by Max Jager
On the other side of the battlefield, the other goblin quickly found itself surrounded. It couldn't keep all four of them in its line of sight, there was always one person directly behind it.
Fate picked up a few stones from the ground, and began throwing the stones at the goblin's head. The first stone struck it in the back of the head. The goblin spun around to growl at Fate but as soon as it turned around a second stone struck it right in the eye.
The goblin shouted in anger, and suddenly it heard someone moving in behind it so it spun around to swing at its attacker. But George expected that, as soon as the goblin spun around he backed off to get out of the way of its attack.
But while the goblin was attacking George, it was struck in the back of the head with another rock. It immediately spun back around to face Fate, and spotted Matthew attacking out of the corner of its eye. At the last possible second the goblin ducked to evade Matthew's punch. It tried to punch Matthew back but the big man was quick to step back and get out of the way.
The goblin had to do something, it charged at Matthew but as it ran Matthew backed up and everyone else closed in on the creature. It had to stop and take another swing at George to get him to back off. But the moment it took a swing at George it was roundhouse kicked in the back of the head by Fate and knocked to the ground.
It couldn't fight like this. With the four of them surrounding it any time it attacked it would be attacked by someone else, and they could attack it freely. The goblin hit the ground, trying to think of a plan. But before it could come up with something Damion moved in and stomped his heel down on its throat. The goblin dropped its club and clutched its throat as it started to choke, and Damion stomped its throat twice more for good measure before he quickly backed away. The goblin couldn't breathe, and within a few seconds it died.
George looked back at the other group to see how they were doing, and sighed when he realized they were not doing well at all. Carley was still standing as close to the creature as they could while dodging the goblin's attacks. And Chloe was trying to assist, but every time she got near the goblin it took a swipe at her and forced her to back off. To make matters worse, George noticed Carley was slowing down, exhaustion was setting in.
Elliott turned to Sophia "Can you make the shot?"
"Not with Carley there, I'm a good shot but I'm not that good, I don't want to risk shooting her." Sophia answered, but kept her arrow notched and the bow at the ready. She was prepared to shoot as soon as Carley was out of the line of fire. But Carley was too focused on the goblin to see that she was waiting.
"Carley! Back off!" Elliott shouted.
"I can't! It'll go after you guys!" Carley breathlessly shouted back.
"Trust me! We got this!" Elliott shouted back, but as soon as the words left his mouth he spotted Snipes running straight at the goblin. "Snipes get back!"
Carley started to back away from the goblin, but panicked as soon as Elliott mentioned Snipes, the boy was going to get killed if he joined this fight. "Snipes get back!"
But Snipes didn't back off, he ran up behind the goblin with Ronnie's knife in hand. The goblin heard him running in and as soon as Snipes was within striking range it spun around to swing at him. Snipes thought he was being sneaky by attacking from behind, he wasn't ready to dodge and was caught off guard when the goblin's club came swinging for his head.
But before the goblin could strike him, Carley jumped and slammed their body into the goblin again, shoving the creature. The goblin stumbled and missed Snipes, but immediately backhanded Carley. The blow might have been a weak, grazing smack across the ribs with the goblin's bare hand, but with the goblin's superhuman strength the blow was accompanied by a loud crack. Carley was thrown a few feet backwards and was sent skidding across the ground, and began coughing and choking.
While the goblin was distracted Snipes stabbed his knife into the side of its neck, causing it to scream out in pain.
Chloe saw her chance, she shoved the goblin while it was stunned. She was much stronger than Carley, and knocked it to the ground. As it fell Chloe grabbed Snipes and dragged him away from the creature.
The goblin shakily started standing back up, but before it could get up it was shot in the head with another arrow.
As soon as the goblin collapsed Brooke and Elliott exchanged a look, and Elliott knew immediately what Brooke wanted him to do. He ran after Carley. As he ran past Snipes he gave a quick "Nice work, but be more careful."
Carley was still coughing uncontrollably when Elliott arrived, and each cough was making Carley cringe in pain. "I'm okay." They coughed out, but Elliott immediately noticed that Carley had coughed up a little blood. Carley started trying to stand up.
"You're hurt, let me help you walk back." Elliott offered as he reached out to grab Carley's shoulder. But Carley immediately backed off and almost fell over trying to move out of Elliott's reach.
"I'm fine." Carley insisted, they were slowly getting their coughing under control.
"Carley, you're going to make it worse. If you have a broken rib, which it looks like, you can't be walking around without help." Elliott insisted.
"I'm fine. Please don't touch me." Carley insisted. They took a deep breath "See? No more coughing, I'm fine." They added before wiping the blood from their lips.
Elliott was going to argue, but he heard another goblin shouting something nearby. He looked over at the hill not far from them, it sounded like whatever it was it was on the other side of that hill. "Guys, I think there's more."
"Of course." George sighed. "Group up, move to the top of the hill."
