Violence Is Inevitable:

Dinner was uneventful, save for these scenes.

"So, are we getting rid of that thing?" Julia asked.

Rosslynn sighed. "No, unfortunately not."

"Why the hell not? What can we possibly gain from a walking hairball?"

"I don't know, but-would you get the fuck away from me!" Rosslynn suddenly shrieked as Watson started showing her leg how much he liked her. She kicked the animal away and he went back whining to Hannah.

Panting and snarling, the Russian turned her gaze back to Julia, who was flushed again and looking away.

"So...we're not getting rid of it?" She asked quietly.

"Nyet, even though I would gladly do it myself."

After that, we cleaned of our plates, and we got this one.

Walking back to her shent Rosslynn noticed a small white puffball curled up on her blanket.

"Aww!" Odessa squeed as she paced up to them. At this point I was pretty sure Rosslynn was about to lose it.

"Odessa," She began, her voice struggling to stay calm. "Please, get that thing off my bed before I kill it with my bare hands," She suddenly turned to the girl, her amethyst eyes flashing, "With my bare hands, Odessa, with my bare, motherfucking, hands!"

Luckily Kyle and Hannah came to the poor pup's rescue. "It-It's o-okay, Rossi," Kyle reassured, even though he clearly afraid.

"Y-Y-Yeah, we-we got 'im." Hannah said and they both carried the dog away.

"Do you know why Rosslynn hates dogs so much?" I asked Ruse who standing next to me.

He glanced at me, before writing something down on his notebook.

'No, but wouldn't you be mad if someone humped your leg, twice, and then fell asleep on your bed?'

I blinked. "Yeah, good point."

After that, we went to bed. Sarah still hadn't returned, but no one seemed worried. When I asked Hannah about it, she just said this.

"Sarah does this a lot. She'll be fine."

At this I noticed that Kyle had Watson, the blond boy looking happy, but the dog looking kind of sad. Heh, taking Ruse's way of thinking, I 'd be sad too if the girl I liked kicked and yelled at me. Anyways, after this we went to sleep.

...But not for long.

Sometime during the night a sharp, blood curdling scream erupted into the normally silent air. Almost everyone got up immediately, nearly scared to death. When we looked around, and in the bright orange light of the fire we saw what had made the noise.

It had been Odessa, and she had a good reason to, for a teen with short gray hair had her by her sandy brown hair and had a long, switch blade pressed against her neck. Her blue eyes were wide with fear and panic.

"DESSIE!" Hannah cried as she started to run over to her.

"PARE!" Julia yelled as she grabbed Hannah and held her back.

"B-But we gotta help her!" Hannah protested.

"Si, I know, but we have to be careful." The Spaniard hissed.

"Yeah, yeah!" The teen barked. "Now, c'mon! Where's the food?! C'mon shitheads, tell me where everything is, and get it for me or this little cunt's as good as dead."

"Wh-what do we do...?" I whispered to myself. Everyone seemed too scared to do anything.

"What is going on out here?"

We all looked to see Rosslynn coming out of her shent, rubbing her left eye. She stopped and stared at the scene before blinking. "Oh," She said in a bored tone. "This is all?"

'What do you mean 'this is all'?' I thought in disbelief. "Your friend is being held hostage woman, at least act like you give a shit!'

The man just looked back at us. "Yeah, this is all! Now, fucktards I'm in charge here and-"

"You're in charge?" Rosslynn echoed. "Oh no, no, no. I'm in charge. See, this is my camp, and that's my friend who you happen to be holding a knife to."

"Shut it bitch!" He snapped. "Or I'll kill this little slut right here and now!"

"If you were going to kill her you would've done it already, da? Da, I think so." The Russian walked up to the two.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill 'er." The man threatened. Both the people were desperate.

Rosslynn examined the teen for a moment. "You haven't been do this for a long time, have you? Da, I don't think you have. You make it kind of obvious. Your clothes are clean so you haven't been homeless for long. You're scared, I know that, I can see it in your eyes. I can hear it in your voice. You're just a coward with a knife."

The teen lifted the blade and quickly slashed it down Odessa's cheek, leaving a long bloody cut. She screamed in pain and everyone, except Rossi and Ruse, cried out her name.

"SHUT UP!" He roared. "Or the next time I'll kill 'er! Do you hear me, you stupid bitch, I'll kill her!"

