Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 48: Chapter 48

— Léon —
"Maybe he's just as out of it as Phillip," Toni whispered with a small laugh.
"He's not," Rafa and Rob said in unison.
"I, for one, would like to know where that comes from, Léon. What makes you think I'm playing with your head?" Jackal crossed her arms and waited. She was calm.
Why the hell was she calm? Léon had just exposed her!
The group still sat at the table as if nothing had happened, moving and speaking in a way that felt almost like music. All around them, the other patrons didn't seem bothered by the man holding a scythe in the middle of the room. Instead, flanking the many windows around the restaurant, crowded tables kept their conversations going while waiters rushed around the room.
Toni and Léon were the only ones standing; the first kept his scythe ready, while the latter started to relax. Toni placed an elbow on the backrest of Jackal's chair and propped his chin on his hand. He raised his eyebrows as if waiting for Léon's explanation...
But there was none.
In fact, there wasn't any other explanation for the whirring noise in the back of his mind, for the way sunlight reflected in every little thing around him, for the brightness and blurriness, and for the way some details seemed to fade in and out of existence, like in a dream. Being here right now was as surreal as being on the top of a mountain with nothing but a blue sky and a bluer ocean surrounding him. The more he paid attention to that image, the clearer it got...
But in his world—and he was sure of it—the sky was radiation-orange, and the ocean still spat giant three-headed squids on its beaches from time to time... nothing about his world was blue.
"You'll have to trust me in this," Léon said. His words wavered when he glanced at Toni. "I just know I'm right."
Rafa and Rob tensed and shared a glance.
"Oh, so you just... know it," Toni said. He chuckled, his voice assuming a cheerful and teasing tone. "That's a hell of a reason to attack someone, Léon. I'm glad I'm still quick on my feet, otherwise, you'd have cut Jackal's head in half. It'd be bloody, believe you me." Toni lowered his arm, and the light caught on his pearlescent armor to show a deep dent where Léon's scythe had hit.
Léon's eyes widened. "I-I wouldn't," he stammered. I wouldn't, right? "I can feel her power from here. I wouldn't have hurt her!" Léon steeled his trembling hands. He blamed his actions on the uncomfortable, primal fear in his core. Every time he looked at the mark around Jackal's wrist, the feeling stirred again and stronger than last time, sending cold shivers and beads of sweat across his entire body.
Jackal scoffed. "Wouldn't you? I might be strong, but you are way faster. And... maybe cold-blooded murder is what really makes you tick, who knows?" She winked.
"I-it's not!" Léon shouted.
She nodded like a condescending parent. "All right, all right. Just joking. Still, I'm disappointed things came to this." Jackal pointed at Léon's scythe.
Trying to control his nerves, Léon stepped away from the table and angled around it to face Jackal. "If you wanted to work together, you shouldn't have brought us to this place against our will." Léon's eyebrows furrowed even more. "You must know how unlikely it is that we'll accept your offer now."
With a sigh, Jackal placed a gentle hand on Toni's shoulder and nudged him away. "Rio warned me you'd say that." She looked from Rafa to Rob. "What about you? Do you also refuse to work for me?"
Rob choked on his spit. He coughed and hit his chest while his eyes flicked from Léon to Jackal as if looking for the explanation none of them was willing to give. Once the coughing subsided, he took in a deep breath; some revelation must've slipped into lungs with it, for he furrowed his brows and bashed his fists on the table, making the cutlery jangle like tossed cents.
"This is not real!" Rob shouted. "Is it? The red fog, Pipo's painting on my home, the things I saw on the ocean, and all these feelings. This is not real." He glanced at Toni, then back at Léon. With more strength and resolution than he had shown the entire day, Rob walked up to Léon and took his hand. "And even if it was, I would still choose my family."
"... And there goes our plan," Jackal said with a chuckle. She shrugged, crossed her legs, and looked at Rafa. "You?"
