Immersion World

by Max Jager

  Vincent glanced over at his partner only to see that he wasn't doing too much better. They were too heavily outnumbered. Vincent made a bright flash of light, blinding everyone on the battlefield. "Zadar, aim for the ones in the back. They don't look like fighters, kill a few of them and it'll demoralize them. Aim for the boy if you have to."

  "On it." Zadar called out. Taking advantage of everyone being blinded Vincent and Zadar both sprinted towards the back lines. Zadar targeted the group of Brooke and Elliott, but one of his swords was thrown with pinpoint accuracy at Snipes. Vincent moved around and sprinted for Fate, Snipes, and Damion. However, Sarah and Jackson chased after Vincent and were keeping him away from the others.

  Seeing them incoming, Evelynn backed off and separates herself from the group. They weren't coming for her, she didn't see a need to stay close and risk becoming a target.

  Fate's vision cleared after a brief moment, and the first thing she saw was the sword coming straight for Snipes. She didn't have time to react, she moved as quickly as she could and threw herself in front of the sword, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the hit. However, the sword never struck her.

  Fate opened her eyes to see Carley standing just a few feet in front of her covered in blood, he had gotten to it first. Carley had caught the sword, by the blade. His left hand was torn open and within a few seconds his hand, arm, and most of that side of his body had been covered in blood.

  Carley threw the sword aside, but the moment it left his hand it turned around and stabbed into his side. Carley screamed out in pain and as quickly as he could he grabbed the handle of the sword with his wounded hand, pulling it out before it could pierce him too deeply. He immediately stabbed it blade-first as deeply into the ground as his limited strength allowed, then he stepped on the hilt three times. Ensuring that the man's telekinesis couldn't lift it up again.

  "Carley! Are you alright?" Fate called out.

  "I'm okay..." Carley replied, his voice sounded very weak and shaky. His arm and his side were losing blood at an alarmingly fast pace, but in spite of the blood loss and pain he grabbed his dagger and started walking back towards Zadar. Despite his efforts, Carley didn't make it more then five steps before he collapsed and passed out from blood loss and shock.

  As Zadar moved in on Brooke and Elliott he took a slash for Brooke's leg, and at the same time sent a telekinetic blast at Elliott, pushing him away and keeping them separated. Brooke quickly sidestepped the blow but before she could do anything else Zadar's other sword swooped in and sliced down her right arm. She shouted out in pain and dropped her bat, unable to hold it anymore. She stumbled backwards and Elliott tried to rush in to assist her, but another telekinetic blast pushed him away again.

  "Brooke! Get out of there!" Elliott shouted out as he threw his metal pipe at Zadar. But another telekinetic blast sent the pipe right back at him.

  Brooke couldn't move, she was stunned from the intense pain in her arm. Zadar grabbed his sword and moved to stab it into her chest, but before he could reach someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him off his feet.

  Chloe had grabbed onto Zadar by his shirt and ripped him away from Brooke. But before she could do anything Zadar elbowed her in the ribs and knocked her off himself, then he struck her with a telekinetic blast, knocking her away. As she hit the ground his levitating sword stabbed down into her upper leg, causing her to shout out in pain.

  Zadar turned back to Brooke, but the moment he turned around the first thing he saw was a fist. Matthew slammed his fist into Zadar's face. The huge, 6'4" slightly muscular man towered over the 5'9" Zadar. As soon as his fist hit the man's face there was a loud crack. As Zadar stumbled backwards he wildly slashed his sword at Matthew. The sword struck Matthew's stomach, but the blind and panicked swing only grazed him. Before Zadar could react Matthew grabbed him by the throat and slammed him head-first into the ground. Then Matthew slammed his heel down onto Zadar's back with another loud bone-snapping crack.

  "Zadar!" Vincent called out. He started to focus, preparing to use another light laser, but before he could cast the spell an arrow struck him in the leg. Fate had grabbed Sophia's bow and arrows and was standing beside the kids.

  Vincent shouted out in pain and stumbled back. He looked around, there was just too many people here, they were far too heavily outnumbered. He was trying to keep his distance but Jackson and Sarah were quickly closing in on him again. He didn't want to let go of the panda girl, he could make some money off her. But he knew they couldn't win this. There was another blindingly bright flash of light. As soon as everyone was blinded again Matthew was hit with another telekinetic blast and was thrown off Zadar. When the flash of light went away and everyone could see again, both of the men were gone. Both of Zadar's extra swords were also gone.

  "Brooke's hurt bad!" Elliott called out, he had already rushed to her side. She had passed out from blood loss shortly after being hit.

  "Carley is down!" Fate called out as she rushed over to assist Carley.

  "Chloe is hit." George called out as him and Matthew quickly ran over to Chloe. She was still conscious, but barely. George picked her up since Matthew was also injured and bleeding.

  "Jackson is hit too." Sarah called out. "He's not as bad though." She added as she rushed over to him. He was limping back and she quickly started trying to help him walk back, despite being smaller and seven inches shorter than he was. She was stronger then she looked.

