Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 153. Fellow Prisoner

"The last one?" Henry asked, and I remembered that he couldn’t know.

While walking—part climbing, part jumping—and still keeping an eye on the orange zombie, I told him about the whole Teddy and Baldie ordeal.

"I understand."

"Mhm, now I have really ended up as a murderer." I don’t know why I had to emphasize that.

"Why is it murder when it’s self-defense? I would kill them any time for attacking you."

I stayed silent, feeling somewhat relieved by his reaction.

"Besides, the world is changing. You can’t use morals from a few centuries ago in the present time, and you can’t use morals from the present time in this new world. I told you already, there will be no laws."

"Mhm, we are the law now." I joked, reminded of Henry boasting about being the law in my apartment before we visited the morgue. It felt as if it had happened in another life.

"Hahaha, yeah." He laughed.

"I am somewhat relieved that it’s a fellow prisoner; besides him surely not believing us after we wake him up, he would probably be able to do it." Looking back down at the zombie, I found there was no way of losing sight of him if he continued to wander around like that. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"If worse comes to worst, threaten him with a gun." Henry again shrugged unfeelingly while smoothly moving down the concrete chunks, even needing to wait for me here and there.

"Yeah. Just that a bullet will sound more enticing to him than slitting his throat." I would choose the former.

"No matter. Here is a good chance to test our persuasion skills."

"Again so fucking positive." I groaned, seeing him using his shadow power to touch the concrete. It crumbled like a piece of old bread after a few seconds of him touching it.

"Damn, I’m in love with your power." After I said that, Henry looked at me, stunned, and I met his gaze with new suspicion. I was unwilling to back down; what I had said was something utterly normal that didn’t warrant any special reaction from him.

"How can you say that with your awesome ability?" He seamlessly explained his reaction, and I chuckled. Time to let the gay matter rest for real.

"Yeah, but destroying things is so much fun."

"We’ll just have to make sure you touch a rocket launcher and a few bombs and stuff, then you can destroy things to your heart’s content."

I appreciated his foresight and nodded in excitement before I jumped down the last concrete chunk.

Our fellow prisoner was not that far away, and we walked to him. He looked filthy and also thinner than the last time, but I recognized him. He was the only one with hair among the bald men, and he was the one who knew about my seizures, informing the guard about it in a possible attempt to help. Henry had been carrying the backpack we brought with us and took it off to pull out the taser.

He gave it to me, and I tasered the prisoner at his side; it took a few tries before he woke up. His eyes cleared, yet his face turned forlorn, riddled with pain.

"Can you explain... What is happening to me?" He asked while holding his head. I motioned to the prisoner with my head, telling Henry he could show his skills.

Henry conjured up the black smoke around his hand to show it to the prisoner.

"It sounds unbelievable, but you are possessed by a shadow; it consumes you, and only by killing yourself will you survive. We could have just killed you with a gun—" He pointed at me, and I conjured up a gun, firing into the ground to prove Henry’s point before I let it disappear again.

"But then the shadow would flee, and you would die. Only by slitting your throat will you survive." Henry let the smoke disappear before taking out the knife.

"We have no enmity; there is no reason for us to play with you. If you don’t believe us, we’ll have to kill you anyway, because after the shadow consumes you, there will be two shadows." Henry spoke in a slow and steady voice, sounding soothing and convincing. I watched in awe as he placed the knife into the possessed man’s hand.

"We don’t know when the shadow will take over again. Hurry."

The prisoner studied Henry’s face with bloodshot eyes before turning to me and observing me.

"Is that the only way?"

"It is." I confirmed.

He took a deep breath before moving the knife to his throat and hesitating.

"I can’t..." he whispered tremulously before he seemed to make a new attempt, yet he suddenly turned and tried to slice me.

I jumped back while Henry stepped in front of me and grabbed the wrist of the prisoner with his hand enveloped in black smoke.

The prisoner screamed like an animal, and the knife fell. Henry let go and turned to me, his eyes seeming even bluer than before.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah." I came closer and picked up the knife from the ground before looking at the prisoner’s wrist. There was a clear black handprint, as if burned into his flesh. While he screamed and turned, he still couldn’t bring himself to cover the wound with his other hand because he was in so much pain.

"We have found a guinea pig so soon..." I uttered while crouching down and looking at the wound. It didn’t blister or anything, but it was deep, and if Henry held onto him longer, we would probably see bones. All in all, it looked like one of those ghost marks in the movies, predicting a soon death.

"Slit your throat and survive, or die by a bullet. You decide." I announced, but the man in pain didn’t react to anything, as his eyes glazed over again.

No pain, but also no consciousness. I tasered him again to wake him up; this time it took more voltage to do so. I repeated my threat, yet this time he didn’t react to me because he was in too much pain again.

Touching his shoulder, I flipped the coin. He sat in prison for armed burglary, with someone dying in the process. I would have preferred it to be because of something worse. It was difficult for me to make a decision now that this guy was despicable, but not a straight-up monster. There was also still the rule from my grandma, only to kill in self-defense.

"What should we do?" I looked up at Henry.

"Try one last time; if it doesn’t work, then we have to kill him, and I’ll take on the shadow."

"No, I’m next." I tasered the prisoner, but no matter how strongly I did, he didn’t wake up again.

"We have no other choice." Putting down the taser and knife, I conjured up the gun again, but Henry took it from my hands.

"I’ll do it." He said decisively.

BANG

BANG

BANG