"Neil? You need to tell me if you're okay or not." Mallory stated lifting up his chin and studying his face. She then started to check him over and with every wound she found, her rage continued to grow. "Neil…" Neil slapped her hands off him and tried to crawl away but Mallory grabbed his arm and pulled him into her lap. "Don't you crawl away from me. I've been out looking for you for awhile now. You're grandpa has been worried sick." Neil looked up at her in fear. "Y-You killed him…." Neil muttered. Mallory only nodded and pointed at Roy's body. "He didn't have a choice. What he did was unforgivable." Neil looked over at Roy's body and remembered all the times he had beat him and his grandpa. He looked down at his body and studied all of his cuts and bruises. Roy had been the reason for most of these as Matthew had ordered him. But he could have refused Matthew's orders. "Hurting you and your grandpa was one of the few things he did. He had committed many more crimes that would have gotten him sentenced for life. The other three as well, except Matthew, who will most likely be sentenced to death for what he has done in his short fourteen years. Murder of small children and...well...something you're too young to understand right now. Of course, they will no longer have a choice." Neil gave her a confused look and she only smiled and kissed his forehead. Mallory moved him off her lap and knelt to where she was facing away from him. She looked back at him. "Get on. Let's go pay those kiddos a visit." Neil nodded and crawled onto her back wrapping his arms around her neck. Mallory hooked her arms under his legs and stood up. Before they left to go find Matthew, Mallory hooked her foot under the pipe and kicked it up, catching it in her mouth. Neil made a face. "That can't be sanitary…" Mallory chuckled through the metal and started walking, Neil telling her where to go.
Matthew was starting to get impatient. He had sent Neil out over fifteen minutes ago and he hadn't come back yet. "I swear if he died before I got to end him myself, someone is taking his place and I don't care who." he muttered darkly. Jason and Richard shared an uneasy glance worried that they would be the ones to face his rage. It was evident that he was tense and that he was slowly becoming even more angry as he gripped the handle of his knife. "Where the hell is that fucking shithead?!" Matthew was about to lose it when everyone heard the sound of a twig crack. They all turned back to the path they had sent Neil on and found that the forest had fallen into complete darkness. This had confused them all since it was the middle the day and there were no clouds in the sky which means that the forest shouldn't look like night had fallen. A soft, melodic humming could be heard from the dark forest and it grew louder and closer. Then it stopped. There was nothing but silence as they stared into darkness and they didn't say it but they all saw something that sent fear up their spines and froze them in place. Richard saw the his parents. They were nothing but bloody corpses on the ground and standing over them was his uncle who glared at him with a lustful intensity. Jason saw his adorable baby sister laughing a playing in a field before running into a busy highway and getting hit by a truck. Matthew saw his older brother standing in front of a large crowd holding a trophy and his parents who were standing next to him wearing proud smiles. A shadow emerged from his brother and covered Matthew making him temporarily blind and when he could see again, it wasn't just his brother there. There were children and adults alike along with his parents. They all glared at him with a burning hatred and started screaming their bodys turning to static and disappearing only to reappear as mangled corpses of those he had killed in his fourteen years of living. But he didn't regret a single one. The three of them stood there, staring into the nightmarish void as many things played in their minds. It was all their lives up until that point. Up until that very point time and stopped onto a shadowy figure wearing a twisted grin. When it ended, the darkness faded away and the forest lit up in a beautiful and almost holy light. Standing amongst the trees only a few feet away, was Neil who was holding hands with a girl they had never seen before. Matthew growled, his eyes never leaving Neil as stalked towards the two, Neil hiding behind the girl. "So you went and brought some bitch huh? Guess you're going to get some severe pun-" Matthew's words caught in his throat when he felt a bloodthirsty aura ooze around him making him stop in his tracks. He had never felt something like this before. He was terrified. Matthew tore his eyes away from Neil just in time to jump back, the sharp end of a bloody pipe grazing his jaw. He held his chin and pulled his hand away to see that there was blood. Furious he looked up at the girl who stared at him blankly. "The fuck you think you're doing whore?!" he bellowed stomping his foot on the ground in a fit of rage. "My name isn't whore. It's Mallory."
