Banished Pt. 13

Leanna ran with me, her hand still in mine, and as we got there, I looked around for signs of movement, or an indication that the creature had followed us.

"There," she said, and I quickly noted that the movement she'd indicated was not from the same direction that we'd ran over here from.

"Fuck... there might be two of 'em."

"Can we win?"

"Sure, but I'm really gonna need your help," I said, and she nodded.

"What do I do?"

I whispered the plan to her, and she nodded.

"Think you can do it?" I asked.

"I- I think so."

"Good," I said, turning my attention back to the branch in the distance where the creeper was hanging from, looking over at us.

Strange for him to stick out visibly like that.

I was still considering the reason for it, when he leapt from the tree and landed with a dull thud.

Guess he's coming at us, then-

Thud*

Thud*

I turned my head slowly in the direction of the two sounds, and spotted two more aufhöcker landing on either side of the first one.

Fuck me.

None of them was the talking one, but still... three would be a tough fight.

Especially if they were coordinating their attack.

"Fuck. We need to run," I said, as I grabbed Leanna's hand and pulled her along.

As we ran, the creatures bound after us, but our retreat was cut short by a low, but familiar growl.

"Fuck me," I muttered, as we spotted the geisterung up ahead.

We pulled up to a stop, and the creature let out another warning growl, pacing on the spot, but snarling at us as it did.

"Can you kill it?"

I studied the thing for a bit, then shook my head.

"It isn't charging. Its behavior looks different from the ones who attacked us."

I glanced over my shoulder, and saw that the aufhöcker had spread out now.

They were herding us over here, huh?

But maybe I could work with this.

"Follow me, stay at my left though."

I turned towards the creature on the furthest to the left and charged, drawing my halberd as I did.

"Should I do the-?"

"Not yet," I said.

The creature snarled as it spotted my approach, but as it turned and tried to leap for a nearby tree, I lifted my halberd up, and launched the pointed tip at the monster.

The strike caught him right on the shoulder, impaling him to the tree, and I withdrew my dagger as I charged, then jabbed the blade into the creature's jaw and tore across his face.

Blood sprayed across the line of the cut, and I just barely evaded it, before pulling my halberd easily out of the tree.

The other two were charging, committed to the attack, and as they approached, I tapped Leanna on the shoulder.

"You're up," I said, and she nodded. "Remember, wait for the charge, okay?"

She nodded again, but we didn't have long to wait as the two creatures never paused in their direct approach.

Not so clever without your leader, are you?

They closed in on us, and I nodded just as they were ten to fifteen feet away, and Leanna's shadow puppet made a dash at the creatures from the left.

They both reacted to the approach, and I smiled as I darted in; as the creature's expression revealed quite a bit of confusion as to which attack to evade.

I managed to cleave the leg off of one of the creatures as the shadow swept into them, and the other snarled, as he turned and leapt at me, just barely missing my neck with a swipe.

He skidded to the floor close to Leanna however, and a moment of panic flashed in my eyes, until she withdrew her own knife, and stabbed the monster.

"Ahhh, oh God!" she cried out, as she stabbed at it repeatedly, crying as she did.

I chuckled a little to myself, but she stabbed the creature until it stopped moving.

I turned then to the final monster, who was trying to hobble his way over to the nearest tree.

"Sorry beastie," I said, as I rounded the bark, and cut him off.

The creature snarled one final time, and without hesitation, I swung my halberd at the creature's neck, decapitating it in one blow.

Leanna shuddered a little, as she moved to my side, and observed the creature's final moments of life.

We turned our attention then, to the geisterung, who was still snarling, but standing protectively in the same spot.

"Oh my God, is that a baby?" she asked I nodded, staring on as the creature observed us, snarling, and standing protectively in front of a smaller creature.

He kept at it for a bit, and I put away my weapon, and held my hands up, until eventually the creature turned, and guided its young away from us.

We watched them walk off into the woods, but as they left, a cry seemed to come from the very bushes that it was standing in front of.

"What is that?" Leanna asked, and I shrugged, as we approached the spot carefully.

There was no sign of any more monsters, but as we got to the bit of bush, I saw it.

"Oh my god," Leanna breathed. "Is it a baby too?"

I examined the thing, then reached tentatively out, and scooped the creature up.

It was a baby aufhöcker, and as I held the thing in my arms, I felt a slight moment of disorientation.

