Breaking the 4th

“Shatter, can you hear me?”

Familiar fonts of the subtitles floated through clearly despite the blurry vision, tugging at Shatter’s stirring consciousness to the surface. A hand on her shoulder shook her gently, coaxing her body out of numbness.

“...Mmnnhh…”

Shatter’s response to the question came out in a slurred groan. She had meant to say Stop shaking me. But her tongue felt like a block of lead and was not cooperating to form proper speech.

“Thank god, I thought you were dead.” he breathed out heavily.

His voice was coming through clearer now, and the girl was able to recognize the some emotions in his tone. Almost immediately, a name clicked into place.

“...Hyun?”

This time her speech allowed for a coherent syllable. Shatter squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and opened once again, blinking a few times to work the blur out of her vision. Hyun’s face came into focus, and she saw a flurry of emotions in his expression.
Worry, scared, anxious, relief…

She motioned him to help her sit up and he complied, supporting her shoulders as she gingerly pushed herself upright. Aches and pains greeted her from this new movement and Shatter couldn’t help but wince.

“Shit…”

“Take it easy, you’re hurt pretty bad.” Hyun said.

That earned him a sideways glare to display her lack of amusement. Which he elected to ignore and continued on with his ever-so keen observation skills.

“You wouldn’t move even a bit. Not once while you were lying there, like a dead body.”

A raspy groan rolled out of her as a loud crack sounded from her stiff neck.
“If I were dead, I wouldn’t hurt so much.” Shatter grunted back.

Finally she looked around their surroundings. Immediately she was confused.

There was no doubt or question that they were still in the church; the style of architecture was consistent at least. But now Shatter found herself sitting amongst a pile of rubble, directly below the magnificent stained glass window. From the short distance she could see, she saw that she was sprawled out on some high-raised platform. While her mental status was still questionable, she was fairly positive this isn't where she keeled over.
“Where are we?” she asked.

“I don't know.” Hyun said. “All I know is you passed out and next moment we were...here.”

Her thoughts were finally coming together now, and she began to remember bits and pieces of her dream...no, they weren't dreams...

“Somewhere safe…” Shatter muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Did you say something?” Hyun asked.

The girl looked around her once more, trying to quiet the feeling of doom growing in her gut.
“No, it’s nothing.” Shatter replied. “We shouldn’t stay here for too long. Let’s go.”



She fell still, her breath caught in her throat as the foreign voices drifted into hearing in soft hollow whispers. It resonated, not outward into the air but rather deep into her core. Eerie, cold and unnatural. And absolutely terrifying.



Her body felt as light as a sack of stones in mud as she trailed behind Hyun, struggling to keep even her current dragging pace. She felt as if she was partly sedated; the sensation similar to what she remembered her last oral surgery felt like. They had shot her up with so much novacaine that she couldn’t feel anything below her eyes.

“Shatter…”

Shatter lifted her eyes from the ground that had held her full attention and looked around. Hyun was looking at her, a troubled look clouding his handsome face.
Really… who was this guy. What was he, a model? Who else has skin that…pretty?

Perhaps she was scowling just a few seconds too long because the Korean waved a hand in front of her face, as if that was an efficient test of focus.

“What…” Shatter mumbled hollowly. “Why did we stop?”

Hyun raised an eyebrow and threw a pointed thumb over his shoulder.
“Another dead end.”



“Dead… Dead end.” she echoed.



“End, end. End it all, end it all…” Shatter heard herself mindlessly mutter under her breath.

“What?”

“Huh,”

“You said something just now.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did---”



“---I heard you; something about ending…What did you say?”



“No, nothing; mind your business!” Shatter snarled through her teeth. The menace that dripped on her tone startled her and she inhaled sharply.
Hyun stared at her, wide-eyed and visibly bewildered.
“I… I’m sorry. I’m not… I didn’t…” Shatter stammered, guilt flooded her in a merciless wave. She couldn’t look at him, and her eyes fell down to her palms. It was then she realized her hands were trembling.

What was happening to her?

“Let’s take a small break.” Hyun suggested, speaking cautiously. “You shouldn’t push yourself too much…”
Shatter grimaced. He was acting like he was walking on eggshells around her.

“I’m okay.” She insisted, only to receive a dubious look. “Just give me a minute to get my head on straight.”

Shatter inhaled, dropped down to the ground and exhaled before pressing her face into her hands.
Relax. Calm down. Just take a step back and breathe. she told herself. Regain control. Assess.

She lifted her face out of her hands as she found herself falling back onto the ordered system that was drilled into her.
Scene Safety, BSI. Shatter glanced around her immediate surroundings. Everything was the same old crumbling stone foundation, nothing new. But she deemed it safe...for now.
As for BSI… Shatter looked down at herself and saw the dark bloody stain of her shirt. Maybe it was a bit too late for bodily substance isolation.

Speaking of which…

Shatter glanced over at Hyun, and then at his arm. She never got to patch him up...maybe now would be a good time.
“Hyun, how’s your arm?” she asked.

Her companion frowned, and lifted his injured arm up to take a closer look.
“It wasn’t a big deal; it had stopped bleeding.” he said. He pushed his sleeve up and hissed in pain.
“Shit… it opened up again.”

Shatter saw a dribble of dark red trail down his forearm and drip off his fingertip. As if to be in slow-motion, a single drop fell, forming a perfect sphere as it descended, before hitting the stone ground with a thick splat.



The scattered voices suddenly seemed to shift focus in unison, and suddenly they were louder than ever.



I wonder, Shatter thought, her focus growing heavy. What would happen if I---

She got up, approached Hyun. He glanced up from his arm as she came closer.
Before he could speak, Shatter lunged forward and jammed her claw-like hand through his chest.
His sternum crunched easily, muscles and tissue shredded as her fingertips found the smooth curve of his aorta.
Hyun let out a strangled gasp, followed by a wet gurgle. He slumped right into her, and she felt him grab at her sleeves, scratching weakly like a dying animal.

The warm blood splashing at her feet, the strong smell of rust and the frail, rapid palpitations of his heart… it was intoxicating.

Shatter felt her lips curl up into a cruel smile. She leaned her head back and let out a laugh.

...Click-click-click.