The plan Darius came up with was as simple as it was ruthless, involving some good ole arson and mayhem.
You see, the town of Coppervile was mostly abandoned, except for the building's near the center of town. They were used for housing, storage—you know, things like that—where the few people who lived in this shithole all resided.
In particular, Darius would be burning three specific buildings. These were the ones that had the most activity or were otherwise important to the townspeople.
The first was the storehouse, where they kept all the towns water; the second was the whorehouse, of which there was only one for whatever reason; and the third would be the large warehouse on the south side of town, where some kind of product was being produced.
What this product was Darius had no idea, but he definitely knew it was important from how many people kept coming and going from there.
His first target was the storehouse, then the whorehouse, and finally the factory. He already prepared more Molotov cocktails for this plan, putting them in wooden crates, which he left near his targeted buildings.
After he set them ablaze, everyone would gather to put out the flames, and in the chaos, Darius would take out Ethan covertly using an old wooden bow he had found in an abandoned house. Where, fortunately, their were also found some rusty arrows nearby in a weathered leather quiver.
Darius had some experience with a bow from his previous life as Martin. He learned to use a bow in middle-school gym and was actually pretty talented at it. His gym coach had even encouraged him to join the archery club, but of course Martin refused because that would involve effort. Anyway, it shouldn't be too difficult for Darius to kill Ethan with them.
"All righty, got my bow, my arrows, let do this!" Darius said with a little too much enthusiasm.
You may remember in the previous chapter when Darius failed to kill Ethan; he wasted no time in enacting his devious plan. He rushed over to the alleyway where he hid his bow and arrows and ran to the first building on his list.
It was stupid to him; the place where the town stored all its water had been left entirely unguarded. He had no need to hide them; he simply placed the crate full of his improvised explosives right next to the building in plain sight.
As soon as Darius got there, he opened it, pulled out the cocktails, lit them up, and threw them through the windows.
It took no time at all for the fire to spread inside, but Darius didn't stick around to witness his handy work. He was off to the second target on the list, the popular town whorehouse.
Not long after, the sky turned black ushering in the night.
...
"Stop it! Put it out!"
"Hurry before it's too late!"
The townsfolk shouted as they fumbled around trying to put out the inferno that was spreading rapidly, but it was clear from the start this was hopeless.
The fire originated from the building where most of the freshwater was stored, meaning they had nothing to use to put out the flames.
They did attempt using the little water some people had in their houses, but it had no effect.
The fire continued to spread, and it seemed like things couldn't get any worse. That was until the whorehouse unexpectedly caught fire.
Ethan had been in the general area when it caught fire. He was going there to visit Valerie and tell the people of his deadly encounter, only to see the smoke rising from the distance.
"What the in hell?" Ethan had a confused look of horror on his face, which morphed into one of pure rage when he realized the reason for the fire.
"Bastard!" He shouted through gritted teeth.
He sprinted with all his might to where his beloved Valerie was, but when he got there, it was too late.
"No!" He screamed as he fell to his knees.
The entire block was engulfed in flames. He could see the burned bodies of those unable to escape in time littering the streets.
"DARIUS!!!" Ethan howled like a savage beast, his eyes becoming so bloodshot they bled crimson tears.
He rose to his feet, shaking violently, barely able to keep his rage in check. "Where are you?" He whispered, looking around in a furious daze.
*Whistle*
The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. He turned his head, seeing an arrow flying straight for him.
"Grr!" Ethan growled.
The arrow was mear inches away from his head, and it seemed like it was going to pierce through his skull, but out of nowhere, he effortlessly grabbed it and crushed it in his palm, tossing the broken pieces aside nonchalantly.
His vision was blurry and red, making it hard to see, but despite that, he clearly saw Darius standing at the end of the block, a bow in his hands.
"Fuck!" Darius cursed, throwing his bow away before running.
Ethan said nothing when he saw Darius; his expression didn't even change; he only snarled before giving chase.
Darius ran through the alleyways, Ethan hot on his heels. His plan failed once again; now he didn't know what to do.
'Screw this bullshit! I'm setting the last building on fire and leading this freak right into it; after that, I'm leaving this crazy town!' He thought as he ran toward the warehouse.
Lucky for him, Ethan was blinded by rage and didn't consider even for a moment if he was being led into a trap.
Darius tried losing him by running in between the burning houses, hoping the thick smoke would slow him down.
Once again, fortune smiled upon him, and he was able to lose Ethan when a building collapsed by him, spraying his face with hot ashes.
The pain caused him to momentarily lose his balance, and he tripped over his own feet, falling flat on his face. Hitting his nose off the cobblestone street as he fell, his nose breaking on impact.
He was down for just a few seconds, but it was more than enough time for Darius to get away.
He shambled toward the warehouse collapsing next to the crate of cocktails, wheezing uncontrollably. This was way too much running for a scrawny, unathletic guy like Darius, and the smoke certainly didn't help.
"Fuck this worthless body! No strength and stamina having ass!" He shouted in frustration.
Lungs on fire, he opened the crate with shaky hands. Six beautiful bottles greeted him, and using the rest of the matches, he lit them one by one.
Getting to his feet, Darius threw five of the bottles through the windows, but just as he was about to throw the final bottle, he heard slow footsteps approaching him.
"Shit." He cursed under his breath, knowing who those steps belonged to. He had hoped he'd have more time.
He tossed the final bottle to the ground and watched as a silhouette emerged from the smoke, and surprise, surprise, it was Ethan.
"Come on, motherfucker, let's finish this." Darius threw his tunic off, assuming a boxing stance.
Ethan looked at him with a tired expression. His body was charred and covered in black soot. What's worse, his handsome face and his pride were broken. Not to mention the girl he loved was most likely dead. Ethan was done; all he wanted was for this to be over.
Saying nothing, he got into a fighting stance.
Glaring coldly at each other, they both understood one thing.
When dawn broke through the horizon, one of them would be dead.