No Control

Inside the building, David still had the bag on, he remained quiet for what seemed to be hours, and they were. David could see lights around him; the bag was pulled off his head and he saw a man in police clothing standing in front of him. Everyone was silent.
‘So you’re the one success, testy 5, your controller is very proud of you’ he spoke
‘Thank you’ David replied
‘I must ask, do you have any idea what your next task is?’ the officer asked him
David thought back over his tests, each was unique, each was weird. He killed two people…that wasn’t it, nor was the alleyway with the two boys he executed; the Mall, he thought. David looked up.
‘The drugs’ David stated; everyone clapped their hands.
‘Bravo David, correct’ the officer congratulated him
The officer said no more and opened a door; David sat there for a few moments before the officer returned, he laid a metallic briefcase on the table, opened it and turned it to face David. Inside the briefcase was David’s Glock, several more pistol magazines, a torch and a box. The officer leaned forward and took the box out before disappearing again; David was confused, and somewhat annoyed. He had questions needing answers, and he didn’t know which questions took priority; of course however, who he was and why he was involved were to highly important questions to ask, however he doubted he’d get any sort of useful answer from the first question.
‘She’s see you now’ the officer spoke, David’s trance had meant he had not noticed the officer return, and quickly got up, he picked up the Glock and holstered it before taking the magazines and the torch.
The officer led him out of the “cell” and into a large open space where a woman waited for him, he walked toward the women, but was again stopped, David looked at the officer he simply took his Glock and unloaded it, and then retained it. David wondered why he had to be disarmed to meet his controller, he was under their control still and posed no threat, it must have had something to do with the three testes prior to him. David finally stepped in front of the controller; she stood behind a table, on the table were pieces of paper with typed information on them.
‘Welcome David, congratulations on passing our three little tests’ She spoke; David noticed her voice was different, she was not controller number 5; secondly, little tests, he would hardly describe killing several people in different locations for different reason little tests.
‘I have questions, you have answers’ David replied sternly
‘Yes I do; what would you like to know?’
‘Well for starters, who the fuck am I? Secondly what the hell is going on?’ David shouted stepping forward slightly
‘I am afraid I do not have information regarding your identity’ David frowned at her
‘But I am able to explain what is going on; first thing, no one you have killed was innocent’ David stood in front of her
‘Five years ago, Almada Corporation; a drug company began to create a new drug; we do not know what happened, but one year after it announced the drugs creation, they terminated the tests and production; they deemed it too dangerous for public use’ she pushed forward a picture of the drug companies logo
‘Somehow a large quantity of this drug, only know as XV-1 appeared in a separate branch of Almada; they claimed the drug was re-engineered, they sold to drug to several street dealers and us. One week ago, the dealers arrived at a drug den to find that everyone was dead; they hadn’t over-dosed…they had brutally murdered each other, some were found ripped open’
‘And how did it affect you?’ David asked
‘There were eight controllers, three testes were active; one was drug addict, mostly cocaine. We hired him to clear out the drug problem in this city promising him a brand new superior drug as payment; all went well initially until we started reading strange brain activity, he had come across XV1 and taken it with cocaine, he became highly paranoid. Upon meeting face to face with his controller, number 6; he received his payment. Sadly when he was asked to hand over his weapon, he shot his controlled in the stomach and fled, she pushed forward a picture a young, suit dressed woman covered in blood.
‘So my job is to find an eliminate him’ David asked
‘Yes, but there is more; there were two other testes, they all made contact with our addict, all were drugged; he brought them in and the same thing happened except two minor details’ David looked on intrigued
‘Testy 7 saw what he’d done to his controller and smashed his remaining vial of the drug, he fled; testy 8 took his second dose to forget but instead mutilated his controllers corps then fled…we don’t know where they are’

‘So I’ve got to find one insane drug addict and kill him; then find two more…?’ David asked sarcastically
‘The second two…are not insane or addicts, they’ve gone dark’ David looked at her bizarrely
‘…So…why did you even give the drug to an addict in the first place?’
‘We were unaware of the side effects, and we didn’t intend him to take any drugs’ she replied
David gave her a look of disbelief ‘you were unaware of the side effects? They gave you a deadly weapon…’ David paused, arguing the past events would solve nothing; he sighed.
