Finding Humanity

Chapter 2

September, Year 483, Forest of Lacau, State of Nicia, North

They're going to kill us all.

Esau stared, eyes wide with fear, at the armed men lined up in front of him. At a glance he could tell that they were well-trained.

Unlike the men in town whose gazes were unfocused and postures undisciplined, he could tell that the men before him now weren't trained to hunt animals, humans were their sole prey. He also knew enough about the military of the four nations to know that the soldiers belonged to none.

He had no idea where they could have come from or why they had come to the border of North and East to accost he and his mother.

They wore crisp white uniforms with a golden eagle pinned over their hearts, easily standing out from the rest of the forest.

Every single one of them possessed an air of command and even their guns were the newest models. With their looks they could have passed for nobility, yet their bright red irises warned Esau that they were neither mercenaries or part of a private army. They belonged to a group much more sinister and for some reason they wanted his town and everyone one in it destroyed.

Every fibre of his being told him to get as far away from here as possible while dragging his inexorable mother along with him.

He tugged on her wrist unconsciously despite knowing that his efforts would amount to nothing.

He had been prepared to move long ago, even though he knew that most of the buildings in town had been burned to the ground, and his mind went blank whenever he tried to think of where they could hide. He still wanted to leave.

They had to leave. Somehow, they had to escape, the both of them.

But his mother had always been stubborn and he knew she was having none of that. She just wouldn't leave with him.

Harriet held Esau in place and stood her ground, keeping him hidden behind the ripped folds of her once voluminous skirt as she stared down the soldiers in front of her, daring them with a steely gaze to attack.

We're dead. Esau's dread intensified when the men shuffled even closer, not one bit deterred by his Ma's vindictive glare. Avarice burned in their eyes as their hands slid across the glowing grooves that ran along the barrels of their guns, loud clicks following the motions.

Esau gulped down his trepidation, very familiar with how Solari gun models worked. The weapons' lethality settings had just been switched to the highest level. There was no more doubt in his mind that they could survive the impending attack.

"Ma," he looked up at the woman that held on tightly to his hand then turned back to stare at the reason they hadn't been able to outrun the soldiers in the first place.

It was easy for him to decide which was the lesser evil, the men who scowled and pointed their gleaming guns his way, their red eyes glazed over with greed; or the ten metre high monster that bore it's fangs at him from behind, its saliva dripping as it growled, as though every being its gaze reached meaningless.

It was because of it that his only options were limited to being shot to death or being eaten alive.

"Esau," his mother called, snapping him back to attention. He forcibly drew his gaze away from the grotesque creature and looked into her warm golden eyes, a striking contrast to his terror filled blue. "Get your sister and run. Get as far away as you can from here."

But why? He stared at her blankly for a moment, the words just now being registered by his ears as the threat of deadly beams and being devoured alive trailed behind him like an ever present shadow. Why do they want to kill us? Why aren't you leaving with me?

"They're folk, Esau!" she hissed and pushed him further behind her, her eyes darting between the drooling monster that awaited new commands and the squad of soldiers that sealed off the rest of the exits. "You have to leave. . . They've already killed your father!"

Father. The word sent a jolt through Esau's stiff body and he jumped slightly, his mind slowly coming out of its haze and wrapping around that fact.

It was an anchor, the only thing keeping him in this unbelievable reality.

His mind burned with frigid rage as his azure eyes peered into his mother's again, memories of his loving family gushing into his mind as he revisited the many deaths he had just tried to forget. "They. . .?"

"Yes," she repeated, her voice growing softer and her hands brushing against the pair of shimmering daggers strapped to her thighs, exposed by the rips in her dress. "And now they will kill every last one of us. All the townspeople are dead. Everyone else is dead."

"Esau darling, please understand this." A dismayed sigh slipped past her lips as she unsheathed the ray-blades and finally let the sorrow she had been concealing wash over her features.

The unusually calm smile that had been present on her face for as long ad Esau could remember, no longer existed. He wondered why she was only sad now.

