Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
Yulia could tell that Flossie was in a tough spot, comforting her. “It’s okay if you can’t tell me, but… just remember to treat this place like your home. The sanatorium is willing to be at your command, we will do everything we can to help.”
The old woman’s sincerity helped ease Flossie’s doubts. She let out a dry cough and whispered, “Umm… Have any of you seen Halston?”
“Hasn’t Mr. Guajardo been with you the entire time?”
“When I woke up this morning, I saw that he wasn’t in his room. I don’t even know when he ran out!” Flossie pouted as she huffed. “Can you believe that guy? He’s injured and blind for crying out loud, but he’s still trying to escape! Does he have a death wish or something?!”
“Calm down, Flossie. Public areas within our sanatorium have surveillance cameras, so we’ll be able to find out where he’s gone after checking the footage. He should still be nearby,” Yulia consoled and quickly found security to dig out their surveillance history from last night.
The cameras had captured Halston making his way out of his room at around 3 AM. He stumbled into many things, but was somehow still able to find an exit out of the west wing.
“Mr. Guajardo sure is determined. He fell so many times, but refused to give up. If this were anyone else, they’d be bawling their eyes out and asking for help.” Yulia couldn’t help but gasp in awe as she continued watching.
“I’d say he lost his will to live, he’s not driven by determination at all!” Flossie glared at the stubborn man, wishing she could punch him through the screen.
‘Damn it! Does he miss Seraphina so much that he has to get back to her right away? He’s still going on even though he’s risking falling to his death!’
They continued watching the footage, and noticed that Halston walked around for a while after exiting the suite. He was able to find his way out of the sanatorium, and chose to go down a narrow winding path, heading straight towards the deepest ends of the forest.
Soon enough, he was out of the camera’s field of vision.
“No! Mr. Guajardo is heading straight towards Dragonmount!” One of the security guards shrieked all of a sudden.
“Dragonmount?” Flossie seemed confused.
“Dragonmount is the most dangerous area within the forest, as it is infested with venomous snakes and savage beasts! We normally wouldn’t even allow the average person to enter, and Mr. Guajardo is an injured blind man… If he’s been gone for so long, I’m afraid…” The guard gulped, not daring to say anything further.
Yulia shot the guard a dirty glare and comforted Flossie once more. “Don’t worry, our sanatorium hires professional forest rangers to clear out Dragonmount regularly. There shouldn’t be that big of an issue, so I’m sure we can find him.”
“I know, and he’s not an average person either. He’s going to be safe.” Flossie took a deep breath, her gorgeous face lacking emotion. “Mrs. Walker, you can head back for now, I’ll go look for him.”
“No way!” Yulia refused immediately. “Dragonmount is a complicated area, there are just too many dangers out there, with dark pits and ponds, and occasional sightings of wild boars and wolves too! You have no experience in dealing with that, so let’s just have a forest ranger look for him instead.”
“Didn’t you say there shouldn’t be that big of an issue, and that you’re sure we can find him?”
“Ah…” Yulia seemed awkward. She wasn’t exactly lying when she said finding him wouldn’t be an issue, it’s just that they would likely find him… dead.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Walker, I’m a tough girl, I’ve been through worse. You have nothing to worry about.” Flossie said, ignoring Yulia’s protests and left for Dragonmount alone.
Passing through the crooked muddy roads into the narrow mountain valleys, the only sounds she heard were the rivers flowing lightly, occasionally partnered with the calls of wild animals. It was indeed rather frightening.
‘That guard really wasn’t exaggerating things, Dragonmount is way too dangerous. No normal person would be able to handle it at all. And Halston is blind… He would have died long ago… Heck, some tiger might be chewing on his bones right this minute!’
“No, no way, Halston isn’t just an average guy, he’ll be fine!” Flossie held her breath anxiously, forcing herself to stop overthinking.
‘As long as I don’t see any blood trails or bones, that means the situation isn’t as bad as I think. He must still be alive!’
