Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 30 : Mourning Period

“i’d better die than rotting in the place like this, Shanice!”

John Straverman tried to convince her, but all of those efforts went down in vain. Shanice claims the knife and defied his opportunity for ending such miserable life. To the black-haired man, living without Elisa signifies no amount of value to keep from. Her existence embroidered the life and brought them all into his complete self. As the last attempt for his advance, the black-haired man pressed both hands before the chest. He squinted both eyes and squirted out fake tears to embellish his dramatic occurrence,” I’m currently living in a dream, Shanice. I’ve seen you doing imaginary things lately. That knife was meant to break this silly delusion of mine.”

“And you’ll be dead because of it?” Shanice tilted her head in confusion,” I’m grieving for your loss, John. It’s-“

~bam~

His right knuckle blast the floor once listening of her condolences. John glances at the leader in utmost fury and leering towards the curly-haired woman in violent gaze,” I’m not joking here, Shanice. You’re just a bad fantasy of my actual leader in the surface. Don’t you dare messing with me, since I could find another-“

~bam~

Before John could lay off another curse, Shanice abruptly hits him on the head to make him unconscious,” He’s way too dangerous to keep at bay. How could we brought him to realise that his wife would never return?” muttered the leader towards Gads Gilmore, which was approaching her after picking up such knock-off that occurred. The bearded man puts both arms near his waist whilst glancing over the unconscious man on the floor, looking upon the man in utmost sorrow,” He saved my life. I owed him one, you know? If he’s not there, I’m not sure that I’ll be alive right now.” He caressed John’s hair in mild fashion before lifting him upwards,”I don’t wanna have a brawl with you, sis, but I’ll try hard to make him realise the truth that were spoken.”

Shanice nodded towards her brother and giving him similar tone of misery upon her eyes,”Yeah, me too. It’s a miracle that John could devastate thousands of them without needing help. It’s an admirable talent from his behalf and I don’t wanna miss him in our team.”

~beep-beep~

The leader turns back her attention towards the flat screen on the wall. Before having an intense fight against John earlier, Shanice was supposed to maintain their next target on the map. They were stranded into twenty meters away from the primary track for Darte. Gads Gilmore has deployed his automated drones to search options available within the range of their current pathways taken. It has mapped almost every nook and cranny within the jungle of redwood tree, providing immense alternatives to choose from.

“I’ve been travelling this way to kill the kittens, now we should take another route on the opposite side from this one.” Shanice laid her thoughts out loud. Gads Gilmore was in another room for John Straverman to have a good rest and squeezing off negative thoughts in his comatose state, so the leader is all alone in the room at present,” Now, what if we do a turnaround and choose this path for our next run?”

She was a lone wolf in various objectives ordained by WIC company before her participation in this imposed contest. Although her title as a beast-tamer created ordinance to cooperate with another person in their company, it is never actually mandatory in real-life sense. The duty of a beast tamer includes neutralizing most beast in berserk whenever occurred. If she managed to nullify the threat independently, her bonus will be increased in the double, so the curly-haired woman rarely looked for help on each objectives assigned.

~tap-tap-tap~

“Ho, you’re finally come to, Natasha.”

Someone has appeared on the entrance door to the leader’s room. Her auburn-haired presence diverted the strategy-making sequence that Shanice has worked upon. The leader will never neglect her attendance and abandoned her welcoming gesture, for Natasha Gastano carried a plate of instant noodles on one hand.

After perceiving her expression, Shanice was dimly astonished. Natasha Gastano’s eyes were blank to the far corner of the room. It was seemed as if her soul got stolen and leaving the body to be an empty cocoon of being,”Natasha? Hey, how’s the food?” the leader tried to break the silence between them. An uncomfortable moment materialises amongst their convention that appears. Her severed limbs on the left arm made situations gone even more unsettling for either of them in that regard. Shanice endeavored to never let her eyes weighed upon the loss, but unconscious stare persists.

Roughly five minutes of absolute stare-down later, the auburn-haired woman left her room without speaking no words on the lips. Shanice noticed of the heavy tremor that happened on the right hand of hers. Her eyes went down in sorrow and unable to process openly of her own living phase that occurred, thus cold reticence upon her face for the time being.

“Everyone’s in low morale, now. What should I do?”

Shanice drooped onto the floor. Unseeable mental burden pressured her so much, it is rather dense for the curly-haired woman to receive them all in one hefty load of pain at once. Being a leader hits the hardest when she could no longer persuade her fellow combatants on the battlefield. It takes a good stretch of period for John Straverman to heal up from such massive loss. He was sincere when yelling about going on suicidal choice to find the ‘reality’ that the black-haired man was expected in. Shreds of despair controlled his current self at the moment and carried him on having no true perception of reality afterwards.

On the other hand, someone has lost means of movement for the first time in her life. Shanice would never be able to convince her next step forward shortly after received such aggravating position in their group. Natasha Gastano was in the state of living and being dead at the same time. Her energetic self was evaporated alongside the grim face that entered her emotion in its place.

Gads Gilmore appeared invincible and becomes the formidable personality that he was esteemed to be. Shanice relieved that their sole gadgeteer never fails her on being a strongman in the group. It is indeed because of no apparent loss on his behalf, but anything will turn out as a bliss for the curly-haired woman in this very situation nonetheless.

~pat~

Now, she felt one coarse muscle on the shoulder. Somebody has caught her in the weakness state that she was never intended to belong. From the substantial jagged surface of the palm, Shanice was able to deduct plainly on which person it was alleged.

“Don’t worry, Shanice. Take some rest and we’ll might be having a new revelation tomorrow.”

His bold voice soothes her mind in an instant. Shanice requires this kind of sympathy to boost her mood into the lively ones that she was believed to attain indefinitely. After diminished away in the last hours of their travel, smiles appeared on her face once more in ardent fashion,” Thanks, brother. I’m always in debt of you. Remember that, Gads? Always.”

“Don’t mind that. As long as you’re not going to marry me after this, everything was fine for my case.”

~thump~

The curly-haired woman smacks his head tenderly with her fist and goes chuckled afterwards,” That’s not what I meant, ya hear? You silly bear.”

Gads Gilmore aided her to rise up from the patch of multitude problems and offering her a helping hand to move along. His arduous palms were resulted over failed inventions and misdirected plans on the weapons trial. At times, it is the cause of hard-edged materials that the bearded man should bear for the sake of successful experiments straight after. He dwells against melted steel to form them by hand, which would be mandatory when no human-based weapon were produced in the era of alien weaponry.