"Hey you can come out now." Alex said as he patted the little girl's shoulder.
"Go away meanies!" She swatted her hands at Alex and desperately tried to get away.
"Hey hey hey, its me. Remember?" Alex caught her so she couldn't run away.
She fought him still before his words registered and she stopped. She then started crying again as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Alex sighed but pried her off.
"You can cry later, you want to try and save the people you were with right?"
She sniffled but stood up straight and nodded her head confidently. She couldn't be a cry baby now when her family and friends were in danger. When she ran away, not everyone was dead so they might have kidnapped some which meant there was hope.
While she was optimistic, Alex was pessimistic. Who were bandits? Scum who r*ped and pillaged others. They preyed on the weak and hid away from the strong. They did anything for money or women and also killed for sport.
No sane person would like the kinds of nefarious things bandits did and he was out to be a hero this one time.
"Stay behind me and don't stray too far, I'll tell you to hide when someone is near." Alex spoke to her and started walking.
He didn't get very far when the little girl held onto the end of his jacket again. Her ruby eyes looked up to him again but with more confidence in her gaze.
"Are you going to kill more bad guys?" She asked.
Alex raised an eyebrow, why was she asking this again? She seemed to realize he already killed the other guy so maybe she had other thoughts on their punishment.
"I will if I need to. Do you want me to spare them?"
"NO!" She gritted her teeth with crossed arms, "Those meanies deserve to die! I would kill them myself if I wasn't so small and weak."
She looked down at her little clenched fists in anger. Alex chuckled and ruffled her hair before they went further toward the fire.
Behind them, if the little girl had just looked a bit further up into the trees, she would see an expression of horror written on the face of the creepy man as he dangled from a tree by his own butcher knife.
Blood came out of his orifices and his eyes were dull and rolled back into his head a bit. His knife was lodged deep into his skull and slightly warped his head and the blade went deep into the tree branch. His limps swayed with the wind as the ashes of the blazing fire followed.
The rest of the men he killed were all in similar positions, dangling like grotesque ornaments on a Christmas tree...
The two people, child and freeloader, walked together as they went by the ashy ground covered in bodies. They mostly found bodies of bandits or guards that had much better metal armor and weapons.
They mostly had arrows in their bodies or slash marks on their necks. Alex had asked the girl if she wanted to be carried so she didn't have to see, but she shook her head believing that she was a big girl.
She almost immediately regretted that decision when she saw the fresh blood and guts on the ground. She ended up vomiting on Alex's pants which earned a big scolding before he picked her up with his bad arm.
She hid in his shoulder while periodically taking a look around her. When she saw more bodies she would look at them for a bit to see if she recognized them before hiding her green face in his shoulder again.
Eventually, they started seeing dead horses and lots of footprints in the area. There were also broken pieces of wood, some more burnt than others, that led them to a chain of several carriages.
Most were turned over and burning while some stood up but were dyed red in blood. The ground was dyed the same color as the main part of this road they were on was littered with corpses. Many of the bodies were of guards or wealthier-looking people.
Some looked like maids while others were in their underwear as they were stripped of their good-looking clothes and accessories. The girl wanted down as she bawled her eyes out. She went to a few of the maids and wealthy people constantly rubbing her face of tears and snot.
Alex felt his heart pain as this young girl looked at all her loved ones brutally murdered. Alex could tell that most of the men were killed quickly while several of the female corpses had ripped clothes on them and blood and bruising on their private parts.
He clenched his jaw and fists as he saw a woman who was of a similar height and hair color to Alicia with a shredded top and her breasts cut off. He had to take a few deep breaths as he began looking for survivors. After a while, he came up with nothing, and pretty much all of the valuable items were gone and every living thing in the area was dead except for a few scavenger animals and monsters surrounding the area.
Alex dealt with the ones that were brave enough to attack him and made his way back to the little girl. He saw her crying over two bodies that were a bit more luxurious than the rest. She mumbled "mommy" and "daddy" making Alex sigh.
He came over to the girl who was clenching their blood-soaked clothes not caring that she was getting it all over her nightgown. Her once white dress was covered in blood, making it a horrific sight.
He came down and put a hand on her back and rubbed her gently. She turned to him with swollen eyes and only cried more. Her entire family was gone in a flash and she couldn't even get rid of the anger and helplessness she was feeling.
Taking out her anger on the only living thing in the area, she ran up to Alex and started hitting his chest with her clenched fists. She let the tears fall as she yelled at him between slight hiccups from crying for so long.
"Why? Why didn't you get here sooner? You could have fought those stupid meanies and saved everyone! Why did mommy and daddy have to die? Why! Why! Why!" She let out her feelings and Alex just let her do what she needed.
He felt awful since he probably could have helped out sooner if he knew what was going on. If he didn't stall a bit and just rushed to clean up this mess, maybe her parents and some of the other people with her would still be breathing.
He couldn't help but blame himself a little.
Although Alan taught him how to fight and be prepared for anything, especially betrayals, he didn't prepare him for the consequences of his actions or others. In the future, could he promise to protect weaker people like this and follow through? Would he be an asshole for not caring? Would he end up like the bandits later in his life?
He couldn't know for sure.
As he let the girl hit him with 0 damage hit marks popping up above his head, something in the distance made his ears twitch and he looked up around him. It was very faint but it made his heart beat faster.
"Ngh..."
At the sound of a faint noise in the distance, Alex let go of the little girl who looked up at him curiously. His eyes were open wide and she could almost see a smile on his face before he disappeared. She was shocked and looked everywhere to try and find him. She freaked out thinking she drove off the one living being that could give her warmth amongst this sea of cold blood.
