Chapter Text
The new member of the Black Horda was shady. There was something strange about him.
Tezz had felt it the moment he met him, and every day after that only confirmed his distrust.
Seth was weird.
Something about him didn’t make sense.
Also, since when a regular good person went around followed by crows? Since the fight against Zack, they had just…been there. From the balcony on Tezz’s room, he could see Seth’s, and he often found him there feeding them, and, Tezz was pretty sure about it, talking alone.
From the outside Seth seemed shy and friendly. Tezz found himself studying him often, and he could see something hiding under that cheerfulness. Something he couldn’t name.
Something when they fought slayers, something when Seth thought nobody was looking.
In some way, Seth reminded him of Cywer. Tezz and Cywer had been together since long ago, when it was just them, but two psychopaths under the same roof was too much. Now they outnumbered him.
The screen in the living room beeped and an alert popped up.
Tezz gave it a side look, not stopping playing for a second, waiting for his useless leader to get up from the sofa and accept it.
“Oh, its just some level 3…” said Memi moving closer.
“Mission?” Seth came into the living room, having heard the noise “Nice”.
“It’s just a level 3 but it’s still a job and you still could use some training… Go with Tezz”. Cy pointed at him.
Tezz died on the game. And inside.
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m the boss and I say so”
“You haven’t done your duty ONCE since I joined! Also, since you are the leader, it should be your responsibility”
“I’m feeling very desired right now”
Tezz ignored Seth and turned to Memi with begging eyes.
“Cywer is right, Tezz” said Memi The Traitor “We should all learn to work together, but you always team up with Cy”
“Yeah, and you are welcome”
Behind her, Seth lifted his hands and made a heart above Memi’s head.
Tezz growled.
***
While Seth finished the last of the level 3, Tezz sat down on the roots of a big tree, cleaning his glasses.
Every so often he looked up to check on his teammate, who he had left to handle all alone, and then would continue cleaning up his glasses with his shirt, and because he had no actual cleaning products, he was just spreading the dirt around.
“You should get some contacts” Seth was done, so he rested his arms on the hilt of his sword, studying Tezz’s frustration.
“Maybe I don’t like to jab my finger in my eyes every morning and every night, and not being able to fall asleep without taking them off without the contact going into my brain, and then needing surgery to remove them. And you know they don’t let us in the Blue Horda headquarters”.
Seth made a face.
“Right” Seth paused “Dental insurance I guess is a no too, right?”
Tezz stopped whipping and just looked at him.
He had no doubt Seth was dumb as rocks, but at the same time he was also sure that Seth played dumb most of the time, so he just chose not to answer, putting his glasses back on in silence. Getting up with a sigh, he dusted off his pants and started leading the way without looking back.
They had barely been walking for a few minutes when Tezz heard quick footsteps behind him and a sudden push on his back so strong it sent him straight to the forest floor before he could react.
He lifted himself up, disgusted at the mud that now coated his hands, arms and clothes, and turned around ready to scream his head off at Seth when he saw the reason.
A huge slayer. Well, not huge, more tall than other thing, its monstruous head was almost hidden in the lower branches of the crown of the trees that surrounded them. All long limbs like a spider, legs thin and sharp, full of hooks, ending pointy. It moved across the forest floor that way, without breaking a single branch. Leaves didn’t crunch under its weight, the needle like limbs just teared trough them too fast to make a noise.
Tezz immediately grabbed his gun.
The slayer opened its mouth with pincers and jumped forth to attack. He was expecting a roar, but it still didn’t make a sound, its objective devouring, not scaring its prey.
Tezz pulled the trigger. Once, twice, thrice. All of the bullets landing perfectly on the slayers face. It tumbled, its several thin legs shaking and finally giving up, the weight pulling the fall forward.
Still sitting on the ground, Tezz quickly grabbed Seth, who was next to him, having also fallen when pushing Tezz, and pulled him close, twisting his body to make them both roll out of the way, barely avoiding getting crushed by the dead slayer.
