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Rudo slowly opened his eyes. The air felt thick, and he was having trouble breathing. Was he really going to have the misfortune of not dying from the fall, only to suffer a slow and painful death instead?
Despite what his body was telling him, Rudo sat up, only to see an endless sea of garbage. Rudo got to his feet, but fell to his knees when his ribs protested. Rudo grabbed his side. They were probably not broken, but he would definitely have several bruises.
With great effort, he managed to stand up, staggering as he felt the air stabbing into his lungs.
In the distance, he saw the garbage creaking and rising in several places at once. Rudo's blood ran cold as he watched the garbage come to life, turning into enormous beasts that began approaching him. Rudo felt something rise up his throat and doubled over to vomit, but all that came out was blood.
Whatever was in the air was killing him. Was this really the end? Devoured by those beasts?
Images of Regto flooded his mind. No, he couldn't die until he had avenged Regto. Rudo looked around and spotted a half-rusted pipe. He approached it and pulled it out of the rubble, gripping it like a weapon.
One of the beasts started running toward him. Rudo didn't flinch. He tightened his grip on the pipe and, when the beast got close enough, he jumped and, with all his strength, swung the pipe at it, causing part of its face to crumble.
Rudo landed, rolling carelessly through the rubble, and as soon as he could get back on his feet, the beast charged at him again. This time, Rudo managed to hit it more accurately and cut off its head. The beast fell, and Rudo dropped to his knees, letting the weapon fall beside him while grabbing the collar of his shirt in the hope of letting more air in, since he felt like he was suffocating as more blood spilled from his mouth.
But it was all in vain, because the beast began getting back up. Rudo was speechless. He had fought so hard, and yet he was still going to die a pathetic death. Rudo felt dizzy and fell onto his side, every breath feeling like he was breathing in shards of glass.
Lying on his side on the ground, he saw a creature hiding underneath the garbage. It ran toward him, practically climbing on top of him. That was when he realized it was a human, wearing a gas mask and a cloak to camouflage himself among the garbage. He covered Rudo, and when the beast looked around for him but couldn't find him, it left.
Once the beast had gone, the man moved away from Rudo a little and shifted him so that he was lying on his back. Rudo was already beginning to struggle against unconsciousness, but he managed to see the man take a mask from his bag and put it on Rudo.
The moment it was on, Rudo took a huge breath of air. His lungs still hurt, but now he could breathe more easily.
The man ran a hand through Rudo's hair.
—Man— Poor thing. You were having trouble breathing, weren't you? The air here is toxic. Besides, it's a miracle you're still alive after falling from the Sphere. Come on, rest. You've been very lucky.
Rudo's eyes felt incredibly heavy, and he neither could nor wanted to resist closing them.
When he began to open them again, he felt something digging into his stomach. Once he opened his eyes and cleared his mind, he realized that the same man was carrying him over his shoulder. Rudo tried to move, but to his surprise, he realized that his wrists and legs had been tied.
—Rudo— LET ME GO!
Rudo's growl was muffled by the mask, and when he saw that the man didn't even flinch, Rudo tried to struggle. Eventually, the man seemed to get fed up and dropped Rudo onto the ground without much care, before speaking into his collar.
Rudo could feel his breathing coming out in whistles, and his lungs still burned.
A few minutes later, some vans approached, and several men got out. For a few moments, they stared at Rudo like he was a specimen.
One of them approached to remove his mask while tilting his face upward so everyone could see him. The others removed theirs as well.
—Subject— What did I tell you? It's a live Sphere-kid.
The man then looked at Rudo and, seeing his confusion, crouched down.
—Subject— We've never been able to see someone like you because the fall always kills them.
With a growl, Rudo moved away from the person holding his face.
—Rudo— Then why did you tie me up?
—Subject— Don't get so grumpy after what you people do to us. You dump all your shit down here, and that garbage kills people by crushing them, creates toxic air, and creates those beasts. The clothes and corpses of Sphere-kids sell really well, so I don't even want to imagine how much a living one would be worth.
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They tied Rudo to the vans with his arms behind his back.
—Subject— Better this way. He won't escape. —He looked at Rudo.— What's wrong? Are you hungry?
The man got into the truck and pulled some rotten meat and other things Rudo couldn't even identify from his pocket. With his other hand, he forced Rudo's jaw open and shoved the disgusting food into his mouth.
