chapter 3 part 2

Crap." Garou knew he must recuperate. He will soon lose consciousness if he remained idle.

"Kid, you know a place I can stay in undisturbed?" Garou asked. He does not know why there wasn't a single forest in sight around him, or why he fell from the skies after wrapped in around black mist, but he would figure that out later. He needed to heal… also, he was hungry.

"E-Eh…" The kid was still frozen there, unable to move, most likely out of fear.

"Kid, this what you do for someone that saved you? Take me somewhere I can heal. I will pass out if I remain idle." Garou demanded again, forcing the kid into action this time.

"I… f-follow me." The kid gulped, rubbing his neck still sore from the tentacle choking.

Looking at the kid, he was also in need of medical attention judging by the purple bruises on his person; though he won't allow him to call for an ambulance. Garou was well versed in the art of self-aid, and the aid of others. He will not let himself be caught by the Hero Association no matter what.

As the young boy headed down the stairs, Garou followed him. The darkness seemed to engulf the stairway, making everything hard to see. Both he and the boy continued going down, flight after flight passing. The entire area was almost entirely silent, aside from their footsteps. Garou assumed that they had arrived at the floor the boy was heading for, when he reached a nearby door, slowly swinging it open.

The boy continued walking, occasionally casting a glance back at Garou. The red-haired hunter followed the small boy into the hallway, observing everything as he went with all of the doors they passed shut firmly. He couldn't hear anything from behind any of them. However, unlike all of the other entries, the one at the very end of the hallway was open wide, exposing the interior. As they neared the room, Garou narrowed his eyes as he noticed a very obviously broken lock on the door.

The boy entered the open room first, glancing around the interior, as Garou followed shortly behind him. As he threw his eyes around the room, Garou could not miss the signs of forced entry and kidnapping. Furniture was toppled and thrown around. Curtains from a nearby window lay on the floor, apparently ripped from the frame. Dirty footprints of varying sizes and shapes were tracked all along the floor, a sign of the numerous intruders. A nearby dining table rested upside down, flipped by one of the intruders in their violence.

Garou could see the young boy glancing around the room, frivolously cautious and wary for any more villains despite the overwhelming silence around them. This apartment was his home. The blood-haired hunter couldn't see any homeowner. Perhaps the monsters outside had already…

"You live alone kid?" Garou asked to make sure.

"...no… my Aunty owns this building. She's out for today…" Ghin replied as he walked towards a closet, the white door on the wall.

Following the boy, Garou stayed slightly behind. His senses remained sharpened, in case any more monsters made their approach. He'd been taken aback by how weak those monsters were. It seemed like they were low Tiger or Wolf at best since they'd barely even put up a fight. Garou's body still ached as he slowly walked behind the boy, still suffering from his accumulated wounds.

"H-Here you go," Ghin said as he took out a white square case, with a red plus on it, from the closet. It was a medical kit meant for emergencies.

Opening it, a small array of medical supplies unveiled. Antiseptics, bandages, gauzes and a wide assortment of other medical tools were sat there, ready for use. Garou's body ached as he looked down at the contents of the medical kit. The boy began to take the materials out, one by one, glancing up at him.

"Uhh… w-what's your name, uncle?" The boy asked, afraid but trying to be brave.

"...Garou." Garou answered as he took the bandages and antiseptic.

"And don't call me uncle. I'm eighteen." Garou lightly chided the boy as the boy widened his eyes.

"...eh?" The boy blinked owlishly at the revelation.

"But, y-you look you're thirty!" The boy uttered without thinking as he rudely pointed at Garou's face.

"You want to be socked?" Garou threatened as he started applying the antiseptic, gritting his teeth in response to the liquid stinging the blood-crusted wounds before wrapping the white cloth around them one by one.

The boy shook his head rapidly in response, unwilling to endure the same fates as the villains there before.

Staring at Garou, the boy watched as the man tended to his severe wounds, wondering what had he been through to look so bloody.

"...uhh… why did you fall out of the sky?" The boy asked. A man falling out of the heavens was by far the strangest occurrence now that Garou thought about it.

"...a bird dropped me," Garou replied bluntly upon remembering Phoenixman, a promise to skin the monster strong in his heart.

"Eh?" The boy blinked again, trying to process his answer as the atmosphere turned awkward.

"...a bird? What? How big is the bird?" The confused boy asked, unable to picture such a big bird.

"...big," Garou tersely answered as he finished bandaging his arms.

As he continued treating himself with the medical supplies, Garou cast a thought back to the three heroes that had cornered him. The memory elicited a slight frown, grimacing at the pain and shame that occurred. It may only have happened a few minutes ago, but it wedged itself firmly deep inside the recesses of Garou's mind. After that, another question arose in him.

However, a question followed Garou after the memory. What happened to him?

"...kid, where am I?" Garou asked. Grasping his location was crucial, as he cannot determine the distance between him and the three heroes - well, two heroes and another master martial artist that rivaled the old fart.

"U-Um," The kid stuttered, gathering the vestiges of his courage to answer the scary man.

"H-Hosu…"

"...Hosu?" Garou repeated himself as he blinked. There was no place he knew in Z City called Hosu.

"Is it a new place in Z City?"

"...uh… what's Z City?" The boy asked, evidently confused.

"Eh?"

Confusion was written all over Garou's face as he stared down at the equally bewildered boy. Where was he? The boy's knowledge of the location was impossibly absent, replaced by a word Garou never knew existed. The atmosphere teemed with mutual bewilderment as the two exchanged blank, questioning stares.

"...kid, do you have a map?" Garou asked, fear and trepidation creeping into his heart.

Standing up quickly, the young boy rushed over to one of the nearby open doors in the house. Garou could hear him rustling around various miscellaneous items in his search. After a moment of silence, footsteps grew closer from around the door. Suddenly, the kid appeared from behind the door, holding a large sheet of paper up for him. Clasping both edges of the layer, the young boy continued approaching Garou, the paper rustling as he moved.

As he stopped before Garou, the young boy placed down the map on the floor. Straightening it out with his hands, he glanced up at Garou.

"Is this o-okay?" The boy asked the Hero Hunter as he stared at the geography of the land he now resided.