He Smiled.

The last thought on Cin's mind was how cold the water would be once they'd hit it. But it was warm, almost hot. Stifling heat enveloped her body and she started to sweat immediately. She took a breath and all she smelled was the heat of desert. She knew she was near the pyramid. A hand grabbed her wrist. She looked up to see X picking her up. 

"Come on doctor, we need to make some noise." He grunted as he picked her up. He was weak. Getting weaker. She saw that his close cropped black hair was showing gray and his skin was a paling yellow. They supported each other and half stumbled towards the pyramid that stood proud in the distance. Cin saw her tent at the base of the pyramid and pointed X toward it. The flap of the tent was open and she called out to her guide inside it. The head of the guide rolled to her feet in an answer.

The butcher calmly walked out of the tent. His hands were dripping with blood and gore.

He smiled.

"Hi, kids. Ready to die?"

The butcher lunged at the couple. X pushed Cin away from the butcher's reach and got into the butcher's path himself. The big man lifted X right off his feet and slammed him into the ground. 

"Music!" X managed to scream before butcher closed his hands around X's neck and started to squeeze the air out of him.

"I'm going to rip your head off, pretty boy."

Cin stumbled inside the tent and looked for the console on her table. Fortunately, it was on. She selected a track at random and pumped the volume to 11.

The music started to build and outside the tent butcher started to scream. He got up off X and rushed inside the tent, but then X was on him. He kicked the legs from under the butcher and put a knee in the small of his back. The big man ate dust as the music continued to build, and build and build. X bent the butcher's arm behind him and kept pulling till the bones broke with a sickening crunch. The bloodlust was on him. He was singing words with the music but they made no sense. His fingers dug into butcher's face and his hands started to pull his head. 

"Stop!" Cin screamed over the sound of music, "you're killing him!"

But X was in his own world. He was riding the music, riding it above the pyramids and the sand dunes, and with the butcher's head in his hands.

And then, the bass dropped. 

And X ripped the butcher's head off his neck. He raised his grisly trophy above his head and roared in defiance. 

The blood from butcher's neck spritzed into the tent, coloring everything red and black. His heart, still pumping blood in defiance of the fact that it was not getting any signals from the brain. The droplets of blood touched the music console and started to sizzle. The music got even louder. The volume went higher and higher. Cin's ears started to bleed and she fell the floor, curled in a fetal position, cradling her head between her arms. X threw the butcher's bleeding head away and went up to the console. He slammed his hand on the console and a knob split the skin of his palm. He closed his fist and blood dripped on to the machine. The sound of music changed. From earlier hard and harsh sound, it took a deep, bassful and heavy sound. 

The pyramid reacted to the sound. The top of the pyramid started to glow. It burned with a fierce blue energy and split into a beam and shot into the sky. 

A similar beam of red appeared in the sky and met the blue beam halfway. X's message was received. His ride would be meeting him soon. 

Something pulled the hem of his jeans. He looked down. It was Cin. She had crawled into the tent, her bleeding ears had left a trail of blood behind her. 

"Why all this?" she asked.

X smiled.

-----------------------

THE END.

I'll write an after-burner post tomorrow explaining all your questions. So, in case there are any, leave them in comments :)