Luke gritted his teeth, knowing that if he didn't kill that bastard now, everything was in vain. Everything.
Out of frustration, Luke manifested a bone spear in a last-ditch effort. It was pitch black and had small hooks everywhere except the handle, which Luke gripped tightly.
It was a now or never moment for Luke. His body was hurting at every place, but pain could be ignored, and he would be handsomely rewarded if he could finish that monster, once for all. Luke took a step forward as the voices in the background slowly drowned.
At that moment, only one thought shot through his mind. 'Sorry, Anne… my death will happen in a matter of a few days, which is why I have to take care of that problem, or there is a high likelihood of you dying. I just can't let Evie's death be in vain…'
Everything seemed to be calm at that moment. With new motivation, Luke raised the spear tip into the air as he estimated how far he had to throw before taking another step. The hatred flowing through his body numbed the pain, and he stopped caring about not stressing his protease too much. After taking his first step, he increased his movement speed drastically before throwing the spear with all his might after a few steps.
His frustration, desperation, hatred, we might as well say all his emotions, were poured into that deciding throw. As the spear slowly glided from his fingers, everything moved in slow motion for Luke.
It felt as if he could sense everything for a moment, from the sweat formed on his brow and how it would fall down in a short second or how his protease leg wouldn't survive the coming contact with the ground. But Luke's eyes were only fixed at the limping Alex, and even the desperation the latter was experiencing didn't escape his senses. A smile formed on his face as he knew that his hit was sure, as he prayed that he would hit the latter's chest.
Instead of his chest, his speer pierced into the latter's hip while his protease slowly touched the ground. Cracks immediately formed and spread wildly on the bone protease before breaking. The sound of bones breaking could be heard for a second before that got drowned out by a loud and painful whimpering of Odebus.
Luke crashed towards the ground, and his face inside the helmet hit the ground as Anne reached him. The latter stood in silence a foot away from him as she stared down in disappointment. Saying anything at that moment felt hard for Anne, and it took her courage to ask her older brother a question.
"Brother… Is that really what you want to pursue?" Anne asked in a trembling voice while offering the former a hand.
The question made Luke tear as his face remained to lie against the cold vibrating floor.
'I failed…'
"I'm… sorry…sis," he sobbed quietly in frustration, and it took him a lot of effort to stop himself from crying. As one might expect, he failed to hold the tears back even for a single second.
His sobbing grew louder. Sighing, Anne knelt down to roll his body over and take off his helmet.
When she saw her older brother shedding tears, Anne had to cry too, as she could no longer suppress her emotions. But that didn't stop her from acting like a mature adult, and she immediately grabbed Luke's chest armor to drag him with her towards the exit.
"Spare your sorries for Maurice… you won't be leaving us two behind," Anne replied as tears fell down on his face.
"I'm sorry, sis… but I have to finish my job," Luke replied as he stuck a bone onto the ground so that the latter couldn't drag him any further.
Infuriated, Anne shouted at him: "You are in no form of finishing any job. Even a fucking Goblin could kill you in your current condition."
With gritted teeth, Luke merely responded: "I can not let Evie's death go to waste."
But before Luke could continue with his justifications, Anne cut him short.
"You will be wasting her death if you continue like that. It's only a matter of time till you end up getting killed by a bunch of mutants.
Luke… you are already a cripple who lost a leg and a hand. Now you also want to leave his younger sister behind with an unconscious brother so that he can die fighting. Do you think Evie would want that? HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO LOSE MORE?"
With each word, the anger in her voice grew louder, while her struggle to drag Luke also grew stronger. Her questions were cutting wounds like a scalpel into his body, making him cry even more.
Luke felt nothing more than shame and self-hatred at that moment, and he could only muster, saying in a shaky voice: "I'm a failure as a brother and as a friend. I failed to protect my siblings and also a friend. I'm inept as I couldn't even take revenge for them. Sis… tell me, why wouldn't I want to die fighting rather than to continue living as a failure and a cripple for a few days, since my days are numbered?"
Anne's gaze moved downwards to Luke's leg, only to see how his leg was way more mutilated than initially thought. She knew Luke had been amputated during the fight, but she hadn't bothered to investigate how severe it was until now since her attention was on the enemy. How Luke could still be awake with such a wound was a mystery to her.
Scraps of flesh hung down his mutilated leg, and there was both dirt and sand in his wounds. Even now, the only thing keeping Luke alive was the tourniquet due to restricting the blood flow.
Seeing that blood continued dripping down his wounds, Anne stuttered: "I still believe that you can survive that wound if we find someone good at taking care of wounds."
Luke wanted to laugh loudly at her naivety and to ease his pain. But he felt a bitter aftertaste, knowing that his death was not so far off.
'Let's just spend the last few days with my siblings.'
The battle took an enormous psychological toll on Luke, and fatigue slowly overcame him. Knowing that it would be only a matter till he fell asleep, Luke used all his strength to give his last order.
"Anne…forget what I said earlier. Remember, we must find Gab. He is the only one strong enough to protect the two of you against that creature."
The former nodded before carrying on with gritted teeth and new determination.
Thankfully the group didn't meet a single goblin. Whether that can be ascribed to plot armor or the group's luck is up to the reader to decide.
Thx for the chapter!