The blood trail stopped abruptly causing Mello to stop and stare around.
Matt panted hunched over behind him. His red hair fell in his face, matted to his forehead by sweat and rain. They had stopped at a stony wall that was the bottom of a steep, rocky mountain. From the looks of things it was too high to climb, yet there didn't appear to be any entrances or secret panels or anything. Mello ran a hand through his blonde hair glaring coldly at the stone wall before him.
"Any suggestions, Matt?" he asked looking to his friend.
"Yeah, let's forget about them and get out of here before they kill us." He replied wearily. "I'm really freakin tired. Any more running an I'll have a heart attack!"
"Hey, what's that?" the blonde asked as he ran over to what appeared to be a fallen log. He had seen something shiny and smirked upon seeing a black bracelet, which lay beside it. Mello looked closely and saw drops of blood and a set of footprints in the mud, which appeared to have been heading straight for the mountain's wall.
He picked the bracelet up and followed the footprints. He stopped at a huge thorny bush where the footprints seemed to have ended and frowned. He scratched the back of his head unaware of when Matt tugged his arm and begged that they leave before they were killed, and said that they wouldn't be able to help anyone if they were dead or tortured to death. "Please, Mels, think this through. Think something through for once. If we find them then who knows how many friends they may have with them? All I'm certain about is that if we find them we'll bring our chances of dying up to maybe seventy percent."
"If I were a psychotic savage who ate people, how would I get past a thorn bush?" Mello muttered to himself.
Mello brushed Matt's hand off his shoulder, ignoring the gamer as he crouched down into and animalistic crouch. He moved forward, taking a deep breath. This idea better work and you better be behind me, Matt. He thought closing his eyes as he begun to creep forward. He was surprised that the thorns only scrapped over his skin as he crawled through the bush, as he was almost certain that they'd have pricked him.
He heard Matt behind him groan as a thorn dug into his cheek and caused a very thin stream of blood to trickle from it. Mello felt a thorn stab into his neck as he got to the end of the bush and to a large, round entrance carved from stone. He crawled through the opening, followed closely by his redheaded buddy. Mello stood as he realized the opening led to a large cave-like area carved into the inside of the mountain. It was dark, therefore hard to see.
The two teens suddenly felt even apprehension than they had beforehand.
"I've got a lighter we could use, you know, for light."
"Don't you have anything better…err…brighter I mean to say?"
"Um, I might have a flashlight in my pack." Matt said as he began to rummage through his backpack. He felt around until he felt the end of his flashlight and flicked it on. Mello grabbed it from him as soon as the light came on. He shined it around the dark cave until he saw two other openings, which he was certain led from the room and to other rooms.
Exhaling sharply Mello turned to Matt giving him a stern look. "Which way do you think we should go Matty?" he asked quietly. Sighing the redhead stared at the ground. "Left?" Matt muttered uncertainly. His friend nodded and turned away from him. "Okay, left it is then." Mello said walking as quietly as he could towards the left opening.
Matt followed certain that they were gonna get into some sort of trouble. The corridor they walked through was surprisingly very long. It felt as if they walked for hours until the end came near. Orangey, yellow light flooded through an opening towards the end of it. Mello flicked off the flashlight. Sweat started to bead his forehead. He was in a cold sweat as he looked at Matt. The redhead saw many emotions, fear, anxiety, anger, nervousness and a bit of regret, flash across Mello's face all at once.
"Matt, if you get killed because of me, well, sorry." Mello whispered, face flushing. "The last thing I want is you to get hurt because of me."
"Yeah, same here." Matt whispered back. "Just remember, zombies."
The blonde grinned nodding.
He gave Matt his flashlight back and brought out his gun.
He signaled for Matt to do the same. The gamer complied tossing the flashlight into his backpack, then bringing out his gun. They made sure their weapons were filled with ammo, and then moved slowly towards the light. Stopping short both teens inhaled deeply before bursting into the room with their weapons held firmly, expecting to see a group of the crazed killers, but saw nobody was there. There was a fire in the center of the room that crackled, appearing to have been made recently, but they saw nobody else, other than themselves, was in the room.
"Hmm, nobody's here?" Mello said feeling a bit confused. "I was sure we'd find them here. Oh, well, live and learn, right?"
"Yeah." Matt agreed loosening his grip on his gun. "Maybe they went down that other corridor?" he suggested relieved that they weren't in any danger. "Or maybe they escaped before we could get here."
