Chapter 3: The Aftermath

After Samuel passed out, he was in major danger. In just a few seconds, the ogre would finish him off by biting his head off for an afternoon snack. Luckily, Lewis realized what was going on and turned around, aiming his rifle at the ogre's eyes. With a few well-placed shots, the ogre was distracted from the prey in his hands. It threw Samuel aside and continued to chase after Lewis. As soon as Lewis saw that Samuel wasn't in range of imminent death, he continued to run away.

Using the time saved by sending Samuel to his doom, Rick managed to run a far enough distance away to hide until backup arrived. Rick was one of the weakest Awakened in his guild, and it was only because there simply weren't enough Awakened in Stoneburg that he was even allowed into the guild. The others were at least two times stronger than him because they trained properly and had much more real combat experience.

Lewis continued to run around, the adrenaline from witnessing his comrade-in-arms nearly die coursing through his veins, pushing him past his limits. He did his best to distract the ogre, leading it on a wild chase around the area. If help didn't arrive soon, in a few minutes Samuel would bleed out and die. Lewis knew he wouldn't last much longer either. And of course, he didn't see Rick anywhere.

"Fuckin' Rick. I swear, if I ever awaken, he's gonna get a major beating from me." Lewis cursed under his breath. He was angry at Rick, but more worried about Samuel. Luckily, the backup was on its way. He'd already stressed the severity of this threat over the communication device, so he hoped that the guild would send over a major fighting force.

Fortunately, his hopes were answered. Faster than expected, three figures appeared at the top of the nearby buildings. Two men and a woman.

The first man was a lanky Indian, sporting a simple set of gray form-fitting armor. Slung across his back was a large compound bow and at his waist hung a quiver filled with arrows. As soon as he landed on the building, he nocked a crystal-tipped arrow and drew back his bowstring. The upper half of the man's face seemed to morph, his nose becoming pointy and curved like a beak. His eyes changed colors and shape, popping out slightly. When this happened, the aim of his bow seemed to become more precise. If one could see the trajectory of the arrow, it would have shown to land right in the ogre's eye.

The second man was an old Chinese grandpa. His back was slightly hunched and he held a cane to support him. However, from the look of his exposed arms, his body was bursting with vigor. His eyes weren't turbid like most men his age, but rather full of life.

"Akaash, Angie. I'm going." Suddenly, the Chinese grandpa tossed his cane off the building. Over the next five seconds, he grew larger in size, tearing through his loose, white shirt. His bones seemed to creak and shift as his body mass increased. Bulging muscles popped out of nowhere, rippling with explosive power. His legs thickened to twice their original size. When the transformation finished, he bent his legs slightly and pushed off the ground, rocketing forward in the direction of the ogre. At this point Akaash, the Indian man, had released his arrow and it was flying right alongside the Chinese grandpa.

Angela, the woman of the group, was a tall Chinese woman. Her hair was tied up in a long ponytail, flowing gracefully in the wind. At the tips of her hair were orange-red streaks. She wore a purple tank top and leggings, looking as though she had just been at the gym. When she saw her grandfather launch himself towards the ogre, she sighed.

"Grandpa Hu just loves to fight. Always just charging in recklessly like a fool." Even though she said that, Angela had a small smile on her face.

Suddenly, she shook her hands in front of her and they burst into flames. The flames were controlled and didn't seem to hurt her even though they crawled up her forearm. Instead of launching herself at the ogre, she simply hopped off the roof of the building and took off into a sprint. The flames flickered in the air but never disappeared. Although Rick moved fast, Angela was three times faster than him, arriving at the ogre's location in a short few seconds.

When she arrived, she watched as her grandfather landed in front of the ogre with his hands thrust forward in a stance. Just moments later, the arrow that Akaash had shot drove itself directly into the ogre's eye. The ogre roared in pain as the crystal tip of the arrow shattered into pieces, sending crystal shrapnel into the ogre's head. Unfortunately, even that was not enough to kill the ogre. Akaash had been hoping the arrow would pierce the brain but it seemed that the ogre's flesh was too tough.

