Broken Haven

Chapter 13

Morning swept through the windows with its grey dark glow of energy-sapping light. Hans stood at the window, staring down at the mangled body, still laid in the streets; so focused that one might think he was trying to move it with his mind. His 'friends' woke up as he was doing this. They headed on down to the pub for breakfast, averting their eyes from him in case he so happened to turn around.

Hans had been standing there for quite some time now; he'd gotten up early as he'd had a rough time sleeping. "OK... Let's do this." He made a one-eighty turn and headed straight for the door. He entered the pub after wondering the corridors; swiftly being greeted with full attention. Fear ridden eyes looked upon him in dead silence. "We prepare to leave after breakfast. I expect every single one of you to stock up on two weeks' worth of canned food, and I expect us to be out of here in an hour's time." With a hand on the banister, Hans slowly took a step down onto a creaking board, then another, and another, in between the dead silence. He wondered over to a small table in a corner of the room, and sat himself down on an old wooden chair. Heads gradually began to turn away from him, and resumed their conversations, ones of which didn't feel as bright, cheerful, or hopeful today.

"I'm still confused." Alex brought up. "When the 'Party member dead' message popped up, I thought Hans had died."

Rosalie sighed and let out an explanation. "You never saw a message for Ethan though, did you?"

"Come ta think of it, I never did." Jose inputted.

"Hans killed Ethan yesterday. Ethan never died trying to save us. Hans made us abandon him." Lucas stared at Rosalie, knowing well enough that though they left Ethan. Hans never forced them to go. "It's why he's changed. Just like Ethan did. He turned... evil. Well... Not evil; he turned into a monster. Unrecognisable. He killed anyone and everyone that he thought threatened the rest of our lives."

"That's one hell of a theory." Jose replied.

"It's not a theory; I know it's true."

Hans finished his meal quickly; walking out the pub door and wondered off down the roader over to the shop to buy some cans for the journey ahead. He was soon followed by others who marched on over as well, treading on the squelching floor after a night of pouring rain. He stood at the gate of the village with motioning hands, directing the crowd over once they'd stocked up on cans. He waited as the group formed, growing larger and larger. "Let's go."

On deer-back, Hans herded the men and women out of the town, though before they fully set off, Hans guided everyone over to the farms just outside of the walls. He dismounted and began to speak. "We don't want anyone getting this food that we grew ourselves for free, do we? No." Hans leapt into his inventory and quickly crafted a little blazing campfire, placing it on the ground in front of him. He also pulled out a few logs and dropped them onto the floor. Hans came out of his inventory and picked up a log. He held it over the flames before tossing it over the crops. He did the same with the other logs. Smoke rose up into the air and the fire began to kick off, spreading all over the crops. "It's time to leave." Hans announced firmly; and out into the unknown they set off. This route took them southbound, away from everything they'd known so far, especially the dead body of Ethan, still lying there in the mud. Hans didn't want the group to start asking questions about why and how he'd died there.

The mountains faded away into the distance as the group moved on forwards, traversing the surrounding forests that seemed to go on for days upon days. Rotations of who rode deer allowed the group to travel much further in a day; thirty travellers shared nineteen deer, which wasn't ideal. A few kept watch during the nights, taking shifts to make sure they weren't being followed or watched. The group managed to take care of any monsters in their way with ease due to their daily training routines.