Weapons of Mass Destruction

Cassian's breathing is rough. He inhales sharply and quickly exhales as if trying to take in as much air as he can. His pupils are dilated, and he is shaking. Blood keeps flowing out of the terrible wound, and his skin is getting paler by the second.

The one most shocked by all of this is Dominic. The man is trying to squeeze the wound, tie something around it, doing everything he can to stop the bleeding. His hands are shaking almost as much as Cassian himself.

"Damn it, not like this…" he keeps pressing a piece of cloth against the wound. "Someone…do something!" he screams.

The only answer to his pleas is quiet mumbling and then silence.

After a while, Cassian loses consciousness.

"No, no, no, wake up, wake up," Dominic keeps shaking him. "Hadwin, help me for God's sake. Sophie, you too." He turns to them, but his answer is only silence.

No one knows what to do.

"He's like this because he tried to protect you!" The rage is clearly visible on his face as he turns towards Sophie. "So at least, freaking say something!"

No answer, and she quietly averts her face away from him.

"You motherfucking bitch!" he rushes at her but quickly comes to a stop when Hadwin enters his way.

"Dominic, you have to calm down. Acting like this won't help anyone." His voice is soft but firm.

"You… you…" Dominic clenches his fists, and I can almost hear his teeth grinding.

Then he swings his fist at Hadwin.

Unfortunately, it doesn't land.

Hadwin easily dodges it and hits his chest. Even I can see that he is not using his full force, yet Dominic flies back and falls to the ground.

"I'm sorry… but there's nothing any of us can do for him."

"Damn it…" Dominic just covers his eyes and stays lying on the ground.

"Damn it…" he adds again.

So they just stand there, and in a few minutes, Cassian's breathing stops. This time, his friend doesn't say anything, just stares at him. After a while, his gaze turns to Sophie. It's full of resentment. He just asks Hadwin and the others to help him bury his friend in a quiet voice.

But at this point, I'm done listening.

I poke Kevin to make him come back to reality and with his help, I hang the deer by its hind legs in the same place where Hadwin skinned the first one.

I stand there for a second and just stare at the deer while playing with the knife in my hand.

I still remember Hadwin doing it, so I should be able to do it somehow, but damn, I'm not happy about that.

Sigh.

Let's not waste more time.

I am about to make the first cut but then I change my mind and decide to try something else. I use my new skill, [Oscillation], and a sharp, pointy shape of mana comes to existence on top of my finger. Not waiting any longer, I make two cuts - one on the deer's neck to get rid of as much blood as I can, and the other one on its belly from its hind legs towards its front ones.

The mana at the top of my finger isn't as sharp as I would like it to be, so I enter [Focus] and activate [Mana Perception]. While feeling my own mana and watching its flow, I continue using [Mana Manipulation] to create a longer, sharper, and denser thread of mana.

Damn. Did it really take four skills to skin one deer?

I enter a deeper state of [Focus] and continue disassembling the deer. In the end, I don´t even use the knife and just focus on improving my mana manipulation and getting used to [Oscillation] as much as I could.

It is hard to use so many skills at once, and the mana drain is pretty significant to the point where I am thankful I had invested my stat points into the mana stat. When I finally run out of mana, I continue by using the knife.

Unfortunately, I didn't level up any of my skills, but I am sure I improved the way I was handling them. While doing so, I also got a few new ideas, so I hurry up with skinning the deer so I can get to testing them.

I step back when I am done and look at all the harvested meat. It could be worse.

Not bad at all.

"Fuck, that's brutal! Half of Bambi is still on his bones and the ground."

Fuck you too, Kevin.

Oh, and eat shit, Kevin.

"Hadwin did it much cleaner."

Even you, Tess?

"Yeah, I guess we'll call it the 'half-Bambi special.'"

A giant pile of shit, Kevin.

"Hadwin's method was more 'fine dining,' while Nathaniel's," Tess pauses, "is more 'post-apocalyptic buffet.'"

What does that even mean?

Kevin giggles.

"It seems Nathaniel has taken a minimalist approach to skinning that deer."

I interrupt them before they can continue.

"Hey, Kevin?" He turns to me, curiosity visible on his face.

"Yes?"

"Take a few kids and smoke the meat. You saw Hadwin do it, so learn from that. If you fuck it up, I swear you will be eating smoked deer ass until we get out of here."

His pupils expand from surprise.

Reflect that, little twerp.

Then I turn to Tess, who is suspiciously on her way somewhere else, clearly much smarter than Kevin.

"Tess?" My voice is soft and creepy, even to myself.

She stops in the middle of her step and shudders. "Y-yes?" When she turns to me, she is trying to keep her expressionless face.

"You have two hours to get your Psychokinesis to level three."

"Ehm?!"

I leave her like that.

After around an hour, Hadwin comes to me while I am munching on some dried meat from the first deer and drinking some water. He waits until I finish and only then starts talking.

"Hey, I noticed you could use a few pointers when it comes to butchering a deer."

FUCK.

YOU.

Look, it was my first try. I will do much better next time.

Okay?

Okay.

"I wanted to talk with you about what happened." He finally gets to the reason he is talking to me. "We got attacked by a bunch of goblins. This time they had red tattoos, and they had a goblin warrior with them. We didn't have a chance and had to run away."

Interesting.

Why didn't they follow them?

But after looking at him it seems like he wants to keep it to himself.

"We might have to go around to get to water or find another spot for it."

I just sit there and wait. There is no way I am going to make it easier for him. It feels so good.

Go for it.

Ask me what you wanted to ask.

Come onnnnn.

"We should create a bigger group and try it again. We are almost out of water," he says.

Here.

Just like that.

"We found plenty of trash bags, so we can transfer water in them," he continues, then looks at me. "I need your help."

Silence.

I take my time, actually enjoying torturing him like that. I know that he is a proud man, so asking someone less than half of his age for help must be painful.

After one minute, I finally give him my answer.

"I will help, but I want your handgun in exchange."