Exposure

Chapter 8

Joseph vaguely ran his eyes over who else was playing in the game but it was like speaking to deaf ears. Joseph was only interested in Aesop.

The game soon started and Joseph was practically running around the Lakeside Village. He hit survivors that appeared in front of him but didn't pay them any attention after that. He was knocking survivors left right and centre, leaving Jack to put his trail of bodies in rocket chairs. He heard whispers from both survivors and Jack that something had changed in him for his match, that he was a killing machine. It was ironic that all of it was fuelled off of feelings. Joseph doubted the survivors would notice that his eyes were practically drowning in his own unrequited love.

The survivors had finished two ciphers and Jack had sent three of them back in rocket chairs.

He knew that Aesop preferred to decode alone but he would definitely be travelling with another survivor today since Joseph was there. Joseph was so desperate just to see him that Aesop's not trusting them to be alone together didn't even hurt. He doubted the ache in his heart could be satisfied by anything but Aesop. Unfortunately, Aesop had made the mistake of travelling with the gardener. Jack had alerted Joseph that he'd seen them briefly in the furthest left corner from the shipwreck.

Joseph was charging in the direction barely after Jack had managed to get his words out. He'd been reduced to a madman with a bruised and despairing heart. Aesop was unlucky and seemingly oblivious that every single time that diligent little gardener disabled a rocket chair, the hunter was alerted. And so, Jack and Joseph quickly found their location.

The pair of survivors scattered. Jack busied himself was knocking down the gardener whilst Joseph had the luck to be chasing Aesop. He could see in Aesop's expression that he wasn't scared but there was a lingering uneasy embarrassment in his demeanour.

As soon as Joseph was close enough, he shoved the letter into his pocket and rasped,
"Please, I'm begging you,"
With nothing but helplessness in his expression. Joseph felt so pathetic for doing all this. He'd swallowed what little pride he had left and gave it all to Aesop. Thankfully, only Aesop would ever know just how pitiful he really was.

Aesop opened his mouth to say something and the heavy weight that at been hanging in Joseph's stomach turned to butterflies of anticipation. However, Aesop was cut short when Jack shouted,
"Joseph! What are you doing?! Hit him!"
Joseph had completely forgotten that they weren't alone, that it was taboo to talk to each other, and everyone was watching. Of course, only Jack and the gardener could really see, and even then they wouldn't be able to tell they were talking but it felt like the whole world knew.

Joseph instinctively panicked. He raised his sword high above his head and brought it down with the force of an anvil. He felt his sword slice deep into Aesop's flesh and he was immediately knocked, on the ground, bleeding everywhere.

Joseph had always been so careful not to use his sword properly, to turn it on it's flat so survivors simply got the blunt force of it but he'd used the sharp of it on the one person he cared about most.

He vaguely heard Jack shout some praise before he took away the gardener to chair her. The world spun in slow montuno. Joseph fell to his knees, his skin getting soaked in Aesop's warm, sticky blood. He ripped off his tailcoat and put pressure on the deep gash in Aesop's shoulder. Joseph felt sick to his stomach and like he was just about ready to throw up his lungs.

Joseph quickly picked up the small boy who was writhing in pain underneath him and carried him to a more private hiding place. Seeing Aesop in a crying messy state tore Joseph's heart to tatters. He quickly realised he was crying too,
"Aesop- I'm sorry! I-I so sorry! I didn't want to hurt you!"
He choked out, hysterically smoothing his hair down whilst applying pressure on the wound with his coat. Joseph had an animalistic pain and panic in his eyes even though this was his fault and Aesop was the one in pain.

Joseph couldn't even begin to imagine how much pain Aesop was in. Let alone how he wasn't screaming. Aesop was only letting out strangled cries and groans of pain with his eyes squeezed shut. Joseph constantly whispered apologies and words of comfort. Eventually, he figured that getting Aesop back to the survivors manor with the doctor was for the best. At least then he could get some kind of medical attention.

He scooped Aesop up gently in his arms and carried him to a rocket chair. He tightened his coat sleeves around the wound tight then used the rest of his coat to cover the band of thorns that wrapped around the chair and held them in place, just so Aesop wouldn't have to suffer any further pain.

Joseph didn't care if he sent his jacket back to the survivor's manor, he was sure they would understand. It was an unspoken rule that hunter's wouldn't seriously injure survivors like Joseph had just done to Aesop. The point of the game was to immobilise them not maim them.

Aesop's voice was weak and fragile, like glass teetering on the edge of a cliff but Joseph managed to hear him whisper,
"I'm sorry for leaving you alone,"
Before he was sent back to the mansion.