Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 206: Trouble

Chapter 206: Trouble

It took Sarah a moment to process what Laz had said before getting mad at the blow off.

"HEY! I'M NOT DONE."

"I am." Laz said, not turning around. It wasn't that he thought good or bad about this girl, more like, he just didn't have time for her and he didn't exactly want to get closer to her. He was keeping Onacona's request in mind, but now just wasn't the time. Laz was still working through how long it was going to take to open back up his inner energy. For the first time in his life, he had known enemies and he did not want to be crippled if they were to show up. Although his body still had quite a bit of strength to it, more than a normal man was capable of, it wasn't nearly enough for the kinds of things he could experience.

How would he handle being chased by a helicopter again?

His body's ability to heal fast was tied into his energy. Although his skin was still pretty tough, he had serious doubts that it was somewhat bullet proof. And a high caliber rifle? He would go down just as fast as a normal human.

Of course, wanting to have some time to himself and actually having time to himself were two different things. Sarah followed him the entire time he was walking until he got to the small hill he was looking for.

Although she kept trying to talk to him, he didn't say anything. When he finally got there, he just sat down in the grass, cross legged and closed his eyes. He was going to try his best to help work off more of that grey fog.

Seeing Laz ignore her, Sarah was getting more and more angry. Although she might have been a bit fearful of him based on knowing what he was, the more he didn't react, the more brave she became.

"Hey."

No response.

"HEY."

Still nothing.

"HELLO. HEY. YOU. YO. WAKE UP. I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." By the time she finished yelling, she was actually right by his ear.

Seeing as how ignoring her wasn't going to work, Laz took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"What?"

"Why are you ignoring me?"

"Why do I need to pay attention to you?"

"WHY YOU..." Sarah was quick to anger it, something which even she didn't understand. After all, Laz was right. Was there any reason for him to pay attention to her?

'Why do I even care?' Sarah thought to herself, seeing Laz's nonchalance.

"Ugh." Sarah sat down in the grass as well, facing Laz.

"Look. I'm just wondering about you, that's all.".

"What do you wonder?"

"Well... how old are you? Where do you come from? How long have you been... this?" Sarah relaxed and started asking questions. These were the things she was actually thinking about. Since fighting with Laz didn't get her anywhere, she figured she would be more direct.

Laz stared at her for a moment, making her cheeks turn a little red. His blue eyes came off piercing and seemed like they could see inside of her. As such, she had to turn her head away after only a moment. Laz could see that she really was only curious.

"I'm... well, I should be seventeen now. I come from up north and I have been like this since I was fourteen."

"Three years?"

"More or less." Laz wasn't going to get into explaining what happened in that strange spirit realm so instead, he just accepting that by conventional standards, he was now seventeen.

"Seventeen huh? So you're just one year old than me?"

"One year older?" Laz couldn't help but gawk a bit at her chest when she said this. Even though one year older or younger didn't make too much of a difference at this age, Laz couldn't help but wonder exactly how she got as filled out as she was with being only sixteen. Of course Sarah noticed is gaze and got a bit red. But that didn't keep her quiet.

"AND WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?" She said while covering her chest with her arms.

"Eh? Oh. Well, I just figured you were either the same age or older. I never would have guessed you were younger." In truth, Sarah wasn't as well equipped as Kennedy was at sixteen. But she was still more impressive than any other sixteen year old he had seen. If she kept growing at this rate, she would surpass Leona... and that was saying something.

"Well I'm not ok. Keep your perverted man stare to yourself."

"Right..."

"Anyway... uh... oh. What's your name?"

"Your grandpa didn't tell you?"

"Well, I didn't actually ask..." She hadn't. She always just referred to Laz as him when she talked about him before. Either that or that guy, etc.

"My name is Lazarus. But I just go by Laz."

"That's a weird name."

"Tell me about it. Could be worse though."

"That's true. So, uh..." Sarah had several other questions she wanted to ask, but they were more personal. As such, she didn't feel right asking them.

"Yes?"

"Why... do you keep coming out here?"

"Here? Cause it's a good place."

"A good place?"

"Yep. There is a decent amount of energy in the air and it's quiet."

"Energy in the air? What does that mean?"

"It's hard to explain when your not an infected person yourself."

"Oh. You know, you don't seem like what they say on the news and stuff."

"And how was I suppose to be?"

"I don't know. They just have been warning people to stay away from you guys and to call the police if you notice anyone acting strange who might be sick."

"Sick huh? Do you think I am sick?"

"Well, your skin is the color of a rock... But other than that, you seem ok."

