Chapter 48: The Wrong Direction
Marek reached the injured man. He took the opportunity fast enough while the stranger was standing still.
’This civilian is quite unlucky.’ Marek looked at the fractured shoulder of the man. Thankfully, his breathing remained intact.
Then, the stranger slowly walked towards them.
There were delivery vehicles crowding the alley now, some parked at angles very close to each other. Concrete posts like bollards protected the loading entrances and to keep the pathway clear, some of the out-of-place pallets and other equipment were pushed against the walls.
"Can you stand?" Marek asked.
The civilian nodded but made no attempt to stand.
"Try."
He pushed himself upright with his good arm as the stranger spoke again.
Marek ignored the incomprehensible words and watched his feet. The man had already crossed several meters faster than anyone Marek had seen move before. He had also thrown the civilian across the alley with little more than a movement of his hand.
The thin lightless fracture remained across his Mark.
Marek had never seen anything like it.
’I don’t know if it’s a bad thing, but in the middle of a quiet place like this, attacking an innocent person seemed out of place. Unless that person had always been a mindless killer before the Awakening, like a criminal who was released from his cage. Or maybe they got some grudge against each other, the other just had the advantage in terms of power. Moreover, Celeste had been quiet about it. Is it something I shouldn’t know?’
"What is that line?" He tried to ask her.
No answer came through.
The stranger continued walking towards them. Marek immediately guided the civilian behind the nearest delivery van. While the stranger was treating them like ants, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to keep the civilian safe.
However, the stranger suddenly stopped as his gaze followed them before shifting toward the far end of the alley—raising one arm and pointed.
Words left his mouth. Incomprehensible ones.
His posture changed. Aligned with his shoulders is the direction of his arm, and the heel of his rear foot lifted from the pavement.
Celeste finally spoke.
"Do not stand in front of him."
Marek moved sideways just before the stranger sped up.
The stranger crossed the alley, so quick that Marek nearly lost track of him, passing through the place were Marek had stood without showing. He crossed the alley fast enough that Marek nearly lost track of him, passing through the place where Marek had stood without slowing. His shoulder struck one of the parked vehicles at the other end. Metal folded inward with the impact.
’I could’ve died...’ Marek gulped. Then, he balled his fist. ’Calm down. I can still survive. I will survive. For them.’
The stranger remained standing. He turned and pointed again. Marek glanced at the dent left in the vehicle. The man had continued in the same direction until something physically stopped him.
"He has to choose a direction," Marek analyzed.
But Celeste did not confirm it.
The stranger pulled the blade from beneath his coat.
Marek moved toward one of the concrete posts protecting the loading bays. The stranger reached him sooner than expected, but his body did not turn when Marek shifted behind the post. His arm did. The blade changed angle at the last moment.
Marek ducked as it passed above his shoulder and struck concrete hard enough to crack the surface.
The black line crossed the weapon, too.
His first assumption had been incomplete.
Marek backed farther into the alley and checked the entrance. The injured civilian fortunately had the initiative to get away from them.
’Good.’
The stranger stared at the direction the injured civilian left. Marek actually expected him to follow the civilian, but he was entirely wrong. The stranger’s attention shifted his gaze to the bags Marek was carrying. More particularly the transparent plastic bag around his wrist.
The noodles were visible through it.
Marek found that offensive for reasons unrelated to survival.
The stranger spoke and pointed toward himself.
"You want the bag?"
The gesture came again.
Marek removed the plastic bag from his wrist and placed it on the pavement before backing away. The stranger did not charge this time. He approached slowly, stopped beside the bag and picked it up.
For several seconds, Marek thought that might actually be the end of it.
Then, the man looked inside.
His expression changed.
He threw the bag aside and stepped on several of the packets. Plastic burst beneath his boot, scattering powdered seasoning across the pavement.
Marek stared at it.
Celeste said, "Marek."
"I know."
The stranger pointed again, this time toward the larger bag over Marek’s shoulder.
Water. Medical supplies. His notebook.
Marek shook his head. It was non-negotiable. He needed this.
The man pointed toward himself.
"No," Marek replied, shaking his head.
The response did not require translation.
