?The Weight Class

  ?The apple core hit the metal grating of the catwalk with a wet thud.

  Kane didn't assume a fighting stance. He didn't raise his hands. He just walked toward Elias, his footsteps echoing in the massive, freezing server farm. Thousands of blue LED lights blinked in the dark, casting long, strobing shadows across his scarred face.

  ?Elias backed up, his hands raised in a sloppy guard. His right leg throbbed where the bullet fragment had grazed him in the lobby. His ribs ached from the vent.

  ?"You're shaking," Kane noted. His voice was incredibly calm, almost soothing. It was the voice of a doctor about to deliver a lethal injection. "That's the adrenaline. The fear of what happens next. The burden of survival. It’s exhausting, isn't it?"

  ?Elias swung.

  It was a desperation punch, fueled by terror and momentum. He aimed for Kane’s jaw.

  ?Kane didn't even blink. He tilted his head a fraction of an inch. Elias’s fist cut empty air.

  Before Elias could recover his balance, Kane’s hand shot out. He didn't punch; he just grabbed Elias by the throat and squeezed.

  ?The world tilted. Elias's feet left the metal floor.

  Kane slammed him backward into a humming server rack.

  ?CRACK.

  The metal casing dented. Elias gasped, the air leaving his lungs in a violent rush. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision.

  ?"You fight like a man who is afraid of hurting someone," Kane said, holding Elias pinned against the steel. "Every time you swing, your brain runs a calculation. Is this right? Is this justified? What if I kill him? That hesitation is why you will die here."

  ?Kane dropped him.

  Elias hit the floor, coughing up a spatter of blood onto the pristine metal grating.

  ?"I don't... calculate," Elias wheezed, trying to push himself up on shaking arms.

  ?"You do," Kane said softly. He delivered a brutal, economic kick to Elias’s ribs.

  Elias curled into a ball, a sharp scream dying in his throat as a bone cracked.

  ?"You are burdened by conscience, Elias. Just like I used to be."

  ?The Bunker

  ?Elias rolled away, scrambling behind the next row of servers. The roar of the cooling fans masked the sound of his ragged breathing, but he knew Kane could track the blood trail.

  ?"I was a commander once," Kane’s voice floated through the aisles, unhurried. He was stalking him. "In a desert that doesn't exist on maps anymore. We were pinned down in a bunker. Five men. Rations for two. We were stuck there for twelve days."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ?Elias pressed his hand against his ribs, his fingers coming away wet. He looked wildly around the server aisle. Racks of blinking lights. Thick bundles of fiber-optic cables running along the ceiling. Large, frosted pipes pumping liquid coolant into the machines.

  ?Think, Elias. You can't out-punch him. Out-think him.

  ?"By day four, the hunger started to make them crazy," Kane’s voice continued. It was getting closer. "As their commander, it was my job to decide who ate. Every choice I made meant someone else starved. I looked into their eyes as I handed out the scraps. I watched them wither. I made the choices. And I hated myself for every single one."

  ?Kane stepped around the corner of the server rack. He looked down at Elias, who was backed into a dead end.

  ?"When The Consultant found me," Kane said, his eyes distant, "I had a gun in my mouth. I was so tired of choosing. The Consultant offered me a miracle. He said, 'Put the gun down, Kane. I will make the choices for you. You will never have to carry the weight of a decision again.'"

  ?Kane drew a heavy tactical knife from his vest. The blue server lights caught the matte black blade.

  ?"I gave him my free will, Elias. And in return, he gave me peace. I am a tool now. A gun. And a gun does not feel guilt when it fires."

  ?The Soul of a Gun

  ?Elias stared at the knife. He stared at the man holding it.

  A strange, bitter laugh bubbled up in Elias’s throat. He spat a mouthful of blood onto Kane’s polished boots.

  ?"You think that makes you strong?" Elias rasped, using the server rack to pull himself to his feet.

  ?Kane frowned. "It makes me unburdened."

  ?"It makes you a coward."

  ?Kane’s eyes narrowed. The calm mask slipped, just for a millimeter. The scar on his cheek twitched.

  ?"You didn't find peace, Kane," Elias said, his voice gaining strength, echoing the authority of the Stranger. "You just found a new way to hide. You were too weak to carry the guilt of your own actions, so you made yourself a slave. You aren't a soldier. You're a dog on a leash."

  ?"Shut up," Kane snapped. The soothing tone was gone. It was replaced by a raw, ragged anger.

  ?"The Consultant tells you to sit, and you sit!" Elias yelled, stepping forward instead of back. "He tells you to bite, and you bite! You think you escaped the bunker? You're still in there, Kane! You just let someone else lock the door!"

  ?With a roar, Kane lunged.

  It wasn't an economic, calculated strike. It was a wild, angry slash.

  Elias had broken the machine. He had found the human underneath.

  ?Elias threw himself to the floor, sliding under the arc of the blade. The knife bit deeply into the thick bundle of fiber-optic cables powering the server rack behind him.

  Sparks showered down like a firework, illuminating the dark aisle in harsh flashes of white.

  ?Kane pulled the knife free, turning to bring it down on Elias’s back.

  But Elias wasn't trying to fight him.

  Elias reached up and grabbed the frosted, pressurized pipe pumping liquid coolant into the server farm. He didn't have a weapon, but he had a lighter.

  ?Elias flicked the cheap plastic lighter and jammed the open flame directly against the rubber seal of the coolant valve.

  ?The Deep Freeze

  ?"No!" Kane shouted, lunging forward.

  ?The seal melted in a fraction of a second.

  The pipe ruptured.

  A geyser of industrial liquid nitrogen, pressurized at a thousand PSI, exploded outward.

  ?It hit Kane square in the chest.

  The man didn't even have time to scream. The sub-zero liquid instantly crystallized the moisture in his clothes and the water in his eyes. He stumbled backward, his tactical vest freezing into a rigid shell of white ice. The knife clattered to the metal floor, shattering like glass on impact.

  ?Kane fell to his knees, his mouth open in a silent, frozen gasp. The skin of his face was already turning a horrific shade of black and blue as frostbite set in instantly.

  ?Elias scrambled backward, coughing as the freezing vapor filled the aisle.

  He watched as the man who had traded his soul for peace finally found it. Kane tipped forward, hitting the grating with a heavy, solid thud. He didn't move again.

  ?Elias lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, shivering violently. His ribs screamed in agony.

  ?The Stranger flickered into existence above him, looking down at Kane’s frozen body.

  "A brutal end," the entity whispered.

  ?"He... he wanted someone else... to make the choice," Elias chattered, wrapping his arms around himself to stay warm. "So I made it for him."

  ?Elias closed his eyes.

  Floor 20 was clear.

  Thirty floors left to go.