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Arthur

Seeing all those bombs strapped to his body forced me to step back in horror. He even held the detonator in his hand then looked at me with a look of pure shame, unable to meet my eyes.

Did he plan to kill himself? Did he plan to do it since capture? Why is he doing it now? After all we went through to break him out? I couldn't understand why he would choose such a dangerous game to play, and I had to admit, it broke my heart into millions of pieces. All I could force myself to do was stare at him in hopes of getting some sort of response from him.

I took a step forward, but I wish I hadn't. He pressed the button on the trigger, but I knew nothing would happen. Only when he took his thumb off the button would the bombs go off, and they would take him with it. I grew nauseous, and I could feel tears begin to form in my eyes. He continued to evade my eyes, keeping his thumb pressed firmly on the trigger.

My eyes remained glued to the glowing red button that Carlos had his thumb pressed against. If he let go of that button, he was going to blow me, him, and everything else, including a few of the trees and vegetation around us, in the explosion. There wouldn't be much left of him or me to recover once the explosion cleared, except ash, blood, and chunks.

Eventually, from all the steps back I took, I soon had my back up against a thick tree with leaves almost blanketing me. I pulled out my knife and sliced them away yet retained my focus primarily on Carlos. If I was going to die, I'd rather die looking right into his eyes then have my back turned and be very unsure about it. He wouldn't kill me, would he? He told me I had to get out of here, but I couldn't just leave him here to die, could I? The only thing stopping me from keeping him alive were the set of explosives wrapped around his stomach and a trigger that would set them off once he let go.

I stared at him, mouth agape, and let the tears fall down my face. "Why?" I coldly whispered, just loud enough so he could hear me.

He kept his grip on the trigger and sighed, turning his gaze from me. "I'm sorry, Arthur. This is the only way to ensure you don't get captured and tormented like me."

"By killing yourself?" I scolded.

"Be reasonable, Arthur. I know you don't want this to happen, but I made this decision willfully, and I'm well aware of the outcome as well. Believe me, if there was another way out of this, I would've seen it coming, yet I knew only one of us were going to get off this island once we broke off from the group."

I shook my head and nearly fell to my knees. "So you brought me out here to tell me you were going to sacrifice yourself to gain me time?"

He nodded sagely. "I also wanted to tell you goodbye."

"What the fuck, Carlos! I promised to bring you home and you just...you just fuck it up by trying to become the hero of all of this! I...I wanted to stand by you once this war was over! But...you...just..." I trailed off. My growing sadness and anger just took every last ounce of energy out of me, forcing me onto my knees.

I heard the mud squish as he stepped over and knelt down next to me. He waited a few seconds before he actually said something. "I'm sorry, Arthur. We all have to make sacrifices in this war, and I'm doing just that."

"But why me?" I asked, the tears streaming down my face. "Out of all the goddamn people in the world, why did you have to fucking pick me?"

He sighed and brought my teary gaze up to his saddened eyes. "Because, unlike me, you have a score to settle with Jupiter."

"But he tortured you," I countered.

The canine shook his head. "That doesn't mean I want revenge. Revenge is sometimes the best motivator, and sometimes the worst."

"I don't understand."

"Nor do I expect you. You'll find out one day, Arthur, because I know you will. There will come a day when you have to decide what you want more: revenge or clarity."

He sounded so calm about this whole situation, yet here I was, ready to start bawling like a tiny child. I couldn't accept the situation despite what he was saying, for I still held onto the notion that we could both walk out of here without any more bloodshed. Maybe I could pull those bombs off his stomach and throw them far away and set the detonator off so he could survive. Maybe I could just die with him and forget about this whole war.

I doubted he would let me attempt either of those options. He was too intent on this, and I couldn't talk him out of it for the life of me. The man who rescued me, brought me up this war, and made me into the person I am today was about to kill himself to buy me some time to get away and fight again another day.

As much as that sounded brave, I thought him of a fool. That was the worst thing I could think of, and I hated myself for it.

Accepting it was difficult, if not impossible. Even as I sobbed and punched the ground, I knew deep down that he was doing the right thing. As much as I wanted to stop him, I was powerless.

I heard loud shouts in the distance. Carlos heard them too and pulled me onto my wobbly feet. I could barely stand considering how nervous and devastated I was, but he kept me up as long as he could.

"Arthur, get out of here, now," he sternly spoke to me, pushing me down the mud forest.

"But...but...I can't...just..." I could barely even mutter a sentence, but he paid it no mind and instead grew more frustrated, turned me around, and slapped me across the face. "Arthur, get the fuck out of here. Now."

I was shocked at first and stared at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. The slap was hard enough to get my attention and get my senses flowing correctly again. I cupped my cheek with slight pain and took a few steps backwards, his words echoing in my mind over and over again. Even though I felt betrayed, I had this deep down feeling that he did that with good reason.

