"Why are we stopping at this place?" Ashly asked "Do we need more stuff for Eva?"
"No Ashly" Paul said "I'm just here to visit an old pal of mine" Paul then as they arrive at a town called Rodonu gets off the wagon. He walks past a few people to a small house. Paul knocks on the front door and a skinny young man answers
"Oh you are Xavier right? It's been a while since I saw you" Paul says as Xavier exits his house "I want to know if something is up with your father"
"Oh well I send a letter to where you must work at." Xavier said
"Oh sorry, as you can tell, I'm not at work today" Paul said apologizing "I was just wondering about him"
"He's dead" Xavier said "In a short story my father was acting weird. He has not been himself since the day he went out late at night. He was just so paranoid; always looking over his shoulders, staying up late at night, and not being verbal at all" Xavier explains "This was all until he left a letter to us and I read it. It was basically made up reasons to his suicide."
"Suicide?" Paul asked "But why would he do something so drastic?"
"Well the letter just said stuff like being depressed but he was never depressed. The letter was written to us the day before his body was found in a pond" Xavier then looks away from Paul feeling disgusted "I know my father was killed, he would never do such a thing."
"I have a feeling that he was forced to write that" Paul said "I have known him for twelve years"
"The letter that I send was written by me with all that I could remember. I'm pretty sure most of the things written in the letter I couldn't remember as they were to much for me to handle. I wish I remembered all of it" Xavier closes his mouth as he gags "Sorry… I" Xavier begins to cry
"It's ok if you don't want to tell me, there's nothing we can do about it now as much as it pains me" Paul says as he turns around
"Wait!" Xavier says "I almost forgot to tell you that a weird symbol was written in the letter. Give me a second" Xavier enters his house
A few minute pass and Xavier exits holding a piece of paper with a scribble "Sorry but this isn't exactly how it looked. I didn't add it back on the letter that I rewrote, but after talking to you I'm more than sure this has something to do with it"
Paul looks over the scribble symbol "Well, I recommend you to submit a case to the SDA
[The Scrutinized District Agency is an agency that separate districts can operate without the help of the government itself. each agency works within the territory of each district. It was first founded during a period were the government was weak due to losing power and crime rates increased. It was a way for the people to mainly report missing people, murders, and organized crimes.]
"Yes I will" Xavier said as Paul starts leaving. Emma who was buying a few cans of peaches sees Paul. They both get on the wagon and see Ashly sleeping and Eva scribbling gibberish on a piece of paper
"So… did you do what you came here for?" Emma asked and Paul nods "Alright then, let's not waste any more time" both get on the wagon and begin to move. Emma notices that Paul looks worried but decided to not to say anything
"Well dad" Eva said "There won't be anymore detours or anything right? If there are tell me now than minutes before arriving at a new location" Eva said with slight irritation
"Alright Eva, I promise this was the only place I wanted to visit." Paul says "We are going straight to Dyoxum"
They continue their travel, Ashly has now woken up. Ashly yawns and looks out at the vast grassland. She holds up Sophie imagining her being real. Ashly is a bit bored as they are going slower than she expected, her home town now far away. As she continues to play with her imitation she then spots a few people approaching them.
Paul notices them as well but ignores them. The small group of five men, one is in front on a horse and the other four are right behind. They seem to be wearing grey ponchos covering their body. One of the men was skinny, another was short, and the other was ugly, the last one had a beard.
"Were are you going to sir?" said the man in the front, Paul doesn't answer them, "Oh you don't speak to strangers don't cha" he said as he and his men move to the side to let them pass by
Paul is a bit catious as they pass making sure the men don't try to snag something. "Thanks" Paul says as he passes by and when he looks to his side he sees something, a symbol
The man in front notices Paul's eye darting away and murmurs something. Before he can do something the ugly man pulls out his gun and says "You think we didn't notice you peeking?"
"Shit what do you think are you doing? you idiot!" said the man and the ugly guy is a bit taken a back
"Gael, you know what we have to do" said the short one. Paul and Emma are frightened "Now listen, we can make this fast and easy or…" said the short one as he gets closer to them.
