Stranded in Thoughts

Chapter 13—The c*****e

It was almost night time and some of the passengers and crew were already gathering firewood from the woods. The whole area had been painted with velvet and scarlet red. It was a perfect canvas for us for the upcoming slaughter. They didn’t know that I was here, that we were here. They didn’t know that we were coming.

This time, I’d make sure to find the creator out of this large crowd that father failed to do.

I had recently become a thinker after being gauged and classified by Master to exceed the ten percent capacity of my brain, reaching a whopping fifty percent. She complimented me about how I possessed such talent, and it was my pleasure to always please her. If she was only some years younger, I’d surely marry her.

I loved my Master. I was obsessed with her. The feeling was greater than what the meaning of the word “love” carried.

There were three categories of thoughts to choose from; however, with the mission carved in me since I was born, I chose to have the one in the red margin.

I was a burster.

And this was what happened on the barge.

It was fun when I visited one of the crew’s cabins and pretended to ask for his help during the seaquake. I could still remember the sweet smile he gave me, happy that he could be of help with my dilemma. Little did he know that I was there to have fun. He was not on my kill list, but my hands were itching to burst someone at that time.

I whispered something under my breath and a thought shot out from my temple; however, it didn’t expand around the area—it just coated my skin in crimson red. This was the drawback of being a burster; my thought was too small to the point that I basically had to touch my enemies to burst them.

I couldn’t forget the confused expression he threw at me after I initiated my thought. He might have perceived it; he might have been a pothink.

I approached him slowly and returned his smile. Lucky for him, I returned a much better one. The slow and gradual horror that was manifesting in his expression made the little fun I was craving for a bit more satisfying. I lightly touched his back, and all at once, he stopped and shivered in horror. Yes, I couldn’t forget the joy I felt once I knew he was scared.

Fear me. Oh, dear, keep fearing me.

With my peaking joy, I burst him into smithereens. The blood and torn skin that splattered all over the room made me c*m. Uh, I had reached my peak and I could still feel the joy and satisfaction. However, I was not yet done.

I was still itching.

I went to the captain’s cabin and found out he was seated on his armchair, talking to the radio, announcing something about the seaquake that was happening.

The realm was changing.

Once I found the one who would take over the realm, I’d surely force him or her to transfer it to Sir. I’d do anything in my power to steal it. I’d do anything for Master.

I did the same pretentious act that I had done in the crew’s cabin; however, he was not joyed that he could be of help. He just scolded me to go away. This made my veins thicker—my blood flowing faster up my head.

He was not happy that I was asking for help. He was not thankful.

The seaquake stopped, and he snatched the radio from the panel. He was saying something to the passengers through it when the boat started shaking again. But it was different. It was a vertical quake that sent us up the roof where I hit my head clean on a metal tube that almost cost me my consciousness.

I dropped and hit the floor hard and writhed in pain. I was fighting between the thin line that was keeping me from passing out. I put my weight against the metal wall and grabbed a peg to hoist myself up and still my footing. The barge became silent. Everyone must have been taken out from that big quake.

The takeover of the realm was almost done. I needed to find the person fast.

I found the captain lying on the floor, almost lifeless. I grabbed him by the hem of his jacket and threw him back on his armchair. The jacket annoyed me for a reason, so I ripped it from him and threw it to the floor.

My itch that time was already climbing up my throat.

With a swift motion, I wrapped my hands around his neck and initiated a thought. Before bursting him, I made sure that he was awake for me to see the expression upon his face.

I tightened my grip and shook his head rather violently. It took a couple more minutes before he opened his eyelids wide. He was choking for some air as I kept on tightening my hold around his neck. With a satisfactory smile—after seeing the terror on his face—I burst his neck, only the neck part, keeping his head whole and undamaged for some presentation, leaving the whole neck area a mess of veins, blood, and drooping skin.

I came for the second time. I could already feel my pants wet.

