Chapter 65: A Bond of Blood
Teetering a few steps back, no amount of words could explain the immense weight of emotions buckling down on Forest’s chest. Dropping to his knees, Forest sits there, unable to think or move. After some time, his eyes start looking around, and he sees the tail end of the arrow sticking out of his arm for the last minute or so.
As if the arrow acted as a trigger, Forest’s mind and body are suddenly reminded that an actual arrow has pierced straight through his left forearm. The breath he had been holding since he let go of Falcon was finally liberated as an uncontrollable spell of hyperventilation overcame his lungs. After a few seconds, a disgruntled yell escapes his weary throat as he painfully rips the arrow out of his arm and immediately tosses it to the side, not bothering to check where it went.
The steel arrowhead clatters away as Forest turns his head to the side and wipes his mouth against his right shoulder. It takes all Forest has to ignore the raging pain radiating up and down every inch of his left arm, which weirdly helps his body steady his breathing once more. Not wanting to waste more time, Forest flings his backpack to the front of him and quickly unzips the main component, grabbing the spare t-shirt he brought.
Forest grimaces as he tears off a large piece of fabric from the bottom of the t-shirt. After setting the other half of the ripped t-shirt beside him, he started wrapping the tainted, torn-off fabric around the injury he deemed to need more immediate medical attention, the wound on his forearm pumping out a stream of crimson blood. Ducking his chin, Forest bites down on the thin collar of his drenched, sweaty t-shirt as he ties the final knot for his makeshift bandage, the sharp jolt of pain forcing his teeth to clench down on his t-shirt.
Shifting his focus to his palm, Forest plans to use the leftover fabric to stop the rest of the bleeding. As he moves to pick up what’s left of the t-shirt, Forest notices Hunter from the corner of his eyes. Straight away, the task of tending to his hand vanishes from Forest’s mind as the motionless Hunter catches Forest’s attention. Forest then shifts his focus to his palm, planning to use the leftover fabric to stop the rest of the bleeding. Still on his hands and knees with a downward gaze peering over the ledge, Forest doubts that Hunter has even moved a muscle since Falcon was lost from their sight and swallowed up by the avalanche of boulders.
A brief summary of today’s events played through Forest’s mind. The walk to the cave, the marks on the trees, the code, entering the maze, everything.
Falc…
We never would’ve been in this situation… Falc never would’ve died if Hunter had just listened to me! I wanted to go back and regroup with the others, but he… he refused! Hunter got us into this whole mess! Honestly, we’re lucky that only one of us died!
Unsure of when he got up and walked over, the next thing Forest knew, he was standing beside Hunter, glaring down at him. Too fatigued to remain level-headed, an emotion Forest usually kept locked away crept out for the first time in ages. Rage.
After firmly planting his left foot, Forest raises the back end of my right foot behind himself before it’s sent flying forward, all in one swift motion. Striking Hunter in the stomach, a nasty mix of saliva and blood spews out of his mouth as he cripples back, quivering and holding onto his stomach. Forest then kicks Hunter in the underside of his face with his left foot, Hunter’s neck snapping toward Forest as his body collapses on the top of the wall's surface.
A red trail begins dripping from Hunter’s nostrils as Forest snatches onto his shirt and hoists him. Still disoriented, Hunter doesn’t even try to fight back as Forest sharply pulls Hunter toward him before delivering a vicious punch to the face. Upon the assault, Forest grimaces as more blood splurges from Hunter’s mouth, his body reacting to the pain and trying to move away. Still keeping a firm grasp on Hunter, Forest disregards the agonizing pain in his left hand. At the same time, blood continues to ooze out of his palm, beginning to dye the upper shoulder of Hunter’s t-shirt a vivid scarlet.
Punching him across the face again, Hunter slumps over, disoriented. Picking Hunter back up, Forest prepares to strike him again as Hunter’s battered face moves for the first time. Deciding to hold off, Forest watches as Hunter lethargically raises his head until they lock eyes. Fury festers within Forest then, and as Hunter tries to speak, Forest heaves and punches Hunter again.
