Part 79: The Fight For Freedom

The four companions ran hard through the jungle. Taylor grunted as a branch struck her in the stomach, breaking on impact. Mia grabbed her by the shoulders, helping her back up. Eddie held onto Tony best he could but he technically could not run faster than the adult. The blind doctor then kept bumping into the little boys legs. However, they were running so fast and Eddie was so scared he didn’t notice the thick tree branch in Tony’s back. The blind doctor jerked as the branch smacked him in the face, sending him down. “Tony!” Eddie called.

The blind man leaned up, feeling of the blood on his busted lip. Mia and Taylor stopped, turning around. “Tony?” the Lakota girl called.

“Keep going!” He called, “We’ll catch up.”

Taylor and Mia then dove into the bushes, continuing to run. Tony spit out the little bit of blood in his mouth. “This isn’t working, Eddie,” he huffed.

“I ain’t leaving you,” he told him.

“I know, so we’re going to have to improvise.” Tony leaned forward, “Get over here and get on my back.”

The little boy quickly ran over to his fallen friend and mounted his back. Tony grabbed his legs as the boy grabbed his neck. He quickly stood up, with Eddie on piggy back. “Can you see where to tell me to go?” he asked the little boy.

“Yeah!” Eddie said, “Go straight!”

Tony began to run as fast as he could with the boy on his back. Eddie told him when to dodge branches and went to jump over dead trees. The blind doctor managed to get into a perfect rhythm with the boy’s commands, functioning as one. With a little more luck, they’d be able to meet up with the others in a few minutes.


Mia continued to run with Taylor through the jungle. The Lakota girl then grabbed her companion by the sleeve, pulling her back. The two girls stopped, holding onto each other. Taylor’s sweat soaked hair was sticking to her face as she gasped for air. “Did we lose them?” she inhaled.

“You mean Tony or Black Faction?” Mia gasped.

“I don’t care at the moment.”

“We got to wait for Tony.” Mia huffed.

“Mia, I am not staying here. Tony told us to run and we should go!”

“He’s blind, for god’s sake! We can’t just leave him!”

Unfortunately they stopped long enough for the strange boys to catch up to them. One boy leaped out from the bushes and tackled them. Mia was thrown to the side. The young man grabbed Taylor by her shirt and pinned her down. He raised up his short sword to slice down at her. She screamed in defiance. Then the boy’s wrist exploded in a spray of blood. The blonde blinked with she realized McKay had chopped at the boy’s wrist, making him dropped his sword. The Australian then tackled the boy getting him off of his love.

The man and the young man were thrown back toward a tree. The boy then cupped his fists together and brought it down on McKay’s shoulder blades. The man grunted as if a man twice his size had just hit him. He leaned up and punched the boy in the ribs. As he reeled from the blow, McKay quickly leaned up and grabbed his head. The tree shot out a small out of wood chips as the Australian slammed the teenager’s head into the truck. He quickly collapsed, unconscious. Before he could say anything, another boy appeared from the shadows of the jungle. “Mourir!” the boy screamed.

McKay yelped in pain as the sword connected to upper left arm. The boy swung up again but the Australian blocked it with his machete. The two men clanked their weapons together for few seconds and then McKay side stepped the boy, and sliced the side of his head. As the boy reeled from the pain, the older man swung up his left fist and uppercut the boy against the jaw. The young man flew in the air two feet and landed knocked out. McKay shook his hand, feeling the pain on his knuckles. Taylor came to him and embraced him. He held onto her, huffing for air. “McKay, are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine, Luv,” he said, kissing her cheek, “I was worried to death about you.”

“I’d knew you come for me,” Taylor cried.

“What the hell is going on?” McKay turned to the two knocked out boys, “That one screamed in French!”

“We were held captive by them, “Mia told them, “They all speak French,”

The Australian still shook out the pain in his knuckles, “If they are French, why didn’t that little prick have a glass jaw? Felt like I punched a concrete wall.”

“They are incredibly strong for some reason,” the Lakota girl said, frantically looking for more to jump from the jungle bushes.

“McKay, please, we have to go,” Taylor begged.

“Not yet, luv,” he said, holding onto her, “Tony came looking for you guys. We have to find him too.”

“He’s fine! He’s the one who found us and freed us!”

“He did?” McKay said, wild eyed.

“Yeah, he’s right behind us.” Taylor said, pulling his arm, “So, please, let’s go!”

