Massacre

Chris was woken up by a small girl with gray pigtails. There was a strange feeling in the air and it was obviously much later as the sun had retreated under the horizon.

Sarah was nowhere to be found, and Alice was in charge of the kids for the time being. She had noticed that Chris was finally awake and came over to speak with him. She walked slowly over the dried leaves on the ground, careful not to make too much noise.

Chris was about to ask what was going on when she held her hand up to her lips. She meant for him to be quiet, then she stepped in very close.

"Sarah is out to fight the bandits and we woke you just in case we had to run. She says that it should be safe, but it was the best option to wake you. You are pretty fat ya' know?"

She had a large grin on her face because she enjoyed screwing with the newest member of the family, or at least that was how she had seen it as the "big" sister.

Chris waited quietly with the group as a Crazy Lady was creeping across the forest.

Elves had ruled the forests for thousands of years but there was no real secret magic or skill involved. It simply took decades of practiced walking and active tracking to become as proficient as the elves.

Sarah was hiding in a tree as she saw the group of bandits walk towards the "camp" that had been set up. There was a fire and food was cooking, but strangely there were no people that could be seen.

The bandit leader slowly led his group of 11 men forward. The smell was delicious, they thought they might have a nice meal after a "hard" fight for survival.

The men were in a standard Wedge formation and were relatively close together as being spread out makes their number advantage worthless.

Sarah was silently jumping from branch to branch, watching the fools enter into their doom. Suddenly a member of the bandits falls into a pit. The member next to him holds his hand over his mouth as he is about to scream and cause the ambush to fail. Luckily there was nothing inside the trap and the group is able to continue with little problems.

They are slowly inching forward when the leader spots something. A line of rope that is spanning two trees. He smiles and points at it. The men give a short nod as to recognize the information and as the leader goes around it, he silently trips a thin piece of metal wire.

They barely hear a WHOOSH as a wooden log filled with stakes slams into the rear of the wedge. One man is instantly killed and two more are maimed. The leader turns to the back as he hears the familiar sound of death.

It is clear that the ambush has failed, but do they retreat?

The leader is thinking when his second in command is looking upward for another trap, not noticing the woman sneaking off a tree from behind.

The leader attempts to command his men but suddenly a sword blade pierces the side of his throat from behind and blood begins to spurt out in pulses and blinds the man closest, which is the second in command.

Sarah kicks the body into the group and is suddenly moving towards the blind commander. He is wiping his face when a sword swings and amputates his wrist at the joint while cutting the carotid artery.

Then a bandit attempts to hack at the elf when she steps behind the new dying man, effortlessly dodging a wild blade. She pulls a dagger and shoves it between the bones in his back, puncturing the heart.

Another man is swinging his weapon as she back steps and she counters with her now freed hand.

The man's nose crunches under the strength of her fist and she swipes her blade at the fool that attacked first, instantly cutting his throat, then she pulls the blade back and severs the throat of the man with the broken nose.

The bandit party is in awe, the leader along with second in command are both dead, three of their brothers are dead and two are maimed and dying.

The remaining five men are reeling from the death of so many friends.

[Do we turn or fight? There is no way we win…] Thought the man as he turned around and began to sprint before a dagger was picked up from the second in command's body and is thrown directly at the base of his skull.

Sarah was enjoying testing out her "rusty" abilities, but she had never thought she would run into a bandit smart enough to run away, they always just attacked and died in waves…

The last men were swiftly defeated and bled out. Their end was fitting as they became fertilizer like the shit they were.

Sarah took a knee and prayed to the forest and Goddess of Life. It is tradition for the winner to allow the bodies to return to nature.

She walked off into the darkness, the low level of light from the moons was shedding a faint amount of red light on the scene, making it even more ominous.

…

…

…

Chris was waiting by the campfire and was getting really hungry. They all had heard a grown man scream in agony, followed by subsequent sounds of death…

He shuttered at the thought.

[Just over there are men dying for our safety. It is justified right? They are attacking the decoy camp, or I think they were. Sarah isn't some murderer, is she?]

Suddenly a woman descended from the trees and landed next to the small pit they were all laying inside of.

She smiled and said, "All safe! Come on, lets all go eat!" and the kids just cheered but Chris was curious as to what took place.

Regardless, they all got up and carried their small blankets back to the real camp for the night, where they would eat stew and tell stories.

