The World beneath Us

One- Angel

4 hours after.

Lyra should know better. I hate watching people kill each other to death.

Thud.

How terrible. It wasn't meant to be.

Crack.

Kill. Kill. Kill. They chanted.

Scream.

The sick-looking boy lies dead-like on the ground. He coughed violently, letting the blood fly onto his opponent. Shark only grinned.

Cruel.

I turned to look at both directions. Man, everyone is so engaged in this battle. Would things be different if everyone hear tended the injured? My throat burned. I had to tend the dead as well. It's a reason why I never come to the Terrain. Illegal and dangerous. Most of my patients are people who compete here. So they say if you excel in the rankings of the Terrain you can be free from here. What are the chances? Why even bother? Something I'm still waiting to be answered.

Two medics enter the Terrain with a stretcher and quickly leave with the boy. Well, duty calls now, I have a new patient. I made my way back to the medical station through the crowd, until a hand landed on my shoulder which made me jump...

"Leaving me behind Xee?" Lyra said with a sad face.

"Lyra, I though I was going to get murdered! Don't do that again," I glared. "Someone was knocked unconcious, or is he? In the Terrain. Have to go tend him now."

"Hah, I suppose the Terrain is a excellent place to get murdered anonymously, since it attracts quite a bit of people," She shrugged. "I'm coming with you, besides I still didn't tell you why I wasn't at work yesterday."

"Uh huh, uh huh."

"Okay, well. The agriculture team needed more people. I decided to help them, since there were more than enough people at the Medical station," She explained. "It took the whole day since there weren't enough people. As for meeting at the Terrain, I had to deliver something."

"Okay," I nodded. Not quite convinced though. Lyra has a habit of explaining very vaguely, or giving very unreasonable excuses, however, she is quite reliable.

We make our way to work. It's dimly lit since the lighting has been fixed for about 9 months. The air is humid and warm. The path is very congested. The smell of people who haven't bathe, or sweat is enough to make me gag more, than tending dead people. Then there are the cries of people who have lost hope for us. The 270 of us. Many have attempted suicide, starving themselves, or they've just lost to insanity. There are handful of them running around doing whatever, but they know they will get replaced.

All of these techniques have something in common. Yep, death, however our population never changes. It's always at 270. Another question I'm wondering to find out. Whenever someone is gone, a new person comes. Its never been 271, or 269. Come and go, but always 270.

We reached the station. "Hey, the patients are acting really strange recently..." Lyra muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Well they've been utter nonsense about something coming to save them. But hey, who wouldn't be going crazy here? Stress and paranoia could be a factor to hallucinations," Lyra said.

"Who's this 'saviour'?" I was puzzled.

"We can hope to find out today," She laughed.

---------------

"Take your vitamin D pill please, Lorence," I urged the elderly woman.

Lorence stared at the pill thoughtfully in her palm. She has a blank expression on her face.

"Pretty please?" I plastered a smile on my face. She only stared at the amber-ish yellow pill. She slowly raised her hand towards her mouth and swallows the pill. Still keeping that blank expression.

"Thank you," I said.

"Shouldn't have wasted that pill on me," She said, barely a whisper.

"I beg your pardon?" I leaned closer towards her.

"I said you shouldn't waste stuff on me anymore. There's hope I know it," She grabbed my hand with a death-grip. Her eyes shone with determination. I saw it. We all saw it."

"Saw who?..." I asked.

"Angel," Was all she said. The other elderly patients in the room nodded and broke into murmurs. They all couldn't be hallucinating the same thing could they?

"Angel? Who's Angel?" I said slowly.

"Angel. One of God's angel. I saw the angel. God has heard of our prayers and cries. He has come to rescue us. He sent us an angel."

"...And you saw this angel?" I asked.

"Yes. The angel was helping others. The angel has not given up on humanity; we have a way to escape this prison," Lorence said overjoy.

"How did the angel look like?" I ushered them to continue. "Were there wings?"

Lorence paused and looked up to the ceiling. "Yes... A radiant aura as well."

"And how exactly is the angel going to save us?"

"Killing us."

I turned my back away from her to hide the shock. "You can go now Lorence. You got your shot and pill..."

She got up and left.

Man, she hasn't just lost her sanity, but she's lost faith in us as well. This was worse than I expected. I have to go tell Lyra.

----------------

4 hours before encounter with Xandra.

"These two seem unconscious now," Lyra said to Zoe.

"We have the info you need right? May I leave please?" Zoe stammered.

"Yes assistant, please take the day off, however you must not utter a single word to anyone, understood?" Lyra said sternly. Zoe nodded and hurried off.

"Rivel, I need to speak with you for a bit," Lyra said seriously. "There's a problem stirring."

"And that would be?..." Rivel asked blankly.

"You see, someone witness an 'angel'. Said person now thinks the angel will come to save us by killing us. I guess some people are just really desperate, so now they have followers. These people will screw up our plan and they must be eliminated, don't you think?" Lyra leaned back against the wall.

"I fail to see a difference between getting killed by an angel and getting killed by a cannibal lurking around here," Rivel muttered.

"Ah, but what if we do make a difference between the two?" Lyra said. "How about we..."

"Kill the people, but with no blood spilled, and make sure their bodies are out of sight," Rivel answered. "Kill them cleanly?"

"Yes! We don't want any witness do we now?"