Drips of red. Afterdeath [DISCONTINUED]

Handle with care

Leaves crunched, and squished underneath the boots of the vampires. The air was humid, and the forest was chilly, the soldiers stayed close together as they started to slow down.

"Stay close." A soldier with a bow said, they walked ahead of the group looking at the trees that seemed to come closer together, "We're in Yellow territory now.”

The soldiers nodded, and held their guns close to them, one hand supporting it, and the other on the trigger. They moved slowly, turning their heads to the smallest sound, and movement.

“The X should be near,” A soldier close to Death said, he looked to the bark of the trees, most of them were clawed and torn. Death took a small step to the side, bumping shoulders with Geno.

“I don't understand,” Geno said and looked up at Death, he whispered, “If we're in Yellow territory why can't we hear the X?”

Death looked over the small crowd of soldiers, “We're not fully in yellow’s district yet, they rely on their skills of traps for protection more than others. The trees cut off sound, so we have to be careful.”

Geno nodded, shuffling slowly behind the other soldiers. He looked to Death’s wing, “Does it still hurt?” he asked quietly, careful not to break the attention of the other soldiers on the field.

“Not as much,” Death admitted, he looked at Geno and smiled, “It's numb for now, but sooner or later it'll come back to me.”

“HALT!” A figure spoke as they staggered forward.

All soldiers took their stance, raising their guns ready to fire. A tall octopus vampire stood at the end of the narrow path, the soldier that was upfront raised their hand signalling the others to fall back on their weapons. Death walked to the front of the lines, moving through the crowd. He looked to the vampire, noticing a wound on his leg.

“Do you need help!?” Death called out to him, the vampire raised his hand limping towards them. His robe was torn apart and only hanged from his shoulders, part of his pants had been ripped where the wound laid.

“H-halt.” He wheezed as he limped forward, using the trees for support, “There's a trap i-in front of you.”

Death took a step back, and looked to the ground, some of the dirt had been washed away by the rain. Small metal bumps hid deep within the ground, Death raised his hands moving the group of soldiers back.

“Is there any way past this?” Death asked the vampire, “Most of my soldiers don't have wings.”

“Yes,” The vampire coughed, and walked to the side, disappearing into the depths of the trees. Death waited for a minute before turning back to his soldiers.

“While we wait, I want the soldiers who have wings to fly and scout ahead of us,” Death ordered with most of the soldiers nodding, spreading their wings, “The rest of us will come as soon as possible, I know it's not the best plan, but it's all we can do for now.”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers responded with respect.

The soldiers who didn't have wings moved to the side as wings started to spread out around them. Most of the soldiers started to fly off, leaving more room for the others.

“Spare them." Death whispered as he watched the soldiers fly far ahead. He turned back to the rest of his soldiers, and took a deep breath calming his nerves as he felt the weight of stress press down on his chest.

“O-over here,” A weak, and raspy voice called. The vampire from earlier limped, gesturing to a few ropes tied onto the trees, “It's n-not much but j-just try and use it as best a-as you can..”