  "I'm fine." Jackson stated.

  "Well that's great." Sarah replied but she didn't stop trying to support some of his weight.

  "I said I'm good." Jackson insisted.

  "I know, but I'm still helping." Sarah replied simply. "It's not that you need it, it's just making your life easier. It was my misstep, I didn't stop the spell quickly enough."

  "Don't do that..." Jackson stated, and the two resumed their discussion as they walked back to the group.

  Damion quickly rushed onto the battlefield to grab Brooke and carried her back. Fate brought Carley back to the group and laid the two of them beside each other for now. Once the others made it over to the group Chloe was placed beside them as well.

  "We need to stop the bleeding on all three of them. Now." Fate panickedly stated. "They are all losing far too much blood. Does anyone have any medical knowledge?"

  "Carley did." Elliott replied.

  "She's out cold. We need someone else." Fate stated, but nobody stepped up. She sighed and shook her head. "Just get me some damn cloth, and someone help me make bandages."

  "Use my hoodie." Chloe offered, as she struggled to take it off.

  "Thanks" Fate helped her get it off and quickly borrowed Carley's knife to start cutting it up for use as bandages. She was wearing a light-blue, long-sleeve t-shirt underneath.

  Damion, Elliott, and George stayed with Fate. They worked together to help bandage everyone up, Sophia crawled over and also started trying to assist. While Sarah, Charles, Snipes and Matthew started setting up a small campsite that Charles had in his bag. Evelynn sat on a nearby rock and waited for camp to be made. Inami was sitting not far from Fate, looking extremely lost, confused, and upset.

  "My fault?" Inami asked.

  "No Inami, not at all." Elliott replied. "It's those two guys' faults, they are bad people." He said as he and the others panickedly tried to treat everyone's wounds.

  Inami just curled up on the ground again, covering her ears and closing her eyes. "My fault..."

  -

  -

  - Next Chapter: The Emory Forest.

  Chapter 5: The Emory Forest

  — Chapter 5: The Emory Forest —

  Fate and the others kept doing their best to treat everyone until night fell. They managed to get everyone to stop bleeding, and got Chloe and Brooke settled in the camp. However Carley never woke up. They set up Charles's tent for the night, it was a huge circular tent that was a little crammed. As usual, they set up a watch schedule to ensure that someone was awake and guard
ing the camp at all times.

  —

  Brooke awoke early the next morning as she always did, she spotted Elliott who was already awake sitting beside Carley. He looked very tired, he was supposed to have the second to last shift last night so she wasn't sure why he wasn't asleep right now.

  "Elliott?" Brooke asked. "What are you doing awake?"

  "We lost Carley during my shift last night." Elliott replied. "I don't know how long he was gone, but when I checked his pulse… He didn't have one. I gave him CPR and was able to bring him back, but he still isn't waking up. His pulse is just fading again. I do not know what to do. I'm staying by his side incase we lose him again."

  Brooke looked worried, she took a deep breath and sat down beside Elliott and Carley. "I don't know what to do either."

  "It's like he isn't even trying to come back from this, his body isn't fighting it at all." Elliott sighed.

  "Carley, come on. You can come back from this, we need you." Brooke hoped that maybe her words would reach him and get him to try fighting it. But nothing changed.

  Evelynn stepped out of the big tent then walked back in and looked around. She was quietly doing a headcount and when she counted everyone in the tent, plus Charles and Sarah who were on watch she grinned. "I found the killer. Seriously I have your proof." She spoke up.

  Fate looked over at her and sighed. "What is it now?"

  "Assuming Jackson is fine, the killer didn't get anyone last night. We are all still here." Evelynn pointed out.

  "So?" Matthew questioned, he stood up and prepared to get between them again.

  "What do you mean 'so'? It's obvious now! Carley was a prime suspect, then the one night Carley is unconscious nobody is attacked by the killer. It must be Carley!" Evelynn pointed down at him.

  "I have to admit, that actually does make some sense." George replied.

  "Then we agree, let's take care of the problem now while she's unconscious." Evelynn stated. Since Fate already called her out on having a knife, she drew her knife and headed over to Carley.

  "Evelynn no!" Brooke shouted out. "It isn't Carley, she wouldn't do that."

  "She has you fooled! It's a facade!" Evelynn shouted back and continued walking towards Carley with the knife.

  "Evelynn, don't." Fate interrupted. "There could have been other factors that resulted in nobody dying."

  "Yeah, or it might have just been a coincidence." Sophia spoke up. "Or maybe the killer's target was Carley, and they couldn't get her while she's unable to leave the tent."

  "I'm not one to speak." George spoke up. "But better safe than sorry. We shouldn't kill her, but maybe we just leave her behind?"

  Sophia shot him a glare. "You don't get to have a say in this. Not after what happened in the mall." She scolded.

  "Forget about George and think!" Evelynn argued "We found the killer! She's right there."

  "No we didn't!" Brooke shouted back and stood up to stand in Evelyn's way. Elliott stood beside Brooke.

