Our story continues with a unidentified man, whistling through the woods as he usually does every morning. Going to fetch some wood and water, the man is confused as he stares at something unusual on his daily trip.
A pile of wood is already chopped and prepared at his cutting site. And not just a few blocks, a whole trees worth. Scratching his head, the man counts it as a blessing and goes to fetch some water.
As he approaches the vast freshwater reservoir, he sees another unexpected sighting.
He watches a strange figure in the distance dive off of the cliff and into the lake. The man starts to advance cautiously until he sees the figure of the unknown walking towards him through the misty morning haze.
The man quivers a little, but finding his strength, he gives his warning. "Listen up now, this here is my woods. I'll let you finish your swim, but after that, I ask that you leave, " the man says with his chest.
The unknown character doesn't seem to hear him, though, as it continues to walk towards him.
Feeling threatened, the man continues to warn, "I also have some guns and artillery around one of these nearby trees. I'd be more than glad to show you." The man bluffs, taking a step back.
He backpedals into a low tree branch. It's poke scares the shit out of him. Yelling, he turns around and, with both eyes shut, cuts the branch up with his axe.
Adrenaline raised, he then throws the axe with two hands precisely at the mysterious figures chest. The man hears the thud of the axe hitting its mark, and all movement stops.
"Damn, It's official now!" The man cries. "I'm a killer! Ohh, double damn. Now my favorite axe is a murder weapon. I knew I should've gotten the artillery first." The man regrets his actions.
The man is frightened stiff when the axe is thrown back at his feet, broken in two.
"Damn Tavis. Your favorite axe." Cordayl says, finally coming into clear view.
"Cordayl?" the man, now identified as Tavis, Cordayl's adopted brother, says. "Cordayl!" Tavis exclaims, recognizing Cordayl and rushing in to give him a hug.
Cordayl embraces him and then holds up a small net of fish that he had captured from the lake.
"You hungry?"
Tavis's mother squeezes the life out of Cordayl, as she hugs him tight, rejuvenated at the sight of him. "Ohh Cordayl! I'm so happy to see you again. Look how tall and strong you've grown to be! I missed you like crazy." she says, tears watering her eyes.
Tears rush to the front of Cordayl's eyes too, as he has missed his adopted mother very much. He's missed all of them. Kissing him on the cheek, she takes the fish from him to go and prepare them a meal.
Cordayl sits down at the table. Something feels different, but he can't quite figure it out yet.
"Ten years really does change someone." Tavis walks to the table, sliding Cordayl a drink, before taking a seat himself.
Cordayl takes a swig and coughs as the taste of liquor burns down his throat upon his swallow. Eyes blurred, he retorts, "I can tell. Last I saw you, you still drunk water."
Tavis laughs a hearty laugh. "Sorry about that. The brew helps to take my mind off other things these days. I'm sure you've noticed Sissy isn't here anymore." his tone saddened.
Cordayl realizes this is what he failed to realize a few minutes ago. "Where is she?" Cordayl carefully ask, fearing the worst.
"She left to go to school in the city a few years back. You know I got Pa's heart, but she got his brains. She writes us every know and then, but we don't see her anymore. We're proud of her. Very. But her presence is missed." Tavis says, the feeling of desertion being heavy in his voice.
Cordayl looks at the mother, who, is drinking from her own cup, as she cooks the fish on the stove.
Tavis finishes his cup and looks at the bottom of it as if some of the liquor is hiding from him. Cordayl slides Tavis his cup, and Tavis smiles and downs the rest of the brew as if it were water.
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he continues his conversation with Cordayl, "So to what do we owe this reunion? The thought hurt, but I was sure we would never see you again." Tavis says
"I know. I promised myself I'd stay away. But I just had to see y'all one last time." Cordayl says.
"I don't like the way you said that. What's going on?"
"Someone has been hunting me. I've been able to avoid them so far, but honestly, I'm tired of running." Cordayl expresses.
"So you're just going to surrender. That doesn't sound like you." Tavis replies.
"I never said I wasn't going down fighting." Codayl responds.
"One last time? Going down fighting? It sounds like you're going on a suicide mission." Tavis says.
Cordayl sits there in silence. Tavis explodes out of his chair. "Are you serious!? After what we lost to keep you safe? You don't get to give up. Fuck that!" Tavis exclaims.
The mother puts her hand on Tavis's shoulder. "Calm down, Tavis."
"Calm down? Pa gave his life to protect Cordayl and he's talking about going down fighting. You're supposed to live!" Tavis shouts. Cordayl still has his head down when Tavis storms out of the room.
