"Why are you and mother crying, Cale?" Liek asked his older brother.
"Liek, please.... leave us." Cale sobbed.
"But why? What happened? Where's father?"

Liek felt himself being pushed out of the room.

What had he said? What happened that made his mother scream with grief? Why was her face twisted with sadness, and her face streaked with tears? Was it something he had done? The door shut in front of him, and all he could do was just stand there. Confusion overtook him, and he began to feel the warm wet tears welling up behind his eyes.

He was

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helpless.

Liek shut his eyes, awaiting the sweet release of death. He had fought with all of his strength, but it wasn't enough. The assassin's nail was going to slice through his jugular at any moment. All he could do was wait, and watch his life in front of him.

Nobody was around

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to help him.

Liek and Cale bolted through the dense forest, Liek close behind, but never quite able to catch up.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM ALL!!" Cale screamed. "EVERY LAST HUMAN!!"
"Cale!! Stop!!" Liek called after him.

Cale was heading straight into trouble. Even at Liek's young age, he knew that what his brother was about to do was foolish. He felt the adrenaline rush through his veins. His muscles burned. His throat was hot and sticky from chasing his brother for nearly ten minutes. With a sudden burst of energy, he grabbed his brother's shirt and pulled himself close.

He tackled his brother, and they hit the ground hard. Cale was upon him in an instant, punching him in the face over and over again.

All he could do was lay there, holding his arms to his face, and feeling the blows raining down on him. Cale was screaming the entire time. Some of it made sense. Other times it didn't. It was just animalistic screeching.

The humans had taken him. The humans had killed him, and they made her sad. She died from grief because of them. Never interfere in his business again. He was not old enough to understand. The humans deserved nothing less than death. Every last one of them.

And with that, Cale stood up and left him. Liek never stood up. All he could do was

-------------------------

just lay there and think.

He watched the assassin lunge forward. He watched his mother lowered into the ground. He watched the nail coming ever closer. He watched his brother running towards him for a brotherly embrace. His mind was screaming, his body silent.

He heard a meaty crack coming from somewhere. He felt nothing.

Nothing at all.

He opened his eyes in confusion. What happened? The assassin was motionless above him, the grip around his throat had loosened. The assassin's eyes were rolled back into his head, and a hatchet was imbedded into the side of his skull.

Liek could only stare at the hatchet coming out of the gaping wound, and then coming back again, stopping halfway into the assassin's face.

He didn't know how long he was in shock for, but when he focused onto the reality of the situation, he threw the body off of him and scrambled back. What had happened?

Standing in front of him was Isaac, holding the bloody hatchet.

"You ok there, Liek?" He calmly asked.

Liek, gave a slight nod.

"Good. Me 'n Hannah were worried about you. What'd you get for dinner?"


to be continued....