"Well," Rafa said. "I don't have a bloody clue of what's happening here anymore. Still..." She placed the golden pen on top of the contract and got up. With a weak smile, she walked up to Léon and Rob and stopped at their side. "I'm with them. Phillip said it, these two confirmed it, and I choose to believe them."
Warmth spread within Léon's chest. If Toni had any reaction, Léon paid no mind to it; his eyes met Rob's, and he welcomed the love in them with a smile and a gentle kiss on his cheek. Léon's heavy breathing sounded even louder—and happier—against the sudden silence inside the restaurant.
Jackal nodded. "Very well." She reached forward and ripped the contract with one fluid motion.
When she did, something in the world just... broke.
"Well, well, well," Toni said, dragging his words. He looked at Jackal and crossed his arms. Toni's voice was controlled, his body language was calm, and his unnerving smile was still there. Still, something crawled, snapped, and hissed underneath that image of self-control. "Your plan failed, Jackal. Should we try mine?"
A strong wind blew past, carrying with it the distant scent of camellias and bitter almonds. It was a sweet scent, a dangerous scent that reminded Léon of cemeteries at noon and cyanide-infused cola.
Jackal's phone buzzed. She checked it, and her eyes widened. Jackal blinked a few times, ran a hand across her face, and sighed. "It seems we'll have to. Our one month was cut short to..." Her voice cracked. Jackal took in a trembling breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "To a few days."
"Wait, what? What happened?" Rio barked. And if he was perfectly silent and still, now he couldn't stop shaking. "This can't be, I was sure that—and it only means...! Jackal! Jackal, please."
"Another wave of Life Force was sucked away." She slipped her phone back into her jacket's pocket. "A few more kilometers and the sickness will reach my family's burial pods." She closed her eyes.
Léon opened and closed his fingers, adjusting his grip around the weapon. He waited in silence, looking around as if something was about to jump from the shadows and attack him... but nothing happened. Willing his trembling limbs and resisting muscles to obey, Léon lowered his scythe. In a low voice, he said,
"Just tell us the truth, Jackal. You seem to be a reasonable person trying to do something good—and you're in a bind, right? I don't know your reasons, but... whatever they are, I'm sure we can find a peaceful solution for this if you let us go. Right. Now."
Those words gave her pause. Jackal's eyes snapped open and she studied Léon from head to toe. Her small irides grew even smaller, and some unnamed feeling flashed in her eyes. If Léon had to guess, considering the crease in her eyebrows and the downward curve of her lips, he'd say it was something akin to regret.
After a heartbeat, it wasn't there anymore.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." Her eyes crinkled in the corners when she smiled. "But I'm glad to see you're still in the right state of mind, even with everything that's happening in here. When you attacked me, I thought you were gone for good." In a murmur, she completed, "Or maybe I hoped you were, I don't know."
Léon's muscles tensed. "What do you mean?"
Jackal straightened her posture and brushed the thought away; her features softened. "Well, you have my admiration, Léon." Her gaze moved to Rafa, Rob, Rio, and finally Toni. "You all do. You'll help me in a personal mission I've been shouldering for more than ten years." She reached forward and offered Léon a handshake. There was real emotion in her dark eyes.
The muscle in Léon's eyebrows twitched as he stared at her hand. He tried to accept the gesture and the kind words she offered, but something in her kept Léon frozen in place, unable to approach; his ever-quickening breaths failed to fill his lungs, so he faltered.
"Almost there," Toni said in a sing-song voice.
Léon didn't see him coming. His steps didn't have any sound, and the only proofs of his proximity were the sharp, white pain in his arm and the cold feeling of something being injected in his veins. Léon winced and looked downward as Rio pulled the syringe and tossed it aside.
"I'm sorry, Leo," he mumbled.
He stepped away, way faster than Léon thought he could be, before Rob's swing connected.
