8.2

“One more knot here…aaannd…we are perfect!” Angeline raised her hands after she finished tying up the bandage on an elderly woman for her fractured arm.

“T-thank you, Angeline.”

“Aww, it’s nothing granny. Though, John can heal you up faster than I, if only he haven’t wandered off. Now, who’s next? I think most of you here a done…” Angeline stopped when she saw John’s familiar face exiting from the corridor that he wandered into.

“Speak of the devil, John!” Angeline called to him with an excited voice, “Here, granny, let me introduce you to…” her voice faltered when she noticed John moved with stiffened shoulders, though his face was devoid of any emotion like usual, his eyes however kept darting the room as though he was watching out for something.

John took no time to move to Angeline’s side, his eyes became soft the moment he saw her but they quickly turned into a sharp gaze. “Angeline, do you mind speaking with me for a moment?” he said, keeping his eyes around their surroundings.

“Um, yeah? I am always open to speak to you, just tell me what it is.”

He took another glance around them, at the villagers surrounding Angeline who watched her gave medical treatment to the sick and injured. “Privately. I wanted to speak to you about… You know…”

Angeline leaned her head forward, “About?”

John gritted his teeth, “You know… The ball dance we had earlier…” his face flushed as he looked away from her and cast his eyes somewhere else. “Please don’t m-make me do something embarrassing in front of everyone…”

“O-oh! T-that’s what you meant! I thought you were going to tell me something else from that look on your—” without letting Angeline finish her sentence, John grabbed her hand and pulled her to a corner that was far from where everyone else were while apologizing to the villagers over and over for his rudeness.

When the two of them were finally away from everyone else, John turned his back from the gazes of the ‘villagers’, when he was sure that no one was able to hear them clearly, the sharp gaze he wore returned.

“Windows, blurred. Handles to the doors, gone… Crap, they work fast…”

“J-John?” realizing that what he said to her earlier was nothing but and act, Angeline drooped her eyes.

All of a sudden, John grabbed her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, “Angeline, do you trust me?”

“W-why are you asking me this? O-of course I do.”

“Then forgive me if this hurts you.” Not letting a second to go to waste, John concentrated and casted his magic on “[Heal].” The blue familiar aura came from his to hands, quickly enveloped Angeline and dissipated in a blink of an eyes. “Thank goodness you’re not converted into one of them…”

“What is this, John? I know this isn’t about the ball of paragons, but— Eeep!" Angeline was pulled into a soft hug by John right after he cast his magic on her.

He spoke in a hushed voice, “Listen to me closely, Angeline, look at the entrance that we came from, the one Scywell and the other three exited from, what do you see?”

While she enjoyed the protective embrace from John, her eyes noticed it, she noticed what John was whispering to himself about. The large wooden doors that they came in, now had a large piece of barricade nailed to it, the keyholes and even the large metallic handles were gone.

“What… J-John w-what is going on”

Just as Angeline’s voice was about to break, John wrapped his arms a little tighter around her, keeping his body close to hers “Keep your smile up, they’ll notice it you don’t. Believe me, I feel the same right now.”

Angeline forcibly etched her lips upwards, doing her best to keep her cheerful expression she had for the villagers up.

John moved his hands along her back, soothing Angline as he continued to speak, “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I need you to remain calm with what I am about say next.” Although his voice was tranquil, Angeline could feel John’s rapid heart pounding against her strongly. It was almost he was afraid.

“…Okay. I trust you.”

John took a deep breath, paused for a moment, then said in a small voice. “These people aren’t alive. I have reasons to believe they are undead summoned here to either ambush Scywell and us when they had the chance, or…”

“Or?”

“Kill us when we lowered our guard.”

“…”

“That was why they acted so weirdly when they heard that Scywell was a hero, they all swarmed at him, remember? If you ask me, I think they wanted to make him stay here like we did,” John continued speaking as his hands soothed Angeline. “Just keep your smile up just a little while longer, I am almost done. In order to safeguard the ‘villagers’, everyone but Scywell would be stationed here for the whole night, at least, that’s what I think what the lich had in mind. Since we would be too busy tending to the ‘villagers’ while Scywell went and fought the lich, eventually we would get worn out as the night progresses, and when that happens we would be turned into undead, and the lich might use that against Scywell.”

“John, that’s not possible for any simple minded—”

“They aren’t simple minded, if any of them were, the lich would not have taken anyone as hostage and just killed them. That’s why I cast [Heal] on you earlier, if they had used any curse to turn you into an undead, [Heal] should have cleansed it.”

“…W-what should we do now? My holy water isn’t enough for all of them.”

“We escape, I found a trap door that leads to the outside. Okay…I am going to stop hugging you now, and once I do, we run for it. Okay?” Feeling Angeline’s head bobbing on his shoulders, John said as he slowly removed his arms from her back. “Ready…”

“…”

“Now!” he shouted and had a firm grip on Angeline hand before they ran into darkness.

