Cameron fully expected to be killed then and there. The killer came over and decided to finish the job. The boy couldn't do anything but shut his eyes tightly and wait for the sickening pain to overcome him.. but it stood silent. The air passing by with a whisper flying past them through the now open curtain of vines.
"Fuck…" Kim Seo let out a sigh of relief causing Cameron to look over his shielded hands. His body relaxed almost immediately when his eyes met with Vinh's. Well, one of her eyes.
Kim Seo came forward and wrapped Vinh up in a hug and dragged her into the small cave they hid in. Marie followed behind, jumping over to where Cameron stayed seated, they let the vines swing shut that plunged the group back into the safety of the darkness.
"You scared the shit out of us…" Cameron sighed out, smoothing his hands over Marie who stuffed her face in his chest. Her body was relaxed, even with Cameron filling her hair with his blood soaked fingers.
Vinh gave a shaky sigh, falling onto the wall behind her just as Kim Seo managed to stabilize her. "We scared you? I almost passed out…"
The older boy looked around for something, his eyes darting to the girl's eye that was shut with sticky blood. Cameron noticed him looking for something, the boy ripped more of his sweater before handing it over. He held in a wince since Marie was holding onto him, but the pain in his face made the girls give him a look.
"Neck…" Marie let out a small voice, pointing to where Cameron had a large wound on his neck that was covered in a red soaked ripped fabric.
The boy nodded, putting on a strong face for the girl who made a mumbling sound. She turned back to stuff her face in his chest while tightly holding onto his sweater ruined with blood in hopes it would comfort him.
While that happened, Kim Seo started to help clean up the girl's eye. She hissed, cursing under her breath with each stinging pain that made her head pound in frustration. She felt the tears sting her one functional eye, the boy tried to gently wipe the blood away in hopes she could open the eye and see. But the girl gave a defeated sigh when the pain became too much. She pushed the cloth away, her body shaking at the realization.
"Stop trying.. it's not helping."
"You can still use that eye, Vinh. Just push through the pain and let me clean it." The boy tried to scold, only Vinh ignored the words that were supposed to feel encouragement. He waited, hearing the small hiss from Cameron off to his side before he let out a sigh. "Alright.. if you don't want me to clean it, I won't."
"What happened to you guys?" Vinh decided to ask, resting her head on the wall behind her to let the pain subside.
"Well.. we followed to where the light we saw was.. and…" The boy coughed, he felt both embarrassed and slightly scared of what they had witnessed in that home. What they saw him do to Loire, what he had done to Cameron. "Let's just say that was where the man was. He caught us there, and that's how Cameron got hurt like that."
Vinh looked over to where the boy was seated, he gently stroked the girl's back with his back and head pressed against the wall behind him in hopes of feeling relaxed. He had the ripped fabric of his sweater tightly wrapped around his neck that was soaked with blood. The girl wondered for a moment, casting an eye to Kim Seo who watched her from their side.
"What happened to that?"
The boy coughed again, looking slightly embarrassed, he turned to where the vines gave them converge to his side before responding. "It's hard to explain, but the man actually bit him.. ripped out his skin which could have killed him if we didn't wrap it up in time."
The girl casted her eyes down to the boy's chest, the large claw rip on his chest made her eyes scrunch up with thought. "What happened there?"
Kim Seo followed her eyes, "oh. I managed to get him off Cameron by catching him off guard from behind. He got me, but not as bad as Cameron." Vinh nodded, watching the older boy's reactions and taking them into account while he continued. "He got wounded, which helped us to escape."
"Did he see where you guys ran off to?"
"I don't believe he did." Kim Seo turned back to her, watching the girl watch the child in Cameron's arms. "When I helped Cameron out, he didn't look back or even try to follow us out. I broke the spear bone thing inside of him when I stabbed him."
"Hm.." She gave a small reply, her eyes slightly shaking when looking at Marie. The girl went to sleep in the boy's arms, her body hanging limply with the small hand wrapped into his blue dirty fabric. She looked comfortable, at ease and safe..
The girl's eyes felt heavy, the vision slowly blurry among itself when she felt herself tear up. Her throat bobbed, it felt as if she had swallowed rocks that clogged her breathing. The girl turned away, stuffing her face in her shoulder to let the sobs out.
Kim Seo watched, seeing his friend curl up on her body to cry out desperate and painful tears. It hurt to cry, and it hurt to watch. Her face was hidden, but the boy could tell how painful it was to cry, it hurt to even do that much.
