Chapter 74

How was Reaz supposed to speak to her superiors, now that they botched this completely? What will even her boss think? Well, she won't do it. She would leave this mess to Dreadus out of sheer spite because he caused this problem for himself. Seeing the rubble, she approached him when he ignored her and knocked on his back.

“Piss off, miss who talks too much,” Dreadus said coldly.

Siblings stopped her from kicking and unleashing her Emblem on the back of their leader, one using Ice, the other trapping her literary.

Dreadus crouched before Hound and the girl. “Good job staying in place. That was a test, you see. You succeeded!”

The girl kept hugging the surprisingly soft-furred leg. Hound didn't seem to mind her and stood like a small hill over them. Dreadus ignored it for the betterment of his spirit, but Reaz saw it and was confused as to why there was a Hound alive after watching what Dreadus had done. He crashed this whole Holy Land after all, so what was some dog?

The girl looked at Dreadus and had no words besides looking at his bleeding chest and taking his act of destroying her home as a terrible consequence of her actions. She felt sorry for herself on many levels.

“Since you are alive, it speaks of some reward, doesn't it?”

Eying him, she got concerned and left Hound's leg alone. She patted her clothes and her dismay over the destruction of the surroundings had no trace on her face. She was furious and disappointed and had yet to give any regard to her own wounds.

How to act? What to say? She always got so bad when anger got to her, yet she couldn't do much right now. Her arm was heavy today and seemed very tired. She didn't want to try anything before a group of people came over to a land of rubble. They lived. They survived. Did that mean they were better than the monsters or was their death around the corner? In some sense, the girl felt those people were lucky and bad.

That was the first. As she stood, she was taller than the crouching Dreadus right before her.

“Can't you speak?” he asked her openly. “Isn't it polite when I saved you?”

“Just whose fault is that?” Reaz shouted behind him, frozen in space-time and hindered by ice on her legs.

Siblings beside her were quite familiar with how to calm her down, and Reaz had no issue with doing this either. It was inevitable intent that crashed many Walkers and their mind, and Reaz wasn't willing to contain her aggression because it would make her weak. It was in her nature. In her Emblem.

Dreadus seemed to hear a barking dog or a chirping annoying fly behind him, so he glanced up just to see stars, and... quite open space.

“Oh, I overdid it. But see? We see so much better now?”

This time, the girl kicked his face. It did nothing but stop his voice and shock his insides.

“Eh?”

Even Reaz shook.

“My.... home,” the girl whimpered, and a small tear escaped from her eyes. By now, her right arm seemed calm yet tensed, and half of her skin was long back to its soft and sunny color.

“Y-you jerk! What a jerk, right, Vera?” Reaz laughed and pointed at him and looked at Vera, the sister of Vern.

“Don't stab me into this discussion, please,” Vera said coldly. “Look at that calmly. Don't you see with eyes open?”

“You should seek a therapist yourself,” Vern suggested to Reaz, who preferred these siblings over anyone else. Heat spread and she crashed the locks and hugged them both too tightly, causing them to fall to their backs. They complained and faulted one another for their weak locks. Reaz patted her palms and came beside Dreadus, who still felt bare feet on his face.

“Are you enjoying it? Savor it... please.”

“Fuck...”

“Shame I don't have any way to get photos, but I know a good painter, so...”

Dreadus gently swayed the feet from his face and apologized. “Home. This was your home, right? Well, it is my bad, but the world is not benevolent, and so am I.”

The girl tried to keep her expression cold, but her eyes were moist, and her fists were enthralled in her anger. Who were these people to come here and wreak such havoc for a mere Jailer? She must wonder if their minds were on their heads, or if their faces were real. Dreadus didn't know her, but if anything, he was a good reader of characters.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Reaz wasn't. “Who is this girl? Where has she come from?”

She didn't reply and still eyed bowing Dreadus.

“I found her in the middle of these hills, close to the Peaks.”

“The Peaks? Huh?! What? Here? Are your eyes right?”

“What about yours? Do you see ghosts? I see that girl as well.” Vera suggested behind her.

Reaz approached this unknown girl, but Hound stopped her and nearly gnawed at her face.

Reaz jumped and screamed. “What the fuck! Hound! Kill!” Reaz snickered and pounced forward on instincts. Dreadus snapped his fingers and pushed Reaz half a mile away into the Holy Land to chill down.

“It is surprisingly windy today,” he said nonchalantly.

“And quiet,” Vern added, nodding to herself.

“I sneezed. Apologies,” Vera declared as she patted her mouth. She and her brother were quite familiar with this team, even if they were the newest additions.

Dreadus got up and exchanged glances with them, but they didn't seem to care about anything as long as they were together. Dreadus saw their cold and similar faces and fell to his knees.

Pain? Blood? He underestimated his wounds when he fought like a madman without care. Traveling into a pair of unknown Rank 7 Mild Rifts was a big gamble, and that last attack was quite a pain in the ass.

The girl clutched his pinky finger, helping him not to fall.

