Leaves crunched, and squished underneath the boots of the vampires. The air was humid, and the forest was chilly, the soldiers stayed close together as they started to slow down.

"Stay close." A soldier with a bow said, they walked ahead of the group looking at the trees that seemed to come closer together, "We're in Yellow territory now.”

The soldiers nodded, and held their guns close to them, one hand supporting it, and the other on the trigger. They moved slowly, turning their heads to the smallest sound, and movement.

“The X should be near,” A soldier close to Death said, he looked to the bark of the trees, most of them were clawed and torn. Death took a small step to the side, bumping shoulders with Geno.

“I don't understand,” Geno said and looked up at Death, he whispered, “If we're in Yellow territory why can't we hear the X?”

Death looked over the small crowd of soldiers, “We're not fully in yellow’s district yet, they rely on their skills of traps for protection more than others. The trees cut off sound, so we have to be careful.”

Geno nodded, shuffling slowly behind the other soldiers. He looked to Death’s wing, “Does it still hurt?” he asked quietly, careful not to break the attention of the other soldiers on the field.

“Not as much,” Death admitted, he looked at Geno and smiled, “It's numb for now, but sooner or later it'll come back to me.”

“HALT!” A figure spoke as they staggered forward.

All soldiers took their stance, raising their guns ready to fire. A tall octopus vampire stood at the end of the narrow path, the soldier that was upfront raised their hand signalling the others to fall back on their weapons. Death walked to the front of the lines, moving through the crowd. He looked to the vampire, noticing a wound on his leg.

“Do you need help!?” Death called out to him, the vampire raised his hand limping towards them. His robe was torn apart and only hanged from his shoulders, part of his pants had been ripped where the wound laid.

“H-halt.” He wheezed as he limped forward, using the trees for support, “There's a trap i-in front of you.”

Death took a step back, and looked to the ground, some of the dirt had been washed away by the rain. Small metal bumps hid deep within the ground, Death raised his hands moving the group of soldiers back.

“Is there any way past this?” Death asked the vampire, “Most of my soldiers don't have wings.”

“Yes,” The vampire coughed, and walked to the side, disappearing into the depths of the trees. Death waited for a minute before turning back to his soldiers.

“While we wait, I want the soldiers who have wings to fly and scout ahead of us,” Death ordered with most of the soldiers nodding, spreading their wings, “The rest of us will come as soon as possible, I know it's not the best plan, but it's all we can do for now.”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers responded with respect.

The soldiers who didn't have wings moved to the side as wings started to spread out around them. Most of the soldiers started to fly off, leaving more room for the others.

“Spare them." Death whispered as he watched the soldiers fly far ahead. He turned back to the rest of his soldiers, and took a deep breath calming his nerves as he felt the weight of stress press down on his chest.

“O-over here,” A weak, and raspy voice called. The vampire from earlier limped, gesturing to a few ropes tied onto the trees, “It's n-not much but j-just try and use it as best a-as you can..”

“Hold on!” Another soldier said, and ran forward. She grabbed onto the vampire, and gently sat him down. She pulled out a small medical kit, starting to wrap bandages around his injured leg.

“Start to climb,” Death commanded to his soldiers, “Soldiers with bows stay in the trees when you go into the district, fire when needed. Do I make myself clear!?”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers answered, bowing down.

They grabbed onto the ropes, and hoisted themselves up onto the trees, they wasted no time heading forward leaping from tree to tree.

Geno walked forward to the vampire seeing the soldier struggle with his wounds. He kneeled in front of him, and started to put some pressure on the wound.

“How deep is it?” Geno asked, he held the vampire’s hand as he winced, and grunted in pain. The soldier sighed and slightly unwrapped the bandages.

“It’s...not that deep but…” She slowly pulled it off the bandages revealing some yellow-ish colored goo inside the wound. Death kneeled to the wounded vampire and looked to Geno. They both shivered at the memory.

