Flight School: Predator

Trolley

The end was near.

Reux Yvone emerged from the shadows, a wry smile upon his lips. Grazing the line that separated the inside from the out, he made the world watch with fear and unease—trembling in delight. He beckoned for Io to close the distance, remaining where he was; not crossing into the arrival hall.

Iolani Tori did not know he was looking into the eyes of a murderer. He paused, wary of the shrike before recalling that the gate would close in very soon. At most three minutes remained.

Thus, the risk he calculated was not high enough to prevent him from responding, albeit carefully.

"Reux? You're," he noticed a dark stain on the shrike's otherwise white shirt. "What's that? Why aren't you with the others?"

Someone is dead, he wanted to say. After all, Reux was as human as he was and the additional bit of information would, at the very least, inform future decisions. "Well, since you're here now...I guess you'll be fine. It's safer outside the Box because—"

A shadow stood in his way

Under the absence of light, Reux appeared almost shapeless to Io. His silhouette was an inky darkness that seemed to smoke and move in tendrils and wisps, an amassing of clouds into a veil so thick and opaque that it obscured even the most blinding light.

"This?" The shrike remained at the gate, barely crossing. He threw a languid glance at his the collar of his shirt that was soaked with crimson. "Ah, it must be too dark for you to see. It's blood, Iolani. Blood."

More than anything, the sky was red.

It wasn't dark, no.

Just red.

The moment crashed into his cage and tore creature within—ripped it apart, shredded its skin and clawed at its flesh. He began to scream.

"You didn't...you didn't!"

"Let's talk about something more important than Slayne Castor," Reux smiled sadly as he kicked at the earth beneath his feet, "something that concerns you."

Io was shaking his head, shouting a mass of words that were choked and incoherent.

"Remember the first time we met? You were annoyed that I was late to class." The shrike leaned against the gate that was ticking. "Philosophy class, right? You like philosophy class that much?"

"I've been thinking of how I should make it up to you."

"No more," he whispered, feeling the creature within burn and tear at itself. "Please."

The shrike laughed.

"And then it hit me, you know, while I was killing this other owl and eating his heart so that I could have the kind of vision that Nocturnes have at night, but that's a story for another day so let's get back to this one—as I was saying, it hit me. We could have a quick lesson together. In fact, let's have it now."

"No, no please."

A short, stuttered sound of stone startled the boy.