The Path of Madness

Chapter 10: Poison

Aldric hugged the injured part of his body. He saw the thugs running with some of them injured by his gunfire. He also saw several corpses lying around him.

Aldric received several injuries in addition to gunshot wounds. He felt a stabbing pain in his wound. He doesn't know what to do now. He did not know if he could still return home or not.

He only knew that he had to leave this place. He had only two options, to leave before anyone else would come and find the bodies in the alley or dispose of the bodies. But his condition is not possible. And must leave before anyone else finds out he's the killer.

He got up from the ground, while hiding a gun and a knife in his pocket. He looked at the girls and boys who were still lying on the ground. They both fainted looking pale and weak, but were still breathing. He hesitated a little - hesitating, holding his pocket. Then he turned and left.

He went back to thinking about stopping his wound right away. But the sound of screaming woke him up. A homeless man saw her covered in blood with corpses all around her. The tuniwisma started running while shouting. That caused Aldric to stiffen. He had to leave immediately or take care of the body before the police arrived.

Aldric decided to take care of the body first. He knew that perhaps at this time there was no such thing as CCTV, DNA tests or fingerprints. But he did not want to repeat his carelessness again. After all this was another world, if there was almost the same thing like that wasn't he just wanted to fight with fate.

As he fought, he saw an iron passage covering the bottom of the road covered in mud. It was an underground shovel cover for waste disposal. The city does not have a sophisticated sewer system like in a big city. But it still has a simple disposal system, whose main function is to remove factory waste, while other waste will be diverted to smaller simple channels.

Approaching the cover of the pack. With great effort he managed to open the cover of the sewer.

Aldric felt his body getting weaker. His blood was soaking his clothes more and more. He looked at the sky which was starting to have a dark color.

He prayed for a quick rain to come, removing the smell and puddles of blood. Aldric could only hope the police would not come before the rain came.

He approached the first corpse, and dragged them one by one from the ground into the sewer as soon as possible. He calculated that there were 4 dead out of the 12 thugs.

Aldric wanted to go and stop the wound. But he felt he could not walk far after closing the gutter. He felt his body getting weaker and weaker, his gaze starting to blur. He felt his blood continue to flow from his wound, and soaked his clothes.

The sound of rain came through Aldric. He felt the rain start to fall on his head.

Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him. He looked back with caution. He saw the children were awake. They were trembling in fear while looking at him.

Aldric realized that he had forgotten those children. He was a little curious whether they saw him killing thugs or dumping corpses into the sewers. But it didn't last long in Aldric's mind.

Aldric wanted them to take him to safety. But he stopped his mind. He knew that there was no safe place in this neighborhood. If they knew a safe place why they were beaten in this alley.

"Hi, you guys go far?" Said aldric weakly.

The children looked at him with fear. They cannot reply to his words.

Aldric didn't mind it anymore, he turned around trying to go find a safe place to stop the bleeding. He thinks at least the place should be far away from here, he doesn't want to be found when the police search this place and its surroundings. If they found him he would only make trouble on himself.

Aldric started walking when suddenly his eyes were closed, his whole body was convulsing and numb, he had trouble moving his body and even breathing.

It's poison, he thought in his heart. Those bastards put poison on their guns. He tried to calm his body while trying to breathe. He began to sense that he might not have survived. He could only crouch stiffly in desperation maintaining his consciousness.

When the rain falls more. Aldric started thinking about his new family. She probably made her aunt and sister cry over her loss. Maybe it's more appropriate to say because Aldric isn't himself. He began to feel a feeling of emptiness in his heart. Like his old life. He has nothing, no right to anything, and expects nothing.

Aldric heard a voice behind him.

"Then how about you" said one of the children trying to vent.

Aldric turned around weakly looking at the voice.

The boy was the boy in the girl's defense who hit Aldric.

"Go." Aldric replied with the last voice he could muster.

He felt his consciousness disappear. He felt his life was getting smaller. He opened his eyes and did not give up. But destiny says something else.

Aldric finally began to fall in the middle of the rain that hit him.

"What should we do with him?" ask the girl after seeing Aldric fall.

"Did he faint" said the boy puzzledly. "What if I bring it home,"

"But how?" ask the girl. "He killed them."

"I know big brother," said the boy firmly. "But he helped us."

"He didn't help us, he fought them because they were bothering him and he's probably dead!" Said the girl loudly

"He's still helping us and he's not dead, we haven't even checked" the boy said.

"Stay with it." Answer the girls with another strong tone.

Sela The boy looked at the girl.

"Don't forget the people who helped us. That's what you always say brother."

The girl had an angry expression on her face. The boys ignored him. He began to approach Aldric's fallen body. He put his hand close to Aldric's nose. He felt a breath. After that he tried to lift the aldric body by himself, with great effort the boy realized that he could not reach it. So he tried to drag Aldric's body.

"As for what you do if you drag him down like that he'll really die!" Jerk girls while taking Aldric's body. "Help me to pick it up."

The boy nodded excitedly saying. "Good sister".

The girl crouched down in front of Aldric, and helped him stand up. He embraces Aldric, and takes him to their home.

They walked through the alley out of the slums. They try to cross paths that people rarely cross. They finally got home without anyone suspecting them. Even if anyone saw them, they would only assume a small child, bringing home his drunken brother. And they've covered the old aldric blood shirt with the dirty cloth that was found.

The children's home was a small, destroyed warehouse in a narrow alley near the commercial district.

The daughter laid Aldric on a small bed, where they slept. He threw away the dirty cloth in Aldric's shirt, and looked for the clean cloth in the desk drawer near the bed.

"I'll get you some water" said the boy.

"Yes" answered the girl briefly.

He began to take off Aldric's clothes with heart. He was surprised that all the muscles in his body stiffened unnaturally. He's starting to find out that Aldric's been poisoned.

He's trying to find something in his desk drawer. And he found a small jar with dried flowers inside. He tried to grab some and started crushing them by hand.

After the boy took the water, the girl mixed a little water with the flower powder she crushed. He began to work deftly and carefully. He cleaned the blood from Aldric's wounds, then coated all the aldric wounds with crushed flower powder and mixed with water, then bandaged them with a clean cloth.

"Will he live?" Ask the boy next to her.

"He will live". Answer the girl in exhaustion.