Chapter 8 – A Walk Through Hell
Noah slammed the hatch, went down the ladder and turned around, breathing heavily. The adrenaline from the battle was still rushing through his blood, the sweat was dripping off of him like a river, and only now, after being exposed to the coldness of the cellar, did he realize how hot his body had gotten.
The white-blue light was flickering on and off overhead. On the dusty stone floor, among the watter barrels and shelves that were loaded with C.R.A.T.E.s containing weaponry, ammunition, equipment and provisions, were sitting the survivors. Several of them had their faces buried in their arms, others were leaning back against the wall, exhausted after the battle. Besides Maison's sobbing, everyone was dead silent. Noah could hear the blood rushing through his own heart and brain, which were pulsating at a savage velocity.
"What are you doing? Calan hasn't made it yet! Open the hatch!" – one of the Agents shouted.
Noah opened his mouth, but he couldn't find anything to say. How was he gonna break it to them that their fearless leader had given his life to save them? But, the others gathered from his silence that Calan wasn't coming. So, Noah closed his mouth and silently went over to sit next to Alice, Cindy, Maison and Fix.
He looked around at the surviving Agents and did a head count. Not a lot of them survived – there were around 80 Agents on the base yesterday, and now there were barely thirty of them. Most of the guys Noah was friends with were absent – Jackson fell over the wall, Infantino's turret blew up. Morrison was missing as well, but Noah didn't see how it happened. He saw Fortier leaning back against the wall in the corner. Doyle was sitting on the floor. Alvarez was around the water barrels, and Thompson was checking the stocked shelves. That Plumber kid wasn't here, though. Noah looked around the room for Helzinger. He was absent as well. And, of course, Captain Calan. But hey, Noah felt he was lucky enough to still have Alice and Cindy and Doyle. He looked at Alice. Her face was blank, but he knew she was trying to keep it all together. Cindy was pale, but she looked determined, and Doyle's facial expression was impossible to tell. What could he be feeling right now? Denial? Anger? Shame? Guilt?
Finally, Noah decided to get up. "So." - he addressed the entire group. "What do we do now?"
Some of the agents turned their heads toward him, but nobody said anything. Noah looked at Doyle, but he kept his head low.
Eventually, Alice broke the silence.
"We got attacked by Fusionflies." She tried to sound collected and smart, but she knew there was a crack in her own voice that meant she was moments away from starting to sob herself. "Their usual habitat is Huntor's Crest, occasionally Dark Glade, but never in the Fireswamps. They can't survive in this heat. They'll have to clear out eventually, move back where they came from. And that's when we can move out."
"By then the Fusions will tear the entire damn camp down to the ground! We should reorganize, regroup and move out now, while there's still an outpost to protect!" – one of the Agents, Agent Valdez protested.
"Well, obviously, we can't get out now, while the Stone Drakes are on a rampage. We would all die a very gruesome and painful death, just like everyone else who didn't make it to the cellar. Even you can get it, can't you?" – Fix told him condescendingly.
"Um… thank you, Fix. Now, we need to decide wh-" – Cindy started, but she was cut off by a guy wearing only a sweatshirt, with burns over his shoulders and right arm.
"I think we killed all of them Drakes already. It's the Lizard Kings that are running around up there right now."
"Can you let me finish? As I was saying, we can NOT get out while the monsters are still out there."
"But-" – the Agent from before started again, but Cindy stopped him.
"Do you want Calan's death to be in vain?" – Cindy asked with her arms crossed. After that nobody objected to staying inside.
Alice raised her eyebrows and muttered to herself with a smile - "Well, if she put it that way…"
"Finally. Now, we need to decide what course of action do we take when we get out. We can't just sit around a destroyed camp."
"Okay, fine, we do stay inside." – Agent Valdez responded. "Say, in a few hours we get out. We got no turrets. No towers. No place to sleep, and no comms dish to contact HQ, or any reinforcements whatsoever. NOT EVEN A GODDAMN WALL AROUND THE CAMP! WHAT THE HELL WOULD WE POSSIBLY DO OUT THERE ANYWAY?"
"We need to send someone to one of the other bases, use their comms to send a message to HQ and tell them to send reinforcements, supplies, building materials" – Agent Thompson suggested.
"Nope. We can't possibly wait for Knight to send all that. Providence has been struggling to make ends meet recently, and no way can they afford to rebuild a whole-ass outpost. Not immediately, at least. The best we're gonna get is an evac." – Agent Alvarez responded.
"Well, no point in that then." – someone said, but it wasn't a providence Agent, but rather, a Dexlabs Academy recruit. "We can just get to the airship in Forsaken Valley and start moving out on the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.S. probably before Providence even dispatches the jets.
Alice looked at Noah and Cindy for a second for reassurance, then stepped into the center of the room.
"That's not possible either. Something… might have happened to the Mandark airship. I got a message from someone at Forsaken – the ship has disappeared. We've got no way of knowing if it'll be there if we go south. Better not risk taking the entire group there if it's gonna be for nothing, right?"