"Mommy! Mommy! Tell us what happened!" Shouted Alice as she was eating her stew.

The rest of the children stared at her with wide eyes as she took out her blade dyed in the color of war.

"WOOOOOAHHH!" went the kids in unison. Chris was baffled she was actually showing the kids her weapons…

[Wouldn't this scare them?] he thought as she demonstrated how she made a fake trap and then caught them off guard as they made a new plan.

"Oh, Mommy, show us how to build that swinging log!" Shouted Alice, "YEAH!" shouted the younger kids, they were eager to learn the art of war.

Sarah smiled, "Maybe when you are older, you all have so much growing to do before you are ready for anything like this. Even you Alice! Just because you are strong you shouldn't let it go to your head. It could have easily been me tonight! Never forget that we are mortal!"

Chris watched as the children took a more somber tone and hung their heads in contemplation.

[She isn't glorifying it…but it IS a fact of life. Good mom.] Chris had received a similar speech when he was young, before the accident. His dad had always told him to stand up for himself and to protect his mother.

"Sigh…" Chris stood up and said, "I am going to go take a leak." as Sarah looked at him and nodded.

He stepped out of the circle and went walking for a nice and quiet place to pee. The bugs were killing him without the smoke from the fire.

"Ugghh, I hate the dense forest…" he said as he walked through a bush and felt wet.

He looked down at his arm and there was liquid on it, it must have been sap or some sort of berry juice. He couldn't see very well with the darkness shrouding everything. Then he walked forward and notice that the edge of the forest was right there. As he walked out, he saw the carriage that they had parked, and he noticed that the bandits had parked just a little ways away.

He relieved his bladder and went to look at the bandits' wagon. It was shoddy at best and did NOT fit as many men as he had seen.

He rummaged through it, but it seemed that they had brought only a few rags for bleeding. He hoped off and went back into the forest. Then he thought, [How about I check out the site of the battle?] He smiled a little and headed in on the path with the numerous foot marks and broken twigs.

[Damn…these dudes sucked at sneaking up on people, why did they even try it?] Then as he neared, he saw a man laying towards him.

His instinct was to rush up to the man and perform Basic Life Support, but the man was his enemy.

[A deep contusion to the cervical spine…instant death.]

He walked forward and saw the painting.

Blood had spurted from multiple necks, dying the forest in a red glow.

Chris nearly hurled when he stepped back, [Oh my god! Their arteries were cut…]

Blood was pooling around the men as their heart had pumped a little bit out before it stopped functioning. Each one was in a different position. A limb or two as missing, then he saw the log trap.

[Oh dear lord…]

The man stuck to the spikes was clearly dead as his torso was Swiss cheese. Other men had massive wounds on their torso and arms, but they had been killed by an artery strike as well…

[This woman would stop at nothing to protect her kids.] He felt a deep conflict within. She had not lied about going for vitals earlier, and she had down played taking satisfaction in murder, but this was..systematic slaughter.

A part of him was expressing the evil nature it would take but that deep resonance within his soul was screaming to thank her for protection.

[WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?] He felt the pull, it WAS NOT him.

[Maybe it is the other person? The original person's wishes!] Then he felt a sense of calm. A light began to radiate off of his body and lit up the surroundings.

Sarah noticed it and began to sprint to the scene, arriving nearly instantly.

"CHRIS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She shouted as he glowed with a golden light.

She felt like he was a monster, it was triggering her instincts, but then she felt a sense of love coming from it as well.

"Rufus?" She asked the figure.

She received no response and Chris collapsed once more. But this time, he picked himself off of the ground.

"Thank GOD that feeling is gone!" Said Chris as he looked over to Sarah and she dashed forward to hug him.

The instinct was flaring that he was a person of great love to her. He felt the same way.

It wasn't romantic in any sense; it was motherly love.

Chris felt like he had control over himself. He knew what he loved and he knew that he was indeed changing.

He whispered into Sarah's ear, "I am afraid I can't be like the Heroes of the past old man. I can feel it…the power to decide resides within me. I want to be a good man, not a Hero. That is who I am going to be."

Sarah was confused at his words, but she felt the atmosphere change.

Lightning shot across the sky, just like the day they had met, but this time it reverberated throughout the forest and was echoing like applause.

No rain fell from the sky.

[It is a sign…] She thought as she closed her eyes and embraced her new son.