‘Where’s the addict?’ he asked
‘In one of two drug dens left in this city’ the controller pushed forward two pictures of the buildings, both run down.
‘Unlike your tests, we cannot directly control your movement, nor will we pull the trigger, however, if you seem incapable of completing the task, we will take over…you will have no memory of the events’ she explained. No memory; was he in their employment permanently as an expendable asset?
David continued his conversation with the controller; she explained that he had been employed as a cleaner’s, a form of Special operations who are sent in after an operation becomes “unstable”. David wasn’t told why he himself was required, but he began to feel as if he was a husk; simply a deniable asset for the Controllers and those Higher. At the end, the controller disappeared, David had confirmed that she was not his controller; but she had never let on to be. David task was simple but hard, an oxymoron; he had to find the rogues and kill them. After David’s meeting, he was fed, and the officer gave him his Glock back. David left the warehouse, it was dark outside, the sun had set; street lights shone above, their orange glow eliminated the empty street. David walked toward his parked car; the four-door Sudan had a red glove on its polished roof from the street light. There was a warm breeze blowing through the night, David opened his car door and got in, it was surprisingly chilly within the car, David turned the heater on low and he started the engine. The car roared alive as David revved the engine as he pulled out from in front of the warehouse and on the empty road.
David drove through the night, he was heading south; according to his ‘Intel.’ The drug den was opposite and old church. He scanned the local area, old derelict houses; the occupants were poor and starved, he saw a houses that looked like families occupied them, as he drove along another street, he noticed a single house with lights, but unlike the previous, these people appeared to have some money, although very little; David pulled up outside the house, the father stood in front of his two children, both girls, his wife behind held them close; David approached them.
‘Please don’t hurt us, we have nothing’ the father held out his hands, the two girls trembled behind him.
‘I’m not here to harm you, but here’s something for you, David pulled out a small wad of folded dollars notes, he flicked through them, there were several 1 dollar notes, almost useless, then several 10 dollar and 20 dollar notes, David smiled and held his hand out. The father looked on in suspicion, they had probably never received an act of charity before; as the father told the money, David turned and left, he headed back toward his car when the father spoke.
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’ David turned and asked
‘Why did you give me this money?’
‘An act of generosity from one human being to another’ David replied
‘You’re not from around here are you?’
‘I don’t know where I’m from’ David turned and got back into his car, as he was about the close the door he heard the father say ‘God bless you’. God bless me, David thought; he closed the door and drove off. He reached a set of traffic lights, he looked up, the black sky high above; he didn’t really perceive himself as a religious man, he came upon himself wondering if a God existed, and if he did; did he care? As David thought some more on the subject, the light turned green; he drove forward, the father’s words stuck in his mind, “You’re not from here are you?” He had no way of answering that question, he may never answer it. David decided he would use this task the controllers had given his…His mission, to bargain for information, or official documentation of his identity. He kept driving, he had little idea of what event preceded him; but he fully intended to use this time to do well; he’d given in act of charity, he would try to do more to help; but what could he do?
David had driven for several more minutes; he’d driven into the south of the cities outer suburbs. It was different; the only light came from rusting street lights, traffic lights hung, unused, the green light continuously blinked, the street was worn, and cracked, the pathway was cracked with weeds growing between the cracks. He saw an orange figure just a few hundred yards up the road; he drove further and stopped in front of it. The range glow was a metal cross on top of a spire; he was standing outside the old church. Probably abandoned years earlier, the church was dark, the windows were somewhat intact, the large wooden door was crack and splintered, David looked behind him across the street; there was a street long line on old shops, boarded up or with shutters down, they were derelict; David turned back to face the church, a small humorous notion came to mind. The notion that the derelict state of the church and an apparent lack of faith in “the Lord” had caused downfall of the surrounding area was “God’s” punishment. David then thought of a more reasonable answer to the location situation; that the church was abandoned when the area the church served became a run-down with a Post-apocalyptic appearance.
