Chapter 6: Chapter 6: The Davids

As the group of three strolled through the village’s streets and alleys, they found more packs of goblins on their way.

“Since we’re all awakened now, whoever defeats a monster gets to kill it, okay?”

With those words from Roy, the trio slaughtered their way through the village. Whenever they found a pack of ten or fewer goblins, they immediately engaged in combat and killed it. By the time they reached their destination, they were soaked in blood.

“That’s David’s house, right?” Jack asked. The house had an awfully silent atmosphere. The clothes that should have been drying on the metal threads were thrown all over the ground. The baskets that aunty Louise and her children spent so much time weaving were broken and cut.

As the group inched closer, their heart dropped to their stomach. The door and the wall were completely destroyed and cracks spread all over the house. It was as if a tornado had passed by. 

“No, fuck, don’t tell me…” 

Robb immediately sprinted towards the house, with Jack following right after him. Roy, on the other hand, was shell-shocked. Both his eyes and mind were blank, and he could barely push himself to walk toward the destroyed house.

As Jack reached the entrance to the house, he couldn’t help but ask, “Is everything alright?”

“Why don’t you come and take a look…” Robb replied with a heavy tone. The expression on his face was more horrified than anything he had ever shown in his life.

Jack looked behind Robb and he couldn’t help but kneel on the ground. His eyes widened in shock and his hand covered his mouth in an attempt to stop the outcoming vomit.

Roy slowly walked after the two and entered the house. He looked past Robb and over the kneeling Jack only to have his worst visions come to life in front of him.

Corpses. Corpses everywhere. David, or what was left of him, was thrown on the counter of the living room. He was missing a hand, and chunks of his face, and his stomach was open, bursting out with guts and blood. As for his legs, they were crushed beyond recognition. It was as if a thousand horses galloped over them.

Aunt Louise was decapitated, her head thrown in the middle of the floor. As for her body, Roy could see the ribcage poking out with flesh at the side. Her stomach, intestines, and organs were half-eaten. As for her legs, only clean bones remained—white as snow without any blemishes.  

Roy’s eyes streamed with searing tears. These were people that took care of him, fed him, and cleaned him in his time of need. He cherished and loved them. However, they were now just rotting corpses, food for devilish monsters that saw them like a human would see a rabbit or a chicken. 

No one could say a thing. All of them were shocked beyond belief. Even the stoic Robb had his lips quivering and his hands shaking. His eyes were looking down at the ground as if he could not bear to look at the corpses of the family any longer.

Jack’s eyes bawled out in tears. He looked around the house in shock before he dried his face and stepped out of the door.

Roy’s mind raced with every thought, every emotion: sadness, despair, regret, and mostly anger. His heart was filled with a rage that washed away any guilt he might have felt about killing the humanoid-looking monsters. Those were not humans, nor sickly green kids—they were demons, imps that came straight from hell.

“Let’s bury them.” Roy’s voice was hoarse and cackly, the words could barely come out of his mouth. However, his movements and actions were confident and had no hesitation. He walked over to David’s body and closed his hollow eyes, and carried the largest portion of it. Robb followed after him and took both Louise’s head and the rest of her body.

“What are you guys doing?” Jack who was standing outside was startled as the two with the two bloody corpses in their hands.

“Let’s dig a hole.” Roy put David’s body on the ground before digging out the dirt right next to it. Robb followed immediately after putting down Louise’s body, and so did Jack.

The three kept digging for a couple of dozen minutes until the hole was big enough for the husband and wife. Roy put down David’s body and started shoveling back dirt inside the hole. As the man’s figure was slowly being covered up, Roy remembered his face as David stabbed the goblin that tried to kill him. He remembered his scared and hasty expression and he cut open his ropes, his warm body as he hugged him for minutes, and his smile as they parted ways.

“You should have come with me,” Roy muttered. “We should have been together.”

The trio finished covering up the bodies before sitting down on the ground. Robb’s expression which was somber suddenly changed as his eyes opened wide.

“Guys, what about the two kids? Where are they?”

Roy’s mind flashed and his thoughts immediately cleared. “Let’s go inside and look for them.”

The two nodded and the group sprang into action. They went back into the house and shouted the two little kids’ names.

“Dustin! Claire! Where are you?”

The trio of friends went through every room shouting the names of the two siblings. While it was hard to do a thorough search in the dark house without any lit torch, they still meticulously combed every corner and every drawer.

