The Envoy of Darkness

Chapter 9 - Setting off

The man in the cloak had an uncanny resemblance to the chief. His expression was contorted with fury as he disapprovingly glared at the latter.

John retracted his knife and snapped at his brother with evident irritation. "Bryan! What's the meaning of this?"

"I believe I should be the one asking that." Bryan replied, just as annoyed.

Max warily eyed the newly revealed member of the family and secretly wondered what the man had in mind while the siblings continued to argue.

Eventually, Bryan shook his head and sighed as he took a gander at his nephew whose face showed disappointment. "Let's stop here." He said before he took out a small vial and faced Max with an apologetic smile. "Apply this over your wound. It should help with the bleeding."

"That's –"

"We'll talk about this later." Bryan hastily muttered and stopped his brother's impulsiveness.

Max frowned, unsure of what to make of these odd turn of events. He sulkily glanced at the father-son duo before accepting Bryan's gesture without a fuss.

Chuckling, Bryan threw the tiny bottle over. He was glad that his first step in his attempt to salvage the situation had been a success. "I apologize for the trouble my family has caused you and I hope that you will forgive our transgressions, letting bygones be bygones."

Max inwardly sneered, but forced a smile on his face. The chief and his son had already made it onto his personal blacklist. However, since a path to retreat had opened up, he knew he had to take it. Now that he was calmer, he realized he might have been too impulsive, impulsive enough to potentially cause trouble for Liliana and her mother. After thanking the man for the medicine, he left without a word.

Despite the enmity between the two parties, John did nothing to stop Max and unhappily watched as the sixteen year old left. He had realized Bryan knew something that he didn't.

With Max's departure, Aaron burst out in protest, "Uncle, why did you help him?!"

"Silence!" Bryan angrily rebuked, "You think I don't know how this all started? Go back inside! I'll deal with you later. Right now, your father and I have matters to discuss."

Clenching his fist, Aaron looked to his father for help, but the latter responded with a shake of his head. As his son stormed inside, John glanced at Bryan and harrumphed. "Now, care to tell me why you interfered?"

Bryan took a seat on a nearby bench and patted at the spot next to him. "Sit."

While the chief made himself comfortable, Bryan bitterly smiled and said, "If you had succeeded in delivering that blow, you would have doomed all of us."

"What you talking about?"

Sighing, Bryan answered, "That kid... His name is Max Walker."

"So?" John immediately retorted before he was hit with a terrifying realization. He shot up to his feet as his face paled with fright. Grasping his hair, John started to frenziedly mutter. "Walker? Walker! No. No. No. It has to be a coincidence. Yes. A coincidence! It's just someone with the same surname. It can't be them, can it?"

Bryan bitterly laughed. "Brother, we're still inside the Alcatraz Empire. No citizen has the audacity to use that last name."

Trembling, John sat down and weakly inquired, "Why – Why is he here?"

"I don't know... A few days ago, I was approached by a pair with seals of authority. They wanted me to quarantine the south end of the border walls – the place where Liliana secretly goes to train almost every night."