Everything was perfect if not only for a certain someone who barged in. Our conversation and actions in the captain’s cabin went like this:

 “Oh, you’re here.” A voice behind almost startled me.

“Don’t you dare butt in,” I growled at him as I picked up the head that rolled to the metal flooring.

“And why would I? I’m here to have some fun myself.”

I bared my teeth and pinned him by the neck against the metal door. “That’s butting in,” I whimpered.

“O—oh, please. Wh—what are you going to d—do? Are you going to bu—burst me, too? Imagine how would Ma—Master react to th—that.”

A sudden regret took over my soul, and soon enough, I let him go. He stretched his neck and did some jumping jacks as if taunting me. He surely had some guts to come over here carelessly.

“Now, I need to air out. Let me unleash some here, can’t I?” he requested in a mocking voice. If only not for Master, he’d surely be not standing there with his head still intact.

“Wait for me to be out. I’ll go back to the cabin.”

He smiled at me, showing his braced teeth, and a crimson thought expanded from his temple. He raised his hands in pointed fingers. “Tell the rest that I’ll be right back.”

The moment I closed the door at him, he started slashing all over the chamber. The chaotic sound almost reached our cabin once I reported back for some coffee.

Damn the slashers. Weak-ass thinkers.

He returned, holding something. “Hey, I know she’ll need a model, so I snatched it.”

“I hope you didn’t move the head. If you did, then I’ll send you back to Master in pieces.”

“Come on, I’ll never do such a thing. Here, it’s still bloody, but it will do. Kindly give it to her once she returns.”

And that was how it all happened.

Anyway, people had already set a campfire at the shore and all of them were happy about it. If only they knew what was coming.

Time to play my role.

† † †

She had been walking around the area—observing. I needed to wipe her out of this world now. I knew for some reason that she was not the creator. I needed to kill her, here and now.

After a few minutes, she went inside her tent.

She had done her part already.

The plan was simple. Kill everyone on the shore.

Well, not really everyone. We were too late to do that since some already went inland. Anyway, it would not be that long before Sir would kill them all. As if we were leaving someone here alive. We had done this before, and we would do it again. Not exactly us, but the first generation years ago where Sir had been a member before. Now, he was our mentor who was leading the current generation, and he was just around the island, searching for the rest of the passengers who went inland after I had told him what I had done to the captain.

And I was surprised that he didn’t get mad at me.

The number of people around the shore was still the same. That weak-ass slasher could easily s***h them to death, but his reach was short. Having a two-meter diameter thought was the same as a joke. That was why slashers were some weak-ass thinkers. I knew that I was not one to say, but the part that he was a weak ass was true.

Each of my comrades started going inside some tents, already starting the c*****e. I could hear some screams that gave an itch on my neck and palms. I needed to burst someone now.

I noticed two figures coming from the woods. Oh, lucky me. I approached them with my act and started to converse. The man told me they had returned because the woman he was supporting had been feeling an itch all over her body. I could see a lot of rashes as well.

However, her itch was nowhere near mine.

I held both their arms and gave them a smile, which turned to something much more beautiful and pleasurable. The look of terror on their faces motivated me more.

They burst slowly to fragments, like how a balloon full of water would when popped. Oh, the ecstasy. I loved this feeling.

My pants were now wetter than before.

I soon moved to one of the tents near the coconut-looking trees. The current creator must have been weird, creating some of these odd-looking trees.

I went inside and found four people having a card game.

They invited me over and I joyfully joined them. They told me that I’d need to add a consequence to the game for it to be more fun.

“How ‘bout this, if I’ll not lose the first round, all of you will die here. Sounds good?”

They all stopped in their tracks and gave me a serious look. A few moments later, they laughed their asses off and just said, “Sure, sure. Have your way.”

I didn’t lose and all of them blasted off in pieces after I touched each of them. Their intestines were wonderfully hanging from the wood stands, festooning the whole room rather beautifully.

I went out and stumbled upon a bald man. He cursed under his breath and told me to go away.

