I Want to Die, But I Am Immortal
Chapter 106: Big Game (3)

Chapter 106: Big Game (3)

The guard was stunned.

He walked back to Johnny his face a mask of disbelief. He then punched him hard in the stomach doubling him over in pain.

"Are you crazy?" the guard hissed his voice a low dangerous whisper. He punched Johnny hard in the gut doubling him over in pain.

He looked around nervously his eyes darting back and forth scanning the empty street. But there was no one there. They were alone.

He pulled out an advanced 9mm pistol from a concealed holster and pressed the cold steel of the barrel against Johnny’s temple. "If you hadn’t said that you might have walked away from here alive," he said his voice a chilling promise of death.

"Sir please just listen to me," Johnny begged his voice a pathetic whimper. He was a powerful man a man who commanded fear and respect. But now he was just a scared little boy begging for his life.

"Tell me the message," the guard said his voice cold and hard devoid of any emotion. "And make it quick."

"His name is Adam," Johnny stammered his words tumbling out in a rush. "He sent a warning. He said that whether the big families go after him or not he’s coming for all of them. He’s going to kill everyone associated with the families. Their men their family members everyone."

The guard was silent for a long moment his face a mask of grim contemplation. A flicker of fear danced in his eyes a fear that was quickly replaced by a cold ruthless resolve. Johnny saw a glimmer of hope in the guard’s hesitation. Maybe he would live. Maybe he would be spared.

But the guard was not thinking about mercy. He was thinking about the implications of Adam’s threat. He was thinking about the chaos the destruction the carnage that this one boy could unleash upon their carefully constructed world. He was thinking about his own family his own life.

And he knew what he had to do. He could not let this information spread. He could not let this message reach the other families. He had to contain the threat. He had to eliminate the messenger.

He pulled the trigger. A single shot echoed in the quiet night a definitive end to Johnny’s ambitious and ultimately foolish life. Johnny fell to the ground his eyes wide with a final look of disbelief.

Two men emerged from the shadows of a nearby alley. They moved with a silent efficiency dragging Johnny’s body away into the darkness.

"The situation is worse than I thought," the security guard muttered to himself his voice a low grim whisper. He took out a burner phone and dialed a number. "I have to inform the young master," he said into the phone.

"This all started because of his stubbornness his pride. And now we have to deal with this unnecessary and incredibly dangerous threat."

He knew that if Adam continued to grow in power he would become a real problem a threat to their entire organization. He ended the call and got into a sleek black car that had pulled up to the curb.

He took off his security guard uniform and put on an expensive black suit. He drove off into the night leaving the scene of the execution behind.

The scene shifted. Adam woke up the next morning the first rays of sunlight streaming through his window. He got out of bed and got ready for school.

It was a strange and surreal act of normalcy in his chaotic life. As he dressed he checked The Byrd app on his system-provided phone. He saw the news that Johnny was dead.

He had expected it. He knew that the families would not tolerate a failure of that magnitude. But he had not expected it to happen so soon. It had only been a few hours since he had left the factory. It meant they were watching him very closely. It meant they had eyes everywhere.

He left his empty house and walked to school. He saw Sophia waiting for him outside the school gates just as she had done before. Her presence was a small comfort a tiny island of warmth in the cold sea of his existence. They walked to class together in a comfortable silence.

He noticed that Anastasia was absent again. He wondered if her father had forbidden her from coming to school.

Sophia did not go to her usual seat in the front of the classroom. Instead she sat down at Eric’s old desk right next to Adam. She knew he needed a friend now more than ever.

She could see the darkness in his eyes the weight of the world on his shoulders. She wanted to help him to pull him back from the precipice to remind him that he was not alone. She wanted to be his light in the darkness.

"I thought you sat in the front," Adam said surprised by her change in routine.

"I felt like a change," Sophia said with a small shy smile.

Adam sat down beside her. He was happy to have her there. Her presence was a grounding force a reminder of his own humanity. She was the only thing keeping him from succumbing completely to the darkness that was constantly threatening to consume him.

He looked at her and saw a look of pure terror on her face. Her eyes were wide with fear her body trembling. She was staring at the front of the classroom. Adam followed her gaze.

Three girls were standing in the doorway. The one in the front the leader of the group was named Lily. She was staring directly at Sophia a cruel malicious smile on her face.

Adam recognized them instantly. They were the bullies who had tormented Sophia before the ones he had dealt with on the hill behind the school. He had known they would be back eventually.

But he was not afraid of them anymore.