Allowing one more tear to fall down my face, I turned around and ran as fast as I could through the dense jungle. With the darkness surrounding me, I tumbled through the thick leaves and stumbled over arched roots, barely shedding a tear before wiping the mud across my face away and running once more.

Everything about me said to turn back and get him, but my mind told me to keep running or else I would regret it later. So, I ran and continued to run until I couldn't anymore. My lungs burned after running for such a long time, forcing me to slow down my pace and trudge through the deep forest. Not only were my lungs burning in need of rest, my muscles were on fire and called for me to sit down and rest for another few minutes. I felt the need to keep going and went against what my body told me and continued to run, passing over the thick roots, and cutting through the tightly packed plants around me.

I tripped once more and fell into a puddle of rainwater, splashing the mud against me, covering almost all my body from head to toe in the stuff. It would be nothing short of a miracle if I survived this entire ordeal without any repercussions, but I highly doubted that.

A loud explosion far behind me made my blood turn cold.

I stood and turned around, stepping out of the puddle and stared into the distance behind me. The explosion shook the ground and could be heard even with the distance I had. My heart felt as though it had shattered into pieces once again.

Carlos was gone.

It took all the willpower I had not to cry right then and there. My body slumped, and I felt completely destroyed inside. I could feel my breathing become quicker and more erratic, almost becoming completely uncontrollable. Everything about me just wanted to quit right then and there and wait for death to make its way to me.

My fallen friend wouldn't like that, though. If he was watching me right now, he wouldn't want me just standing around here waiting for some guy to come and kill me, making his sacrifice a complete waste. I needed to keep moving and honor his memory by winning this war.

Still, with a broken heart, I turned around and started walking through the jungle once again. I could still hear the faint pops of gunfire all the way back at Jupiter's base, but the sounds of the forest and of war eventually just melded together in this blur of noises that I was quickly getting sick of. I just wanted to get out of here and get to the fleet and bawl my eyes out in private so that I could let out all of my emotions without judgment.

How long I was walking through this place, I couldn't tell. To be honest, I felt like I had been walking through this dreary rain and wet mud for hours. Carlos's death still felt like it had just happened, only seconds ago, but I knew better than to believe that. The friend I knew for all these years was gone and it was time to move on and accept it.

I stopped at one of the trees around me, finding that the trees became less and less abundant as they were half a mile back. There was much more space to move

around in, and I could actually see the moon shine through the darkness, but I could still feel the rain pelt against me like hail, so I wasn't out of the woods yet--so to speak. With a heavy sigh, I stayed there and gave myself a little rest, unable to get a link through my communicator. I had no idea if it was malfunctioning or if the jungle was cutting off my signal, but I was completely alone from here on out.

I could hear a current flow to my right, hearing the violent rapids thunder along the coast. Judging from the sound, I could tell I was much higher up than the coast, telling me I was heading upwards into the jungle.

Knowing that information now was bad. From behind, amongst all of the clapping thunder, violent rain, and raging water, I heard someone shout through all the sounds.

"There he is! Bag him and bring him in!"

I turned and met the eyes of a soldier, but it wasn't one of my own. He aimed what looked like a tranquilizer gun at me and fired yet missed and hit the tree next to me. Just as he cursed and reloaded, I took off into the forest as fast as I could, knowing that the only way to lose them was to get as much distance from them as possible.

From behind, I could hear more men shouting at me from a distance. Another dart whizzed passed me and embedded itself into a tree, nearly skidding across my shoulder. They weren't trying to kill me. They were trying to immobilize me and bring me to their leader, but I wasn't going to make the chase easy for them, dashing to the side just another flurry of darts flew past.

"Get back here you fucking bitch!"

"Look at him run! He's a scared little pussy is what he is!"

"Can't wait until we tear his ass a new one!"

Their words didn't wound me, but I didn't dare look back so they could gain pleasure from my pain. I had just lost one of the closest men I had ever known in my life, and I wasn't about to let them take me in and force me to be their bitch after what he went through. They were not going to take me back to that hell hole and make me suffer. Not again.

All my hope suddenly vanished once I realized where I was running. I was heading uphill to a plane that leveled over, stopping at the edge of a long cliff. How high up I was going, I had no clue but going up was all I could do until I ran out of room to run. Once I ran out, I had no idea what else to do. Fighting them off was impossible, and I had nothing to use against them. The gun I had was empty, but I did have a knife but that would do little against darts that caused paralysis.

I didn't have much else of a choice, so I ran as far as I could, making sure to dodge the flying darts along the way, If one of those things hit me before I got to the top, I was already pretty much a dead man walking.

My body ached and my muscles burned in need of rest, but I couldn't give in just yet. If they were going to take me, I was going to make them work for it whether they disliked me or not, not that I cared what they thought anyways. Even as I panted, choking for air, I went as far as my legs could take me and that was to say to the edge of the cliff.