“Get off me!” Tezz kicked Seth aside and jumped up on his feet, checking his bullets and getting closer to the fallen slayer to unload the rest of the magazine on it to make sure it was dead, until the xate floated out. Tezz quickly harvested it before turning back to Seth. “This is like a level 6, I swear these assholes keep trying to set us up…. Seth?”
Seth was still laying on the ground.
“Seth?” called again “You ok? Did you hit your head?”
Finally, Seth moaned, trying to lift himself slightly with a groan, and failing miserably.
Then Tezz saw the issue.
A big gash on the back of his shirt, from which blood kept flowing out.
Tezz paled and kneeled next to Seth, careful lifting the soaked shirt to take a look. It was a clean cut, but deep and long, from the ribs to the middle of the lower back.
“Fuck”
“Is it bad?” Seth tried to look over his shoulder, also pale as snow. The dirt on his face only making the contrast worse.
“Yeah, stay still” Tezz took off his jacket, then his shirt, and held an end with his teeth, ripping it to make a bandage he could use.
“You are supposed to say that it’s not that bad” complained Seth with a weak voice.
“Yeah, and you are supposed to be quiet, so I guess none of us get what we want.” He finished tying the shirt around Seth’s torso and pulled out his phone, quickly messaging their teammates before putting it back into his pants and putting his jacket back on.
He tried grabbing Seths arm to put it over his shoulders, however, Seth only groaned and the makeshift bandage seemed to fill with blood faster.
“Okay, okay let me think…. okay, put your hands around my neck and… yeah, exactly…” Tezz lowered himself to let Seth get on his back, his hands under Seths knees. “Pray we don’t encounter any more slayers” Its would be really difficult pulling out his gun without dropping Seth to the ground.
And just like that, Tezz hurried out of the woods.
He slipped and almost fell many times, his sneakers picking up mud on every step, until, finally, after what it felt like an eternity, the trees opened up to a sunny prairie.
His heart was beating hard and drops of sweat slowly trickled down his temples when he finally saw something white in the distance, approaching fast.
“Seth!” He cheered up, hopefulness getting back to him “Its Memi! You are gonna get help in no time…Seth?”
In an instant Fenrir, with Memi on his back, stopped in front of them.
“Got your message! Cy went to get the doctor and bring him to the headquarters.”
She jumped down and with her help they managed to lay Seth across Fenrir’s fluffy white back in no time.
“He looks bad Memi, he’s bleeding a lot, what if he needs surgery or a transfusion? Shouldn’t we go directly to the Blue Horda?”
“Our HQ is on the way anyways, it would be faster to at least give him some first aid there and if needed, then move him. Not like the Blue Horda would help us anyway” Memi got back on Fenrir and extended her hand.
Tezz rejected it.
“If I go too, Fenrir would go slower. Go. I’ll catch up”
Memi nodded and without any more words, the three of them slowly disappeared on the horizon.
For a few minutes Tezz stayed still, his mind blank, until the adrenaline wore off and his shoulders started aching.
Standing alone in the middle of the field, everything suddenly hit him.
Seth had totally saved his life, and now Tezz had no way to know if Seth was going to make it. I mean, he probably would, right? The wound didn’t seem to be in a place where it would affect any vital points. Maybe a kidney. But people could live with just one, so maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal, right?
Texting Memi or Cy would be pointless, they wouldn’t bother to check the phone in those circumstances. As they should.
Tezz replayed the image of the wound in his mind. It went from the left ribs under the arm all the way crossing his back in a diagonal way. Intestines, maybe? Surely not, Tezz would have noticed when he checked the wound, right?
But none of that it would matter if he just bled out to death. But he was still breathing when the got him on Fenrir’s back, right? RIGHT? Did they check? Did Memi check?
FUCK.
A gust of wind stirred his golden hair at the same time as the soft blades of grass, making him aware of the eerie silence that surrounded him, no chips of birds, no buzzing of insects. The sun shone bright, uncaring. The calm atmosphere looked like a joke.
Slowly, Tezz started walking again, his soles dragging on the soil of the path.
He just hopped when he got back home the house wouldn’t be as silent.