Chapter 217
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
An injured man wouldn’t attack us, and even if his companions turned hostile, we’d only have to deal with one person.
“You watch outside.”
As Killian went inside, I tried to follow but he told me to keep watch, then entered alone.
Was he still expecting others to be hiding? Whatever the case, I guarded the outside as instructed.
I heard the sound of a blanket being whisked away behind me, and shortly after, Killian spoke.
“He’s dead.”
…Dead?
Startled, I almost turned around but stopped myself.
‘That’s why he told me to watch outside. Killian must have already realized it was a corpse.’
The thought of a corpse behind me sent chills down my spine. Then I realized something else, making goosebumps crawl along my back.
‘So that awful smell was the stench of a decaying body?’
While I was struggling to process that I knew what a corpse smell was, the scene behind me was becoming chaotic.
“Dead? How rude! He’s just sleeping!”
“Look closely. He’s not breathing. His eyes are unfocused.”
“How can you say that about a living person? Joseph, did you hear that? Get up and smack that rude man.”
“Listen. I know you care for your comrade, but he’s dead. Has been for at least a day. How long do you plan to treat a corpse like a living person?”
“Don’t touch him! I said don’t!”
“It’s respectful to send off the dead properly. It’s hard to bury alone, so I’ll help.”
“Burying a living person? You’re crazy.”
The crazy man spoke for me. How did I get mixed up with this lunatic and dragged all this way?
‘What now?’
Killian muttered in a tired voice,
“Ugh… can’t just kill you right now.”
“I’d say that! If it weren’t for the damn military, I’d shoot a hole in your crazy head right now!”
“Quiet. You want to call the Falklands army with your voice and get Joseph dragged back to the prisoner camp?”
“Joseph won’t survive that camp in his condition.”
Pretending Joseph was alive in sync with the madman, the man quickly regained composure, though still clearly not sane.
“I see all sorts of craziness. No sane person would wander into these mountains willingly.”
He grumbled alone, then demanded medicine from Killian.
“Give me the medicine you promised.”
“Promise? I can’t let my wife sleep next to a corpse.”
As Killian stepped forward, hurried footsteps followed him.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going? There’s no other cabin here! The sun’s setting!”
Though the madman claimed the dead were alive, he was right— the western ridge was already glowing red from the sunset.
“You plan to let your lovely wife sleep on the bare ground?”
Better than spending the night beside a rotting corpse and a madman.
“Step back.”
“There are wild dogs out there.”
The man became desperate and lost his composure again when Killian didn’t budge.
“Give me that medicine now!”
“I said step back.”
“Killian.”
I wanted to say, “Just give him a morphine and be done with it. Better than fighting a lunatic.” But something else escaped my mouth first.
“W-Wild dogs!”
Two dogs appeared from the dark forest opposite the cabin and stared our way. Maybe attracted by the noise.
“There’s more…”
I turned to see a larger dog standing on the slope above us, watching us fiercely. It didn’t look like it would retreat even if we threw stones.
“What did I say?”
The man peered outside, whispering hoarsely,
“I told you there are wild dogs.”
“Damn it… they smelled the corpse.”
“The corpse? I said he’s not dead!”
“Yeah, Joseph and you can try to spend a safe night away from the wild dogs. We’re leaving now.”
Killian pulled me down the slope away from the standoff with the dogs. The madman, scared by the dogs, didn’t follow us, and the dogs were only interested in the corpse—no threat to us.
We thought we’d escape safely…
Growl.
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