Grandpa Hu was a towering man after his transformation but even still he barely reached the size of the ogre. He grabbed the ogre's arms, pulling its body towards him, as his knee propelled into the ogre's stomach. Without stopping, he let go of the ogre's arm and immediately struck the it in the face with his elbow. Feeling the bone connect with flesh, Grandpa Hu began to laugh happily. Just as his granddaughter said, he truly did love fighting.

Unfortunately, he forgot that the ogre had four arms, two of which were holding clubs. The ogre reeled back from the elbow strike but managed to swing one of its clubs at Grandpa Hu. The club struck his side, and he felt his ribs crack. He winced in pain, but his smile only grew larger.

"I haven't felt this kind of pain in fifteen years. Young man, you've certainly given this old man a challenge. Bring it on!"

Meanwhile, Lewis had run to Samuel's location. His right arm was nowhere to be seen and he was very pale from the blood loss. Blood continued to flow out of the wound, so Lewis yelled for help.

"Angela! Samuel's bleeding out! Use your flames to cauterize the wound!" After some quick thinking, Lewis decided that the best course of action would be to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding. He didn't have a tourniquet on hand and there were no healer-type Awakened in Stoneburg. Hopefully, by cauterizing the wound, it could prolong Samuel's life long enough to bring him to the Washington Sanctuary for treatment.

When Angela heard the shout, she immediately rushed over to the location where Samuel and Lewis were. She figured her grandfather would be able to handle the ogre for a while. When she arrived, she gasped at the horrible state that Samuel was in. Leaping into action, she took her flaming hands and grabbed the stub. Increasing the intensity of her flames, she began to sear the open wound to stop the blood from flowing out. She burnt the tissue until she saw the bleeding stop.

Soon, Akaash arrived on the scene. When he did, he immediately saw the situation at hand.

"Lewis, you should retreat. We'll take it from here." Akaash stayed cool-headed even in the chaos. Angela had already picked Samuel up after extinguishing her flaming hands.

"Akaash, would you stay here and help Grandpa Hu? I'm gonna take Samuel back to HQ."

"Yes, of course. We can take care of this monster."

"Thanks Akaash." Angela immediately dashed away. Actually, she had no intention of returning to the headquarters. Instead, she headed towards her grandmother's house. Her grandmother was actually a healer-type Awakened. Healer-type Awakened were coveted resources in this age, but her grandmother was too old and preferred to stay in her hometown, living peacefully. Since Stoneburg was a very safe town, she'd never had a reason to use her abilities.

Akaash watched as Angela disappeared and he turned back to the brawl occurring just a short distance away. At this point, the ogre had many bruises and one of its arms hung limply at its side. Grandpa Hu was still energetically beating up the ogre, but he also had many bruises. Akaash nocked another arrow and aimed carefully. His Aspect was Golden Eagle which granted him the ability to use Eagle Eyes, morphing his face but giving him four times longer vision. Before his Awakening, he was already a national talent in archery and he utilized his ability to become a deadly accurate archer.

He let loose the arrow which he could already see that it would pierce the ogre's other eye. At this distance, the arrow would be able to penetrate the flesh easily, piercing the brain and killing the ogre instantly. Except, that's not what happened. Right as the arrow left the bow, Grandpa Hu threw the ogre over his shoulder, slamming it onto the ground. The displacement of the ogre's body caused the arrow to missed and fly off into the distance. When the ogre hit the ground, the force of the impact caused the ground to crack.

"Sigh. This could have been a clean kill. Old man! Just keep the monster on the ground, I will kill it." Akaash nocked another arrow and took aim again.

Before he could shoot, Grandpa Hu stomped down on the ogre's head. His leg muscles bulged and the ogre's head dug into the ground. The ogre tried to stand up but Grandpa Hu released a flurry of stomps on the ogre's head, forcing it deeper into the ground with each hit. Blood splattered everywhere and eventually the ogre stopped moving entirely.

"Phew. What'd you say, Akaash? I couldn't hear you." Grandpa Hu looked over at the Indian man with a smile on his face.

"Never mind…" A chill ran down Akaash's back as he lowered his bow and put the arrow back into the quiver.