Chapter 8: The Price of Mercy
The cabin reeked of blood.
When the group finally approached, cautious and silent, they weren't prepared for the sight inside.
Jason was the first to enter. He gagged.
Mary stopped in the doorway, covering her mouth. Rachel clung to Emily, both of them frozen as their eyes moved from one mutilated body to the next.
Hank stepped inside last, his boots crunching over broken glass and scattered shell casings. He looked around slowly, his face unreadable, but his hands clenched.
There were no survivors.
Only corpses.
One man's skull was caved in, his blood dried in dark streaks across the wall. Another had his intestines splayed open like rope across the floor. The third was slumped near the table, a knife still lodged in his throat. The fourth—he lay just outside, chest carved with a message.
"I see you."
Emily whispered, "He did this… all of this?"
"No," Rachel said, voice trembling. "He became this."
They found Axel last.
He stood in the back room, the dim light cutting across his blood-soaked silhouette. The woman they heard crying was on the floor beside him, alive—but broken. Her body trembled. Her eyes were wide with trauma.
She wasn't screaming anymore. She wasn't even blinking.
Axel knelt beside her, wiping his katana clean with a torn cloth. His expression didn't shift, not even when the others came up behind him.
He turned to the woman, his face devoid of emotion, voice colder than death.
"Do you wish to die?"
The words weren't cruel. They were flat. Icy. A statement without pity.
The woman stared at him, lips quivering. She should have said no. But her voice had long since died. Her will was broken. Her soul already gone.
She gave a small, bitter smile, tears spilling down her cheeks as she nodded once.
"Yes," she mouthed.
The blade flashed.
A clean cut. Swift. Final.
Her body slumped forward.
The room fell into silence again.
Nobody dared speak.
Axel stood and turned, walking past the others without a glance. His katana dripped blood across the wooden floor, and his footsteps were quiet, controlled.
"Jesus Christ," Jason whispered.
"No," Hank said softly, watching Axel disappear into the trees. "That ain't Jesus. That's war. Walking and breathing."
And the war wasn't over.
Not yet.
---
The fire crackled low near the edge of the treeline. The group had moved away from the cabin, setting up a small camp under the darkening sky. No one spoke at first.
Then Emily snapped.
She marched up to Axel where he sat sharpening his knife, silent and steady. Her face was red, eyes filled with rage and confusion. Rachel and Mary followed behind, more cautious but equally disturbed.
"You killed her!" Emily screamed, her voice cracking as her hands shook.
Axel didn't look up.
"She was innocent, damn it!" she cried, pounding her fists softly against his back. "She was a victim! Not a threat! A victim, you monster!"
Rachel flinched. Mary turned away, hiding her tears.
Hank stepped forward, about to intervene—until he stopped himself. He'd seen what they hadn't. He'd seen the blood between her thighs. The bruises. The lifeless look in her eyes. He knew what had happened in that cabin long before Axel said a word.
He opened his mouth to speak—but Axel beat him to it.
His voice was low. Flat. Like death itself had spoken.
"She got raped."
Three words.
They silenced the world.
Emily froze, her fists still pressed against Axel's back. Her lips parted as if to protest, but no sound came. Rachel dropped to her knees. Mary started to cry softly.
"She didn't beg for life," Axel continued. "She begged for death."
He finally looked up. His silver-streaked hair hung across one eye, and his face remained blank, carved from cold stone. "I gave her what she needed. Not what made you feel better."
No one replied.
Hank lit a cigarette and looked out toward the trees. "He did what needed to be done," he said finally. "Not one of you had the spine to do it. But he did."
Axel stood.
"Don't follow me if you want heroes," he said, voice as sharp as the blade on his back. "Follow me if you want to survive."
Then he walked into the darkness, leaving the silence and their shattered comfort behind him.
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