2. The Last of Cassius Blackwood

The stranger who had his face coughed blood. Dying right in Haze's arms.

He frantically tried to help. He wanted to call the emergency number, but his phone's battery was dead. What an inconvenient thing to happen.

"Hey, can you breathe?" he asked, knowing nothing of the stranger's condition. "I'll get you to the hospital."

It was the only thing he could do.

Haze half dragged the stranger into the car he came in. The key was still in there. In fact, the car engine was still on. After maneuvering the stranger's deadweighted body into the back seat, Haze rushed to drive to the hospital.

Turning his attention between the road and the dying stranger, Haze asked his name. But, the stranger gave no sound. He tried again, harder this time, still receiving no reaction except for him to slump down from the seat.

Haze cursed and stepped on the gas pedal. He didn't know what to do if the stranger died on the way. What would he say to everyone, then?

"Hey, please don't die on me," he quickly continued, "I don't even know your name or why you're dying or-or– how can you have the same face as me?"

There was no reply.

"Oh, shit! Please, not here!"

Haze only hoped that he didn't crash the car on the way to the hospital.

"Please don't die here!"

The hospital was only five minutes away now. Against all odds, he hoped the stranger could hold on to life and not die on him.

However, no good things had happened to him tonight.

On a practically empty road, two nondescript black cars drove near him. On his left and right, locking him in the middle. He didn't know who they were nor what they wanted, but the next thing he knew, the car on his left slowed and fell behind, while the one on his right made a sharp turn.

"No!"

Being shoved from the right instantly, the car Haze drove collided against the road rails. He stepped on the brake, trying to stop the car. When it did, Haze had no time to think because four people came out of the nondescript black cars and one of them grabbed his collar.

Without any explanation, he was once again being punched in the stomach. They beat him to a pulp, and Haze could do nothing to defend himself. They only stopped punching and kicking him after he lay on the ground, curling in on himself, and hoping the pain would make him unconscious.

"Enough."

Someone said a word, and everything stopped. Well, except for the throbbing, searing pain all over Haze's body. The four people who beat him stepped back, and a fifth person came into his limited sight. 

He couldn't get a good look, only knowing that it was a male wearing a pantsuit and a pair of nice leather shoes. Like a top businessman or the government's higher-ups.

The nice leather shoe nudged his shoulder until Haze was lying on his back, showing his battered body to the night sky. He was too out of it to look up and see the person's face.

"Oh, blood and bruises look good on you after what you did to me earlier."

'Kain?'

Haze wondered in his mind. Could it be the young CEO who stole his girlfriend and made his best friend beat him that did this?

"How does it feel, Cassius?"

'…who?'

"To be on the ground, powerless and hopeless?" the unknown man rambled on, oblivious to Haze's silent question. "This is the end for you, Cassius Blackwood."

'Cassius…'

"Go on with the plan," the unknown man said to the other four, "Tonight is the end of the Blackwood family's reign. Be glad for you all. After this, no one will stop me from ruling the underground."

He was in and out of pain and grunted in pain as the people who beat him dragged him across the deserted road. It was a short journey. They dumped him in the driver's seat, even buckling the safety belt around his body.

The world became less hazy when they slammed the car's door. He felt the car move slowly towards the edge. There was a river alongside the road, dark as the night sky, and he desperately pushed himself to take control. He no longer wishes to be unconscious – not when he was about to drown.

The water was cold against his feet, against his thighs. Especially when it reached his stomach. He sobered up when he felt his chest constricted from the sudden cold. Soon, he would be at eye-level with the water, drowning him in no time.

Adrenaline kicked in, Haze sucked in a deep breath and looked over to the back seat. The stranger who had his face had fallen down; no wonder they didn't know that he wasn't alone, to begin with.

He had to move fast, because the stranger in the back seat would drown entirely in the water in a minute.

Two car engines revved, and Haze glanced to the road to ensure they had left. When they did, he unbuckled the safety belt and frantically moved or swam, really, to the back seat. He grabbed the stranger who had his face and opened the door.

Getting out of a drowning car in the river was not as easy as he saw in the movie, but he managed to do it.

Haze was out of breath when he pulled himself and the stranger to the riverside, and black spots appeared on the corner of his eyesight. But he couldn't pass out now. He had to get to the hospital.

There were no cars around – oh, goodness. There was.

A car went past them, but then it drove back slowly. A man in a vest and fishing gear came, asking if he was okay.

"I need to go to the hospital," Haze rushed in, "He's dying."

"No shit, Sherlock. You both look like you're about to die before midnight," the man said, throwing his fishing gear back to the passenger's side, "The least I want is for you to die here and the police will deem this river as a crime scene. I'd never be able to come back here and fish again if that happened."

In no time, the man grabbed the dying look alike, while Haze tried to help and made his way to the car despite his hurting body. The man drove the car like crazy, but that was fine. They would get to the hospital, and the doctors would tend to the dying stranger in his lap.

It was fine, Haze told himself; they would be fine.

Looking a little less worried at the stranger in his lap, Haze couldn't help but think how similar they were to each other. Even the people who beat him mistaken his identity for this stranger – Cassius?

That was his name, wasn't it?

Cassius Blackwood – and the darkness finally claimed him.