Hadn't Raul said that the Harbingers and Forebearers were the ones who spawned feeders?

Was he wrong?

Or did they spawn as young ones?

It was interesting to say the least, but if geisterung were capable of taking care of their young as that creature just had, then maybe they weren't as much mindless beasts hellbent on consuming human flesh as we'd thought?

I was trying to figure out what to do with the creature in my hand, when Leanna started playing with his hands a little.

"He's kind of cute, isn't he?"

I studied it, and sure enough; the creature could pass for a monkey without those fangs and vicious claws.

"Cute or not, he's got a mercy killing in his immediate future," I said with a sigh, and Leanna's eyes flashed at me.

"No, you can't... he's just a baby."

"He wouldn't live even if we left him," I reasoned, then I saw that look on her face.

The age old 'can I keep him?' look that every parent must have seen at some point in their lives.

If he grew into a monster hellbent on killing humans, it would be problematic...

Although... having a mythological creature as a pet was sure to play up our already stellar record with the Kobalt.

"Let's take him along for now," I offered, and she quickly nodded in agreement.

I did still harvest the cores from the slain creatures, while Leanna kept the little one safely away from the scene, but it seemed to show very little interest in them.

It made me wonder who his parents were...

With my curiosity a little piqued, I examined the dead for some sign that a male or female version existed, but there were no outwardly visible differences in their anatomical make up.

I made a mental note to enquire after the Kobalt who had cut them up, if there were any differences that they noticed while doing so.

"We should definitely head back, now," I said, and this time, Leanna didn't protest.

We turned and started the journey back at a slow walk, and I noted that the young monster had quickly taken to Leanna.

"He really likes you," I noted, and she nodded, smiling a little.

"He's like a... puppy with arms," she said.

"Did you ever have a puppy?"

She shook her head.

"My mom didn't like animals," she replied, and I noted a little inflection in her eyes.

I waited for a bit to make sure that the creature had gotten accustomed to being carried by Leanna, before picking up the pace a bit, but its arms were wrapped around her neck, and the creature seemed quite comfortable holding onto her like that.

We kept at that pace for a bit, but as we stopped for a rest, I decided to examine the creature with my sensory perception skill, and to my surprise, his energy pattern was the same light blue as ours.

Monsters usually had that darker, sinister aura, didn't they?

It was curious to say the least.

I also did a quick time check, then we continued on, and soon enough, we broke through the thicket which led to the road, and not that far away, Grenze.

Leanna took my hand again, and I noted that she seemed quite tense as we approached the cluster, and I gave the hand a reassuring squeeze.

"You'll be fine. I promise."

As soon as we were within range of the grove trees where our group had settled down, however, a quite bothered looking Lucia ran up to me.

"Nay-tan! Frazika won't train!" she exclaimed, and my mouth fell open.

"Holy shit, you can say my name?"

She put her hands on her hips, seemingly annoyed that that was all that I got from her message.

"Frazika! Make her train!"

I glanced past her to see Francesca coming over.

"Well, if it isn't Frazika," I teased.

She smiled, but I noted a quick flutter in her eyes as she noticed the way Leanna was holding onto my hand.

Leanna quickly let go of me, but Francesca shook her head as she now saw what was on the girl's shoulder.

"Woah... is that an aufhöcker? What the fuck...?"

"We found it, alone," Leanna explained, and Francesca moved instinctively to the thing, examining him.

"Holy crap... he's cute," she breathed.

"Nay-tan!" Lucia whined again, and Francesca turned to shoot her a disapproving look.

"She's depleted her core three times today. I think that's enough; don't you?"

"No! Not enough..." she whined, and I stooped down, and picked her up.

I examined her energy pattern for a bit, then shrugged.

"She doesn't seem to be getting feedback, and her core seems fine. What did Casey say? Is there any danger to depleting her that often?"

"Didn't get a chance to ask yet. Casey's, uh... busy with something."

There was an odd tone to Francesca's voice, and I tilted my head at her.

"Busy, huh..."

She seemed about to say something more when Bianca came bounding towards us, and Francesca moved away just as I set Lucia down, and noted that same strange look on her face.