Mello nodded sighing. He leaned against a wall, which was warm, heated by the fire. "Thank God." He whispered glad that they didn't run into like a hundred of the crazed killers. He felt his muscles tense as he heard a soft gasp. He looked up to Matt who apparently hadn't heard anything. "Hey, Matt, was that you?" Mello asked bringing himself to a stand. The gamer gave him a puzzled look.
"Was what me?"
"That gasp. I heard a soft gasp, wasn't that you?"
"No…." Matt said starting to scan the room.
Mello looked around the room more carefully this time taking everything in. There was a bunch of moss, ripped pieces of cloth, what appeared to be cotton and variations of bird feathers made into large piles far off from the fire, but close to the walls as if to get more heat. There were also cracks in the walls and in one corner of the room was a hole in the wall, which could've been big enough for someone to hide in. Mello raised his gun as he saw a small, white hand move out from the darkness and into the firelight.
"Don't move!" he shouted.
The hand hesitated in movement.
"Come out here, slowly." Mello said clicking the safety to his gun off.
Nothing happened for several seconds. The hand withdrew back into the darkness in absolute fear. Mello was puzzled. He swallowed as he took a step forward. He felt his heart start to race. He didn't know what to expect. Actually, he expected to see a cannibal covered in blood ready to tear his throat out, however, seeing the small act of fear in that single motion made the blonde doubt he'd find something vicious, but he wasn't gonna throw his gun down and take a risk. When he was finally close enough to see into the small space in the wall he gasped in both alarm and discomfort.
He saw a small body wedged in the hole quite uncomfortably. Large, gray eyes stared out at him, and whoever was there wore only white. He couldn't make out much more than that because of the darkness. He lowered his gun and reached a hand out towards the figure, which attempted to cringe away but couldn't because they were in as far as they could go. "Mels what are you doin?" Matt cried from where he stood, obviously afraid his friend was about to get his hand bit off. Mello sighed turning away from the figure.
"I don't think that whoever this is, is dangerous Matt. They obviously aren't one of the guys who killed that other guy with all the animal skins or one of the ones who attacked us. I mean they couldn't fit into this space. I think this is a kid. Ya know, a little kid."
"No way!" Matt said hurrying over to Mello's side. "A little kid? Why'd he be here? No wait, better question, why'd he be here and alive?"
"I don't know. But that's the only explanation I can think of." Mello said turning back to the small body hiding from them in the wall. "I mean I doubt an adult or teenager could fit into this small space, Matt."
The redhead and blonde sat their weapons on the stone floor not wanting to frighten whoever it was hiding from them. They knelt down and brought Matt's flashlight out, so they could see the figure better. Matt shined it directly in the break in the wall. They both felt a bit shaken to see a young boy who was clad in white pajamas that were bloodied and covered by grime. Dried blood was on his pale, white skin along with dirt and what appeared to be ash and soot. His snowy curls were also tainted by the filth. He stared at the two elder boys with teary eyes, which were half lidded and void of any emotion.
"…Please…" he mumbled covering his face with his hands. "…Stop…"
Mello looked at Matt who was apparently confused. The blonde quickly realized what the boy meant. He jerked the flashlight from Matt and switched it off. "Hey, what was that for?" Matt asked both confused and slightly annoyed. Mello tossed him the flashlight before he spoke. "The light was hurting the kid's eyes." He replied. Matt sighed as he put the flashlight back in his pack.
"I think we should get out of here, now." Mello said softly. "He probably wants us to leave him be, besides we've got two bastards to find and kill."
"But Mels, we can't leave the poor kid here, alone." Matt said giving the boy who hid in the wall a sympathetic glance. "Earth to Mello this place is probably crawling with hundreds, no, a lot of crazed cannibals! What if they try to hurt him? We can't leave him here to be killed like that girl was! It's inhumane!"
"You don't think I know that?" Mello hissed heatedly. Matt didn't respond as the blonde ran a hand through his blonde strands. "Actually Matt, I think he is a crazed cannibal." Mello finally said after some serious thinking of whether he should voice his thoughts about the boy or not. "Look at his clothes and skin. He looks like those other two."
"So then why doesn't he attack us like they did, hmm?" Matt demanded stubbornly.
