The Echelon Tower

Chapter 9 - Change

    ...

In a dark, damp cave full of moss, a young boy was crouched in a corner. He was holding the side of his arm, as it was slightly deformed. It had obviously been broken.

"Jonathan this can't be. Why us? Why?" A girl suddenly jumped in his embrace, crying at their situation.

"It's OK Steph, we'll make it out, I swear." Jonathan got up, still holding Stephanie against his chest as he picked up his broken spear.

Although he seemed heroic, he had no confidence in himself. In the direction he was looking at, there was the entrance of the cave. There, at least ten wolves could be seen, growling at Jonathan.

He knew he had no chance to survive this. He had a broken arm, broken ribs and no escape route. Furthermore, it was a 1vs10+. It didn't matter if he suddenly became five times as strong, or if Guillaume came with his gun, his fate was sealed.

He would die.

'There has to be a way to escape, right? Sure, if I die, I don't care. But I can't allow Stephanie to fall with me." Jonathan thought to himself, seeing the grim situation.

"It's all our fault, all our fault. We, we should have just run away from the camp of wolves. Never should be have killed all of them, stealing their babies, NEVER!" Stephanie suddenly entered a mental breakdown, shedding more tears.

After they had killed and eaten the five wolves, the rest of the pack was enraged. The river seemed to have done nothing to stop them, as they magically swam or jumped over it. Even the group's smell didn't dissipate in the water, as they thought it would.

While they were certain that they were in the clear, the wolves had snuck up on their camp. Unlike with other hunts, they didn't plan anything. After all, this wasn't an ambush, it was a bloody revenge!

The group of humans could do nothing to save themselves. Jonathan had woken up and quickly started running with Stephanie.

He had seen Guillaume and Julien get jumped on by wolves, so he was sure of their death. As for the three others? He had no idea. Perhaps they were already dead, or they were in a better situation than Jonathan and Stephanie.

"Don't say that. It was Guillaume and my fault for deciding to attack the five wolves. If you want to blame someone, blame me. But don't worry, I'll get you out of here for sure." He tightened his grip on Stephanie, although his arm was broken.

" ... yes, it's your fault. Your fault, always YOUR FAULT!!!" As she crazily screamed, Stephanie pulled out something from her pocket.

Before could react, Jonathan felt a sharp pain in his stomach. When he looked down, he saw a knife deeply lodged in his abdomen.

"Steph ... why?"

As he looked up to see his friend, whom he taught would never betray him, he saw something that shocked him.

Behind her, there was a person holding her hand with the knife, guiding it to Jonathan's stomach.

"You ... how?" As Jonathan looked at the red boy, the same one he had killed to save himself and Stephanie, questions flooded through his mind.

He had stabbed him twice, so how was he still here? Even if he was alive, how did he get here? And why didn't Stephanie reject him guiding her hand?

"How? Hahahaha. There's no point telling that to a dead man. Karma has been repaid. An eye for an eye, a life for a life. But I won't cut your neck, I'll let you get eaten by the wolves, just how you let my girlfriend get eaten by them. I'll let you suffer, feel how it is to have your skin ripped, you flew removed and your bones crushed. Haahahahaha."