“Oi! Zo! Get up! They’re coming…”, a childish whisper resounded inside a dimly lit crumbled hut. The child was dark-skinned, bald and had greyish irises, akin to a stormy cloud. He wore a frantic expression while he was shaking and trying to wake up another child that lay bare against the floor, much smaller than himself, with tanned skin and shoulder-length braided white hair. Both wore ragged pants, worn sandals and were shirtless, due to the extreme heat that was coming off the outside, which only highlighted how poorly malnourished both were.

When hearing his anxious voice, Zo immediately got startled awaken. Zo had bluish irises, which contrasted heavily with the usual colour around there.

“What happened?!”, he asked while grabbing what looked like a glock near him, unlocking it and placing it close to his chest.

“I heard shouts, I think the Doraad people are close by. We should leave until everything’s over.”, the child responded rapidly, also unlocking his own gun, in this case a slightly bigger one; an MP5.

Zo nodded at that and began walking slowly towards one of the exits of the hut. “Zac, check the rear. I’ll go see if we can get out.”, he commented softly. Zo advanced, followed closely by Zac back-to-back. He arrived near one of the hut’s cracks, peeking through it and examining what was going on outside. What he witnessed was a group of people, both children and adults, wearing bandanas covering their faces and heavily weaponized, inspecting each of the houses they passed by.

“Move!”, one of the adults came out of one of the huts, dragging a child by the wrist with his back against the rubble. “Mom- NO! Stop-”, the child cried out, trying to reach with his free hand towards the hut they came from. “Shut up! *thud*”, the man used the butt of his rifle to hit at the back of the child’s head and knock him out. Similar scenes were going on in the other huts, and some gunshots could be discerned in between the cries.

“Shit- we gotta move, and fast. They’ll be here soon”, Zo muttered under his breath. “We need to leave NOW. The other side, we cannot go through this one.”, he told Zac, while pointing towards the opposite side, and making a hushing gesture. Zac nodded and both began moving, following the same strategy as before.

“This side is clear; I’ve also seen some people already running away. We should hurry”, Zo commented and promptly went through one of the bigger cracks on the hut’s wall, followed suit by Zac. When both were outside, they began running in the opposite direction of where the cries and gunshots were coming from, using the bushes and environment to hide at the same time. Zo was clearly exhausted after no longer than a minute sprinting, while Zac was behind him doing much better. The area they were in looked like a temporary camp set in a plateau filled with dry vegetation, surrounded by a dense forest. The floor was rocky and sandy, making it difficult for long walks. Also, the blazing heat didn't help in the slightest.

“Hah…hah…hah…*cough*”, Zo dropped to his knees in between two bushes, panting and hyperventilating. Zac bent down and began patting Zo’s back, trying to help him breathe. “Come on! Just a bit more! We’re very close to the forest- one last sprint-“, he kept anxiously encouraging Zo, who clearly was not in a stable state. Seeing his complexion, Zac picked up Zo’s glock, locked it and saved it rapidly into one of his pants’s pockets. “Let’s go, hang tight”, he crouched down and placed his back towards Zo, helping him to get up and giving him a piggyback. Zac slowly got up, trying to maintain balance, and leaned forward, carrying on with the runaway.

After what felt like an eternity to him, both made it to the outskirts of the forest near the hut’s area. Zac was not faring well by now, his chest going up and down, trying to get as much air as he could, but carrying another person was taxing, so his pace went down a notch after some time. Zo’s breathing was more stable by now, not coughing anymore, but still panting. “Drop me”, he muttered.

“Hah- hah- what?”, Zac paused for a moment, trying to understand what Zo said.

“Drop me, *cough*”, he repeated, eyelids half-closed and a bit of droll dropping from his mouth. Even talking at that moment cost him to no end, his coughing coming back.

“What?! You want me to leave you to die?”, Zac spouted, shock and anger could be discerned from his tone.

“There’s no other choice, I’m slowing you dow- *cough*”, he muttered in his ear.

