Adrian stole it? Well then, c’mon! Let’s grab a car and follow them!”
“Wait a sec..”
Seymour shows the tracer to Elena, and she looks at it with a furrowed brow while Sakura stands stock-still at Seymour’s side, keeping her cloudy violet eyes fixed on Seymour’s face.
“I, uh.. I don’t get it. What am I supposed to be looking at here?”
“Look: there’re only two signatures in the van.. The other is travelling alone through the network of alleyways..”
“So?”
“That means somebody left the group. And I’ll bet anything that it’s your brother, Elena. Adrian would never leave Sam alone.”
“Then, what does that mean, sir?”
Paradox: The Last Day - Seymour's Story Page 11
