Chereads / The Hopeless Hero (Draft) / Chapter 108 - The Scars that Corrupt Us

Chapter 108 - The Scars that Corrupt Us

Cyrene was shown no mercy. Within a few moments, the rest of the Bandits revealed their own metal weapons and shot two more spears through her other shoulder and foot.

"AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!!!!" Even for Cyrene, one of the most skilled hunters in the Wolfpack, the pain was excruciating.

"Hold her down," one of the men shouted. "It has white fur! This one is incredibly valuable, so don't kill it!"

The spears from their weapons dug deep into her flesh until they poked all the way through. She quickly tried to pull them out, but the Bandits wouldn't give her a chance.

"FIRE!"

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

Three other shots rang out from above the trees and spears impaled both her hands and her other leg.

"Giiiiirr…RRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUHHHH!!!!!" Cyrene was overwhelmed with pain. She staggered down to her knees, trying to keep herself upright.

"Pull her hands back!"

The Bandit commanding orders must've been the leader of this group. Two more Bandits leapt down from the trees and forced Cyrene's speared hands behind her back, almost breaking her arms completely. Cyrene grew desperate and tried to pull her hands hard enough to get the spear out, but it wouldn't budge. In fact, the bones in her hands were coming close to breaking.

"That won't work wolf," the commanding Bandit said. "When those spears impale your flesh, they lock into your bones. Unless you want to break your hands completely, I suggest you stop your desperate act."

The rest of the Bandits cornered Cyrene. They forced her onto her stomach and crossed her legs so that she couldn't get up. Then, they all lifted the spear guns up to keep her in the air and started carrying her away.

'No…not again…please…'

Cyrene was on the verge of tears. The piercing pain of the cold steel, the sight of the boy panicking frantically, and older memories…resurfacing from her dark past.

"Hey, what about that boy?" One of the Bandits asked the commander.

The lone boy was still shivering, eyes dead by completely wide open. Tears still streaming down his face, his fingers still doing the rubbing motion they did with Cyrene's ears.

"Can't have any witnesses," the commander said, pulling out a steel dagger. "I'll take care of him."

That sentence was all it took to send Cyrene down a spiral of pain.

"NOOOO!!!! GET AWAY FROM HIM!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!!!" Cyrene screamed.

"Shut her up." The commander said.

"NOOO- *BLEH!* NOOO PLEASE!!! *GYAAHH!* *UUHH!* *GRAAH!* *KUUUEEHH!!!*"

The Bandits repeatedly smacked the butt of their weapon at Cyrene's face, doing whatever they could to shut her up. Her face was covered in blood, her nose completely broken, one of her eyes bleeding, and some teeth were completely knocked out.

"No…*KUUAAHH!* …s…to...p….pl….ea…se…"

*CRACK!*

One final smack on her already broken nose completely knocked her out. So much blood was pouring out of the fresh wounds covering her face. Three of her teeth were on the snow covered with blood along with splotches of more blood all around the dangling wolf. Within a few hours, Cyrene's left eye would be completely swollen shut, and her nose would be sore for months. And a chunk of flesh was missing from her left cheek, so she would have new scars within a month.

"Alright, now then…*SHINK!* Time to take care of you." The commander said, slicing his dagger across the bark of a tree.

The boy was still on his knees shivering and crying without making a sound.

*SHLICK!*

The commander didn't hesitate for a second and sliced at his face. The boy fell face-first into the snow, his face looking directly at the bloodied and beaten Cyrene. A deep cut on his cheek oozed out a warm streak of blood.

"*Tsk!* This boy is already broken," the commander clicked his tongue. "I can't have any fun with this. Whatever, guess I'll make it quick. You better be grateful boy."

The commander brought his knife down…

…out of his hands and onto the ground. Along with his hand.

It didn't just fall off, his hand, no, it was completely snapped off. His hand was twisted into shapes that couldn't be made on their own. A terrifying amount of blood poured out of his wound.

And before the commander could even scream…

*CRUNCH*

A huge chunk of flesh was ripped out of the commanders jugular. He gargled and choked on his own blood that sputtered out of his mouth. The inability to even scream combined with the gargling noises he made, like a toddler gargling on water, sent terror in every single one of the Bandit's eyes.

Suddenly, a hand went straight through the commander's ripped flesh, through his vocal cords, and wrapped around his spinal cord. And with a raging pull, the snap of a bone echoed throughout the forrest, and the commander's head was completely ripped off of his body.

"Wha…what…" one of the Bandits stuttered. "No…you're kidding… You have to be…"

A Bandit panic fired at the boy and hit him square in the shoulder.

"Ha! I got him," the one who shot said. Come on guys! Hurry up and-"

*SHING!*

The chain rattled as it was pulled, and the Bandit who fired went flying straight to the boy who had the chain in his hands.

*SPLURCH!*

The boy grabbed the unfortunate Bandit by the face and splatted his head on a tree. His face was completely pushed in with blood shooting out of his is nose, eyes, and ears. His skull was completely crushed, with no chance of him being alive.