“No.”, Zac replied and kept on going, not minding whatever Zo was going to respond after that. By now both were much closer to the entrance of the forest, the surrounding flora was getting thicker and more abundant, and only gunshots could be heard occasionally from the horizon. After another minute or so, Zac stopped between two big rocks and carefully dropped off Zo into the ground, himself also sitting to rest.

“Let’s rest some bit here and carry on running later. I think we covered enough distance from them, we should be fine for now.”, Zac muttered and began resting, trying to catch his breath. Zo was looking downcast towards the ground, wearing a faint smile. He lifted his gaze towards Zac, with reddened cheeks and sweaty forehead.

“I’m baggage Zac, and you know it. Leave me here, you should get going as soon as you can.”, Zo said, his eyes moist and trying to hold back his tears, while grabbing his glock from Zac’s pants. “Besides, I can escape later myself, but my pace will just hold you back.”, he added.

“I told you before, no. We’ll make it out together. I won’t ever leave you alone.”, he replied after some time, his gaze unwavering, not leaving any room for any kind of debate or argument Zo could come up with. His greyish eyes now faintly brightening, defiant. Looking at Zac’s response, Zo stopped arguing, just focusing on recovering, but still with a saddened expression. After some minutes, Zac now wore a much calmer expression, seeing that the gunshots completely ceased, and everything seemed more tranquil. He kept checking over the rocks in case somebody came in their direction, but nothing.

“Phew, it seems nobody saw us, or else somebody would have come by now. They should be done with the camp soon. Even if they usually take their time when looting and with women, we took too long this time.”, Zac told him while climbing down the rock. “I see.”, Zo nodded absently.

“Hey, stop with that depressed crap. Man up. Your father didn’t sacrifice himself for you to act like a pussy now.”, Zac angrily said after seeing that he was still giving up, indignant.

“Don’t you d- *cough* dare to mention him!”, Zo managed to get up and throw himself at Zac, trying to tackle him down, however, due to the weight and height difference, he ended up barely clinging to him. Zac, staring down, just pushed him off gently, making him waver a bit. “Then at least show him your respect by not wasting his life for nothing”, Zac sternly said and went back to the rock, climbing it, and leaving Zo in a resenting state rooted to the ground.

Before Zac reached the peak, a low rumbling could be heard, and it was getting closer. It came from the camp’s direction; towards the forest they were at. ‘A car…’, Zac thought, coming back down. “Lay down, a truck is coming, we should be fine here since they are probably just surveying the area.”, Zac whispered to Zo, helping him lay down with him. Guns held, in case of the worst outcome, they patiently waited while holding their breaths until the truck passed by. ‘Please just leave, please’ both thought.

The sound kept getting closer, and they couldn’t do anything besides praying for it to be gone.

“*Whistling* Brats, the ones at the rocks, get out with both your hands up. Drop the weapons and come out slowly. Don’t make me repeat myself.”, a manly voice could be heard after the engine turned off.

“Hmph!”, both children pupils contracted, tensing up immediately. Zo looked to the side where Zac was laying, making him signals for him to run. Following this, Zo pointed at the voice direction, intending to act as bait for Zac to get away. Zac just shook his head, knowing fully well that any act of escape would be met with their demises. Instead, he made some signs; ‘Do you want to fight? Or give us in’, he implied. Zo nodded, indicating his intentions. At that, both slowly got up, now getting cover on one of the rocks.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“*Sigh* Children these days, so defiant.”, the manly voice resounded once more, now slightly more annoyed. What both children didn’t see was, while he was saying that, he also made some gestures towards the side. Zac and Zo froze, unable to comprehend how did the man know they were planning to retaliate and not give in.

*bang**bang**bang**bang*, four shots shook the whole forest at that moment. All with the same target, both children.

“Argh!”, both were brought to their knees, with one massive bullet hole on each of their legs. While Zac was fast enough to support himself and not fall face down the floor, still holding his MP5, the same could not be said for Zo. He fell hard to the ground, losing his grip of his glock and missing his front tooth in the process.

“Aaaaaargh! *sob**sob*”, Zo couldn’t hold back his tears anymore, the earlier and sudden sting caused by the bullets now converted into pure pain, especially when he checked his legs and saw that both femurs were no more.

