A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 39

   "We should have turned and taken the road that I suggested," I grumbled under my nose while squeezing through a thick vegetation of the woods. Thirty minutes into a walk and despite all our so-called extrasensory abilities we got lost. It seemed that the woods were supposed to end any moment now, but the further we walked down the path, the more concentrated the grove turned. Besides, I was still unsettled about leaving the place without cleaning up the mess that left behind first.

"And we shouldn't just up and went, leaving two dozens of bodies just laying there."

"Don't worry," came a calm and quite disinterested response from Oengus. "Once Abysmal will recover, he'll sort it out. After all," I felt his eyes on me. "It is in his best interest to keep his profile low and clean."

"How long will it take for him to recover," I inquired thinking back to the moment when Abysmal attacked me. If I weren't what I had become, I'd sure be dead just from one glare he gave me when sprung on me after I managed to knock him out the first time. His eyes were void of any human emotion, something that was absolutely familiar to me. But even I could control my rage, able to snap out of fury whenever I wanted.

Him not so much.

Abysmal wasn't just evil. He was hundred present animalistic. From the human side, he inherited only the worst of it. He was proud, greedy, insolent and simply obtuse. The rage and burning desire to conquer me were all he wanted. He wanted to prove his strength and made me fear of him. Little did he know that fear was something I forgot, and so I smiled when he jumped on me. I kept my smile when he went back flying landing roughly to the bottom of the same tree as before. Then he uttered a roar shaking his head in confusion and getting to his feet. He kept attacking me again, and again, and again...until his strength left him and he dropped limply on his side and fell into unconsciousness. And I still stood rooted watching him, not making even one move.

"He's most probably already up and fussing over his defeat. It takes a bit more to kill a demonic offspring. I'm sure you know it, don't you?" He cast me a quick glance over his shoulder as he forced himself to walk ahead of me.

I'm sure it was exactly as he said, even though I never tried to kill anyone on purpose.

A few minutes later, my hearing caught a sound of a car honking in distance. I glanced at Oengus's back watching him wordlessly taking the course on to where the noise came from. He definitely had no sense of direction. I clicked my tongue and followed him without commenting on it.

In approximately twenty minutes the woods started clearing up, and a swoosh of passing by cars increased indicating that we've finally found ourselves nearing a highway. Oengus stopped walking making me pause as well and moved out of his way a leafy branch peeking from behind the shrubs.

"The coast is clear," he commented.

"Should we trust your expertise or let me investigate," I asked calmly.

"There's nothing to investigate. Let's go." He straightened up and pushing himself ahead, walked right into the shrubs.

"Very well," I agreed not feeling any kind of pull of danger and moving the branches away from my face squeezed myself through the shrubs, too.

While walking by the side of the road, a few cars passed not paying us any attention. It was better that way. Really. Every time a vehicle would fly by, Oengus would tense and grab the shoulder straps of his travel bag. Some time later, he developed quite a habit of it, which was rather annoying. I kept my eyes ahead on the road, not bothering to take a notice of the surrounding. It was just the forest from the both sides of the road. Nothing else.

At some point, a certain familiar feeling pierced through my chest, and I gasped softly. I couldn't identify what it was, but it was getting strong, and the anticipation was all I could comprehend. In the distance right behind us, a roar of the car's engine drew my attention. It was something or someone worth focusing on. Oengus stilled, making me stop walking, as well. Casually, as if looking for a pan, he checked his pockets. Then he straightened up and when the roar of the car was just a few hundred feet away he sharply rotated and threw something at the driver.