“Isn't that what happened to us?” Geno asked himself as he pulled out a cloth from the soldier’s medical kit. He started to clean the wound and get rid of as much of the yellow as possible.

The vampire winced but sighed, “You two, pl-please go on ahead. T-they need you more than me.”

“How many are injured?” Death asked as he grabbed onto the rope, the vampire coughed and patted his chest.

“Many.” He coughed, the Soldier took out some water and helped him drink it. He took a deep breath and looked to Geno.

“Be careful…..please.”

“Sir, I'll stay with him.” The soldier said as she sat besides the vampire, Death nodded and looked to Geno, but before he could speak Geno grabbed onto the rope, and started to climb.

“Come on,” Geno said as he climbed up to the top of the tree, “Let's not waste anymore time.”

Death nodded and quickly climbed up the tree, he balanced himself between the branches and looked to Geno.

“Be ready for anything.” Death said to Geno. Geno smiled slightly and hopped to another tree.

“You too.”

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

“Goddamnit! Get to it's side don't stand there!!” Nim yelled, she held her staff high and ran forward, dodging small pools of yellow acid aimed toward her. Most of it managed to land near her and a few other vampires who charged forward. The X ran to them, screeching so loud the ground began to shake.

Many of the vampires backed off, frightened by the X while a majority of them charged to it's side throwing a huge net over it's body. It shrieked and clawed at the net, trying to break free.

“Keep it there!!” Nim commanded, the vampires nodded and used their strength to bring the X down onto it's stomach. The X shrieked in pain, Nim looked up to the trees and saw a few archers shooting arrows into the X’s back.

Blood started to seep out of the X as it became resistant and tried to retreat in distress. Nim watched as more arrows started to cut deep into the X.

“How is it not dead yet?” Nim questioned as she watched the X try to get out of the net, a few more vampires edged forward to it with their weapons. The X saw this and became hysterical, trying to claw at any vampire that came close enough to it.

“Don't let it out!” Nim commanded and went a little closer, she looked over to the vampires who were holding the net down, “More Red soldiers are coming, just a bit longer!!”

As if the X understood, it finally snapped, yellow acid started shooting off out of it's mouth as it swung it's head side the side throwing off a few vampires on the ends of the net.

“Keep it still!!” one vampire soldier yelled as they raised their weapon higher, but their commands were quickly drowned out by their screams of pain as the yellow acid managed to hit their shoulder. The vampire fell to the ground, their body drowned in acid as Nim and many others watched them turn to dust.

For a few seconds everyone was too shocked to even move their eyes away from the vampire’s dust, the X saw this and used the chance it had to break free from the net. Everyone screamed in surprise as the X swung it's claws at the vampires near it, throwing them off to the side.

More arrows flew from the trees into the X’s body, in a blank panic the archers began to drop down from the trees to the ground as the X spat acid to the top of the trees. The archers looked up from the ground trying to grab their arrows as the X inched closer to them.

The X screamed and thrashed around as gunshots from above shot at it. Nim looked up to see more vampires circling around the X and firing as many bullets they have. The archers cheered in relief as the X began to move away from them in an attempt to get away from the bullets.

Nim covered her ears as the shrieks from the X made even the ground and trees shake with it’s cries of pain. She didn't even seem to notice it edging it's way closer to her to get away.

“Leader!!” A soldier called out to Nim, she opened her eyes and gasped. The X loomed over her, it was the only thing that blocked the bullets from hitting her. She reached for her staff but before she could even blink the X pounced onto her and pinned her to the ground.

She screamed and reached for her staff but that only resulted in the X clawing at her side. Nim yelled in pain as the X clawed at her leg managing to hit the bone.

“Back off!!” A voice called.

Multiple bones shot up from the ground and impaled the X off of her. A soldier rushed to Nim who was grunting in pain while the rest of them circled around the X who was trapped in bones.

