Heroes to Hunted

As we closed in on each other, I locked eyes with the gray knight, eager for the confrontation that was about to unfold. Though I hurled insults and threats his way, I couldn't tell if he was registering them or simply staring off into space, biding his time in silence.

Regardless, I was determined to emerge victorious.

Whatever he was doing, I couldn't maintain my focus on him forever. Especially when a blend of low and high-pitched screams screeched from the alleyways behind us.

"HELP US!!!"

"HEYYYYY, HEYYYY, WAIT FOR US! PLEASE!!!"

"PLEASE STOP! TAKE US WITH YOU!"

I cast my gaze to see several others. They were all garbed with collars and rags, indicating they were the remaining survivors. The last ones left from the herd of lemmings.

They bolted into the open streets with expressions of terror and dwindling hope, reaching for us…reaching for their salvation.

"Hey!" I shouted to the coward beside me. "Stop here; we're helping them!"

"What?!" he cast me with a look of total disbelief. "What are you talking about?!"

I clenched my teeth and seized him by the collar. "You heard me, you damn lemming! STOP THE WAGON!"

But he resisted, pushing me back and screaming, "NO!" Then, he whipped the horses again as if to emphasize his point. "We have to save ourselves!"

"Fuck that!" I snarled and readied myself to jump. If this bastard didn't want to help, then so be it. 'I'll save them myself if that's what it takes!' I tightly gripped the railing, ready to take a leap of faith and return to the pits of hell, but before I could move, something stopped me in my tracks.

Looking at who I'd wanted to protect, I was struck by something Nakamura had said.

'In some cases, you also become the one that decides who lives and who dies. It's when too many need saving that your mettle is tested to its very limits.'

Those words echoed as I watched their flesh be sundered in half. In the blink of an eye, the gray knight had appeared beside them. He towered over their frail bodies, completely engulfing many of the lemmings within the shadow created by his massive stature.

They had no time to react. Not before their life was instantaneously snuffed out. With a single swing from his mighty blade, he effortlessly cleaved the souls from their bodies.

Almost as if their blood was just as surprised at the slice, several moments passed before their newly formed corpses exploded into fountains of blood.

It ejected up and outward, dousing the lone gray knight in a darkened red rain. The drops slid down his sleek armor, emphasizing the curves and indentations of the engravings on it.

'Th-They're dead?' I was stuck in astonishment. But from that, I had an epiphany.

I may not have been a doctor like Nakamura, but the premise was the same. If I'd stopped the carriage... If I'd tried to save those people, we all would've died, too. We all would've known how it felt to be separated into two pieces.

I didn't want to believe it, but it was true. 'You can't save everyone.'

My body went limp as I pushed away from the railing and back into my seat.

Unblinkingly, I just stared at the ground passing beneath us. "Does any of this actually have a point?" I mumbled in shock. "Are we just... Will we die in the end, after all? Are we struggling...for nothing?" I wondered how arrogant I actually was in the face of all that death.

My thoughts soon turned back to the haunting realization.

If everyone couldn't be saved, how long till it was my head on the chopping block? How long before my brother was killed in battle? Before my mother was struck by my shitty old man for the last time?

Though I had seen enough death to fill a lifetime by now, I only just now realized how fragile a person's life really was.

As we approached the soldiers, I felt completely drained of any will to fight. I could only watch as we rapidly closed the distance between us. Though I knew I should resist, I had lost all my will to fight. The strength that once fueled me was gone, leaving me feeling utterly defeated and helpless.

'I'm sorry...everyone. I'm sorry,' I surprised even myself and apologized to everyone onboard the carriage. While under the influence of hopelessness, I was useless.

But my self-pity was short-lived. As I wallowed in despair, my attention was abruptly drawn to a shadow sweeping overhead. I looked up just in time to see a portcullis gate's sharp, metallic points flash past us in a blur.

'Are we free?' I couldn't believe my eyes as I gaped in confusion. Expecting a chase, I surveyed the road behind us. However, to my dismay, the only thing in pursuit were the unceasing stares of all the soldiers we'd passed. Rather than blockading our escape, they merely stepped aside.

'I don't even know anymore,' I sighed, rubbing my aching mind. I was too exhausted to contemplate the "why" of their actions, so I accepted it.

After taking in the sights of the wilderness ahead, it was official. We finally escaped that hell! That's why I chuckled when I discovered a new one forming in my mind.

Though I had always dealt with trauma, I had never felt so ensnared by it. Like a fly, I was entangled in a webbing of angst and fear.

*** Gray Knight POV ***

Swiping blood off his stained blade, a knight of gray and gold stood amongst his subordinates. He marched to the gate and watched as the carriage receded further into the wilderness.

He paced to a spot beneath the portcullis, then stood stiffly still as he fixed an icy glare on the escaped heroes.

"Are you sure that that was okay, Captain?" a guard asked with a look of worry. "Shouldn't we go after them?"

"It's fine," he replied, staring down the group of rats, "it's all according to my Lady's plan. You lot need only do as you're told." Then, throwing his black-gold cape aside, he sheathed his sword with a smooth grind resounding across the gate's stone brick entrance.

Though none could see it, on account of his helmet, and though none could hear it, on account of his stoicism, he had a turbulent eruption brewing underneath. Like a rumbling geyser, his anger was set to explode at a moment's notice.

"I'll be seeing you," he cocked his head toward the empty road. "You'll regret your birth for harming my kin." He was ready to invoke revenge on those who'd wronged him.