There had been several occurrences where certain individuals could quote Vert on his ability to thrive under pressure and adapt under change better than his peers; perhaps a reason why he fit the role of a leader so well. Though, now, as he forced the saber close to its physical limits – the car giving unsettling jolts and groans as it crashed over the uneven ground – he was concerned that he was starting to lose that reputation. He could only set his eyes on the bends, lumps and disturbances in the road, with the team following close behind. Worry was starting to brew in his stomach and he felt that if he didn't focus on something, he'd be not only losing his bearings, but his mind too.
He gripped the saber's steering instruments with force out of concentration, frustration, both combined, as the slight, shallow lacerations on his arms burned uncomfortably. Vert reminded himself that they were worthy sacrifices, along with the damage to the saber, as long as it meant that they could save a life. Between, subtle scars and Stanford's life, the decision could click instantly into gear, without the need for lines on paper. Just like the leader, the artillery driver had never asked for this and had been forced onto thin, treacherous ice, without a lifeline to cling onto. The team could save him from the deadly waters, save him from being trapped in his own mind, forever. Forever, or what would be the rest of a short, miserable life. The walls were closing in and they were running out of time.
As if to prove his thesis, a blue glow started to radiate from the saber's control panel, taking the form of a certain blue sentient. With the anxiety starting to bubble over, Vert could already predict the coming conversation. Sage also seemed to know that.
"You must hurry, Vert." Sage's voice held urgency, already atypical. Vert's mind was already conjuring up many reasons as to why. Hours were passing them by and Stanford was bound to be deteriorating.
"We've had one failed attempt, Sage. We're trying to locate the creatures," he paused. He felt like he had to ask, "How…bad is he Sage?" Sage's eyes darted to the left for a moment. 'He's worse than before,' Vert knew.
Vert's heart was thrumming against his bones and starting to climb into his throat when she answered, looking at him with pleading eyes. "The efforts that Zoom and I have put together are no longer efficient for keeping us from losing Stanford."
Vert heard the reactions of the team, realising that they must have been quietly listening.
"Keep us from losing him?" Spinner repeated, in a tone laced with softness and worry. It was unusual for Spinner not to be trying to lighten the mood with jokes, only adding to the indicator that Vert wasn't the only one who was worried. "He's struggling, already?"
"He has displayed several … worrying symptoms since Zoom brought him back to the hub. Human symptoms I am sure, though. Nausea, poor-coordination, muscle soreness, feverous perspiration. Though, his mental state worries me-."
"You mean he's becoming aggressive?" Agura asked softly.
"Not aggression that we would come to expect," Sage corrected, knitting her fingers together. "Physically, Stanford is suffering from the increase in pressure on his bodily functions. Consequently, he is under unhealthy amounts of stress that are intensifying his struggling. Although we may have provided him with some temporary clarity in telling him about his condition, I fear that now it is causing more damage than benefit."
"Meaning?" Spinner continued from where she left off.
"Now that Stanford understands his illness, by my observations, he seems terrified by the inevitable. Zoom has been trying to calm him through casual conversation, but Stanford is only escalating the severity of the situation by panicking about what might happen."
"Poor dude," AJ sighed, placing forward his sympathies and first input in the conversation. "but wasn't it the moon causing the mutated thingys in his body to start going crazy the first time?"
"You are correct AJ," Tezz answered for Sage, "However, the viral microbes have been inside Stanford's system, untampered with for close to 70 hours." Vert raised a brow. Tezz had obviously been reading up about the topic. Whether it was for the latter's love for science or actual concern for Stanford: nobody would know. "In the same way that the hours that Stanford spends as a beast are fluctuating, so are the triggers for the virus. With a diminishing human white blood cell count that cannot keep up with the spreading of the foreign material, the microbes will have entered his nervous system and quite possibly, his brain. If they reach the INSERT, the part of the brain that controls conscience and emotions and they tap into the nervous system and begin to cloud his ability to make rational decisions…" Tezz paused as if even he appreciated the consequences of the shattering conclusion he was working towards.
