Not Part of the Plan

Chapter 3

Anti made sure to avoid the rest of his friends for the remainder of the day, choosing instead to hide away and pray to whatever hellish demon god there may be that he wouldn't die, not like this.

Truth be told, he had no idea what this bite would do to him. He only said that he would be okay to not worry the others, but in reality, he was terrified. Underneath his tough outer shell... he was just like the rest of them; afraid. The only difference was that because everyone thought he was handling this well enough on his own, he was left alone, so it was much, much worse for Anti to cope.

Especially when his wound was right in the middle of his shoulder blades, so he couldn't reach it to take care of it.

"For fuck's s̴̻͛a̸͔͋k̶̙͌e̸̩̾!̷̦̑" he snapped angrily as he tried and failed for the third time to remove a rogue, undead tooth from his flesh. All the twisting and turning had not only given him mild cramp in his shoulders, but had aggravated the wound more, blood staining his back and fingers where he was making attempts to deal with his problems alone, again.

Jameson, still considerably well-dressed given the circumstances, stood outside Anti's little tent, hesitant. On the one hand, he knew his friend needed help and wanted to give it to him, but on the other hand, he didn't want to get torn to shreds by the demon. Finally deciding that dying by his friend's hand rather than an infected was a better option, he took the risk and walked into the tent.

He was immediately met with a defeated Anti, slouched on his camp bed with his head in his hands. Blood was beginning to form a small pool where he sat, but either he didn't notice or didn't care enough to sort it out. Jameson made a small tapping with his foot to alert Anti to his presence, making the demon look up quickly.

His eyes were red. It looked like... he'd been crying?

Furiously, he wiped his eyes before anyone else could see, though it didn't do much. "You tell anyone about this and I'll throw you over the wall myself," he threatened, though they both knew he didn't mean it. Despite this, Jameson mimed zipping his mouth shut to show he wouldn't tell, and for that, Anti was extremely grateful.

Let me help you, Jameson signed. Anti looked hesitant. It'll be our little secret, he added, knowing hat Anti didn't like to look weak in front of anyone else. He also knew, though, that for some reason, Anti had a soft spot for him, and sometimes abused that knowledge to help him out.

"...fine," Anti mumbled after a long hesitation. "Just... be gentle, the venom is having weird effects."

Anti didn't elaborate any further.

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"What do you think Anti did to those hunters?" Chase asked with a mouthful of food to Jackie.

Jackie shrugged. "I don't know. He was quick with them though," he commented. Marvin sat across from him, still looking pale but managing to at least eat something to get his strength back up. Chase was next to him, ready to catch him if he passed out- it had happened before, and since then, they had always been prepared.

"Hopefully he at least made their deaths quick," Chase said. "I may not like the bastards, but I never want any of them to die painfully."

"I hear you... I wish none of them had to die in the first place," Jackie countered. "This is so fucked..."

"Yeah..."

A short silence followed, where nobody ate; they just stared at the table below them, each left with their own thoughts.

"Guys... I think I'm gonna... gonna..." Marvin tried to speak, but couldn't finish is sentence as he promptly lost consciousness, Chase's waiting arms catching him before he hit the floor.