Something moved beneath the stranger’s Mark. The lightless fracture branched farther down his forearm, and warmth spread across Marek’s own Mark almost immediately.
It wasn’t intake. The reaction felt closer to recognition, except whatever the Mark had noticed did not behave like an injury, poison, or ordinary manifestation.
The interface appeared in his vision.
[CONDITION DETECTED]
[SOURCE: UNRESOLVED]
[ROUTE: ACTIVE]
[CASE BOUNDARY: INCOMPLETE.]
Marek dismissed it. Whatever the system was offering, he was not testing it here.
The stranger lowered himself slightly.
Marek moved left, trying to anticipate what the man would do next. And the man adjusted with him.
Marek changed direction and went right. The stranger followed that movement too, keeping his body aligned until Marek cut back toward the left.
He adjusted again.
Marek stopped.
The stranger sped up.
This time, Marek had been expecting it. He moved before the blade reached him and heard it pass close enough to catch a part of his bag’s fabric.
The strap split first. The tear continued down the side, spilling water bottles and medical supplies across the pavement. Henry’s replacement flashlight disappeared beneath one of the parked vehicles, while several rolls of gauze bounced in different directions.
Marek caught the bag before the notebook fell out with everything else.
The stranger turned around.
Marek looked from the torn fabric to the man, then briefly toward the crushed noodles farther down the alley.
’So, that’s how it is...’
The stranger could adjust himself for as long as he remained still. Once he accelerated, whatever direction he had chosen became considerably harder to change.
The man raised the blade again.
Marek backed toward the loading area.
He did not need another test.
One of the damaged barriers lay against the wall nearby. Another had been shoved partly on top of it after breaking near the base. Its frame leaned sideways, with one steel support still connected through a bent joint.
Marek stopped retreating.
The stranger pointed directly at him.
"Marek..." Celeste called him.
Marek watched the man’s feet. His rear heels lifted.
Then, his figure blurred.
Marek waited with his plan in mind. The stranger crossed the distance between them with the blade already rising, his body committed to the space Marek occupied.
Only then did Marek move.
He stepped aside and pulled the damaged barrier outward.
The stranger hit the exposed support at full speed.
The broken steel entered beneath the front of his coat and drove into his chest. Momentum carried him farther before the frame stopped moving, metal scraping loudly across the pavement.
Marek kept both hands against the barrier until the vibration settled.
The stranger remained upright for several seconds because the support was holding him there. His blade slipped from his hand first. The lightless fracture across it remained visible even after it struck the ground.
Then his knees buckled.
The frame shifted under his weight. Marek steadied it long enough to keep it from falling toward him before stepping away.
The stranger did not move again.
Marek waited beside him without touching the Mark or the weapon. He checked for breathing and a pulse, but found neither.
His hands remained steady. It bothered him because trembling would have been the more reasonable reaction.
He checked again before finally pulling his hand away and sitting on the edge of the pavement.
His stomach tightened several seconds later, as though the rest of his body had received the information after his hands did. Marek swallowed once and turned his attention toward the opposite side of the alley.
Dust. Fuel. Instant noodle seasoning.
He looked at the destroyed packets. "I carried those for almost two hours."
Celeste remained quiet.
"Apparently I could have stopped leaving money for the noodles."
"That is what concerns you?"
"No." Marek glanced back at the body. "They’re just easier to talk about."
Celeste did not respond.
Marek remained on the pavement until his breathing stopped feeling deliberate. Afterward, he stood and approached the body again, stopping far enough away that he did not need to touch anything.
The black fracture remained across the dead man’s Mark.
Marek took out his phone and photographed it. The second picture showed the same line continuing across the forearm plate. For the third, he moved around the body until the blade was visible without requiring him to pick it up.
The fracture was still there too.
"You know what that is."
The pressure behind his ear changed.
"I know enough to tell you not to touch it."
"That was not my question."
Marek put the phone away and returned to the remains of his bag. The notebook had survived. So had the flashlight once he retrieved it from beneath the vehicle, two sealed medical packets and one bottle of water.
Most of everything else had either spilled open or been damaged. Fortunately, there was a convenience store at the next intersection. As for the civilian, he hoped that he would be safe.
Marek gathered what he could carry and started walking once again.