Jason, who felt confident since Mallory was short and rather weak looking, stepped forward with a smirk his hands in his pockets. "Well, MALLORY," he spat out her name as if it were some disease. "Smart move telling us your name. You do know who we are don't you? Every kid in town does. We're the Knife-turners!" Jason pulled a small knife from his pocket and pointed it at her. When he got no response or any sign of some sort of fear, he walked forward waving his knife around. "What's the matter? Scared? Well you should be-" Mallory appeared in front of him and thrusted the pipe into his stomach, in between his ribcage and out his back. Mallory stood there, emotionless, as she watched Jason stumble back in shock, dropping his knife and falling over clutching the pipe in his trembling hands blood trickling onto the ground. Mallory picked up the knife and walked over to the bleeding boy and she pulled out the pipe only to roll him over and stab it into his left shoulder, making him cry in pain. She dug it into the ground so he couldn't move. Mallory stood over him holding the knife. "How bad has this one hurt you Neil?"
"He's beat me. Mostly bruises." Mallory held the edge of the blade to his throat and smiled. "Then I guess this one will be quick." In one swift motion she sliced open his throat and blood sprayed all over her face and onto her clothes. Jason clutched at his throat taking in quick short gasps of air but could feel himself losing consciousness. Mallory watched as the life faded from his eyes with an amused smile and touched the blood pouring from the wound and onto the ground like little crimson waterfalls. Mallory stood up straight and looked over at the other two boys. She pulled the Pipe out of Jason's shoulder and moved it between both boys. "Eenie meenie miney…" the pipe landed on Richard who had soiled himself. "Moe." Mallory pulled back her hand and, with surprising accuracy, threw the knife at Richard. The blade dug deep into the center of his chest leaving him momentarily stunned, giving Mallory the chance to rush over, grab the handle and drag the knife all the way down his body, cutting open his stomach. She dug her hands between the wound and ripped open his flesh letting his intestines fall to the ground in a pile as they no longer had anything keeping them in his body. Stepping to the side, Mallory let his lifeless body fall to the ground and stared at Matthew who stared back in horror. Mallory slowly started walking towards him, Matthew frozen in place by her icy glare. Never had Matthew seen something so...horrific. He had done many terrible things in life and had taken many lives himself but never had he seen something like this. Never had he killed someone like this. Never had he been the mouse in the game. This feeling of fear was slowly consuming him, making Matthew go numb. Before, he had felt high and mighty and felt that he was in control of everything. Before, he felt like he could do anything and could have anything. Now he felt small, and scared and he knew he was about to die. There was no avoiding it but he wasn't ready to die. He didn't want to die. He couldn't accept it. Matthew held up a hand and gave her a forced smile. "H-Hey...l-let's talk about this! I-I can help you. You're obviously not from around here and need someone to show you the ropes. P-Plus I uh can help with the bodies you end up with after killing ya know? I'm really good at getting rid of bodies! It would be the best choice I ever made, helping you and-and you would benefit from it!" With every step Mallory took towards him, he took a step back. This continued until he was pushing his back against a tree staring at Mallory in horror as she raised the knife. "You don't get a choice." Mallory brought the knife down and stabbed it into his eye. Matthew screamed in pain as Mallory tugged on the knife, pulling it out along with his eye. Mallory stepped away and watched as he fell to his knees clutching his empty eye socket. She was about to continue torturing the youth when a white blur shot past her and tackled Matthew into a bundle of bushes. Screams started emanating from the bushes and Mallory heard several snaps and crunches as if bones were being snapped in half.
Suddenly, the screams stopped and everything fell into an unsettling silence. Mallory looked back to Neil and held a finger over her lips, signaling for him to stay quiet. She slowly crept forward towards the bush which started shaking violently. She leaned forward, her face inches away from the bush and she saw what had attacked Matthew. It's flesh was white and stained with blood and it's body was set in a way that looked incredibly uncomfortable. The thing had dark sunken eyes with white pupils, sharp jagged teeth and long claws that were stained with blood. It hunched over Matthew's body, munching away on his flesh. Mallory slowly moved back only to step on a stick making it snap. She froze when the things head snapped towards her direction and stared at her hungrily. Why are there so many sticks here? She thought bitterly. Mallory refused to move, blink or even breath as she waited for it to start eating again so she could grab Neil and run. The creature had other plans though and instead lunged at Mallory, knocking her over and onto the ground. It started clawing at her stomach trying to rip her open but only succeeded in leaving deep gashes and she retaliated by stabbing it in the shoulder and dragging the blade down towards it's heart hoping to drag it further and gut it but the creature only screeched and jumped away retreating into the forest. Mallory stood up and held her stomach which was bleeding heavily, but she didn't seem concerned. She turned to Neil who was in tears. "W-what was that thing?" Mallory stumbled over to him and took his hand. "I don't know." she looked down at him. "Let's get you home."
