Sam was face to face with two of the rebels. The bone spear man, he was a black man with lifeless eyes.
The other person behind him was also a black man who had a look of hate on him.
"You are Canvas, correct?"
Sam nodded.
"I had lots a friends in the Namibian revolutionary army. Brothers. You killed them."
Sam winced.
"You'll die here brat! You and that lowly bitch! Then I'll find your bosses and kill them!"
The man behind him was also a rebel and had a look of pure hate and devastation.
Sam sighed.
"For what it's worth, me and her are both incredibly sorry for all the lives we take. You have to understand, this is hell. In hell, you either are strong and live, or you are weak and you die. Me and her refuse to be weak."
"Why you-"
The first man put his arm up, stopping his comrade from saying anything more.
"That is quite enough. We have talked enough. All that's left, is to fight."
He makes two bone spears.
His mate smirks viciously and breathes heavily as a third eye, that was hidden due to being closed, opened up. With a sharp breathe he focuses on Sam.
Sam feels his instincts screaming to dodge. He did, missing an explosion by a hair.
'Bone spears, and eye explosions. They must have a limit. The bone spears are made from bone which means his skeletal structure is affected with each use of his quirk. He may have a quirk factor that can heal the damage done to his skeleton but it must have a limit. The more he does it, the slower the healing becomes. That's my theory for him. As for the other guy, he breathed a sharp breath before shooting that explosion. Judging from his wincing face, it hurts. He must have a limit with them.'
Sam successfully analyzed them
And was ready to kick some ass.
He quickly closes the distance between himself and the bone spear man. He pulls out his army knife and blocks a thrust with a spear and redirects the thrust away from him. However a second spear comes at him and he ducks barely dodging.
Sam counter attacks with a spin-kick to the man's shin, which he the man winces at but then makes some spikes on his shin bones.
Sam hears a sharp breath along with the bone spear man backing away. Sam was waiting for this. The moment he heard that sharp breath, would be his chance.
'Now!'
Sam threw his knife and aimed right at the third eye on his forehead. If he timed it right, it should hit before the explosion…
"Kyahhhh!!"
"No!"
Jackpot.
The knife got jammed in his eye just before the explosion. Sam predicted that one thing would happen.
BOOM!
And it happened just like he thought. Lodging a knife in the eye right before the explosion, is like a clogged gun. The force, with nowhere to go, could only go back to the user.
Sam and the bone spear man dived away before they could get caught up in the explosion. However, the three eyed bomber man was now reduced to a puddle of gore. His body completely obliterated.
The bone spear man's dead eyes now had sorrow and a hint of rage in them.
"As expected of the Canvas. A white child from overseas. I don't know how you came to this hell, but I can only curse whatever beast allowed you to be made."
Sam sighed
"That's mighty kind…"
The bone spear man then made one more bone spear. Sam could tell from the sweat and the slight twitch on his face that it was taking a big toll on him.
Sam needed to finish him quickly. He needed to help Zola and escape from here.
He rushed at Sam with the new bone spear after sending his two other spears at Sam and then charging at him with the third he just made.
Sam barely dodged the spears, as he was also reaching his limit. He was shot in both the arm and leg, and the pain was incredible. Plus he was terribly worried for Zola. He needed to end this immediately.
Sam did something stupid, but that was how Sam survived so long. When he saw a path, even a rocky and bumpy path, he would take it if it meant survival.
Sam blocked the thrust with his palm. Which did nothing and the spear pierced his hand.
"Fuck!"
"It's over, Canvas…"
The man tried continuing the attack and finishing him off, but Sam's fingers were solidly gripped around the spear. Despite his hand being impaled he made his fingers latch on for dear life.
"What?!"
He tried yanking it out but Sam was quick to follow up. He did the ultimate dirty move.
*Swoosh!*
*Crack!*
"AHHHHH!!!"
People always think that doing this is wrong. But only victory matters. How it's done is of little importance to Sam. Thus why, he allowed his steel toed boot to fly right into the poor man's crotch.
Just like that, Sam won the fight.
"I'm sorry… but I need to help her."
The spear man was on his knees grabbing his poor crotch. His lifeless eyes now had agony beyond words. Sam decided he suffered enough. Sam walked up to him and grabbed his head. Then he snapped his neck. Instantly, the man died. No more pain. No more life.
He turns to Zola's fight and is shocked at what he sees.
She stands above both of them, bloodied and bruised, but the last one standing.
"Zola!"
Sam ran over to her. She turned around and he saw for himself the damage.
Her eye was missing. Her right eye.
"Those wind blades, while not strong, were still sharp as hell."
She turned away from Sam and faced Nyungwe again.
"Let's worry about that later. For now we should go. They might have reinforcements coming."
"They will."
Sam raised an eyebrow at this.
