The Day of Reckoning (Prototype)

Chapter 61: Finding Family

I lunge for a Shrieker, shanking it in the head. Its blood splatters on my face, feeling hot. I wipe it away and attack another one, narrowly dodging a sharp claw. I kill it and turn around, seeing Rory holding his hammer. He looks like he's having a hard time, though, which certainly isn't normal. Behind him, I see a Shrieker trying to sneak up on him!

"Watch out, mate!" I shout, running for him. He spins around and sees the Shrieker lunge for him. He puts his arm up, and it bites down into it! "AAHGG!!" he shouts out in pain, blooding practically shooting up from his wounds. I stab the Shrieker, and Rory stumbles back. His breath is heavy, like he's already tired. "Oi, get to safety! I'll handle these cunts," I say, looking around. There's about ten of these things here, and I'm about to rip them all apart.

"But--"

"GO!!" I demand, attacking a monster. I kill it and back up quickly, shanking another one in the mouth. I spin out of the way of another one, killing it before ducking down. A tail from behind flies over my head. I twist while crouched down and jump up, hitting the Shrieker in its mouth with the handle of my knife. I shank its eye and cut off one of its spikes, letting it fall to the ground.

I punt it forward, sending it for a Shrieker that was running straight for me. It screechs, but I shut it up. Just five left, I think to myself, laughing as I dance circles around these bastards. "Oi, too slow!" I taunt, moving out of the way of a bite. I kill another Shrieker, and the pained sound that it makes fills me with serotonin.

After a bit more mutilation, I finish up and look for Rory. I find him inside a building and go to help him out. "You okay, mate? That looks like a pretty nasty bite there."

"I'm fine. It'll heal," he says. "Oh, Ramil will be pissed..."

"You sure do talk about Ramil a lot, mate," I say.

"I-I'm sorry," Rory says.

"Is that what love is like?" I ask him. "Talking about that person a lot?"

"That's a weird question. Haven't you had a crush on someone before?" he asks me.

"Have you?" I question. He doesn't respond.

"...Touche,". He gets up and we leave the building. I walk down the street, whistling and twirling a knife. "We should be getting closer to the treehouse," I tell Rory. He grumbles in response. The more I glance at him, the more I notice how bad he looks. It looks like he hasn't slept in two days, and the way he limps makes it look like he's dragging his body along. The blood dripping down his arm doesn't help his look, either.

"Oi, you look like shit," I tell him.

"Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to hear right now," he grumbles. I chuckle.

"Glad I said it, then!" I say. I hear him mumble "Asshole", but don't address it. A few minutes pass, and Rory starts slowing down. "How much farther do we have to walk?" he asks. I shrug.

"We can run if you wanna get there faster," I offer. Rory groans.

"You're no fuckin' help, Ken," he says.

"Oh, sure I'm not," I say sarcastically. "I mean, it definitely wasn't me who found you dying and got your pills."

"Hey--"

"And I totally didn't just kill ten Shriekers, either," I continue.

"Listen here--"

"Oh, and it surely ain't me leading us home, huh, mate?" I say, twirling my knife faster. "Surely not."

"Shut up!" Rory shouts.

"Why don't you do that?" I say. "I get you're tired and whatnot, mate, but you have no right to say I'm no help,". He doesn't say anything back for a quick second.