"Listen I didn't see anything that would make you this aggressive" Paul says "I have children one is just a little girl" Paul said, but the eye of the shot guy stares directly at his souls
Eva is nervous as dangerous the men are around them and she doesn't know why "What's happening?" Eva says as she hugs Ashly who is about to cry
"Listen, my daughters nor my wife know anything of what you assume I know. They are clueless, let them go please" Paul begs as he starts sweating but the men don't listen
The skinny guy looks into the wagon "Well aren't ya a cute one" He says looking directly at Eva "Don't worry, as long as you don't do anything we won't hurt you" he says as he touches Eva's left cheek "Soft"
The bearded man looks at Gael with sadness in his eyes. Gael looks away trying to think of something "Well thanks to you three we got no choice" Gael then grabs his revolver from his left holster
"Please don't hurt us" Emma says but the ugly guy drags her out of the wagon "Let go of me!" Emma screams causing Ashly to cry
Paul tries to get out of the wagon but is punched in the face by the ugly one "Not so fast, we decided we won't hurt any of the ladies. Be thankful we are merciful as long as you don't struggle"
Paul stays still "Please I'll comply as long as you don't touch any of my daughters or wife" Paul says as the ugly guy starts chuckling
As the skinny guy turns around Eva grabs a small knife and tries to cut the man. The skinny guy turns around from the sudden movement and blocks Eva's attack with his left hand "You bitch!" He yells as his hand is impaled
The other men are surprised "Eva stop don't do anything irrational!" Paul screams but the skinny guy grabs Eva's wrist and twists it causing a nasty snapping sound to be geard along with a scream
"What a crazy one" said the short guy "Couldn't imagine a girl being able to hurt a guy" he says as he points his gun at Eva. The bearded man and Gael stay silent looking away
Emma taking this opportunity grabs a rock and hits the ugly guy with it to his jaw with all her force. A crack can be heard as the ugly guy lets go of Emma and drops his gun. A tooth falls from his face. He looks at the tooth and then looks at Emma "My tooth!" he yells
Paul tries to intervene but he is shot on his stomach by the short guy "Now I can't believe it, Gael this family is full of crazy people" he says chuckling
"Please leave them alone, don't hurt them I'll do anything" Paul cries as Ashly is shaking as she graps Eva "Hurt me, don't hurt them. I'll take any form of punishment just don't touch them" Paul says as he lays on the ground clenching his stomach in pain
"Sorry I can't do that" said the short guy as he shoots Eva, Paul starts screaming "What a pathetic excuse of a man, can't handle death at all"
Ashly watches as her sister falls to the ground bleeding. Ashly feels a warm liquid on her hair and touches it. She sees blood and she doesn't scream or cry. She just stays silent
Eva lays with a bullet on her left eye, her face one of anger rather than fear. Her jaw seemed to have been dislocated from the angle the bullet was shot at
Emma tries to hit the ugly guy again but the ugly guy pulls out a knife and stabs her on her abdomen. Emma starts bleeding, she feels like screaming but can't. She pushes him and stumbles around holding her wound. It's bleeding badly and she falls to the ground
"My clothes is full of blood" the ugly guy says as he turns to look at Paul. The ugly guy starts taunting Paul by taking his handkerchief covered in blood and throws it at him "There, your wife's blood"
"Why didn't you let me kill her?" said the skinny guy as he starts wrapping his hand "She stabbed me so I get to kill her!" He yelled at the short guy
Paul looks at the handkerchief and grabs it "A-As-" Paul is to stunned to say anything. Paul feels something cold next to his neck. As he turns around he see the short guy holding a knife to his throat
"Now, if you didn't try to look at us this wouldn't have happen" the short guy says "This is what's going t-" Paul is then shot by the skinny guy in the face
"What the fuck!" the shot guy yells "I wanted this to last longer"
"Well, I wanted to kill that girl" the skinny guy says "I believe we are even" they stare at each other and then at Gael and the bearded man. "We're not done here just yet, there is still one more left" the skinny guy says pointing at the cart