It's been hours since Byul, and Kevin separated from them. Michelle first thought that they got split in the maze, she might choose a different path than theirs. But it didn't look like it does now, after she found out there was an enormous crater in the path.
"This is all your fault," Michelle flared, looking at the injured figure leaning against the sidewall. Her nostrils flamed just looking at him. 'if this bastard wasn't here, they wouldn't have to face the encircle of the Infectors, and Byul wouldn't get separated.'
Aasan, the man in question, didn't answer, just looked at her before closing off his eyes in resting. While the other mercenary man lit up a cigar. The other two of the injured men of the gang remained silent too.
This pissed off Michelle even more. She stood up and yelled out. "You bastards . . ." she clasped her palms and fingers. "First you brought this to us and now, silent… you… you…" The more she talked, the more her voice raged.
Jacob, who was beside her, looked resentmentful as well, but he was too tired for another argument.
The gentleman looking fellow finally opened his mouth, opening his eyes. "I recommend you quit this yelling, it might bring another pack of the dead men here." He was exhausted, with all the wounds all over his body, and the right leg still looked awful, even after using the healing talisman. He sighed and continued in a weary tone. "Moreover yelling won't solve anything, it only makes you more exhausted."
Michelle gritted her teeth hearing that, but she didn't yell. She even found out that standing up hurt. She calmed her temper down and sat down beside Jacob.
"And even if we didn't bring that army of Infectors towards here, you would still face them if you advance a few more miles in the centre."
"That doesn't make you any less guilty," Michelle said.
Aasan nodded, but it didn't look like he cared even a pinch. His group had about two dozen members when they first entered the Infectors' nest. And now here's only four . . . few of them might still be alive if their luck was good.
"When I get out of this mess, you're going to pay for everything." Michelle didn't look at the figure again. Even glancing at him makes her inside rage out. She transferred her attention to Jacob, who didn't look any better than Aasan. "How're your wounds?"
"It's healing," Jacob looked at his torso—bandaged. "But I'm worried about Kevin and Byul."
"We should look for them after a bit of resting," Michelle sighed.
That means that they will encounter more Infectors in their path and more desperate battles. The inside of Jacob shivered, but he nodded. He didn't complain, as they all helped him on more than one occasion. Especially Michelle, if she didn't save him on the very first day, he wouldn't be present here now. How can he say no to her!
"You guys are insane," the middle-aged mercenary commented.
But that didn't affect their mind, they didn't even put it into their ears. They needed to rest for a couple of hours before continuing.
******
When Byul woke up, she felt an impaling pain in her head. She made a bit of effort to look around and she recalled this wasn't a dream. She was in the subterranean maze with the others and then the horde of infectors assaulted them, and she fell in a crater with Kevin. Byul couldn't help but sigh.
Ignoring the impaling pain in her head, she sat up. She stroked her head to notice that it was bandaged. Kevin must have done it. Though it was roughly done, she was grateful for that. She's even more indebted, as he didn't leave her there. She wouldn't even hold a grudge if he had left her there with an injured body like that—he still carried her into safety.
'But where is this guy?' She couldn't locate the figure of Kevin around here. But she didn't worry, as there were two bags left with her. He employed one of them as her pillow while the other on the side.
Recalling the bags, Byul immediately opened hers to search for the meds. Although that Bastard-robber took away most of it in phase-I, she bought another batch from the Trial salesman. Opening the kit, she learned Kevin used a bandage and meds from hers, and he was good at making a mess. After searching for a moment, she finally found what she was looking for — painkillers. She instantly took the aspirin to gulp down immediately without water. It should be some help to the impaling headache.
Then, having nothing to do, she just waited, waited for Kevin to come back. He shouldn't have gone far. And she was right, as she could see the familiar tall silhouette of Kevin approaching.
"Thank you for…" She paused, noticing the rigid expression on Kevin's face. "Everything."
He said nothing like always, sat beside her, resting the spear against the wall. Kevin opened his bag, then a bottle of water. He gulped half the content from it before looking at her. He said nothing. He looked at the wound on her head and her face.
A silence descended there. Byul found this situation a bit awkward, so she opened her mouth again. And found that Kevin opened his mouth at the same time.
"Where are we?"
"How's your head?"
"It's alright, though I felt some discomfort," she lied with a straight face. It's not discomfort but an impaling, intense pain. She followed immediately with another comment, worrying he might find out. "I had worse days than this."
That was not a lie.
Kevin nodded.
"So, where are we?" Byul asked again. She found the silence to be more irritating than the pain.
"It's a few miles away from where you fell; the good thing was that there were no Infectors here, so I didn't have much problem carrying you here." he whimpered. "We should leave here if your condition is better."
This was the longest time Kevin spoke to her in one account. She nodded. "Thank you." She didn't leave the conversation to go into silence. "Should we go back where we fell?"
"No," Kevin shook his head. "There are infectors there. I don't know how many, but I can guess it's more than I can handle in my current state and I'm sure you're the same as well."
Byul wanted to argue, but nodded. It was as he had said: she's just a helpless fish out of water. She couldn't even channel Maha Mana in her current state.
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