Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 25 : Hidden in the Dark

“Aldo Meridic, you bastard!”

Shanice splashed the dirt down beneath. She kicked them hard towards the body of their sole means to roam forward. They have no other preference to leave the proximity of Ganabra forest in this particular stretch. Traveling by foot will take away stamina and more time to spend within the spine-chilling environment around. It is mandatory to maintain vigilance and keeping their steady pace forward, or else they would have themselves in otherwise-reversible danger that is lurking in the shadows.

Their gadgeteer seemed reluctant to lay off his remarks. In this occasion, the bearded man has been engrossed with surveillance-related project than contemplating about his own wrath, ”I’ve found two natural caves in ten kilometers distance at the north. We’ll reach it after three hours walking, so it’s gonna be a good place to lay low a bit.” Muttered him towards the group, although they have no interest towards such information at the moment,” So be it, then. I’ll keep informing if anything pass my drones up above.” He said in follows, ignoring the unawareness posed by his fellow teammates this time around.

He seeks upon the uneven borders on the screen for any anomalies in its projection. Until now, Gads Gilmore found no eventual threat in the nearest area from their current location. It has an integrated heat detector for perceiving their surroundings. When it captures a strange movement that could be deemed dangerous on the prowl, the automated system will smear them with red-fashioned dots to make it way easier to see onwards.

~clack-clack~

“No time for insult, Shanice. We have to move along with it. Don’t worry, Gads’ device should make it safe for us to walk. Right, Gads?”

John Straverman reloads his assault rifle and checked them up twice. Natasha Gastano followed the lead and paid a closer look over her arms, as well. Against the alien-like creatures in the deep areas of the forest, jamming weapon will be the least on their wishlist to be taken care off. Angela Rhapsody had referred of a certain beast that were deployed for them. From such challenge that the personal secretary has settled, the black-haired man still wanders around the possibilities that they might have to appease.

As John Straverman heard no words derived from their gadget master, He pushes the hilt of his assault rifle towards the shoulder in mild fashion and makes a disconcerted expression on the face,”Hey, bro. I’m talking to you here.” He asked for attention, from which the bearded man eventually paid them on due towards him afterwards,”Yeah, it should be harmless against unexpected threat, as long as my drone could see them up close.” He replied calmly.

But then, his statement sparks aloft on the concern of Elisa and the woman sides of their team. Shanice raised an eyebrow ahead of such worrisome remarks and pressed her eyes towards the man soon after,” Could see them? By the means of that, you can’t-“

“Yes, I’ve stated that yesterday when we’re driving close to Brathe. I’ve lost one of the beast in the trackers despite my bountiful amount of data about them. It’s not perfect technology, you see.” He explained,” We’ll have to rely on our human senses to comply against the unseeable threat on my device. In other words, it is always better to stay vigilant regardless.”

~tap-tap-tap~

Five minutes later, they have been fully equipped with their favorite weapons and strides along in tight-knitted formation. Shanice walks at the forefront alongside Gads Gilmore at the back. Her keen reflexes will cover his flank whenever the bearded man misses one threatening creature across the side. To response with her continuous protection, in exchange of indefinite protection from her side, Gads Gilmore provided resourceful intelligence about their path forward.

~beep-beep~

“It’s straight until two more kilometers, sis, then we’ll go left after that for the first cave.”

Shanice stands ready and places her aim forward. Her eyes fixated towards the scope at times to ensure that there were no impending threats they have missed. After a round of inspecting towards their supposed direction up front, the curly-haired woman realised of something amiss that made her glances towards the bearded man in confused look,” You’ve stated that it’s ten kilometers until the first cave, or I misheard things that you have said. Please elaborate, Gads.” She requested, then observing the forefront once more.

“ I said there’re two caves in ten kilometers distance from here. The first one stands at two kilometers, so we better chop our legs soon.” He hastily responded, then paused for another one at the lips,” No, I don’t mean we should literally chop our legs. It just that we have to walk faster.”

~zuuu-zuuu-zuuu~

Winds howling towards the south.

They have been sauntering past many redwood trees, yet the darkness goes deeper still. Gads Gilmore has given each of them one self-charging illumination earlier to act as their lighter across the humidified area of Ganabra Forest. For tagging their latest position and circumvent any possibilities of being stranded in circle, the bearded man has coated several trunks of nearby trees with bioluminescent liquid. It glows far and wide as they left them for the north, made their pathways easier to locate as the marks will inform them in an instant.

~zip~

Elisa and Natasha Gastano fastened their jackets after the next stream of gale approached them bare. In the opposite to his companion, John Straverman left his own jackets hanging open and let the flow of winds immersed onto the skin. He is a man of freedom and liberty. Against the elements of nature, the black-haired man will embrace them close and indulge himself upon the comfort that such medium possessed. Being his spouse, Elisa would never left such virile actions behind. The blonde-haired woman approached her man as soon as she found out of the act,” Quit being manly, babe. It’s useless for survival. You’ll be cold and it’s gonna be a hardship for others when you get sick.” She rattled in mild-fashioned way whilst zipping the jackets up for the man.

“Thanks babe. I love being spoiled like this sometimes.” He responded cheekily towards her nurturing gesture, but then receiving a humble slap across the head for his utter insolence afterwards,” Ow, that hurts, babe!” He moaned.

“Pipe down your romance, pipsqueaks. The storm’s coming. “

Natasha Gastano puts her left ear to listen over the humming sounds of the wind stream. From afar, it was merely a hushed-up noise that goes heighten up in every minutes that elapsed. She was trying to locate the rumbling voice of thunder that would be the main essence of every storm. It is chilling down the spine for most. A dark-colored clouds emerges and gradually dominated the entire landscape of Ganabra Forest, brings them into even gloomier shadows than before.

”How many minutes before we-“

~drizzle-drizzle~

The leader felt a spot of water dropped on her shirt. Shanice went on for no more query as she wears on the goggles afterwards. It would be fifteen minutes before the first cave by simple walking, but reduced to nine if they choose to take a sprint forward.

In this kind of situation, her quick-witted reaction becomes futile to continue on their journey. Shanice immediately gestured a hand to fly above her shoulder for pointing across the forefront a number of times and waving towards the north subsequently,”Stay alerted and be composed. John, take the last position on our run.” She ordered.

“Roger that.”

~tap-tap-tap~

They dash in forthright manner at once. John Straverman strides behind Natasha Gastano and his wife for cover against any rear-encounter that they would find. Gads Gilmore takes the route at the back of his sister, making the most of their run for giving away informations related to their current direction,” No enemy so far, sis, we can-“

He rapidly goes pale and silent ahead of the red dots that appeared on his water-proof screen. There are numerous tiny speckles that runs in the same direction to them. Ten meters for space in-between, at least eleven creatures of the unknown threats could be found nearby,” You see all these, Shanice? What should we do?” asked the bearded man, worried of their current misgivings that suddenly occurred.

Their dots were moving triple-times faster than their current speed towards the front. Yet, Gads Gilmore’s device predicted them to arrive at one spot, ahead of projected destination situated amongst the two natural caves that the bearded man had discovered earlier.

Thus, against his concerned query, Shanice simply laid a sneer onto her answer and does so on the way forward,“They are no threats for us, now.” She muttered.