The Stupid Cannon Fodder is Stunning Today

Chapter 4: Slaughter

This chapter is brought to you by Megalomaniac by aeseaes. 

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The village was on fire and Nine was left with eight children and a baby. 

He felt a tug on his shirt.

"Toby?"

Otto was staring at him, eyes wide with confusion. 

"Are we there yet?" 

Nine looked back at the burning village in the distance. 

He couldn't hear the screams or see the blood, but he knew there was no use going back. 

"We're almost there," he told the children.

They continued toward the river.

"Listen to me, love. Whatever happens, always know Mama loves you." 

"Take the children to the river tonight... As the oldest, you must take care of them, alright?" 

There was no backstory for Toby Calypto. 

He was a stupid man who made poor life choices. His aunt and uncle took pity on him when he lost his parents and brought him back to Vesna, but the ungrateful thing caused trouble left and right. 

"Mama loves you."

Was this the part where the boy would flee, leaving the children behind? 

Nine wondered how Toby managed to escape. 

Whatever business those men in black had with the village, he could do nothing for the place this body called home. 

The woman who was now his mother was dead. Eru was dead, Ula was dead, Aur was dead, Ren was dead, Ala was dead... 

"..."

What was he going to do now?

They reached the river by the time the moon was low in the sky. 

It was almost sunrise, and they were meant to stay there until dawn. 

Nine made a fire and had the children sit around it. 

The river had fish, and he caught them. 

He fed the children and then fed the baby in his arms with the bottle of milk he was given by Ula. 

They sat there in silence. 

"When are we going home?" Trei, one of the little boys, asked after a while. 

Nine stared at the fire where more fish were being roasted.

A moment later, he handed each of the children another fish. 

"We will not go home." 

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The children cried themselves to sleep. 

Nine looked out in the distance and saw the sun peeking out from the horizon. 

The children needed to rest for a little while more, but they needed to leave the mountains as soon as possible. 

Whoever the men in black were, they might have already noticed there were no children in the village, and would soon catch up to them.

The youngest child besides the baby was Duri, a three-year-old girl. The other girl, Tess, was four. The younger mousers--Quin, Juno, Sept, and Otto--were about six, and the other two boys, Trei and Lief were five.