Chapter 28: A Clean Cut
Gramps carefully opened the wooden box, moving his hands with surprising gentleness. Inside, dozens of bottles of booze rested neatly, untouched and unbroken. A sigh of relief escaped him as he ran his fingers over the glass.
Velren hopped off the bear and stormed toward the old man.
"Are you crazy?! Does my life actually mean less to you than a couple of bottles of booze?!"
Gramps waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't be ridiculous. I knew you'd be fine. You can take care of yourself pretty well. But my booze? Now that's a different story."
Velren gaped at him, utterly dumbfounded.
'This drunkard geezer...!'
From a distance, the girl watched the old man and the boy argue back and forth. Who are they? How could they so easily defeat the creatures that had nearly overwhelmed the three of them?
A voice called out to her, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Ilya...!" It was the boy who had been struck earlier. He winced as he tried to move, his voice was hoarse.
"Hurry... heal Lucian..."