HROT: Spawn of War

Chapter 13: Love and War

The demeanor of the entire group was low as they gathered around the fire the night Alex died.  They felt as if their quest had hit an impenetrable wall.  They had lost two dear friends, and Pore's defenses seemed more than capable of holding off an assault.

"Where do we go from here?" Shannon asked wearily.

"Where can we go?" Michael asked.

"This wasn't such a good idea after all," Leon remarked.  "We should just go home now."

Tony slammed his fist against a rock.  "No!  We've come too far to back down now!"

"He's right," TF stated, even though he was clearly sad.  "We can't let what happened be for nothing."

"What's the point of throwing the rest of our lives away?" David questioned him.  "We already lost Alex and Cheesecawk.  Any of us could be next."

"They didn't die so that we could give up!" Tony protested.

Scott shook his head.  He was visibly downtrodden.  "I don't know anymore, Tony.  This is all our fault.  Maybe this is a final warning that we should stop while most of us are still alive."

Tony was indignant.  "Not you too!  Come on, we've got to get these people back on their feet!"

"Tony's right!" Jamie broke in.  "We can't just sit on our asses and do nothing!"

"We can go home, like we should have done before this happened," Leon replied darkly.

"And let the Warnger finish us?" Tony asked incredulously.  "If we don't get Kyle back, we won't stand a chance."

"So you just want Kyle to be a pawn in your war with the Warnger?"

Tony fumed.  He grabbed Leon by the collar of his shirt and pulled back his fist.  "So that's what you think I am?  A warmonger who cares nothing about his friends?!"

Kiah tugged at Tony's sleeve and pulled him back.  Scott motioned for Tony to sit down.  "Calm down.  You're not helping anything," Scott said.

"Maybe HROT is meant to die," David said.

"That's a bit excessive, don't you think?" Michael asked.

"Why?  Everything that's happened has pointed to our doom.  Maybe it's time we laid down our arms and let fate take us wherever it wants us to go."

"Fine, then why don't you just run back to your little desert house?" Tony remarked hotly.  He turned to Leon and Kieran.  "And you two can go back to your fucking mountain and freeze your asses off.  As for me, I'm not going to give up on this.  Not after everything we've been through."

Tony stood up and began to walk away from the camp to think.  He looked over his shoulder and remarked, "You guys make me sick.  You're willing to let one of your closest friends rot in a cell with that maniacal witch just because you're too afraid to fight."

Crunk and TF seemed to agree.  "You guys can go home if you want," TF remarked.  "As for us, we're finishing this fight."

"I will not let my pain go unanswered," Crunk said.

Tony sat a good distance away, out of sight of the fire.  He heard a crunching sound, and Kiah sat down beside him.  "So what do you think about this?" Tony asked her.  "Are you willing to just give up like the others?"

Kiah shrugged.

"Do you think we can win?"

Kiah shrugged again.