Chapter 118: Takeo
“Takeo… Don’t leave the village. It’s too dangerous.” Father said sternly.
But he wasn’t having it.
“This is exactly why we have to go! We can’t just wait here like cowards!”
Sengo reached for his son, but the boy shook the hand off his shoulder. Grabbing his father’s latest creation from a table, he bolted out of the room.
“Come back!” Sengo yelled, though his voice only grew more distant as the boy ran through the empty streets, his wooden sandals clacking against the paved dirt.
Takeo circled around the house by the corner of the road before heading straight, right into the dense thicket. The pale moonlight was already faint to begin with, though it vanished entirely as the young man dove into the black vines. The infernal things blotted out the sky, greedily shrouding the world in their demonic embrace. At least the young man’s eyesight had always been the sharpest in the village, so he could still see where he was going. Somewhat.
He strapped the object he had taken from his father to his waist, before unsheathing his own machete from the other side. He ducked and squeezed through the vines whenever he could – his smaller frame making things easier – though he still had to hack an opening once in a while.
Every few steps, the boy caught one of the thorn-covered tendrils shift by the corner of his eye. Had this been a few years ago, he might have chalked it up to fear, but he knew the time of the feast was almost upon them.
‘No way I’m letting everyone get eaten!’