"You must take extreme caution, Sage. If the microbes are in his brain, so will their genetic makeup." He paused as the passed a dangerously deep crater in the road. "They are intensely developed to react to their surroundings and protect their host body in order to preserve the species' survival. If Stanford is feeling threatening, the amount of toxins in production will increase and so will the risk of his condition becoming out of hand."
"Tezz's explanation is correct. Likewise, just like nocturnal activity affects him, as do his emotions now. Our priority must be to keep his emotions balanced. If he continues to experience heightened bursts of stress, along with any other sudden spurts of strong emotions like fear or excitement, we run the risk of sacrificing Stanford's self-control."
"You mean we've got a walking time bomb on our hands?!" Spinner exclaimed.
"Theoretically, I'm afraid so," Sage sighed, "and so it is a risk for me to administer with any non-essential treatments, as I cannot afford to distract his focus."
"Not whilst his instincts are screaming out at him to lash out and defend himself in response to any threats."
There was some movement from Sage's end as Zoom appeared in the hologram feed. The Mhuy Thai expert appeared to be a little rough around the edges on close inspection; his brown eyes somewhat harrowed and more messy strands of hair hanging over his headband than usual.
Zoom wiped his brow, breathing out a deep huff of air, exhausted, "it hasn't gone physical yet, but Stanford is still having a major meltdown."
Vert's eyes narrowed in concern as he watched from inside the saber, "whatever happens, Zoom, don't put yourself in harm's way. If Stanford becomes hostile, the last thing we want is anybody else getting bitten." Or killed.
"Yeah, well, as long as you guys get back on time, we should be safe."
"sorry for the bad forward planning," Vert scratched the back of his neck.
"Don't sweat it Vert, it caught us all of guard," Zoom sighed. "I probably made a mistake in taking him to the diner. He didn't last half an hour and Grace kept offering to take him to the hospital."
Vert cringed a bit, "And now?"
"He's…. not much better. Though," Zoom cracked a weak smile, "I'm not sure how much of it is pain and how much is Stanford being … Stanford."
"Yeah, well, let's be optimistic, or else the Za might just be an appetizer compared to Zoom."
Zoom didn't reply to the remark, he just rolled his eyes to what couldn't possibly be another terrible 'joke' from Spinner.
Vert was about to speak up when Agura's voice cut through him just in time for him to notice a dark shadow leap clean over the saber and disappear down a trail branching off from their own path.
"There!" Vert exclaimed, slamming his foot down on the breaks so that the saber screeched over the stones and leaves to a halt, creating a momentary dust cloud to be kicked up into the air. He looked back at the screen for a split second of pause, "sit tight Zoom, we'll be back soon."
When he got to thinking about turning the Saber around to give chase, Agura had already taken the initiative and gone ahead of him, the Tangler's engine roaring as if it got a sudden thrill out of the hunt. In the off-road scrambler's ideal terrain, Vert struggled to bring the Saber up beside it. Vert managed to push the Saber up behind the ATV's far tyre. "Okay, what's the plan Agura?"
As if to answer any prayers of the 'golden' opportunity going to waste, the trees were starting to dissipate from a large barricade of dense, impenetrable forest into a scatter of spindly, sparse pines, narrowing the probability of the creature, black as night, from escaping into the dark. Agura's eyes narrowed in on the near distance, where every tree had all but gone, seemingly swallowed up by a huge, jagged crevasse. An even uglier scar on the landscape that seemed to be more eerie and black than the rest of the terrible zone, if that was possible, of course. "Box it in," Agura instructed almost robotically, "AJ and Tezz, take the right. Everybody else, the left. I'll take it head-on."
"And what exactly are we doing?" Spinner asked.
"Closing off any escape routes. It'll have to push through us if it wants to get away."
