Chapter 20 : The Pursuit.
In the years following the fall of civilization, Lily, an adolescent survivor had found herself without a clear direction. Following the separation from her family she found herself bouncing from settlement to settlement, without a home to call her own. Her last caretaker, Rico, was kind enough. That is until an antagonistic group blasted a bullet through his eye in front of her. Her last home, the Bowl-a-rama outpost was comfortable enough. That is until the foreign group burned it to the ground. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, she just kept running.
After half a minute of arguing, the men unsheathed their weapons and their apparent leader shoved her down while the others held her in place. “I’m sorry little one, no witnesses" he said before being stabbed through the gut with his own sword.
Lily watched in awe as a bulky figure tossed the leader's corpse at a smaller soldier pinning him underneath.
The other three men unsheathed their weapons and slashed at the bulky man, with one stabbing him in the leg before catching a blade to the side of his neck. The other two turned and ran, much to the mystery figure's dismay, as he tried to pursue them before collapsing on his leg.
He peered at the girl watching from the corner before limping to the small man pinned beneath the leader and stomping his head in.
“Come on. They’ll bring more. We gotta cover some ground.”, he said before walking off with the girl trailing a bit behind.
After several hours of walking, Lily finally spoke to the man, “What’s your name?”
“What’s it matter?” He responded, grinding his teeth in pain.
“It matters to me; what’s your name?” she asked.
“People call me the Mammoth.”, he responded.
“Why do they call you that?” she questioned.
“Why are you still fucking talking?”, he said falling over and laying down in exhaustion.
“I just need to rest a bit...” he said as he passed out.
The mammoth awoke with a jolt, it was now night, and his leg was seemingly cleaned and bandaged up with a cloth.
“Thank you, by the way.”, Lily said.
“Don’t worry about it; you’re good.”, he replied.
“So, what’s your story? How’d you end up out in the forest?” She asked.
“Are you always this inquisitive?” he fired back.
“Just shut up and answer.”
“Ok, ok, fair enough.”, he replied, “I was locked up in the Kingdom when some group freed all the prisoners. After that, things went south, and here I am.”
“Did the others get away?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“So what, you just ran?”
“Look,” he said half-heartedly, “don’t get me wrong, I do have a lot of pride. And I love people and doing the right thing and whatnot. I just love myself more. So I ran. I ran, and I never looked back. I don’t know what happened to the others.”
“Oh... I’m sorry. I’m Lily, by the way.”, she said.
“I didn’t ask.”
“I didn’t say you did.”, she snapped back.
The mammoth chuckled, shaking his head, “you got spunk, kid. You just might make it.”
“Where are we even going?” she asked.
“I’ve heard rumors about some civilization in Plano. Big walls to keep less friendly folk out, all that type of shit.”, he responded.
“I think we should head to Rowlett.”, she suggested.
He laughed at her comment before leaning against the tree. “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch. We’ll discuss this in the morning.”
“Why are you helping me?” she asked.
“... get some rest.”
Michael and Kelce bound through the forest as they had for the last few hours when they came across a lumbering figure walking around a young girl massaging his leg in the process.
“Bro, I know that guy. He fought against us at Bowl-a-Rama vs. the retards.... he killed many of my men.”, Kelce whispered.
“Look, he has Rico’s sister or whatever captive. We have to help her.”, he whispered back.
“Agreed, you sneak around. I’ll keep him distracted. Well, take him together.”, Kelce ordered, dapping up his friend as they moved into position.
“Well, well, well. I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again after you took that spear to the chest.”, Kelce said, holding his hand to the hilt of his sword.
The Mammoth peered over at his old adversary, “Well... I guess I’m just full of surprises.”, he said, noticing the other man sneaking to his blindside. He slowly made his way to the soldiers' swords piled up and grabbed the hilts.
“The war is over. You’ve lost. Your people are dead or hiding in the woods like the animals you are. Now I’ll give you this one chance, give us the girl, and we’ll go our separate ways.”, Kelce said aggressively.
“Can’t do that. She’s under my protection.”, he responded.
“She’s coming with me back to Lett.”, Kelce said.
“Oh, let’s just get this over with!”, The Mammoth yelled as he swung at Michael, who thought he was hidden behind the tree. Michael dodged the blade but fell backward and down into the ravine.
Kelce and the mammoth crossed blades once again. “The horse fuckers can’t save you this time, boy.”, Mammoth said as he went on the offensive, slashing at Kelce.
“At least I have people to go back to!”, Kelce taunted as he blocked and parried every blow coming his way.
“You’re sloppy; you’re going to make avenging my men too easy!”, Kelce said slicing his cheek with his sword.
“Keep talking. You’ll end up 6 feet under same as them!”, Mammoth responded connecting a punch straight to the jaw, which hung a bit uneven after.
A soaking wet Michael made his way, and the two of them aggressively attacked The Mammoth, who was forced onto the defensive as Lily yelled for them to stop. The trio stopped fighting at the sight of 5 men making their way to their position; Brendan had found them.
“I’ll take Kelce. Bud, bring me Michael alive, the rest of you kill the retard and the girl.”, Brendan ordered as his squad charged at the four figures across the field.
“Look, we have a bigger threat,” Michael said, pointing toward them, “I think we should take them together...”
“Fuck off.”, the Mammoth said, sprinting away and grabbing Lily’s hand as the pair ran off into the forest.
Brendan and Kelce quickly engaged in a duel while Bud took on Michael. “You look pretty great, man; you lost some weight!” Michael said.
“Thanks for noticing,” Bud said as the two locked blades,” the apocalypse is a great time to reinvent yourself.
“I’ve been looking forward to this.”, Brendan said he elegantly and swiftly disarmed his opponent.
“Surrender, you lose. Jacob has bigger plans for you.”, he said, pointing the tip of the blade at Kelce’s throat.
Brendan peered over at her, Bud was doing, and much to his horror, saw Michael's blade lodged in Bud’s stomach. Brendan rushed to his side, disregarding his two opponents.
Brendan held onto his dying stepbrother's hand as he peered up at Michael and Kelce, pointing their swords at his head, “Just do it... I couldn’t keep him safe, just kill me...”, he begged tears rolling down his eyes.
“No... death is too kind for you.”, Kelce said before slamming the hilt of his sword into Brendan’s temple knockout him out cold.
“Hurry, we can still catch up to Lily if we move now,” Michael said as the pair bounded into the forest.
“Do you think we’re safe yet?” Lily whispered to the Mammoth.
“We’re never safe. But I think we lost those dudes.”, he responded, leading her through the forest.
“I’m going back to Rowlett.”, she said boldly.
“That’s suicide. Jacob’s forces are marching on them as we speak! Trust me, we have to make it to Plano.”, he whispered.
“I’m going... with or without you.”, she said as she began walking.
“Fucking hell.”, the Mammoth said under his breath as he grabbed her shoulder, “for starters, you're heading the wrong way. Now come on, let’s go back to Rowlett.”, he said as the pair made their way through the forest.