"Rosslynn," Julia hissed, and darted her narrowed green eyes at the Russian. "What are you thinking?! Don't provoke him!"

"Like I said before, if you were going to kill her, you would have done it already. But if you'll listen, I'm willing to make a deal with you."

He lowered the blade. "I'm listening."

"You and me will fight, one-on-one, no interference. That means no one else is involved, no helping or using human shields. If I win, you leave us alone, if you win you can take whatever, and kill whomever you like, no one will stop you. You can even use your knife. Deal?"

We all reeled back in shock.

"Are you out of you freaking mind, Rossi?!" Kyle demanded but Rosslynn raised her hand and he stopped.

She lowered it. "Do we have a deal?" She asked again.

The gray-haired boy smirked. "Yeah," He sneered. "Yeah we do,"

He let go of Odessa, and the girl scrambled back into the group terrified and crying, her tears mixing into her cut. Ruse did his best to comfort her while watching what happened next.

"Ready?" The boy asked lifting his blade.

"Hold on," Rosslynn stalled and turned her head toward the Spaniard still holding Hannah back.

"Julia," She began. Julia looked at her. "Make sure no one interferes, da?"

For a few long, torturous moments Julia didn't say anything. She stared into the eerily calm eyes of the Russian, before finally saying. "Si, alright."

Rossi smiled. "Spasibo,"

For once Julia didn't blush. Instead she just looked away, and muttered. "C'mon Hannah," The two joined us in the group.

Rosslynn turned back to the man. "Alright, we can start. You can even have the first move."

He charged and the rest of us froze in terror. He was gonna hit her, he was gonna hit her, kill her, and-!

Just as he was about to stab her, she jump to the side, grabbed his arm, and then threw him to the ground. The boy let out a yelp.

Quietly, Rosslynn stalked over to him. "You're not very good at this, are you?" The teen growled.

"Shut it," He lashed out the knife and Rosslynn jumped back. He got up. "I'm just gettin' started.

Rossi grinned. "Then, as they say apparently, 'Come at me bro,'" She curled her fingers at him.

And he did. He lunged at her but she dodged. He lunged again and she dodged. And again and again, and again. Suddenly I thought of something.

"How do we know when someone wins?" I asked.

Julia was the one that answered. "When one of them is dead..."

Her voice was quiet, frightened, and he emerald-green eyes were wide and locked on the battle.

That sent a bolt of chilling horror through me. 'Until one of them is dead...'

"We have to help her!" I demanded.

"No!" Julia snapped and glared at me. That startled me.

"Why the fuck not?!"

Suddenly Kyle started to talking. "Because it's her decision, and we should honor that. Besides, she's got this covered."

We all looked at him. He blinked. "Oh, Ruse wrote that down and wanted me to read it out loud for you guys." He clarified as he handed the notebook back to the Asian.

Ruse scribbled something down and showed it to Kyle. "Oh, you're welcome." He chirped.

"Guys look!" Hannah cried.

We did and saw something horrifying. The teen had Rosslynn pinned against a tree. Just as he was about to stab her something stopped him.

Watson had the back of his pant leg in his teeth and was pulling on it. He was growling and snarling, trying to scare the man away.

"Stupid dog!" The gray-haired man muttered as he turned to stab the dog. Watson let go. Rosslynn gasped and jumped. Blood splattered onto the ground!

"ROSSI!" Kyle and Hannah screamed. Everyone tensed, and went silent.

There, on her hands and knees in front of the pup, was Rosslynn. Blood dribbled from a long, deep cut on her arm and landed on the hard ground with a 'plip' sound. Her purple eyes were narrowed and he teeth were gritted in pain.

The teenage psycho smirked. "Guess I win!" He chuckled. Rosslynn glanced behind her. The boy brought the knife down.

'Still got this covered?' I thought.

CLANG!

The attack had been blocked...by Julia's iron ruler.

"What the?!" I stammered. Apparently she did.

"She shoved Watson outta the way and grabbed the ruler out of Julia's shelter." Kyle said.

I glanced at him and he used to the notebook to point a Ruse. "He wrote it, not me."

There was a chaffing sound of metal as the Russian and the man struggled against to overpower each other. Rosslynn snarled and stood up and forced the teen's arms to open and she hit him right in the face. He cried out as blood flew out of his mouth. She hit him again and again in the face rapidly, forcing him back towards us. The group of us broke in two as the he almost fell into us. Blood running down his bruised face, surely the teen would've given up.