He kept his eyes on her as they moved, he did not want to make the same mistake of leaving someone behind while he ran, if he were to even loosen his grip or caused Angeline to trip, there was no coming back from that. He would not allow her to be left behind with those undead, especially not when he already decided she would be under his protection.

Nothing could be heard from the villagers as their rushed footsteps echoed in the hallways, but that did not let John stop, instead it made him run faster with Angeline behind him.

“I don’t think they are coming…hahh…hah. But how did you notice all of it? What if they are just normal people?” Angeline asked as she tried to catch her breath.

“I found a boy at the back. He told me—”

“Angelineeeee!!!”

“Shit...”

A horrible sound comprised of a hundred undead howled at them, calling out to her. Behind them, the ‘villagers’ have shed their skin disguises and charged at them in a horde, the massive amounts of rotting flesh and undead bodies came pouring out like a tidal wave. Gone were the ‘civilized’ humans, they have finally revealed their true forms as the amalgamation of of death and decay.

“Comeee baaccckkk!!!”

An undead arm shot from the horde, it latched onto John’s free shoulder but he was quick enough to wring it away from him before the grip tightened.

“There!” John shouted when they reached the end of the corridor, where the trapdoor was. “Angeline, get in there, I will fend them off—” his eyes widened when he saw the mute boy still standing by the trapdoor, patiently waiting for John’s return. “What are you doing here!? Run! Go!!!”

The boy quickly climbed in as he was told, Angeline then entered right after, John was the last to enter, he made sure to shut the trap door as he descent into the crawlspace, hoping that the plank of wood would be able to stop the undead before he got on all fours and started to make his way outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Angeelinnnneeee!!!”

The sounds of continuous slamming on the wooden plank echoed as the undead from the outside used all the strength they had to get in.

“John!” Angeline’s concerned voiced called to him.

“Hah… That was close... Just keeping crawling forwards Angeline, it leads outside, just follow the boy.”

“Okay…”

There was no light in the crawlspace, if not for the draft from outside blowing into this tiny space, it was unable to tell whether they were moving in the right direction. All they could do was to follow the moving air and hope was for their eyes to adjust to the darkness while they traversed the rough ground.

All we need is to get outside before…

Then, there was moment of silence amongst the loud banging and groaning from behind them.

Creeeaakkk, went the hinges to the trapdoor, and a faint ray of light came from behind John.

I spoke too soon, t-they got in!

“!!!”

“T-they a-are coming…” Angeline’s voice shook.

John could feel that like him, she was frozen from shock.

“Crawl Angeline, crawl! Don’t stop no matter what happens!” John shouted, bringing him and her back to crawling. John hardened his abdomen before speeding up his movements, he pushed his muscles synchronously like he never did, pushing each and every fiber of his being like he had never before.

Graauuhh… The soft moan of the undead reached his sensitive eras, causing him to perk.

He crawled, one knee after the other, taking great care to maintain his balance while keeping his body from giving up from him. It mattered not that the uneven ground banged against his kneecaps, all he cared was to escape from the undead horde that was climbing behind him.

He had no idea how long he was crawling, he might have let Angeline crawled before him for her safety, but the occasional groans that he heard from behind him grew louder with each thump of his heartbeat made his gut churn.

Up until the moment they made the decision to run away from the ‘villagers’ they were remained neutral and had not attacked, perhaps he made the wrong move by outright getting Angeline and him to escape them. If he had not done so, the undead might not have noticed. Even then, he was not ready to gamble away Angeline’s safety just like that, if anything he was willing to put his life on the line to…

“!!!”

John’s right leg froze his he pulled it forward, and what held him in his place was a grip on his ankle so strong that it made the arm that latched on his shoulder earlier seem like melted butter.

“You must not leaaveeee!!!”

“Get! Off! Me!” he kicked once, twice, thrice... But the grip on his ankle remained, instead it pulled him backwards, back to where the undead hoard was, back to where he was trying to escape from.

Shit… They are persistent.

“John! What’s going on!?” Angeline shouted from afar, just from her volume alone, she was roughly thirty meters from where he was, and that distance between them only expanded the longer the undead had their sticky grip on him.

“Nothing…” John said as he pulled out the short sword Gobbert gave him, and swung it at the hand by his ankle, and the hand that held onto his ankle came off. “…much! Keep going, they are right behind!”

He resumed to crawl forward when he was free, his heart beat so loudly from what happened earlier, that the fresh blood that pumped into his body was more than enough to fuel him for at least another hour of crawling.

Or so he thought.

Following the first undead’s dismembered hand, a new pair of undead arms twice as strong as the previous grabbed him by his two legs, pulled with a force so large that his chin hit the ground.

“Arghhh...ack! Fuck! Off!”