"What about Ronnie?" Dexter questioned.
"He's dead. Move on." George firmly stated as he lead the group up to the top of the hill.
"Uh, George." Snipes spoke up.
"Not now kid." George brushed him off.
"It's important." Snipes insisted, and George stopped. Snipes held up his knife "This was Ronnie's knife. I took it from his body. But I also checked his back to see if he had the same wing markings as Olivia. He didn't. That is not a part of the game. Someone did that to her."
George's impatient scowl softened a little when he realized that Snipes actually had useful information. "Thank you, that's very resourceful of you. And helpful. But stay back for this fight, you're not ready. Carley was hurt because of your mistake. That's twice you've gotten someone hurt."
Snipes sighed and lowered his head, then walked back over to Brooke and Jake.
George lead the group to the top of the hill and they spotted three more goblins on the other side. There was one man down there who looked to be in his late twenties, carrying what looked like a tree branch sharpened into a spear. The goblins had him surrounded, and he stood in the middle, ready for their attack.
He stood at 5'9" tall with a muscular and lean body, and wore a black tank-top and faded gray jeans with a pair of black combat boots. He was in the middle of taking off his black military-style jacket. He was pale skinned with short, dark brown, almost black hair, shaved close on the sides and left longer and relatively unkempt on top. He dropped his jacket in the grass and prepared for the goblins to attack.
The goblins had the advantage, three on one and he was surrounded. "We've got to help him." Fate stated.
George shook his head "We don't have to do anything. We just lost someone fighting goblins, we should get out of here before we have to fight those goblins too. He's not our responsibility."
"No way. We can't leave someone to die." Fate argued.
"I'm with Fate on this one." Matthew added.
"Yeah, same" Brooke and Elliott added. And Sophia nodded in agreement.
Jake didn't add his input, he was too badly injured to fight so he didn't feel like he should have a say. But he felt like they should help.
However, while everyone was arguing with George, Carley had already stumbled halfway there.
On the battlefield the three goblins charged at the man, coming at him from three different di
rections so he couldn't stop them all. The man took a quick glance at them, then charged the one directly in front of himself. The two goblins flanking him moved in on his sides while the one he was charging backed up. Then, in a flash, the man pulled out a knife he had concealed in the front of his pants and threw it at the goblin in front of him. The knife struck the goblin in the forehead and the goblin was killed on the spot.
The goblin on his left swung a large plank of wood at him as if it were a club, but the man quickly stepped back and evaded the attack. As the goblin on his right swung a club at him he moved to block the attack with his branch-spear, but with the goblin's superhuman strength the spear shattered on impact. Splinters of wood struck the man in the face leaving small cuts behind, and he ducked just barely in time to avoid being struck with the club. As he ducked he slammed his broken stick into the goblin's knee.
The man rolled backwards to avoid getting smashed by the goblin on his left, putting some distance between them. The two goblins rushed at him again, and he charged right back at them. They were not accustomed to people charging them head-on like that. The elves they always fought typically kept their distance. Did this guy have some magic? Or superhuman strength of his own? Or some other power? They didn't know, but why else would he charge them? They cautiously took a defensive stance.
The man ran straight at the goblin on the left, and seeing an opening the goblin on the right began moving in to attack. The man shouted loudly and went to swing at the goblin on the left, but then suddenly he stopped his attack and spun around to punch the goblin on the right in the face. The left goblin had jumped backwards to evade his attack, and the goblin on the right was knocked to the ground because it didn't see that coming. The man immediately stabbed the jagged, broken part of his branch down into the fallen goblin's eye.
The last goblin swung its plank for his head again but the man ducked underneath the swing, and as he ducked he grabbed the dead goblin's club. The goblin tried to grab the man, but the man evaded it's grasp and moved in closer to the creature. The goblin quickly tried to back up and gain some space so it could attack with the club again, but as soon as it took a step backwards the man took two steps forward and screamed in the goblin's face. He scared the goblin and made it stumble, and as it stumbled he punched it in the throat and knocked the creature to the ground. Before the goblin could move, the man slammed the club down onto its head, twice, and killed it.
He inspected the club for a moment, before tossing it aside and going to retrieve his knife and his broken branch-spear from the goblin's head.
The group on the hill watched the fight with a shocked expression on their faces. "We need that guy in our group." Elliott stated.
"We are fine without him. But yes, it would be extremely helpful to have him here." George replied.
"Brooke, you want to go talk him into coming with us?" Elliott asked.
"Sure." Brooke replied as she quickly began limping over to him.
George turned to Dexter and Evelyn "If you two want to pay your respects to Ronnie, now's the time to do it. We are moving on as soon as we finish talking to this guy."
The two of them were not happy with how little he seemed to care about Ronnie's death. But then again, nobody here really knew Ronnie aside from those who spent time talking with him. But the two of them said nothing and walked back over to the body.