He didn't. Instead he looked around wildly, like a trapped animal looking for a way out. Suddenly, he jumped at me. I let out a cry in fear as he yanked my head back by my hair and slammed the blade against my neck.

"Stay back!" He demanded. "Stay back or I'll kill 'er!"

My heart leapt into my throat and I felt my blood run cold. Through the pain in my head and the shock of it all I stared at the person who had my fate in her hands.

"I thought we had a deal?" She asked.

"Shut it!" He yowled as he jerked my head back even farther. I cried out in pain. "The deal's off!"

The aura around Rosslynn changed. She narrowed her eyes. "I see." She mumbled slowly and she looked away for a moment.

"Kayla..." Hannah whispered.

Rosslynn turned her gaze back. "Do you wanna fuck with me? I know I wouldn't wanna fuck with me. But you're not me, which is good because if you were me I think I'd kill myself. But since you're not me I'm not sure what you wanna do. But this I do know." She looked down and her bangs hid her eyes.

A black and red glow envelope her. She looked up and her purples eyes were now a bloody red. "I'm through playing nice."

Then it happen. She transformed and attacked. The teen screeched in pure horror and terror and he let me go and made a break for it. Rosslynn, now a demon wolf, bounded after him and sank her sharp fangs into his side. Blood flashed into the air and the teen squealed like a pig being slaughtered. She lifted him off the ground before slamming him back down without any mercy.

Then she lifted him up again and threw him down again. Then did the same thing again. Then once more. Then she stopped.

The gray-haired teen's side was a bloody, shredded mess. I can only compare it to cut up spaghetti. Tears were flowing down his face, and his blue eyes looked so scared that he looked like he staring into the spiteful eyes of the devil.

"I'm feeling generous today," The demon beast growled. "Wait, no I'm not. If I was feeling generous, I would just kill you right here and now. But instead, I'm going to let you go so you can die slowly, painfully, and pathetically. Leave before we drag out your suffering even more. And leave that knife here."

The red and black glow encased the rest of the Artists, except me. The boy stared, trembling and in agony, he started crawl away, before rising to his feet and stumbling into the woods.

The glow vanished and Rosslynn turned back into a human. She glared as the man as he vanished into the night, before turning back to us.

"Is everyone all right? Odessa? Kayla?"

"I-I'm fine." I stuttered. She smiled.

"That's good. What about you, Odessa?"

"I-I...I'm okay..." Dessie sniffed. Rosslynn paced up to her and wiped the blood from her face.

"It's okay, da? He's gone." Odessa let out a sob and buried her face into Rossi's chest. Smiling sadly, Rosslynn hugged her. Julia picked up her ruler. She did not look happy.

"You got blood on my ruler." Julia scowled as she walked up to her.

"Would you've preferred it if I had gotten my throat slashed, Julia?" Rosslynn questioned.

"I really wouldn't have cared."

"Well that's a shame Julia, because I would've cared greatly if you had gotten hurt." Rossi murmured as she reached out and grabbed a lock of the Spaniard's dirty blond hair and lifted it gently.

Julia twitched free of the Russian's grasp and she blushed hard, her hand covering her mouth. "I...I'm going to make sure that bastard is gone." She stammered as she morphed into her demon horse form and galloped away.

Suddenly Ruse was at my side, and he held out his notebook to me. "You want me to read this out loud?" I asked him.

"..." He nodded.

"Um, okay. Eh-hem, are you okay, Rosslynn?"

She looked at the two of us. "Da, I'm okay."

"But you're bleeding." Rossi frowned and looked down at he arm. Blood still leaked from her wound.

"Ah, it's nothing really. I've dealt with worse."

"And seen worse." Kyle added.

"I've dated worse." We all looked at Odessa.

"Say whaaaat?" Kyle asked

Odessa pulled herself away. "I've..I've made some choices that I'm not proud of."

"Da, I see."

"I knew it!" Hannah declared as she pointed at Rosslynn. She had Watson in her other arm.

"Knew what?"

"I knew that you liked him! Why else would've gotten hurt for him?" Rosslynn narrowed her eyes at her.

"I knew that you would be sad if he had died so naturally I saved him. Also, I said no one else would be involved with the fight. That included him. I thought of you and the rules of the agreement. Not of him. End of story."

"Aww, Rossi!" Hannah cheered. Watson barked happily, stretched out and licked Rosslynn's arm.

