POV Fred

  I was really caught up in the happenings of my family with the fact I had lost two Uncles seemingly in a blink, and the loss of Grandpa’s left arm that I missed the fact that Miss Vera was here as well.

  To make matters worse, the number of children that she arrived to us with, didn’t match the number I saw before me. They lost people too. We all did.

  Anger still simmered at the deepest parts of my being, but I think I managed to taper them enough to have a conversation now.

  I wanted to leave to go get the book and to meet my cousin but doing so without at least having a conversation with my parents isn’t a good idea. Even if they might disagree, it still wouldn’t be smart to leave without them. I don’t ever plan on doing that again, running off without a say or letting them know where I had gone.

  Looking at my father now, I could tell he was trying to maintain a strong image, at least while he was in front of me, but it was all too obvious how much pain he found himself in, and it wasn’t just him. Uncle Robert, Uncle Mack, Aunt Renee, Aunt Risha, and of course their spouses.

  Whether they had blood ties or not, we were a family, and a damn good one. Sure, there were problems and arguments and many different bouts of friction between us, but what family didn’t have them?

  At the end of the day, we always stayed together, and all the problems we had were only problems in house. We always portrayed a united front and never once took our problems outside.

  And of course, in their eyes, I might still be just a child, so I’m sure there were plenty of conversations that I wasn’t privy to, plenty of events I never heard of, but what I do know is that we all loved each other, and we were a damn good family.

  We were all close, so to lose two of my uncles like that, not to old age, not to a sickness we couldn’t avoid, not to an injury, not to a freak accident, but to some red aliens invading our planet and taking our lives. What else could they be except broken?

  But we had to move. If we wanted revenge, then there were things that needed to be done, and I would have my revenge. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this angry in my life, and there would be a price to pay. I know I sounded and felt like some misunderstood main character of some gloomy book, but dammit, I understood them. The people that dared to take the lives of my family… I would show them just how dangerous a man of the Williams can be.

  Anyway, what I feared about the conversation with my mother and father didn’t actually come to pass. In fact, the conversation made me realize that I forgot who it was that raised me.

  “Dad, I can’t stay here. I need to go meet up with Ray Keon, and I have enough money with me to go buy the Trait integration book. If I manage to bring that book here, not only can we try to integrate our Traits, but we can then try to fuse them, making us all stronger for the battle that’s about to come.”

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  My mother looked like she had something to say. In fact, my other aunts and uncles all looked like they had things to say. I could see the expressions of pain coloring all of their faces, and I know for a fact that the thought of me going out there and not coming back had already crossed their minds, but nobody opened their mouth to say a single word to me.

  Even when my mother looked like she couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to say something, my father turned his head to her slowly. Words didn’t leave his mouth either. He just looked at her, and her mouth remained closed, and then he turned back to look at me.

  For a long while he just looked at me, and I looked at him back, our eyes meeting each other, and I could see the rage that simmered within me, boiled even deeper within his heart.

  It was his own brother that died, someone he had known far longer than I had known my uncle, his brother, and it was his father’s arm that was burnt to cinders. And after a few tense moments passed, he finally spoke.

  His voice coming out far more rough and pain filled than I had ever heard it before.

  “Freddy, my son, do you know what my father told me when I was little and someone messed with us as kids at school? He would say no one touches your brothers and gets to feel happy about it the day after. That’s what he would say.”

  And then my father looked over to Uncle Mack, to Uncle Lenny, to Uncle Robert, and he repeated it again.

  This time with far more conviction in his voice.

  “No one touches my brothers and gets to be happy about it the next day.”

  Then he turned his head back to me.

  “Unfortunately, Freddy, I didn’t get to complete the gauntlet dungeon and get as strong as you presumably are, so I’ll ask you for a favor, my son. What happened here to your grandfather and to your uncles, there could only be one answer from a man of the Williams family. Do you understand what I’m saying, Freddy?”

  I was ready to run through a brick wall at that point, and any word or noise that came out of my mouth likely would have been a roar, so all I did was nod my head to showcase the fire that was boiling within me, or better yet the abyss that wanted to leak out of me and press down all my enemies.

  Though, it appears that a nod is all my father needed.

  “Good, son…good.”

  At that point, my father stood up, and so too did Uncle Mack, Uncle Lenny, and Uncle Robert. All of them had weapons gripped tightly within their hands. A part of me immediately wanted to tell them to stay here.

  It would be far easier for me to move by myself and hide if I needed to, but I could already tell they weren’t asking for permission, and shit, I was the one that was a child. Why the hell would they ask me for permission?

  I wish Grandpa would’ve woken up at that time and chose to join us as well, but if the other men in this family couldn’t fix our own problems, than what the hell would we be good for?

  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get up and storm out of the Dungeon just yet, since the people I noticed standing nearby, finally couldn’t take it anymore and approached us. What they wanted was information.

  No one had exited the Dungeon since they all made it down there, so to see me enter so much later than all of them made them more than just a little curious as to the state of things outside.

  I understand where they were coming from, so I gave them what little information I had and sent them on their way. It was time to return.

  Blood would be met with blood, and those lava bastards were going to see they made a big mistake, one that they would regret for a lifetime.

  I swear it.