Amity and Enmity

Chapter 40

Day: 1230

Days Left: 4250

Lives Saved: 6

"Put them with the others," Annika ordered, distracting herself to ignore the doubt that Junior had placed in her mind.

Dex and Calanthe were hauled onto their feet, restrained by the stronger monsters.

Talon winced, cowering as they caught the eyes of Dex and Calanthe, and then looked away as the seven children continued to cry and scream. There was much hesitation as the followers glanced at one another, reluctant to rough handle Dex and Calanthe in front of them.

Bruno and Bam stood at the sidelines, their faces paling with each second of hoarse child screams.

"What's going to happen to the kids?" Bruno called out, asking Annika, his voice breaking. "Their... group may have started a war with ours and hurt Talon and Jules, but I'm sure the kids had nothing to do with it."

Annika paused for a moment as her followers waited for an answer. Then, finally, she replied, "we'll have to look after them; it seems that they were surrounded by bad influences. We can't let them starve, of course."

This seemed to please Bruno and Bam, as well as the others, or perhaps made them feel less guilty.

"Destroy their masks whilst you're at it," said Annika, but her order was drowned out by the cries of the seven children as Dex and Calanthe were split apart. "I said destroy their masks!" she repeated even louder. "They won't be a danger to us nor the children-"

"Stop!" shouted a distant voice. "Stop all of this!"

Everyone turned to the entrance gates of the camp as a group of eight rushed in and leading the charge was the one person Annika wished to be here: Jules, who knew the truth about everything. Following behind was Bert, Tall Rachel, and Rita, who, from Annika's perspective, resembled Junior, though a more handsome and clean-shaven version... even Rita had betrayed Annika, it seemed. And then there were four others, one man and three women; Sumit, Rin, Lili, and their leader, Corinna Warren.

"I said stop!" Jules repeated, snatching the minotaur and headless horseman masks into his possession.

"Kai?" Dex mumbled, looking confused, glancing at the Kai tied to a tree alongside. "Why are there multiple of you?"

Jules paused, about to answer, when he regained his focus, horrified to see that the children were restrained in a net. "What have you done!" he screamed at Annika. "I told you that none of them was a threat! They didn't want anything to do with us! They had children with them! What the fuck have you done!"

Annika's face grew pale white in an instant, hidden underneath her green-scaled mask. She stiffened, her breath catching in her throat as the worst-case scenario she had feared presented itself. She glanced to Junior behind her as if to ask for help, but he remained quiet, his stare dazed and vacant.

"Is that... Jules?" Bruno asked.

Jules took off the red woollen hat, a signature of Kai, and threw it to the ground in anger, revealing his hair starting to bald and slowly turning into his own human form. "You all know I've been infiltrating their group for over a month now; all those reports I sent Annika she has ignored!" He looked around at the confused stares of the crowd. "They never hurt me nor Talon!" Jules' eyes finally found Talon, who was attempting to sink into the background. "Talon!" Jules let out a long sigh of relief to discover that it was not the last time they saw each other, that Talon had not run away. "Talon, tell everyone! You've told them right!"

Everyone's gaze turned to Talon.

Shrinking away, Talon swallowed, their body trembling, the metal bracelet rattling around their thin wrist.