He didn't expect an answer. He was still convinced that the 'Voice' he was hearing in his head π his really jacked up head β was the result of stress and insanity to a point. That the feeling that someone was upstairs, who can control him and give him strength and wanted him not dead was just a fluke and he was just being insane and crazy the whole time.
And so, when the Annihilator gave up trying to claw his face and dug it's venomous claws into his side, while simultaneously biting a chunk of flesh in his shoulder - The scream that left his lips was filed with pain and rage, as Austin, feeling once again like a co-pilot in his own body, freed his arrow-holding hand to repetitively stab the monster in the head, hearing the crack of skull and the squishy, sticky slimy sounds of a brain matter being stabbed and mushed with shocking force and surprising precision. And, as the adrenaline kicked in full-time, Austin watched his own body in amazement as, with one kick of both legs, with strength he never once displayed, and, watching from a co-pilot seat in his own head, he managed to kick the monster off of him, even despite the fact that the creature had to have weighed tons.
As it howled in pain, recovering and reaching its feet once again to attack Austin, Austin watched his body already beat the creature to its feet, and charging so fearlessly and so courageously that Austin knew he couldn't have been in control because he wasn't that bold or brave π He watched as his body picked up one of the fallen scouts' spears, and tossed the spear through the creature's shoulder blades so fast, it basically blurred it's way into the monster's flesh, leaving no time for the creature to react or block or dodge. He then rushed forward, leaped onto the beast's back after plucking his two daggers from the ground before his leap; he stabbed each blade through an ear of the monster, holding on for dear life, as it thrashed wildly to get him off it. He stabbed two of his arrows through the forehead of the beast with the speed and force of making the arrows go feather-end deep through the forehead.
Leaping from the creature's back, Austin's unstaggering feet had barely touched the ground before the Annihilator exploded in gears, bolts, guts, gore and greyish green liquids Austin was pretty certain to be the beast's blood at this point.
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By the time Austin had finished his Annihilator, most of the other scouts had finished their own opponent and won their fights⦠Or haven't died trying, at least. Those who were still fighting were wrapping it up with help from those who had already finished their own fights. Five minutes after Austin's battle, in fact, the battle was over, and a silent shock overtook everyone of them, as the death counts rolled in.
They lost three scouts during the battle, but they hadn't even had the opportunity to grieve before Austin had a sudden dreading feeling that something was wrong. He suddenly felt that their friends back in the Meadows needed help. He turned to Aaron and saw that somehow the guy understood that they needed to go back home, not only to bury their fallen, but Austin could tell he either felt what Austin was feeling, or, most likely, had a pretty good comprehension of what Austin was panicking about somehow.
Whatever it was, Austin was glad when the boy immediately took the role of leadership, immediately ordering Austin and the 7 other scouts to help carry the fallen back to the Meadows, and that he had a "bad feeling that something wasn't right" and that "even if it ain't nothin', y'alll need y'all rest after dis fight." And they began their trudging way back to the Meadows, slowly, carrying Trevor's unconscious form, three fallen scouts' and bearing injuries that should've killed them already.
As they continued their way to the Meadows, the feeling of something being wrong grew within Austin. Austin was sure he was in control of his own body again, so it likely hadn't had anything to do with him being possessed by the Voice, he was sure. And despite losing three people and Trevor ending up unconscious, the battle with the Annihilators felt a little off π It wasn't an easy one, but Austin felt like they shouldn't even been able to outnumber the creatures, least of all, win against them. It was almost as if it were planned to be easy enough to win but hard enough to have looked like a real battleβ¦ Or Austin is overthinking it and it was just a battle. He really hoped he was just overthinking it, though that'd be naive thinking given everything that's happened since he escaped that chamber/prison days ago.
As they trudged along the way back to the Meadows, the feeling of wrongness only grew, like a suffocating weigh on his chest, robbing the air from his longs and adding gravitational weight to his chest, sparking the fire in his gut and intuition, both which was telling Austin something was up, though he couldn't have known what. Austin couldn't help but get lost in his worrisome thoughts. 'Are his friends, the Meadowers, okay? Are they safe? If not, what's going on? Will they make it to the Meadows on time? What about Reya? Is she okay?'
"Anybody ever tell ya you think through your face, Newbie?" Aaron startled Austin from his thoughts, facing Austin through the usual slightly amused eyes of his as they shared carrying Trevor's unconscious weight between their shoulders. "Relax, Newbie, if something is wrong at the Meadows, Reya is certainly handlin' it, ya know. She good at leadin' people. and if Scavengers are attacking, then her mind power will warn her long before they even reach the Gates, so don't worry about her, either."
"I wasn'tβ¦I-I wasn't worrying aboutπ," Austin began and stopped himself whenever Aaron's amused eyes when sparkly.
"I've seen the way you look at her, Austin," Aaron sighed with tiredness, and it was enough to stop Austin from commenting that the guy hadn't called him 'Newbie' but by his actual name then. "You go after her, maybe talk to her."
Austin studied Aaron. The guy had some cuts and scrapes on his face and throughout his body; some from the most recent battle for when a surprised Annihilator charged him and Trevor after making it past their friends in battle. It was a clawmark or bite mark like Austin's, whom's wounds as were open and he was only moving, he suspected, by the adrenaline still pumping through his veins somehow. His shirt had a lion's insignia for his crest on his left pec of his shirt and his jeans were barely touched aside from the Annialator blood and his own mixing on the cloths of his leggings. His boots, though muddy and greyish green and dirtier then earlier that morning somehow, were otherwise wearable.
"I have a feeling that something is wrong," Austin confessed.
"And I've learned to trust that intuition of yours, Newbie," Aaron said, supportively. "But we gotta get there to be sure, man."
As they arrived at the Northern Gates, passing its threshold, it was then that Austin just knew something was wrong. For one thing, it was quietβ¦ too quiet. For another, Austin couldn't find anyone, anywhere. He didn't see Reya or Cleo or Zether or even Caesar with his usual scowl-possessed face. And, around this time, there should've been at least the late evening socializing and rough play amongst the Meadowers as they finished up their evening tasks. But the fact that there wasn't one single Meadowers insight made the pit in Austin's stomach enlarge.Β
Aaron must've had the same observation as he stopped in his tracks. He took a look around, and spotted something that Austin hadn't noticed a second ago: A scatter of arrows spread out along the ground throughout the fields closest to the Northern Gates, spreading loosely towards the Great Oak area and splitting also into the direction of the Flat Shack.
Leaning down, Aaron picked up one of the arrows from the ground; it had dripping red liquid coming from it's scarlet-painted, stone tip. And, as if to verify he wasn't seeing things, he then plucked an arrow from Austin's waist quiver, surprising Austin, before holding the two arrows side by side. Austin was flabbergasted; the shafts were each made from wood very similar in texture, but their arrowheads were noticeably very different. Austin's arrow was brown wood, probably more a stick then a shaft, with string connecting a stone arrowhead with a wide and hand-razored head. For another, this arrow had a similar shaft, but it's arrowhead, though made from stone and hung together from the scarlet string connecting the head and shaft, was painted almost so scarlet red, the blood dripping from it was almost camouflaged.Β
In one single sentence, Aaron said "Scarleteye."