She had to get out, she could not get enough air. The room was completely drowned in darkness, the black pressed against her eyeballs like an actual physical force. Or maybe it was panic that made her blood vessels inflate in the vain attempt to get more adrenaline pumping in her organism. “Fight or flight” reflex, she somehow fished in her brain. Her eyes flickered from left to right, but she had nowhere to hide, nowhere to flee, as for the fight… Who ? She was alone, in darkness and silence, her only opponents. She clenched her fists. If she couldn’t fight or flee, she could at least try and find a way out. Her fingertips slid against the wall, rough and humid underneath her palms. Then finally, some kind of lever. She gasped when a slight crack opened in the wall, letting in what looked like a single ray of sunshine. It pierced through the darkness like a dagger, and she felt an inappropriate joy running through her at the idea of having a weapon, as metaphorical as it seemed. Her smile slipped from her face when she saw what was suddenly lit up. Fingernails, grey and wrinkled knuckles. A severed hand laid on the moist and dirty floor, but it was less the sight of the blood than the little blue star tattooed between the thumb and the index finger that made her feel sick.

She closed her eyes and smelled the mixture of sweat and candle wax. She saw, the confined room filled with people, their faces covered in dust except around their eyes, they looked like superheroes. And really, they felt like they were indeed superheroes, trying to change the world for the better, rebels. She heard the laughter that had erupted in the tiny room when 11 took out a small bottle from his pocket, like a magician extracts a rabbit from his hat.

‘Come ‘round ladies and gentlemen,’ he had shouted, ‘there is plenty enough for everybody !’

Two weeks later they were all branded with a night blue star, each of them an insignificant part of the constellation of heroes they were already picturing.

Three days later, ten stars were dead. It was only the beginning. Their war against the Tower was looking more and more like the collision between a galaxy and a black hole from which nothing escaped, no hope, no life, no dreams.

She opened her eyes and followed with her gaze the thread of light that pierced the dark, and realized the futility of it. She looked around, darkness enwreathing her. She was inside the black hole. She had lost.

A door she didn’t even know existed opened. A slender figure appeared in the doorway, surrounded by two smaller shadows.

‘Stay outside,’ ordered the figure, just a few decibels above a whisper. His tone was in direct contradiction with the menacing pose, the voice was soft, almost sugary. She saw the two shadows sway uncertainly. ‘The procedure…’ one of them started.

‘I wrote the procedure,’ interrupted the figure. ‘I can do whatever I want with it, even wipe myself, is that clear ? Now scoot.’ It’s like the sugar had completely melted under a freezing shower, leaving behind only a cold metal skeleton in the voice, one that didn’t leave any room for protest. The shadows understood and the door let out a piercing sound when it closed after them. She heard footsteps approaching slowly, then the figure got revealed little by little as he approached the source of light. The shine of a waxed shoe, the reflection in a belt loop, the strap of a holster, a freshly ironed shirt. No tie. A long and pointed nose, a mocking grin, a mop of jet black and elegant hair. And eyes… If she had thought she could live to see another day, they would have haunted her for a long time. They were grey, pierced with daylight, painted with underlying hatred they looked less like a fresh water source than white-hot steel.

‘Hello,’ he said simply, his grin widening. She could not believe he managed to make fun of her with a greeting, yet here it was. ‘Nothing like the stench of fear and blood in the morning, am I right ?’

He was now standing only a few feet from her, but it seemed like they were miles apart, a pit of security and ease between them. The illusion faded when he extended a hand for her to shake, ‘This is useless, but only polite. For you, I’ll be Executor X.’ When nothing seemed to happen, without losing his composure, he took out an electric Gun. The sound it produced when the man turned it on was barely audible but it made her skin crawl. Nevertheless, she didn’t move. He rose an eyebrow and all of a sudden the woman’s cheek was burning, aching under the impact of the man’s hand he was apparently tired of reaching out.

‘Did no one ever tell you you’re not supposed to hit a woman ?’ she managed to spit out, finding bravery who knows where, perhaps somewhere in the giant and dark abyss that had appeared in her stomach.

‘Ah, that’s quite right,’ the scary grin was back. ‘But I see no woman,’ the Executor added, squinting his eyes. ‘Sneaking in basements of buildings it shouldn’t have access to, stealing goods that don’t belong to it… I’d say maybe a rat, but certainly not a woman. Nice to meet you.’ He held out his hand again, this time she grasped it. When after a few seconds the man still hadn’t released her, she realized the mistake she had just made.

He crouched in front of her, and despite his apparent nonchalance he didn’t even soil his spotless clothes with the brackish water stagnating on the floor. She could have been impressed by it if she had been less busy panicking in her head. She stared in the man’s eyes, unable to understand. Nothing could be as light nor as bright inside a black hole, it didn’t make sense. She had the feeling she was in on a secret, that she had found the meaning of life. Then he blinked, and he was once again the bastard that would make of her existence a living hell, if he let her live at all.

‘What exactly were you looking for, mh ?’ He was speaking softly, because he was a few inches from her face, but mostly because he seemed like he wanted to coax her into spilling the beans, his fingers applying a gentle pressure between her knuckles. The woman’s gaze fell again on the Gun he was still holding in his left hand and her eyes hardened. She wouldn’t say anything, she knew it, and he seemed to realize it at the same time as her.

‘Too bad,’ he said with an air of finality, before his face contorted in anger and his hand broke the bones in the woman’s fingers in a sinister crack. She didn’t even let out a single sound, the pain was to huge for her to take it all in.

Meanwhile, the Executor had gotten up, had dusted invisible dirt from his clothes and had moved towards the center of the room.

‘I wanted it to suffer the same fate as that one’ he said, pointing vaguely to the putrid looking hand, ‘but it’s better that way.’ I think I have enough samples for now anyway. Wanna see something wicked ?’ He walked over to the darkness and disappeared a while in it. He came back holding an orange box, which he placed on the floor near the severed member. He took out a pair of gloves from one of his pockets and slipped them on skilfully, a kid’s smile on his face when he heard the snapping of latex on skin. He put the hand in it, and approached the woman with the open box.

And there it laid, amongst the other hands, wrists, feet and ears, countless limbs each marked with a small star. She wanted to look away but wasn’t able to. He had enough to fill the Milky Way in his box.

‘Yes I think I have enough to send a little gift to your vermin friends. Hell, I’ll leave it by the front door, I’m sure they’ll find it, won’t they ? So much to steal what doesn’t belong to them, they might as well learn what happens to thieves who get caught. Perhaps you thought we were going to lock you up, so you could just carry on your miserable and pathetic lives in the comfort of the Tower ?’ He started to laugh, but it never reached his eyes. ‘I don’t think so. Who knows, maybe some will get the message. I’m afraid it’s too late for you though.’

He took out the Gun once again from its holster. ‘It’s been a pleasure,’ and without an ounce of hesitation pulled the trigger. The flash flared up, sharp, bright, so powerful.

He drew closer, saw the vessels in the woman’s eyes burst, her lips turn blue, a thin reddish stream escaping from them. And like that, she was gone.