In these split seconds of silence, he wondered a lot of things.

"They will not stop until everyone of us is dead. . . So please, protect your sister until-" she cut herself off and paused for a moment, then beamed at her son, her smile so bright that he stilled in surprised. "It'll be alright sweety, just remember that I and your papa love you forever. . ."

Esau could only watch, silent and numb as his mother charged into the group of gun-wielding men before the thought to stop her even crossed his mind.

The bang following falling ammunition attracted the attention of the dog-like monster and drew its focus away from Esau as his mother was shot at over a dozen times in a handful of seconds.

Bright blue lights colored the sky and as more laser bolts were fired, hints of liquid red beginning to mix into the earth.

No. . . It won't be alright. Esau let out a shaky breath but obediently took a step back. Nothing is.

Still, he couldn't bring his legs move any further. He couldn't leave his Ma behind knowing that if he did he'd never see her again. But the moment he planted both feet firmly on the ground with renewed determination, the beast towering above him roared at the soldiers in annoyance. It was getting tired of waiting.

Green shields erupted from the ground in front of the men just in time to deflect the monster's sonic attack and disperse it into the surrounding area. But Esau was thrown harshly to the ground by the force and immediately lost sight of his mother as soil and leaves were thrown into the air in the midst of the viridescent chaos.

"Ma!" he screamed, his eyes stinging from the rough winds that lashed at them and his exposed skin.

Tears spilled down his cheeks as he searched for his mother's darting figure among the green shields and fell trees.

Protect your sister. Her words echoed and etched themselves into his mind, burning the decisive command into him and forcing him to get up and forget his pain.

Protect your sister, he repeated to himself, finding the strength to crawl away from his last surviving parent, his caring mother who was about to be killed and probably eaten alive. . . like the rest of the town had been.

When the memory flashed behind his eyes, his stomach lurched. Esau felt like throwing up but managed to scramble to his feet, plans to dash past the still roaring monster now at the forefront of his mind.

He didn't think about it anymore, he just obeyed his mother's instruction and started running.

If he ran then he'd escape death. If he didn't die then he'd find his sister. If he found his sister then everything would be fine. He'd protect her.

He'd protect her until. . .

Esau stared at the furry limbs that blocked off his path then headed straight for them, easily sprinting below the underbelly of the raging beast and slipping away undetected.

He did not turn around. He did not think of his mother.

Instead he focused on the house now growing within his sights as he got farther and farther away from the clearing where she and the soldiers, and the monster stood. 

"Edythe, we have to go!" he shouted the moment his boots hit the blackened ground of what had once been his mother's herb garden.

Protect your sister.

Protect Edythe.

"Edythe!" he screamed when he finally set his gaze on the charred remains of what had once been his home. The fire got here too. . .

"Come out." Esau ran into the smoldering building, his eyes scanning the interior of the house as his feet pounded against the scorched floorboards.

He climbed up the crumbling stairs and kicked open the door closest to him. It gave way with almost no resistance and the boy rushed into the room, anxiety spilling into his veins as he hurriedly searched the area in front of him.

Finding nothing, Esau dashed out of his parents' bedroom and went to the one he and his sister shared.

The door was missing.

Why? Esau thought, a bit disorientated when his gaze finally landed on his sister's body curled up on the sizzling floor, just a few steps away from the entrance of the room.

Her skin was drenched in blood and a large bite wound marred the area below the left side of her neck.

Esau didn't need to lift up the bloody gown his sister wore to know that there were claw marks running deep into the muscle of her back, and he didn't need to take a closer look to know that her chest was completely still.

Why did this have to happen? He fell to his knees, ignoring how the floor burned his shins and the splintering wood dug into his skin.

The furious roars of the monster in the background dimmed to nothingness as the world around him lost it's color and sound.

Everything was fine.

Everything was. . .

This can't be happening.

Esau passed out just a few steps away from his breathless sister.