“Hmph!!!”, Zac wasn’t doing any better, gritting his teeth, almost breaking them in the process. Trying not to scream and panic. He didn’t even waste a second and began firing all his ammo from one of the sides of the rock towards the car. His aim, though, was way off, since he couldn’t even discern the exact location of it.

While both children were grimacing and trying not to fall unconscious due to the shock, the man’s voice resounded once more.

“I told you, didn’t I? Should have followed the other option bald brat.”, he announced, now with multiple walking steps resounding through the forest. At that point, Zac’s mind was so chaotic that he couldn’t think clearly on what to do. Zo, on the other hand, was already on a half-unconscious state, his body giving in to the massive blood loss. His face was pale, devoid of any energy, and his breathing was even more erratic than before. By instinct, Zac began crawling towards Zo, trying to cover him with his own body, protecting him. ‘I guess this is the end, huh…’, Zac thought. By now, the steps were crystal clear, and at that moment three men stood in front of both children. They wore the same kinds of bandanas that they saw at the camp, heavily armoured, fully clothed with military equipment and two of them wore orange crystal glasses covering their eyes.

“It might be your beginning brats. Be grateful you stumbled upon our graces. Oi, check on them.”, one of the men with glasses, man ‘A’, signalled to the side while pointing at Zac and Zo. “And stop the bleeding, especially the white-haired one, he’s almost gone. We don’t want this to end up in just us wasting fuel to get here. Hurry up!”, the other glassed man, ‘B’, ordered promptly. At that, two men came from the forest, holding two rifles, and began treating both children after disarming them. They restrained them both with some rope before the treatment began, placing them in a sit position.

“Both healed, boss. You can begin”, one of them said after stopping the bleeding with a tourniquet and feeding them some pills, which instantly made both children regain some colour to their faces, Zo not as pale as before.

“Let’s see what we fished”, ‘A’ said and came close to Zo. While this was happening, Zo was still half-unconscious, not fully aware of what was going on. However, Zac had already recovered from the aftershock, and was able to see what the man was doing. “Don- Don’t *phew* touch him”, Zac said while spitting blood towards the man. He paid no heed to him and placed his bare palm over Zo’s forehead. Seeing that, Zac began angrily hissing at the man, but his current state didn’t allow him to move a bit, so all he could do was watch.

After some time, ‘A’ backed off Zo and angrily kicked him on his chest. “Tsk. Waste of my time.”, he said while walking towards the other two glassed men. “Oi! You didn’t break him, right? Control yourself or I’ll report this next time it happens!”., ‘B’ yelled at ‘A’ after witnessing his outburst.

“Pff, who do you think I am? I controlled myself don’t worry, no broken bones.”, he replied.

“And? What did you get?”, the last man of the three earlier, ‘C’, asked.

“Nothing. He just has an above-average brain, but his body is awful. Trash basically.”, ‘A’ replied.

“Did you detect any anomaly for a potential quirk?”, ‘C’ followed suit.

“Do you believe I’d call him trash if that was the case? He’s useless. Just send him to the common bunch. I had some expectations based on their semblances, but I guess it was for naught on that one”, ‘A’ angrily replied at the obvious-to-him question.

“Alright, go over there until the effect washes off. We don’t want you seriously injuring the other kid.”, ‘C’ ordered.

At that order, ‘A’ moved aside and sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly in a meditation state. Meanwhile, Zo was coughing badly on the ground, face towards the sky and grimacing over his chest pain. He finally was fully unconscious after some struggle, leaving Zac as the only one awake.

Zac was struggling, not physically, but mentally. His mind was a mix of anger, towards the men and himself, and desperation to save Zo. Even with the pain assaulting his senses, he ignored it all. His pupils dilatated, growing brighter and gaining a silver halo over his irises, his canines followed suit by growing into some kinds of fangs, sharp and deadly, and he could feel some kind of flow at the back of his head. He felt weird, never in his life had he felt so powerful, yet so weak because of his injuries. But he knew instinctively that whatever was going on with him, it had to do with his nature as a human being. His instincts were yelling at him to bite that man, crush his neck or anything he could hold onto and make him pay thousandfold what he had done to Zo. As soon as he noted the changes, he concealed all this process off, by closing his eyes and mouth, trying not to convulse. He would wait, patiently. He knew; there was only one chance. He slightly hunched his back and acted as if his chest hurt, then waited.

