Chapter 256: choice

Back in the dark cave, in the deeper parts of the Himalayan ranges. Hours later, after having a deep sleep to recover their depleted strength, Clark and his companions finally woke up again to see the dark cave.

Nothing changed, the atmosphere was still stale, the sorrow and everything else accompanying it was still there.

They left trails behind for the king of demolition to locate them, but it seems that he was not coming Afterall.

Maybe the alpha ape already killed him, maybe he survived but was too injured to look for them. The scenarios were too numerous to count so they just rested their brains and relaxed.

None of them approached the other, they all still kept their distance from each other. Only Dickson and Anna were together but they never spoke, opting to maintain the silence.

No one cried nor sobbed again, they just kept quiet, thinking of everything that happened for the past few hours.

After about another hour of this unending silence, Dickson finally made a move. He wriggled himself away from his fiancée, before groping his way forward in the darkness.

Hearing the sound of someone moving, Josh switched on his torchlight.

Using the illumination brought by the torchlight, Dickson no longer groped forward but went directly in Clark’s direction. After getting there, he sat down beside him and looked into his eyes.

Clark reciprocated and looked back at him with his still listless eyes.

“Clark, we can’t stay like this. You know that and everyone knows that, we have to think of something”. Dickson took a deep breath and finally spoke out on seeing Clark look back at him.

Clark did not reply, he just looked at him for 30 seconds in silence before he dropped his eyes back, looking at the cave wall hopelessly.

“I’m sorry about your loss, I really am but staying like this will do us no good”. Dickson reduced his voice to the gentlest that he could think of before trying to earn a reaction from Clark.

This continued for a few minutes, he kept on bringing reasons upon reasons but Clark remained silent, looking at the cave wall like his soul already left this world.

No man was without temper in this world. Seeing Clark stubbornly remain silent, Dickson got angry.

“Is it because of Anna?” He questioned loudly.

“If it's her, she’s here just beside us. Kill her if that’s what you want, kill her Clark!” He yelled angrily.

“You were the one who always took the motivational speeches, you said that the mission is always paramount, then what about now? I’m sorry if I sound rude, but I can’t help myself”.

Getting no response despite all this, Dickson became more agitated. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Clark! Answer me!” He grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and shook him fiercely.

The next moment Clark suddenly erupted as he threw a punch at his face.

Bam!!

Dickson was stunned, he did not expect it at all as the swift punch hit him squarely on the nose. He felt his nose crack as blood flowed out steadily from it, he touched it in disbelief.

The hall quietened further, the others looked at them in silence but they didn’t intervene, they sat quietly with no intention to come to their plight.

Seeing the blood that dripped from his nose, Dickson laughed. “Is that it?”

“Clark, is that what you want?” He yelled.

Clark did not respond, he only looked at him with the same listless expression on his face, but this time he was shaking, his fists were tightly clenched as he bit hard on his lips.

“It seems that this is what you really want”. Dickson suddenly rushed at him.

Boom!!

Clark immediately retaliated from reflexive as both parties collided momentously, causing the air to shake and contract a bit as fists and kicks quickly started flying around.

Josh kept quiet, silently watching from his corner. He had a peaceful expression on his face, he had no intentions of interfering. This was a problem that could only be solved by themselves.

Neither Clark nor Dickson held back, their blows were forceful and vicious as they quickly left injuries on each other.

Clark quickly threw another fast punch at Dickson, hitting him squarely on the face. As the momentum pushed Dickson back, he used this opportunity to grab Clark’s hand and draw him closer.

The sound of bodies colliding quickly reverberated around the room. He quickly tackled Clark as they both fell down the next moment, the fight turned into a childish brawl immediately.

They would roll and roll on the dirty cave floor before one of them would find the rare opportunity of releasing a punch at the other.

The brawl continued for about another hour as both fighters were now exhausted, but none of them decided to give up. They gritted their teeth, persevering to the very end.

“Stop!” Josh finally called out to stop this farce but they did not listen.

After about another 10 minutes of tossing around, they finally lay down on the floor completely exhausted.

None of them spoke to the other, they just laid down beside each other. Their breathing was rapid as their hearts worked hard to suppress the hot raging blood in them.

5 minutes later, Dickson became the one who broke the veil of silence.

“I’m really sorry, Clark. I may not know how you’re feeling, but I also felt sad when he died. If you don’t mind, let me tell you a story”.