As Hunter falls over, Forest isn’t done. He begins kicking Hunter in the body over and over. With Hunter’s body twitching more and more with every kick, Forest doesn't even pick up on the wails escaping Hunter’s lips between each strike. Only when Forest grew tired did he cease his rampage, staggering back a step as he glared at Hunter.
Heavily breathing in and out, Forest becomes worried that he might’ve actually killed Hunter, but then Hunter weakly coughs as his body begins attempting to coil itself into a ball. Going down on a knee, Forest presses his hand against Hunter’s forehead and shifts Hunter’s gaze from the ground to him. Still delirious, Hunter’s head feebly bobs back and forth, but eventually, their eyes meet. Forest’s gaze then sharpens, and he adjusts his hold, lifting Hunter up.
“It’s your fault!” yells Forest. “Falc’s dead because of you!”
His eyes like piercing daggers, Forest doesn't look away.
“It’s because of you that my friend is dead! If it weren’t for your stubbornness… if it weren’t for your arrogance… Falc would still be alive!” he resumes, angrily shaking Hunter in his hands.
Hunter then coughs up some more blood and sputters, “He… Falc… was my… friend too…”
“Your friend?!” shouts Forest, brows knitting together. “You killed him! What kind of person would kill their friend?! You haven’t the slightest right to call Falc a friend!”
Bits of saliva trickled down Hunter’s face, mixing in with the blood as Forest impatiently awaited his response, forced wrinkles creasing along his face.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Do… do you…” begins Hunter as his bloody expression of discomfort transforms into that of irritation.
Balling his injured right hand into a fist, Hunter delivers an uppercut on the underside of Forest’s jaw. Forest lets go of Hunter and stumbles back, releasing a series of swear words. After regaining his footing, Forest brings a hand to his chin as his gaze falls back on Hunter, who's now standing on his own two feet.
“Do- do you think… I don’t know that?! My friend… our friend is dead! And I know it’s my fault!” loudly proclaims Hunter, tears streaming down his face.
Caught entirely off guard by his crying, Forest didn’t know what to say or do. Hunter then takes a few steps forward and delivers a passionate punch, his fist connecting with Forest’s left cheek. In reaction, Forest’s body is sent stumbling off to the right, and he nearly steps over the ledge. Losing balance, Forest’s eyes pop open as he realizes he’s about to fall backward off the wall, but before he even has the chance to try and catch himself, a hand quickly latches around his wrist. With only Forest’s right foot firmly planted, his left leg and right arm were over the edge, swaying in the open air. He then makes eye contact with Hunter, who pulls him closer as he uses his right hand to grab Forest’s left.
The two stared at each other for a second or two. They could tell they were exhausted, and both guys’ body language… was sorrowful.
Pulling Forest back up on top of the wall, Forest takes a few steps forward before catching himself. Standing there momentarily, the sight before him comes into view, the sun beginning to descend. Allowing himself the time to process everything that just happened, his staggered breathing slowly returns to normal. Only when Forest had fully calmed himself down did he turn back to face Hunter, who was still staring over the ledge.
“I just wanted to make up for losing Flora. I should’ve never lost sight of her that day and never should have run away after finding her. Today… I wanted to be reliable, and more importantly, I didn’t want to be a coward again. I swore to be better, both to myself... and to Flora,” says Hunter.
“Part of me felt like if I went back with you to camp… it would’ve meant that I’d be going back on my word, my promise. And then, possibilities began pouring into my head. What if we found some medicine here that could save somebody’s life later on? What if we found more food that could help keep us fed longer… or extend our daily rations? Thoughts like that,” continues Hunter, wiping the bottom of his shirt on his face to wipe away the tears before turning around to face Forest.
