Vali held the man’s gaze for a few painful seconds. He wanted to retort. To say something, act as if it wasn’t a big deal, apologize, pass it as a joke… Anything. But nothing of the sort came out of his mouth. “Piss off with your guilt-tripping. We both know he’s going to be a liability. I don’t need to argue to show you the obvious.”

The other man stood firm. “You’re being a massive cunt right now.”

Vali knew the man was right. Even without him saying anything, deep down he was aware of it. But his mind was clouded by anger. Anger and… some entirely different emotion. Deep down, he knew what that was too. But by this point, he was far too gone to admit it. “Keep being a wuss, I’m going to check out the graveyard.” He smirked at the man. “You coming, or are you going to cry too?” Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked.

The man was frustrated. He wanted to stop Vali and tell him to get out of their area. Raising his hands to massage his temples, he gave himself a second to think straight. It wouldn’t be a problem to get Vali out if he gathered his people. But causing a large commotion just because of a few mean words could affect the group. More chaos was the last thing they needed. “I’m warning you, disrupt anyone, anything, and you’re out of the ring. You’re already on thin ice.” Regretting his decision to show him around already, he followed Vali to the wagon they used as a temporary grave.

A slow wind hit Vali’s face, and the coming smell caused him to stop breathing. The strong and familiar smell of blood was there, but that wasn’t what affected him. It was a different, stronger scent. It was getting stronger as he got closer. Even though the wagon was mostly destroyed and in pieces, it still covered up what was inside from sight, and torn clothes blocked prying eyes from seeing inside. Not being able to quite place the disturbing, overpowering smell, Vali walked into what was left of the wagon. The only entrance was a one-meter-wide gap on the side. The actual entrances were now a heap of crushed steel.

When Vali put his head through the entrance, he was greeted by the most disturbing sight he experienced. The corpses were neither hidden behind objects nor covered with any type of cloth. They were laid bare in all their gory glory.

Crushed heads, smelly brain matter leaking, rotten. Burst stomachs from being squeezed in the crash, organs spilling to the side. Stomachs burst open, the smell of strong acid wafting in the air. Torn flesh of a minced leg, barely sticking to the torso. The unmoving, emotionless eyes. They had been sitting here in a heap for a day. Vali was frozen in place, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. He took an unconscious breath, and the stench hit like a sledgehammer. Knowing where the smell was coming from made it a hundred times worse for Vali’s mind. He belched, not being able to stand the smell of rotting organs. Takin a few hasty steps outside, he heaved, trying to get fresh air into his lungs. It didn’t help.

Holding the wreck’s wall as a support, he tried to get the image out of his head. Half his mind was screaming at him to get away from here. The other half was busy with keeping everything in his stomach where they belonged.

“ ’Keep being a wuss’, huh.” The man sounded more sad than angry, yet the words bit into Vali. He looked at the man with hatred. He was sitting on the grass as if the stench didn’t bother him. “We don’t even have shovels to bury ‘em. Yesternight, it was just weighing on our conscience. I suspect tonight it’s gonna be hard to sleep with the smell. But we don’t want to dump them far away like trash.” He kept talking as Vali tried to gather himself together. “If you want in our group, you’re going to have to deal with the smell all day, even in your dreams.”

Vali spoke, trying to sound as defiant as possible, but his words felt sounded weak even to himself. “I was just surprised. I didn’t expect…” Images flashed across his eyes, cutting him short.

“Expected normal bodies, just lifeless? I would tell you how hard they were to pull out from where they got stuck, but I don’t think you’re ready for that.” Getting up, he patted at his pants, getting the dirt off. “If you’re done, let’s go.”

Vali wanted to agree. When he proposed the base tour, he had the goal of leaving with any sort of weapon. Now, he didn’t want to stay here any longer. But something nagged at his mind. ‘If this is enough to make me scared, I’m gonna die in here. I can’t be a liability.’ Straightening his back, he took a deep breath before running back in.

“What the hell are you doing?!” The man ran after him with a grimace. Even he didn’t want to be here.

Vali spoke with a stern face. “Touring, what else.” The corpses were stacked wherever space was available, but they had left enough space to walk. Crouching and weaving through the wreck, Vali made his way. His eyes bounced between the gore, and the debris, looking for anything useful. The man kept a few steps behind him with an unhappy face.