"Thank you. In truth, most of us are still human. Just like you. Only now, we are all a bit different too. Most of us are still going to be the same person, at least for now." Laz offered his opinion. He would want to say that everyone is still human, but he remembered the parasitic bug guy he had met before and hadn't killed. Although most infected were still normal as far as Laz was concerned, it didn't mean that they would all be that way.

"Then why do they say you are dangerous?"

"Because we are."

"You don't seem dangerous."

"Looks can be deceiving. You might find I sneak into your room one night to nibble on your flesh..."

"That's disgusting. And perverted."

"Tastes like chicken..."

"What does?"

"You know what? Probably best I don't answer that." Laz didn't know whether or not this girl was mature enough for these kinds of jokes, so he figured it was better if he stopped.

"What do you..."

"Anyway. The reason I am coming out here is because I ended up somewhere I shouldn't and some bad stuff infected my body."

"Do you need to see a doctor?"

"No. That wouldn't go over well. Besides, even if I could find a doctor who could be trusted, my problem isn't something modern medicine can handle."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't know yet. But that's what I'm going to figure out."

"Oh. Well can I..."

Just as Sarah was about to ask something, Tyr showed up and jumped out from the corn field, causing her a fright. She ended up popping up of the ground and landing on Laz ap through sheer coincidence.

"Uh...?"

"Sorry. Sorry. I'm still getting used to him."

Seeing Sarah get off from Laz ap, Tyr came over and stood in front of Laz before closing his eyes.

:Big beasts near.: It seemed that for Tyr to say so many words required him to concentrate. But even then, his limit was three words. Still, it was a big improvement over him not being able to communicate at all.

"Where?"

:Show you.: Little Tyr turned around, indicating a direction. Laz was about to follow when he remembered that Sarah was still there.

"Go back home for now and tell your grandpa there may be trouble," Laz advised.

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked, wondering just what had happened.

"I'm going to look for trouble," Laz replied, smiled and started running with Tyr taking off in front of him.

"You're what? HOLY SHIT!?!" Laz had taken off like a rocket, almost disappearing from sight. Tyr didn't take Laz through the cornfield but instead starting circling it. Only the little guy knew why that was and Laz didn't ask. Sarah was left there dumbfounded at the speed in which Laz ran, looking more like a blur than a human.

Sarah paced back and forth for a moment before sending a text and running off in the direction Laz had disappeared in.

...

It didn't take long before Laz saw the place that Tyr was directing him to. In the back fields, surrounded by trees and brush, there was a small pond that had developed due to run off gathering together in a basin. Although it wasn't very deep, it was rather wide, but that would fluctuate depending on the time of the year. During dryer months, it would shrink. During rainy months, expand.

Seeing Tyr slow down, Laz followed along, before jumping into the cornfield and laying down on his stomach. Doing this, he was at least a bit hidden. Over by the side of the pond, there were several large beasts that had gathered and were drinking water. It was hard to make out what they originally were since all seven of them had grown to being the size of cows. Their dust colored fur and yellow eyes along with their lean bodies gave them a rather canine feel, but they didn't look like wolves.

'Wait a minute... What's the word... Coyote?' Laz said to himself. It wasn't really important to identify them but it was still helpful to know what he was up against. Just thinking about that was enough to give him a headache. With those powerful legs and mean looking teeth, he knew it would be hard to lock down the entire pack to take them out. On top of that, canine demon beasts were similar to their normal counterparts in that their strengths were usually the same. And the strength of all four legged creatures is their incredible run speed. On top of that, when they are pack hunters, they could wipe out an entire group of people before they even had a chance to respond

Sending his sense over, Laz tried to get a feel for their overall power, but found that he couldn't. It wasn't that they were too strong, but just that he was too weak. To get a power level, you needed to be able to compare it to your own. And since, Laz's was locked away, that made it hard to compare and contrast.

Just as Laz was thinking of retreating and waiting for help to arrive, he heard a noise in the distance and looked over at the direction he had come. Walking along with caution, Sarah was constantly looking for Laz, but she hadn't seen him anywhere. Although her footsteps were loud, at least she wasn't calling out his name. There was no way the coyotes would have missed that.

Just as Laz was getting up to get her and drag her away, his worst fear came to life.

"LAZ??"

The coyotes at the pond sprung up as though someone had set their tails on fire and looked over, seeing the Sarah stand there oblivious to the danger she was in. They practically licked their lips and said thanks for delivering the meal as they started to slowly make their way over.

Seeing this, Laz had a desire to beat himself in the head with a corn stalk. Knowing that wouldn't solve anything, he took off running towards Sarah while swearing to himself that next time, he would just let her be eaten.