Bill put Alex over his shoulder again and changed the direction.

“There is a quick river by our village, approximately waist deep. It has a small waterfall that has a tricky cave system behind it.” He explained.

“That sound’s too obvious.” Alex said while bumping his head on brother’s bottom. This posture was extremely inconvenient if the one carrying him was running.

“Ye. That’s the idea. We’ll lead our tracks there, but return and hide in the old well behind the church.” Bill said and before Alex could object, continued, “It has a hidden cavity at the side no one knows about. We found it many years ago with Chucky, but he’s dead now.”

Alex thought for a bit and said, “Alright, but drop me at the well first. It’ll allow you to make tracks more realistic.”

“Mhm.” His brother agreed and for the next half an hour no one spoke.

When they saw the Stone village through the trees, Bill put Alex on the ground again and silently disappeared. It was obvious that the combat skills were not the only things holy warriors were taught.

He returned a couple minutes later with the Alex’s staff in hand.

“I hope this thing was worth it.” He said while picking his brother up.

“Definitely.” Alex confirmed, but then noticed his brother’s right side was slightly wet.

“You’re injured.” Alex stated the obvious.

“Yea. Three people were hidden there … I didn’t notice the third one at first.” Bill plainly said, “Our situation might be much worse than I thought. I never imagined they would go through such lengths to catch me. You’re the sinner and blasphemer, not I.”

Alex didn’t reply and Bill also fell silent. A moment later they arrived at the church in the middle of the village.

Even though Bill was injured and tired of carrying Alex, picking him up and putting back down, he carefully placed his younger brother on the ground behind the church where no one could notice him if passed by.

Then he nodded and silently disappeared in the darkness. Alex had to admit – he couldn’t notice any tacks his brother left behind. That, of course, didn’t mean the investigator squads didn’t have trackers with special abilities who could – Alex was ways off from understanding the limits of people who cultivated the force of nature.

It didn’t take long before Bill returned, but the east was already colored in bright red. Without saying anything, he removed few old wooden planks covering a round hole approximately meter and a half in diameter, with a grunt picked Alex up and his staff up, and climbed inside.

Alex was amazed by his brother’s spider-like abilities. He somehow managed to hold on to the slippery walls while steadily descending. The well was not too deep, not more than fifteen meters, but before they reached the bottom, Bill stuffed Alex in a small cavity in the wall.

“Wait here. And hold your damned staff.” He instructed with a whisper and crawled back up.

‘He has definitely been down here quite a few times.’ Alex judged by Bill’s familiarity with the well.

It was almost pitch black darkness in here, but he moved around like on a solid ground. But this was a very bad spot to hide – they would be found in a day for sure. Even if they crawled deeper in the hole he was currently in, it was too narrow for a comfortable hideout.

Luckily Bill was not that stupid.

When he returned, he said, “Come, we’ll have to switch – I have to lead the way since you are too weak and won’t be able to move the stone. Watch out and don’t get bruised, otherwise they’ll notice your blood.”

Even though the last part was obvious, Alex didn’t mind the warning. After awkwardly switching places and letting Bill enter the tunnel in the wall first, he was pulled in as well. Then, just like a couple of centipedes they crawled few meters until Bill stopped.

Alex heard his brother taking a deep breath that was followed by a grunt from pain and a sound of a larger stone moving.

“Thank god, it wasn’t stuck.” Bill whispered, “Come!”

Few seconds later they entered a bit more spacious cave, with the ceiling high enough for both of them to sit. Alex’s head still hurt and the hands were still numb, but compared to Bill he was in perfect condition. Apparently his brother’s wound was anything but light and a normal person would’ve passed out long ago, at least Alex judged so from Bill’s abnormal breathing.

“We have to move.” Bill hissed ignoring the pain, but didn’t move forward.

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He crawled over Alex’s body to where they came from, grabbed the stone and pushed it back in the former position. In the darkness Alex only heard two stone surfaces rubbing together accompanied by grunts and growls of pain Bill tried, but couldn’t hold back. He struggled for a couple of minutes and then the cave fell in to complete silence.

Alex already began to consider his options in case his brother died, when Bill weakly said, “Alright, we still have around fifteen meters to go. The tunnel will become narrower in the end and you’ll have to pull me through, so you go first.”

To find the way purely by touch was quite challenging since his hands were still in the heavy cuffs and numb at that. Still, Alex managed to find the tunnel leading further, grabbed his staff and crawled in.

Bill was right – after ten or so meters the tunnel became so narrow Alex barely could move through it even in a ‘worm style’. From his point of view it was physically impossible for Bill to follow. Apparently his brother made the same mistake he did by assuming childhood memories regarding object dimensions were objective.

Nevertheless, Alex managed to crawl through the narrow part and two meters further arrived at a larger cave room. He even could stand freely without bumping the head on the ceiling.

