The Woods Brothers

Chp 5 - Freedom

Liu bolted across the dead grass field, he didn't know what he was doing nor where he was going. Escaping from Jeffrey just seemed too easy, he seemed to just let Liu escape.

After about a minute of tough running Liu had built the courage to look behind him. He couldn't see Jeff. Relief seemed to wash over him as he let out a huge breath that he hadn't even noticed he was holding.

He slowed down his running to a slow jog. "I hope Aunt Mariam is alright." His gaze fell down to his hand that was filled with blood and splinters. He huffed as he pulled over to his right ducking into a bush when he thought he was in a safe enough distance from his brother.

Using his other hand Liu began to tug at his shirt "people in movies make it look so much easier." He mumbled to himself.

Once he had finally pulled off a small piece of the bottom of his dirty shirt he wrapped the fabric into a flat ball and placed it into his mouth. Looking back down at his hand he bit hard onto the fabric and started to pluck out his splinters, cringing through the whole time.

The pain stung him, he would be screaming if it weren't for his desperation to not get caught and of course the fabric. After he was sure he got most of the splinters out he removed the fabric out of his mouth.

He unfolded the fabric then began to wrap his injury up with the cloth, he was lucky that his hand was small and the fabric was just able to fit around his palm. Liu smiled to himself, happy for himself. "I can't believe we're still alive" Liu mumbled to himself yet again.

He raised his hands and moved some of the branches out of the way to check if his surroundings were safe. Once he felt safe he pulled himself out of the bush. Foolishly he had forgotten where he came from and so he ended up debating with himself which way to go and where he came from.

He began to walk a direction, feeling confident that he was going the right way.

Liu felt as if he had been walking for hours while it really was only about 30 minutes. Either way he wasn't fit enough to keep going. Fortunately he came across a cave that looked relatively secure, stable and well hidden. The entrance was tight but Liu was sure he could fit in with ease.

He squeezed himself between the crack. Observing his surroundings. There wasn't much to observe for it was a dark cave and it was pretty hard to see anything. Curiousity seemed to have gotten the best of him so he decided to venture on in the cave.

He heard drops of what he believed was water, his foot prints and breaths seemed to echo throughout the cave. Something was off about this cave, it seemed as if it was forming into some sort of mine, he was certain with his theory once he noticed the cave was forming wooden beams.

Liu thought to himself, if there were a mine then it should lead to a town. Picking up his pace he quickly traveled down the mine. "Hello?" He called out, hoping for someone to answer back.

He cupped his hands and yet again called out but this time louder. He waited a few seconds for a response. He gave out a huge sigh when he realised there was no hope.

He continued to walk down the mine with his head hanging low. "Who's there?" Liu's head perked up as he heard a male husky voice call out.

"My name is Liu" Liu shouted out, he waited a few seconds for a reply, after not getting a reply he began to run down the mine, sure he was tired but determination got the better of him.

"What are you doing down here?" Liu saw a corner that gave off a yellow light, he smiled, he felt happy that his plan worked. He knew listening to his heart would help him escape.

Liu gave a moment to think before he answer the man "there's these k-killers that are after me, they took my-" he took a deep breath in before he completed his sentence "-they took my Aunt."

He ran around the corner ramming into a lean hairy man. He carried a candle that he nearly tipped over and a pick axe in his other hand. "Woah there, slow down son." Liu smiled and rubbed his head.

"Please help me" the man looked Liu up to bottom.

"Gee you're in really bad condition, I'll take you back to my place so I can patch you back up then you can tell me more."

Liu wasn't thinking straight, he didn't think about how much danger he was putting this man in. He was just relieved that he got away from that place, yes there was no real threat there but he felt scared.

~

Liu sat in front of the cozy campfire wrapped in a warm red wooly blanket. The man had given him a new change of clothes and helped attend to his hand. He held a warm cup of hot chocolate in his hands. Though he must admit wasn't as good as what his mother or Auntie could do.

The man sat next to Liu patting the boy on the back. "Mind telling me what happened to your Aunt?"

Liu looked at the man, even though he just met this man he felt like he could trust him. "My brother Jeffrey-" he didn't want to blame his brother for any of this, he didn't really do anything wrong. This caused Liu to feel guilty for stabbing him, he didn't deserve it. Jack did. "I stabbed him with a piece of wood."

The man stood up and shuffled himself a few feet away from Liu "Wait no I didn't mean me... it wasn't me, well it was but it wasn't" he looked at the man hoping he would understand but he obviously didn't "let me continue please sir."

The man nodded, he was willing to let him continue but was on the edge of freaking out and coaling the cops.

"There's this guy with a blue mask, he has no eyes, well I don't think. He bleeds from them, but instead it isn't blood it's just some weird black ooze." He looked at the man awaiting a reaction. The man didn't respond so Liu continued.

"Another has white skin, no eyelids, black hair and a carved in smile on his mouth to make him smile forever" Liu took in a huge breath and let it go "h-he is my brother" he yet again looked towards the man hoping for a reaction. Only getting the smallest nod as if he was trying to gesture him to continue.

"One looked like a clown, but instead of a red nose he had a pointy black and white cone shaped nose. He's been haunting my dreams for a while." He took a sip from the cup "there's quite a few of them. Though they all have one thing in common... they want death and blood."

The man furrowed his brows and began to stroke his beard. "what do they want with your Aunt?"

"I'm not sure, probably to kill her."