Brother?

Day 2 - Noon / Renor, a place that doesn't exist

1
"Can you stand?" He asked, his hand still clutching his side, blood still bubbling and flowing through his fingers. He wasn't going to make it, and he was the entire point of this trip.
"David! Can you hear me? Can you stand?" He asked again, the ringing in my ears was less, I couldn't actually hear him, but I could read his lips just fine. I nod my head and pull myself to my knees, I can feel the bullet in my arm grinding away at my nerves, that cold fire feeling eating away at my sanity. I stumble to my feet, the gun in my hand feeling like a fifty pound weight, and my head feeling two sizes too big. Mitch staggers towards me, his dirty brown hair burnt in some parts from the explosion, his left eye completely shrouded in a black eye and a cut across his eyebrow makes him look like the seasoned veteran he is. It dawns on me how strong my brother must be to have lasted this long, both physically and mentally strong. He staggers to me, that bloody gash bringing tears to my eyes, and he still walks tall. He reaches out for me and takes my hand, and squeezes it with a strength I would never have expected. I was so sure that this was the end, that my brother would die here, and I would die trying to escape from a place that doesn't exist, I felt like that until he did something I never thought possible in this place, this hell. He smiled.

Day 1 - Early morning / David's Apartment Complex
1

It seems all that is good has died, and decayed over the years. It all started three years ago, when Mitch went missing from his apartment after he got mugged on the subway. I was the last person to see him, and he was fine, all except that book he wouldn't let me see, the book that the police couldn't find. For three years I wondered where he went, or what happened to him, for three years I searched for him, the same he would do if I went missing. All those years were in vain when I got the only clue to his location, and I was stupifyed. It came in my mailbox, a postcard, with three words written in red: I'm in Renor. I stood there like a idiot, my mouth agape, the rest of my mail falling from my hands and floating to the floor. I'm in Renor. I try and walk to my apartment, but I can't, my mind is racing. I'm in Renor, that single phrase just blows my mind. I stand in the hallway, people staring at me as they pass, a small child pointing their fatty little finger at me as they waddled away, their piggy little eyes accusing me of things unreal. It took me ten minutes to get to my apartment, and another five to unlock the door, the entire time, those three words just mocked me from the postcard. I'm in Renor, I'm in Renor.

Day 2 - Noon / Renor, a place that doesn't exist

2

That smile was unnerving, the intensity of this place and the violence that surrounds us, it was all too surreal. His hand was still grasping mine, squeezing hard enough to hurt, but the pain didn't bother me, all that mattered was we were still alive. I look away from his intense stare, those cold blue eyes like white lightning, those bombardier eyes and look down to the gun in my hand, the one that had saved us seconds earlier but had also caused the explosion, the one that had ripped open Mitch, ripped him open like a can of sardines. I tuck it into my waistband, hoping to God that I won't have to use it, hoping to God that I can get Mitch out of here alive. We stand on the corner of Kruger and Green, about a mile away from where we started, and about three miles away from my car, the car parked right outside the gates, the car with the cell phone, the car with the shotgun in the trunk. Mitch lets my hand go and pats me on my shoulder. My ears are still ringing, but I can faintly hear that he's talking to me. I look up and I see that all the color in his face has disappeared, his mouth is agape and those fearsome eyes, those balls of white lightning have faded and been replaced with pure, un-filtered fear. I turn around, and I forget all about the pain in my arm and the ringing in my ears, I forget in a hurry. He stands there, twenty feet away, Kruger.

Day 1 - Morning / David's Apartment

2

The television in front of my couch reflects a man in deep thought, but it is in itself a contradiction. My heart quickens, my fears awaken, my mind is racing. I flip the postcard over, and if discover that there is more writing, written in tiny script along the bottom edge is a message from Mitch.
"Look where Canary fought, and you might find an answer, you might find death."
The message throws me for a loop for a minute but it finally hits me after awhile. Canary was the nickname for Mitch's best friend, Albert and Albert has killed in the public library down the street from where I live, ten years ago. I head to my bathroom, flich the switch on the wall, the one without a face plate I keep forgetting to replace. Overhead a single whit bulb flickers on, it's strong white glare piercing the darkness. I stand before the mirror and look in the medicine cabinet for my medication, so I can think straight, so I don't do something stupid. I find it, those little pink pills, in that disgusting orange bottle that says to not take with achohol. I say bullshit to that and do it anyway, the burn easing away the bitterness of medication. He looks in the mirror, the image of a man losing faith in his sanity reflected back at him. People always say he looked so much like Mitch, that they had the same eyes. David could agree with that, they did have the same eyes.

Day 2 - Noon / Renor, a place that doesn't exist

3

"Tell me exactly what am I supposed to do, you two just refuse to stay dead. I think I'll just have to do it myself." The man called Kruger by Mitch, the one that struck fear into my brother's heart where no other ever had. I heard movement behind me and I whipped around. Mitch was backing up slowly, trying to get to shotgun that he left on the ground behind us. I turn back around to face this man, this Beast.
"C'mon! Enlighten me! Show me the true world!" Kruger cries, his hands raised to the sky. Four beady scars race along his wrists, signs of mutipul suicide attempts. More scars grace his face, two of them running from the corners of his mouth, and one across the bidge of his nose.
"Your a reject, you are nothing!" He utters to the sky, his eyes still on Mitch.
"I don't understand, why don't you like me? How can you deny what has been given to me?"
"Uhh, Mitch...what do I do?" I stammered, my hand slowly creeping towards my gun.
"Dave, I don't think we're gonna get out of here, not now."
"Why? Can...can you please tell me why?" I reply, my eyes still on The Monster. He begins to walk towards me, his hands held out in front of him, like he was a uncle who wanted a hug, or a man dying of a gut shot begging for help, your choice, both are equally creepy. He looks me straight in the eyes, and panic seizes me, my only thought is to blow this man away.