Slowly, Deon struggled to his feet as his legs trembled, rushing to get to Rai's side. Rai lay unconscious, his limp body struggling for air. As Deon neared his brother, he began to slit his wrist rather than his finger. Blood began to gush out into Rai's mouth nearly drowning him in the process. Deon began to look around for his swords but only found one.
Knowing the backlash that was coming, Deon rushed to grab it. However, just as Deon was an arm's length away from it, he dropped to the ground screaming and writhing in agony. Whatever poison Rai had been affected by was taking everything out of Deon to cure. At that moment, Deon committed to just riding out the pain and eating ten to twenty pellets after it was all said and done.
However, like an angel descending to aid those in need, Ash came and drug his sword the rest of the way to him. Deon looked up and smiled as he saw her fiery crimson hair glimmering in the sunlight. Slowly and carefully he grabbed his sword with his trembling hands and popped the lid of the hilt open only to find… it was empty
"FUUUUUUUUUU-"
"LANGUAGE!"
Rai yelled as he slowly began to wake up. His face was pale and covered in Deon's blood but he was at least alive.
"-UUUUUUUUDGE!!!"
Deon continued after being reprimanded. The pain had only been increased after having his glimmer of hope taken away.
"Just stop. I'm fine now so you can-"
"Are you stupid?"
Deon interrupted before Rai could finish.
"Do you even understand what's happening? Whatever is in your system has torn you up so bad that it's destroying my entire body just to suppress it. If I don't clear all that out now, it'll just keep coming back stronger until there's nothing either of us can do. So just shut ya freakin' mouth up and let me help you!"
Deon shouted. Rai smirked and laid back on the ground.
"Didn't know you were big bro all of a sudden."
Rai said, joking.
"Hey… look at me"
Deon said. As soon as Rai turned his head, Deon continued.
"I'm the captain now."
Deon and Rai began to laugh uncontrollably until they both coughed blood, paused, and then proceeded to laugh again.
"I have no idea what I'm looking at here but you're both idiots, you know that right?"
Ash said as she watched in bewilderment of the boys' actions. Deon and Rai both looked at Ash then back at each other and then began to laugh again simultaneously. Ash shook her head and began to wipe the from Deon's face and the corners of his mouth.
"You payin' a whole lotta attention to him huh?"
Rai piped up as Ash and Deon began to stare intently at each other.
"Oh shut up, asshole."
Ash said, flustered as she got up and approached Rai. As she knelt down, she began to carefully wipe the blood from Rai's face as well.
"Does that feel okay?"
She asked as she tried to get the blood that had stained his face earlier.
"First off… getcha hobo paws off me before I call law enforcement."
Rai said as he took the cloth from Ash and began wiping his own face. Deon snickered quietly then grimaced in pain.
"But yes, it felt pretty good, thanks."
Rai said with a chuckle. As they relaxed, all three of them let out a long exasperated sigh.
"So what's *groan* your plan after all this? You gon stay here?"
Deon asked Ash.
"I'm-... I just can't believe my dad's really gone. It just-... it doesn't feel real. I think I just want to stay in the barrier for as long as I can."
As the heaviness and the reality of the situation dawned on them, the three went silent. After a moment a soft whimper came from Ash. As she quietly cried, her body trembled violently as if she was holding back a hurricane with everything she had. Seeing this, Deon flashed back to when he had lost his first dog years ago. As he stood in front of the small grave he had made for him, he trembled, clenching his fists and gnashing his teeth.
At that moment, Deon decided to do just as his grandmother had once done for him. So, with the little strength he could muster, through the agony that was still consuming him, he began to slowly crawl towards Ash. As he made it to her side, he postured himself against the wall, put his hand on her cheek, turning her eyes towards him, softly smiled, and said in a quiet voice
"It's okay to cry when you're hurting."
With a loud wail of anguish, Ash buried her face into Deon's chest and began to sob uncontrollably while pummeling his chest with her fists. Without another word, Deon simply sat unmoving with his arms around her until she exhausted herself and fell asleep.
"Ya know… you're a pretty good boyfriend."
Rai said, taking a small jab at Deon.
"Shut up"
Deon said as they both laughed.
While they were recovering, the ones they had spared were once again beginning to move. The Sabbatarian had bided his time, waiting for any opportunity to get away from this monster. The fear that was embedded in him had even prevented him from moving when Deon writhed in pain. No, his only goal was to wait until their guard was entirely down and take that opportunity to leave this damned island for good.
Finally, Deon, Rai, and Ash were all asleep. With the small amount of strength he had left, he hobbled on his one good leg to where the minister lay.
"Getcho ass up!"
As he shouted, the Sabbatarian swung his broken leg at the minister. Unfortunately, due to his center of balance being completely ruined, as soon as his kick connected he tripped and busted his face on the gravel road. However, the minister still felt the kick in his ribs. Slowly, he woke up and struggled over his own girth to stand up.
"What's the plan now?"
The Sabbatarian asked.
"We can't leave. There's far too much to gain here."
"You think it's worth our lives?! If that bastard goes on another rampage, there's no telling if he'll stop before one- no- all of us are dead."
"Maybe, but there's a way for us to take care of him too."
"I thought I was your trump card?"
"Oh, you're still the key. I just need you to be much stronger and thanks to this barrier, you will be. Come on, there's stuff we need to do. Oh, how the turns will table."
"Umm, what? Dude that's not the say- ya know what, whatever."
The minister began to lead the Sabbatarian away as the townspeople continued to cower from the invaders rather than attacking while they were weak.
Of Deon's worn-out group, the small boy was the first to awaken. After losing his mother, he had no desire to go anywhere nor do anything. He simply tucked into Deon's warmth and silently stayed beside him. As he scanned the area, he saw that many of the townspeople seemed to be arguing. However, he could only make out small parts of the conversation.
"...kill them if we want…"
"...but they saved…"
"...the same to us…"
He couldn't tell what they were talking about, but he didn't like the feeling he was getting. Without alerting anyone, he quietly snuck into one of the nearby houses and grabbed a large kitchen knife. After returning, he calmly sat next to Deon and curled back up, hiding the knife he had behind Deon's girth.
The people's conversation went on for a while until everything finally fell silent. As the eerie silence washed over the village, a few of the men began to walk over to the boy. However, the men hesitated as they saw the glare coming from the boy, filled with disdain and hatred. The boy had seen the weapons they held, which they attempted to hide from sight. Although still unsure of what exactly was going on, he knew they couldn't have any good intentions.
"Hey, little guy. Where're your parents?"
Wow. Just like that, they managed to get strikes one, two, and three all at once. The look the boy had changed from a wary glare to vengeful fury. They had known the boy since he was born and saw exactly what happened yet they didn't even care enough to remember her.
The boy said one word and one word only.
"Leave."
The men were terrified of Deon and Rai but the little boy wasn't a threat.
"Listen, those guys are evil. You saw what he did to all these people so-"
"And I saw what you did and didn't do too."
The boy interrupted. The adults' actions had not only allowed his mom to be taken away from him, but had actually caused it.
"I'm sorry for that kid, I really am. But we have to take them out before they can hurt anyone else so I need you to-"
"But you all were probably too scared to do anything to the ones who did all this right?"
The boy interrupted again. His eyes were completely unwavering. They'd have to kill him to get to Deon and he wouldn't go down alone.
"Look you lil bastard, I don't care if you move or not, I'm taking their heads NOW!"
One of the men piped up, pulling the hatchet from behind his back, no longer caring if it was seen. After the man took two steps forward, the little boy lunged towards him with his concealed knife, not caring what could happen, only intent on killing those who intended to harm Deon.