"Nathan! I've missed you all day!" she exclaimed as she leapt into my arms, but I saw the look on her face, just as the messages came through my mind:

We need to talk, something's happening; everyone is gonna be there, she's doing it, I know she is, but I only heard her talk to, who was it? Ugh, why does she always look so cool, and she's watching him. Hey bitch, stop watching him so much, wait, Leanna's watching him too and what the fuck is that on her-

"Bianca!"

She shook her head.

"Right, let's talk."

"We'll talk about your training in a bit," I said to Lucia, and she stomped on the ground, before stalking off, and I chuckled a little as I followed Bianca a little way from the others.

Francesca was paying attention to the baby aufhöcker, but there was something else in her eyes, as they shifted between Leanna and the supply carts off to her right from time to time.

"Casey's been chatting with everyone," Bianca said. "I might have missed a few while I was asleep, but she spoke to Nolan and Jordan, Jeannie, Molly and Evie."

Francesca too, based on how she was acting, I thought.

"Did you manage to overhear any of the conversations?"

"Yeah. She wants to call a vote. To imprison Leanna."

"And how do the numbers look?"

"Molly and Jeannie are heavily in favor. Dunno about the rest. Here she comes," Bianca whispered, and I nodded.

"Please take me next time!" Bianca suddenly whined. "I had nothing to do, I was so bored~."

"Then why weren't you training?" Casey asked, as soon as she was close enough.

"Because Nate doesn't want me to train with anyone but him," she said, a pouty look on her face as she folded her arms, and glared at me.

Fucking hell, that was some acting.

I think I'm falling in love.

Casey rolled her eyes at Bianca, then turned to me.

"How was your scouting?" she asked.

"Productive," I replied, tossing the three cores at her, one by one.

"Geisterung?"

"Aufhöcker," I replied, and she raised an eyebrow, and gave an impressed 'hm'. "Also, I think I worked out what's wrong with our little question mark."

She followed my gaze to Leanna, an intrigued look on her face.

"Really. How so?"

"She's schizophrenic," I replied. "Was in treatment and everything."

"So, you're saying she has no control over her delusions."

"She can, with help. Emily obviously made it worse, but that was partially our faults, since no-one really took her seriously. She was lonely, and reaching out for anyone who would listen."

"And now... that's you?"

I shook my head.

"I made the first step with establishing a relationship with her, but I think over time, she might form bonds with everyone else."

"And what if everyone else feels... differently," she asked.

"Well then. You'll just have to help me to convince them otherwise, right?"

"What if I don't agree with you?" she asked, and I suddenly noted that members of the group were coming over towards us.

Nolan, Molly, Raul; even Jeannie, who seemed to be doing much better.

"Are we doing this now?" Nolan asked.

"Doing what?" I asked, scanning them, with my best impression of a searching look.

Casey moved from my side, over to the others.

"Some of us are a little uncomfortable with the freedom being afforded to... a threatening element within the group."

Raul raised an eyebrow at this, and I began to wonder if Casey was going there as well.

"What element, specifically?" I asked.

"Leanna," Nolan spat, but as I turned towards him, I now saw Cameron and Jordan hurrying over to join us as well.

There was a bit of a panicked look on Cameron's face, and I noted that the Kobalt too seemed to be noticing the commotion, and were looking on with interest.

This wasn't a good look for us.

"We're wasting time. Let's just grab her-" Nolan began, and I quickly intercepted him, and raised an arm protectively in front of Leanna.

"No-one touches her," I said, the warning in my tone clear.

"Might wanna watch your step there, bud," Raul said, as he shouldered past Nolan and moved to my side.

Bianca was also at my side, but I noted that Francesca had shrunk away a bit.

Leanna placed a hand on my shoulder as I backed up, closer to where she was, and I noticed that she was trembling a little.

The baby aufhöcker climbed down her body, and to my surprise, ran straight for Jordan, who picked up the creature, and studied it a little.

"Is this what I think this is?" he asked.

"We have more important things to discuss right now," Nolan said, and Jordan frowned at him.

"Is this really how we're handling this?" Cameron asked, as soon as she was close enough.

"What? We agreed we'd discuss it as a group, didn't we?" Casey replied, and Cameron glared at her.

"Yeah; a discussion. Not ambushing Nate as soon as he comes back home," Cameron said.

"Look, let's just all calm down a bit, and talk this out," Jeannie offered, trying to mediate between the two groups that were forming. "Nate, some of us think that Leanna might pose a danger; to us, and more importantly, to the Kobalt. I don't want to see anything happen to them, especially after everything they've done for us, and I know you don't want to either..."

