Wake of the Dead | Three

Chapter Seventy-Three | Killian

Killian's mouth went dry. "Cas!" Jasper shoved the hunter to the ground before anybody could react, pinning him down. "Rixon, hold his leg down! Darren, hold his arms, Hasan! I'll need you, Rixon—keep the flamethrower on standby. Raven, bring your axe!" At first he was confused, what was happening? It was all flying by so fast—with no orders given to him, all he could do was try and make sense of what was going on.

Killian stumbled over and kicked the biter away, Casimir was struggling and—to his horror—crying. If Casimir is crying, there's definitely something wrong! Oh, he's been bitten...he's been bitten! No, no we can't lose him! What's going to happen? What's Jasper doing? Is he killing him!? "Don't, please don't kill me!" Casimir was attempting to shove Jasper away, but when Raven brought him the axe, things began to make more sense.

"I'm not going to let you die, not you." Jasper said sharply. "Hold him! I can't risk hitting anywhere else. Hasan—make room for him!" Killian took one of his crossbow bolts and rushed over, thrusting the wood between Casimir's clenched teeth. The hunter's eyes were wide with an unbridled terror, looking up as Jasper loomed over him with the axe. Everybody was already covered in blood and gore, Killian's stomach churned. Rixon was straddling Cas, who's cheeks were now streaked with a mixture of horrified tears and dirt.

"Shh, it's okay, it's alright. It'll be over soon, we won't let you die." Rixon attempted comfort, but Casimir continued to struggle, writhing in an attempt to get away. Hasan had secured a tourniquet a bit below the knee, where the blood would have circulated to from the ankle by the time he'd gotten it tight enough to stop the flow. "Cas, you need to stop-!"

Killian covered his ears as a bloodcurdling scream filled the open sky. A small gathering of birds flew out of a nearby tree, letting out a loud alarm call, a rabbit darted away through the grass. The sickening tang of iron permeated the air, already hot with the gathering of sweaty, hard-breathing bodies trying to keep him pinned down. Any biters in a mile radius is going to hear and smell this! Killian thought. Silence or Reapers, too! Casimir—this had better be worth it, don't die on me! We still have a score to settle!

"Rixon!" Casimir screeched through the now-splintering wood pressed between his clenched teeth. Killian swapped out the broken bolt with one of Casimir's own arrows. "Rixon!" Cas continued to sob, his nails dug into the other man's arms to the point of drawing blood, but Rixon either didn't notice or didn't care. Killian didn't blame him. His own bruises had stopped hurting the moment his rival had howled out with an indescribable agony. As new waves of pure torment coursed through Casimir's body, his back arched and he continued to cry out, so loud that his weeping began to grow raspy from the worn vocal chords.

The crack of bone made Killian stomach lurch, scarlet blood soaked into the ground around Casimir's leg and waist, he closed his eyes tight and strained his muscles to hold his rival's body down. A wrong swing could result in an even worse injury. Jasper was eerily silent as he swung down again. The only sound filling Killian's ears was his own heartbeat and Casimir's sobs. After a minute or so, the hunter's skin had drained to a deathly pale, his struggles grew feeble enough to where they could let go. Rixon didn't move, neither did Hasan, but like Darren, Killian keeled over and vomited on the ground nearby.

The ordeal was a blur, he could barely remember anything of what was happening, only hear Rixon and Casimir's faint conversation. "Come on, stay with me, blondie! You're stronger than this, you know that! Come on, open those eyes, get up!"

Then hand holding onto Rixon's arm fell away onto the ground, only wheezing, struggling breaths rolled off of Casimir's lips. A sickly sweat covered his forehead, dripping down his cheeks and neck. "He's going into shock, we need to elevate his other leg." Hasan instructed. Leg. Singular. Killian's gut twisted again, he still refused to look at the scene behind him. Phoenix and Ash were crying in the distance, Jess was holding them and covering their eyes, turning their faces away from Casimir.