"Yeah, yeah," She rolled her eyes. "You're welcome."

"So, you're sure you okay, Rosslynn?" Kyle asked.

"Da, tomorrow I'll go to Mr. Makainia's and get some bandages. But for now," She yawned. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Night, Rossi!"

Later that night when we had all gone back to sleep I was awoken by the sound of Julia trotting back into camp. She was still in her demon horse form and I noticed something that sent a chill down my spine. Her hooves were caked with blood.

~oo~Zatais~oo~

The next morning we (Rosslynn, Odessa and me) went to the butcher shop where Makainia was busy sweeping outside his door.

"Morning kids, how is-" He stopped short as he noticed Rosslynn and Odessa's injuries. "Oh god, what happened?"

"Someone decided it would be fun to try to steal from us," Rosslynn explained.

"I see. Are you girls alright?"

"Da, we're fine."

"Here now, at least let me bandage those up so they don't re-open. Wait here." He went back into his store and returned a few moments later with a roll of bandages.

"Is that person coming back?" He asked and he wrapped up Rossi's arm.

"Nyet, I think I scared him off." Makainia smiled.

"That's my girl," He whispered as he ruffled her hair.

"It was nothing, really."

"Yeah, but you protected your friends and what belonged to you, even when you got hurt, so I'm proud of you. Of all of you." He placed a bandaged on Odessa's cheek.

We bidded him goodbye soon after, and a few hours later I noticed that Rosslynn was gone. Searching through the forest I came to the road and I looked down the left side of it. On the opposite side was Rosslynn gazing down into sunset, resting her chin on the bricked walls of the bridge.

I strode up to her, and she turned to me. "Privet, Kayla. "

"Um, hey," I replied awkwardly. "So...what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about stuff."

"Like what? About what happened last night?"

"Da."

"Weren't you scared?"

"Da, I was, but I was even more scared for my friends."

"You didn't show it."

"Da, I know, but I was. I am also wondering about you, Kayla."

I blinked. "You are?"

She nodded and closed her eyes. "If we weren't there to save you, would you've fought him?"

"Umm, if he didn't have the knife to my neck..."

"If he didn't, would you've?"

"I...I..."

"We have Zataises. Why not use them when we are at are most vulnerable?"

"Well everyone seem to have forgotten that they had one last night until the last-minute." She chuckled.

"True, but would you've fought him?"

"I'm...not sure."

She squinted open her eyes. "You'll have to fight someday," She closed her eyes again. "Sadly, we won't always be around to protect you. I just hope that you'll learn to protect yourself."

My heart sank. She was right. No matter what I wanted in life, no matter how much I hated it, I would have to give up my morals and have to fight. And man, did I hate it.

~oo~Zatais~oo~

A few days passed, and we were slowly making are way back to normal. Odessa was more clingy, now refusing to stay be herself for any extended period of time. She was always by Ruse, which in turn made her always by Rosslynn since Ruse was practically the girl's shadow. Seriously, where ever she went, he went. Rosslynn didn't seem to mind, and I assumed that Ruse was just concerned for her safety being that she had almost been killed.

Julia had been more temperamental, and frequently left the camp to go sculpt. One day, I had been pondering on exactly where Julia went when she did that, and Hannah had said rather cheerfully.

"I found where she sculpted one time."

"You did?" I asked.

"Yeah! Okay, sort of. I heard her sculpting. I heard her voice coming from inside this ware house. She sounded really angry, and there was a thumping sound, so I guessed she must've been working really hard. I think she was mad a Rosslynn, because I thought I heard her say her name. If she had been mad at her, it wouldn't have surprised me, since like Rosslynn's very existence makes Julia wanna massacre people."

Hannah continued. "Anyhoo, the door was locked, but I called out to her. She screamed, which was actually kinda funny. But before I knew it, she was chasing me down the street! It horrifying! She got me and started beating me with her ruler, and that's how I got this scar."

She lifted up her ponytail to reveal a jagged pale mark on her neck and I winced.

"I would've died if Rosslynn, and Ruse hadn't saved me. Ruse held Julia back while Rosslynn helped me up. I told her what happened and Rosslynn told Julia that it was wrong to beat people up, and told me that it was wrong to invade other people's privacy. When they were gone, Julia told me that she'd kill me if I ever talked about what happened again..."

Hannah's cheery smile suddenly melted into one of shock. "...Oh shit. Kayla, please don't Julia what I just said! Please! I don't wanna die!"

