"Who the fuck are you?"
Two men approached me with the exaggerated swagger of a rebellious teen.
I walked between the two men without saying a word.
"You ain't hear me dipshit," one of the men said, "I said who…"
I backhanded him across the room. He smashed into the wall letting out a gasp before slumping to the ground.
Before the next man could move, I thrust my sword into the second man's chest. He gripped my wrist trying to stop me from moving. I kicked him sending him to the ground. The man clutched his chest in both pain and fear, curled up in a ball on the floor. I walked over to his body, each step feeling like the movements of a dance routine.
"Please, spare me," he said breathily.
I stomped on his head. Over and over again.
Another man entered the room. Instantly he drew his gun. I threw my sword at his hand causing him to drop his gun. I dashed over grabbing his face in my palm. In one motion I smashed his face in the ground over and over painting the ground with his blood and bones.
After I was finished, I took the elevator upstairs.
The building I was in had three floors. Ground, first and second. The ground floor had been mostly empty. The first and seconds floors were vastly different. They were fully furnished with bedroom, living rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms. Everything here was built on the backs of the debts of others.
The elevator doors opened, and one man was waiting for me. He looked surprised to see me and started to open his mouth. I cut his head in half, slicing cleanly through. I pushed his body to the side and started to get to work.
The next couple minutes could only be described as a tango with death. One moment I would be slicing off the limbs of a random woman, the next I would be gouging the eyeballs of another man. Bodies dropped behind me in a rhythmic fashion. I moved with elegance and grace, covered in blood while showered in bliss.
I sheathed my sword as the last man dropped to his knees.
"Why…why us…why now?"
So many questions, so little time.
A final punch
The man died.
I took the elevator to the second floor. As the door opened, four men were waiting for me in suits fitted with jewels. Their necks covered in gold and silver chains. Their fingers covered in diamond, emerald and sapphire rings. As soon as I saw them, I knew.
We were all covered in blood.
"God's chosen soldier? I didn't expect you to pay us a visit," The man who I assumed was the boss said in a mocking tone.
"I don't understand…" I started but I stopped myself.
I drew my sword.
"You don't wanna talk," The Boss started "Me, you, us…We are all the same. We are a hivemind of apes fighting for control. The last ape standing. That's all that matters. Even if I die today, nothing changes don't you get that. There will always be another ape."
His words fell on deaf ears.
I dashed towards one of the men aiming a strike straight at his heart. To my surprise he reacted dodging to the side, retaliating with a punch into my gut.
I instantly jumped back.
"Like I said, it's the last ape standing. You won't be standing for much longer soldier," said the Boss.
He snapped his fingers and the three other men jumped towards me.
I started to turn it up. This needed to be done.
The dance started once again.
I blocked their strikes with my sword, tracking and memorising their movements at the same time. Two men were in front of me, the boss behind them, another behind me. I ran towards the two men. Before reaching them, I threw my sword. Not at them. But between them at the boss. The two men flinched as the sword went past them. In that second, I grabbed both heads of the men, smashing them into each other. The crack of the skulls breaking sounded like the crescendo of our performance.
I thought about Five. What these men had done to her.
The boss had reacted just in time to dodge my sword which had been aimed at his head. The last man behind me had decided that now was his best opportunity to attack me. He jumped doing a spinning kick aimed for my face. I blocked it and grabbed his leg. Then in a smooth motion I threw him at the boss and they both crashed to the floor. I walked over to the two the distant sound of a waltz flowed through my body culminating in the feeling of weightlessness.
I took my sword out of the wall and pulled the man off the Boss. I made him face the boss as I press my sword against the man.
He squirmed against my blade. Anger, fear. I could feel it all through my blade.
"You can kill me," the Boss said breathily. "But don't kill the boy. Have mercy on him."
I cut the boy down the middle. I stabbed through his major organs. Lungs. Stomach. Pancreas. Liver. Just like I had been trained.
Have you ever heard a man try to scream with no lungs?
I tossed the man's body to the side.
"We are apes. You, me and the man over there. But we are not the same."
"We are the same. Everyone is. You cannot separate man from their most primal instinct. We are…"
He never finished that sentence.
Walking out the building, covered in blood and sweat, I saw a little girl and her mother who I recognised instantly.
I ran over ignoring all fatigue in my body. The little girl looked back at me with no smile. I hugged her, holding her tight like she was about to disappear with a moment's notice. My vision became blurry as I felt raindrops fall on my face.
Five still did not smile. I told myself she was tired.