  "Move." Evelynn growled.

  "No!" Brooke shouted back.

  "Evelynn, stop." Fate called out as she stood up.

  "Fine!" Evelynn shouted, then she grabbed Brooke's wounded arm and shoved her out of the way. Brooke screamed in pain as she hit the ground. The wound was torn open and started bleeding badly again.

  "HEY!" Elliott shouted at Evelynn and stepped towards the woman, he threw a punch at her head, but it wasn't him that struck her first.

  Snipes tackled Evelyn to the ground and slammed his fist into her head, immediately knocking her unconscious. Snipes punched her twice more before Fate ran over and pulled him off.

  "Nice work Snipes!" Elliott said as he kicked Evelynn hard in the ribs while she was down, cracking two of her ribs.

  "I told you guys I am MLG pro! I was just waiting for my chance to show you what I can do!" Snipes called out as he stood up and proudly puffed out his chest. "Why'd you stop me? She tried to kill one of us, and hurt Brooke." He asked Fate.

  "You did good." Fate started, silently adding a 'for once' in her head. "But we don't want to kill her, she's just scared."

  "But yeah, seriously nice work Snipes." Elliott replied then quickly turned back to Brooke. However, when he turned around he saw that Carley was not only awake, but had gotten up and was trying to take care of Brooke's arm.

  "Carley! You're back." Elliott was shocked.

  Carley was silent for a moment, then he sighed a little and nodded. "Yeah, it's a miracle." He quietly murmured.

  "Charles and Damion were praying for you all night." Brooke replied. "Elliott said you had no pulse for a little last night but he brought you back."

  "Oh. Thanks." Carley replied. "Just hold still and I'll have this patched up in no time." He said, cringing a little with every move he made.

  "Carley you're hurt, maybe someone else should do this." Brooke suggested.

  "No, whoever did this before did it wrong. I have to do this." Carley replied.

  "So how do we get through the forest, everyone is injured." Fate asked.

  "I can walk." Carley immediately replied, then looked around and for the first time noticed how badly everyone had been hurt in the fight. "Oh. You didn't mean me. Um. Give me some time." Carley quickly rummaged through his bag and pulled out his blank book. He skimmed over a few pages then put it back in his bag.

  Brooke, Elliott, Fate, Snipes, George and Matthew watched him with a confused expression on their faces.

  Without warning, and before anyone could stop him, Carley grabbed his dagger and sliced his own wrist open. He yelped in pain but quickly dropped the dagger and placed his other hand over the wound then focused.

  "Carley! What are you doing?" Brooke and Elliott both yelled at him.

  But after a moment Carley's hand began to glow, then his wrist began to glow, and the wound slowly healed. Once the cut had healed Carley looked back at the others with an exhausted expression on his face. "I was practicing almost all night the other night. I finally got it down early yesterday morning. It's why I ended up oversleeping." He panted out.

  "That's amazing Carley!" Elliott replied "Can you heal Brooke?"

  Carley nodded and gently grabbed Brooke's wounded arm. He focused and both his hand and her arm started to glow.

  "Carley you should heal yourself first." Brooke insisted, but Carley shook his head and didn't take his focus off her. Brooke's wounds did not heal as fast as Carley's small cut did. It took thirty minutes to heal but he was able to fully heal her wounds.

  "Thank you." Brooke and Elliott both said.

  When Carley glanced back at Elliott he looked very relieved, he could tell how much Elliott was worrying about his sister.

  "Carley," Fate started "if you could use this since yesterday, why didn't you heal any of your own wounds? Your ribs were clearly still broken all day yesterday. You also were just about to bandage Brooke's arm instead of healing it."

  "Erm, it's a new power. I'm not quite used to having it." Carley replied.

  "What are you not telling us?" George asked.

  "Nothing, really." Carley nervously replied. He quickly moved over to where Chloe was lying and started healing her leg.

  "You really should heal yourself first." Brooke and Elliott both said, but Carley ignored them and continued healing Chloe.

  "They are right Carley, you were in terrible condition last night. We almost lost you. You really need to tend to your own wounds first." Chloe stated. But Carley remained silent and just kept focused on healing her leg.

  It took an hour to heal Chloe's wounds, but as soon as they were healed Carley silently turned and went to heal Sophia.

  "No." Sophia instructed. "I want you to heal yourself first."

  "I'm okay, I don't need to." Carley replied as he got right to work on healing her broken leg.

  "Carley! STOP." Sophia spoke in a firm, unwavering tone that demanded compliance.

  The tone made Carley immediately freeze. He was still trying to heal her, but was vi
sibly having a very hard time disobeying the order. "I-I need to do something to be worth keeping around. I don't do anything for the group, I don't want to be dead weight. The least I can do is heal everyone. I have to." He placed a hand on her leg, his hand and her leg began to glow.

  "No, you don't-" Sophia started, but before she could finish her sentence Carley collapsed and passed out.

  George rolled Carley onto his back to confirm that he was unconscious. "Damnit Carley. Why can't you just listen?" He grumbled.