This news was a shocker for almost everyone.
"We… We should head for Huntor's Crest instead, then." – one of the more experienced Agents, Agent Riordian suggested.
"Oh, what, the SACT?" – Agent Bullock stepped forward. "Who's to say that their camp hasn't been decimated already, just like ours?"
"Excuse me?" – one of the SACT Agents present asked. "At least WE know how to handle a bunch of Fusionflies."
"Alright, alright, we don't have to start an… uh… inter-organizational incident. No need to escalate anything." – Thompson intervened.
"Valdez is right. We can't know for sure if we can even make it to Huntor's Crest." – the guy with the sweatshirt, Jon Winthrop, said. "I mean, look at me! Look at Danvers! Rodriguez! Zebedee is missing her whole arm, for god's sake! How can we survive going through this damn inferno when some of us can't even walk?"
"Listen, Winthrop, then the only alternative is going down to the Forsaken Valley beach, throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean, and hoping it reaches the Kumari Kandam in time. Till then, we can just sit around on the beach and wait, because unlike the SACT outpost, we have actual proof that Mandark's airship is out of commision. Now, you're welcome to go do exactly that, but the rest of us are trying to survive here, so either stop yapping or come up with a good alternative!" – Cindy snapped. Winthrop looked at her angrily, but said nothing.
"Okay, okay, let's all suppose we're going towards Huntor's. There's gonna be another problem with that." – Agent Seren started talking. "Supplies."
"What are you talking about? The camp had enough food to feed eighty people for another three days. And considering we're already half of that, we won't have to-"
"No, not food. Water. Has anyone checked how much water we've got?"
Everyone looked at each other – nobody had thought of that before. Alvarez and Seren started checking the water barrels. Turns out, they only had four and a half barrels worth of water.
"Only four barrels? That's barely gonna last everyone a day!" – Agent Bullock exclaimed.
"We'll come up with…" – Agent Riordian tried suggesting something, but she stopped when she noticed one of the newer recruits, Agent Esteban, hyperventilating. He clearly wasn't taking the situation well.
"We're running out of water?" – he asked, at this point panicking. Esteban rushed towards the water barrels, but Seren stopped him. He kept trying to struggle out of Seren's grip and get to the water barrels, so Agent Rivera had to knock him out by hitting him in the back of his head with the butt of his Atlantis Shattergun.
Alvarez sighed. "This is worse than the EVO battles in Brazil." – he said to himself.
Everyone was dead quiet while Rivera dragged Esteban's unconscious body to the corner, near Fortier. Even Maison had stopped sobbing by now.
"So, if we were to go south, we'd cross the river and the water wouldn't be a problem there." – Winthrop continued his shit. "We could fill all the barrels, hell, just follow along the river, no problem."
"For the love of… Jon, I know you just lost Peggy, and it must be hard for you, but please just shut the hell up, for once! You're not the only one who's lost someone or suffering! It's hard for all of us!" – Alice yelled at him, to everyone's surprise. Noah looked around and just now realized that Peggy Danger also wasn't with them in the cellar. "There is no backup, no cover, no nothing in that godforsaken… well, Valley, so can you listen to reason and let us come up with something else?" – she added.
"Can someone decide on what are we gonna do already?" – another rookie, Agent Trapezanidis whined.
"Alright, I've heard enough." – one of the Academy recruits, who were all almost huddled together, discussing their situation in private, stood up. "None of you have any idea what to do. I got a scooter; I'm getting out of here by myself." – he headed towards the exit. "You guys can either come with me or stay with these goons." – he told his mates.
"Dax, don't act like an idiot! Get back here! We told you that it's not a good idea!" – a girl, also an Academy recruit, tried to stop him.
"She's right. You're not opening that hatch." – Doyle, who was silent this entire time, finally said something. He slowly got up, blocked Dax's exit and added "That's all the opening the monsters are gonna need to start pouring in in here as well."
"I don't care what you say. I'm not staying here any longer than I have to!" – Dax yelled.
"Goddammit, Dax, you're embarrassing me in front of Providence!" – the Academy girl behind him groaned through her teeth.
"Really, kid? You're gonna pick a fight here and now, of all places?" – Doyle chuckled.
Dax looked at Doyle, around the room full of armed Providence Agents, saw Esteban, still unconscious in the corner and that was enough to change his mind. He decided to sit back down. No one else said anything for a moment.
"Does anyone else have any form of vehicle?" – Noah asked suddenly. A couple Academy recruits raised their hands, including Dax and the girl that told him to stay quiet.
"Okay, one of you can go from here to the source of the river while we head north. It's not too far. Take a barrel and fill it with water, then catch up to us on the way to Huntor's."
"Hey, I could-" – Dax started, but his friend stepped on his foot to shut him up.
"I'll do it! I'll go!" – one of the Academy recruits volunteered enthusiastically.
"Right, and you are…?" – Noah asked.
"Julia. But you guys can call me Julie if you want." – she responded, still with excitement in her voice.
