We gathered the town in the hospital; anyone affected by Finn would have their cure. We just needed someone to try it. Unfortunately, the delivery method won't be well received by the townspeople. Chatter began circulating as soon as we finished explaining what we were trying to do.
"The Cure is real," I said, raising my voice over the multiple people loudly discussing whether or not they could trust us after we explained the delivery method. "We have found a way to replicate the cobbler healthy body mix of cells and multiply it."
"Why should we let you stab us?" said a woman towards the back
"She is trying to kill us," said another towards the middle.
With every comment, the people agitated more and more; Betty stepped in and projected her voice over the crowd like god himself falling from the skies, "STOP!"
They all stopped; her voice carried everywhere in the room.
"You don't have to take it," she began, "But I highly suggest you do it; at least you will survive; the illness that you have will eventually take over your heart and end you all, so if you are going to die either way why not by your own terms, and why not by old age?"
An older man who was seated towards the front stood up; his face was a rock formation similar to Mount Rushmore. "I'll do it."
Finn smiled at him, a sign that things would finally turn positive; we took him with us, and I performed the operation carefully. The man's body formations began disappearing slowly. It would take at least a week for them to be gone for good. But at least he looked more like his old self and less like a world wonder.
We presented him to the people; some were still hesitant, but at least they were willing to give it a try. Some others opted to stay how they were as they had started a new religion a few years back, the Stonic Faith. They believed in the true power of some Rock god they had engineered for themselves and thought that he had come to the world to save them by giving them the particular skin for their protection; Finn attempted to dissuade them with no luck. They were set on their ways.
After we got the last of the willing people vaccinated, we left a messenger behind, someone who could reach us if something were to go wrong with the cure. They could reach out to us, and we would return and experiment some more; under normal circumstances, I would have loved to stay and continue studying the effects of the cure with the people. However, this little visit had already delayed us a few weeks from our mission. He would return in a few months, and I, for once, wanted to be ready to end our agreement.
We resumed our traveling. Lucky for us, Billy's thumb was relatively close to the town. We reached our destination at the end of the afternoon, still having plenty of sunlight to get him. Finn was the first one to see the sword marking the spot.
He dismounted and ran towards it; the mountain Billy was buried in had maintained its beauty for the past few years; the grass was green and long, flowers had grown where we had buried him, and Billy's sword hadn't moved, no thief or hero dared to touch it, it was his legacy after all. We approached it and examined it; the sword had a scripture made by a local smith. "The hero has befallen"
Finn placed his hands on the sword.
"Old friend, long time no see," I heard him say under his breath.
"Are you ready?" I asked, looking at Finn as he examined the grave in front of us
"Wait," Betty interrupted. "I don't want to be here for this."
Finn and I looked at her, confused.
"He was a great hero," said Finn. "I'm sure he would welcome you."
"I just can't bring myself to confront the undead. It feels... wrong," she murmured, her gaze distant as if lost in a realm beyond our own. "I'll take them out for a stroll, let them stretch their legs and such," she continued, gesturing toward the peculiar companions at her side— the marrow and the dragonfly.
"I understand; we will find you after, "I assured her, watching her departure until she was safely out of sight. With a silent farewell, I waited patiently, giving her the space she needed before proceeding with our mission at hand.
"I'm ready" He said. his voice steady and resolute
I nodded solemnly, reaching into my bag to retrieve an elixir carefully prepared for this momentous occasion. With a steady hand, I poured its contents over the barren earth that covered the grave. As the elixir seeped into the soil, a subtle tremor coursed through the ground, a prelude to the extraordinary events about to unfold.
A hushed stillness enveloped us, pregnant with anticipation, until suddenly, the earth stirred. First, a solitary hand breached the surface, followed by another, as if beckoned by some unseen force. With agonizing slowness, a figure emerged from the depths, dusted in soil and bearing the unmistakable likeness of Billy.