—Subject— What's wrong? Don't you like it? Of course. You rich pieces of shit probably only eat refined food.
Rudo snapped and bit down on the man's fingers along with all the disgusting food. With a pull, he tore the meat away and started eating everything from the floor of the truck.
The man stumbled backward and fell on his ass, while a companion rushed over to bandage his fingers.
Another man entered behind the crowd. He was quite tall and muscular. After Rudo had eaten everything, he approached him and punched him in the face. For an instant, everything went black as Rudo fell onto his side and was kicked in the ribs. Rudo groaned and curled in on himself.
The man knelt down and grabbed Rudo by the hair to put some kind of muzzle on him before roughly letting him go.
Rudo remained lying there while everyone left and closed the truck door, plunging Rudo into darkness.
Rudo got up when they opened the van door, and the light blinded him for a few moments. A man appeared and entered carrying a bucket. He dumped more of that garbage in for him to eat, then stood in front of him and held up a bottle of water.
Rudo barely managed to sit halfway up when the man poured the water over him, and, desperately thirsty, Rudo tried to drink as much of it as he could.
Then he watched the man leave the truck.
—Rudo— And how am I supposed to eat with this thing on my face?
The man turned around.
—Man— That's not my problem.
The man left, but he left the door open. Rudo could see that they were no longer where they had been and had moved somewhere else. He then looked at the food and, his pride wounded, lowered himself toward the floor to try to get some of the food through the gaps and then eat it.
After eating what he could, some time later Rudo began to feel heavy, with his head feeling like it was filled with cotton. He simply lay down, feeling everything becoming distant from him, and that's when he put the pieces together: they had drugged him.
After a while, the man from before returned. Rudo growled at him, showing all his fury through his eyes, but the man didn't even flinch and simply crouched beside Rudo.
The man lifted Rudo's coat and began examining him. Rudo felt uncomfortable. He didn't want anyone touching him, especially when he couldn't defend himself. Whenever the man touched a bruise, Rudo squirmed uselessly while growling.
—Man— Shhh, stay still or I'll hurt you. I'm only making sure you don't have any injuries that could kill you before I sell you.
Once the man finished examining him, he left, and the door was closed behind him.
Maybe because of the darkness, or because his head felt like it was filled with cotton, Rudo couldn't tell exactly how many days had passed. They would come into the truck, give Rudo water and that food, then return a while later to see if he had eaten. If he hadn't, they would force-feed him, although afterward his stomach would twist with pain. Sometimes, when they opened the door, there would be strangers who would stare at him for a while and then talk to the man whose fingers he had bitten.
That day, they had already come in and given him his food, so Rudo simply hoped that no one else would open the door. He just lay on his side, staring at some distant point.
Suddenly, the door opened again, and this time there was more than one visitor. The person talking to the kidnapper was a tall man with blond hair, covered in tattoos. He wore a mischievous smile, while beside him stood two boys, perhaps a few years older than him. One had blue earrings and strange eyebrows, held a stick, and had a somewhat annoyed expression. Between them was a red-haired girl who stared at him intently, but Rudo had no idea what was going through her head.
They spent a few moments talking with the kidnapper, but Rudo couldn't make out what they were saying very well because of the cotton-like feeling in his head. He could only manage to half-sit up and glare at them furiously.
In a fleeting instant, the three of them attacked the kidnappers. Rudo was confused. It seemed like he had dissociated for a few moments, and these people had defeated all the men.
The blond man climbed into the truck, approaching Rudo with a serious expression. Rudo backed away slightly, but the man didn't hesitate and came close enough to start untying his hands. Rudo flexed his fingers, but his arms, which felt incredibly heavy, fell limply at his sides, and he stared intently at the man.
Rudo wanted to run, but even if he had wanted to, his legs wouldn't respond, and his vision felt distorted.
The man brought his hands toward Rudo's face, and he tried to move away, but once again, the man didn't stop until he grabbed the muzzle's strap and removed it.
The blond man looked Rudo up and down before lifting him into his arms, letting his head rest against his shoulder as he carried him out of the truck and they walked away.
Rudo tried to stay awake, but... just like everything else in his body, his efforts failed him, and he fell unconscious.