[M] 'Hunted'; the interrogation / IC

When Kenneth Burke brought forth his first definition of man, he ended with a final point that struck the hidden core of truth; humanity is rotten with the need for perfection. A rock is content to be a rock, the same a tree wants nothing more than what it is. A deer does not wish to gain wings and fly; it accepted its given build without the need for question. Man was the first to express its dissatisfaction with what the gods had granted them. We strive, we yearn, and in our endless labour, we rot.

For lust is never sated and, in its hunger, greed is born. It is this sin that is our curse and it’s what brought forth our enemy eternal.

Death.

Life is the purveyor of success and of defeat, but always does it let us try again. Only when it’s snatched from us do our sins lay down to rest.
We’re granted peace we didn’t know we needed.

One second in time, frozen across the world.
And in that lingering moment, they were dying.

For some, they lay bleeding; a car accident or a bullet’s hole.
For some, disease and drugs clawed at their existence, dragging them slowly towards a bitter end.

For each and every one, the tendrils of the afterlife came forth.

Fifteen people left by fate to rot.

Yet there is kindness, even in those unseen.

“Too many,” Esqu murmured, “They can’t all die.”
“And yet, they can’t all live,” Dire followed in a tone of equal sadness.

Gatekeepers to the world beyond, they pondered, as they did each time.

“They must be tested.” The conclusion came from both their mouths, out of sync a fraction of the second that time was halted upon. The flow of life on Earth was still; it would stay as such until a verdict had been reached.

Justin, Melena, Breeze, Suzy, Charlie, Corinne, Jone, Victoria, Beth, Gregory, Nathaniel, Jane, Jazmine, Adam, Izzy.

A seemingly never-ending list, they were tested.

The greed that haunts our race, so often matured by the cynicism of growing age, that curses us until our dying day. It is the same infliction that comes forth when all we know is tested.

Should there still be hope - should we still retain the innocence of youth and inexperience…or even should the nature of our soul give rise to hesitation, defiance, at the truth - then perhaps we will be granted one more chance; life, a second try.

But should there be nothing left but what it is that makes us human, no resistance towards the darkness of our selves, then cursed are we. Our enemy eternal emerges victorious.

And that was the test that the doctor duo put forth onto the humans, a series of questions to determine who was the most selfish and the least caring about being so.

Adam Baker, he was chosen, so determined to survive that he sealed an opposing fate. They took him forth, past the gates, despite the protests he screamed within their ears. Into the darkness, he was shun, never to lay eyes upon his beloved Earth again.

Jazmine Farahani shared the same misfortune; her soul, upon taking, too fragile to survive its incursion. They offered pity, but little else was there that they could do. The only life that they could give her was one of a saviour. They stole her being and gave her breath within the whitewash walls of the gateway. She became one with the hounds that snapped their way forward, straining to tear forth into the room, desperate to sink their jaws around the victims… so that those people might return to Earth alive.

As for the others, their souls were returned to their bodies; they were given another chance. The memories of the procedure became a haze.

The pure paint across the walls, a burst of white light.
The questions put forth, a blurred recollection of their life.
The faint feeling that there was something more, but no certainty.

The world resumed life for another second.
And in that lingering moment, others began to die.

“Too many,” Esqu muttered again, as he always would, “They can’t all die.”
“And yet, they can’t all live,” Dire followed on cue.

And so, the cycle repeated.