MATTHEW'S POV
I stared at Samuel, still processing what he said. Then, my eyes practically shimmered. "Really? Do you think I can handle this on my own now?"
I know it was unusual for me to be so excited being alone in such a dangerous place, but to me, it was one step closer to feeling like a real elite.
Samuel nodded in approval. "Yes. The past week, you've shown capability in fighting the ventifios. And since it's still technically a full moon, you should be okay for now."
My smile was replaced by a frown. If I was honest, I didn't like the tone and words he chose. It was so... Formal. My mind took in different words.
'It's a full moon, so the ventifios are weak, so you should be okay, unless you're weaker than them.'
Without thinking, I blurted. "Is this because you want some time for yourself?"
Samuel tensed at being called out. I scoffed. "So, it is. You don't actually think I can be on my own, but you want to be alone."
I couldn't stop myself. It was too late. My lower back burned in pain. I tried to stop my mouth but it wasn't working.
Samuel sighed as he assured me. "It's nothing like that, Matthew. I do think you're ready at being on your own. Didn't you want that in the first place?"
I ignored his question and spat out mine. "What about you? Why can't you tell us more about Samara?"
Samuel's expression darkened as mentioned his older sister's name. "That has no contribution to our conversation. It's irrelevant."
"But it is!" I hoped the ventifios didn't hear me. "You finally got to wear the hat. You have no idea how glad and relieved I was only to find out you're not completely over her?"
Samuel clenched his fist. "I thought you said it's okay for me to take my time? And tell me, how do I easily forget a family's death?"
I opened my mouth, and for the first time, no words came out. The pain in my back subsided as I took in what Samuel said.
'He's right. I was one of the people who told him that, and yet here I am forcing him to get over Samara.'
Still, it'd be easier for him to tell us these things, right? He's supposed to not bottle up his emotions, so why? Why does he run away? Away from our help? I thought I had known all of his secrets, but I didn't know there was something so much more than a hat and an older sibling. The real secret was hidden in a large depth.
That wasn't an excuse for me. I would do anything to help Samuel, even if I have to dig my way to that secret. "Yeah, but-"
Before I could say anything else, an earth-shaking roar made our attention snap towards who made it.
A ventifio that was the size of a wrestler stood ten feet away from us. I got the red button off my sleeve and tossed it in the air with Samuel doing the same thing. I felt my inside being ripped to shreds as power and adrenaline flooded my body.
Matt had appeared out of the red button and protectively stood in front of me, its gold eyes illuminating the bleak surroundings of the Night Fog Forest. Beside Matt was Rio - Samuel's soul protector with its blue eyes clashing with Matt's, resulting in a gradient of blue and gold that faced off the ventifio's red ones.
The two soul protectors, after looking at us for permission, dashed towards the creature. Both Matt and Rio grabbed one of the ventifio's arms and ripped it off. Matt managed to succeed. As for Rio, the soul protector got smacked away by one of the creature's arms.
I heard Samuel cough next to me and placed a hand on his chest. He breathed heavily as his eyes showed pain. I was about to ask if he's okay when suddenly, a sudden headache made me lightheaded. It seemed Matt was hit on the head by the creature.
I staggered backward and collided with a tree. The impact caused my lower back to throb and I groaned in pain.
I recovered not too soon. I witnessed the ventifio thrashing around once Rio and Matt rode on its back, ripping the creature's arm one by one. When the ventifio was defenseless without its arms... Well, it still had its feet.
Matt has been kicked unto a tree. Because of that, I felt nauseous and I doubled over. My hands were both placed in my stomach as if it would do anything to stop the pain.
In the end, the soul protectors were victorious. With one last punch on the ventifio's face, the creature wailed out before melting and disintegrating to ashes.
Samuel and I were panting to catch our breaths that had been knocked out of our lungs. We had our guards up as we looked cautiously behind our backs. We were safe for now.
It was still a bit of a full moon, and I knew the pain would be worse when it's waning towards half and lastly, a new moon. The pain I felt right now would increase greatly once the full moon would turn into its opposite. Thankfully, since we were still at our full power because of the moon, the pain and fatigue went away as quickly as they came.