Sensing his questioning look, she tells him.
"While fighting these two, I learned they were split apart. There were 3 groups of Namibian rebels. They got separated within Rwanda and now they are meeting up here."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Zola chuckled.
"That's… going to be difficult for me."
"What do you mean?"
She fully turned around and showed Sam her front.
The moment Sam saw it, his eyes widened with indescribable despair.
The bone spear that was plugging the wound had been removed during her bout and it seems she had a hole in her abdomen.
"Zola! What happened?!"
Sam ran up to her and let her fall into his arms. He immediately searched his bag for his First Aid kit. Despite the agony of his own wounds, he needed to help her now.
She held his hand.
"It's alright, Samuel… it's alright."
"Stop! Just hang in there! I can get you out!"
She smiled, but she knew it was too late. The wounds she sustained are too serious and she felt her sense quirk telling her many more hostile are approaching. The backup.
"Samuel."
"Just hang on tight, I can wrap this up and then carry you…"
"Samuel."
"I'm sure we can get out of here before-"
He is interrupted when he felt her hands grab his head and pulled him down for a kiss.
Sam started tearing up. He knew that this wasn't like the other kisses they shared. This… this was a farewell kiss.
"Zola… please hang in there! You can make it! The reinforcements won't be here-"
He is interrupted by the shouts of incoming soldiers.
"Over there, two hostile forces! Pale Hand! Kill them!"
Sam grabbed Zola and hid behind a tree as they started opening fire.
Zola looked up at Sam as she was in his arms. Her one eye shed a tear as she wished she could stay in his arms forever. Her eye opened wide when she all of a sudden had an idea.
"Samuel… it's going to be okay."
Sam sighed.
"You're right… I'm sorry… it looks like this is the end of our journey… I wish… I wish I could have taken you to Japan with me."
Zola chuckled, she was losing lots of blood from her wounds. She knew she only had so long left before she was finished. She had to do one last thing.
She grabbed the sleeve of his uniform that had the emblem of the Pale Hand and took the identifier tags as well from around his neck.
She shakily struggled out of his hold.
"Zola, what are you doing?"
She smirked.
"I'm not going to sit around and do nothing as we are pegged, Samuel."
Sam sighed. He gave a resigned smile afterwards.
"All right…"
He stood up with her, intending to follow her.
"Samuel… I want to tell you that these months we spent together, as lovers, were the happiest of my life."
Sam smiled and blushed a bit.
"Me too Zola. If I'm by your side right now, then I have no regrets."
She smiled and limped over to him.
She hugged him and held him close.
She then moved her mouth next to his ear.
"Live… Samuel."
His eyes widened and he looked at her.
Her one eye had tears falling. Sam didn't know what she was on about… until she showed him something… a grenade… the grenade he threw earlier at the other enemies as a distraction.
"I found this while fighting those guys. And now… you have a chance. A chance to escape. Leave Africa. Leave all this behind! Not just for yourself but for me too!"
"H-how could I leave you?! Let's go together!"
"I'm too injured, you're too injured to carry me. All you can do, is run. Go through the Nyungwe Forest and go into a nearby country that has a UN presence or humanitarians."
Sam was crying. He didn't know what to do.
"Samuel… I love you… we have only been together for a few months at this point, but it has been a time where I was truly happy. Thank you. For being with a slum rat like myself."
"Please… please don't make me leave."
She didn't respond. She pulled the pin, and with the last of her strength ran right into Nyungwe forests entry, where the rebels were pinning them down.
"ZOLA NO!!!"
She ran right into the surprised enemy. Sam chased her, but his injuries were starting to catch up as he was limping now.
He lost sight of her as she went in a bit deeper.
BOOM!
""Ahhhh!""
Many men screamed from within the forest. The blast was so close to Sam, he fell on his butt from the concussive force. But his eyes were dull and he was questioning reality.
As he looked at the forest entrance, or what was left of it, he saw splintered trees, blood and guts, and at the center… were his dog tags, his Pale Hand emblem… and Zola's dog tags.
Just like all the other living souls, nothing remained. Only blood and guts and some recognizable body parts. Otherwise, nothing but mush.
Sam wanted to throw up. He wanted to break down in tears. He wanted to rage. He wanted to mourn. He wanted revenge. He wanted… death. But he remembered her words.
'*Live… Samuel.*'
'Zola… you did this for me… you knew you wouldn't get far with those injuries and decided to not only get me an out to survive, but an opportunity to escape from Africa. Taking my badge and my dog tags, they along with the bloody mess all around, they would have no choice but to conclude I died along with you… I want to go with you, but you made this opportunity for me… I won't let it be in vain…'
Despite wishing to stay with his beloved, he made decided to carry on. He limped into the depths of Nyungwe Forest, ready to complete his and Zola's dreams.