John’s fingers dug to the ground in order to stop himself from being dragged behind. He tried to pulled his knees forward and deliver a big kick to release himself but the undead that grabbed him seemed to know what he had in mind and started to dragged him harder than before.

His knees banged and scrapped on the rocky ground, he could feel his fingers bleed as the flesh from his fingertips became ripped from him, the pain that came with it did not bother him as much as the thought that he might not be able to escape this.

Alright, let’s try this. He said to himself, steeling his waning courage to face the undead.

“[Heal]!” he shouted and the blue aura restored his body and returned a decent amount of his lost strength to him. When he was sure he fully healed himself, he released his fingers from the ground and went for his weapon, unsheathing it once, used all his strength and made a decisive slash at the two arms that were pullings his legs. “Take that you…” his voice became small when the short sword simply bounced off the undead’s arms. “No… How can this be…”

Enhanced strength, enhanced toughness, intelligence that surpassed the run of the mill undead…

I… Did I get something wrong about t-them? All the books that I read…

Undead, like the one grabbing him this very moment was supposed to have half a human’s strength, zero intelligence, and a fragile body that would snap with decent amount of force applied. Even if a lich was nearby them to boost their abilities, let alone come up with the thought of opening a trapdoor, it was impossible for them to even disguise or speak like normal people.

It was though all the knowledge John had on undead was shattered that very moment. What he read from the books, were in fact, much, much more different that the reality he lived in. And for him to only realize it now…

His heart sank into a bottomless pit, his strength drained from him.

Just as hopelessness was about to set in him, Angeline’s loud voice John back to reality. “John, duck!”

A glass vial flew pass his head and hit the enhanced undead upon contact, it spilled out a sweet smelling liquid everywhere, dissolving the zombie’s body instantly.

“Arggghhhhh!!!”

“The holy water will keep them away for a while, let’s go!” the brave Angeline spoke as she grabbed his hands and started pulling him forward.

John snapped to his consciousness and quickly followed Angeline to move forward, leaving the sounds of sizzling and incomprehensible groans of pain behind them as they headed towards the exit. Soon enough, the dimly lit sky came into view at the end of the tunnel, they took no time and exited the crawlspace.

“What were you thinking not calling for help!?” Angeline said furiously as she lent a hand to get John on his feet. “Do you think you can fight them on your own!? These are not your average undead, what do you think is going to happen? That I will keep on crawling to safety while you are being dragged by them?”

“No, that’s not what I was…” John tried to explain but his mind was still blank from what transpired moments ago. “Sorry…”

Angeline gave him a hard look, then handed John a rectangular block wrapped with a thing sheet of paper with the smell of burnt metal and sulphur to it. It was no doubt, an explosive of some sort.

“If you are, throw this into the hole where we came from. Then I’ll forgive you. Make sure to aim as deep as you can.”

John asked no further questions, he quietly raised his arm, aimed at the crawlspace hole they exited, and tossed the item with all the strength he had, sending the explosive to the crawlspace.

Angeline made a smirk and held her fingers up and began counting down, “Five, four, three, two, one and….”

Ka-boom!

The explosion gave off dust from the crawlspace. Moments after fires died out, the crawlspace tunnel rumbled and collapsed on itself.

Does she always carry things like that around her she is on a mission?

“Alright, that should keep kill some of them and keep them from escaping.” Angeline said, dusting her hands together, satisfied with the result of her explosive. “Who knew you could see through undead, even I was fooled by them!”

“It wasn’t me who saw through them, the boy did.”

“The boy?”

“You know, the one who entered before you? Where’s the little guy?” John looked around them but could not see another being besides the two of them on the vast grassy fields. “Did he leave already?”

Angeline’s raised a brow at John, “No one entered before me, who is this boy you keep talking about?”

“Who is this boy?” John almost snapped. “He told me about what the villagers actually are, I found him trying to get the trapdoor alone when I was wandering about, he is why we got out of there, he told me that there were no villagers all along… He was the one that showed me our way out. I— Are you sure you haven’t seen a boy?” John looked into her eyes.

“No…” Angeline replied, her face filled with concern for him. “Maybe you are seeing things John… You must still be shocked from what happened earlier, to be honest, I was surprised that you manage to stay calm despite knowing all of that earlier, no one would blame you for…”

John brought his hands to his head, “No, that’s not it, sure I was shocked when the undead was far stronger than I anticipated, b-but this is an entirely different thing, the boy, I really saw him, he was as tall as my waist, he had large eyes and…and…”

“I believe you, John. But I really didn’t see the boy myself… Maybe we should get back to where the coach for now, staying here isn’t safe for us.”

John reluctantly gave a nod before following Angeline back to where their transport was.

When they returned, Angeline immediately met with their coachman and informed him of what happened to them, she explained everything in detail—while omitting John’s encounter with the boy that she could not see—hoping that headquarters would be informed of the situation that they were facing.