"I don't; but imprisoning people who've done nothing doesn't work for me," I replied.

"Are you just gonna wait until she does something, then? How did that work out with Emily?" Nolan asked.

"Emily had only been with us for a day," Jordan reminded Nolan, who scowled.

"Yeah, but she harbored ill-will towards these people. Ill-will that she shares," Molly interjected, gesturing to Leanna. "Are we gonna wait until she kills one of them?"

"I-I wouldn't-" she began, but-

"She's not gonna kill anyone," I replied. "You all need to calm down. Leanna isn't a threat, she's just... unwell, and in need of our support."

"Unwell?" Molly asked.

"Schizophrenic," I clarified, and she scowled.

"Great, so she's mentally ill and racist. That combination always works out great! Say, did you ever plan a school shooting? Torture an animal to death?"

"I- I would never do that," she began, shaking her head, and tearing up a little.

"Not if we never give you the chance!" Molly spat.

"This feels more like a lynching than a discussion," Jordan said. "We're not hearing Nate out."

"Lynching? Really?" Nolan asked, scoffing, which only annoyed Jordan even more.

Molly approached Jordan.

"You really don't wanna be taking her side here, hun. Or do I have to tell everyone what word she called you. It starts with 'N'," she whispered sarcastically, and Jordan shook his head.

"She wouldn't be the first white person to think it was okay to use that word in private, and she won't be the last either."

"Seriously?" Nolan asked. "You fucking hate it when people use that word casually, and you're still seriously taking his fucking side?"

"Just because something bothers me does not mean that we need to lock someone up over it. This was supposed to be a discussion over whether or not she's dangerous," he replied, and as he gestured to Leanna, who was holding onto me and shaking, he continued, "so, forgive me if I don't see it."

"Let's just call a vote," Cameron suggested. "It's pretty clear that some of you have your minds made up, no matter what Nate has to say."

"No, I wanna hear what he has to say," Francesca finally cut in. "And Evie probably does too, or are we not waiting on everyone for this vote?"

Casey nodded.

"She's on her way," she said.

We waited for a bit until Evie came out to join us, but the expression on her face told me that the situation was definitely not what she had anticipated.

"I'm here, what's going on?" she said, as soon as she arrived.

Her eyes flicked between me and Molly, as she tried to get a gauge on things.

"Nate," Casey offered, and I nodded.

"Leanna is schizophrenic. She was on medication back on earth, but without access to it, she's having a hard time differentiating between what's actually a threat, and what's just in her head. Emily made that worse by playing up her fears, but I think with the right kind of support, we can help her."

"That sounds reasonable," Evie offered.

"But can we, though?" Casey asked. "Without her meds, she can develop hallucinations... she won't even have the right kind of therapy support. I know you want to help her, but can you really?"

I nodded.

"I've had some experience dealing with this," I replied, and she eyed me.

"What kind of experience?"

"His mother was schizophrenic," Cameron answered, and I noted with interest that she seemed quite happy to show Casey that she knew something about my life that she didn't.

Casey scowled at Cameron a little.

"Oh? And did he help his mommy by lying to her too?" she asked, and I nodded, to her surprise.

"I did. There were days when she wouldn't eat anything from inside the house for fear of being poisoned, and I had to pretend to get her some food from anywhere outside, or else she starved. Look, I did what I had to with Leanna; we had a few chaotic days, and I wasn't able to spend the time with her needed to get a feel for what was going on until things settled down a little. We had time today, and I've already cleared up some of my lies with her," I said.

"And she's just magically fine with being lied to?" Casey asked, with a scoff.

"He was just trying to protect me," Leanna said, her voice almost a whisper, and Casey scowled again.

"Protect you, right... funny how that'll go hand in hand with you ending up in his bed in a few days."

Leanna's face went slightly white, and I massaged my temple agitatedly.

"Look, we're getting off topic here," Molly interjected. "I couldn't care less about who Nathan fucks, but I don't want to live my life worrying about whose gonna die when this crazy bitch snaps."

"Molly," Evie said, her tone gentle, and I studied her with interest. "We don't know that she's like him, okay? If Nate thinks that he knows how to handle this, then let's just give him a chance..."