“And then I imagined myself turning my back on those opportunities, deciding to go back with you, and one day… regretting my choice to run away again. I started to imagine situations where we might have needed that potential life-saving medicine or those extra few portions of food. Still, we didn’t have those items because I turned back. It would’ve been my fault. If I had just chosen to keep going, and I did find those things that could help save somebody’s life, would that have made me a hero? Would that have made up for my mistake before? Would it have made up for Flora’s death? … I don’t know,” says Hunter, his voice fluttering as he sniffles every few words. “But… I only made things worse…! I didn’t run, I didn’t go back on my word to Flora… but Falc died! Flora, I only knew for a few hours… Falc, I’ve known… for over a week. And not just him, you too, Forest! The three of us were tight, and I… I knew you two were closer, and I was sort of the outsider, but I still felt happy… to be included. But… it’s because of me that I lost a friend… and that I… broke up your much closer friendship! It’s my... it’s my fault…!”
Rubbing his left hand across his face over and over, Hunter tries to somehow clean up the mess of blood, sweat, and tears that have all disgustingly mixed together. Unable to look Forest in the eyes any longer, Hunter crouches down and places his hand on the ground, attempting to compose himself.
“I- I understand…” says Forest, walking forward.
Feeling acute lurches of pain with each step, Forest bears it as he eventually sits down, his whole body agonizing with every adjustment. But after Forest was seated, the pain eased, and he sprawled his legs out in front of him. He then placed his hand on Hunter’s back, and Hunter marginally lifted his head in Forest’s direction.
“It’s alright. It’s just as much my fault as it is yours. As cliche as it sounds, everybody makes mistakes. I should’ve tried harder to stop you, not just let you go as you pleased. Though... considering how stubborn you are, I might’ve had to turn into a bit of a dick to get my point across, but with that thick head of yours, I still doubt you would’ve listened to me.”
For a brief moment, Forest thinks he saw Hunter smile, but he’s unsure. He chalks it up to being his imagination as Hunter leaves his crouched-like position and sits down.
As Forest removes his hand, Hunter glances at Forest, “Speak for yourself. The only person changing my mind at that moment was me, whether you became a dick or not.”
Forest’s eyebrows raise as if it seems like he is surprised. Looking away, a few seconds passed before a brief chuckle escaped his lips.
“Yeah, that’s fair. Sucks that we were the ones that ended up surviving.”
Hunter’s mouth curves into the slightest indication of a smile before returning to a frown, “Yeah… I know…”
Wrapping his left around Hunter’s shoulder and giving him his full attention, Forest says, “Falc was a good friend, but we’re still here. We’re still alive.”
Hunter sniffles as he raises his injured right hand and stares at it, “Yeah… we are...”
Forest also stares at Hunter’s hand for a moment before raising his own injured hand next to Hunter’s, “His blood is on both our hands, which means we must survive. We’ll live... for Falc.”
Sniffling again, Hunter bobs his head for a few seconds before shifting his attention to the sun beginning to set in front of us, “You’re… you’re right. We’ll survive and get through whatever is thrown our way… for Falcon.”
Flipping his left hand over to where Forest’s palm is facing the sun, Forest conjoins hands with Hunter. Placing his fingers between each of Hunter’s knuckles, Forest softly rested his fingertips against the back of Hunter’s hand. He then does the same, and a bond of blood is made with their crimson hands joined together.
We’ll make it back to camp and beat Crow at whatever game he’s playing with us. We’ll live through anything fired our way and continue to live not just for ourselves but for Falc. I have no way of asking him, but something tells me that Falc would be all for this plan.
A gentle tide of warmth then enveloped every inch of their bodies as a gleaming gold lit up their faces. A brisk breeze accompanied the sun’s embrace as the gentle wind whistled through Forest’s man bun and tickled his facial hair. And as if they both had just captured that moment, the still picture of each other sitting in front of the gorgeous sunset with their hands joined together was ingrained into both memories.
“Okay, enough with the handholding. It’s starting to really hurt,” hesitantly says Hunter as he quickly withdraws his injured hand.
Forest chuckles, relieved Hunter had said something because he was also in severe pain.
After slowly standing back up, Forest offers his unwounded right hand to Hunter, “Come on, let’s go get patched up.”
Hunter briefly studies Forest’s hand as if trying to internally decide something before eventually taking it with his injured right hand. He lets out a hefty grunt as Forest helps him to his feet, and as they stand next to one another, they both acknowledge the other. Then, Forest noticed that they hadn’t become weaker because they lost someone important to them.
They became stronger.