“Goddamnit!” Nim hissed in pain, the Soldier lifted her up to a sitting position. The soldier supported her and flinched as two pairs of feet jumped in front of them.

“Nim!” Death said and knelt before her, she gasped holding her side. She looked over to Geno who tore a bit of his sleeve and began to wrap it around her leg.

“She needs medical attention!” The guard told Death.

Death sighed and looked around, “My doctors are too far, let's just wait till they finish off the X, she'll be fine!”

The soldier slightly glared at him and looked to Geno, “Or...she can just use his blood-"

A black wing separated Geno and Soldier like a wall between them. Geno backed up and summoned a bone while Death glared at them. The soldier backed away from them.

“Don't even think of touching him!” Death growled, “He's not some object for you to use!”

Nim sighed and pushed Death’s wing away, “You.” She looked to the Soldier, “Don't talk rudely to Red district’s Leader and make yourself useful and get me the vial.”

“Yes ma’am.” The soldier said with respect and left too a small cave near them. Death, Geno, and Nim looked to the X while they waited. It was completely pinned by Geno’s bones and unable to move as the Soldiers advanced to it. It screeched and wailed trying to break free from the bones but no matter how much it tried it couldn't break free.

“Ready!” A soldier commanded and raised their hand, all the soldiers around them raised their guns, “FIRE!!”

Geno quickly gripped his head to block out any of the gunshots that rang around them. Death noticed this and wrapped a wing around him bringing him close to his chest. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes till the gunshots finally ended. Death looked to the X who stopped moving, whispers flew left and right as the X didn't move.

“Is it dead?”

“Shouldn't it dust by now?”

“I don't know, I don't even know what the hell it is.”

“Where did it come from?”

“What do we do?”

Death stood up and looked to Geno, “Stay close to me, these vampires are more old school when it comes to blood.”

Geno nodded and summoned a small bone in his hand, both of them turned their heads back to the X as the Soldier from before came back with a small vial filled with a red liquid for Nim,“I'll take care of myself, you be careful too.”

Death blinked and nodded, walking towards the X. The soldiers backed up to the side and made a small path for Death to walk through. He shivered looking at the X, most of it’s flesh was torn and multiple holes were pierced through it’s body. He grabbed his staff, staying a safe distance from the X.

“I don't think it's- FUCK!!-"

A sharp yell of pain left Death’s mouth as both of his hands were pierced through with the claws of the X. The X was quickly pulled off of him making Death fall back to the ground. Red magic surrounded the X as it soul was pulled out into the open, within seconds a sharp bone flew to it and shattered the soul, dusting the X completely.

Death lifted himself up from the ground as Geno ran to him. Geno grabbed his hands and looked to him, “Are you okay!?”

Death winced and groaned as he looked to his hands, he opened and closed them grunting. Both hands had holes in the middle of his palm, almost like small windows through his hands, “Y..Yeah I'm fine, I can live with this." Death huffed and looked to Nim who walked forward.

Nim blinked and looked to the dust that covered the grass, she frowned and looked to the other patches of grass covered with it, knowing that it was not the X’s, but the dust of her soldiers. “Death.” Nim sighed sadly, “Come with me.”

Death nodded and intertwined his hand with Geno's gently before following Nim to the small cave.

The cave was closed off with a small black door, the inside was covered with rocks and shelves containing books and small empty vials that had small red stains in them.

Nim sat in a chair, resting her arms on the table that stood in the middle of the cave. She looked up to Death, then to Geno.

“I assume this is the one you told me about.” Nim said and raised an eyebrow, Geno looked to Death who nodded at Nim.

“Yes, whatever we need to discuss is fine, he can be here.” Death said, Nim sighed and rubbed her head before looking over to Death seriously.

“He's a scout.”

“He's my friend who literally saved our asses right now.” Death huffed and crossed his arms, he took out  some bandages and started to wrap them around his hands, “What other proof you want for you to see he's trustworthy!?”

