Chapter 21: New Allies

Peter

It was embarrassing. We had to run. In the end, Forrest was knocked out by Steve and we were forced to retreat.

"So, what is your name?" The Chinese man, who had introduced himself as Marshall Law, asked.

"My name's Peter Colon." I answered.

"So why were ya chasing Steve?" Paul Phoenix asked.

"He…was with Ogre when he attacked."

Marshall sighed and Paul shook his head. "What? Did you know him?"

"Yeah." Paul said. "He was in on a three man team with us. He was a pretty nice guy before all this."

I saw why they looked so sad now. So far, I hadn't lost anyone to the Mark of Ogre. I couldn't imagine losing King. He always seemed so strong, so unbreakable – even when Julia and I found him in that bar right before our second tour…No. Forget the past. Move on…at least try to.

After Forrest woke up we kept moving on through the forest. I told them that I was trying to find an orphanage nearby – they said they hadn't heard of it. While I was chasing Steve, I lost the sense of which direction I was moving in.

I had to find King. Find out what happened to Ogre. Then, maybe I'd have another chance at fighting him.

My thoughts were interrupted by Marshall's voice. "It's getting dark."

No. It couldn't have gotten dark that fast! I looked to the sky and indeed, the sun was only a sliver quickly passing below the horizon.

"We should set up camp." Marshall said.

"But…we don't even know if we're close to the orphanage." I protested.

"We can't see in the dark." Marshall said. "It's no use."

I sighed and sat down. Marshall and Forrest were meditating nearby. Paul had decided to go train. Nothing else to do, I decided to go with him.

"So, you wanna train with the big boys, huh?" Paul said smugly.

I lowered into his fighting pose. Paul smiled. I ran at him and kicked for his stomach. Paul side-stepped and tried to grab my leg. I was too fast for him. I pulled my leg back and kicked down at his leg. He almost tripped, but his body mass was apparently too heavy for my skinny leg to conquer. He stayed up and punched me in the stomach.

I stumbled back and was ready to keep fighting when he said. "Hey, it's almost midnight."

"Huh?" I asked from the sudden interruption. I tended to get tunnel vision when I fought – thus I was completely oblivious to the outside world.

I looked around me and realized that the moon was straight up in the air, staring down at me…midnight – crap. A fighter should never stay up that late unless there's a reason. King had always taught him to reserve as much strength as possible for when he needed it.

I walked back to where Forrest was asleep and Marshall was still meditating. I lay down in the soft grass…so quiet, so peaceful.

It would be one of the last moments I felt peace for a long time…