A figure crawled steadily towards the farm, its eyes piercing at the fresh food trapped for it. But an enraging eruption from afar screamed at it, causing it to flee.

Though the sound was not for it.

Kioirf rested his gun, though nobody else was as relaxed as him.

“What did you tell us?” One of the farmers snarled at him, all eyeing him now.

“Did I stutter,” Keeping his eyes focused on his meal.

“Go take your riot somewhere else,” he waved his hand at them, like a woman scooting pests in her house. Hudson though was not going to be brushed away, coming closer, between Kiorif and Rookie.

“Who do you think you are?” rattling plates as he hammered his fist into the table. Tomobi wanted to sink away even further, but Kiorif still ate.

“Stop eating this shit,” Hudson grabbed Kiorif’s plate to throw it away, but Kiorif latched onto his arm.

“I’m not finished,” Kiorif finally glared at Hudson.

“Yes you are,” breaking from Kiorif’s grip he threw his plate aside, and now turned his attention to Kiorif.

“Who do you think you are, filthy Earth Bound. Think that you can tell us what to do?”

“I thought it was established, you broke immigrant,” Kiorif now stared down Hudson, only to see a fist rocketing itself at him.

Kiorif opened his eyes to see that he was on the ground. With a quick ring being silenced by the reborn howl around them.

“You fucking stick,” He saw Hudson stomping towards him, now knowing his situation and forgetting his lesson he stood up.

“Guys come on, not at lunch,” Spoon tried to break up the fight, but everyone formed a wall around the soon-to-be fight.

“Rookie, can you help?”

“Aim for the liver,” Rookie tried to push herself through.

“Damit, Tomobi, can you help me get through,” As both tried to shift into the crowd they heard the howling chants echo inside them.

“Dent his gear,”

“Smash his nose,”

“Turn him into a rake,”

All these calls were itching at Kiorif as he had to trade blows with Hudson. With nothing but his bare clothing, each strike was like one of a hammer. He could feel the damage pile up. A constant ring settled in his mind, Hudson though remained felt unfazed. Even the pouring of his own blood could not pull him out of the fight.

Though one last strike was enough to return Kiorif to the ground.

‘Fuck I should’ve said no,’ his thought was interrupted as he felt another strike against him.

“Does this look familiar,” Hudson mocked him from above, picking him up for another strike. “Hey he’s done,” One of the farmers held onto Hudson’s arm. Pausing the fight.

“You’ve won,”

“Get the fuck off me,” Hudson swung her away.

“I’ll say when he’s done,”

As Tomobi finally pushed himself into the circle he didn’t know what to do. It was the Dromeotoads again.

But surprisingly he chose an option that was worse than doing nothing. Stepping forward he got in range of Hudson blood driven attention, striking him.

“Didn't you hear? The fight’s over,”

Whilst most were in confusion, Rookie’s face collapsed as did Tomobi’s.

‘Tomobi I thought you were smart,’ both thought as Hudson dropped Kiorif.

"Excuse me?" Hudson dropped Kiorif for his new punching bag.

“What does a fucking slave know,” Hudson foamed at him.

“He knows when somebody is taking things too far,” Spoon stepped between them, his body shielding Tomobi.

“Move out of the fucking way,” Hudson tried to find another route, but all his options had Spoon at the end.

“No, you need to calm down. Last I checked you aren’t in charge of the farm, and most certainly not our guests,"

“Guests? They are fucking parasites, thinking they are better than us,”

“And so you’re gonna keep acting so they keep thinking like that?” Hudson turned red, wanting to roar. But he was only able to channel his anger to his feet as he stomped away.

“Alright, all of you clean this up. Mary get the doctor, again,” everybody scattered away.

“Rookie, can you help me get him inside,” Both dragged Kiorif away inside, whilst Tomobi still stood where he made his fatal error.

“Hey, you okay? Kiorif’s inside,” Sprout asked Tomobi, though once she placed an arm on him his knees kissed the ground, his body shaking.

“Why did I do that?” His breaths weakened.

“He would’ve beaten me up,”

“I doubt that,” Sprout still stayed by his side.

“He probably wouldn’t hit a child. Plus if he did you are stronger than you-”

"No, I'm not,” Tomobi cut her off.

“I’m not like you, or anybody else here. All I am is some Human Born,” Sprout wanted to reach out again, but Tomobi’s aura was far too thick to reach him.

Leaving him there, he sank into the dirt.

***

Kiorif stood by the hills, spending as much as he could away from the farm. Not even Rookie nor Tomobi could talk to him, with his time focused on hoarding information he collected from those few that would offer.

“Hey, Kiorif we’re going to eat, wanna join?” Rookie cautiously asked.

“No thanks I would rather not be hit in the liver again,” she wanted to talk about it, how she didn't think it would escalate. But knowing that these were frail excuses, she left him to join the rest for their quieter meals. The sound of calm chatter and clanging cutlery could not even echo beyond the table.

“Hey Sprout, where's Tomobi?”

“He said that he would go fishing for us, way upstream,”

Though looking at the array of foods she noticed the stacking of a few fillets along with remembering the stories of his flaws she knew that wasn't true. Her thoughts split, telling her to go and stay. Picking the latter Rookie sat down, the food losing its taste with each bite.

“I didn’t know that the fight was going to escalate,” Rookie mumbled, thinking about what could’ve been done differently.

With the night crawling in, things were going to change, as the creature emerged to slither past the farm. And the river that Tomobi isolated himself in was its route.