“I want to know if you're trustworthy, Death!” Nim snapped, Death flinched and looked to her.

“What do you mean?” Death asked.

Nim sighed and rested her chin on her hands, “I heard about you letting him leave” Nim said, she opened her eyes and looked to Death, “Do you know what kind of risk you put your district through!? What if he had been lying to you this whole time and managed to bring the entire monster army to your district!!”

Death flinched and stayed quiet.

“Not only that,” Nim sighed, “But you've put my district in danger by that too, Death, you need to think! We're not going to end up like the other districts! Not like Blue and Orange who were found and destroyed! Not like the rest of the districts who were easily ended when the war started…”

Nothing but silence filled the air, tension built between the two District leaders. Both of them stayed still, Geno could feel the anger resonating within them both.

Geno had enough of it.

A tap on the table made Nim look up to Geno, she raised and eyebrow at him and looked up. Geno sighed and crossed his arms, “Look, I know with everything happening right now you're exhausted.” Geno said and sighed, he looked to Nim and frowned a bit.

“Honestly though, have you even thought about how Death feels!?” Geno asked loudly making even Death jump in surprise, “I understand that you need to keep your district's safe but jeez give Death a break! He's doing what he can, staying up in that tower looking over reports and rations for days just to make sure his district has enough!”

Geno sighed and rubbed his head, “Do you know how suffocating that is!? He's basically my age for goodness sake! And I barely turned twenty! He has to deal with all that crap and on top of that you probably managed to bring him more stress with your outburst!!”

Geno took a deep breath and calmed down, he looked to Nim who watched him in silence, “Listen, I understand if you don't trust me, heck, I understand if you hate me. I know you have to keep your district's safe but...just give Death a break, I care about him a lot.”

Nim sighed and shook her head sadly, “I'm afraid that can't happen anytime soon.”

“What!?” Geno asked, “Why!?”

Nim looked to Death, “It's quite obvious someone knows we're here, and sending those….things to us.”

“So...what are you saying?” Death asked quietly, Nim sighed and looked down.

“We need to evacuate.”

“What!?” Death said and placed his hands on the table, he looked to Nim and frowned, “But….evacuation! How are we going to manage that!? Red district has been like home to many of my people there!”

“And it could be the death of them if we stay here!” Nim said seriously, “Look, if someone knows we're here, then who knows when they'll send more of those things to us! Kill us one by one till no one is left!”

Death gulped and slightly bowed his head in shame. Nim sighed and rubbed her head before she looked to Death desperately, “We'll be evacuating soon, but….you’re going to be leading both districts.”

“Both!!?” Death said in complete shock, “Wait, wait, wait, Nim! You plan on evacuating both districts to who knows where! But I'm going to be doing it by myself!?”

Nim sighed, “I'm too old to do it, so by the time we evacuate we'll most likely have something coming for us. So I'll take half of our soldiers, both from each district, to defend you while you lead them somewhere safe. Far, far away from where we used to live.”

“Nim….come on just, think about this for a second! Don't I get a say in this!?” Death asked desperately as the weight that rested in his chest felt like more and more started to pile up in top of him.

“No.” Nim said sternly, “We're evacuating as soon as we can.”

“And that's final!”

IMPORTANT INFO AGAIN!♡

Okay so this chapter was originally was gonna update yesterday but my Wi-Fi took a massive shit and decided not to let me work on the chapter but here it is!♡

I'd like to thank my amazing friend LapusWolf who edited this chapter for me!♡

Also other important news!♡

I'm actually starting another book! That LapusWolf and me will work on together!

It's called "The Threads"

It's a multiship book and yes there's afterdeath in it but that's all I say!♡

And I've honestly joined my high schools wrestling team so I'm going to try my best at writing when I have the time so I can get chapters out!

Well that's it! Thank you guys for tolerating me and my lack of updates but I'll try harder XD

Das it

Pepe! Out!