"Look I'm not gonna argue with you Matt, but I say we'd do best to leave him here. I mean he's terrified of us and probably would make things a lot more troublesome for us if we decided to bring him along. And even if he wasn't any trouble and we survived this whole ordeal what will happen to him? Huh? I'll tell you Matt. He'll probably get sent to some research lab to be studied and experimented on or sent to some mental institution that'll treat him like a monster. If not that, then he'll probably be sent to a juvenile detention center…for murder…or he might just be killed. I mean seriously Matt who'd want to keep a kid who was raised and/or has lived with cannibals?"
"Mels, we could keep him, ya know like how you keep me."
"He's not a dog, Matt, we can't take him with us and expect people to let us keep him. Questions will be asked explanations will be needed. And what if he's got relatives out someplace looking for him? What if he was kidnapped and brought here like on that one documentary you'd watched last Halloween about cannibals where they kidnapped kids and raised them or whatever?"
"That's all okay. We can lie with ease, and that last part is totally farfetched and you know it! Besides if he has relatives who aren't flesh eating monsters looking for him we'll just hand him over to them and let them care for him. Okay? That's all reasonable isn't it? All I know is that if we leave him here, something bad will happen. I just feel it deep in my gut Mels."
Mello gave his friend a stony glare that gradually softened. "Why are you being so difficult?" he asked with a small smile.
Matt was about to reply, but instead he let out a loud cry as the boy leapt from his hiding place in the wall and onto him. Mello barely had time to grab his gun when Matt hit the ground screaming loudly. He was surprised when the boy got off him and rushed over to another corner of the room. "What the bloody hell was that for?" Matt gasped as he sat up and stared in bewilderment at the boy for a second.
"Are you okay?" Mello asked kneeling at his side. The redhead nodded still in shock. They stared at the boy who held the silver necklace, which was given to them. It shined in the light of the fire. The boy held it before his eyes watching it shine as it swung side to side. "Maki." He whispered grinning. "Maki. Maki. Maki."
"Maki?" Mello muttered in puzzlement. "Oh, that girl! Matt do you think that was her name?"
The redhead nodded slowly.
"How do you think he knows her?"
"D-do…you…think h-he killed…her?" Matt sputtered.
Mello looked at the boy and studied the happiness the name and necklace seemed to bring him, it was hard for the blonde to believe a murderer would be so joyful knowing their victim's name. Most murderers he'd heard of had forgotten their victims name moments after killing them. He sat and thought about it for a while and he ultimately decided that the boy was innocent of killing her. He merely knew her. Mello thought bitterly. Perhaps, somehow, she was his friend. Mello saw innocence and a malnourished intelligence within the boy that needed to be fed for it was starving. He also saw how broken the boy was and studied his body taking in the unfortunate sight.
The boy appeared to have been undernourished and weakened from starvation. He was really, really pale as if his skin had never seen the light of the sun before. His eyes were half lidded and despite the smile that crossed his face they were dead, miserable. His smile meant nothing, it was simply there, existing with no purpose. The boy seemed to have nothing but his clothing and that necklace and whatever memories were in his skull.
This boy, he was all alone.
Mello just knew Matt was right and they needed to help him, but some small part of the blonde shouted that it was a bad idea. Then he remembered himself being alone at one point in his life. He was only seven years old; it was shortly after his parents had died in a car accident. Months of loneliness truly felt like years and he was probably one of the most miserable people in the world, but then he met Matt and had never been alone since then. He felt his heart, which he had tried to harden into stone soften into mush. Mello sighed as he stood up, relenting.
"Okay, Matt, you win."
"Huh?"
"We'll take the kid with us."
"Re-really?"
"Yeah, unless he's already scared you so bad that you changed your mind."
"Oh, shut up." Matt sneered. "You were scared too."
"A?" the boy in the corner suddenly shouted. "A? A!"
Mello and Matt looked at the opening and saw the teen that'd been accompanying the other teen that'd been called BB. A glared at Near who glanced around the room nervously. "A?" he repeated trembling. Terror flashed in his gray orbs. His eyes then stared at Matt and Mello as if begging them to help him. The two teens, which were very, very confused, but knew to grab their weapons stood their ground frozen.
A was quick to make his move.
"Near!" he shouted angrily.
He growled as he ran, and the leapt on top of the smaller boy. He started to claw at the younger boy's face causing the white boy, apparently named Near, to screech in pain.
Mello dove for his gun while Matt stood frozen in stunned silence at how fast everything was moving. Mello aimed his gun, and fired. Blood sprayed the warm walls, causing them to hiss and also made the fire hiss as some of the crimson life sprayed into it.
All went deathly silent.