Army of True Salvation

"Help!"

"Don't come near me," the old man warned them.

He was probably in his late 30s. He was practically bathed in blood and he looked like he was about to cry. He was even laughing. The man's probably insane!

"Let her go," Veon said as he slowly took his gun from his waist band. The man laughed out loud as if Veon had said something stupid.

"You can't come near me!" He laughed once more but tears were escaping from his eyes as well. "I know well that this is the daughter of our former community official. Dannie," he added and everyone's attention was now on his. They felt danger from the man.

"Veon, don't make a move," Isobel said and Veon stopped his hand from getting his gun that was kept in his waist band. Isobel lifted both of her arms up as if to surrender. "I'm not armed."

The man suddenly stopped laughing. "Don't come near me," he warned and Dannie became more scared. She was about to cry.

Isobel looked at Veon and whispered to him. "Obviously, he has a psychological disorder," she said and Veon looked at the man in front of them. "I'll try to talk to him," she added and Tyler and Shannara approached Veon to form a small group.

"What would Isobel do? Would talking to a crazy man do something," Shannara asked and Veon just shrugged his shoulders, unsure.

"Just trust her. I'm also curious of what's to happen," Tyler said and the three of them became quiet.

"Sir," Isobel called out to him with warmth in her voice. "Don't be scared. I just want to tell stories with you," she added and she walked slowly towards the crazy man. He was cautious, but he did not do anything aggressive.

The old man released Dannie and that was when she took the opportunity to run towards Veon and the others.

He knelt on the floor and now he was bawling his eyes out. Suddenly, the teenagers felt pity towards him even though they knew nothing about what had happened to the man. Veon took the chance to slowly get the gun from his hand, in which, surprisingly, the old man pointed the gun's nuzzle to his head, making everyone surprised.

"Stop!" Isobel shouted and the insane man cried once more.

"Th-there's no reason for me… to live anymore," the crazy man said, his voice shaky.

Isobel knew that by this time, the man was vulnerable due to his emotions. She allowed him to share what he wanted to share as she got the gun from his hand slowly. The moment the gun was in her hand, she threw it to Veon.

"Why? Why do you say that you no longer have the reason to live," Isobel asked and the old man answered with a heavy heart.

"I killed my family."

From what he said, the teenagers could already decipher what had happened. The three corpses present weren't turned into zombies…

But were killed by the hands of a human.