A/N: If you're confused by Hulk's intellect, this version of Hulk is written to be smart yet very powerful.
With the Stranger finally dealt with, Hulk and Kratos slowly walk back towards the cabin, breathing heavily with exhaustion after the brutal battle.
"He was pretty strong for such a puny, scrawny man." Hulk says.
"He is dead now. He cannot harm us anymore, creature." Kratos says tiredly. Unlike Hulk, Kratos tired out much faster in the fight, whereas Hulk barely broke a sweat. Hulk was used to fighting opponents that could take a beating.
"Whatever." Hulk mumbles as he keeps walking, his feet stomping the snow.
"Faye...I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this without you. We cannot stay here. The boy isn't ready...But I have no choice." Kratos says to himself, unaware that Hulk has heard the whole thing.
"Uh...you alright?" Hulk asks, raising his eyebrow as he asks this.
Kratos groans as he drags his axe behind him. "Mind yourself, beast. I will live. It is the boy that concerns me." He says as the two powerhouses walk past the destroyed landscape, a result of their knockdown brawl with the Stranger. As they continue to walk, Kratos falls on one knee, leaning on the long wooden handle of his axe like a crutch, looking towards his cabin home with determination. Hulk offers to help him stand, but Kratos rejects his help, slowly standing up by himself. Kratos and Hulk enter the cabin, with Kratos uncovering the secret spot that Atreus was hiding in while Hulk and Kratos were fighting the Stranger. "Boy." Kratos says as he looks down at Atreus.
"Father. There was so much noise...I-I thought..." Atreus stammers. "You're alright."
"I am alright. We both are. Come out of there." Kratos says as he holds his hand out and pulls Atreus out. "Boy. Gather your things. We are leaving."
Without question, Atreus grabs his bow and quiver of arrows. "Thought I wasn't ready for the journey."
"You are not...but we have no choice. You better prove me wrong." Kratos grumbles as he closes the secret hatch and covers it with the animal skin rug.
"Yes, sir." Atreus says, ready to leave as he looks up at Hulk, who also stands by the door, his massive arms crossed against his chest. Kratos takes one last look at the cabin before Hulk and Atreus exit, followed by Kratos, who closes the door behind him as the trio begin the journey by walking through the forest.
"Where we going?" Hulk asks as he follows Kratos and Atreus, his eyes scanning the trees for potential attackers who'd be foolish and downright suicidal to attack them.
"We're gonna scatter my mother's ashes from the highest-" Atreus says before being cut off by Kratos.
"Boy. That's enough." Kratos says sternly, which silences Atreus.
"Grrr." Hulk growls. "Don't need to be so mean."
"I am preparing him, beast. This world is cruel and unforgiving." Kratos says to Hulk. As the trio continue to walk and traverse the landscape, they suddenly come across a group of wandering draugr. "Boy! Get behind me!" Kratos shouts. Atreus nods as he runs over to Kratos and does as he's told. "Do not fire until I say." Atreus nods again as he loads his bow while Hulk clenches his fists and gets ready for a fight. "Now!" Kratos shouts, prompting Atreus to fire an arrow into one of the draugr. The other draugr snarl as she run at the trio, only for Hulk and Kratos to do the same, punching and slashing them respectively. After dealing with them, more draugr show up, materializing out of thin air.
"There's more of them!" Atreus calls out as he fires his bow at the creatures.
"Ugly monsters!" Hulk roars as he easily uproots a tree and swings it around like a club, sending several draugr flying while making sure to not hit Kratos or Atreus. As this happens, Kratos cleaves into his own batch of draugr with his axe, even severing limbs on occasion. Soon, all the draugr were dead, and it didn't seem that more were going to show up, so Kratos sheathes his axe while Hulk drops his tree club. "Rrr...Monsters gone?" Hulk asks, to which Atreus nods after looking around.
"Looks like it." Atreus says.
"Keep moving...before more show up." Kratos says, his goals never wavering from his mind. The three resume walking until they come across a large stone that's blocking their path, though Hulk quickly puts his hand under it and effortlessly tosses it behind them.