Mallory and Neil sat in her room, Mayhem sitting on the dresser and asking all sorts of questions about their day and how it went while Mallory tended to Neil's injuries. "Well I killed three boys who were basically torturing Neil and my fourth kill was stolen by some white gremlin. I got my stomach cut open and Neil is all bruised and cut. Today has been oh-so-great." She stated sarcastically placing one last bandage on Neil's cheek. Mayhem hissed in annoyance from her sarcasm. "Okay I get it today sucked. Sorry that I'm a curious little cat." Mallory only chuckled when he hopped off the dresser and onto the bed. "I still don't understand though. How come you saved me from those guys?" Neil asked looking up at Mallory and studying her features. Mallory pursed her lips thinking carefully how to explain. "My life...has been a series of unfortunate events. Ever since I came here a week ago, you and your grandfather have been so kind to me unlike the rest of the world...who seems to only want to shut me out. You accepted me and in return I have decided that I would provide protection." Neil looked confused. "But there are good people out there like you...right?" Mallory sighed. "Neil...There are many bad people as there are good and I know that I'm one of those bad people. But you have the chance to do something good with your life no matter what others say. You have choices. Paths that only you can see and choose for yourself. This was the path I chose. Killing those who no longer have any sort of meaning in this life and showing others the paths that they can choose to have, including you. You're still young and still have many many paths to choose from. But because of me you are now in a world that will be hard and scary but I promise to protect you from it as best as I can and help you onto the path you want." Neil glanced up at her through his lashes. "Including grandpa?" he asked. Mallory giggled and poked his nose. "Including grandpa." Neil couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips and he jumped off the bed and ran out the door. "Wait here, I'll be right back!" Mallory and Mayhem shared a curious glance and watched the door for Neil. When he came back he was holding a first aid kit. He jumped back onto the bed and opened it. He pulled out a sewing needle, disinfectant, some cotton, a bandage, some thread and some tweezers. He then ran over to the closet and grabbed a towel laying it on the floor. He looked at Mallory and pointed at the towel. "Lay down on this, please." Mallory, though confused, shrugged and did as she was told. Neil took a pair of scissors and cut open her shirt exposing the wound that she had gotten from the creature. He then proceeded to soak it with disinfectant and started cleaning the wound with the cotton. After he was done with that, he took the needle and thread and started stitching her up using the tweezers to pull the needle out when he couldn't grab it. Mallory watched him as he did this and was stone-faced but she couldn't help but admire how he was so calm and seemed to know exactly what he was doing. "I want to be a doctor when I grow up. I know I'm really young but I've already started researching all sort of medical procedures and how to do things like stitching up a wound in case of emergency and we're not anywhere near a hospital. Since you're going to protect me and grandpa, I have to do something in return. Every time you're hurt protecting us...I'll patch you up to the best of my abilities. Unless you don't want me too…" Mallory watched as he was being so careful and was so on-top of what he was doing. She smiled. "I'd prefer you to stitch me up any day Doctor." Neil smiled and looked up at her. "Thanks Mall-" he noticed how Panicked she looked. "What's wrong?" he asked. Mallory looked over at him. "I forgot Maniac and you're grandpa…"
The memory made Mallory's heart swell with warmth from his kindness and tears slowly started to fill her eyes. Neil had just finished bandaging her arms and was about to put everything away when Mallory pulled him into her lap and held him close. "Mallory?" Mallory said nothing and just continued to hold him. Neil wiggled around for a bit trying to get out of her grasp only to sigh and accept the fact she wasn't going to let go.
She was never going to let go.