The Bandits started to slowly back away from the boy, leaving the bloodied Cyrene in the snow. But before they could even start a sprint, a steel dagger went flying straight at one of the Bandits and stabbed directly through his eye. It wasn't a strong enough throw, so it didn't kill him, but the Bandit probably wish it did.

"GYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed.

The boy suddenly leapt off the ground and shoved his foot right on the butt of the dagger, driving the knife straight into his brain. Then, he leapt at another Bandit with the knife that Cyrene gave him and sliced through a Bandits neck, drove his hand deep into the cut, and slowly, gruesomely ripped his head off. Only two Bandits remained.

"Heehhh…haaa…HYYAAAAAAA!!!"

One of the Bandits made a desperation charge with his spear weapon that he manually dislodged from Cyrene's right hand. He shot at the boy and the spear went straight through his leg, but he yanked it out just as fast as the Bandit shot him before it could lodge firmly into his thigh.

The boy then yanked the chain and sent the Bandit flying to him, taking the spear and driving it straight through the Bandits mouth. The Bandit gargled blood and steel that made an even more vile sound when the boy set his hands on the roof and floor of his mouth and pulled them apart in a slowly painful process.

*SHHHRRRIIIP!!!!* *CRACK!*

The top half of his head was completely ripped off and the spinal cord had completely snapped. He chunked it away and lay his eyes on the last Bandit who…

"Gotchu fucker…"

…was already aiming right at the boy's head.

*SHINK!*

"*GLLAA!*"

However, before the last standing Bandit could get his shot off, a dagger had stabbed straight through his neck. He dropped his gone and fell to the floor, not dead but swiftly bleeding out as he desperately reached for the blade lodged in his neck.

When the Bandit fell, he saw Cyrene standing up with staggering feet and a brutally beaten face. But her glare shattered through all of the wounds and blood that covered her face. All the fur on her body stood up and shook violently, and her claws were all the way unsheathed. She was the hunter, ready to pounce on her prey.

"…RRAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH!!!" Cyrene had never made a more bloodcurdling scream in her life until now. Even worse than when she was captured by the Bandits when she was a kid…and had to witness her friends getting killed in front of her.

This scream was brutal and full of merciless anger. She wasn't gonna hold any part of her rage back. This unfortunate prey was going to go through the worst amount of pain he would ever go through in his life.

Cyrene pounced, still screaming and growling like a beast. She slashed and dug into his face and torso, without showing any sign of stopping.

"GYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHhhhhhAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" The Bandit screamed until he couldn't anymore.

His vocals were ripped, so all he was screaming now were staggered exhales. Cyrene continued to shred through his face until almost no skin was even visible anymore. Then, she dug straight through his stomach and chest, exposing his rib cage and the organs that protected it. Her claws easily shredded through the cage and she ripped the organs out of his body with her own fangs.

The Bandit was still alive. Cyrene didn't dare touch any part of his skull. She wanted him to stay alive through this for as long as possible.

She snapped every bone she could grab ahold of, shredded every muscle, flesh, skin, anything she could find on his body. She shredded and ripped with her claws and teeth as she screamed and snarled violently, her face and body covered with even more blood than ever before. And finally…

…the Bandit desperately tried to crawl backwards on his back, which separated his upper body from his lower torso. He only made it about a meter away until…

*SHLACK!*

Cyrene shot her claws straight through the Bandit's mouth and slammed him against a tree over and over and over and over again.

"Three…four…five…six…seven…"

She counted the amount of times his head hit the tree, trying to match the amount of times the Bandits hit her with their weapons.

"…twenty two…twenty three…twenty four…"

She finally got to the number and through his beaten pile of flesh away. Staggered, beaten, and out of breath, she limped over to one of the Bandit's and yanked the dagger that belonged to the commander out of their neck. She caressed it softly and rubbed it gently across her cheek.

"We're not…yours to have…" Cyrene said, out of breath and trembling heavily. "I'm gonna kill…every last…one of you… I'll even tear all…of your wives and kids…to pieces… Maybe then…you'll feel…just one percent of my pain…"

With those last words, she fell to her knees and screamed one last time. This, however, wasn't the scream of a beast. It was that of a warrior ready to kill. To kill…and do nothing but kill.

And with her scream growing faint, she ran out of breath and fell into the snow. Her wounds, fatigue, and weak spirit had taken their toll on her and forced her down onto the ground. Her left eyes was swollen shut, so she stared straight at the standing boy with only her right eye barely open. She noticed something different about him.

'Is he…crying?'

Yes, though her vision was blurry the boy was indeed crying. But not from some random occurrence this time. This boy was crying for her. He actually wept tears for her and started to sprint to her. But before the boy could get to her, Cyrene had already closed her right eye shut.

'I'm not gonna die, so don't worry. I just…need some sleep…is all…'

And with that, the lone wolf fell into a slumber, and was carried off by the boy like a sleeping princess. Away from the bloody scene. Away from the pain. And away from fragments of her brutal past.