CHAPTER 6
Theo
“A hickey, Stryker! He gave me a hickey! Can you believe it?!” I stressed as we made our way through a stretch of forest towards the burnt village.
After the encounter with Matthew, I had practically ran straight into Johnathan, too dazed and flustered and taken aback to be paying attention to my surroundings.
Johnathan had steadied me and frowned, and I had felt his piercing gaze on my neck for a moment and had known perfectly well what he was looking at.
Had known that Johnathan knew that I hadn’t had it the other day when I’d joined.
I’d winced, held my breath, waiting for him to ask about it or put the pieces together and tell me to leave or face the consequences of ‘my sexuality.’ I ’d wanted to die from the mortification.
But, instead, Johnathan hadn’t remarked and simply asked if there was a problem.
“Stryker wanted to know if we were allowed drinks.” I had stuttered out after a moment, having forgotten what I was there for in the first place myself.
Johnathan had laughed “tell him he can keep dreaming.” He’d snorted.
I had told Stryker as such when I’d returned, surprised that he didn’t ask about the hickey either, and had gone to wash, only to find two tankards of ale and a grinning Stryker when I’d finished.
“He can keep dreaming my ass.” Stryker had cackled.
Now, two hours later and after a long talk with Johnathan and the other commanders about what we were to do about the situation, I was whining to Stryker about what had happened. He hadn’t asked, but his gaze had kept flickering to the spot, clearly curious.
Now I was pretty sure that he was regretting ever looking at it in the first place, because I had been going on about it non stop for ten minutes and was fully aware of it and really couldn’t care less.
“Maybe that was payback.” Stryker shrugged “I don’t know what you want me go say, Theo. Just try to forget about it. Stop being at each others throats about this whole situation that you created and just try to view each other as comrades, okay? You do that and this will probably stop happening.”
Before I could reply, Johnathan called us over to him.
“I’m gonna have to ask you to scout ahead.” He said to Stryker in a low voice “just for safety matters. And take this one with you.” He nodded towards me, who have a small nod.
Stryker had me follow him through the trees.
“You take the left and I’ll take the right.” Stryker murmured “might be quicker. Johnathan didn’t exactly give us coordinates.”
“They are close by, aren’t they?” I asked nervously “because if there is something-“
“They’re within shouting distance.” Stryker said reassuringly before heading towards the right.
I stood still for a few moments, hesitant and apprehensive about being left by myself in a forest with something or someone potentially dangerous hanging around, then did as I was told.
I regretted that soon after when the village came within view.
It was nothing particularly strange or eerie at first; small, burnt wood, mostly ruins.
The gate surrounding the place was still mostly intact, if charred, so when I was close enough I made to climb over it to take a closer look, quickly changing my mind when I caught a glimpse of what was inside.
I released the gate, turned on my heels, and vomited.
“Stryker!” I yelled hoarsely when I’d done, voice shaky and heart hammering against my chest “Stryker, I found-!”
“Shut up!” Another voice replied, not Stryker’s. I felt my breath catch in my throat, freezing up in terror and briefly considering the possibility that I was about to get eaten alive before I realised that I recognised the voice and turned.
Jack and Matthew had appeared from within the thick forest.
“What are you-?”
“Jack, go and take a look.” Matthew interrupted, before turning his eyes to mine.
I swallowed hard and held his gaze.
“There are loads of villages, Stryker found one too. He couldn’t find you so Johnathan sent us to whilst the others split up.” Matthew supplied.
“Yeah, Matt, you’re gonna want to see this.”
He raised an eyebrow at me as if asking if I’d be alright.
I nodded once, and Matthew disappeared after Jack.
When they emerged, I made the mistake of looking up at them and caught another glimpse of the bodies.
I quickly looked away, feeling the colour drain from my face.
Matthew shifted to completely block my view.
“I’ve got it.” Jack muttered to him, glancing over at me “go calm him down, will you? He’s stressing me out.”
Matthew chuckled and I scowled at the ground.
“Hey.” He murmured once he was closer “listen. This isn’t gonna be the first time you’ll have to see something like this. If we’re gonna get anywhere with this we’re gonna have to examine the corpses and the village itself, and if you can’t even look at them then we’re gonna have a problem.”
I raised my gaze. Matthew met it, then glanced down at my neck and smirked. I knew exactly what he was looking at. I screwed up my nose in distaste and sighed “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“I know.” Matthew patted my arm “come on, you have to get over this.”
“Matt.” Jack snapped “the skin has been peeled off.”
“Yeah, that’s what we were told, Jack.” He replied without turning, maintaining eye contact with me “what should we do?”
“Stryker said he searched around and found nothing. So did the others. We need dogs or something, Matt.”
“I don’t think even dogs could pick up anything.”
“Maybe we should-“
“Hey.” A voice said. The small group turned towards Stryker, who’d emerged from the trees “we’re heading back to do some research. We can’t find anything.”
“Sounds good.” Matthew murmured. I noticed that he was still standing right in front of me.
Jack stepped over the body he’d been examining and greeted Stryker with a smirk.
“Dude, you have got to start working on this kid, he’s a rookie through and through.” He laughed, thumping Stryker on the back. I stopped and glared at him, affronted.
Matthew rolled his eyes and gave me a small push in Stryker’s direction “he just needs to get used to unpleasant sights. Try not to loose him, hey? He’s your responsibility.”
“He’s not my mentor, he’s my partner.” I said indignantly.
Stryker chuckled “yeah, but until you’re good enough I’m also your mentor.” He winked.
Jack huffed “I was loosing Matt all the time.”
“Nah, you were abandoning me all the time.”
“Same thing.” He shrugged.
Stryker just smiled “yeah, well. The bodies were skinned, not burnt. The villages, however, were. Something weird is going on here.”
“Clearly.” I muttered, folding my arms.
“John said we’ll stay the night, do some research, maybe ask around.”
“Does he have any leads?” Jack asked.
Stryker just shook his head.
“Come on, we should head back.”
Matthew trailed behind, kept glancing back at the village. Jack snapped at him to hurry it up.
“There’s something weird about this.” He swallowed hard “I don’t like it, is all. Were there any survivors?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask John.” Stryker said, shrugging “might help a load.”
“Don’t you think he’d already have thought of that?” I asked sceptically.
“Maybe. You never know.”
Matthew only took a few more steps before he suddenly tripped and crashed to the ground. I was quick to crack up laughing. Jack smirked.
He sat up with a curse “what-“ he tugged at something “why is there a chain…”
Stryker crouched beside him and pulled at it. I followed it with my gaze as the leaves and dirt fell off it to reveal- I gagged and turned away.
“More bodies. Yay.” Jack muttered.
Matthew’s nose crinkled up “chained up? Seriously?”
“You think they were in the naughty corner?” Jack smirked.
“Okay, Jack, tone it down. This is creepy, not cool.” Matthew muttered.
Stryker sighed “I’m gonna have to agree. Come on, the sooner we get back to the others the better.”
“Fine by me.” Matthew replied.
I nodded in agreement.