Chapter 11- Beast Heart

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The forest was unmoving, frozen in time. There were no sounds to indicate animal activity, or any activity for that matter. The only disturbance arose from the shuffling of feet in the still leaves that had fallen dead to the ground.

These belonged to the Rookie Team, consisting of Elsine the FOmarl, Fenron the HUmar, Jill the RAnewearl, and Sigolfitz the FOmar.

As they walked down the beaten path, they looked about, wondering about the eerie stillness. It fell right into the cliche saying about being "too quiet", for it was suspicious that such silence would befit the forest life, for usually even slight noises can be heard. There was nothing.

Eventually the path brought them where it had brought all the previous teams. The split in the path was set before them. One path headed towards the left and back, revealing a recessive trail. To the right and slightly ahead of them a security door flickered and stuttered as it strained to fully close. Nearly closed, the door would malfunction, stutter, shake, spark, sputter, then slowly open about halfway on its track. It then proceeded to repeat the cycle of opening and closing, letting in so much then letting in even less, all the while never fulfilling its duty to seal off sectors of the forest.

The Team, having walked casually and without form, decided to fall into formation and investigate the malfunctioning piece of hardware. They formed a moving triangle, with the hunter, Fenron, in the middle. It was not for protection on his sake, but for the fact that in such a position he could help take out attackers from any side with greater ease.

Elsine, although a Force, took point. She had the battle experience that earned her right as a leader, albeit that of the Rookie Team.

Sigolfitz and Jill took the back points of the triangle. Both were capable of covering the rear. Jill, being a ranger, could take out potential enemies that may be sneaking up behind them for an ambush, and, being a rookie, even if she missed, the resulting warning to the other members of the Team would be invaluable. Sigolfitz carried the firepower in case someone came in mid range, yet was still limited in some of the higher techniques. It would suffice.

They held the formation well for Rookies. They were in fact the highest marked Rookies of their respective classes. A hunter, a ranger, and a force. They were a little rough around the edges, to be sure, but they have to start getting actual combat experience sometime or another. Now was just a good a time as any.

The security door continued its cyclic ritual as the Team narrowed its formation to walk through. Yet once they were through the other side, they fell back into place.

Here lay the clearing, with the light peeking through from the eternal blue. Not a cloud was smeared about, no paint on the canvas. Pure, clear, blue, as the jay or the ocean itself.

Below this endless wave of calm thrived the stench of death.

"These corpses look to have been here for days."

The triangle approached the piles of bodies, remaining cautious, ready for what may happen if whoever or whatever caused this may still be lurking about.

The piles themselves consisted of various once living beings. Humans, newmans, animals, and other unidentifiable heaps of mangled flesh. It was not limited in its scope. Women and children were also included in whatever disaster had occurred here.

"What do you make of it?" questioned Fenron. He wasn't much older than the other Rookies, most likely in his twenties, maybe less.

"It seems as if...the animals revolted against Pioneer 1," was the reply, courtesy of Elsine.

"Revolted?" Sigolfitz this time, "The reports I heard said they were peaceful."

"Something must have happened to trigger this reaction," Elsine thought aloud, "Someone, or a group of people, most likely did something to them."

"Did something?"

"Yes, as in treated them wrong or burned a section of the forest that 'pissed them off', so to speak. However, that would require rational thought...but it is a possibility, nonetheless."

Sigolfitz pondered the possibilities, but Elsine urged them to push on, pointing out if you want to live long, you do not want to be milling around a place where a lot of people had died before...it just wasn't a wise thing to do.

Minutes had passed as they pressed on. The piles of corpses continued along the path away from the clearing as well, yet these piles were smaller in size and fewer in number.

A few security doors later and Elsine halted them, and for good reason. She explained that the door ahead appeared to be jammed, and that the control panel used to activate the unlocking mechanism had been shattered. She speculated that the reason may be due to several things, the top two being that it, like the other doors, had suffered damage from the obvious presence of battles not too long ago, and the other cause being that someone or something destroyed it to impede progress of anyone who might be passing through the area, namely Teams from Pioneer 2.

"Luckily," Elsine said, "we have with us today a very experienced security technician. Jill, if you would have the honors..."

Jill nodded, "Immediately, Miss Elsine."

The ranger softly set her rifle to the ground, then opened her pack and searched its contents. In little time at all she fished out a small black case that was about the size of a toolbox. She walked over to the door, set the toolbox on the ground, and opened it, letting the lid fall gently back.

"This won't take but a moment," she said as she pulling out various soldering tools and an ESD, Electromagnetic Sensory Display.

Within the time span of a few minutes the door budged ever slightly, creating a crack between the two sides of the metal slabs. Elsine nodded to Jill.

"That will work just fine, Jill. Thank you."

Jill nodded back, replaced the tools into the toolbox, and placed the closed toolbox back into her pack. She then retrieved her rifle.

Elsine confirmed that everyone was prepared, then slid the Defaulted door apart with little resistance from the door itself.

On the other side were animals of the forest, beasts of various shapes and sizes. The animals turned to the disturbers and advanced, the cold look of emptiness and hunger contorting their faces. They shuffled forward, with no noise, no spark of the life of nature or the thriving of the forest. Only contorted faces of hunger.

Elsine, acknowledging the threat, took immediate command.

"These are not normal animals. They are our enemies. Treat them as such."

The members of the Rookie Team activated their photon weapons. For Fenron, a trusty saber. Jill wielded her rifle, checking to make sure it had been loaded properly, and Sigolfitz had his cane. Elsine herself carried a vast armament, a FOmarl with her own personal arsenal.

"The Central Dome is but less than ten minutes away from here," Elsine continued, "We won't know what will be waiting for us until we get there. Know now that despite the numbers here, the enemies will only become greater and greater in numbers as we get deeper down and closer to Pioneer 1's crew."

The animals edged nearer, shuffling their feet. Some had blood in their abnormally large claws as well as their glowing eyes, signifying the endless thirst born into them from the pits of Hell.

What had changed them this way?

Elsine raised a weapon resembling a purple photon saber into the air.

"On my command..."

The rookies held their weapons at the ready. Jill cocked the rifle and aimed right for one of the beasts's head.

"Attack!"

A photon slug whizzed by, catching the creature square between the eyes, lodging in its skull. Jill checked her scope, stepping to the side in order to catch a second one lumbering towards her. It fell straight forward, gurgling blood from its open jaws.

Fenron charged into the fray, striking at whatever came his way. The animals attempted to slash him with their massive spikes for claws, yet he easily dodged them. They moved too slow to connect. As the creatures began to surround Fenron, Sigolfitz let out a number of fireballs, low enough level to allow him to quickly cast several, yet it proved enough to take out one or two.

Elsine followed up, casting Zonde on the enemies that were further away, then charging the ones who wandered closer with her buster. One became caught on the blade, and she tried to shake it off. Noticing another one closing in, she kicked the dying one as hard as she could, knocking it into the second one. A lightning bolt crashed through enemy's body, halting its struggle to get back to its feet.

The more beasts the Team defeated, the more they could see coming in from deeper within the forest. Elsine let them fight their fight, all the while urging them onward. The Central Dome might be able to provide some sort of refuge, but she doubted it. After all, all forms of communications with Pioneer 1 had seized after the "incident". Fortunately for herself, she was one of the few who knew the reason Pioneer 2 was still hovering outside Ragol's atmosphere. She thought it best to head there, because it was there that they could start finding answers.

Deep down she really knew that once they got to the Central Dome, there would only be more questions, the answers to which were who knows where.