With her sharp observation skills, the woman had been searching far and wide for any trace of the man. Throughout the entire journey, she could see footprints within the wet mud, and they were no doubt left by Halston.
Hence, she figured that she could find him as long as she just followed those footprints.
However, after about a few miles deep into the forest, the footprints disappeared out of nowhere. Moreover, there was a clear sign that something heavy had been dragged away, accompanied by a faint trail of blood.
Seeing this, Flossie’s heart sank from the shock. Clenching her fists tightly, she followed the bloody trail, only to be met with the worst scenario possible, leaving her completely frozen.
There was a large black bear chomping down on something. It was just a pile of gory flesh at this point, with its bones and organs exposed.
‘I-Is that Halston?!’ Stumbling backwards slightly, Flossie lunged at the bear without thinking. She yelled hysterically, “Get lost, you damn bear! How dare you attack my man?! I’ll kill you!”
If this were a movie scene, many within the audience would judge Flossie’s rash decision behind the screen. That was because she was currently up against a 7-foot bear that could kill her with just one slap from its paw, especially when she wasn’t armed.
It was no different from a death wish, but it was true that Flossie no longer felt the will to go on living after seeing it…
The large bear was enjoying its meal at the time. However, hearing some noise coming from behind it, it paused and turned to look at the woman.
Its mouth and fur were drenched in blood, and it was holding onto a piece of bone, with a few smaller pieces of flesh still attached to it.
“Ah!” Flossie broke down right there and then.
‘That… That’s Halston’s bone… Halston’s flesh… And it’s right in front of me!’
Roar!
The bear howled at Flossie, and the woman was unsure if it was excited, or trying to provoke her.
“I’m going to kill you! I’ll shred you to pieces!” Flossie shrieked as she attacked the bear’s head with a spin kick.
Despite her petite figure, she was a very agile and strong person, and immediately sent the black bear stumbling backwards.
The bear had never met such a bold person and was frozen in place. The bone in its hands was no longer as appealing now.
It just stared at Flossie blankly, as if it was trying to ask: “What the hell is wrong with this woman?!”
“What are you looking at?! You ate my husband, so why are you playing the victim here? How would you feel if I made your wife into stew?!”
The wife of the bear would certainly find this ordeal ridiculous as well, if it were here.
Flossie was so sad that she sobbed while punching the bear maniacally. “I’m warning you, puke him out right now! I’ll cut your stomach open if I have to! Don’t you know how important he is to me?! How could you eat him? Are the deers and boars not enough for you here?! Their meat is clearly more tender, so why did you have to eat him?! It was such a cruel way too – you didn’t even leave his bones alone!”
If any deer or boar were here to witness this, they would be speechless.
Roar! Roar!
The bear could no longer endure Flossie’s ramblings and started growling at her, revealing its sharp teeth. It swung its large paw towards her head.
Flossie wasn’t powerless either. As the number one bounty hunter, she was able to dodge the bear and retaliate once more. She landed several harsh punches and kicks to its face, as if they were competing against each other in a fighting ring.
However, humans and beasts were still rather anatomically different.
After a few moments, Flossie was starting to feel tired. Her face was flushed bright red, and her hair was covered in sweat. Even so, she didn’t want to admit defeat just yet. She had to seek revenge for Halston.
Roar!
The bear angrily bared its teeth, digging its claws into the ground and lunging towards Flossie with malicious intent.
Unable to counter in time, the woman ended up falling to the ground with the bear standing on her shoulders. It roared once more, causing its disgusting saliva to drip onto her face.
Just as it was about to bite down on her neck…
Flossie was silent. She closed her eyes and thought, ‘Well, this is it, I guess. At least I get to meet Halston in this bear’s stomach later.’
After that, she heard a few loud gunshots, and the expected bite never came. Moreover, the weight on her shoulders disappeared instead.
“What… happened?” Flossie carefully opened her eyes, noticing that the ferocious black bear was now laying next to her, unmoving. Its head and back were filled with gunshot wounds, with warm blood forming a pool around its corpse.