A few hours later, near the site of Claus's escape.
The night was closing in; Gus searched the scavenger's den for something to sell. He moved through colossal mountains of metal and trash, endlessly searching between them.
The place smelled vile. It included the discarded worthless items that the city people threw away, though sometimes there were really valuable items. Gus was trying to find something that might look interesting just enough that local stores might find value. Gus decided to climb a trash pile.
He used his small stature to slip through the narrow gaps between the trash. His blonde hair had turned black from all the grease he scoured through; it left little of the original colour if at all.
"Ugh!" Gus grunted as his hand touched something slimy and sticky. 'Why would someone climb an entire trash pile, just to throw up' Gus thought as he retreated a step behind and found another path ahead. Gus reached the top of the pile and there he saw it: a pen.
It was a remarkable find. The pen's outer body was made from titanium laced with gold trims. This was too precious. The nib of the pen was really sharp. It wasn't the kind of item to be found here. Usually the quality of goods found here were almost broken or destroyed, these item could be sold as scarps. 'Did the owners threw this away by accident?' Gus thought.
The pen would earn him at least 10 zes. It would be enough money to buy rations for three days. Finally, lady luck had glanced upon him after several hours of hungry scouring under a hot sun.
Gus started to descend from the trash. While descending the trash, he could see two uniformed soldiers patrolling the scavenger's den.
'Did a beast escape into the scavenger's den?' Gus wondered after seeing the soldiers 'better hurry; I can't let myself be dinner for a hungry a dumb beast. Damn these uniformed cucks, why would let something dangerous escape to any place near the village.' Gus thought to himself as he reached the ground.
"Hey kid, stop right there." A soldier yelled an order to Gus.
Gus stopped and looked behind towards the officer and said "I ain't seen a thing, whatever it is you want; I don't know."
"Look at this smartass." The soldier had reached Gus along with his partner. "What are you doing here?"
"What does that have to do with you?" Gus retorted.
"Everything, since there's an escaped convict and he was last seen enter this place." The soldier explained to Gus "Now answer my question, boy."
"I live here," Gus said, glaring at the soldier. "No thanks to you, or the kingdom!" Gus had lost his family during a bandit raid. The kingdom's officials had ignored their cries for help. The help arrived for kingdom, but it was days late.
"Okay, okay, calm down, just doing my job here" the soldier raised both his hands to show that he meant no aggression and to deescalate the situation. "Have you seen a 7 feet tall man wearing white and black striped clothes? Answer honestly, the guy is dangerous." The soldier's partner asked Gus.
"No, I haven't" Gus answered.
" Okay I'll trust you for now," The gaurd said. The guard looked at Gus then decided to ask for his help, "Kid I give you a 50 zes if you help navigate this place."
Gus wanted to leave, but his eyes gleamed with greed; 50 zes were too valuable of a reward to leave. "Deal," Gus immediately agreed "so you have any description of the man?"
"He is 7 feet, body full of scars, brown hair he maybe has an injured leg, might have puked blood recently from oleander poison, not that it's relevant. Be careful, he should have recovered by now." The guard answered.
'Wait, Did I not just put my hands in puke on this pile. Doesn't that mean that the guy is in this area.' Gus thought.
He started to climb a nearby pile of trash. 'No luck' . Then, he climbed another one, and continued until he had climbed seven piles for hours on end.
Finally, he reached the eighth pile, he started to climb the trash there he saw it a leg sticking out of a gap between a sofa and a door. Gus climbed a bit more to see the Person,
There he saw, a man with blood on his leg, a hole on the pant yet no injury. The man was in a coiled position. Gus recognized the man as the escaped convict.
Claus had been awake for hours, hoping Gus wouldn't find him. He had heard the conversation between Gus and the soldiers. But moving would have alerted the soldiers.
"Don't…. please don't say a word." Claus whispered to Gus. A chill crept up Gus's spine, but greed took over before fear could settle.
Claus could see Gus's mouth slowly form a smile. Then Claus felt angry rush his temple as the kid yelled out to the soldiers.
Gus yelled with excitement "He's here…...he's here.... he's he…" Suddenly something hit Gus hard right in the abdomen his body was flung down from the trash. The air was knocked out of his lungs, leaving Gus gasping for breath. The soldiers who heard Gus immediately called for backup, then they rushed to Gus.
"Take the kid away, I will buy you time." The soldier's partner called out to him.
The soldier picked Gus in Princess hold and started running "Why the hell would you yell, kid?"
Gus's body was hurting as he saw a bead of sweat drip from the soldier. Suddenly, without warning, the soldier's head exploded. He caught only a glimpse — a monstrous fist where a head should have been. Both the headless corpse and Gus fell forward. The soldier's grip loosened. His body collapsed, lifeless, pulling Gus down with him.
Gus lay on the ground, the soldier's blood seeping into his clothes, the metallic scent filling his nostrils. He stared at the motionless form beside him, mind struggling to comprehend the sudden threat.
As he looked past the soldier's body, there he saw it a towering monster. His body was covered in scars. On his face a scar ran down from beside his left eye towards the neck. Another scar intersecting the scar on cheek from nose to ear. His monstrous body covered the sunlight, making the muscles gleam.
"Now; Why'd you snitch, brat? That soldier had to die because of you," Claus said, showing Gus his scarred, battle-hardened face.
Gus tried to move, but pain shot through his lower body like a lightning strike. His vision swam. His leg… it wasn't responding. Broken? No—shattered. And now, that thing was walking toward him. His leg was broken from the earlier fall. Claus could see Gus making an effort to move. "You have heart, brat. Would have been better if you had some brains." Claus said.
Claus extended his arm reaching out toward Gus, suddenly a blade stabbed through Claus's arm.
"ARGGGG!" Claus screeched in pain the blade as quickly as it stabbed through it retracted back. "Baldwin!" Claus quickly started to run. He held Gus by his cloth and started to run.
The huge injury on his arm stopped bleeding and started healing as Claus applied Ki on it. Baldwin stabbed through the air as the whip like blade tried stabbing Claus again CLANK** The blade struck, but bounced off Claus's bare, ki-hardened skin.
'Shit he covered his body with Ki.' Baldwin thought. Claus stopped running as he saw 10 soldiers holding weapons ahead. He could easily kill them but that would give Baldwin the chance to attack him. Thus, Claus turned towards General Baldwin.
He held Gus ahead by a choke-hold. "Go on, Baldwin. Show me your drive — try to stab me," Claus sneered, tightening his grip around Gus's throat. "Just remember… the brat dies first."