"W-what did you do?" Rob roared. "Don't move or I swear I'll—"
"No going back now," Rio said. He sunk his face in his hands and sniffed. His voice was hard as steel when he said, "What's done is done."
The lights inside the restaurant flicked on and off and everything slowed down around them. Something overcame Léon—a weight and tiredness that had his shoulders sinking and his eyes watering.
"What's happening?" Rafa murmured.
"I'm now preparing a battery of exams." Toni winked. He outstretched his hands to the side and the pearlescent crystals covered his arms and hands, shimmering purple and orange now and then. They sprouted from his shoulders, temples, and thighs, embracing his body and flattening against him like a coat of molten plasmetal.
"I don't bloody care what this is," Rob muttered. He clasped a hand around Léon's arm and tugged him close. "We're leaving; right now. Rafa!"
She nodded and fell in formation, standing at Léon's left while Rob covered his right. The trio pivoted towards the exit.
And a shiver crossed Léon's back.
The tables were empty now; the patrons who ate, drank, and talked were now immovable, standing with their knives, forks, and glasses still in their hands. Some smiled, while others had their lips half-opened as if in the middle of completing a word.
"What the bloody hell," Rafa mumbled.
And finally, Jackal got up from her chair. The sun creaked like rusty clockwork and crossed the sky outside, making the shadows inside slide and stretch from left to right. Light and shade clipped her face, framing the way that her eyes, every inch of them, became as black and opaque as old marble. Jackal lowered the hand Léon had ignored and spread it on the table.
"You were right, Antônio. I can see the flow now." She looked at her hands and frowned. "How are you doing this?"
"I was sure you would. It's a trick I learned a long time ago." Toni chuckled. "But it won't last forever, so let's test your theories." He turned his palms upward and closed his fingers around an invisible something. His cosmic trace rushed forward to give shape to a curved, metallic arch that connected to a long rectangle. "Describe it for me, Jackal." He reached for something at his back; like before, a white bolt materialized between his fingers. With a clack, he reloaded the crossbow in his hand and aimed it at Léon.
The sun was setting now; the bright reds and dying oranges shone in stark contrast with the blue sky from moments ago. Clipping the color, the other patrons were nothing but silhouettes against the dusk.
"For starters, we all have it, but in varying states of molecular agitation," Jackal said. She raised her chin, clasped her hands at her back, and looked around. "Léon and you are connected to everything around you. Your bond with the flow, it... beats, I guess. Like a heart. Although..." Jackal sneered. "Despite what Rio just did, Léon's connections are thicker and more numerous than yours, Antônio. Perhaps I should employ him to help me, not you?"
"Or perhaps I died and had to start over," Toni said with an attitude. He zeroed in on Léon. "But at least I still do what needs doing." He looked at Jackal and smiled. "So don't compare me with someone who fucks up an entire village, runs away, and locks his memories so he won't have to deal with it. What kind of weak little rat is too afraid of his own powers—and of his own mistakes?" He sneered. Without hesitation or another look towards his target, Toni pressed the trigger.
The bolt whistled and pierced Léon's shoulder with a violent, wet thud.
He didn't have the opportunity to dodge. He wasn't sure if he would. Because somewhere, deep within him, Léon knew Toni was right. He had run away. He had tried to hide. And all this time, all he wanted was to go back to that same state of numbness that he lived in, back in New Continent. Wasn't that what he was after up until now? Wasn't that the blank slate he wanted? And the reason why he was here in the first place, looking for his family?
But Léon wouldn't have much time to dwell on this.
The impact was powerful enough to have him reeling back two full steps—eyes widened and unblinking—before he fell on the floor. His trembling fingers met the pearlescent shaft stuck into his flesh. A warm and thick liquid gushed through his fingers.
He looked at his wound. Instead of blood, there was a néon-purple, thick substance oozing from his body and billowing skyward like smoke.
A tear ran down his cheek. Léon shouted in pain.