It's been a long time since I written anything but this chapter was almost done so I decided to finish it. If anyone is wondering about my other story, I can only say that I will write now during the summer holiday. Enjoy! 

Ps: Do tell if there are any typos or faults in the chapter

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I woke up just in time to feel the searing pain as it took hold of me in the most disturbing way possible.

With surprise.

With an intensity that I thought to be not of this world.

Bang! I was jolted to clarity – groaning, screaming, perhaps a mix.

I jerked my leg, doing anything I could to escape the pain. There was a crunch. My foot felt the consistency of kicking rotten wood. Then I heard a human shout, just as weak and vulnerable as the crunch.

My eyes snapped open. There was a figure in front of me, in the midst of his fall. He bled profoundly from his nose. I knew what happened. My foot had hit him, like a sledgehammer, right in the face, crushing his nose.

My first thought was to head over and apologise but then I remembered where I was. I was no longer in the city. I was no longer around normal people. And then again, what did he want me? Who is he, what was his purpose with me while I was sleeping? I shook my head and calmed down.

The pain flared up again. I looked down, toward the place just above my ankle, discovering the bloody wound. Fresh crimson squeezed through the minimal flesh of my leg, using the base of my foot as its furrow, the ground below as its mound, filling it up like a cup. The wound itself seemed to be caused by something with rough, sharp edges. It was painful. Very. And I suspected that it would cause difficulties while walking. Did the man cause this? Why?

The toppled figure didn't try to stop the flow of blood from his nose as I thought he would do. As I believe most rational humans would. Instead, he screamed crazily, as if he was a wild, mindless beast, throwing spit around for every snap of his bloody jaws. Those bloodshot eyes of his darted around the room akin a gigolo's dick. It took but a moment for him to settle his gaze in corner of his room and crawl over as if it was the deciding factor to death or life. He grabbed the thing (that I suspected being a piece of my flesh), grinned, and put it in his mouth, chewing while the blood gravy dripped down his dirt-smeared chin. I swallowed hard but couldn't remove the lump stuck in my throat no matter how much I tried.

As the man finished chewing, my back hair already stood at its end, and a cold sweat covered my palms. He turned his head up and looked at me, his eyes too ferocious to be human. Before I knew it, I was scared silly. My back was pressed against the hard, uneven wall of a ruin. I looked at him vigilantly. What did he want? To kill me?

The man was stark naked, filled with scars and bruises from top to toe. While our gazes were locked, mine dropped down to his throat and found a rusty collar, sitting not too tight yet tight enough to make it stay. His black hair was filthy beyond save and his brown pupils were surrounded by crimson red, much like the colour of blood, could I see before being interrupted by an unrecognisable mumble from his mouth. He had devoured my flesh as if it was a delicacy – as if he was eating the most ordinary jerky among all jerkies in existence.

“Bloooo–” the man muttered in a louder voice, enough for my ears to pick it up. My expression froze, and I had a feeling of what would happen.

“You–” I began, searching for a way to stop what I foretold would come. Yet I was too late as my eyes widened and I instinctively threw my body toward the left, past a small wall, to another room in the ruin. His figure came right behind me, crashing into the wall I was pressed against a second earlier. I was able to dodge him by a hair's breath, no more, no less. What would have done if he caught me? Kill me? Eat from me? Both?

“What in god's name is wrong with you?” I screamed. I knew it was to no use, yet the human side inside me denied the existence of monsters like this.

“Bloooood!”

The man followed me over the wall, his scream as blood-curling as a wolf's howl, lunging toward me again. I was terrified, scared more than witless. I threw myself once again, not to the right, but out of his way, landing on the ground. My knee scraped up, the wound on my leg causing an instant surge of pain to spread all over my body. But my face became ghastly the second after. Not because of pain but due to the fact that the man right after as if nothing had happened. Was he truly, a human being? I was beginning to have doubts, I must admit.

He roared again, without listening to me. His head bled tremendously from crashing into the wall, and it was in fact not only his head but also his face, covered in blood, smeared out with dirt and god knows what.

"Oh, so here's where you are?"

Just as the crazy man was about to attack again, a voice sang out from behind me. I spun around, coming face to face with a man. He wore a black, rugged coat and had his red hair tied back in a thick ponytail that swung behind him as he walked.

How get here without me noticing?

Without thinking, as during the kick earlier, my body retreated a couple of steps and placed a fair share of distance between the two of us.

This man was dangerous, I just knew it. Better not stay too close, is what my instincts honed from roaming the lands by myself some years whispered in my ear.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Relax. Just here to pick up the rat who ran away.” the man said with a laugh when he noticed me backing away. His eyes, though of a gentle green, seemed to penetrate my very soul as if they knew exactly who I was.

I was startled by how different he was compared to the others I had seen yesterday. His clothes weren’t ragged and torn, just a bit used. They were more like luxurious and clean, just like the clothes I wore before my family was slaughtered that night. Before I became the lone wanderer without a home.

I felt this sort of dangerous aura around him. But not the aura of a beast, purely driven by instincts, no, this was the aura of a cunning predator from the top of the food chain, a camouflaged hunter, a spider, yes, he gave me the impression of a spider, and I wanted to stay as far away from him as possible to not get stuck in his net like a dumb, innocent butterfly just having hatched from its cocoon.

“What are you doing out here, ole friend,” The red-haired man said to the man who attacked me, grinning as he calmly advanced. “They miss you, your friends back home. They truly do. You’ll come back with me, won’t you? Back to where you belong, back to where you are safe.”