David approached the church, he walked up the path; he heard a rustling behind him, he turned and drew his Glock; a small black figure came into view and stopped, it stared at David. It was a dog; David turned around and looked up. He scanned the window, the dog hurried off, David’s head turned to watch him leave; he then looked back up at the church. Though the intact window overlooking the road, he saw a pale face looking down at his, David stepped back and aimed his Glock, the face chuckled and disappeared. David aimed at the church’s door and advanced carefully; he pushed the door open with ease, he didn’t care that its hinges crackled and screeched as he pushed it, whoever was inside already knew he was there, and it was obvious; human nature; curiosity would make him set foot inside the church. He felt like an innocent teen from a horror; as he stood inside, he could hear himself going ‘Hello? Anyone here?’ he wasn’t dumb enough, instead he listened closely; chattering teeth, mumbling, and cracking floor panels. There were multiple hostiles inside the church. As he listened to them, he heard a new sound, intelligence, a real voice; ‘Ha-ha ha-ha, Welcome to death’, David paused for a moment, he felt fear, but it wasn’t the “impending doom” the voice had foreseen, David realised that he should have a chill down his spine; but it never came; he looked at his hands and it occurred to him. A sane man would die here, lost in a forgotten place, never to be remembered; but an insane man would survive; the occupants had found this place, it had driven them insane; he looked into the church, across the hall through the rows on benches was an old rusted monument to a religious figure; he took a few steps forward, he reframed from entering the hall, he would be an easy target.
Suddenly, David realised the chattering and mumbling had stopped, the insane laughter restarted from above. David felt movement behind him and turned to his right. A ghost of a man walked passed, looked at him, through him, he closed the church door and slowly turned to face David. David lifted his Glock and fired and single round into the man chest, the body fell against the wall and collapsed; movement, running from behind him; David swung around and flung out his right hand and fired two more rounds into the hall, he saw a shadowy figure fall over and crash into a bench. David chuckled, he enacted his new persona. The voice above growled, displeased as to the passing events. David stepped back slowly and reopened the church door, again the creaking hinges sounded.
‘You cannot leave!’ the voice above demanded
David chuckled; he knew he would have to maintain any dominance of this faceless voice if he were to survive.
‘Insanity is bliss’ David whispered creeping forward, he stooped and turned to his left, he carefully placed his steps as he followed the presumed route of his recent victim by the door. He found a spiral stair well and ascended; the stairs creaked and he could hear the movement, stuttering movement, pacing; the faceless voice was trapped. David ascended to the top, he was surrounded by darkness; he felt a shadow circling him; he stepped into the middle on the floor. Stumbling feet stopped ahead of David; A roar of footsteps; a grey figure charged at David. The figure lunged at David but was met his Pistol gripped fist and was knocked to the ground. The light shone on the floor and David looked down up his bloody faced opponent. An addict; skin and bones; weak. David pointed his pistol at the addict and examined it. It was a woman, David looked into her eye, they still had colour and live left within them; but her mind was gone, she was wasting away. Her feet were cut and bruised; he looked closer and noticed they were blackened; they were infected. David’s gaze returned to the women’s face; her skin, pale and bony. She no longer looked fearful, she stared at the gun as if it were salvation; she began to smile, her teeth were almost gone, they had become blackened and eaten by plaque. David aimed the Glock at her forehead, there was no opposition; she either wanted to die and saw him as a form of escape, or she knew these were her last moments.
David looked on, aiming the Glock; he looked away for a second and then back, her face was emotionless, no fear, no resentment, no anger, she didn’t even seem to acknowledge pain. David knelt down and held her face with his left hand.
‘Do you know the rogue? He’s an addict’ David asked
Her face remain emotionless but there was a sense of wonder in her eyes, as if she knew what he’d said but couldn’t speak a word. She turned and pointed at the religious monument; David wasn’t sure what she meant; but it had to be important; he hoped she wasn’t pointing at the monument because she was once a devout religious person whom was just pointing at something that meant a great deal to her former self. David walked away her, he didn’t need to kill her; he heard a growl, he turned to face her again, she was acting zombie-like; despite killing her being unnecessary; she seemed to want him to kill her. David lifted the gun and aimed at her; he took a few deep breaths and pulled the trigger. Her head jerked back and she fell backward and lay silent. He stood there silently; he was pondering his actions.