Willing myself to stop, I looked over the edge and immediately found myself staring at a good hundred foot drop into some violent waters. Whether or not there were jagged rocks at the bottom ready to tear me limb from limb, I had no clue, but I honestly didn't want to find out either. It was bad enough I was being chased by men who wanted to put me back in bondage, but I honestly didn't want to jump off a cliff and be torn apart by water and rocks. Survival would be one in a million, saying that if a person even made it past the plowing into the water.

I heard the click of a gun a few yards behind me and quickly turned around. There were the men chasing me. They numbered to about four in number and shined their flashlights right at me, giving them a clear line of sight towards me. The rain continued to pelt against them and I, only causing thunder the clap loud in the distance.

They all had their guns aimed right at me. I didn't know if those were the same dart-shooting guns, but I didn't want to know. Actually, in fact, I really rather not know seeing as how bad of a spot I was in now. They had the means to either kill me or incapacitate me, but they waited there keeping their guns positioned right at me, as if they were waiting for someone to give them the order.

Unfortunately, I was right.

"Hold your fire, men," a deep voice echoed from the forest. "The fox and I have a little score to settle."

Jupiter stepped from the shadows and revealed himself, carrying a smug grin and a revolver in his hands. He wore only a set of jeans without a shirt, also showing me the bandages where he was shot. The panther brought up his gun and aimed it right at me, keeping his finger on the trigger before stopping at his men. I knew those were bullets, only making my blood turn to ice.

He looked at me with his glowing eyes and smiled. "Quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into, Arthur."

I gritted my teeth. I fucking hated him. "Fuck you."

Jupiter merely chuckled, keeping his gun aimed right at me. "Oh, now don't be that way. As you know, we have a lot of catching up to do, now don't we? Now, be a good boy and turn yourself in and maybe we can let this entire dispute be swept under the rug, hmm?"

I stared at him menacingly, almost reverting to growling. "I will not be your fucking slave ever again, you insane bastard!"

A loud pop rattled the air. I howled and fell to my knees, immediately gripping my shoulder as a new pain developed from it. This burning sensation erupted from my body, causing me to hiss and wince as I tried to move my now limp shoulder. I could feel blood begin to pour from it down onto my muddy clothes, only making me feel even sicker to my stomach.

Everything hurt now, and I literally meant everything. Every muscle in my body howled for rest, my lungs burned as if they had been set on fire, my head ached from my loss of energy, and I was already losing a lot of blood. Everything about me was fatigued, and I struggled just to stay conscious. I had been shot by Jupiter, and it felt like I had just been slapped in the face. Was this his method to get back at me all those years ago? This had to be ten times worse than what I did to him, but I did scar him for life.

The feline took a step forward. "I honestly wished I didn't have to do that, but I still had a little debt to settle with you after you left your mark upon my face."

Amongst my growing pain, I chuckled and looked up. "I'd call what I did an improvement."

Did I really have a death wish? Apparently after straining through a jungle, having to cope with the death of Carlos, and being shot just made me a reckless fool who was now living on the edge--figurative and literally. I could feel my body growing weaker with every moment, and I knew that I wasn't going to last if I didn't receive medical attention quick.

Jupiter shook his head, standing only a few yards from me. "Truth be told, I don't know whether to call you mad or brave, child. You're mad for sneaking into my compound and escaping only to be caught by me, and yet I find you brave for having the balls to risk your own life to save the lives of your fellow patriots. It's quite an odd mixture."

"It's a fine line I walk every day when I fight men like you," I gritted at him, staring at him with hate-filled eyes.

He huffed. "I couldn't agree more." He had his gun pointed right at me. "Do we really need to add more bloodshed to this battle, Arthur? Just come with me and return to your proper place. I do not want to harm you further."

"You're such a terrible liar," I countered, forcing all the strength I had into my legs.

He sighed and looked right into my eyes. "You either come with me willingly, or unwillingly, or you die. There is no gray area here, Arthur."

I stepped back and nearly fell, juggling with my own weight as I tried to stay on the ground. If I took another step back, I was going to fall into a violent ocean and possibly die from either the impact or the waves crashing me against the rocks. Which was worse, though? Suffering at the hand of the same man who killed my family and friends or dying at my own accord knowing that my sacrifice would only strengthen the Revolution?

Jupiter took another step forward and clicked his gun once more. "Make the right choice, Arthur."

I looked back at the ocean then at Jupiter. My mind racked trying to make the right decision. Either option was going to cause me suffering, or even death, and I didn't like either answer really. He had men guarding him from behind and kept their guns aimed right at me, so if I tried anything stupid against Jupiter then they were going to light me up. I had nothing and no one to call for. Carlos was dead, and he was the only back-up I had since we split from the base.

He took another step and grew closer to me. I remembered all the painful memories we shared with each other, and I did not want to re-live through them once again. He was an evil and destructive man who was going to make my life a living hell, and if there was one thing I learned from this war, I was not going to suffer at the hands of another man.

"See you in hell, bastard."

I made my decision and jumped back. I could feel the wind try and cradle me in my last moments, but I blacked out before I hit the bottom.

At least death would be quick and painless.