บท 8: End Marks
Ori reaches the outskirts of the DTR Shipping Factory, the burnt wreckage of gang vehicles littering the place, along with corpses that were already in the process of getting devoured by rats and cockroaches.
A few homeless people lingered around, some scavenging while others simply just wanted to take one last look at their 'home' before moving on. Ori ignores them, marching through the entrance, over the corpses, and towards where he'd lost consciousness. There, he found them, his family.
What was left of his father and Rick, his cousins, even those who'd been adopted into the clan. He grabs a sturdy piece of metal and begins the laborious process of digging graves...
"Hey, isn't that-" one person starts but their friend stops them.
"Leave it, kid's been through enough. Doesn't need us gawking at him, 'specially' now."
It takes two whole days to finish everything, digging graves, gathering what was left of their corpses, and finding adequate trinkets of theirs so he could abide by Quadrano tradition. He hadn't spoken a single word to anyone, merely pointing his gun at them if they got too close to him or his project.
Thankfully or not, he hadn't found Cat's body anywhere in the tunnel, hopefully meaning she was still alive somewhere. Problem with that though is the fact that there were worse fates than death...
He swallows the last of the flavourless protein bar and pockets the wrapper as he looks down at the line of graves, all marked solid pieces of metal or stone with their respective names inscribed on them.
He tosses away the metal he'd been digging with and sits on the ground before them, just blankly staring, idly fiddling with the gun in his hand.
"Dad... Everyone..." he starts, trying to force out some words to commemorate the lives they lived, to honour the sacrifices they made for the 'betterment of everyone', to help those who needed it... But nothing came out. Anything positive he might've said was soured to him.
Everything they worked towards ended in ashes. The people they gave homes to and protected had already forgotten about them, looting what was left and moving on to some other slum.
"You each devoted your lives to each other, held strangers close and family closer... You dedicated everything to what you thought right, held firm to your beliefs... That's all that mattered, in the end." he stifles a sniffle, his eyes dry, already bled out of tears.
He stands and scratches one last message into his dad's grave before walking away.
Here lies Emmanuel Quadrano
Loving father to a son and daughter
A man who died righteously for his beliefs
In hell, good men suffer the worst ends
--------------------------
Ori visits the burnt of his house one last time, intending to never return to this place as long as he lived...
Suddenly, without even a moment's notice, he draws his gun, points it at his temple and fires... Or tries to, his finger locks in place, his arm refusing to move at all.
"That's what I thought you little assholes." he growls, "You wouldn't want your precious meat suit damaged, would you?" he makes to holster the gun and his arm allows it. "Was that why you stopped me from moving? 'Playing dead' the best method of survival? Cigs too, fucks up the lungs..." he wets his lips as a faint buzzing occurs in his ears. As if a million tiny bugs were crawling under his skin.
He shakes his head from the discomfort that was enveloping him and throws his sack of goodies across his shoulder. During his time here he'd looted anything of worth, shit was only worth around a thousand Eddies, but it should be enough for now.
----------------------
*Creee!*
Ori steps into Bats apartment, ignoring the man Ripperdoc almost falling over himself to reach him.
"Ori! You're alive! Where have you been!?" Bats hurriedly asks.
He shows his filthy hands, "Digging."
"D-digging? You spent two days digging... What?"
"Digging graves." he curtly answers, causing the man to go silent. He heads to the bathroom to clean up and once he's done he finds Bats sitting down in the 'main room' of the place. "Have you got your shit?"
"Meaning?"
"Ripperdoc shit. I want to deal with these Nanites."
Bats sadly shakes his head, "I told you before, there's nothing I can do..."
"No, I mean 'DEAL'."
"Like, bargain or something?" the man confusedly questions, "That's not how this works, they're robots, they're programmed to do something and that's it, there's no 'dealing' with them."
"In your opinion." Ori retorts, "I for one think they're smarter than we both think. So, help me with this." he presses.
...
"I don't have the equipment for that-"
"Sell this shit." he drops his sack on the floor, "Pawn the smart gun too, everything should net around six to seven thousand Eddies if you don't get scammed."
Bats sighs, "Even then, I still wouldn't have enough, the equipment we need costs five, maybe even six figures to get."
"Then. Rent. It." Ori spits, "Feels like you aren't even trying to help me, Bats. Have you even done anything since I left two days ago? Have you even started the search for Cat?" he grouses.
The man goes silent, looking at the floor despairingly.
"Get your shit together." he slaps his chest, "I'm fifteen years old and I'm holding up better than you, fucking waste of space!"
"O-Ori-"
"No. No excuses! What did you say last time!? We're the only ones left!? If you really believed that, you wouldn't make yourself MY burden. Now, I'm going to find Cat, and you're going to do as you're told. Understand!?" he loudly questions.
"... Yeah... I got it..." he despondently responds.
Ori eyes him for a couple more moments before eventually relenting. He wasn't his babysitter, it was him he should've been the more responsible one outta them anyway. "You handle that, I need to go out."
"Again?" Bats perks up and raises his head.
Ori nods, "We're alone here, and I can only think of a few people who might help... I'm gonna go visit the Mox."
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