Chapter 10: Burden(1)

Rueben held a wooden stick on his hand, behind him were corpses of beasts that he just had killed. He looked at Sara on the side, who was gripping her skirt and looked away. He started walking again, of course right after burning the beasts.

Sara looked at Rueben and bit her lips in guilt, looking at the large blood stain on his stomach, she felt guiltier.

As for what happened, let's go back for a few moments.

***

Sara looked at the walls of the cellar, decayed and broken down, moss covering the corners and edges. Drops of water dripped down from the pipes, trash, broken furniture everywhere, it was a mess. Not like the one she had seen back then.

She felt saddened but she knew that it was inevitable for this place, all the blood, sacrifices their adults made for them to survive was washed away like a trash washed away by the river, everything they had done was in vain.

She looked at the man infront of her, who she didn't even know the name off. She had matured very quickly, though she also wonders why she was here or how she was growing so fast. She had wandered around the halls of these place for who knows how long, she doesn't even know if she was human or not anymore.

The man suddenly dropped from the sky and started killing the evil residents of this place. Those people hurt her without any care, though usually, those people would just leave her be to fend for herself. She had also found some of her friends and they are following behind them, though, they are not around. 'They must be finding the others too. How come I didn't see any of them when I was wandering around here?'

She let out a soft mumble and the man turned around and looked at her, "What is it?"

Sara looked at him with her grey eyes, she thought for a second and said, "Mister, how does one know that they are alive?"

The man looked at her and then looked up as if he was thinking and shrugged his shoulders, he softly shook his head to the side and said, "I do not know. I've never felt the feeling of being alive since i was a child. You should ask others about that question."

Sara pouted in disappointment but she could feel the sadness in his tone when he said that to her, she wondered what he had gone through to have such a sad voice.

She looked at the hand that was holding a cane and grabbed it, making the man stiffen and shove his arm up in a hurry, he looked around and saw her and clicked his tongue, "Don't do that again so suddenly, you'll give me a heart attack."

Sara looked at him as he gritted his teeth before sneering at himself and opened a door. Her eyes followed after his gaze, mostly on his large and wide shoulders, 'It must feel good to hug someone with those shoulders. You could feel loved and protected. Though, his shoulders looked more slender than Uncle Derrec…'

"Mister, what do you do for a living?" She suddenly had the urge to ask.

The man stopped in his tracks and looked at her, his eyes squinting in confusion, he put his hand on his chin for a while before saying, "Hunting beasts? If that is within the bounds of a job, I guess. Why do you ask?"

Sara didn't know why she asked but just as she was about to answer, the man suddenly took out a pistol and aimed it at her, she raised her eyebrows in surprise and felt something looming behind her, she swiftly turned around only to see a bird like beast about to devour her when one of its eyes suddenly bursts into a mist of blood, followed by a sword stabbing it on its neck and a clean slice that ripped apart its skull into two.

Blood splattered everywhere like juice and some of it landed on her face. The beast fell down with one last cry before it went to the floor with a loud thud. She grasped her chest and looked at the man who was infront of her, he held a gun on one hand and a sword that looked a lot like the cane that he was holding on the other.

Her eyes flashed as if she was making a decision but as fast as it came, it disappeared into nothingness.

She opened her mouth to speak, "M-Mister-" Only to be met with a hand on her waist and the man running far away.

She heard the man clicking his tongue as he held her in his arms, "Crap, bird type beasts mostly wander around in groups… If one is away from the group, then that means that one is a scout and it will warn the others if it found food…. Damnit, I cannot fight with Sara with me, I need to find a place for her to hide before i fight with them…."

She heard him mutter and looked behind him, there it was, 6 bird like beasts were fast approaching, they slammed on the walls and destroyed anything in their path. Their speed only accelerated as the man had to parkour in order to continue running, he looked behind him and clicked his tongue loudly.

Sara then shouted, "Let me go, mister! I'll find someplace to hide near here, you go and fight them." The man looked at her and thought for a while before stopping and putting her down, he swiftly gave her a knife that he had inside his coat and said sternly, "Okay, hide somewhere. I'll find you and keep calling your name, if it isn't me then avoid it. Hide until I find you, okay?"

Sara nodded her head bravely, she then looked at the knife that the man gave him, "What is this for?"

The man looked at her and said, "Just in case something bad happens and im not around, use this knife to defend yourself. Now go!" He then pushed her and she started running, she looked back as the man faced back and took out his gun and dashed forward.

She ran for a while before seeing a small room that seemed to be a place where janitors used to put their things and went inside, she hid under a desk while holding the knife on her hand. She stopped breathing when she heard a knock coming from the destroyed door of the room.

A soft growl could be heard.

Her heart went up to her throat when she realized what situation she was in. She gripped the knife hard and prepared to stab anything that came to this room. She waited for a few moments when she realized that something was wrong.

It was too quiet. Waaaaaaaay to quiet.

She gathered the courage to peek her head out of the desk, it took her 3 minutes of making herself feel good by complimenting herself and saying that she was a brave girl to prepare herself. She peeked out of the desk, she looked around and saw nothing.

Her eyes narrowed and she looked around in confusion, 'Did I hear wrong? I swear I heard growls and footsteps…'

Just as she was about to look back, she felt a breath in her nape. She stiffened, sweat started dripping from her forehead. She gulped down her spit and slowly looked back.

She saw something that resembles a human but it had 8 heads, three arms, as well as a large eye in the middle of those heads. She stiffened in fear before her hands reflexively held the knife up before ruthlessly stabbing the thing in the eye, as if on cue, her body started moving on its own and ran out of the room after stabbing the thing.

She held the bloodied knife as she heard the thing screeching in pain inside the room, she then heard a loud thud, then another, then a whole lot of thuds. She looked back and saw that the thing had grown large, it had hands all over the hallway, large human teeth that threatened to eat her whole, its eyes looking at her with anger and hunger.

She let out a scream and started running even more faster.

It was a good thing that the thing was slower than her due to its size but she could not lose it even in this labyrinth like cellar. She though of the man but shook her head, she knew that he was fighting the beasts and couldn't help her right now. She bit her lips and tears slowly formed from the corner of her eyes.

Just as she was exhausted, she accidentally walked into a dead end. The furnitures infront of her blocked the only way forward, she almost screamed and bawl her eyes out when she heard a loud thud behind her. She looked back and saw the thing smiling as if it knew that it had caught its prey.

She pressed her back against the furniture blocking the way forward and looked at the thing in fear and agony, she shivered in despair as she saw the thing holding its hands as if to prepare her, she gripped the knife near her chest and closed her eyes to wait for her independing doom.

Just as she accepted her fate, she suddenly remembered what the man told her.

"Just in case something bad happens and im not around, use this knife to defend yourself."

She held the knife and aimed it at the thing, she looked at the thing as she found herself being brave infront of the thing.

She was scared, yes.

But she was also willing to face this thing and fight it if it meant that she could survive.

She gripped the knife and started running towards the thing to stab it again. To boost her confidence a little, she also screamed.

It was a stupid idea and she doubted that it would work, but atleast she fought for her life to survive. To her, even if she died, that is enough.