After some time, ‘A’ finally sat up and walked towards the other two men. “I’m fine now.”, he said. Both others nodded and made space for him to pass through. “Try not to cause another scene.” ‘B’ said. ‘A’ just shrugged it off and crouched down near Zac, intending to repeat the same process he had done with Zo. “Let’s see if this one’s the big catch. Maybe the other kid was the worm. Hahahahah…”, he laughed at his own joke. He got close to Zac and tried placing his palm over his forehead. However, when his palm was close enough, Zac leaned his head backwards, and straightened his torso, propelling his mouth towards the hand, allowing him, even with broken legs, to gain enough distance for the bite.

“John-!”, all ‘A’ heard was ‘B’’s shout before darkness overtook his world. Half of ‘A’’s hand was tightly held between Zac’s teeth, now with his eyelids fully opened, his irises displaying a pure silver colour, radiant and enhancing. “Shit!”, ‘B’ grabbed his gun, aiming it at Zac, and ready to take him down to save ‘A’. Meanwhile, the rest of the men stood still, awaiting orders.

“Don’t.”, ‘C’ ordered.

“But he killed Johnny!”, ‘B’ grimaced at the order given, still with his finger on the trigger.

“Doesn’t matter. Are you sure he’s dead?”, ‘C’ inquired.

“Yes, his brain… melted.”, he babbled, still not fully sure of what he just witnessed.

“Mhm. Knock him out and apprehend him. Gag him. His quirk seems related to his mouth.”, ‘C’ quickly gave out orders to different of his men, not displaying any change on his expression.

“Are you just going to let him be?!”, ‘B’ was furious, fuming and glaring with killing intent towards ‘C’.

“Tone it down. We cannot revive him anyways, might as well get something in return. If you kill the boy, we will get nothing.”, ‘C’ calmly commented, brushing Johny’s death as if it was a casual occurrence.

“F*ck!”, ‘B’ put down his gun, throwing one last glance at Zac, before walking in the opposite direction. Hands twitching.

“In the end he was indeed a big fish, but a poisonous one it seems. Hahahaha…”, ‘C’ jokingly said, with the same intonation Johny had used previously before he died.

Suddenly, ‘B’ turned around, pistol back in his hand, aiming at Zac and pulling the trigger.

‘Like hell I’ll let that sh*t-head live after he killed Johnny. You’ll meet him in heaven Johnny, take the revenge by your own hand there.’, ‘B’ thought. However, no gunshot was heard.

‘Huh?’, confused, ‘B’ looked towards his hand holding the gun. Nevertheless, both his hands weren’t where they were supposed to be. Instead, there was a massive cut at the level of both his wrists, completely amputating the hands off his body.

“Aaaargh! My hand! F*ck!!!!!”, he crouched down, holding on to his wrists with his chest, trying to stop the massive bleeding.

“Get him treated back at the camp. And preserve those, he’ll need them.”, ‘C’’s voice could be heard clearly even in that rowdy situation. Behind him two massive, black-bloodied whipping lassos had grown from his back, now retracting back, and hiding again.

Meanwhile, the rest of the men had been carrying out ‘C’’s earlier orders, knocking the ravaging Zac, whose only desire right now was to keep crushing Johnny still with his hand being bitten, out. Some of them separated after charging the unconscious Zo into the back of truck and went to pick up ‘B’’s amputated hands, zipping them inside a bag. ‘B’, on the other hand, was also getting zipped, but knocked out inside a massive human-sized bag, not to dirty the vehicle.

‘That one is a useless sensitive b*tch and the other is dead, I need some replacements.’, ‘C’ thought while slowly making his way to the co-pilot seat.

“Go back to HQ.”, he motioned the driver.

“Yes, sir.”, he replied.

And like that, both Zac and Zo were driven away, tied up and unconscious…