Seeing that Penny was trying to say something, Callum ran out to go and fetch something like a torn rag that was going to help him tie it over around her neck so that maybe it could stop the bleeding and allow her to say something.
"Wait, don't try to say anything just now, okay? Wait for it to stop the bleeding first." Callum tried to sit Penny up straight.
Penny didn't listen to him; she still did try to talk, but no words were coming out of her mouth—only murmurs and sounds that showed that if she didn't receive the help that she needed fast, Penny was going to be dead soon.
It looked like whatever Penny was trying to tell Callum was very important, because though she didn't have a voice to speak, Penny pointed at something. Callum was as lost as he could get because he didn't understand a single thing.
Callum was still in shock; this was one sight he never thought nor imagined—that one day, in his own life, he'd return back home and see his family like this. This was often a scene that he'd see in the movies. And it wasn't like he was going to call the cops or the ambulance for help, because where he lived, those were not found.
"Look, I understand that you want to tell me something, and by the looks of it, this thing is very important. So how about I put you on my back and try to take you to the hospital?" Callum said as he was picking up Penny.
Penny shook her head. Whatever had happened must have scared her, because from her eyes, she was really scared, and she tried by all means to make herself heavy, to avoid making it easier for Callum to pick her up.
Not that her attempt did work—Callum still managed to pick her up and put her on his back.
"Hold on, this might be one hell of a bumpy ride," Callum warned her.
Penny was defeated, so she held tighter. Callum left his mother's room; he didn't even dare to look back, and he made his way to the dining room. To his surprise, there were people there.
These people weren't even going through their stuff, just to show that maybe they were nothing but small-time criminals. Since they lived in a side of town like this, these kinds of acts were actually normal.
But these people weren't normal criminals—they were all wearing black ninja clothes, and all of them were carrying a weapon. At first, they didn't even seem like they were aware that Callum was in the house with them.
So, in other words, Callum saw them first. When he heard how Penny reacted, he moved out of the way because, though he didn't hear nor understand the word she said, he was smart enough to understand that part.
Callum had hid behind the wall. "Are they the ones who did this to you?" Callum asked.
Penny nodded. They had to remain quiet. Though those people couldn't see them, in order to move out of the way and stay alive for who knows how long until those guys actually leave the place, they needed to be silent.
Time wasn't something that was on their side, and it was running out, which meant something very critical and problematic—especially for Penny, who was starting to tremble uncontrollably.
"Penny, what's wrong?" Callum was trying to hold her steady.
Penny had lost a lot of blood, and them putting on the old torn piece of rag around Penny's neck didn't stop the bleeding—it just made it bleed out slowly.
She was really making a lot of noise. Now Callum had no choice but to put her down. And if it was anything like someone who was having a seizure, Callum knew exactly what to do—or at least he hoped that's what he needed to do.
He laid Penny down. She was still trembling, and now that he had put her down, she got worse. Now it looked like Penny was experiencing a seizure, and the only thing that Callum knew was to take measures, especially for a person in Penny's state right now.
Callum placed Penny's head on top of his thighs, faced her up, and made sure that no matter how much Penny reacted like that again, he was going to be ready.
"Hush now, baby sis, I got you. Now keep quiet before these guys realize that they are not alone," Callum held her closer.
He didn't realize that the second he spoke and said what he said, it was already too late. Since their wall was one of those hollowed walls, a dagger pierced through the wall, almost stabbing Callum—but luckily for him, it missed him by an inch.
When he saw that, he almost let out a scream, but he was fast enough to put his hand on his mouth to stop himself from doing so. Not that it did help, because whoever had pierced the wall continued to move his dagger around.
Now, making Callum let go of his sister and crawl out of the way, he was quick, and he was doing a really good job dodging out of the way. One thing he didn't anticipate was when he reached the end of the wall—now there was nowhere for him to move.
Callum had no choice but to move out of the wall quickly, which was something he was lucky enough to have thought of, because whoever was on the other side of the wall got angry. Them missing did frustrate them, and they went from cutting the wall to stabbing.
Penny was still lying on the floor. From the looks of it, she was still alive, but Callum was unsure how long that was going to last. He was no doctor, but he still knew that he had to take action faster than he had to.
