Chapter 6: Only Sheep Need a Leader
Two more minutes went by before Axel removed the log again.
The man’s melting flesh loosely stuck together, and blood was everywhere. A consistent, soft cracking and popping sound emanated from the wound... but it was sufficiently sealed.
In total, he had endured about a minute and a half before addressing anything, another two to four minutes before cauterization began, and roughly four minutes of cauterization itself.
"Insane..."
Axel muttered to himself as he put a finger under the man’s nostrils and felt a slight gust of air.
While it was still more than likely the man would die of infection, the fact that he’d made it this far was utter insanity.
Even more...
The man weakly blinked open his eyes, then said:
"I’m fuckin’ tired..."
Axel stared listlessly at the kind man.
He had no idea the man was still conscious — or better yet, coherent — yet he had just heard his voice and seen his open eyes all the same.
The man who’d been chanting a prayer stopped, then quietly muttered:
"Zo fò."
[Fall of Babel] translated the words.
’Strong bones...’
Something Axel couldn’t agree more with.
’Yeah... my savior shouldn’t die this easily.’
This one, at least, needed to last until the month was over. That would be enough to overshadow the memories.
The brunette turned to say something to Axel, but a sudden shout drew all of their attention away.
"I killed it!"
All Axel could think as he looked over at the scene was...
’You think...?’
The handsome blond man stood with one arm raised. In his other was the decapitated head of the goblin. But not only was it severed, its skull was absolutely crushed, and bits of its brain leaked out. Not to mention the volume of green blood now splattered all over.
It was gruesome enough to be even more terrifying than what Axel had witnessed — not that he was downplaying the severity of the ordeal on his end.
The handsome man paused for a moment before turning around and examining the body of the goblin. Then, he dug his hand into its chest and pulled out something shiny. He examined it for a second before looking up to assess everyone’s reaction.
He cocked his head in confusion, then, after a few seconds, cleared his throat and began to shout:
"Ahem... Hello! I know nothing more than any of you, but I will make this plea nonetheless!"
He cleared his throat again, then continued:
"It may not seem like it, but I’m as scared and uncertain as the rest of you! I have no idea what will happen to us if we fail this trial, but I doubt it will be desirable. My name is Lucas Hajek, and I speak in all of our interests! Please follow my lead! I know it’s a tall ask when you’ve been thrust into this inexplicable situation, but with a thirty-day time limit, we have no time to waste on a power struggle!"
After this corny introduction, he raised the goblin’s head higher...
’Is he expecting us to cheer?’
Surely, Lucas was aware of what had happened beyond his own battle — let alone the sheer vileness of the scene.
When nobody moved, he threw the goblin’s head over his shoulder, shrugged, and said:
"Everyone, line up!"
Green goblin blood spurted from his mouth as he spoke.
Only a few listened at first before he repeated himself.
It was then that forty-six young adults awkwardly lined up without questioning the deranged psychopath.
Lucas looked over at Axel and the brown-haired man.
"You two can tend to him, but listen closely."
Lucas turned toward the group.
"We were given no information, no weapons, no resources. Before we can dethrone the despot who dared give reason for our freedom to be stolen, we need to arm ourselves!"
He began pacing back and forth, up and down the line, like some drill sergeant.
Many wore annoyed looks at his hubristic approach, but all withheld their reservations, either out of fear of Lucas or of the situation at large.
"However, having a weapon will mean nothing if we’re all crawling, unable to use it due to dehydration and starvation. Therefore, we must scout this foreign land for rations, as blindly looking for food is just blatantly relying on luck!"
Lucas stopped pacing when he was in the middle of the line.
"I plan to divide us into groups, allowing us to scout as much of the area as possible: finding a water source, a food source, and enemy locations will be the priority. Keep in mind, finding, not gathering or fighting."
Flipping the iridescent shard in his hand, Lucas’ stare hardened.
"Neither you nor the person next to you can be replaced. If you encounter an enemy, do not engage with them, and do whatever you can to avoid them. If it comes down to it, run with all your heart. I do not care how much of an advantage you may find yourself with. Run."
Still, none voiced any choice words.
But there were most definitely a few who didn’t like what was currently going on. They weren’t ready for this. They weren’t ready to scavenge for food and live in the wilderness. They wanted to go home.
All Lucas was doing was shouting words they didn’t want to hear — words they wished needn’t be said.
Many only listened because they couldn’t form a thought on their own at the moment, while the rest simply followed the herd.
However...
The man with a scar on his lips next to Axel whispered:
"He’s an odd one."
Axel glanced at the man.
"But he’s got a point."
Nothing he said had been wrong, but it was much too early to think about directives and orders with everything that had happened.
"I’m Maks, by the way."
"Axel."
’At least you seem like a good guy...’
If only they could have met under different circumstances.
The two men looked back at Lucas, who was still going on with his speech.
"While it isn’t our main focus, eating tonight would be a great boon, so I’ll assign a group to obtain food — in other words, a gathering party. They may return with nothing, but with enough luck and skill, we might even have meat tonight. That said, anyone adept at hunting or foraging, step forward."
...
...
After nearly a minute of awkward silence, the same girl who had directed them to start the fire stepped out of line.
"Eh... ehm... My grandpa took me hunting sometimes."
"What’s your name?"
"J... Julia, Julia Dove."
"Good. Julia is responsible for hunting and foraging for food. I will entrust you with this."
He held out the sword.
At first, she was confused.
But, growing impatient, Lucas shoved the sword into her hand.
"You, you, you... you... and you, help her," Lucas pointed and barked orders. "Everyone else, I will assign you to scouting groups."