"Relax, I'm not gonna tell her." I grumbled. "Why would I tell her anyways?"

Hannah thought for a moment, before saying, "I don't know."

And that was that.

Today was...well you'll see.

We went for another walk, we being me, Odessa, Ruse and Rosslynn. It had been suggested by Rossi as Odessa could've used a way to calm her frayed nerves. unfortunately, they were even more frayed, I'd say practically shredded now. Hannah, and Kyle stayed behind as they wanted to play with Watson, and Julia didn't go either because she didn't want anything to do with us, er, with Rosslynn.

So, went for our walk, but we went in the opposite direction than before, since the Bandits had taken over the area dangerously close to Makainia's and Tina and Pidge's (whoever they were) homes. Anyway, we went the other way thinking we'd be safe, and Odessa actually did seem to calm down a bit, before.

Grrr...

Rosslynn and Odessa both jumped and clung to Ruse. We all froze. Cold dread filled me, paralyzed me. Oh no...oh god please no. Don't let it be who I think it is. Please, just don't.

"Good job, Max. Ya found them."

"It ain't me, Ian. It was John. He can find anythin'."

But it was. We all turned around, slowly, but knowingly, and that damned red flash made another appearance, and-

It was a goddamned pig. A giant, reddish-brown, van-sized, goddamned pig. Well, I guess boar would be the proper term for it, since it had to set's of foot-long tusks curving out from its bottom jaw. It was covered it scars, ranging from slash marks, to what looked like bullet holes. Thick, long, bristle hairs darted out from along the sides of its neck, and its tail was rough-looking like rope. Its eyes were red and pupiless, sort of like Rosslynn's, but they seemed...darker...eviler...

I blinked and the beast was gone and there stood Max with his snarling dog John,and beside him was another teen and...can I say I was a little let down by Ian's appearance? Okay, I wasn't let down, I was surprised.

This kid...Ian...is shorter than me. Yeah, really, he is. He's probably somewhere between 5'3 and 4'11. He doesn't look that menacing. He's short, frail looking, eerily pale, and has torn black clothes. His ebony hair is smooth enough, and his are ice-blue, and souless...unfeeling, and yet spiteful and giddy.

"Ian," Rosslynn said calmly. He grinned.

"Hello Rossi," He greeted in mockingly friendly tone. "How are you?"

"Cut the shit, Ian," She growled. "What do you want?"

The leader of the Bandits shrugged. "Oh, nothin," He stopped pacing and his chilling gaze fell upon me. "Who's she?"

I tensed and backed away against the wall of a building. Rosslynn snorted. "That's none of your concern."

He shrugged again. "Oh, it isn't? Well, then, we were in the neighborhood when John started growling and he only does that when he smells you guys, I guess it's because you guys smell like shit. So, me and Max were thinking that John needs a new chew toy and that you, Rosslynn, would make a great one. Whaddaya say?"

"I say that you and that dog can both get shot in the balls." She snarled.

Max tensed and took a step forward, but Ian signaled him to stop. "Well, that's too bad. So instead we're gonna play one of John's favorite games. Fetch."

As soon as those words left his lips, Max unhooked John from his worn leash, and with a snarling bark, the dog charged at us.

"RABOTAT'!" Rosslynn shrieked as she took off down the street. We followed suit, running like cowards, as Ian laughed gleefully, and shouted. "Git 'em, John!" The hound barked furiously, as it dashed after us.

"Why are we running?!" I suddenly asked.

"Do you wanna deal with that dog?!" Odessa screamed.

"More importantly, do you wanna deal with them?!" Rosslynn snapped.

I looked behind to see Ian and Max chasing right behind the dog. "Fuck!" I cursed.

We cut through alleys and back roads, the bastards still on us. We slowed for a second at alley that they led in two different directions.

"This way!" Rosslynn ordered as we took the left path.

Exhausted, and chest hurting, I managed to ask. "Where are we going?!"

"Back to camp! We'll have back up there! We can't take 'em on without Julia!"

'Why no-' I suddenly remembered. Rosslynn said that nothing can kill Ian, and he brought Max and his hell-hound John with him. I noticed that were almost at the bridge that was so close to our camp. Almost there, and I kept thinking. So...Ian must be pretty hard to even hurt if he's that hard to kill, and since brought back up,...we're gonna need all the help we can get.