"Why did this have to happen…?" She let out a soft voice, hiccuping right after. The boy came forward, leaning on her side before he hesitantly wrapped his arm around her shoulder to give a small but comforting side hug. She sobbed again, a bit louder as she tried to speak. "Why did this have to happen to her? She's too young Kim.. too fucking young..!"
"Shh…" The boy comforted, pulling her closer and resting his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes tightly to let the girl cry harder. She finally turned over to him, keeping her face covered to hide her cries in the boy's shoulder.
He let her do so, the silence of the night falling coming in at full force for the group. The only sound for the past minutes were of Marie and Cameron's small snoring along with Vinh occasionally sniffing away the sobs. She slowly went limp in his arms, soon letting out small signs of sleep that led the boy to believe she had fallen asleep along with the other two.
He thought that maybe he should go to sleep so they had enough energy to try and escape again, but he stopped himself. The killer could still catch them, they needed someone to stay awake and keep watch over them so they wouldn't be caught off guard by him. The others were already asleep, so the boy decided to stay awake to watch for them.
Even if he did want to go to sleep, the adrenaline after what all had just happened was stoned deep in him. He was shaking ever so slightly, his mind foggy with different emotions. His eyes traveled along Vinh who was on him over to where Cameron and the angel were. They slept soundly, soft whispers of snores made the boy feel warm in the cold small cave. It was something new for him, all of this violence was somewhat normal, he has been surrounded by it his whole life.
But now this.. it felt new. Good news, it felt nice. This warm feeling running circles in his chest felt so warm and comforting. He didn't know who to thank for it, it felt all wrong. He shouldn't be feeling this nice when one of his friends has died…
Vinh pushed herself closer into Kim Seo, moaning slightly in pain. The older boy still had the cloth in his hand, so he decided to gently swipe away the blood running down the girl's cut eye.
She slowly relaxed into him. The boy grinned, seeing how her sleeping reminded him so much of when they were in class. The girl always fell asleep in class, not giving a care to anyone and doing her own thing. She was relaxed, calm without worrying about anything in the world.
The boy looked over to the angel, she was too relaxed. Out of everyone here, she didn't have any major wounds. She was cut with a lot of dirt mixed in her clothes, but that's about it. It seemed like Vinh tried her best to keep the girl from getting hurt. She was very protective of the child..
But who wouldn't?
She was just a kid, she didn't deserve all this trauma, death, and running for your life. Vinh or Cameron didn't deserve this either, unlike him…
He may deserve this, his past life that ended up conflicting him in the school which soon led them to be lost was all because of him. He had done a lot of shitty things in his life, he regretted it. Although he couldn't do anything about it now. It has been done..
The boy took a look at Cameron, he was still covered in blood. The dark liquid froze onto his clothing, his skin that stuck like sap. It surprised the older boy how he was still able to look so relaxed even with being in as much pain as he was. The boy had a twisted wrist, a large bite mark on his neck that took out half his skin. Cuts and bruises lining his torn skin through his clothing because of the fall off the cliff.
It amazed him, the small boy usually did so. Amazing him by taking the other off guard.
Even so, Cameron would have been dead. Not so long ago, he would be laying on the bloody ground along with Loire. Sitting there to be turned into a rotting corpse chopped into little pieces..
He felt himself gag at the image. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he lost someone else, he felt the need to protect him. He was protecting him, trying to protect them.
Was it his inner self trying to make up for all his wrong doings?
He didn't want to admit it, but he felt as if it was some sort of excuse. He failed in keeping Loire safe, alive. He was the oldest out of all of them, the one with the most "experience" or whatever you would call it. So he needed to take the lead, to lead them to safety.
But he led them to the killer's house.. just because he saw a stupid light… He is so stupid, ignorant. Because of him, Cameron was like that…
The small boy let out a wheezing breath, his face scrunching up in pain. Sweat fell silently down his cheek, his arms squeezing tightly onto Marie who stayed still in his lap. He was in pain because of Kim Seo.
He pushed him off a damn cliff, he left him in a room with a maniac who bit half of his neck off…!
"Erf…" Kim Seo covered his mouth, feeling his eyes burn. It was painful trying to keep up with his emotions, trying to stop himself from showing them. He was the anchor in this group, he didn't take it seriously, costing Loire her life along with Cameron's serious injuries.
He refused to let himself be beat down by this killer. He will protect his friends, that's the least he could do.