Chloe walked up to Dexter and Evelyn, and was not going to keep quiet. "What is wrong with you two?" She scolded. "Carley needed our help, and you two just sat back and watched."
"I don't trust her." Dexter pointed back into the forest. "How do we know she's not the killer? I'm not sticking my neck out for someone who might kill me in my sleep."
"But she could have died." Chloe argued.
"Not our problem. Probably better if she did." Evelyn shrugged. "Not like she helps much, and like Dexter said she very well might be the killer."
"And yet you're upset about George not caring about Ronnie's death? Do you not see how hypocritical that is?" Chloe argued.
"Ronnie was a good guy, we were becoming friends." Dexter countered. "Carley is a creep who is always hiding in trees, never with the group, not helping much, and overall just being weird. There's a difference."
Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I can't believe you two. Don't ask me to help you again."
"It's okay." Carley spoke up and cautiously approached to the group. "I didn't expect anyone to help. Figured everyone would run once I stepped in. So I'm happy for the help I got."
"It's not okay. I don't want them doing that again, to anybody." Chloe insisted.
"If it was someone worth risking our lives for we would have helped." Evelyn argued.
"See?" Carley pointed to Evelyn. "I'm not worth anything, don't risk yourself for me, just let me go."
"Look, I'm a firefighter. I can't just leave someone to die. And there is no excuse for anyone who would." Chloe shot a glare to Evelyn and Dexter.
Carley shook their head. "I won't survive this. I just won't. By saving me you're just delaying the inevitable."
"You don't know that." Chloe insisted. "You probably will survive if we protect each other."
"I do know that. I know I won't survive." Carley sighed. "And don't get me wrong, it means a lot that you care and did save me, I really appreciate it. But don't endanger yourself for my sake. I'm just a pawn on the board, I'm not worth anything. I'm just hoping that when I die, I die doing something useful for the group. That's all I want." Carley didn't wait for an answer before leaving to be alone again.
The man went to pick up his coat and dusted it off, then started looking around for anything of use on the goblin's bodies, but found nothing. The clubs were too poorly made, heavy, and unwieldy to bother with.
Brooke quickly caught up with the man. Now that she was closer she noticed he was wearing a steel wolf pendant. "Hey there" She greeted. "My name is Brooke, I was just traveling through the area and you seem like you really know how to fight. I'm hurt, I could use a tough guy like you to help keep me safe, what's your name?"
"Jackson." He said, as he walked past her to leave.
Brooke put on a fake smile and moved to stand in front of the man to stop him from walking away. "Awesome! Can I call you Jack?"
"No." Jackson stepped around her and continued walking away.
Brooke was shocked, that had worked on every man she met until now. She walked in front of him again and gave him the puppydog eyes. "Please, sir. Our group just lost two people today, and three of us are pretty badly injured. I'm scared and need help. We really need someone like you to protect us. Please help."
Jackson gave her an irritated look, but stopped walking.
Brooke's eyes started to water and she looked like she was about to cry. "Please, we're going to die out here. We need your help, don't leave us to die."
"Try harder." Jackson flatly remarked.
"What?" Brooke didn't know how to respond to that, men always caved when she started to cry, why wasn't this working?
Jackson just stared back at her with a half irritated, half amused expression on his face.
Brooke was at a loss for words at first. She was usually good at this, but her girly, damsel in distress act didn't seem to work on him as well as it did others, if anything it seemed to annoy him. So she opted to give a more mature, and genuine response. "Look, I'm sure you can tell just as well as we can that this isn't the game we expected, something is wrong here. Our group has a few fighters, and several people who don't know how to fight. Two people died today, they didn't come back to life like any other game, we think they are really dead. Plus three of us, myself included, are hurt. We need your help, you could save a few lives. We just need an escort to a safe location."
Jackson sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you. I'll tell everyone to leave you alone if that helps." Brooke offered.
Jackson nodded and the two of them returned to the group.
"This is Jackson ever
yone." Brooke introduced. "He doesn't really want to be here, so please just leave him alone and let him do his thing. He's only here to protect us because I asked."
A few people in the group said hello, and Jackson nodded in response as he walked through the group, sharpening his broken branch with his knife. As he walked past he made eye contact with Matthew, who was in the back smoking again. Once Matthew saw Jackson he silently offered him a cigarette.
"No thanks, but feel free to hit me up if you ever find whiskey." Jackson said.
Matthew laughed lightly and nodded "Will do. I could go for some myself."
Once they were ready to move on they headed south east. Carley followed from a distance, and Jackson lagged behind the group a little bit. They were lucky and managed to avoid the monsters that were wandering around. Dexter, Damion, and Evelyn walked close together and talked as they walked. George, Matthew, Chloe, and Fate walked in a small group. Then Brooke, Elliott, Sophia, Jake, and Snipes had their own mini-group within the group. After a few hours of walking they spotted what looked like a modern day city ahead of them.
