Broken Bonds and Stolen Hearts (discontinued)

Chapter 19

The sound of the leaves getting crushed underneath their feet was the only thing breaking the silence. The sun was high in the sky, and several crows were cawing, roaming over the old hospital where there were dozens of corpses. They could smell the blood in the air even when they were this far away from the hospital.

Ian didn't talk much, saying that he already knew everything he needed to know about Louis through Tom, but Louis could tell that Ian was probably just scared of him and didn't want to anger him by saying anything dumb.

This made Louis go over what he said. Was it wrong? Did he use the wrong tone? He was trying to protect himself and point out a fact. He can't just trust them. They could be messing with him or something.

"Stop thinking that. Not every person you are going to meet will try to kill you, y'know?"

"How do I know they won't? That's all they ever did,"

"Because not everyone is a trafficker,"

"And not everyone is nice. You never know who's who, it's better to be careful than sorry," Yeah, that's right. Don't trust people blindly until they prove themselves to be trustworthy.

Tom and Ryan helped him get back his organs, they gave him food and clothes and offered shelter. Ian on the other hand literally met Louis today, and the first thing he did was... What did he do again?

"He didn't do shit,"

"Exactly. Can't trust him yet,"

"... I am praying for your recovery,"

"Fuck you too,"

Ian slowed down until he came to a stop and turned to look at Louis, eyes scanning him up and down before he spoke up.

"We are here, John is waiting for us inside that building. I'll go first and bring him up to our situation, and I'll call you when he's ready, alright?" he said as he took a deep breath in.

Louis nodded in return, not feeling like talking at that moment. He placed his hands inside his pockets and leaned against the tree as he watched Ian disappear into the old building that was at some point in time a restaurant.

Louis could hear them speaking even when they were this far from him and inside the building. Their voices echoed in the building and were carried by the wind. It was only Ian and his boss inside. There were no other voices, which made Louis relieved.

He was still not used to his new... Form.

After a good 30 minutes of waiting, Ian emerged out of the building with a man around his age following behind him. The new man quickly locked eyes with Louis as soon as he stepped out, his blue eyes looking at Louis up and down, examining him.

Once they were close enough, Louis pushed himself off the tree and stood straight as he looked at the new man, and then at Ian.

"Here is the kid. Louis, meet the leader of the hunters of Carnage, John Price," Ian introduced the man, and Louis took notice of his thick beard and weird hat. The man, John, smiled at Louis when he noticed him looking at him. His cheeks and beard were raised when he smiled, causing little wrinkles to form around his eyes.

He seemed friendly enough... For now.

"Nice meeting you, Louis." he held out his hand for Louis to shake, and Louis looked at him cautiously, scanning him for any hidden weapons before taking his hand and giving him a firm shake.

"... Nice meeting you too," Louis responded awkwardly before he retrieved his hand and placed it inside his pocket, taking a few steps back to make some kind of distance between them.

He heard about this man. He heard about what he had done, how many people he had saved from Gary... He looked up to him.

Now that he was standing here right in front of him in the flesh, Louis couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. This man might look friendly, but Louis was more than sure that John wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet through him. He had that leader aura, you are forced to respect him as soon as you see him.

"My man told me what happened to you... I want to apologize," John breathed out as he looked apologetically at Louis, who was confused by the sudden apology.

"What for?"

"For not finding you. It must have been tough. I am sorry. We didn't know where they were hiding... And we still don't." Louis watched as John's facial expressions changed from apologetic to serious.

"Will you help us? You are the only one who knows where they are hiding. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, I'm fine with you just pointing at the location on the map. But we need to save these people..." He pleaded Louis with both his words and his eyes.

Louis wouldn't reject this, he wanted to save his brother... So of course he would tell them, but... There was this burning pain in his chest. That burning jealousy. They would be saved and have more normal lives than Louis who would be stuck being a monster for the rest of his life.

"I'll take you there, but if my brother is there, I won't go inside with you. As much as I want to save him, he probably hates me now. I let him believe a lie to keep him alive," Louis remembered the lies... His mother's look, and how his own brother held a gun against him. It hurt... It still does.

"I'd rather he continues to hate me than to see me like this. You would take him under you, won't you? I'm doing this for him after all," he looked at John and Ian coldly as he spoke, making sure that his tone was more factual than questionable. He couldn't care less about anyone else besides his brother.

They all treated him like shit after what happened to Rei.

"We have a deal then," John nodded his head as he declared, looking at Ian momentarily before looking back at Louis again.