. . .
The boy was slightly numb, it still closed off his whole body before coming down hard and crushing his skin. It felt hot, it stung. The feeling was like thousands of venomous snakes curling around his neck before biting down hard to sink its venom in his body before pulling a chunk of his flesh off.
It was suffocating, grasping at any able thing to hold onto his consciousness, to hold onto the air that was wavering around in front of him like a sick mockery. He reached out for it, hiccuping softly while the hot tears trickled down his chin before crashing to his burning skin, it left smoke in the way. But no matter how hard he tried to feel the air, to fucking breath. It was snatched away from him.
Is this what death felt like?
He had escaped death, it wasn't there anymore. He was saved, they ran away and hid just in time before he could come and finish the job. So why now does death come clawing back for revenge?
Did he believe that he didn't deserve it? Loire had died, she had watched the boy fall in her blood, the girl's glossy eyes stared back at him as he scrambled for desperate freedom.
He was scrambling once again, reaching out for that fresh air. That relief once he lets out a breath. That reminder that he was in fact alive.. that he wasn't dead, on the floor of a broken, moldy home with a grown man hunting him.
"Cameron! Cam cam come on breathe!" Kim Seo's voice dragged the boy out of his sleep, the shaking that stung each part of his body caused a crushing sensation along his bones and chest. "Cameron..!" His hissing voice became louder, finally forcing the boy to open his eyes.
Cameron was suffocating, in his own blood. He spit it out, coughing wildly while the stinging pain traveled up his neck before he could stop it. Kim Seo was in his view, pulling him up to hang over his body. The smaller boy desperately tried to grab onto something, shaking like he was having a heart attack, he gripped hard on the older boy while the blood spurted out without control.
"Come on.. just breathe…" His voice was a quiet but firm whisper, a smooth feeling of a hand rubbing along the boy's back brought a sense of familiarity. It was nice, it calmed his racing heart.
Even if the pain was still running circles along his insides from him vomiting it up, he closed his eyes tightly. His lashes soaked up his tears that still hid along his eyelids, the rest falling without control to mix with his blood.
"You're okay…" Kim Seo pushed the younger boy into himself, covering the boy like some sort of safety net. He let the younger one cover him in his blood, only making sure that his head hung over the other's neck so the blood could come out. He didn't want the younger one choking on his own blood.
The silent coughs and sobs were all that echoed in the small cave. Cameron finally managed to catch a grip onto his consciousness, keeping his mind safe from the fear of death that was hanging above his head with a mocking grin. He stuffed himself in Kim Seo, the only thing keeping him conscious from the agony was the circles gently rubbed on his back by the latter.
It soon fell silent once the young teen managed to let the rest of his bloody mess finish. The burning that rubbed in his throat still made a loud presence, but the only thing hiding within him was the injury on his neck. It was screaming in pain at being stretched and moved around.
It was worse than where he managed to doze off, it felt like things were crawling around on his muscles. It was a sickening feeling, like he was infested with bugs that sucked on his insides, draining it dry…
"Hey it's okay, it's okay." The older boy pulled him away from his thoughts, moving slightly to peer at the other boy's face. He made eye contact, but Cameron pulled his face away, only making it a second away before he cried once again at the pain. "It's okay…" The older boy pulled the younger one tightly in a hug, being aware of his broken parts to make sure not to cause any more pain.
"Fuck…" The boy moaned out, circling his arms around Kim Seo's back and tightly gripping onto his shoulders. The older boy didn't mind it, he let out a small scoff.
"Language, there's children present."
Cameron opened his eyes slowly, finally taking their surroundings into account. He caught the eyes of Vinh who sat near the wall on the opposite end of the small cave. Marie shook slightly in her hands, the older girl covering the younger one's head in a comforting cage from the bloody mess. Vinh met his eyes with a bit of indifference.
"Mar-"
"She's fine…" The older girl let out, storking her head as her eyes traveled back to the boy with sorrow in his pupils. "She's just worried about you.. you were coughing up blood, she was worried so got Kim Seo." She let out a heavy sigh, her lips shaking. "Are you okay?"
Cameron gulped down the rising pain in his throat, he shakily managed to pull himself up from the boy's lap he had been in the whole time. His hands on his shoulders to steady himself in case he fell over from his weak body.
He gave the girl a small smile, "yeah… Tell her I'm fine."