"Whoa! You're really strong..." Atreus says in admiration at Hulk's power.
"Strongest one there is..." Hulk boasts as Atreus starts to walk along a rickety bridge.
"Careful, boy." Kratos says, clearly getting a bad feeling.
"It's okay." Atreus says as he stomps his foot on one of the boards to test it's durability. Almost instantaneously, the board collapses under him, causing him to fall, but he manages to grab onto a board. "Father!"
"Hold on, boy!" Kratos says. As Hulk runs towards the bridge, Kratos stops him. "No! Your weight will only endanger him more!" Hulk growls in annoyance but holds his ground as Kratos slowly walks across the bridge and pulls him up, only for the entire bridge to fall apart, sending both Kratos and Atreus plummeting into a clearing under the bridge...which is filled with dozens of motionless draugr. Curiosity gets the better of Atreus, who gets a little too close to one of the motionless creatures, forcing it along with the others to spring to life. Seeing his new friends in danger, Hulk jumps down into the clearing, crushing three draugr under his weight as he proceeds to punch, smash and slam a large number of draugr.
"Grr...stupid creatures. Not so tough..." Hulk mumbles.
"Great job!" Atreus exclaims positively at Hulk's performance. "Those draugr never stood a chance!" However, the moment was cut short by Kratos, who was angered by Atreus' carelessness.
"We never would've had to fight them if you weren't so careless..." Kratos grumbles.
"I'm sorry, Father." Atreus says, lowering his head like an abused puppy.
"Do not be sorry. Be more aware of danger." Kratos says before walking on.
-Later-
As the trio continue to trek through the forest, they eventually enter an abandoned temple of some kind, mounds of corpses surrounding a large, heavy gate. "Creature." Kratos says, addressing Hulk. "You want to be accepted as an ally?" Hulk nods his head in answer. "Good. Then lift that gate so we can proceed." Hulk growls softly as he easily lifts the gate up, allowing them to proceed. Once inside, several Reavers come out of hiding and surround the three travelers.
"Are they Hell-Walkers?" One of the Reavers asks.
"No. They're untouched. Except the big one. Look!" Another Reaver exclaims, pointing at Hulk, who was already in a fighting pose. "So many days without meat. Somebody start a fire!"
Atreus tilts his head in confusion as Hulk stands in front of the small boy protectively. "Meat? Wait...us?"
"Stay behind me, boy." Kratos says as he draws his axe.
"We'll keep them alive...Strip their meat off. One day at a time." A Reaver says hungrily as he clutches a sword.
Hulk growls. "Just try! Rahhh!" He roars as he charges at the Reavers, punching them so hard that they practically burst into geysers of blood and guts. Hulk wasn't holding back. Kratos does his thing, slashing into other Reavers with his axe while Atreus strikes from a distance with his bow. As Hulk finishes the last of the Reavers by crushing its skull in his oversized hand, a surviving Reaver grabs Atreus from behind.
"Father! Hulk! Help!" Atreus screams out as he kicks at the air in an effort to break free, only for him to 'accidentally' stab his attacker in the ribs with his knife. The Reaver groans and tosses Atreus to the ground. This causes Hulk to roar really loud as he leaps at the Reaver, grabbing him and monstrously tears the man in half, spurting blood all over the walls. Kratos runs over and consoles the small boy, who starts to cry out of fear; he thought he was going to die.
"Close your heart to it." Kratos says, wanting Atreus to toughen up. Hulk grunts as he watches the two.
-Later-
After Atreus calms himself down, the three traverse their way out of the temple and come across a thick bridge. Unlike the last time, this bridge seems to be much more durable; it's even able to withstand Hulk's weight. As they begin to cross, they spot a short, bald-headed 'man' with blue skin, who was trying to get a strange-looking creature to move, but was having a hard time accomplishing that. Atreus runs over to him.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Atreus asks.