Samuel huffed one last breath before turning to me. "You were saying?"
I shook my head, distrustful of my mouth. I better stay true to my words. If Samuel needed time to think, then I should let him be.
We parted ways. I could still feel his gaze on my back even if I was a good distance from him. I looked back and saw he was gone.
I faced in front and almost wanted to crawl back to Samuel. It really hits you differently when you're all alone in a place full of dangerous monsters. The atmosphere got more intense and my knees shook as I tried hard not to run and hide.
I took in a deep breath and composed myself.
'Calm down, Matthew. You can do this.'
Unfortunately, my so-called composure imploded as I heard an ear-ringing screech followed by a gunshot.
Then, I got into a fighting stance as I heard a twig snap in half.
I turned to the source and almost cried in relief.
I saw Samantha cautiously taking one step after another, constantly pausing to look around. She was the one who stepped on a stick as her expression was alarmed, frantically turning in all directions until her eyes landed on me.
"Matthew." She whispered. "It's o-only you."
"Yeah, fancy meeting you here." I chuckled with the ulterior motive to ease the dreadful feeling creeping up on me. It was accomplished when Samantha giggled.
"It is. A-Are you alone too?" She asked. "I f-figured my brother would've b-been with you."
"No. He thinks I've proven myself to fight alone now." I shrugged before crossing my arms, I probably looked displeased. "Though, I get the feeling he wants some time to think by himself."
Samantha looked down. "I-It seems like it. The same goes f-for Ashley. I asked if s-she wanted to go with me b-but she declined."
"Speaking of Ashley... "I pulled Samantha behind a tree just in case a ventifio might spot us. "How's it going with her?"
Samantha's face said it all. "She's still t-thinking of ways on how t-to talk to Samuel. Ashley has n-never been the one to apologize f-first."
I raised an eyebrow. "What's so hard about apol-"
I stopped to think about it. Samantha said Ashley had never apologized first. In my head, all I thought about was the word 'sorry, thinking how easy it was to say it. For Ashley though, it's not the word that counted, but the sincerity of it.
Ashley was thinking about apologizing in a way Samuel would feel that was genuine and not just an empty word. Since Ashley wasn't used to saying sorry first, she was preparing herself on how to make Samuel heed that her apology was true. The thing was, was she really preparing herself? Or was it pride that's stopping her?
I sighed. 'Either way, they have to talk to each other to solve any misunderstandings.'
A question popped inside my head as I remembered. "Hey, Samantha. Did you know what Samuel meant when he said he helped Ashley get a grip on reality?"
The blonde-haired girl gave it some thought before coming face to face to realization. "Now t-that I think about i-it, Ashley said that she-"
Both Samantha and I started to become oblivious to our surroundings as we screamed with the ventifio that appeared behind us, not expecting a creature to find us.
For some reason, I stood in front of Samantha with my red button in hand. Samantha gave me a confused look. That's when realization hit me.
Samantha was also an elite.
For a second, she came into my mind as a defenseless girl who didn't know what a ventifio was. It just dawned on me that the 'defenseless' girl probably knew what to do and how to be an elite more than me.
To hide my embarrassment, I pretended I acted on my instinct and threw my red button up.
I stumbled backward a bit when Matt landed loudly on the ground. I flinched and turned around when I heard another loud thud behind. Samantha's soul protector was inches from my face.
I gasped and collided with Matt. My soul protector looked like it was both embarrassed and disappointed by me, but it was hard to say as Matt only had gold eyes and no facial features, only a shadow figure.
Samantha's soul protector walked past me and stood right next to Matt, its shadowy hair creating slight electricity when it brushed against my shoulder. The ventifio, not taking any risks and wanting to lose, started vibrating. I knew what it meant as it happened before - the creature was calling for backup.
I was about to tell Matt to do the same when Samantha yelled out first. "Rosa, c-call the others!"
Rosa - Samantha's soul protector - raised its hands and slammed it forcefully on the ground. My legs shook with the ground as I attempted not to fall.
I sensed a bad omen a couple of seconds later. Before I knew it, three ventifios appeared next to the one who called them. For us though, no one had yet to come.
I looked at Matt. His body was positioned in a way that if the creatures decided to attack, Matt would easily block them and make an escape.