Vinh watched the tears trickle down the boy's cheek, but she ignored it. Tapping Marie's head, the younger one looked up to her, the older one motioned towards Cameron that Marie took to look behind her.
A look of relief washed along her features, small but noticeable with her eyes scrunching up and tears in her eyes.
"Cam…" She hiccuped out, leaving Vinh's lap to crawl over to the boys not too far away. She made it in time to wrap her small arms around the young ones neck and pull in to stuff herself in the boys neck.
He hissed slightly, but he ended up using his hand that was once on Kim Seo's neck to pull the girl in a small hug. She relaxed immediately, letting small sobs fill the silent air, only Cameron's shushing calmed the small girl down.
"I'm okay…" He let out, patting her back.
Vinh came over, putting her hands on the girl's shoulder to reel her away from the hurt boy. Marie listened, falling back in Vinhs arms with Cameron's blood now mixed into her dress. She didn't mind, though Vinh made a face at the realization.
"What about my hug?" The older boy who stayed still through the whole interaction whined. He turned his head to the girls behind him, moving Cameron slightly in his lap. The young one looked down, his face slightly burning with embarrassment.
Marie pouted slightly, she narrowed her eyes at the older boy that called for a small giggle. Kim Seo didn't expect anything from the small child, but to his surprise, she came forward and reached her small hand out. She patted the boy's cheek, a small sting escaped the touch.
When did he get a cut there?
He didn't question it, only staring back at Marie with a look of fascination at the young girls' worry. She patted gently, moving away after her face blushed at the interaction. "Get better…" Her voice was small, but it was heard.
Kim Seo moved his arm around that was close to the young girl to pat her head. She let it happen, giving an innocent scowl while her face lit up once again at the small pat.
"Thank you~" His face lit up with a smile, feeling honored to finally have the girl make the first move. It finally felt like she was getting comfortable with him, accepting the other one with a stubborn attitude.
Cameron had managed to pull himself from the other's lap while Kim Seo was praising the child. He landed on the cold stone floor, suddenly missing the warmth from the taller boy. He brushed it off, the pain in his body from all the movement was the only thing keeping him conscious.
Vinh sat back down with Marie between her legs while Kim Seo turned over to Cameron. Vinh brushed away the blood that soaked Marie's blonde locks, scowling softly though the gentle tugging on the girl's head made Marie immediately relax in her grip. The older boy pulled his focus to Cameron, letting the young one lean on the wall while he surveyed his expression and injuries.
He went for the boy's neck, realizing that's where most of the pain was. "Get me another piece of your sweater."
Cameron did what he was told, tugging at the bottom of his sweater that was slowly becoming a shirt. He pulled a piece off and handed it to Kim Seo who gently unwrapped the damp red fabric from his neck. Cameron hissed when the wind blew on his exposed neck, his hand tightly gripping his jeans while the older boy audibly gulped when the wound came into the air.
"Damn…"
"What…!?" Cameron whispered out with panic, the older boy shook his head, covering the wound with the same fabric that was already on it.
Cameron growled, his body jerking forward while the air blew past his clenched teeth. "WHAT?"
"It's already infected.. bad."
"Oh my fucking god-" The panic set in, Cameron's blood running cold while Kim Seo patched the wound back up before he turned to the girls.
"We can't stay here, Cameron's wound is really bad. We need to get somewhere to clean it quickly."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Vinh whispered back, distracting the young girl by letting her play with her fingers.
"It's better than staying here like waiting ducks to be killed." He stood up, making the others turn their attention to him. "We are too close to his home, it's better we go and just keep on walking forward to try and find a river or pond.."
"We can't split it again." Vinh stood beside him, gripping Marie's hand that immediately changed the young girl's expression to a sour one. "We go together to find water, then we continue going forward till we run into a road or something."
"Good idea," Kim Seo nodded, he kneeled down to pick Cameron up and swing his hand over his shoulder to steady the young boy. "You need to clean that cut on your eye anyways. It's getting bad."
"Whatever." Vinh nodded even with her response sounding unkind. She waited at the entrance with Marie while the other boy stayed to steady the younger boy.
Cameron fussed around a bit, his legs shaking under his weight, but he managed to keep himself standing and even walking. But the older one insisted that he use him so they could walk faster. The younger one didn't like it, but he had no say since Kim Seo brushed off anything he tried to fight back with, letting the boy lead him out of the safety of the cave and in the dark night that swallowed all of the comfort the teens managed to gain in an instant.