Necrocide

Chapter 83

"Aaron?" Kat whispered. "Are you still there?"

Aaron didn't respond. He remained as still as a statue, keeping his hand on Kat's so she couldn't fire her gun. He looked angry as he gazed into her eyes, but he wasn't. In fact, he felt nothing. It was a struggle for him just to show emotions now thanks to the Ambrosia.

"I'm not sure if you remember, but it's me. It's Kat. Katrina Mathis? We met back in London. I was thirteen and you were twelve. If I recall, I stabbed a man in the leg and the world started ending. I mean, it didn't end because I stabbed that guy in the leg, but—"

"I remember you, Kat," Aaron replied with the same playful snark he used when he was alive.

"Oh shit, you are still there," Kat chuckled.

Aaron lowered his hand, simultaneously lowering hers as well. He nudged the gun away from him until she timidly holstered it. However, she kept the tip of her fingers on the holster just in case if she had to pull it back out.

"What are you doing here?" Aaron asked.

"Trying to find your evidence," Kat replied. "Believe it or not, Shaw suggested I find this."

"Are you sure he wasn't just trying to get you killed?"

"Are you kidding? I'm the reason our squad even managed to last over an hour. In fact, I bet they're probably being picked off one by one as we speak now that I'm gone."

"Then get out of here. Get to safety."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You got everything you need. Get out of here. I'm this close to getting revenge on Schaefer, but it's too dangerous to be around me while this is happening."

"What the hell, Aaron? You make this sound like it's normal. Like if nothing's different."

"Kat, my problem here is that everything going on right now is not normal, which, in a way, makes it normal. I've just accepted it."

"How can you accept any of this as normal?" Kat asked angrily. "Matheson is under a Deadman siege, you've turned into Wolverine, you're ripping Schaefer's limbs off like nothing, and you've teamed up with a wanker who kinda looks like Wolverine!"

"Yeah, that's just Bloodletter. Believe it or not, he actually felt like taking off his helmet today."

"Stop trying to make light of this!"

"I'm not making light of it. I just stopped caring."

Kat froze. Her anger transformed into disappointment. Had Aaron really becoming this apathetic?

"But I still care about you, Kat," Aaron continued. "I have enough memories intact to know who to trust and enough empathy to avoid killing for kicks. For your sake, I need you to get to safety please."

Kat ignored him and took a swing at his face, nailing him in the eye. He shook it off like nothing. "Don't know what that was all about," he said. "But I bet the DZI needs you more than I do."

"Shut up!" Kat screamed, her eyes getting watery.

"It's too late to save me, Kat. But you've still got a chance to save yourself."

"I said shut up!" She punched him again. Once again, he remained unmoved.

"Take it out on me all you'd like. I feel nothing. But that's the difference between you and me. I'm a dead man walking. You've still got years to live. You've got things to do, feelings to feel, people to love."

"All the people I loved are either gone or have betrayed me!" Kat screamed. "All of them, except you!"

"Kat," Aaron spoke softly. "I'm gone, too."