Derek and Thomas stepped out of the forest. Thomas sighed in relief as Derek survey their surroundings. Derek could tell that all the boy’s pent-up emotions were coming to a head. And, after the experiences he’d had over the last week, Derek couldn’t blame the kid.
“Which way now?” Derek asked.
“Uh… I’m not sure. I don’t know where we came out of the forest at.” Thomas frowned. “We could just follow the tree line until we run into a village or some people,” he suggested. “Then we can get directions to my village.”
“That’s fine by me.” Derek didn’t have any plans. Currently, it didn’t make any difference to him whether he wasted some time or not. There wasn’t anything left for him on Earth, so he didn’t even have getting home to worry about. One world was just as good as the next.
As the duo traveled, they talked about less personal things. Derek kept tight-lipped when the boy asked him about where he was from. It was better to keep what happened to him a secret until he figured some things out. Soon, they ran out of small talk and just walked along in silence.
Derek, ever vigilant, noticed some figures approaching them in the distance. They weren’t close enough for him to make out, so he didn’t yet know if it was people or monsters. “Hey, kid”—he grabbed Thomas’s attention—“we’re going to have some company soon. Stay close to me just in case they’re not friendly.”
Thomas lagged a step and fell in behind Derek. Good kid, Derek thought.
They continued on, Thomas occasionally poking his head out from behind Derek, looking for the figures Derek spoke of. “I see them,” the boy spoke after a while.
Derek nodded. “They aren’t monsters. They’re human.” Derek identified them. “Looks like a small group. Maybe traders…” There were around 15 people that Derek could make out. “No.” He shook his head. “Not traders…” He frowned. “Looks like non-fighters. I don’t see many weapons, and there are a bunch of children.”
What he did notice was that the group was closing the distance between them at a rapid pace. “They’re moving fast. Either running away from something or moving towards something. Whatever it is, it’s got them panicking.”
As the people got closer, Thomas stepped out from behind Derek.
“What is it?” Derek asked.
“They look familiar… I think I know them.” Thomas said as recognition hit him. “That’s… They’re from Leon’s village. It’s one of the villages close to my village, so we all know each other.”
At the same time as Thomas noticed who the group was, they noticed him, as well. “Thomas!” a little girl yelled out and sped past the rest of the group. “Thomas! You have to run!” she screamed as she got closer.
“A friend of yours?” Derek asked the boy while pointing at the dark-haired girl.
Instead of answering, Thomas yelled back, “Brandi!” He then ran to meet the girl.
Derek kept stride with the boy, not letting him wander too far away. He told the boy he would get him home safely, and he planned to do it.
The two kids met up, and Thomas started firing question after question at the girl. “What are you doing out here? Where are your parents? Why aren’t there any fighters with you? Why aren’t they escorting you? What’s going on?” The boy didn’t even take a breath between questions.
“Daddy… he… he’s at home. Momma… she… she…” Brandi was already crying while trying to answer Thomas’s questions. Nobody could make out what was going on.
Fortunately, a woman in the group caught up not long after Brandi. She ignored Thomas, speaking directly to Derek instead. “Our village was attacked by a horde of monsters. All the capable fighters stayed behind to give us a chance to escape. All except for Marshall, he was escorting us, but he…” The woman paused to take in a deep breath. “He stayed behind with Sana and Mal when a group of wolves attacked us. They are holding the wolves off while we escape. I don’t think they’re strong enough to…” She stopped explaining. “We have to run… now! Before the pack comes.”
Derek saw Thomas shoot him a worried look, eyes pleading for him to do something.
He sighed. “Fine, I’ll go. Be right back.” Derek walked through the group as the rest of the escapees ran past.
“Wait!” The woman from before tried to stop him. “You’ll die. We need to run.”
Thomas tugged on the woman’s shirt, getting her attention. “It’s okay. He is much stronger than he looks.”
Once he was clear of the group, Derek kicked off the ground and launched himself forward. He followed the trail left by the group, and not long after he heard the battle, then he saw it.
Two women and a man were fighting a pack of wolves led by an alpha. Each woman was fending off two small wolves, leaving the man fighting alone against the alpha of the pack. Derek studied the battle. Soon he came to the conclusion that though the three fighters were holding their own against the pack, they would soon lose.
The alpha would soon overrun the man. Then there would be nothing the two women could do. Once the man lost his footing against the alpha, their efforts would collapse like a house of cards.
Derek moved into the battle. Instead of jumping in directly, he called out to the fighters. “Mind if I join?” He’d suffer from stolen kills and reduced experience before, and it was only good manners to ask before jumping into a battle… even if the group was losing… badly.
The man with a shortsword quickly glanced Derek’s way. Eyeing him up and down. “Help would be much appreciated.”
“K,” Derek muttered. He withdrew a dagger from his storage bracelet and charged at the alpha wolf.
Seeing Derek charge, the man with the shortsword jumped back out of his way.
