New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

David was seething with anger.

"I… I said I shot a bigger one of them before running away. They killed my friends next to me without me noticing, so I bailed."

David stood back up, starting some rapid pacing.

"Fuck!" he barked, stabbing his weapon into the ground.

The undead under David's command still surrounded Godrick, so he didn't dare get up. But seeing the man's reaction, he could guess he had messed up something.

Alexander, who had been asleep when David had explained what would happen if the Hob was dead, also failed to understand David's anger. But the three others had complicated faces.

"Fuck!" David shouted again.

"Did I do something wrong?" Godrick asked, scared and confused.

"Did you–Are you serious? I can't believe the stupidness of you. You just made our objective a hundred times harder to attain. All because you wanted to be a hero!"

Something snapped in David's mind, and he grabbed his bident, suddenly thrusting it at the young man in front of him. But before it pierced through Godrick's stomach, two swords crossed in front of the weapon, blocking it with a loud clang.

Alex looked over the crossed swords, his eyes sharper than daggers as he stared at David.

"Your anger doesn't give you the right to kill a person. Especially one who was only trying to save his sister."

Kary's wand was suddenly near David's face, too, with the gem on the tip shining brightly. David could feel the heat coming off it.

To his back, a rifle was also pressed, Jack not impressed by the lack of self-control David was showing.

"I'm not letting you kill a man. We are not here to commit murder."

Jack's voice was stern and cold. There wasn't room to debate in it.

David looked at everyone, ‌his anger simmering down a bit.

"Tch! Fine, I won't kill him. But I want you to understand he just made our job a lot harder, almost impossible. You'll want to murder him too, later, after we have to run down the Goblins through the woods on a chase in every direction."

He brought his weapon down, stabbing it into the ground again.

"We have to adjust the entire plan now. Because this redneck idiot and his friends thought they could be heroes."

David sat on a nearby fallen tree, grabbing his head with his hands. His mind was already trying to calculate how the Goblins would react to their approach, now that their Hob was dead.

From the corner of his eyes, David saw Alex, still standing in front of the redneck, his swords pointed down, but his eyes scanning the surrounding undead.

"I will not attack him again. Stop worrying."

Alex snapped his head toward him.

"I don't think I will trust your word on it. I just saw you lunge at an innocent man with the intent to kill, because he made your plans harder. Pull your undead away, and then I might believe you."

David stared at Alex like he was an idiot.

"Are you going to take responsibility if he runs and we can't catch him? I'm only trying to keep him from fleeing."

Jack intervened, stepping between the two young men.

"Enough. Both of you stand down. Mr. Magnus, trust me, if the young American tried fleeing, he wouldn't make it far. Either he catches a bullet in the legs from me, Mr. Leduc catches him, or your undead do. Cut him some slack."

Locking eyes with Mr. Boudreau, David knew what the old man said made sense. But he would much rather have an intimidation factor in place, as a safety.

But seeing the old man remain unbudging, David sighed and brought his undead back to his side. Alexander stood down too, walking back next to Kary.

Godrick, who had been holding his breath in fear for a while, dropped to his ass, panting.

Alex glanced at him, shaking his head in pity. Then he turned his head to Kary, smiling warmly at her.

"Thank you for having my back on this. You didn't have to, but you still helped me, without hesitation."

Kary slid her hand on his forearm.

"I would never hesitate to help you. I believe you are a good person, and your decisions are on the good side. So helping you only makes sense."

Feeling her trust in him, Alex felt warm inside. He kissed her lips tenderly and hugged her tight.

Jack went back to scanning their surroundings, with his eyes and through his scope alternately. Even though he couldn't sense the enemies like the three young adults could, he was confident in the senses he developed in the military.

David stopped squeezing his head, looking at the couple.

"Alright, you two lovebirds. Enough foreplay. I need the brainiac's mind to help me here. We need to find a way to cage in the colony before they try scattering to the four winds."

The stupid nickname he gave Kary slightly angered her, but the urgency of his tone pushed aside her will to punch his face. She walked away from Alex, stopping next to the sitting David.

He had already grabbed a dead branch on the ground, trying to map their strategies.

"I'll send the eagle in reconnaissance, to get us a layout of the place. Our strike needs to be precise and lightning-fast. If we take too much time mowing down the Goblins, we will never catch all of them."

Kary understood his worries.

"Once you have the layout, I will come up with something. Maybe Mr. Boudreau can help me, since he has some experience with tactics. He might think of something I can't."

The old man nodded once, not stopping his watch.

David sent the eagle skeleton away toward the Goblin Colony, connecting to its senses through their link. It took only a short while for the eagle to be high enough to spot the clearing the Goblins were in.

He still waited for the bird to be directly over the zone, so he could have a better view of the camp itself and its configuration. The eagle's excellent eyesight made it easier to gather intel from high in the sky.

"Alright, I have the layout. Let me draw it."