I heard a short, terrified scream. I don't how it happened-I was too busy thinking, and last time I checked she was in front of us-but now Rosslynn's behind us in the middle of the road, John's razor-sharp teeth stabbed brutally in her leg.

I let out a choked cry of horror. Rosslynn tried shake free, grimacing in pain as blood started running from her leg. She looks absolutely mortified, her eyes wide and shining with fear. She punched the mutt in the head, but it only snarled, and bit down even harder! Rosslyn let out a cry, and I whipped back around when I heard Ruse let out something between a gasp and a breathy attempt at a shriek.

He raced back to help her, terror almost as vivid in his eyes as it was in the Russian's. Ian was quicker, and soon he was right in the middle of the road too. He snatched Rosslynn's arm up, and whipped out a switch blade.

"I got ya this time, ya cunt!" He smirked triumphantly.

Rosslynn snarled in rage, fear, and pain. Lashing out with her other hand, she tried slash, and smack him away, only to have her arm torn up by the blade, and for her leg to be ripped up by the dog.

Suddenly, there was a sharp whistle and the command of, "JOHN! HEEL!" Instantly, the dog let go, and ran back to Max who was on the other side of the street.

We were all confused, and just a Ruse was about enter the road he froze for a second.

"Max, the fuck are-" Ian began angrily but Max cut him off.

"IAN! LOOK OUT!"

"The hell-" Ian looked forward at the road for a split-second, and during that short amount of time Rosslynn shoved him off. She dove to the sidewalk, landing hard on her shoulder, and-

A car that seemly came out of nowhere, and was going way too fast hit Ian dead on. There was a sickening crunch as the tiny terror hit the pavement hard, and was sent skidding and sliding down the road. The car just kept on driving like nothing had happened. Ian finally stopped, and laid there motionless like a roadkilled deer.

"IAN!" Max screamed horrified as he and John both bolted down to their fallen friend. The giant knelt down and shook him. "Ian! Ian, shit, Ian, wake up!" He begged and John barked, and whimpered worriedly.

The rest of us were just frozen in place. Odessa was crying hysterically. Ruse, literally unable to say anything just stood wide-eyed. Rosslynn, still lying on the ground, and wincing in pain, lifted herself up somewhat, and looked in shock and horror at what had just happened.

As for me, I almost threw up, but somehow through the overwhelming madness and brutality of it all I manage to finally process what had just happened.

We'd just seen someone get killed.

Ian, the terrifying, immortal Ian, had just gotten run over like wayward squirrel. I couldn't believe it. Ian, the biggest threat to us, was gone, just like that. Just struck by something as unlikely as a car coming out of nowhere. A car killed Ian. A freaking car killed Ian. A car. I'm speechless.

Trembling, Rosslynn slowly turned her gaze back at us. "I...I didn't mean...I didn't see the..." She whispered and Ruse ran forward, crouched down beside, and pulled her into his arms.

"Shh," He hushed.

We heard the sound of rapid footsteps, and just then Julia came sprinting out of the woods.

"The shit's going on out her-" Julia stopped demanding mid-sentence and gasped at the bloody sight. The next instant she was by Ruse, and Rosslynn's side.

"The fuck happened?!" She hissed. Rosslynn tried to speak, but Julia just growled furiously, and snapped, "Shut it! You'll tell me later! Let's just get out of here before more of them show up!"

"C'mon, get up!" Julia ordered as she pushed Ruse to the side, grabbed Rosslynn by the wrist and tried to pull her up roughly. Rosslynn let out a yelp since Julia must've yanked her hurt shoulder. Julia froze and Ruse shot her a dirty glare before gently lifting the wincing Russian up by her good, but still bloody arm.

Wrapping her bleeding arm around his neck, Ruse helped Rosslynn up, then glared sternly at Julia as she glared back at him while placing Rosslynn's other arm, the sore shouldered one, around her neck too. The Russian winced, but didn't say anything.

We were all going leave when we heard something that still shocks me to this day.

"...I'll kill you..."

The voice was gurgled, raspy, pained, and wrathful. We all froze again. My very heart stopped. Odessa, who had been crying, was now staring past us, her blue eyes rimmed red, and looked like she had seen a monster. We stared at her, and her shaking arm slowly pointed to something behind us.

She drew a shuddering breath, and whispered faintly in terror, "L-Look..."

Slowly, we turned around and saw the impossible.

