Austin made it a few meters out of the Flat Shack, before the boy after him made a growl, grabbing Austin by the leg, and, with a scream of painful surprise, Austin fell onto the unkept grasses of the greyish green greeneries of the Greylands.
As the boy got on top of him screamed and clawed at Austin's throat, Austin managed to discover a few things about his current situation. First, he recognized the look in the boy's eyes — it was the same gleam as his ambushers, Horri, Feari and Pannica: enraged insanity, with a hint of intellect. This meant multiple things — that the guy was totally mad, but knew, if barely, what he was doing, and, primarily, was someone on a mission — And that mission right now was to attack Austin.
The other thing Austin realised was that he was scared and that the gleam in his attackers eyes only increased his fear and terror. The guttural shriek that escaped his throat only proved proved his horror. And, as the boy on top his windpipe struggled to maintain supremacy in the struggle, the boy spoke — coherently, just barely, but enough for Austin to understand.
In a voice strained and scratching, as if not properly spoken in a while, the boy said "Seven years! We've been trapped here for seven years! And you're the reason why! I'll kill you! Kill you! Death! You die! Kill! Kill!"
Austin, searching for a way to get away, was taken aback by the golden glow of the guy's eyes, and with it, a sudden increase in strength the guy had. He suddenly felt like he was about to pass out.
With nothing else to do, found the answer in giving into the Voice. He didn't dwell on the eyes, which were glowing golden; Austin, once again was a passenger in his own body, his knee up, Austin kneed the boy twice in the groin, then, as quickly as he could, took the reins of control of his body. Now, back in control, Austin struggled to get to his feet, running north, towards the center of the Meadows, where the village was — towards help.
He knew the kneed given this attacker that the pain would wear off soon, if not already and that he'd be on his tail real quickly. But Austin wanted to put as much distance between him and his attacker as much as possible. He didn't dare look back, for fear his attacker was chasing him – Austin ran as fast as his could, pushing his legs and lungs beyond their capacity, even despite his reopened bullet wound and shortness of breath, with adrenaline racing through his veins.
He was nearing the break of groves that lined the edges of the Greylands when heard the growlings and stomping of racing footsteps of his pursuer. Hoping to reach the clearing where he could spot someone — anyone — for help, Austin pushed down deep, running faster and harder than can ever remember running. He knew if got caught now, before anyone could help him, he'd be done for.
But it wasn't enough. Just as he passed the clearing of the groves, his pursuer tackled him a third time, and, as they tumbled, earthbound, Austin instinctively shielded his head.
Now, on his back, Austin noticed that the boy had something shiny in his free hand as his other hand is choking Austin — something shiny and sharp. He held the dagger to his throat now, adrenaline and fear giving Austin the energy he needed to struggle a little bit longer — Just a little bit longer and Austin was sure help would arrive. Afterall, the commotion had to have been heard by someone, right.
However, he could hold on much longer. He was already muscle fatigued from his high stake marathon just to get where he was currently, not to mention he still felt some of the exhaustion from his three hour workout secession earlier that evening. Then there were the other two tumbles he took moments earlier which had taken a considerable amount of his energy from him and he still hadn't recovered from them and, with his reopened bullet wounds, its safe to say he wasn't in the best of health. It was all Austin could do to keep his arms up, protecting his face, using the rest of his strength to hold back his attacker's hand from stabbing Austin.
"DIE!" the boy repeated once more. "You die! Die! Die! Die!"
"Yo, Jackson!" Austin suddenly heard a familiar voice.
Just as Austin was beginning to give in, movement suddenly caught his attention in his peripheral vision and some blur tackled the boy off Austin. And, as Austin grasped for breath, he looked around himself, and saw that all of the Meadows were converging on them — and it was Aaron who tackled the boy, with Aaron, Zether and Caesar hold him down, pinning the boy down with difficulty, eventually successful restraining him.
"What the hell happened!?" Reya exclaimed, looking at Austin.
"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" Austin exclaimed, grabbing his throat subconsciously, the phantom of being choked still there. "He just tried to kill me!"
"KILL! KILL! I'LL KILL HIM!" the boy screeched, the sound so painfully guttural, it threatened to rip apart Austin's eardrums as he slightly flinched away from the boy. "FAULT! FAULT! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT! KILL! I'LL HIM!"
"Jackson, calm down man!" Aaron tried to calm the boy down, but the thrashing just keep on coming.
'Wait…,' Austin suddenly had an epiphany. 'Jackson…But that means….'
"Yes, he's Jackson," Alyssa said, making her way over to them, behind two boys that were fit, whom Austin guessed to be scouts. The scouts immediately went to their Overseer, Aaron, relieving both him and Zether of their struggle, firmly keeping a struggling Jackson restrained.