I gotta give it to Matt, my soul protector was always prepared and ready.
Rosa kept turning to its master. Samantha shook her head. If we attack first, there'd be no going back. We were outnumbered. Even if it was still a bit of a full moon, who knows what these creatures have up in their sleeves. Ventifios had minds of their own, after all.
No one still came. I didn't blame them. They also had ventifios to take care of.
I glanced at Samantha and said in a very low voice. "Should we take our chances?"
She knew what I was implying. Even if the creatures outnumbered us, we still had strength and power on our side. The only question remains: Do we take the risk?
And that was what I asked Samantha. If she thinks it's not worth it, we'll stun the ventifios using our guns and bolt out of here to where the other elites are. If she says yes, we fight, obviously.
Samantha calculated the odds in her head. Her eyes shifted to me and gave me an answer - she nodded her head as yes.
'Well, Matt...' I smirked and looked at the ventifios that were inching closer. 'It's all you and Rosa.'
The two soul protectors charged towards the creatures. Matt had its fist raised while Rosa aimed to tackle one of the ventifios.
Rosa had a creature pinned to the ground. Matt, on the other hand, got blocked by one. As the ventifio grabbed Matt's fist, it pulled Matt towards it and delivered a blow on my soul protector's face.
My head suddenly hurt and I felt light-headed. My vision got a bit blurry so I put a hand on my forehead.
Samantha shot me a worried look. I saw her open her mouth to speak but winced in pain as she slightly bent down.
Her soul protector got knocked up into a tree.
Matt recovered from the blow on its face and took revenge. The gold-eyed soul protector pushed the ventifio away and took a couple of steps back. Then, Matt ran to the creature who it pushed and kicked it on its face.
The ventifio flew to a tree and got crushed to the ground by Matt, who was quick enough to launch into the air and give another kick as it landed.
A wave of exhaustion consumed me as I tried to keep my eyes open. Matt surely doesn't hold back in fighting.
Samantha's soul protector punched a ventifio with a force that the creature let out a shriek when it dropped to the ground. To finish the ventifio off, Rosa stomped on its stomach. From the creature's mouth spewed out blood.
I looked away as I felt bile rising to my throat. The sight of blood left a sickly feeling in my stomach that almost pushed me to vomit. And don't get me started on the stench if it dried.
Two were done, another two to go.
A creature had scratched Matt on its back. The soul protector reverted to a red button. I screamed as I felt the same pain in my back when I got injured by a ventifio a week ago. My back wouldn't stop throbbing as the pain still lingered.
My eyes immediately looked for my red button and saw it was right next to a ventifio. As I said, ventifios had minds of their own. The creature was smart enough to guard the button while watching Rosa try to defeat another ventifio.
I pulled my gun out. My hand was shaking as I aimed at the creature who was blocking my way at getting my red button.
The creature noticed me and roared before rushing over to me to knock my gun out of my hands. I was waiting until the ventifio was near me before pulling the trigger. With the distance and size of the ventifio, the bullet would easily hit it.
The gunshot went off and my whole body wobbled at the force of the gun when I pulled the trigger. The creature was stunned and couldn't control its movements. I took this opportunity to dash past it and picked my red button up. Having no time to waste, I took a deep breath and summoned Matt once again.
Matt, not liking that the ventifio sent him back to being a button, kicked the creature up in the air. The ventifio landed on top of a tree. Here's the thing, the dead branches of that tree were sharp and enormous. So, let's say, the creature had holes in its body as it died.
I was too busy looking after Matt, I almost didn't see Rosa fly past me and rolled over the ground. Samantha let a whimper escape and clutched her head, eyes shut tightly.
Seeing Samantha in pain more than twice today made me angry and annoyed. The girl didn't deserve any of this.
I faced the last remaining ventifio and growled. I was secretly surprised I was able to do that. I pointed at the creature and said, "Get it, Matt."
The soul protector was more than happy to. Matt ran towards the ventifio. My soul protector lifted its foot backward, ready for a kick. The creature saw this and bent its knees to jump. Little did it know what Matt's true intent was.