"HEY KID, OVER HERE!!" The little girl heard the man's voice boom. She looked in the direction the voice came from and ran over.
Whatever her prince charming had found made his voice sound excited and she also couldn't help but have hope. She went through the misty ashes of the forest and carefully made her way around bodies and broken carts before finding her prince kneeling down by a toppled cart.
The horses in front were stacked on top of each other dead while a bloody arm was seen through the open carriage door. She paled and ignored the scene before she saw Alex holding the hand of a body.
Except this body didn't look as pale as the rest.
The little girl's eyes lit up and let tears fall again as she ran to the figure.
"Auntie Eva!" She cried as she dropped to the ground and tackled the unconscious body. Alex didn't think she would do something stupid like that and wasn't able to react as the unconscious body woke up screaming in pain.
Alex quickly pushed the girl away a bit more forceful than he wanted to.
"Idiot! She's injured! Don't make it worse and control yourself!" He scolded as he held the screaming woman's head. She was pale as tears came from her eyes looking at her condition.
Looking down, her hands trembled as she reached toward a piece of wood sticking through her bloody abdomen. When she looked down further, she almost passed out again as she saw her legs were trapped under the toppled carriage.
She tried to move her feet and wiggle her toes but she couldn't feel anything. She began panicking and trying to claw away from this nightmare but the hand that held hers made her jump and swing out.
She directly punched Alex in the face and swung another beat-up fist but Alex caught this one. He was surprised that she actually was an evolver! She was probably only 1st Ring, maybe low 2nd but she got a good hit on him.
His slightly red cheek moved up a little when he smiled and calmed her down.
"Calm down miss, I'm here to help, I'm not one of those bandits." She continued to fight him for a bit as she cried and Alex tried to calm her down.
She was probably in shock so he thought about knocking her out but didn't get a chance to when...
"Auntie Eva..." the little girl said as she rubbed her head.
There was a bit of blood on her forehead after hitting it when Alex pushed her away. He felt awful for accidentally hurting her but she seemed fine except for being a bit dizzy.
When Auntie Eva turned to the other figure, her heart melted as the memories of her husband and other family and friends being brutally murdered resurfaced. She was lucky that her husband took a sword stab for her and she ended up being crushed by him.
It came as a blessing in disguise when the bandits thought they killed her as well with the one sword strike and she hid under her dead husband weeping silently until she could no longer hear people around her.
She wanted to try and run away for help but when she stepped out of the carriage, it toppled over from the weakness the fire caused and crushed her. She directly blacked out and could be considered lucky that it was only her legs that got crushed.
Alex hadn't noticed her when he came by earlier because she was covered in so much soot. He only noticed her when she mumbled some words in her unconscious state.
Auntie Eva held her arms out in pain as she moved her injured abdomen.
"Come here Kailey! I'm so glad you're safe baby!"
Kailey the little girl quivered her bottom lip before stumbling over to her Aunt and hugging her tight. Eva gritted her teeth but hugged her niece tightly afraid she would lose her again. She was terrified of what would become of the little girl since her carriage was in the middle, and ended up attacked by two 2nd Rings!
Although their caravan had several 2nd Ring guards, the female bandit she barely caught a glimpse of made quick work of their strongest guards. Her strength could possibly contend with a 3rd Ring! She was so terrified and everything was a blur since it happened so fast.
The young Kailey cried her heart out as Alex looked at the Aunt's condition.
"I'm sorry to ruin your moment but we need to get you out of there and give you medical treatment." Alex brought the older woman back to her senses.
She had darker brown hair and the same characteristic ruby-red eyes. She was in awful shape so he couldn't really tell much about her looks but she might have been around 5'5" or 5'6" in height.
Eva nodded and held her niece's hand.
"Sweetheart can you do me a favor and back away, I don't want this to fall on you." She told the little girl rubbing her eyes and nose.
Kailey looked over at her prince who was looking for a hold on the carriage to lift it out of the way. She nodded and turned around to get out of the way before watching nervously.
Auntie Eva turned her attention to the man trying to help with conflicting feelings. She had a hard time trusting a stranger, unlike the young girl who was desperate. However, she was desperate as well. She was forced to put her pride aside and let him help.
Although her stomach burned like hell, she gritted her now ash-stained teeth and got herself into a good position to push herself out of the carriage's path when he lifted it.
"T-Thank you..." She said quietly.
"Don't thank me yet." Alex strained without looking back.
He then kicked a small round shield next to her and she looked at it suspiciously.
"I can't promise things won't fall." Before he began lifting the wobbly structure.
He began slowly lifting the carriage as it creaked and groaned in pain. Pieces of splintered wood and bent nails fell on him and the aunt. Eva could only grab the shield quickly and raise it above her despite the pain that seemed to get worse.
She felt lightheaded but couldn't afford to pass out yet. A little more blood seeped out of her abdomen that blended in with the scarlet dress she wore and dyed the ground below her. If she wore another color, her niece would have seen her in a lot worse condition.
*Crack!*
Alex heard a loud snap as one of the main wooden beams that held the majority of the structure together broke in half. He had managed to get the carriage up to around a 45-degree angle before the top half gave out.
Everyone widened their eyes and the two girls couldn't react in time.
Luckily their prince charming reacted quickly. Throwing the remaining carriage away with a lot of strength, he then dove towards the Aunt that was in the path of the carriage's top half. Her pupils trembled as she watched her life flash before her eyes.
She couldn't help but glance toward Kailey who had horror written all over her face. She smiled miserably at her niece as the tears poured from her eyes.
'I'm sorry, Kailey.'
*BOOM!*