“Do you know how I got to the gladiator tournament then?” He paused a bit, getting no response he continued. “I don’t think you know, so I’ll tell you about it”.

“My dad died when I was young, so I lived with only one parent. One day, when I was a teenager already, I developed a great yearning to travel at sea so I kept on pestering my mother till she agreed”.

“She used her savings to get us on a sea-faring ship”.

“I was extremely happy then, thinking that I was the luckiest teenager on the earth, not knowing that it was a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately for us, our ship was attacked by a fleet of 2 ships”.

“Our resistance was futile; our ship was annexed. But the sad thing was that during this petty resistance from our ship, my mother was shot and she died”.

“She died on my arms. Then, I was crying as she struggled to breathe through her damaged lungs, fighting death just to stay alive for me”. He chuckled. “What an irony; I caused her death”.

“But do you know what she told me before she died?”

With her last dying breath, she caressed my cheeks, smiled in her pains, and said. “Dickson, life moves on…”

“That’s exactly the last thing that she told me before she gave up the ghost”.

“I still feel guilty till today, but I learned that death is an irreversible occurrence. Like she said, life moves on”.

“I can’t say that I know much about Benny but from the little I know of him, if he was here, he would say the same thing”.

“I may sound hypocritic, but it’s the truth from my heart. I’m not telling you to forget about him, just know that life moves on. Only the living gets to breathe and I think we should cherish it. It’s a privilege”.

“If Benny was here, I’m sure he would say the same thing that the mission is paramount. You didn’t let him die; he joined this mission as a soldier with the knowledge that he could die at any moment”.

“He died a hero, as a soldier should”.

“Clark, you can cry, you can feel anguish, but don’t let it stray you away from your goal. Apart from Benny, did you think of the others? Perhaps all our soldiers died also”.

“For what did they die? For the mission!” He stressed the last part.

After saying all these, Dickson turned to look at Clark. Seeing no reaction from him, he sighed, closed his eyes, and relaxed his body on the cave floor.

After a considerable amount of time, perhaps 10 minutes or maybe even 30 minutes, the silence was broken again. This time, it was broken by Clark.

“You’re right”.

“What?” Dickson was startled awake.

“You’re right”. Clark laughed self mockingly. “I always said that the mission was paramount, but I’m now wallowing in sorrow when my friend died”.

“It feels ironic”.

“I think doing this is even selfishness to the other Spartan soldiers that sacrificed their lives without complaints just to let me get here, all for the one purpose of furthering the mission goal”.

He paused for a moment before continuing. “I suddenly feel like a bad leader”.

He forced himself to stand up. “Thank you, Dickson. Thank you for showing me the way, thank you for making me recover myself, I really appreciate it”.

After saying this, he left Dickson and walked closer to where Diana sat watching them quietly.

“I’m sorry, Diana. I failed in protecting my friend…, our friend, perhaps your boyfriend, now I also failed in protecting the integrity of the mission goal”.

“I don’t know how to apologize to you. You put your faith in me, but what did I do? Not only did I let my second in command die, I also thought of abandoning the mission”.

He sighed. “I’m sorry”.

“It’s ok, Clark”. Diana sniffed and turned her face away.

“It’s not your fault, really. You, I, Benny, we came for this mission knowing that there was a high chance of dying so I blame no one for what happened”.

She covered her face with her hands. “I just blame myself for surviving when he died, it feels really awful, and painful also”.

Clark pulled her into his arms before hugging her deeply, Diana let loose again as she started crying her heart out.

They sat together, still in a hug for the next 30 minutes before she finally separated from him. She gave him a deep look. “You’re the leader, do the needful”.

“Ok”. Clark nodded at her firmly.

“Ok, let’s gather”. He clapped his hands in a welcoming gesture at everyone in the cave.

After everyone gathered in his position, he continued. “At this point, I think its safe to say that the king of demolition is not coming, so we have to take matters into our hands”.

“I don’t have an elaborate plan yet, but I think we should find the Aragan ruin first, that should be our priority. Any objections?”

“No”. Everyone complied.

“Good. Now quickly arrange your equipment, we’ll be leaving in 10 minutes”.

10 minutes later, they gathered again, about to leave. As Clark was about to take the lead outside, Anna suddenly spoke.

“Clark, I’m sorry”. Her voice was soft and laced with guilt.

Clark gave her a deep look. “No worries, Benny made his choice”.

“Now, we have to make our choice”. His eyes grew sharp.

The next moment, they all left the cave.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it.]