The ventifio got off the ground in a little jump. Matt set his foot back down and swiveled around. Now, Matt's back was facing the beast. With the ventifio's height a bit taller, Matt delivered a spinning elbow to the creature's face.
As it wasn't expecting that, the ventifio lost its balance to land on the ground and knelt in front of Matt, which was a bad choice.
The gold-eyed soul protector brought its fists together and pounded the ventifio's face harshly on the muddy ground. You could hear a disturbing crack as the creature stopped moving.
I was heavily breathing with a stomachache, headache, and my lower back not helping with the pain. Samantha had recovered from the attack and walked wearily to me.
"A-Are you okay?"
I gave her a small smile in response, too tired to give a proper answer at the moment.
We waited for a few minutes to rest.
"T-That was... Incredible!" Samantha exclaimed. "There were t-too many of them, b-but we won!"
I nodded. "Yeah! We make a good team."
Samantha grinned bashfully and agreed. "We d-do."
After that, her smile vanished. "It's sad the o-others were occupied i-in fighting."
I nodded again. This was what Samuel meant when he said the others wouldn't always be there to back you up. That's why he was so worried about letting me go by myself. My respect for Samuel increased.
"We can't blame them," I looked down and saw droplets of blood scattered. "They're also doing their jobs. We can't always rely on them."
"It's j-just a bit... Disheartening." Samantha looked the other way. "You can o-only hope they'll show u-up to save you."
My brain took in her words a bit late. My eyes widened as I forgot one thing. "Speaking of showing up..."
I walked closer to Samantha. She heard me coming and turned in my direction. She was greeted by my face that was dangerously close to her face.
She gasped and I noticed she was holding her breath. I wasn't aware of my actions because I was glaring at the band-aid that covers a small part of her cheek.
"You saved me..." I whispered and put a decent distance between us. "... Thanks for that. If it weren't for you, I might have Alana stalking me the next day." I chuckled.
Samantha laughed along and shyly told me. "I-I'm just doing the r-right thing. Besides, I h-had Zed to take a look at the scratch."
My mind drifted off to where Samantha and Zed came back to the gym. I remembered clearly what Zed said to her.
'Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret.'
That would've been fine with me. I wouldn't have cared. But seeing Samantha as they entered sparked up negative emotions in me. I distinguished one of them as jealousy. Even if I kept saying to myself, I had no right to be jealous, I couldn't control it.
It reminded me of when Sasha and Elijah had gym class together. I came back from Math and suddenly, they were shy with each other. I didn't what happened between them in gym class, but I was guessing that lead to their mutual feelings for each other.
I hated to admit it. Rather than being jealous, I was also... Scared. I lost someone I liked to a friend, and I was afraid it was happening again.
That rose a question in me.
'Do I like Samantha?'
"Matthew?"
A voice snapped me back to reality. The blonde-haired girl was looking up at me with worried eyes. "You were s-staring off into s-space."
I was?
"O-Oh, sorry. I was just... Thinking."
Samantha tilted her head. "O-Of?"
'If I like you.'
I didn't say that. Instead, I asked another question. "Did you and Zed talk about something? Anything at all? Like... After he fixed you up?"
My heart dropped to my stomach at Samantha's reaction. Her cheeks reddened so much, smoke was going to come out of her ears.
'Did... Zed made a move?'
I didn't even know if he liked her. If he does... Then based on Samantha's reaction, his feelings were returned.
Why? Why does my chest hurt? I should be happy that both of them liked each other, yet I felt the exact opposite. I was... Shocked. Hurt. Angry. Frustrated. And every other word related to those.
I was nothing to Samantha - we're nothing to each other. I shouldn't feel this way. But I couldn't stop it. Among all of the things we could control and keep in check, emotions weren't one of them at times. For me, I have no control at all.
"So... you two did talk about something." I bit my lower lip as I looked down at my feet. "What was it?"
"It's-"
Samantha didn't get to finish because the ground shook. Suddenly, something was pulling me to the right. Not exactly strong enough to get me moving, but I felt it.
"Someone c-called for help!" Samantha grabbed my wrist. "Let's g-go!"
We sprinted towards the direction of the odd force. As we ran, my mind was wandering elsewhere.
'Why does everyone keeps secrets from me?'