In a barricade of sorts, the team started to cut away at the already short gap between the bottomless pit and the safety of the dense wood until the creature found itself cornered. It careered to a halt, looking between the beams of the headlights and the emptiness of the ravine. Vert cut it off from the left and started to analyse the target. Sleek, ebony fur, jade eyes, but pint-sized – less of a challenge. Vert was about to get out of the Saber as the tangler rolled up to complete the corral.
"Careful Vert," she warned as Vert climbed out of the Saber, sword in one hand, Sage's device in the other. The beast looked over Vert through anxious, yet burning eyes. They flashed from him and then down to the depths of the ravine. As Vert pushed forwards, his boots crunching over fine stones, the beast's back paw slipped on the edge of the cliff, a few rocks tumbling down into the shadows. Vert didn't hear the crackling of the stone, if they indeed had hit the bottom. The animal wheeled around to look over the edge as this continued for several, long seconds before Vert could move. As his feet crunched in the dust, its muzzle was peering deeper down into the space between the rock faces. Vert froze. The canine glanced down, body in a sort of downward slouch. Vert reached out reflexively as, amongst shocked gasps and dropping jaws, the creature stretched its claws, removing any connection between flesh and rock and simply dropped silently down the rocks. Astonished, Vert raced to the edge, not only to see a contradiction to his mind, that had assumed the worst but feel a surge of spur-of-the-moment relief. Mainly due to context and desperation.
The ravine, in some multiversal era, had indeed snatched a portion of the battle zone. A few sickening metres of vertigo and nausea down, between the two steep faces of rock; the final resting place for an ancient tree. The plentiful array of splayed branches on either end had perfectly wedged it between the gap, creating an unstable ledge-bridge over the ominous eternity beneath. The beast steadied itself on the trunk of the tree with its claws, the marred wood groaning and crooning under the sudden weight. Then, maybe, it looked at Vert and sneered.
Trick of the light perhaps, or maybe it did sneer. The species' intelligence remained a half-uncovered mystery, with plenty of grey areas. There were cataracts blinding their completed prophecy. Blots on the information. They didn't have the pieces in between, because these creatures could be both tactical and mindless. Their pack was unified, a well-coordinated team. They could use the terrain to their advantage and understand themselves and each other. HELP each other. Yet, at the same time, they were still only animals. Predators, territorial and brutish for the sake of survival. Said similarities that they shared with Stanford.
Stanford, (or rather what was consuming him) could only be as human as his changing mental capacity would allow. Though, Vert knew he wasn't the only one who thought that when he looked at the monster, he could see that part of it was not cut from the usual cloth. Sparks of curiosity, awe and even recognition in such toxic green eyes. How Stanford would have behaved if the disease had spared his human mind in all instances? Still beastly and daunting in every physical aspect but still only an obscurity on the man beneath. Anyone who knew Stanford well enough could picture it. A situation so mismatched that it would be laughable if it were indeed harmless and an easy-fix. Not a regal, powerful, instinctive survivor – just Stanford. Still animalistic and short of terrifying, but really just harmless. Harmless to them, clumsy and terrified of his own body, if not whimpering and pathetic. Regardless, he would still understand. He wouldn't devour anybody. Vert and the others had only seen one or two sudden glimpses of this, when sometimes, the monster was dormant enough to release its choking hold on Stanford and allow a little, liberated piece of the man's character to appear briefly.
Slowly, but devastatingly surely, less and less of this behaviour was allowed to shine through. Critically sick and left to stumble about in the dark, lost – any calm would soon shrivel away in the harsh clutches of mindless rage. An ugly façade. Scrabbling claws, gaunt eyes, hot breath and slobber like magma, fronted by a mouth full of needlepointed knifes …. that was all. That was the scary part. Once they reached the end of this tunnel of madness, the being seeing the light on the other side would be something they could no longer call 'Stanford'.
So Vert sneered back at the creature; even if it was a childish decision, it made him experience a twinge of retribution for Stanford because even when (when, not if) they cured him, he would need a bit off assistance and maybe therapy to get over this.