Wrong move, fatty.

I lightly touched him, and his eye sockets burst in wonderful bloody sprays. He dropped to the ground, disappointing me. He was not even worth the kill.

I went inside a larger tent where the crew members were resting. I went with my act and they all congregated around me, curious to what help I wanted from them. I initiated a thought and burst all their insides, keeping their body parts intact. The blood that flowed from every hole of their bodies was satisfying to look at.

My pants got sticky now.

I roamed around and eeny-meeny-miny-moed the next tent. I saw the weak-ass slasher went out from a tent with lots of holes and slashes. He noticed me and gave off an annoying smile. If he didn’t get out of my sight for the following seconds, he would surely have his head blasted off.

I had finally chosen the next tent and went inside it. There, on a piece of intricate chair that must have been salvaged from the barge, sitting in a well-poised manner while writing something, was teacher Mary. She looked at my direction and closed her notebook with a sigh.

“What are you doing here? It’s almost dark outside,” she sternly said.

I wore my sheep’s clothing and acted out. “I just want to use the comfort room, but I can’t find where it is.”

She sighed for the second time and approached me in a controlled gait. “Wait here, I’m going to call someone outside to guide you.”

Here, I blocked her on the way and gave her a sweet smile that almost cost me my pride. “No, please don’t. I’d rather appreciate it if you will accompany me.”

She gave me a suspicious look and finally relented. “Alright.”

We went outside. The horizon was now turning bloodier than before. What a beautiful scenery. What a perfect scenery for this c*****e.

I joyfully hopped with her and noticed her gazing around the tents where we killed some people. She was growing more suspicious as we walked past more tents. We arrived at the makeshift comfort room and she instructed me to use it fast, but it looked like more of an order to me.

I hated it, but I just let her do her things for a while. After all, she’d be dead right after I emptied my bladder. When I was done, I hopped back to where she left me. It was time to drop the act now.

She was gone.

Hey, hey. Don’t joke around. Where did that b***h go now? Well, there was no need to panic. She sure couldn’t do anything by now.

I hummed my way back to her tent. I found her sitting on the same chair, still calmly writing something. Maybe she didn’t find out yet.

I approached her, and she told me to sit on her makeshift bed. I complied with puppy eyes. I let her stretch her way for some more seconds before I burst her boobs out. I wanted those flippy fats to be carved out first, before bursting her to shards of meat and blood.

“What are you doing there?” I asked. Twenty more seconds before bursting.

“Just writing something. I like to write my thoughts down when I’m not doing anything,” she stoically replied.

Thirteen seconds.

“Oh, really? Are you including me in that writing?”

Nine seconds.

“Try to guess.”

Five seconds.

“I hope you do because I’ve be—” I stopped midway of my speech. Something on her elbow caught my attention. I moved a little closer and found out it was blood.

She knew.

She turned my way, and with a stern look asked, “What in the bloody demon are you?”

I gave her a sly smile at first, then a wicked one, then a demonic laugh. I rolled over the sand and kept on laughing my lungs out while holding my belly, not caring a thing in the world. I crawled my way up the bed with my elbow and wiped the tears off my eyes.

She just looked at me with a blank expression.

Hey, that was not what I liked. I couldn’t kill you now if you wouldn’t show some fear, now could I?

She bravely approached me and held both my hands. The sudden action brought me temporarily immovable, and then she egged on, “Who are you? Were you the one who did...” she faltered.

“Hey, hey. Be careful there. Don’t touch me,” I growled. I couldn’t keep control of my voice anymore.

Everything that happened next was a blur.

She grabbed a piece of metal behind her salvaged table and swung it onto my head, hitting me hard. I dropped like a dead body, almost losing my consciousness. The corners of my eyes were starting to darken. I crawled my way next to the makeshift bed and patched my head with my hands to stop the sudden bleeding.

Shit, that metal had some protruding spikes on it.