“I am sorry for your home,” Dreadus repeated. “But this is quite a terrible region. How long have you been here? No one would expect anyone living here, so I thought you were kidnapped or something.”

“Aren't you assuming too much!?” Reaz's voice suddenly said from a dozen feet away. She flew and landed right back in Dreadus's face. He caught both of her feet with one hand and yanked her away. She snatched at the ground, landing her feet onto the rocks, and approached them again, no longer holding intentions to kill that Hound. It was standing like a statue, growling at her while locked on that unknown girl.

“Alright, this is taking too long. We have a mission here, little missy, so be it your home or your prison, we aren't here for sightseeing or taking care of some kids. If you won't come with us, feel free to remain here. I almost suggest it.”

“I don't like you, hag,” the girl said in shaky English, pointing at Reaz, and sounding as if she hadn't spoken in a long time.

Reaz shook at such a blunt comment and her eyes couldn't believe it. Dreadus laughed as if he heard the best joke ever.

“What the fuck did that brat call me?” Reaz asked Vera.

“She hates you,” Vera nodded in approval. “Hag.”

“Yeah, you are really detestable,” Vern agreed. “Hag...”

Then, the girl pointed to Dreadus and poked his wounds, causing his face to twitch.

“Great. You can speak, but this wound is nothing. Trust me. I am strong!” Dreadus chuckled, stood up, and hit his chest with his fist. Bloody droplets seeped further, and a few droplets tried escaping to the rocky ground.

The girl panicked and caught the droplets. “Uh... Who... cares? Blood. Dangerous.” she said and pointed in the direction of her home. Even without hills or mountains to see, she knew where it should be.

“We've dealt with worse,” Reaz said while suppressing all her urges to bully this brat.

“Night... dangerous.” the girl said in worry.

“We know,” Dreadus assured her. “We are Walkers. A team from the Federation. Do you know the Federation?”

She shook her head. Dreadus was finally glad he hadn't spoken silly in the past. He feared his English was bad and this girl didn't even know what he was talking about. He was wrong, so it was worth cheering for.

“How long were you here?”

She shrugged.

“Family?”

No response.

“Any... anybody? Anything?”

“Survive,” she said simply.

“Ah, dear Australia!” Dreadus slammed his face and turned to Vern. “Can you treat my wound?” He sighed, forcing her palm away from his pinky. He pulled his upper uniform and revealed many nasty wounds to Vern, who was an Elementalist of Ice Element.

“Ice is not good. You will get burned. You are strong. Sturdy. This much won't unfortunately kill you.”

“But she is worried.”

“Are you her dad or what?” Reaz teased him to appeal her justice.

“I will be If I have to.”

The whole squad froze as if they couldn't believe their eyes. What did their leader say? Some of them made weird faces, knowing this nonsense was hard to misinterpret.

“What? It feels like this girl is my responsibility.” Dreadus said defensively and looked around them as he put his uniform down.

Even the girl froze. Dad? Family? She denied everything. Anyone. Death awaited. Another pair of tears spread and even her hovering hand quivered. Dreadus's pinky was far away.

“Home... Wound,” she pointed away, whispering.

“You want to go home? Sure. Federation is...”

“She probably means something else, moron,” Reaz suggested. “Not your head, of course.”

Dreadus had a lot to learn. He watched how this girl got to her feet, let go of some internal turmoil, and gripped his pinky. Then, she led him to a barren region close to a former cliff. The opening to her home wasn't entirely buried, which was a miracle. It was even a bit more open, yet still narrow.

It was between quite big rocks and almost at the perfect ground level, so it survived Dreadus's final card, or it was lucky to go between his invisible fingers. Dreadus came with her and watched how she pointed to that hole. “Down...” she whispered. “Alone...”

She didn't want some annoying woman to see her home. Dreadus understood that as he glanced behind at his team who also walked with them. “Go check the helicopters and those who survived.”

“I am sure others did so already,” Reaz argued.

“Then do it twice. I will see... what the hell is this about.”

Reaz twitched her lips and begrudgingly left with the siblings. But she saw that hole and noticed that alloy. This was no small matter. They talked and stood in the middle of the Holy Land, yet no Darks arrived. It might not be that safe, but who knows what was happening in the outskirts, or with Maria and Esten. Dreadus was their boss, and even if he wasn't that good, his fighting and leading capabilities were hard to neglect.

He watched how the girl climbed down, watched by Hound aside who couldn't come inside.

“What to do with this?” Dreadus asked her and pointed at Hound.

She shrugged and said. “Sit.”

It sat aside, rumbling a big thud with its ass, whipping the air with its tail, and glaring at Reaz as if wondering where to kill or eat this one. Immediately? Cleanly?

Dreadus looked at the cleaning tail and eyes full of confusing insanity. He felt as if he stepped into a very weird place today.

“What the...hell are you?”

Hound sniffed him, rumbling some growls, and glared at him with dozens of curious eyes. This one deserved to live, it knew.