The night wind howled in his ears as John leaned against the side of their carriage himself.

He was still in a daze after encountering such a powerful undead but it would take a lot more for him to lose his nerve, especially in the circumstance that he is in.

What happened to the little guy?

He had many questions regarding the mute boy. Angeline had claimed that she did not see the child, but John had clearly communicated with the him. It was because of the boy that he discovered the existence of the trapdoor, it was because of the boy did he knew the undead were disguised as villagers, it was because of the boy that Angeline and him were still in one piece.

What if…

A creepy thought crawled into his mind.

What if Angeline was right. What if she actually did not see the boy while John himself did.

No, it can’t be… Can it? I never had that kind of experience, so it is impossible right?

There was only one explanation. And that was…

“He might have been a—"

Before he could say those words to himself, weaves of vapor appeared before his very eyes, coagulating themselves, and finally took on a humanoid form.

It was the very boy that showed him the trapdoor.

“—ghost.”

The words parted him as the boy looked him in the eye.

Still unable to believe what he was seeing, John shook his head firmly at the child, “Is that why you can’t speak?” he tried to get a response from the boy but the boy was uninterested. “Why appear before me?”

Ignoring his question, the boy bowed before John, expressing gratitude. Then, the boy pointed at the entrance of Kershent Village, with the same fearful expression that he had while they were back in the townhall building.

“The entrance? What is there…”

“Mister Sarvod?”

At the sound of the coachman’s alarming voice, the boy disappeared just as sudden;y as he came.

“Wait, what are you trying to…say?”

“Mister John, who are you speaking to?” the coachman, in his imperial armor came to check on him. “It is unwise to speak to oneself during a night as sinister as this…” the man said before looking up to the dark clouds above them.

“No I was just looking at the entrance and wonder what…” John’s voice faded when he realized something.

The two guards that were supposed to be stationed there were no where to be seen.

“W-what happened to those two that stopped us earlier?”

“Oh those two? They said they wanted to go for a quick toilet break, they haven’t come back since. Ahaha, they probably are pushing everything onto me while they slack off.”

“Is that so…”

“Of course! Now, let’s get you inside, it’s better to stay warm than to be out in this cold night!” the man flashed a bright smile, slapped John on his back. “Hahaha, you’ve done well tonight, I think you and Miss Angeline are due for a good rest,” the man said with great charm, for that brief moment, John was completely dazzled by the coachman’s charisma, to the point where he would give the man all of his trust if he could.

Yeah…he is right, I should rest, it’s far too exhausting— Wait, no, the boy was trying to tell me something, something to do with the two guards…

Then, it happened, John’s head started to spin, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

“Mister John! Are you all right! Miss Angeline, come quick!”

Weakly, John tried to get to his feet, but his head would not allow him, it was though he was permanently locked in this state, where everything around him spun for eternity. He could hear Angeline’s hurried footsteps running towards him, her voice calling out to him as he did all he could to respond.

Then he saw it.

Admist his spinning vision, he saw a smile appear before him, a smile from an old acquaintance whose name he forgotten, a smile he recognized much better than anyone.

It was the smile of betrayal.

“[H-Heal…]” he muttered before he lost his consciousness.

A sheepish grin, so docile and friendly, a smile that John recognized whenever this person and him would pull off something amusing, one that had John completely convinced that this person was someone John could put all of his trust into, unlike the family that he had.

It was someone from his forgotten past…

The very next moment, that same smile turned into something much sinister, something that was beyond what he recognized, something that told him was not what he had their friendship had in mind. The horrible edges across that smile was sharper than any knife, slicing all notions of what John had perceived to be a just world, revealed that what their brotherly bond was built upon nothing lies and deception.

It was someone who he thought he could entrust his life with, someone who first taught him the concept of betrayal, someone who made John constantly weary of his relationship with others, someone who hurt him much, much more than his blood family or A’vetheas ever could, someone who killed his first…

“…John? John? John!” Angeline’s worried voice echoed in his ear as he came to his senses. “Thank goodness you are still conscious, I thought you were going to pass out from all of that earlier.”

John blinked a few times before he realized that Angeline had a hand on on his back. His heartbeat thumped rapidly as the vision from his past was still fresh in his mind.

He turned to look at the entrance that the boy had pointed to earlier, then turned to the coachman who had a gentle smile on his face.

Is that what you were trying to tell me, kid?

He knew why the boy disappeared when the coachman had appeared. Though the child was a ghost that he could only see, the little boy did not disappear into the air when Angeline and him approached to the trapdoor.

It was a messenger ghost.

In John’s case, the boy was a messenger alerting him of impending doom, from the undead, and now from the coachman whose shrewd smile that far too familiar to him.

I almost didn’t notice how unusual the coachman looked… Thanks kid.