The blue figure grumbles in answer. "Can't get this sloe-eyed lump-head to cross the bridge. Hrmph!"
"It's because it's scared of something in the trees over there." Atreus says as Kratos and Hulk slowly approach.
"What now?" The figure asks, not noticing the other two.
"Father, throw your axe at those trees on the other side of the bridge-the ones with the white trunks." Atreus says, pointing at the aforementioned white-trucked trees.
Kratos relents as he draws his axe and hurls it at the trees like a boomerang, causing an unseen creature to howl in anger and flee, easing the blue figure's creature as it slowly stands up.
"Say...you must be smart or somethin', boy. Uh, you are a boy, right?" The figure asks as he walks behind his creature and slaps it on the butt before trying to get it to move by trying to shove it forward. As he does this, he sees Hulk and yelps, startled by him. "Troll's balls! What are you, an Ogre that rolled in some moss?" He asks, to which Hulk softly growls.
"Oh, that's Hulk. He's our friend." Atreus says before correcting himself. "Well, my friend, anyway. Father and him don't get along."
"Thanks, kid." Hulk says as he helps the blue-skinned figure push, getting the beast to finally stand up.
"What's your name?" Atreus asks the dwarfish man.
"Brok." He says.
"Vera logn..." Atreus whispers to Brok's companion, getting it to start moving. As the group resumes walking, Brok notices the axe that Kratos has strapped to his back.
"Say...you're not gonna believe me, but...that axe you got..." Brok says hesitantly. "I made it-me and my brother. One of our best. You gotta handle that axe real special...or she'll wreck beyond fixing. I can enhance it for you." He says to Kratos as the two walk alongside each other, only for Kratos to create some distance.
"You're right. I don't believe you..." Kratos rudely says. "Boy, creature. Come."
"Hold up. Before you bugger off, you should know. There's a rune in the shape of a fork along the handle." Brok says, prompting Kratos to investigate the handle of his axe, finding the rune Brok just brought up.
"That looks nice...but it looks like it's been broken in half. Where's the other piece?" Atreus asks.
"Ah, my idiot brother has the other half. That moron..." Brok groans. "After we broke apart, we split everything 50/50."
"Rrr...Too complicated." Hulk grumbles at the family feud between Brok and his unnamed brother.
Brok walks over to Kratos, showing him a branding iron that's partially similar to the rune. "So you want me to upgrade it or not?"
After a short time of consideration, Kratos holds the axe in front of Brok. "Very well; I expect improvement."
Brok walks over to his small workshop. "My dumb brother might have the other half of our brand, but I got all the talent." He boasts pridefully as he improves the axe and hands it back to Kratos. "Don't look now, but it looks like our friend in the trees is back for more!" This prompts Hulk to look in the tree's direction as several draugr appear.
"Rrr..." Hulk growls as he lunges at the creatures like a mad beast, punching and slamming them with intense ferocity while Kratos, Atreus and Brok watch on. "Grrr...Stupid draugr..." Hulk softly says, having heard that word enough times to memorize it.
"Say...the green brute sure knows how to kill." Brok says before looking at Atreus. "You gonna do that at some point?"
"I'm not sure." Atreus says unsuredly.
"This road...it leads to the mountain?" Kratos asks.
Brok nods slightly. "Should put you in the right direction."
"Come." Kratos says to Hulk and Atreus.
"it was nice meeting you, Brok. I'll be thinking of a name for your beast." Atreus says as the trio departs.
"Hey, how about I name her 'fucking gratitude'? Haha. Hey, Fucking Gratitude! Come over here! Ha. I like it!"
Hulk, Kratos and Atreus keep going on their journey, eventyally coming across a Troll like before. Hulk literally leaps into action, knocking the massive brute to the ground with a vicious shoulder charge. As the Troll lays on its back, Hulk stands on top of it and repeatedly punches the creature in the face, each blow denting its thick skull as Hulk roars like a savage animal. As the Troll lays dead, Hulk roars once again in victory.
"Wow..." Atreus says, once again astonished by Hulk's strength.