Heroes to Hunted

Nakamura yelped in pain, furiously shaking his legs to knock the hound off. Frustratingly, he must've not realized that his guttural shouting and ceaseless shaking made dragging him up hundreds of times harder.

Accompanying his terror were the distinct growls of a canine with the intent to kill, hell-bent on tearing off the flesh before it with a one-track fervor.

It was for a moment, but his intense struggle resulted in a jabbing pain within my palm as the muscles inside constricted tighter than should be possible.

'Shit, I'm losing my grip.' I despaired as he slipped through my fingers.

As Nakamura's fingertips brushed mine, almost signifying the point of no return, Agawa dove next to me and seized him by the forearm. Pulling hard, she grunted loudly as she lifted his and the dog's weight.

"Hit the damn thing!" She screamed, her frantically wide eyes boring into me.

Shaking myself off, I gripped the first thing that was within reach, the torch Kamida had tossed aside, and jabbed it into the mutt's snout. A sizzling sound accompanied the dog's pained yelps as its face was seared beyond recognition.

Defeated and locked in the misery of its broiled skin, the dog loosened its jaws and howled back into the abyss below. It wasn't long until the pack of darkened hounds retreated upon seeing one of their own become so disfigured.

I released my hold of the torch, knowing we still had another in reserve, and again took hold of Nakamura. With all three of us sharing his weight, our strength synergized, allowing us to practically throw him back onto the bridge.

Now that he'd been saved, I collapsed then and there, right on the spot.

My body was wholly wracked with stress and exhaustion, with my muscles involuntarily spasming on occasion. Too dazed to recover, I directed my attention to where the torch had landed.

As expected, there were multiple bodies surrounding it. This time, however, they weren't horribly decayed. Instead, they were in peak condition barring the numerous bite wounds and lacerations of claws, as well as a webbing of strange, dark green veins that snaked across their bodies.

Focusing my eyes with a squint, I'd been hit with an alarming reality, the reality that I could recognize them. Though their bodies were gnarled and broken, it was unmistakable that they had all been members of the cowardly group that abandoned us at a moment's notice.

I promised to kill them if I saw them again...but actually doing it? That wasn't at all what I'd intended. I was only referring to a pleasantly brutal beating with maybe a concussion or two.

Intentions aside, after seeing their lifeless corpses, I somehow felt a pang of guilt about it. Like the act of my cursing them had been the trigger to their deaths.

pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ "Thank you!" Nakamura shouted in relief. "Thank you so much!"

Still, under adrenaline's influence, I picked myself up and grabbed Nakamura's shoulder. "Don't do any more falling, you idiot!" I shouted, even though I knew it wasn't his fault.

"Of course, "he bowed his head, "I swear!"

Still stuck in a frenzy of rapid breathing, we all limped away from the bridge and onto the solid footing of the other side. While we sat and soothed our battered muscles, Agawa walked over to Sato and lifted him back onto her back.

"Come on, guys, it wasn't that bad." She sneered at Kamida and me.

"Heh, you're only saying that because you got the easy part," I grumbled.please visit panda-:)ɴᴏᴠᴇ1.co)m

We began snarling at each other when I noticed that Nakamura had been using my torchlight to inspect his new wound.

Although the pierce marks were deep, burrowing nearly to his bone, it was still the least concerning aspect. What most alarmed me was the frothy green pus that had been dripping so profusely from it.

Like me, Agawa detected the unsettling condition of Nakamura's leg. "Are you okay?" She asked, walking towards the doctor. "Can you walk?"

He covered his wound from view with his hand and shifted his gaze towards Agawa. "Y-Yeah…thank you," he replied, but his agonized face suggested otherwise.

Grimacing, Nakamura took deep swipes at the bite with a bit of cloth, splattering the green ooze across it. Once he'd cleaned up as best as possible, he sacrificed his bandana as an impromptu bandage.

"Well, shall we go?" He said nonchalantly. Though he tried concealing his discomfort, it was apparent that his nose had crinkled from the smell.

He stood up and attempted a slow march, limping and quietly yelping with each step.

Seeing Nakamura's suffering, Agawa's face gave way to what she'd most definitely been thinking. However, she couldn't possibly act as a support and carry Sato too. It was tedious, but I wouldn't let her take care of everything.

"Here." I reluctantly offered my shoulder to Nakamura.

He saw my gesture and frantically tried to refuse it. "Oh, no…no, I'm oka-"

I growled ferociously, more so than any of the beasts below. I offered the guy help; I wouldn't let him refuse it so quickly. If he insisted on refusing, I decided I'd put him in a condition where he couldn't.

"Yes, please, and thank you." He graciously bowed to my intimidation and attached himself to my shoulder.

Now that we'd survived yet another perilous situation, I couldn't shake off the feeling of invulnerability. I began reminiscing about all the fights I'd won thus far and grinned.

I thought that we could easily take the world as Kamida had suggested!

Unfortunately, remembering previous events also renewed another sensation. I was reminded of her, the victim I'd left in a solution of her own brains and blood. It still felt too surreal for what I'd done to be true.

While we walked, I pulled my free hand to view and shivered; splotches of dried blood were still covering it. Images of the event were endlessly replaying like I'd been rewound into the past and abandoned there.

I'll admit I have always had some anger issues, but they had always been accompanied by good intentions.

For every misdeed I committed, I always did something good in return. It was a lesson my mother instilled in me. Was there really anything I could do to atone for this, though?

I dreaded that I now knew what it felt like…I knew just how much pressure I needed to bash someone's head in.

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