132 Intimidation
“What the hell, Jeremy! Twenty-four people died because of you! How will you take responsibility for this?!” Tasha yelled at me as soon as we were alone.
After arriving at the base, Tasha and I excused ourselves, and no one was even in the right shape to care about it.
Even Daniel appeared to be too drowned in his own guilt to concern himself with others. Of course, Melissa remained by his side to comfort him.
Now alone with the vice-leader, she was hurling blames at me. Her furious expression, coupled with the guilty eyes she had, told me of the horrors she experienced as she ran away from the monsters.
However… as much as I deserved the blame for thinking the Hobs wouldn’t have mobilized their forces large enough to fill up the compound, there was only so much nagging I could take.
“That’s enough, Tasha,” I said, sighing a bit.
My calm take on the matter got her even more enraged as she drew closer to me and dragged my collars in annoyance.
“What the hell are you saying? That’s enough? A great deal of our forces has been killed. The rest are crippled mentally, and this is only the first day. We also failed in subjugating any Demons this afternoon, so we’ve fallen out of schedule. Plus, now that we have lost a pivotal chunk of the fighters, the Horde will be too much for us to handle!” Tasha gritted her teeth as she spoke.
What she said was true, though. There was no way the remaining Gifteds could complete the mission in time anymore. However, it wasn’t like I expected them to succeed even with their full members.
“This is a war against Demons. We killed a great deal of them already… do you think it’s strange that a couple of us die too?” I said, now drawing closer to her myself.
Immediately I spoke and took action, Tasha loosened her grip and took a step back. However, I had let her have her way for so long that it now pissed me off.
“Losses will be encountered, sacrifices must be made. That’s what a war is! Do you really think I am to blame for your incompetence?” I asked, still drawing nearer.
The scary look I donned on my face seemed to be enough to trigger the latent fear within Tasha. Her body slightly shook, though she tried her best to seem fearless. I already knew… this woman was scared of me!
“B-but, if you… if you hadn’t told me it was okay to press on, then-” Her voice cracked as she tried justifying her blame.
“I said that’s enough!”
My commanding voice demanded obedience and she complied. Tasha appeared bossy and stern to anyone who met her, so I was probably the only one who could see her break down like this… well, except for Charles.
“Even if I hadn’t said anything, wouldn’t your group have still attempted a second raid? You would have still tried luring some Demons out according to the strategy, which would still yield the same result. Whether or not I gave you the right information has nothing to do with this. Remember that!”
Tasha gulped.
“Besides, I never promised that there would be no casualties. If you truly wanted to save them, you could have waited behind and fought the Hobgoblins, ensuring more survived.” I smiled, once again drawing nearer.
Tasha’s eyes bulged as they moved bizarrely. Fright and guilt were beginning to overwhelm her mind. She kept moving back until her back hit a tree. With nowhere left to move to, her body trembled as I approached, already a hair’s breadth away.
“I… I just… wanted to… I…”
>WHAM!<
I slapped my hand on the tree, leaving my palm print there. One could call it a wall slam, but since there was the absence of any concrete, a tree slam would have to do.
Tasha’s heart seemed to nearly come out of her chest as she tried her best not to look at me.
Using my unoccupied hand, I grabbed her face, holding it tenderly while softly squeezing her cheeks. Drawing my lips closer to hers, I created a greater sense of unease within her.
“P-please… s-stop…” She whispered, powerless to stop what was to come.
Her eyes tightened and closed shut in a grim expectation of my degenerate scheme. Fortunately for her, my intentions were not as Tasha painted in her head.
Passing up her lips, I drew closer to her ear, whispering some words to the woman.
“You’re a filthy hypocrite, Tasha.”
Her body stiffened as I said this. I could feel it since a part of me was already rubbing on her to ensure there was no room for escape.
“You just wanted to live, and so you abandoned everyone else to die… what happened to caring for the Camp, or the deceased? In the end, you couldn’t do anything about them, and now you wish to transfer all that blame and guilt to me?”
I tightened my hold on her face, squeezing her cheeks even tighter as my fingers felt her jaw.
“M-mmmphhhh” She attempted speaking, but her lips were so clustered together as a result of the way I gripped her face.
“You’re weak, you’re selfish… you’re pathetic! All of you here are. If not for the fact that I believe you possess little worth, I wouldn’t be helping you in any way. So, don’t you forget for even a second that the fact that you all live or die rests in my hands. Charles understands this well, so you had better get on board… or die!”
I felt her strained breaths, since we were so close to each other, she could feel mine too. Looking at her body, which wasn’t half bad, I saw all the skin hair stand in response to the clusters of frightening emotions that seemed to be rampaging her.
‘Good… it appears she understands her place a little…’
Even though I was way younger and shorter, the vast difference between our abilities made her tremble and bend to my will.
“Do you understand?” I whispered, narrowing my gaze and tightening my grip even more.