‘This place could do.’ Alex thought to himself, ‘But there’s no water. Did he forget about it or assumed we would crawl to the well every time we need to drink?’

Alex shook his head in disappointment. There was no way they could hide here longer than few days, but considering the circumstances that was fine as well.

Then finding the way back into the tunnel by touch, he crawled in pushing the staff in front of him. It was uncomfortable and inconvenient, but this was the only way he could think of how to pull Bill through the narrowed part.

“Ouch!” Bill whispered theatrically when Alex’s staff poked him.

“Sorry. Relax your shoulders and grab the very bottom of it so you accidentally don’t unsheathe the hidden blade. I’ll start pulling when you are ready.” Alex instructed.

“Did you really think a hidden blade would save us?” Bill asked in disbelief and grabbed the staff.

“Nope!” Alex laughed back and began pulling.

They struggled for a quarter of an hour, maybe even more, but the best they could achieve was to advance Bill by half a meter or so.

“Wait! I’ll pass out if we continue like this!” He said and after split second Alex heard the sound of bones breaking followed by a soft cry of pain.

“Hahaha! Not bad!” Alex laughed and praised.

It took enormous willpower for one to be capable of dislocating their shoulder, but even bigger to break it, especially under the current circumstances.

Now it went much smoother and few minutes later they both sat in the larger chamber trying to catch their breath.

“Alright! I agree, this place is harder to find.” Alex said while gasping for air, “But what about water?”

“Huuu, huuu …” Bill was in much worse condition than half an hour ago and now barely could speak. He mumbled, “We’re not there yet. Come!”

He got up on his knees and began touching the wall, “Damn! I haven’t been here for so long … oh! … here … follow me!”

To the left from the tunnel they entered from, there was another tunnel of a similar size. Alex followed his brother and with every inch the tunnel became wider and wider, and after few more meters they arrived at much larger room they were previously in.

“Ok … here’s your water! You can drink and pee and whatever …” Bill said between heavy, but shallow breaths.

“Wait! You can’t pass out yet!” Alex said, “We have to put your shoulder back in place, otherwise we won’t be able to fix it later.”

“Arghhh!” This time Bill shouted for real, “Alright, done …”

‘This guy … is completely nuts!’ Alex thought to himself. Breaking his shoulder at will, putting it back as if he put a candy in the pocket! What kind of willpower one needs to be able to do that?!

“Wait, Bill.” He said out loud, “You forgot one more thing! My cuffs!”

“I can’t … yet. Need to … rest a bit …” Bill’s voice was becoming weaker and weaker.

“You’ll wake up in a week, by then my arms would be dead.” Alex said, got on his knees, found his brother’s exact position by touch and put his two cuffed hands on his thigh, “It’ll be quick. Come on, brake my thumbs at the base.”

“S … seriously?” Finally it was time for Bill to be shocked. It even sobered him a bit.

“Ye, no big deal. I’ll be able to free myself then. Go, do it! You just ...” Alex said, but before he completed the last sentence, excruciating pan assaulted his mind. Turned out that even if his hands felt numb, he could feel the pain of bones being broken nevertheless.

“Ufff … Not bad, brother!” Alex forced a smile through tears of pain. Bill’s decisiveness was admirable, “Just don’t pass out just yet. There is one more thing …”

“F*ck you!” Alex heard Bill cursing for the first time in months.

“Hahaha! Yea, f*ck me!” Alex laughed and pulled his two hands out from the handcuffs.

The process hurt even more compared to when Bill broke his thumbs, but at least he was free. While remaining in the kneeling position Alex weakly took his staff and tried to open the bottom only to find out why the opposable thumbs set apart primates and ‘lesser’ animals.

“Ok, I can’t do this myself.” He said and poked Bill with the end of staff, “Grab the tip and carefully screw it open to the right. First there will be a piece of cloth and underneath it, some seeds – be careful not to loose any. We’ll need them.”

After a moment of silence Bill exclaimed, “What the hell?! These are ‘some’?!”

“Yes.” Alex nonchalantly replied, “Take two and put the rest back. I hope you didn’t scatter any on the ground. When you’re done, give me one and put the second in your mouth. Then practice the holy power – your shoulder should be fine by tomorrow.”

Alex heard his brother sighing, then felt how he found his hand and put one of the Lord’s seeds in his palm. Without saying anything , Alex put it in his mouth and began to cultivate the force of nature. The last twelve hours were much to tiring both physically and mentally.

He was not clear on the protocols the army or holy warriors had in the current situation, but was certain they were not in the clear yet, not even close. Obviously he disliked situations like this where he was not in control, but at least he had his brother to depend on.

At first Bill seemed only to be skilled in combat and not in other areas, but during the past two hours Alex had to drastically change the opinion about his brother. Of course, only the future will show if they’ll get out of this place alive.