The others had now recovered from the surprise and had come to join Vert. It was only after taking one glance that Agura sprang back into protocol, as the Tangler went hurtling over the edge of the gap, landing safely and relatively smoothly on the other side. The beast snarled in response, warning for the two-legged creatures to keep their distance.
The Tangler was meanwhile balancing itself between both sides of the ravine like a spider hanging from two separate strands of web, whilst under scrutiny from the creature below. Then, just like a spider would strike a fly, the winch cable fired like an arrow and went travelling at high speed towards the creature. Somehow, the animal managed to pull away, sidestepping the snare. The winch hit the tree bridge with an unsettling crunch as some of the bark crumbled away, lightly jostling the tree. Agura tried a second shot in jest after mumbling under her breath but not losing her composure. The winch cable pulled free from the tree, leaving a hole in the rotting wood. This time, the winch cable landed underneath the creature and wound itself around its legs, the creature wrapping itself in more and more of a cocoon of wire as it struggled.
There were no cheers of success. Everybody was holding their breath in hope that this wouldn't end in disaster. Using its extendable axels, the Tangler propped itself back and climbed backwards up over the ridge, where everybody was waiting. Immediately, before the creature could wiggle out of its wire bindings, Sherman, Vert and AJ were racing towards it with Agura and Tezz following suit. The strongest of the men pinned it down before it could writhe out of anybody's grip. With Sherman kneeling over its shoulders and AJ holding the rest of its body, Vert kneeled by its head. Tezz and Agura stood close by, with Tezz scratching his chin in careful consideration.
They didn't have much time. "Tezz, how does this thing work?"
Tezz kneeled beside him. "Sage has since relayed her instructions to me. The device works automatically to extract the toxins once it locks into a certain position. But first, we have to get its mouth open."
Vert signalled and with Sherman, he grabbed the creatures muzzle before it could snap at them. Tezz activated the machine which started to buzz and whir as the creature whined and squirmed, clearly displeased with being captive. As Sherman managed to force its vice-like jaws further apart, eyes widened as the sharp rows of gleaming teeth were uncovered. Vert made a mental note that ending up as a 'werewolf' wasn't the only thing to fear about putting his hands near this thing's mouth. He would have liked to keep his fingers attached, as well as his normal body.
He was torn from staring when the beast started to screech, a horrible, ear-splitting yowling noise as the machine started to work. After a few, deafening cries and the noise whirring from the machine also stopped, everything went deadly silent. Then, as the beast's jade eyes darted to the side and its ears started to swivel like radar dishes. Every present member of the team felt a chill to their bones as a single, lone howl sounded out across the lonely desolation they were shrouded in. One. One more. Vert's eyes widened. Three. Four and five. All separate. Tezz slowly retrieved the device, not taking his eyes off of the trees. As the all looked up, the eyes appeared. Several pairs of glowing disks in the distance. One, two, three …. too many to count. Red, orange, yellow.
"Move! Move!" Vert barely had time to shout as the rest of the pack sprung from the trees in response to the painful cries of their brethren. The BF5 scrambled into their vehicles before they were overwhelmed by an ocean of claws and teeth. Vert had barely caught his breath when he stamped the gas, with the Saber's windscreen splattered with drool and hot breath as the Saber gave off several nasty thumps as the creatures rammed the sides of the vehicles. Vert managed to out speed them, with the slower vehicles like the buster using weapons to push them back as they sped towards the portal. When they got through to the sand and blue sky on the other side, almost everyone agreed that they had never been so quick to close a portal. There were a few complaints passed around as they recovered their breath. Smears on the glass, slow punctures and claw marks on paintwork. Now wasn't the time for that. They hadn't succeeded yet. All they had to do now was get the antidote to Sage and then, they could finally end this nightmare.
Update, not dead! I can't promise that I will get this story finished by new year, but I will complete it. There is only about 3 chapters left. Please enjoy and R&R!