No mercy (book 2 of dawn of the others)

Chapter 4

He ran through the forest, his feet pounding on the ground. He was looking for someone, his gaze scanned the clearing, then he saw something bright blue sticking out of a bush. He ran over and stuck his hand through grabbing someone's arm.

"Hey!" the bush squeaked in surprise. A small head popped out. His brown hair with leaves and sticks tangled up inside. His brown eyes glistened with excitement. "How did you know where I was!?" He asked, smiling as he wasn't too mad about being found.

"I saw part of your socks!" he responded laughing.

"No fair." He pouted playfully.
"Whatever Socks." he taunted.

"What did you just call me?" He asked. Surprise lit up in his gaze.
"Socks- Sorry that's all I thought of when you got those was calling you, Socks." he whispered quietly worried that his friend was gonna be mad at him.

"You know what, I kinda like that name." He admitted.
"Fine, do you want me to keep calling you Socks?"

"Only if I get to call you Blaza."

"Why Blaza?"

"I don't know, I just kinda like the name. It suits you." Socks said truthfully.

"Fine you can call me Blaza and I'll call you Socks." Blaza agreed.

"Wait! I have something I want to give you." Socks said.

"Do you need help getting out of the bush?" Blaza asked him.

"Yes I do Blaza" Socks emphasized the Blaza in his sentence. Blaza let out a small laugh and extended his hand Socks took it and pulled through the bush. Taking leaves and sticks with him. He shook his head trying to scatter the twigs and leaves out of his hair.

"Okay, follow me." He told Blaza. Blaza nodded, and Socks started running back towards his house. As they ran inside Socks bumped into his mom.

"Oh hey Mom!" Socks smiled as he entered through the door.

"Hey boys, Did you have fun?" She asked them.

"Yeah lots! I'm about to go give Blaza that gift that we got for him." Socks told her.

"It was your idea all I did was pay for it. So it's more or less your gift." She told him he looked at her confused.

"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes." She responded simply, Socks looked at her then something lit up in his gaze.

"Oh yeah! I just remembered! I gave Blaza a nickname." Socks told her.

"Is it Blaza perchance?" She asked him playfully.

"How did you know?" Socks questioned her.

"It's an ability mothers have." She laughed. Blaza knew exactly how she knew his nickname.

"And my name is now Socks! In honor of my new rainbow socks I got, remember?" Socks exclaimed.

"Socks?" She wondered aloud. "I like that." She told him.

"It was Blaza's idea!"

"Well Socks, Why don't you give Blaza his gift." She said calling them by the names they wanted to be called.

"Yeah! It's upstairs c'mon follow me Blaza!" Socks said as he grabbed Blaza's hand and dragged him up the stairs. He let go at the top of the stairwell and ran to his room. Blaza followed at a slower pace. He turned into the room and saw Socks crouching next to his bed, his hands reaching for something far back.

"Aha!" Socks confidently said as he found the thing he was looking for. It was a box as Socks slid the lid off of it inside lay an orange hoodie that had small bear ears at the top. It looked almost exactly like the hoodie that Blaza had loved to wear, until it got torn up beyond repair. It was almost the same color as the same hoodie that Socks was wearing. Only just a little bit lighter on the color spectrum.

"For you!" Socks exclaimed happily, removing the hoodie from its box encasing. He presented it to Blaza. Blaza took it and put it on. It was a little big but he liked wearing it. It went to his knees and the sleeves extended past his hands and arms to his waist. He was only ten so off course it would be a little larger for him. Then Socks crouched next to his bed reaching for something else. He then pulled out what looked like a space helmet. The visor was plastic since a Nine year old could definitely not be trusted with something like fiberglass or anything like that. Socks slipped on the helmet and smiled.

"I even have a space suit to go with everything!" Socks clapped his hands in excitement. He smiled, his eyes youthful.

Blaza then blinked and it was all gone. Socks was still lying limp on the floor, blood pooling out of his mouth making a small puddle on the ground. A new scar that ran from just beneath his jaw on the right side and behind his ear. Blaza wondered how he got it. It was definitely new since he hadn't seen it on his face before. Oompa was breathing heavily still on the floor. He was bleeding and Meme was standing next to him glaring down at him. Blaza could understand why he was enraged he hadn't really spoken much for the last couple of days. I mean could anyone blame him? His best friend was infected and there was nothing he could do about it. No matter how much he prayed, which he didn't do a lot since he wasn't all that religious. It never seemed to get better. It had gotten worse after Socks had jumped out of the plane in order to clear the way for the rest of them. Which Blaza had deemed unnecessary but maybe that was his brain trying to convince himself that Socks would still be okay. In any case Socks was not okay, he was still alive yes, but not okay. Blaza felt like nothing was ever going to be okay again. While he was unfocused thinking about other things he hadn't even realized that Socks was waking up. He walked over to him quickly.

"Are you okay?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Alri't" Socks slurred his words mangled.

"Repeat that?"

"Alrig't" Socks attempted again.

"Alright?" Blaza asked. Socks nodded to confirm. Blaza sighed in relief, Socks then slipped back into unconsciousness.

"That was a short lived conversation." Blaza said to himself not expecting Laff to answer him.

"Sure was. Probably because Oof damaged Socks' skull by hitting him with the butt of his gun" Laff told him. Blaza glanced at Laff over his shoulder. "It's been awhile since I've heard you'se talk." Laff told him.

"It has, hasn't it?"

"Mhm."

Blaza laughed, it was a rare sound to hear but at least it was a sound that existed. His laugh soon died down to awkward silence. Only broken by Ally barking commands to the other people. Giving them things to do. Wondering how long it would take for something to get done without a full team Blaza stood up and dusted himself off. The dust on the bottom of his hoodie that he treasured. It was still a little bit too big for him; he was a skinny kid. What could he say? He had barely just turned nineteen. For his birthday Socks had given him another hoodie just in case the one that he had got damaged or he lost it. Blaza had now wished he had brought it with him. Part of the sleeve was torn and there was a hole in the side of it from when Socks first showed signs of the infection and of course it just revealed a plain black shirt that Blaza had like to wear because it was comfortable and easy to move around in. Socks also gave Blaza that shirt. Blaza remembered telling him that he wanted to learn parkour himself, Socks said that he would teach him and get the proper gear for Blaza to have. So on Blaza's Sixteenth birthday Socks had given him a new set of Black boots, jeans, and a Black shirt. His hand hovered to the scars on his arm. No one knew how he had got them. Blaza had always said that he burned himself, obviously no one believed him since the scars were too big to be "little burn scars" but no one had called him out. Only Socks knew how he had gotten these scars. Socks had sworn to secrecy until the day he died. That day seemed closer than Blaza had expected.