Everyone had gathered their things. This was a job, a job the Ventral family took without question, as usual, but quickly over time it became something they regretted. Core had begun creating clones to do his work. They were stronger, faster, and above all, easily replaceable. Everyone save for my old man and nephew Dillen are packed and ready to leave. Nephew Dillen and my old man… They're the demons we become when we have nothing left to lose. “Everybody packed!” I called out. We were in front of the gate to Core’s castle. Core had been replacing us with easily disposable copies for a while now, in the end we started talking about leaving… now just after my son’s wedding are we acting on it. We didn’t bring much with us in the first place and it feels like we’re taking even less.
More of our own were lost in our time with Core than the Ventral bloodline lived on earth in total.
Bang.
I looked at me feet, a hole from a .50 caliber was freshly made in front of me. I looked up, seeing my old man holding his .50 rifle. It was his first, and only, gun when he started work as a hitman back in his heyday. “Where do you think you lot are going?” He asked, his voice the same rusty scratch it’s always been, even when I was little.
“Retiring.” I said plainly.
“Heh. Good one boy. Josh, you know we don’t retire, we keep at it til we are clocked out or opt out. You may have had the red eyes but your brother Berry was the better of you two.”
“He’s been dead. We’re leaving pops.”
“Over our dead bodies.” Spoke a voice from behind the family group. Nephew Dillen. Was one of the best, if not also the worst. One thing I can admit, he took after his grandfather. Heartless and uncaring, never was interested in girls, cared only about what mission came next. He was holding his favorite weapon, a china lake.
“You two are out numbered.” I said. “We are leaving. Dad...Zeke…” Why little bro named his son after our old man is a mystery to me.
“You know it’s disrespectful to call your father by his name.” Dad wias with a monotone voice, taking an explosive round out of his pocket and putting it in the rifle. “There’s fifteen of you, two of us, but we got high end explosives, and the heartless, Unversed, and the experiments at the snap of the fingers. Take one more step forward and Dillen and I won’t hesitate.”
“No need for that gentleman.” Dad turned around, Core walking in from the front gate. Huh, that’s rare. “They are of no use, in the end it won’t matter if they die now or later. I advise you not to waste the energy though, traitors get what they deserve in due time.”
Dad grunted something before he stepped to the side, Dillen huffed before turning around and walking back to the castle behind us. “What’s with the save Core?” I ask, everyone else opening what will likely be the last DTD they will ever open to leave.
“Consider it your final paycheck. As I said, you’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough. Now leave, I have no use for you anyway, you’re easily replaceable with one of the copies.”
As Core and my old man walked back to the castle I took a look at the two for a while before opening a DTD myself and heading for my new home. A place for me to not need to kill to stay alive myself… heh. Well, guess nephew Zeke had the right idea in the end anyway.