Since he dodged out of the way and stood up, Callum waited to actually see where this person was standing. He was stuck, since his dagger was stuck in the wall too. This person was trying to yank it out of the wall—Callum saw his hand.
Then he also saw part of his body where he had carved through the wall. Callum reversed because he wanted something to use, something that was going to serve as his shield and prevent him from getting hurt.
There wasn't anything that he could say he could use—even if there was, it still was going to be hard to find. Their house may have been a two-room house; its space was still small, and even their furniture was cramped, meaning that Callum had little space to use as his advantage.
The only thing that was there was the same container that he had taken to the market to deliver food with. He looked at it, and since it was a plastic material that was a transparent color, Callum had to decide on what to do.
He looked at Penny, who was still blinking and breathing slowly. "I guess this will do."
Callum took the container, put it in front of him, and used it as something that was going to help him defend himself.
"Alright, I'm pretty sure I can do this. All I have to do is time him—then I attack." Callum was steadying himself.
The second after that person finally yanked the dagger out of the wall and finally got free, Callum waited to see where he was going to stand. After doing that, indeed this person only moved an inch, and another thing was that he was still close to the wall.
"There he is. Now is my chance." Callum took a dry cloth, put it in his mouth to prevent himself from making noise.
He charged and went through the wall. The way he predicted his every move happened exactly how he thought it would. Callum crashed into that person since he was going full force.
Callum managed to push this person all the way to the wall, which for him was pretty easy. It felt like that person didn't have any strength at all, because Callum pushed him like he was nothing but a piece of paper.
When they got to the wall, Callum was so mad—it must have been an adrenaline rush. He hit that person with the container, kept bumping into him more times than he could count. All he saw was this person dropping his dagger and falling down.
Callum probably thought that maybe he had won, but he was so mistaken. After that loud noise, two others who were working with this person came. All of them were wearing the same clothes and looked like they were the same height too.
The container was now cracking—it was supposed to after the force that he used. It was a miracle it didn't break apart completely.
These other two were carrying swords, and their swords were still covered in blood. They stood there in silence since they had masks on, and Callum saw the blood.
"You monsters!" Callum just lost it.
He charged towards them. They moved out of the way, and Callum fell to the floor, and the container just got destroyed.
He got up, stared at these two. One of them ran to attack Callum with a sword; he moved out of the way, and since the sword had made its way to the wooden floorboard, Callum kicked the sword.
The person slipped and fell. Callum didn't waste any time—he jumped on top of him, then he slit his throat with a sharp piece of the container.
The last person surprised him by choking Callum so hard that he had to drag him where there weren't any conventional weapons that Callum might use to his advantage.
Callum was fighting for his life. He kicked and kicked, but nothing happened. He tried to find something that he was going to hold on to, but this person just wouldn't give him that chance.
Another thing was that this person had tightened his elbow, and Callum was now getting unconscious. His kicking and fighting weren't like the first time; they were actually slower now.
This person didn't see Callum moving, and so he assumed that he was dead. He let him go, which was what Callum was counting on to happen. This person had dragged Callum next to the stove. Since this place was the slums, it used a gas stove.
What this person didn't realize was that while Callum pretended to die out, it turned out that he was turning on the stove, seeing that this person wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
Callum rolled out of the way, pulled this person's feet, and when he fell, he hit headfirst—but he wasn't knocked out just yet. After he fell on the stove, he tried to get up. But Callum had thought of something else too, and since the stove was already on, Callum took out a match, lit it, and threw it onto the stove.
It went up in flames, meaning that this person's head caught fire and went up in flames too. But the funny thing—he didn't react nor scream; none of them did. They just died in silence.
Callum was tired, so he just watched him... Then he remembered about Penny.
"Penny?!" Callum ran to her.
Her eyes were still open—that alone made Callum feel a little relieved. But when he got to her, he discovered that his sister had actually stopped breathing just a second ago before he got to her.
"Penny, Penny, Penny! Please wake up!" Callum did everything he could to wake her, but it was a little too late.
He felt like his whole world had crumbled. Callum leaned against the wall and cried.
While he was still crying and mourning for his family, a mysterious voice appeared.
[ Congratulations, you have been chosen to take part in the Trials of Ragnarok. ]
Callum raised his head to look at this mysterious voice, but he just felt all weak and drained, then he fell unconscious.