Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 6
6 Valery... her name was Valery... Why did he think she had said Vallah? The names were similar, but... Banno pushed the thought away and stuffed the last piece of meat into his mouth. He reached for the pot of water by his side, almost knocked it...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 5
5 "Food? I don't want food!" Banno said, not sure if any of his words were even breaking through the haze. It felt like he was underwater again, but _dirty_ water, stagnant water that's been left to breed mosquitoes in some shady corner of the forest,...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 4
4 frickin' sandwich! Really!?" Luke said, not so much carving the ham as stabbing it. "What do you think about all this, Vee?" Valery didn't really know what to think, so she just calmly and quietly went about slicing the bread. She liked little...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 3
3 "He was awake, really really! I swear! He looked at me!" "I believe you, hon." The voices sounded like they were coming from underwater. No, wait... wasn't he supposed to be the one underwater? No... dammit, he was getting so sick of this. That...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 2
2 - gasped for breath, his remaining eye open and staring. His first instinct was to get up, to get moving, to lash out, but he felt... tired... so tired... like he could barely move his arms. Banno closed his eye and took a long, slow breath,...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 37
37 Hezzi's eyes flew open, and the first thing that raced through his mind was not relief at the fact that he was still alive, but horror at the change in light. Even in this gloomy place of sickness and death he could see that the world was much too...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 36
36 Ander thought he would surely black out again, but he didn't. Maybe he was in too much pain to black out, if that even made sense. Lying on the ground, he knew the wound in his chest was bleeding again. The blood was warm, but the morning air was...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 35
35 ...go." Kadai sucked in air between his clenched teeth, this wretched feeling inside caught somewhere between outright anger and irrepressible sorrow. He couldn't tell whether he wanted to embrace his son or punch him in the face. He looked up at...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 33
33 The pain was so bad, he only wished for the relief of unconsciousness. As he lay there, with his face against the ground, struggling for every breath, he thought he'd even welcome the peace of death. If only it would take the pain away. "By the...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 32
32 He didn't want to do it, but he couldn't stop himself. He looked down and saw that about half the spearhead was lodged in his left side. There was pressure and an insane amount of pain, but hardly any blood. Odd, considering how badly his shoulder...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 31
31 Ander had no way of knowing how long they stood there, locked together in a secret embrace. Long enough for his legs to ache and the fire at his back to singe his fur. Long enough for him to almost pass out from sheer exhaustion. Long enough for it...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 30
30 "Walk in step with me. I don't want to cut you," Ander said and slowly started to walk backwards, pulling Nilia along. He kept his head down low, using her as a living shield. She was very cooperative, instantly adjusting to the rhythm of his...