The mother puts down the plate for Cordayl, but he doesn't touch it. "I didn't mean to upset him."
"Tavis regards you as a brother. He was hurt for a long time after Pa never returned, but he never blamed you. He just hoped you were safe. Hoped you found a home."
"I tried, but finding peace in the world is hard. They look at me like I'm a survivor or somehow the victor. They don't even know I walked out the biggest loser." Cordayl tells her.
"I never asked you why you were alone that day in the forest. I never needed to know why. I just knew you needed a home. But Cordayl, you can come back. You don't have to do what you plan to do." Ma tells him.
"You know I can't stay here. I can't risk your safety like that again." Cordayl states.
"Pa prioritized his children's safety first," Ma says.
"Sometimes I wish he hadn't." Cordayl sadly responds.
Cordayl and Tavis are out in the forest chopping wood when Cordayl suddenly stares up into the sky. Two helicopters fly over the boys' heads toward the house.
The third helicopter stops behind the others and lands somewhere in the forest.
Realizing what is about to happen, Cordayl grabs Tavis and starts racing back towards the house.
Tavis is trying to keep up, but Cordayl's sharpened ears can already hear the men catching up to them.
"Peace was nice while it lasted," The voice tells him.
"Shut up," Cordayl says out loud.
"What? Cordayl what's going on?" Tavis asks.
"They found me. Just keep running. I have to get you back to your family," Cordayl says. The footsteps of the soldiers get louder in Cordayl's ears as they get closer to their target.
Suddenly Tavis trips hard over a root. Cordayl skids to a stop and turns around to help Tavis get up. Tavis twisted his ankle pretty badly and Cordayl has to carry him as they try to make it back to the house.
"You can save him if you stop running." The voice remarks, stopping Cordayl dead in his tracks. A breeze passes by as Cordayl makes up his mind.
Placing Tavis to lean on a tree, Cordayl jumps and snaps a tree limb off as a crutch for Tavis.
Tavis is confused when Cordayl hands it to him, but Cordayl forces him to take it.
"Hurry and get back home. I'll handle this." Cordayl tells him.
Tavis hesitates, as he doesn't want to leave Cordayl, but Cordayl's eyes tell Tavis he won't take no for an answer. "I'll see you back at the house." Tavis tells him, grabbing his shoulder. Cordayl smirks, nodding, as he turns around to handle the threat.
The unit moving through the woods is at a slight jog as they run to get into their position behind the house the remaining Melatonin warrior was hiding in.
Hearing a snap, the whole unit goes into alert. The leader signals for two of them to branch off to investigate the noise.
Getting close to the source of the noise, they stop when they hear something move through the trees.
Snapping their weapons up, one of the soldiers is grabbed by the back of the head and slammed face-first into the ground.
The other soldier, shocked at what just happened, aims his gun at Cordayl but is smashed into the ground by some invisible force. Cordayl stomps his head once and keeps on walking.
Seeing that there isn't any more sound or movement, Cordayl realizes these two broke off from the unit. Grabbing both of the men's guns, Cordayl lets out random burst of fire to imitate engaging the enemy.
Dropping the guns, Cordayl takes off running, now becoming the hunter.
The unit, still running through the forest, stops when they hear the gunfire. Turning around, the leader signals for them to head back, as he assumes his men have found the boy.
Now sprinting through the forest, the leader stops his unit and signals for them to get low, as they can hear someone else running.
Hobbling as fast as he can, Tavis is noisily making his way back home. The soldiers all have their weapons trained on him, but they are just watching as they know he isn't the Melatonin they are after.
As the leader follows the injured boy through his scope, it suddenly goes black.
Pulling away from his gun, he sees Cordayl standing in front of him, Shocked, he yells open fire, and before they can get a single shot off, Cordayl sends a wall of gravity at them that knocks them and the forest behind them away from Tavis.
Still hobbling home, Tavis hears the destruction and blocks himself as well as he can from the leaves and branches that get knocked loose from Cordayl's attack.
The soldiers, scattered around a cleared forest, groggily stand to their feet. As soon as a soldier stands up, Cordayl instantly knocks him out. One by one, they stand, only to fall again.
Getting to the leader last, Cordayl grabs him by the throat.
"Not enough to destroy the entire tree. You have to get every last apple, huh?" Cordayl asks.
"Nothing personal, just no loose ends." He comments.
Cordayl's eyes glare at this comment, and he squeezes the man's neck, choking him until finally his neck snaps in his hands.
Hearing a gunshot, Cordayl drops the body and takes off, sprinting full speed through the forest to get back to the house.