Derek sidestepped an attack from the beast and drove the dagger directly into the open eye of the unsuspecting beast, essentially ending the fight with the wolf before it knew what happened. The wolf fell motionless, never to move again.
“You want to go help those two?” Derek asked. “The experience is probably good for them, so I won’t interfere unless you want.” He pointed to the two women fighting the four smaller beasts.
“We don’t have the time.” The man shook his head. “We need to end it as quickly as possible.”
Derek shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He ripped the bloody dagger out of the eye socket of the dead beast and tossed it at one of the remaining wolves. He wasn’t finished yet. He summoned another dagger and threw it as well.
The first dagger struck the head of one of the wolves, instantly destroying its skull and traveling into the distance before falling to the ground, leaving the woman to fight a single wolf. The second dagger followed suit, striking down a wolf that was fighting the other woman. Instantly, the two-on-one fights became one on one.
Derek winced. “Too much power.” He hadn’t looked to see how strong the wolves were, so he used too much power in his throws, leaving him to have to go fetch his daggers off in the distance. “That should be good enough,” he told the man who was standing by his side before he ran off to fetch his daggers.
The man could only nod, staring wide-eyed at Derek.
One woman was fighting a wolf that was already injured, so she was able to finish it off before Derek made it back with his daggers. The other woman took a little longer, but the fight still ended quickly.
“Your group is waiting for you down the way. One of the girls was very worried about her mommy, which I assume to be one of the two of you.” Derek looked at the two women.
The taller woman with dark, flowing hair and tanned skin smiled.
“Let’s go,” Derek said before anyone could say anything else. The trio followed closely behind as he led the way.
As soon as they arrived at the group, the little girl, Brandi, jumped into the tall woman’s arms. “Mommy!”
“I’m fine. We’re fine.” She confronted her daughter.
“Alright… I’m taking this kid back to his village. “You’re all welcome to join us. We needed a guide anyway.” Derek pointed at Thomas before nodding his head at the man named Marshall.
“Derek… their village,” Thomas begged.
“I said I would take you home. I didn’t say I would go out of my way to save a village that very likely is already destroyed. Besides”—he looked at Marshall—“how long has it been since the attack?”
The escort looked at his feet and sighed. He looked back up. “Hours…”
Derek looked at Thomas. “See… not even their own people believe anyone is left alive. Not to mention the time it would take for us to get there.” He didn’t sugarcoat anything. “Also, with what we know about the condition of the forest, it would be in everyone’s best interest to stay away from villages that border the forest.”
“What do you mean? Were you sent to find out what was wrong with the village?” the other woman that was fighting, the one that was not Brandi’s mother, asked.
Derek put up his hand to stop the woman from continuing her questions. “I’ll explain it all one time and to Rayna. There’s no point explaining it over and over.”
He watched Thomas think. The boy was quiet as he went over everything Derek had said. Finally, Derek could see the resolve in his eyes as he spoke. “We should go anyway. Somebody could still be alive. Maybe they’re hiding. Plus, you’re fast, I’ve seen you. It won’t take you any time to get there and help. There’s always a chance.”
“Boy, that hero complex is going to get you killed one day. It may even get those close to you killed,” Derek said. “You said we should go? Do you plan on fighting, too? Can anyone else here help me fight a horde of monsters? No, I’ll be the one fighting. You want ME to help, not WE.”
“But…” Thomas began.
Derek cut him off. “But nothing. I saved your life in the forest. Then, you gave me some information, helping me, so I agreed to get you home safe. That’s our contract. I didn’t sign up for risking my life to save a bunch of complete strangers.
“Do you know why I’m so strong? Why I’m even still alive?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s because I rely on myself. I don’t put my faith in others to help me. And most importantly, I don’t go out of my way to be heroic. Every time something terrible has happened to me, it has been because I stuck my nose where it doesn’t belong.” Like choosing to help Silvi and her team… he thought.
“That doesn’t matter!” Thomas yelled. “You’re strong now. You should help people.”
Derek snorted. “Spoken like a true 12-year-old.”
Thomas snapped, “So what if you’ll be the only person fighting? You don’t need anyone else. You won’t be risking your life. Nothing around here would even be able to harm you. You’re just being an asshole!”
Derek burst out laughing. “Exactly! I’m an asshole. I’m an asshole in a world where assholes live and heroes die. Life ain’t a fairy tale, kid. One day, I hope you become a proper asshole.” He planned to go to the village. As Thomas said, there shouldn’t be anything around that could harm him. Not this far out of the forest.
He just wanted to teach the boy a lesson while he still could. There was no denying that Derek was an asshole, but being around Thomas was helping him get back to himself, and for that, he owed him.
He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Be an asshole, get strong, then be a hero. That’s the only way you can survive in a world like this. You can’t save anyone if you’re already dead.” He picked Thomas up and threw him over his shoulder.
“Wha… what are you doing?” Thomas screeched.
“What else? We’re going to save what’s left of the village. Now, be still.”
