The Painful March
1046 Words
RICHARD’S POV
Gripping every small blade of grass from the soil in the palm of my hands and squeezing it until my fingers were as red as the world around me does nothing to relieve the pain that I feel from Pearl gripping my balls, not moments ago.
”f**k! That hurt!” I moan out, allowing the snowflakes to cool my face down before attempting to stand up.
“Steady now,” Lucian teases. “We don’t need you to pass out and get left behind.”
“That will never happen,” I grunt, pushing off the ground.
“Just because they cut us off from each other doesn’t take a fool to know that you are about to black out, Richard.”
Lucian clears his throat, “Are you sure, or is this more pain from your pride again?”
“Give it a rest, Lucian,” I growl, using my knees for steadiness. “God, is it hot out here?”
“It’s snowing.” Lucian offers dryly.” The temperature out here is like… oh, twenty degrees.”
With every ounce of strength, I stand upright. Several times, I wobble back and forth, feeling nausea hit my stomach in waves. "It feels like she yanked them through my throat, ugh.”
In front of me, a blue hood kid appears, holding his sleeve over his mouth. “You look like you're going to pass out, Richard.”
“For the last time, I’m not going to pass out!” I snap.
Malcolm’s face is pale, yet his eyes flash the oh too familiar golden yellow. He glares at me for a second, then stops before raising his arm and coughing again. “Whatever, man.”
Nodding up the hill, Malcolm stares at both Pearl and Charles. “Look, you may wanna get up there. Pearl and Charles are about to go badass on the elders.”
Nausea doesn’t settle. The stench. It is worse than the smell of a garden of freshly grown gardenias. God, I hate Gardenias.
On the palm of my hands are pebbles and small blades of grass still pressed deep into my skin from gripping so hard. I dust them off, and another wave of foul odor slams up my nose."God, what is that?”
Then it hits me, “Wait a minute? Why are you coughing so much, Malcolm?”
"Matter-of-fact, why do you look like you’re about to lose your cookies too?"
Straightening my posture up, I look around to see what the hell is happening. "What the hell is going on around here!”
“Something tells me we should get going. This place is no good for us now, Richard. It smells of darkness and tainted blood.” Lucian growls.
“He’s right, Richard. My wolf is going nuts too.”
“Where the hell is it coming from?” I snap.
Waving his opposite arm, Malcolm gestures for me to hurry, “Just come on, Richard. Stop being so slow, man.”
I grip my balls and wobble forward. "I’m coming. I’m coming.”
“Dammit! Does this feeling ever go away?”
“Not when you get knocked down with blue balls, it doesn’t.” Lucian teases.
"He's got a point." Malcolm shrugs and walks up the hill with ease.
"Hey! What would you know about blue balls, kid!"
Ignoring me, Malcolm yells over his shoulder, "Pearl and Charles are right up here, and to answer your question, the smell is coming from inside the building.”
“Pearl’s mom,” he gags and continues, “It’s her body, your smelling.”
“How do you know that, Malcolm?”
“Good Question.”
Malcolm lifts his blue jacket clear up to his eyes and mumbles through the thick fabric, “Dude, look around you. It is even strong to humans.”
I was so focused on the pain. I didn’t think to look around at the others. “He’s got a point.” Lucian agrees.
I look around at all the government agents, “One is vomiting in a Hydrangea bush, while another is whipping the puke off his black filthy sleeve, including Erik, who is heading straight down towards me. “You? Now, what do you want?”
“I love you too, man, so much...really, I do.” Erik and Malcolm roll their eyes.
“What do you want, Erik?” I snarl.
"I went inside and checked things out after ya’ll left."
“You went back inside!” I yell out.
Several of the elders shift their heads over towards us.
“Yes, I did.” Erik covers his mouth more the closer we get.
I wobble up next to him and shake my fist. “Are you f*****g nuts!”
Burring his eyebrow down the center of his forehead, Erik stared at Richard before he spoke again.
“Mrs. Biddleworth showed up inside too. I found her running down one hallway, waving her hands up and down in the air. She was rambling on and on about the kids, so I checked out the joint.”
And what did you find out?” Lucian asks curiously.
“I looked through the classrooms, dorms, basement, even the attic. It was strange, I don’t know how many kids there were before, but the place was empty.”
“Empty? The entire building? What did they do, run while we were fighting?” I laugh.
“Doubt it,” Lucian says with a hint of curiosity. “The orphans were half-bloods, shifters, and very curious. They would have stuck around to watch if they could.”
I cough and stare at Erik, “How are you not throwing up! What are you immune to this s**t?”
“I want my mate back, asshole!”
We stop right before we approach Pearl and Charles. “Wait, you used to visit the place. Hell, you owned half of it.”
“What’s your point?” I snarl.
“How many kids do you remember seeing? I need to know how many to get my team research. We need to find these kids, you idiot.”
“Watch it,” I warn and look over towards Pearl.
With rage in her eyes, Pearl waves her fist at the building. The entire wall combusts, knocking pieces in every direction. As not one piece hits my brother or Pearl, I shake my head in disbelief, and she doesn’t even notice.
I think back to the cafeteria and the dorms, “Hmm, I guess there were at least forty that I saw when I visited.”
“Well, s**t’s about to hit the fan, Richard. Mrs. Biddleworth is calling the police as we speak!”
Another wave of stench slams up our noses. Together, the three of us cover up the best we can while I watch as the elders following us tumble over and puke. “Great...exposure to our kind.”
“Yeah, if this gets out on media, it will be bad news for us all.”
“Yeah, just like the last time at the Asylum with Sabraila,” Malcolm growls and marches past us.
“What are you talking about?” Malcolm doesn’t answer.
“Hey, Kid!” I call out.
- Writer
