New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Kary couldn't believe what she had just heard from Violette's mouth. There was no way in her mind that Alex could have died.

"Where is he?" she asked again, her voice cracking up.

"I don't know…" Violette said between two sobs.

"Last time I saw him, he was at my feet. He was gravely injured, losing a lot of blood… I saw him close his eyes and couldn't hear him breathe anymore. Then the Raijū found me, and I lost consciousness before they reached me. I woke up here."

Kary looked at the ground and saw a trail of disturbed dust which went up the hill next to them. She understood something had thrown Violette away.

If they were lucky, it was Alex after one of his sudden power surges, like he had done more than once before. She refused to believe he was dead.

David's voice came from behind her, trying to sound as empathetic as he could and failing miserably.

"Are you only going to believe it when you see his corpse? What if the Raijū decided to make him their lunch? Will you dig through them to find him in pieces? Kary, you need to accept reality."

She got up, looking at the ground, and walked toward him.

David was about to back away, but a hand landed on his shoulder and clamped down on him. He turned his head to see Jack's impassive face.

"What th—"

*Whack!*

David fell to his ass, the force of the punch shaking his brain inside his skull, making him dizzy for a few seconds.

Kary was dancing on her feet, holding her seared hand with the other, grunting in pain. Usually, this punch would have been nothing to her, but David's jaw was hard as stone, and her hand was already wounded.

"Motherfuck—that hurt."

David took a second to get his ideas back in place, then looked at Jack and Kary with bewildered eyes.

"What the ACTUAL fuck?! Are you guys out of your minds? Why did you fucking hit me?! And you, why did you hold me?" David shouted out, disgruntled.

Jack snickered.

"I think you deserved that. Who goes around telling a woman that her mate might be dead and to accept the truth? That was very insensitive of you. A punch was the least you deserved."

"I'm just saying it's more of a possibility than what she wants. She should expect the worst, not the best. God dammit…"

"We should just get back to looking for him. We can deal with the matter of what state we find him in once we actually find him," Jack stated, putting his hand on Kary's shoulder as he stopped next to her.

"But I have faith he'll be alive. He's a tough nut."

Kary nodded her head meekly. Her hope was slowly getting thin.

Everything was pointing to him being dead. Or dog-chow already.

Grabbing Violette and holding her in his arms, Jack proceeded forward. They needed to find him, regardless of his state.

There was no way in hell Jack would let his corpse rot on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. That didn't sit well with him.

'No soldier left behind. As it always was…'

Kary followed behind him, her feet suddenly heavy. She wasn't sure whether it was from the fear of finding Alex dead or the accumulated fatigue wracking her body.

But she would need to rest soon. Be it physically or mentally.

David trudged behind them, caressing his jaw. It wasn't hurting, but it was definitely sore.

'That psycho punches hard for a girl…'

Making it up the hill a hundred or so feet, they found a splash of blood on the ground, still relatively fresh. This worried Kary, but Jack smiled at it.

"Judging by the freshness, he was still alive when this happened. And there isn't enough to be a lethal wound. That means our chances of finding him alive just drastically went up. Keep faith, Ms. Deveille."

Kary nodded her head. Her eyes were having trouble staying open as the adrenaline was leaving her system.

David approached her, grabbed her arm, and propped her up with his shoulder.

"You idiot; you can barely walk. You should have stayed in the valley while we searched for them," David scolded her.

He might not like her much, but she was still an ally, maybe even a friend, if he stopped thinking about it.

"Fuck you. I'm not leaving him alone on this mountain…" Kary mumbled back.

"Tch! Stubborn woman. I see why you two go so well together. But don't fall asleep. I'm not carrying you down this mountain."

Kary chuckled weakly.

She hated his guts for all the shit he had told her. But David still had a heart, even if it hid behind all his snarky comments and insensitive remarks.

It improved from when they confronted the thugs in the service tunnels. Or when he said to abandon them to their fate when he saw the rat queen.

Thunder kept rumbling in the sky above them as they approached the storm's center. They could tell the clouds had shrunk since they arrived, but weren't sure if it was good or bad news.

Another shriek shook them to their core, making them grab onto their chests again, that same soul-rending feeling washing over them. Whatever was making this sound was also much closer than before.

"Let's hope this is not a new kind of enemy. We are in no shape to run, let alone fight…" David grumbled.

As they crept forward, they found more blood, this time still very fresh. Whatever had bled like this did so only a few minutes ago.

And the blood was too dark to be human.

"We are getting closer. The storm also seems to be dying out," Jack said, looking up.

"That means that the Raijū are dead," David said, a smile growing on his face.

"The first good news all day. Let's hope whatever killed them isn't a foe," Jack replied, unsure how to feel.

They kept walking forward until they saw it in the distance.

Two large, furry bodies laying on the ground, inert. And something else crouched over them…