Finally, they reached the master bedroom where uncle David and Aunt Louise used to sleep. While screaming the kids’ names, they entered the room.

Roy went down to look under the master bed, only to see a knife coming straight for his face.

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“Brother Roy?” The knife stopped right on top of the young man’s nose. Behind it was a small little girl that held onto her sleeping little brother. Her whole body was shivering, even the hand with which she was holding the knife, but she bit her lips and didn’t cry.

Roy’s eyes melted as he looked at the young girl. “Claire, I’m so glad. Come here, it’s safe now.”

Claire pushed her little brother for Roy to hold first before she crawled out from under the bed. As she stood up, she took a deep breath and tried to appear strong and dependable. However, just as her eyes locked with Roy, her image immediately broke and her eyes bawled out torrents of tears.

Roy opened his hands and Claire immediately went in and hugged him.

“Mom… Dad… They’re dead—they’re dead!” The little girl’s throat was closing up and she was hiccuping after every word, but her voice still stabbed deeper into Roy’s heart than any goblin’s dagger or sword.

Roy tightened his hug and said in a soft voice, “It’s okay now, you’re going to be safe now. You’re both going to be safe now, I promise.”

Claire sniffed up her tears and nodded at Roy’s words.

Roy cleaned the tears off the little girl’s face and smiled at her. “Let’s to uncle Roger’s place, okay? It’s gonna be safe there.”

Claire continued nodding her head, “Okay.”

Just that one word took so much energy for her to pronounce, and Roy knew that. Just as the little girl was about to move, her legs wobbled and she fell to the ground. Roy kneeled down and carried her like a princess.

“Mom, Dad?” 

Roy’s heart clenched as he looked at Dustin who slowly opened his eyes. He was still groggy and the only words he could pronounce were those two before he fell back asleep.

Jack went to the little kid and carried him with his arms, and then the group went down the stairs. As Roy walked out of the house, he looked down only to see that Claire had already fallen asleep. His heart hurt as he stared at the little kid who only had her little brother left in this world.

Roy then looked at the mound where David and Louise were buried. I’ll see you in heaven. With that one last prayer, the group walked back to Roger’s house. The way back was silent with only the sound of rain as a backdrop to the cacophony in their hearts. For some reason, it felt as if the cloud had picked up steam and the rainfall had become harsher than before. Soon, the dirt road became mud, making it harder to move. The only silver lining was that the harsher rain washed away the blood on the boys’ bodies and clothes, effectively offering them a cold bath.

When they knocked, Alfonse was the one to open the door. Seeing their somber faces, he couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”

The words got stuck in Roy’s throat, but he managed to muster up a response. “Th-the David family. They’re… they're dead.”

Hearing the shocking news, Alfonse’s eyes widened before he closed them in disappointment. At the end of the day, this was also a possibility—one that was weighing on their mind all the time but hoped it would never occur.

The three entered the house along with the little boy Dustin who was still sleeping on top of Roy’s chest.

Roger, who heard the news, looked at the three brothers and the young siblings, before muttering, “He was a good man.” He paused for a second before continuing with a stronger voice. “The Davids, they were good people. They were always benevolent to us, always generous, and never did they do us any harm or talk bad about us… We’re going to take care of the kids, I’m sure David would have done the same to us if our roles were reversed.”

Roy nodded at Roger’s words before handing him Claire. 

“Thank you…” He lightly muttered.

“What are you saying?” Roger chuckled. “We’re the ones who should be thank you. You’re the one going out and risking yourself, the only thing we’re doing is making sure you have a safe place to go back to.”

Roy and his two brothers silently made their way toward the rest of the group.

“What happened?” Fred asked, which was met with an immediate “shh” and a death glare from Alfonse.

The mood was heavy, and no one wanted to say a word. Even young Jaimie was just looking around confused before he too looked down at the ground and stayed silent.

In the meanwhile, Roy’s head was ringing with stray thoughts and emotions. Could he have saved the Davids if they had gone to their house immediately? Was he too safe with his routing and detours? Should he have taken more risks?

Those thoughts kept swarming his brain and clouding both his mind and heart. However, in the end, he reached only one conclusion.

“We have to become stronger.” Roy’s words cut through the deafening silence.

“All of us, we have to become so strong that we can defend everyone. That’s the only way to do this shit.”