I initiated a thought and jumped onto her, pinning her against the tarp of the tent. The whole thing collapsed and covered us, blocking our visions. I burst her within my grip; however, it was not activating. I pulled my hand near my chest only to find out I was holding the spiked metal piece all along.

That b***h got away.

I scrambled out of the fallen tent and scavenged the vicinity—the dreadful silence confirmed it. She was nowhere around anymore. I pushed myself up and ran to each tent, checking where she could be hiding.

Two men in coveralls were on my way, laughing about their inside jokes. They bumped onto me and pushed me hard to the sand.

These losers would taste something that could only be tasted once.

I pushed myself up and initiated a thought. The blood that was flowing down my face was blocking my vision.

“Oh, damn. I’m sorry, man. I don’t intend to hurt you. Come here, let’s get you to the d—”

Too late.

I got to them fast and punctured their chests, leaving a bloody gap. Their hearts flew backward for some meters before decelerating to the sand. Their bodies followed suit.

I kicked both their corpses and spat on their faces.

“Hey, how’s your end?” The weak-ass slasher dashed my way as soon as he spotted me.

Control. I needed to control my rage. “You better not talk to me. I’m on my wits’ end.”

“Well, what could have upset you? Let me guess, someone hurt you, right?” he joyfully guessed, noting the flowing blood from my temple. It was not much of a guess, anyway.

“Don’t push my patience.”

“Relax, I’m just confirming your work for our report to Sir. Let’s be professional here, shall we?”

My palms started itching like never before. I needed to calm down. Calm down. Calm do—someone hit my back real hard, which almost made me fall to the sand. I turned around and stretched my arms, almost bursting the intruder. I stopped midway as soon as I recognized her.

“Hey! How are you two? Did you do your things well?” the intruder gleefully asked.

“I’m done on my end. The twins also finished theirs. I still didn’t hear a report from him, though,” the weak-ass slasher stated, pointing my way.

“And why would it be?”

“We are in the middle of a conversation when you butted in. I think he was about to say something to me. What could it be?”

These two children of bitches didn’t give a damn. They couldn’t take a hint by how I shivered with rage and itch. They should have known. They should have noticed.

I bit my lips to calm myself and whimpered, “I’ve killed them all, except one.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve also accidentally let one slip my hands. I got his arm, though.” The weak-ass slasher comforted me as if it would help.

“Oh? Really? Well, that’s good! Master would be proud of you if you didn’t lose one. Don’t you think you failed your mission? You only have one job; to kill. Master would be really disappointed.”

Yes, yes. Keep giving me those fake smiles. As if I didn’t know that you were the most beloved student of Master and that I couldn’t touch a strand of your hair because of it.

She was the only one among us who obtained a sixty percent brain usage. The greatest thinker of us all. The most triumphant. The most skillful. And the most annoying.

Her thought was a step higher than mine. She could just initiate it and sit around, playing with those who were within her thought. That was how powerful she was. No approaching, no touching.

That was all because she was a goddamn controller.

She gestured for us to go inside the blue tent in the corner and she even offered seats. We settled ourselves and waited for what she was going to do.

“Here’s the thing, I’ve done my job already, and I also finished yours,” she said to me. She grabbed a backpack in the corner and pulled some things inside, one by one.

They were all mutilated heads of different persons with the expressions of horror and fear.

She settled each head finely on the table between us, like how a chef or head waiter would do when serving food to a customer.

First was of a woman with big eyes and pouty lips.

Next was of a man with bushy hair. Too bushy, almost looking like an afro.

Then another woman with a gaping mouth and gouged eye sockets.

The fourth one was a handsome man with his tongue ripped out and stitched on his right cheek. I noticed a baseball bat at the corner of the tent.

“And, for the main course, here it is! I caught her running off toward the woods just a moment before I approached the two of you.”

She meticulously, scrupulously set the last head in front of the rest. Her beautiful and stoic face was something that I couldn’t forget. Even in death, she still looked calm and well-poised.

You beat me, teacher Mary.