McKay looked behind them and scanned the jungle. In truth, he didn’t see a single sign of Tony. He then nodded to the others and told them to run. If Tony was not only able to find them and free them, then he indeed might be able to catch up to them. As the two young women ran into the jungle, McKay quickly grabbed both swords of the unconscious boys. He then looked at his left arm, seeing the stream of blood soaking his entire arm. He’s worried about that wound when he knew they were all safe.

---------------------------------------------------,

Tony gritted his teeth. His back ached and his legs hurt. The blind doctor’s ears were ringing from the blood pumping through his head. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart and the heavy breathing of the little boy on his back. Tony ran for a another few feet and then came to a stop. He turned and listened. The brushes were being destroyed behind him. They were still coming.

He then continued to run. Eddie started to cry, not sure if they would make it. Tony was not about to give up, now that he had the little boy back. The blind man ran through the woods, with the branches striking him against his arm and chest. Then he heard one of the boys screaming as they charged up. Tony got ready to toss Eddie to the side and fight the strange kid hand to hand. He had run out of places to run. Then a stinging sound shot through the air and Tony heard a loud THUCK when it stopped. The boy was then screamed for a new reason, very sharp pain. “JOHNNN??” Tony called out to his friend.

He heard nothing. In truth, he realized John could actually be rather far away. He was that good of a shot. Then the second boy appeared, charging after Tony and Eddie. Another arrow screamed through the air and slammed at the boy into the chest. He grunted in pain, grabbing it. The other boy saw what happened and ran back to where he came from. Eddie looked at the dying teenager. The black-haired boy was gripping onto the arrow as it poked out of his chest. He struggled for a few seconds, then stopped moving. Eddie then buried his head into the back of Tony’s neck. “Eddie?” Tony asked, “Is one of them dead?”

“Yeah, “he whimpered, “Uncle John shot him in the chest.”

Tony then heard the approaching footsteps of his good friend. John held out his bow with an arrow in it. He quickly approached his blind companion. “Tony, thank God!” he exclaimed, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, John, we’re fine.” Tony huffed, “We should go. Now.”

“Did I get him?” John looked for the body of the captor.

Then he froze. He looked down at the boy he just shot in the chest. John tried to talk but it was difficult to find the words. Tony could feel where his friend was standing. He gently reached over and took his arm. “John, we need to leave,” he encouraged, “Please lead the way.”

“Jesus, “ John stuttered, “He’s . ..he’s just a kid!”

“JOHN!” Tony yelled, snapped him out of it, “We can discuss this later but right now we have to get out of here!”

John took a deep breath, then took Tony’s arm and turned them toward the proper way. The archer led this blind friend through the jungle toward the clearings that led them that way. Tony was worried about John’s well being. It was truth he just killed a person younger than him but he hoped he would be able to convince him it was for the best. The boy was not raised in a civilized society and wouldn’t have hesitated to kill them. John just marched on, trying to get the image of the dead boy out of his head.


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McKay stopped as he led the two girls to the clearing the Polliwog made. Mia briefly looked at the destruction the monster left behind but decided to say nothing about it. Taylor removed the hair from her eyes and coughed, gasping for air. She then noticed the blood soaked arm of McKay. “McKay, your arm,” she pointed out.

“It’s fine, Taylor,” he sighed, “I’m okay.”

“You’re bleeding like a stuck pig,” she said, rubbing his cheek.

“Thanks, sweetie. You’re not the first girl to call me a pig, “ he said, joking at the situation.

“MCKAY!” John called from the distance.

“John?” Mia smiled.

The group turned to see John leading Tony with Eddie on his back. Mia then broke out into a run toward the archer. He immediately embraced her with one arm. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I am now.” She said, kissing him on the cheek.

“Is everybody okay?” Tony asked.

“McKay is bleeding pretty bad, Tony,” Taylor mentioned.

“It’s not that bad, Tony.” The Australian countered.

“Taylor seems to think it is, “The blind doctor retorted, “Can you make it back to the beach?”

“Oh, I’ll bloody well walk out of here.”

“Good, then let’s get back to the beach. There is a distinct possibly more of those men will follow.”

“How did you three escape?” John asked Mia.

Eddie then leaned his head up, “Tony came in and beat all the bad men up. His Daredevil powers have come out finally!”

John looked at Tony and the blind man could feel his friend looking at him. At any other time, he might have dismissed Eddie’s comment as childish fantasies. But after every thing they have seen, everything they have encountered, he was starting to doubt his take on reality. The group quickly gathered themselves and began their long trek back to the beach.