“Bingo.” Vali suddenly exclaimed. He pointed to a handhold, that stuck out of the floor, which had been broken on the other side. The edge of it was ripped like paper, resulting in a pointy edge. It looked like a wide, hollowed spear. Only, it was nailed down quite firmly, if not for a few small cracks. He pointed at it before speaking. “Hey, do you need that?” He spoke with a grin.

The man looked exhausted as he tried to understand what he meant. “Need what, exactly?”

Walking forward, Vali gave the handhold a yank before continuing. “This beauty. It’s fucked up out there, I might need a weapon. If you guys can’t make it into one, let me have it. Otherwise, it’s gonna stand here like a gravestone.”

The man spoke with considering eyes. “We didn’t even consider it. We just use the scrap that’s already readily available, since we don’t have any tools. If we did, it would be in someone’s hands already.” He held the pipe with both hands and pulled, but it didn’t move. “That’s not gonna come out.”

Vali’s grin only got wider. “I’m taking that as a yes then.” The man laughed in response. Vali clenched it in both hands and planted his feet firmly on the ground.

“Haha, no way in hell can you pull that out-” He was going to mock Vali, but the creaking metal silenced him. He watched in awe as Vali pulled, slowly bending the steel pipe. The floor which had been already tortured by the crash screamed under the force.

“Heave,” Vali mouthed off, focusing all his strength. His arms bulged, and teeth clenched.

“Ho!” Vali exhaled, pulling with all his strength. The cracks in the metal spread. The pipe was now held by only a few inches off metal. Vali changed his grip, this time twisting. Putting all his weight into it, he spun the handhold. It twisted the metal like spring. The metal finally gave up when Vali gave it another yank.

He looked at the now free pipe in his hands. It would make a good spear, as it was almost five feet long. The handhold was around two inches in diameter, giving it a nice grip. While one end was like a spike, the other end had jagged teeth like metal jutting out. It looked vicious but he doubted the usefulness of that end. He made a mental note to find some cloth to wrap around it or dull it with a rock lest he cut himself. He didn’t want to deal with tetanus.

Vali turned around to see the man’s shocked expression. “My toy, no take backsies.” He gave the man a toothy smile.

Shaking his head, the man replied. “Nah, I’m impressed. You earned that one. It would’ve never come out if it wasn’t for you anyways.” He pointed back to the entrance. “Now if you’re done here, let’s get out. The small adrenaline boost that gave me isn’t enough to hold this smell off.” The two walked back the way they came. Their lungs were once again filled with fresh air.

Now that they were out in the open, Vali could swing his makeshift spear around. It whistled around as he got a feel for it, the weapon feeling quite nice in his hands.

The man cut his fun time short. “Do you want to personally talk to some people, or is this convincing enough for you to join us?” He was looking at Vali half expectantly. He was quite sure the man wasn’t fond of him after their little verbal fight. Yet he still wanted him in the group.

But what Vali wanted was already in his hands. He considered what to say for a moment. “Tell you what. I’m gonna go check what’s other groups are like. Wet my toes at the river, and smell that forest you told me about.” He pointed to the ground. “Then I’ll be back with my decision. I don’t want to be hasty with this.” He had no intention of being back here.

The man looked at him with suspicion. “I would protest if I hadn’t seen how you got that weapon, calling you a thief. But okay. If you don’t come back, it's your loss. I’ll see you out then.” And they walked. In silence, the man escorted Vali until they put some distance to the wreck. He stopped, considering the distance adequate. “Hey, I didn’t want to say this when we were still in earshot of people. Didn’t want people panicking. There are wolves in that damn forest, and they are big. At least that’s what we heard. That’s half the reason I’m letting you go with that.” He pointed at the spear Vali was holding.

Vali waved his concerns away, not even stopping to face the man. Instead, he kept walking. “I can deal with a few mutts.”

The man responded with a shrug. “Suit yourself.”

Vali went on his way, with thoughts that lingered in someplace else entirely than the animals. ‘Now that I feel safer with a weapon, I can finally distract myself with this ‘status’.’ When he thought of the word, the blue window suddenly popped in his vision, making Vali jump. Hoping nobody saw that, he directed his attention to the screen ominously hanging in his view.