Chapter 139: Devil's Island

"This is rough. Russel just started to form a bond with James. This is all too sudden." I thought to myself.

"Here. I'm gonna replace the bullets later." I handed him his pistol back.

"Thanks... I'll pick up the casings I've used so you could use them again." he replied as he holstered it.

"Already did." I replied.

He gives a faint and bitter smile and I patted his back.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I think I just need a bit of time. That... that was different. I was just teaching James yesterday on how to ride the bicycle and how to play chess and now we're just burning him. He turned to one of those things, right?" he replied.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Thank you." he said.

"For what?" I asked.

"I thought you were gonna keep his head. That's why I just looked down while covering my eyes. You could've secretly cut his head off and stored it but you didn't. That means something to me." Russel said.

I just kept silent.