I was about to warn the redhead about the quite violent tendencies which the madman displayed earlier but my words were stupid in my throat as I saw what happened.

The madman seemed very afraid of the redhead and began to cower back, putting his arms around his head, curling up against the wall. I was shocked, to say the least. Not for anything in the world had I expected this to happen, I for sure thought the madman would attack the redhead as he got in range.

The redhead had miraculously hidden a chain in his sleeve and strapped it into the latch of the madman's collar. Afterwards, the madman calmed down, as if he was a beast in captivity, and prostrated himself on the ground.

“Hey, you.” the redhead said to me, his gaze following my leg and landing on the wound above ankle. I tensed up, ready to escape at any second. “Did he hurt you?”

I nodded, slowly.

“Hmm, since he’s one of mine, I owe you an apology if not more. Are you hungry?”

“Why?” I asked defensively.

“Hah, don’t misunderstand. I don't mean any harm.”

“That guy did,” I pointed at the madman beside him. “so how can I be sure?”

“Look, kid, If I meant to harm then you wouldn’t be alive by now. ” He said calmly, his eye twitching ever so slightly. He then sighed. “You see, I hate to owe others favours, more so to a kid still smelling of his mother’s milk. Got it?”

I stared at him, blankly.

“Fine, whatever you want. Follow me or not, I couldn’t care less. But if you don’t want to end up like this guy here...” the man said, pointing at the blood-crazed man prostrating on the ground like a slave.

“Fine,” I said, cutting him off, still a bit hesitant.

The man smirked at my response and began walking back the way he came from, keeping a tight leash on the blood-crazed man, without giving me a single further glance as his back figure crossed ruins after ruins.

I followed him, staying a couple of meters away at all times, still careful about his intentions. The blood-crazed man was dangerous by himself, and this man made me feel even more threatened. I knew that the best option was the stay by myself, yet the powerful noises from my stomach made me rethink. Perhaps it was impossible to stay alive here without having a clear grasp of how everything was. I had no food nor water, and now had trouble walking.

After a while, we came out of the ruins. We passed the area where I and the group had entered this hellhole. The other people who greeted us yesterday were not to be seen, perhaps hiding in their tents and meagre huts as I and the red-haired man walked passed. When I think back, there was another red-haired man yesterday. But these two, the one who “owned” the blood-crazed fellow, and the one who killed the boy and abducted the girl, were not the same. And somehow, I had the feeling that this one, who I followed, was more dangerous than the latter.

As we came to a stop, we were in another region altogether. This area was not as poor looking. Men were walking around with slightly better clothes, almost as if we were in a real city. Houses were erected with clay and brick and we stood in front of a very small house on the main road. Those who walked by looked at me with scorn, but as they saw whom I was with, their eyes froze and they hurriedly scuttled away, as if the man himself was a monster.

Why I did not know, but I understood that I would soon find out.

"Open up,"

A small hatch in the door opened up, revealing a pair of brown, ice-cold eyes. "Password?" a voice from within said.

The red-haired man whispered something unbearable. I wondered what it was.

The hatch closed and the door opened. "Enjoy your stay."

We entered the small building as the door closed behind us. It was more spacious that I expected. The air was damp, and the smell of blood and sweat congealed, burrowing into my nostrils, making me slightly nauseous. As I continued to follow the man, we squeezed through crowds of men, through filthy and dirty bodies. I wondered where everyone came from and how it was possible for so many to be here. Did everyone come to this place like I did? Because of the consequences of that deal? Or rather, deals similar to that deal?

"Been a long time, Hellfire. You good?" said a voice. The red-haired man turned around, a smile surfacing on his face. "Crow, just the one I was looking for."

Following the red-haired man, we sat down around a round table, sitting opposite to a man shrouded in black, clothes hiding all but his face where a white scar was evident in the upper half of his cheek. His eyes were blue and emitted a piercing chill, making me nervous.

"This is...?" asked Crow with uncertainty behind his voice, perking his eyebrow when he noticed me by Hellfire's side.

"A new friend." Hellfire grinned

"Oh, I see," Crow broke out in a smile. He turned to me.

"Since my good ole' friend brought you I guess the best I can do is to offer you some grub," he said, his white teeth glimmering in contrast to his dark clothes.

I held my tongue, waiting for him to speak again.

He didn't.

Instead, Crow left his seat and disappeared among the crowd of people, only giving me a smile before turning his head elsewhere. After a moment, he came back, full of smiles as he sat down. "All ordered," he said.

I was a bit suspicious about why offered me food. Was it a trap? Did they have any ulterior motives? I bit my lip. Should I get out or should I stay?

With a deep breath, I began to push down on the floor with my legs, to rise from the chair. I decided to leave. 

But then I felt a firm hand push me down.

It was hellfire, looking at me with a wide grin.

I immediately felt something was amiss. I tried to shrug his hand away with my shoulder, only to be pushed down another time.

Hellfire's face still wore a terrifying grin.

"What's the meaning of this?" I asked.

"What do you mean," he said back. "I told you to treat this as my apology."

"I changed my mind," I said. "I need to go."

"Don't be hasty," he said. "the food is already ordered, Sit still and be patient. Food is more coveted here than what you think, so if I'd be you I'd damn appreciate it!"

"I don't want too!" I returned. "I'll scream if I must!"

"Really?" Hellfire laughed maliciously. I felt a sharp object nudge my side as his voice dropped. It was a knife. His knife.