"...I'll kill you..." The voice said again, louder this time. Ian...Ian was alive. Trembling, and quivering, he was getting up. His head hung low, and he was panting, and wheezing painfully. He stood up, hunched over,and coughed harshly as clots blackish-red blood shot out of his mouth and landed on the pavement with a disgusting splat.

"Goddamned...motherfucking...cunt...I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!" He roared as he lifted his head, his icy eyes filled with all the fires of hell. Blood coating his chin and his neck he looked like a demon ripped right Satan's domain. He coughed more, and the dark crimson liquid continued to rain down onto the ground. He straightened himself out sort of, and took some staggering steps forward.

He glared at Rosslynn, his eyes filled with nothing, but pure, unrefined hatred. Julia and Ruse slid forward protectively. Ian snarled animalistically, his teeth, and gums covered in a pale red film.

"Fucking bitch...I swear...you're dead...and everyone you know is...dead...!" He gasped out, and suddenly his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his legs collapsed underneath him.

Max, who had watched the entire scene in awe, and horror, quickly stood up, and caught him under his skinny arms. He shook his leader gently. "Ian, wake up...! Ian...?"

John whined, and licked Ian's face. Max was sobbing now, and looked up at us with heartbreaking hazel eyes. He took a step back, shaking, John snarling warningly at us.

"Stay back," Max drawled in sad, panicked voice. "You come any closer, and I...I kill you...!"

He shrank back farther, and John barked fiercely. "Stay away..." The giant begged. "Stay away."

The two of them, Max and John continued to back away slowly, Max dragging Ian along, before suddenly quickly switching to carry him bridal style, and sprinted back down the road, his dog bounded right behind him.

We all stared at them as they vanished out of sight. Shell-shocked, and miserable, I whispered. "He's going the wrong way."

"He doesn't want to be near us, idiota," Julia responded, only her voice wasn't as snappy.

"I...I didn't mean to..." Rosslynn whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Julia asked in a uncharacteristically soft tone.

Rosslynn shook her head. "I...it was an...accident."

"What was an accident?" Julia looked at Ruse, who gave her a weary glance.

She blinked, her forest green eyes gazing down at Rosslynn bleeding leg, and sighed. "Alright, fine," She and Ruse turned back to the direction of of where Max should've been going. "You'll tell me later. Let's just get you to Makainia, idiota. Kayla, you and Odessa go back to camp. We'll take it from here."

I looked at Odessa, who was sobbing and hiccupping. It looked like she was having a panic attack. "What about Odessa? What if the Bandits attack?"

Julia gave a frustrated sigh, but actually managed to keep her temper in check for once. "She'll be fine," She turned her head and looked at me seriously. "And don't worry; the Bandits aren't going to try anything with their leader on death's door."

Rossi suddenly winced, and Julia twisted her head back to her. "It's okay. We're getting you help."

I imagined that Rosslynn must've smiled, or at least tried to, being that her leg, arm, and shoulder must've hurt like hell. That and the fact that she practically killed a guy. I say that she smiled, because she said, "Thank you, Julie-friend."

The Spaniard sighed again. "I hate you."

"But I like you, Julie-friend."

Julia cringed, and snapped out, "Do not make me hurt you even more! And don't call me 'Julie-friend'!"

The three started down the street, and I walked over to comfort Odessa, who was shivering, and gasping.

"Let's get back to camp, okay?" I murmured as I gingerly pushed her forward. On the outside I was calm, but on the inside I was just as messed up as her. Poor girl, my stomach sank as I wondered whether or not this was going to have any lasting effects on her. I feared that other crazed psychopaths would be arriving soon, and that more damage would be done. First that crazed teen with a knife, and now Odessa is probably going to have PTSD after today's events.

So much violence, so much unreasonable blood lust, and so much unpredictability. I hated all of this. I hated it as much as Ian hated us.

And as I gazed back at the blood splattered road, I dreaded whether or not Ian's deadly promise would be fulfilled.

A/N: Wow, got this one done in a day, and yeah, I know it's short, but hey, I just thought of the plot yesterday. And oh yeah, we finally got to see some action! Woo-hoo! Took us long enough.

Update: Yeah, I went back and made this chapter longer, and changed the title. It's not the shortest chapter anymore-it's the longest one now, making chapter five the shortest. Bloody action ftw!

Translations:

Pare-is Spanish for 'Stop'.

Spasibo-is Russian for 'Thank you'.

Rabotat'-is Russian for 'Run'. (I think. Google Translate was being weird.)