One2's Arc

Chapter 3 of 8

They carried the tin and the ledger through the dark, following an old path Rex swore was safe. One2 kept the money bundles pressed under one dead arm. Rex walked ahead, rifle up, breath fast. He pointed at a dark shape with a cracked screen glowing faint purple in the weeds. A busted arcade machine, its bright trim flickering like a dying candle. "We stash it inside," Rex whispered. "Nobody checks a dead game." One2 pried the machine's back panel loose. He shoved the tin into the hollow. He fed the stack of bills in behind it, hundreds sliding into the dark cabinet. Franklin's face caught the purple glow, then vanished. He set the ledger on top. Rex tapped the panel shut. For one breath, they had done it. The money was hidden. Then a flashlight cut across the weeds. Two men stepped out. Block runners. They wore the block boss's colors. One raised a pistol at Rex. "Hands. Now." The other stared at One2. "That's him. That's the corpse he told us to watch for." Rex froze, rifle useless at his side. The gun was already on him. One2 saw it. A living man could not win this. But he was not living. One2 turned toward the man with the pistol. He pulled his cracked sunglasses down slow. He fixed his dead eyes on the runner's living ones. And he pulled. It was a thing he had not shown Rex. A thing worse than strength. He reached through the man's eyes and dragged the soul out of him. The runner's mouth opened. No sound came. His pistol dropped. His knees folded. He hit the weeds and did not move, eyes wide and empty, a shell where a man had stood. One2 straightened. He felt full, warm, alive in a way the grave could not give. The second runner ran. He crashed through the brush, screaming into the dark. Rex swung his rifle up, but the man was gone before he could fire. Rex lowered the gun. His hands shook. He stared at the empty body in the weeds, then at One2. "What did you do," he said. It was not a question. His voice had gone thin. One2 slid his sunglasses back up. He said nothing, because he could not. He pointed at the arcade machine. The money was safe. That part was done. But Rex kept staring at the dead runner's empty eyes. "One got away," he said. "He saw your face. He saw what you did." He wiped his mouth. "He's running straight to the block boss right now. Marcus Vane's gonna know you're not just a strong corpse." He picked up the fallen pistol with trembling fingers. "He's gonna know you steal souls. And he's gonna come for this spot with everything he's got."