The war beneath the stars

THE NEXT DAY,

Artur stormed into Fabio's house, the faint scent of blood hitting him like a wave. His heart raced as he stepped through the chaos.

Broken furniture, splintered wood, the dark smears straining the walls. The silence was unnerving, a haunting stillness that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Then, he saw Fabio.

He was seated in the centre of the room. Bodies, dozens of them, lay sprawled around him in a heap. Their faces were eerily blank, yet unmistakably human. Blood pooled beneath them.

Fabio sat atop the pile, his broad shoulders hunched, his hands clutching two bodies close to his chest.They are the bodies of his friends, Ness and Andrew. His head was bowed, and his tears fell silently, mixing with the blood that stained his clothes. He looked like a fallen monarch grieving amidst the ruins of his kingdom.

"Fabio!" Artur choked out, his voice trembling as he stepped forward.

"What... What happened here? "

Fabio didn't respond at first. His breathing was uneven, as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. Slowly, he raised his head, revealing eyes that burned with mixture of sorrow and rage.

"They came for me" he whispered, his voice broken, " They came to kill me in my own home."

Artur's gaze darted to the bodies again. These weren't just random attackers. The scars on their skulls, the hollow look in their eyes, Artur recognized the signs. These were the controlled ones. Humans whose brains and spinal cords had been harvested and repurposed into obedient killing machines.

"But they failed," Fabio continued, his tone hardening. He looked down at the lifeless bodies in his arms, his fingers curling tightly around them.

"They were never my friends, why would my friends try to kill me?, they were just hollow shells. But they wanted me to believe it otherwise. They wanted me to feel the pain of losing them."

Artur stepped closer, his boots squelching in blood soaked floor.

"You killed them all" he said, though it wasn't a question.

Fabio rose to his feet. The bodies slipping from his grasp to join the pile below. His towering figure cast a long shadow over the carnage and in his eyes burned a defiance that sent chills down Artur's spine.

" This ends here!" Fabio said, his voice cold and unyielding.

Artur locked eyes with Fabio, his voice trembling as he asked, "You… you did all this with your bare hands, didn't you?"

Fabio's jaw tightened, and he nodded without a word, his expression cold and detached.

Artur's chest tightened. He had known Fabio's capability, but this was something else. The raw power, the sheer force it must have taken to take down so many controlled humans alone, was terrifying.

A sudden wave of urgency crashed over Artur. He rushed to the door, slamming it shut and locking it with a loud click. His fingers fumbled for a moment as he drew the heavy curtains over the blood smeared windows, cutting off any line of sight from the outside.

"No one can see this," Artur hissed, turning back to Fabio. His eyes darted nervously around the room. "If they find out what you did here…"

Fabio's voice cut through like ice. "Let them come. I'm not hiding."

Artur, glancing again at the bodies. "You don't understand, Fabio. We don't have time for bravado. We need a plan now."

-TO BE CONTINUED.