Chapter 306 - Stay With Me
At this point and time, Gary was just far too upset to care about whether Kirk recognised him. In fact, in some way the teenager felt that he needed the Altered to be aware of it, to see who had been the one to fight and defeat him, and how much Gary regretted it.
The high schooler had decided to agree to Kai's plan, yet when he had killed all those orphans, it had felt like the only way to save them, but this… this seemed liked a complete waste, a misunderstanding that could have somehow been avoided…
Aware of the kind of injury he had dealt the Altered, Gary had felt as if someone as if someone had plunged a knife into his heart before, but now, seeing the way Kirk looked at him, with just a tiny smirk on his face, yet without any blame in his eyes, it felt like someone had twisted it.
“I-I didn't mean to, Kirk… I didn't mean for a-any of this to happen!” Gary sniffled between his words, tears rolling down the face on to the Altered. “E-everything started going wrong that d-day when I was supposed to d-deliver that package. I-I didn't steal it, I swear!
“Instead of the c-client, there were those gangsters who attacked me… and I-I somehow turned into this. W-whatever was in the package did t-this to me, but it was impossible to explain. D-damion would have killed me for sure! T-there was nothing left in the suitcase and the g-gangsters they were… they were… so I went into hiding…” After telling his part of the tale, Gary started to trail off.
He didn’t know why, but the Werewolf felt compelled to explain to the Altered how everything came to be, and how they ended up in this situation. Gary felt extremely guilty of how things had turned out. When speaking though, he realised it meant nothing. All of those things that happened to him, why did it mean Kirk had to end up this way.
“I understand, Greeny.” Kirk eventually spoke up. “I’ve seen people change after becoming an Altered, but you never seemed the type to hurt anyone because you wanted to. I’ve also heard rumours about how the Pincers let go half of their working staff, and I bet that you had a hand in that now I know who you are. Even I thought those rumours had to be false.
“I could feel your desperate punch at the end, everything you have done so far seems to have been for the sake of survival.” After finishing his sentence, Kirk coughed, and a little blood escaped from his mouth.
“Don’t speak!” Gary shouted. “I’m going to save you!”
Checking through the system, Gary looked through the skills he had. There was the Alpha Bite, if he attempted to bite Kirk now, then he could turn him into a Werewolf. If that was the case, then perhaps eating some flesh would allow him to heal just like him.
Although Kirk was the enemy, he would be able to follow Gary.
[Skill activated Alpha Bite]
At that moment, Gary's eyes started to glow red, his canines lengthened, and he looked at Kirk’s arm that was mostly intact, and lifted it up. Without hesitation, this time, he bit right into it.
“Argh! You're trying to kill me quicker!” Kirk let out a dry joke. “I'm kidding, I barely even feel it any more.”
[Error: Alpha Bite is unable to be used]
‘What do you mean Error, you sh*tty system? Explain to me! Don't give me a skill and then tell me that there is an Error in the skill!’ Gary lifted Kirk's arm, and bit into it again in another spot.
[Error: Alpha Bite only works on human targets!]
Seeing the message twice, Gary let go of the arm and allowed it to drop to the ground. He was at a loss of what to do, and the second time he had bit into Kirk, the Altered didn't even make a noise. The Werewolf looked over to his idol, seeing that his eyes had blurred even more.
“Gary, are you still there?” Kirk asked, even though the teenager’s face was sticking out right in front of him. “I want to tell you something… I never wanted to do this. You know… I'm glad that I am the one that ended up like this and not you.
“I had always planned to let you go. The only reason why I was looking for you, was so I could hide you from Damion. You are a good kid, who was just unlucky to get born into this kind of world. You know… I saw you one day… when you left the hospital… I’m sorry, I didn’t arrive earlier… hope your mother recovers…”
“Stop speaking, Kirk, you have to survive! I'll take you to a hospital, I can run really fast, and they can save you!” Gary shouted back.
The truth was Gary was low on Energy, and on top of that, even if there were hospitals that could treat a wound like Kirk’s, it would be in one of the high tier cities, not Slough. The Altered was lucky that he had managed to survive until now, able to still speak.
“I wish… never became… Altered… too much…” Kirk spoke, yet his voice became weaker until it drifted off completely.
Gary hadn't even heard the reason he had decided to follow a scumbag like Damion, why he had worked so hard for that bastard, and now he had no breath at all. His heartbeat had already stopped completely.
“No Kirk, no!” Gary shouted again, as he started to push on his chest up and down. Honestly, Gary didn't know what he was doing, he was just trying to get his heart to beat back again. As he was pushing, he started to think back to all his interactions he had with Kirk, why was he so close to the man, a man that was mostly a stranger to him.
However, eventually Gary stopped because he knew it was useless. He knew that Kirk was dead.
[Optional Quest (Waste not want not) is still in progress]
The Quest screen came up as he looked over his idol’s body. Could he really eat someone he cared so much about?
‘If I leave his body here, what will happen, who will it go to? Although I’ve seen him fighting so many times, I’ve never heard him say anything about his family…’
There was something in his head, something prompting him to eat the body. When Gary thought about it more, he thought back to some of his lessons. How animals would eat their prey fully, as a sign of respect after fighting. Although he wasn’t the brightest person so maybe he had this confused with something else. Still, when those that would go hunting, it was rude to leave the dead bodies after killing them.
‘Kirk, I'm going to take a part of you, I'm going to take your body to make me stronger. That way, wherever I go, part of you will be with me. I promise I’ll use the strength your body gives me, to kill the person that was the cause of all of this!’ Gary silently swore, as he went and took his first bite of Kirk.