Part 11

It took him an instant to make up his mind.

Knight realised trickery was useless and sprinted to Rei without hesitation. He wrapped his arms around her small body and dashed back into the depths of the forest, pulling her onto his back.

A cacophony blasted Knight, blowing out his eardrums with their sonic passage. Oddly, several submachine guns started to fire, all at once.

Knight let his instincts kick in, his reflexes throwing him behind a nearby tree. He caught a sidewise glimpse of the firing squad as the bullets chewed holes in his surroundings

Legs filled the trio’s small encampment. It was like nine people were there but eight of their sixteen legs all belonged to the same monster. The spider set of legs led to a ball-like shape. That spider body did not have a spider head stuck onto it. The ball, its vermillion tint barely visible in the dark forest, was cruelly meshed into a deformed human body stuck on top. However, one thing was clearly absent from its human hands – they held no submachine guns. Instead, the ball-like shape keeping the monster’s body together was continuously convulsing as more and more bullets tore through the air.

Knight had no idea how many bullets the five freaks were firing every second. The bark of the tree he had been using as a shield shattered, the phloem cracked as if it had been hacked, and grey sap flowed out as the whole tree was chewed with dents. The grass beside Knight burst and the soil filled the air.

The destruction all happened in an instant and the cacophony mixed into a single great noise.

The shielding tree had even begun sway from the force of the bullets cracking its phloem. It wouldn’t be long before It came crashing down, allowing the bullets to ravage their prey’s flesh.

Knight and Rei were only safe for now. They needed to get behind another tree but If Knight rushed out he'd remove his only shield. The bullets were too numerous and quick for him to move to one unharmed.

‘Pitiful. A coward’s choice that’d lead to two deaths.’

Knight’s true thoughts clawed out from the depths of his mind. Rasping the truth.

‘Useless.’

-It took him an instant to make up his mind.

Realising hiding was useless, he wrapped his arms around Rei’s small body to pick her up and dashed out from behind the wavering tree, leaning his upper body forward.

The next tree was about five metres away.

But a trail of bullets followed his route.

Then a white flash tore past his vision.

They had fired once ahead of him so they could fill him with holes when he faltered. He reflexively lowered his head, but he just barely managed to keep his body moving. Small tree splinters scraped at his hair.

He half fell and half leapt to the dull grass behind the next tree.

“Are you alive, Rei!?” asked Knight and the small girl in his arms silently nodded a few times.

The cacophonous noise erupted once more. The bullets starting their work on his next shield.

‘Shit, no way I can do that again.’

He had nowhere to go. The trees he'd get too with one leap provided no cover at all. His other option was a tree too far away. Yet it was his only viable option. But how would he reach it if he barely reached the current one?

He couldn’t use his body optimally either. His muscles were fatigued from the constant running combined with carrying a small but heavy weight.

Knight knew death was inevitable but now he couldn’t even do anything to prolong his death.

‘-Drop her.’

‘Yeah...!' The proposition was an obvious choice. 'If I leave her here, I have a shot of getting to that tree. Hell, I’d be on the home stretch. The freaks over there would just focus on her.’

It was only logical. He could run without baggage and the whole thought of ‘no escape’ would be left behind with that baggage. So, if he left Rei to fend for herself, he could survive...

“-?” Knight’s idea fizzled out, replaced with a puzzled expression.

Through all that destruction. Through the ravaged earth and trees. Through the loud cacophonous noise. Knight heard sniffling.

Quiet, stifled, sniffling.

His back was pressed against the bark of the tree; his legs sprawled on the grass. His nose with a whiff fresh flowers from a bed of hair tinged with sweat. He gazed upon a crying girl and worry grazed his heart. All with only thing on his mind - is Rei alright?

The destruction engulfing the forest disappeared, leaving only Knight and Rei lay against a slightly ripped tree.

“R-Rei?” spoke Knight with a gulp as he placed his hand on her silky blue hair. “Are you alright?”

The crying girl silently nodded.

Knight let out a sigh and pulled her hands covering her face away. Her soft lips were trembling. Tears streamed down her face. And her beautiful golden eyes were scrunched up.

“Of course you ain’t alright,” stated knight as he shook his head at his stupidity. “If I’m scared and confused then so are- No.” Knight shook his head again to correct himself. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. If you aren’t alright, then you need to know that it’s okay to say so. I’m not the best with people’s feelings, haha,” joked Knight to alleviate some of the tension. “So, even if it's obvious, I might not be able to outright help you. Soooo,” he hesitated as he moved from the pretext. “It’d be really helpful if you could, um, y’know... do the thing.”

A few seconds of silence went by - the destruction still unable to penetrate their little bubble.

Then, a giggle escaped into that silent bubble.

Then another giggle escaped.

And another.

And then, the giggles turned to laughter.

“R-Rei?!” Knight spoke out, taken aback. “What’s so funny?”

Rei desperately tried to squash the fit of laughter to no avail.

The wordless laughter continued before a flustered knight spoke out.“I was only saying it’d be helpful if you spoke to me about how you feel!”

Finally quelling her laughter after a few more seconds, Rei clasped onto Knight’s rough hand. A phosphorescent glow came from her fingertips and Knight’s whole body warmed; the scabs and cuts plaguing it disappearing.

“Since when could you-”

“Nnn,” let out Rei as she shook her head. “I’m not sure. But…” Rei took a deep breath before letting her lips curl into a slight smile. “I’m feeling okay now, Knight!”

‘Gah’ Knight let out in his mind as her vibrant words, soft touch and her glowing expression pushing back the gloom shot an arrow through his heart. It was too cute for him to handle. “Hehehe… That’s great.”

A rare smile appeared on Knight’s face as he acknowledged Rei’s words. After all, how else could he react when a girl he’d seen filled with suffering tried so hard to fight her gloom and show him a genuine smile.

That smile was all she could do to keep her light when she met Knight.

And now a smile was all Knight could do when someone he cared for smiled with joy because of him. He hadn’t made many people happy -he hadn’t really wanted to - but this petit, blue-haired girl was someone he truly wanted to make happy. And this was a happy occasio-

Abruptly, a sharp pain impaled into Knight’s side, destroying their happy moment.