"You do understand, Julie, that you're volunteering to go alone, through the Fireswamps, with a possible horde of monsters still around?" – Agent Bullock asked her.
"Well someone's got to do it, right?" – Julie shrugged. "Don't worry, I know my way around the Fireswamps, I can catch up to you guys, no problem." – she added.
"I think it's settled then. I know it's not the perfect solution, but we're gonna have to head towards Huntor's. And, well, if the outpost there is destroyed like ours, we're gonna have to keep moving deeper inland towards the Precipice. Meanwhile, Julie here is gonna fill up another barrel of water for us and then catch up." – Cindy said. "Any more objections? Are we all settled on this?"
Most people said "yeah" or nodded, Winthrop groaned in reluctant approval, Valdez didn't protest. Immediately the tensity of the room was lifted ever so slightly, now that they had a coherent plan of what they were gonna do. Noah saw Fortier mumble something to himself, probably along the lines of "we're all gonna die either way, so there's no point in choosing" or something like that. He didn't seem too happy with the unconscious rookie lying at his feet. Although, when was he ever happy? – Noah asked himself. At this point, he would be surprised if Fortier smiled for once.
"While we're waiting for the monsters to clear out, we should do an inventory check on the supplies. Food. Gear. Firepower. Vehicles. We need to decide how much we can carry. What we're taking with, what we're leaving behind. And a roll call would probably be useful as well." – Agent Thompson suggested. Everyone who wasn't injured or exhausted got to work – Noah, Cindy, Alice, Fortier, Valdez, Thompson, the guests from SACT, the Dexlabs Academy recruits… Others went to sleep to save their strength – most of them hadn't gotten any the night before. Before Doyle joined to help, he talked to the Academy girl that was with Dax.
"Hey, listen…" – he began.
"It's Meena. Meena Minax." – she answered.
"Right. Meena. This Dax guy's with you, right?"
"Oh god, I just knew he was gonna act like a bag of dicks. I'm so sorry for what he was…" – Meena tried apologizing, but Doyle stopped her.
"No, it's nothing like that. I'm not mad at him. Trust me, I know his type all too well, and honestly, I'm not the one to judge. Now, I'd say there's a high probability that as soon as we get out of the hatch, he's gonna take off on his own on his scooter anyway, as fast he can."
"Yeah, I suppose that would be a typical Dax thing to do." – Meena nodded.
"I want you to get your hoverboard or whatever vehicle you have and go with him. He obviously won't do as told, but I think I can trust you to give a message to the Huntor's Crest outpost about us. You know, to expect that we're coming, maybe even send some help if they can spare it. You two can watch over each other on the way. Oh, and there's gonna be 500 Taros in it for you, too."
"Sure. Well, you don't have to pay me to deliver a message. But, just between us though, I really do need to get paid for babysitting Dax all the time." – Meena smirked.
"Can't be an easy job" – Doyle muttered and went to help with the inventory check.
Naver was bending over in front of a rock. He was trying to strain his mind as hard as he could to try and do the same thing that he did earlier to stop the tree from falling. He concentrated and strained and even though his headache was gone by now, it would probably come back if he kept this up. The rock started shaking, as if several forces were applied to it from different directions that all cancelled each other out. It clearly wasn't working, though, so he stopped and took a breather.
"Maybe I'm doing this wrong. How did I do it when…" – he looked at Lars' NanoCom, which he was now wearing on his wrist again. The only thing from Lars that he kept, which he was wearing as a keepsake. He remembered that instead of straining his mind as hard as possible, he was hyper-focused, the streams of thought in his mind were flowing freely and smoothly towards one goal – stop the tree from falling down. As soon as the Triceraclaw rammed the tree, it directly hit Naver's focused thoughts and disturbed them, turning them turbulent. That's why his mental "grip" on the tree broke and it fell down.
"Okay, let's try this one more time."
Naver looked at the stone again. This time, his mind was flowing freely, but still focused on the stone. It almost worked – it didn't exactly float up, but dragged along the ground, and then rolled over. This was nowhere good enough, but it was certainly a start. Even though Lars wasn't around anymore, Naver was sure that he would have wanted Naver to unlock the full potential of this new power, just like he was trying to reawaken his sword mastery.
The heat. Walking in an endless inferno, ignoring the hunger, the thirst, the pains, the exhaustion. The injuries. The sweat, dripping down in streams. The hours of walking, of putting one leg in front of the other, carrying a heavy load, constantly moving forward. Each step heavier than the last, each breath drier than before. The desperation and fear, bordering madness. The anxiety in an open space, anticipation of another attack, of more pain and death. The heat from the sun, the heat from the fire, the heat exerting from their own depleted bodies. And yet, this unit of survivors kept moving forward. One step at a time. Slowly, but steadily, they kept and kept moving forward, but only time could tell if their resolve would last.
Cindy was supporting Agent Trapezanidis, who was not able to properly walk on his own due to his injury from the battle. Jon Winthrop and Agent Danvers were behind them, along with the now one-armed Agent Zebedee. Agent Rodriguez was laying on someone's hoverboard as a makeshift stretcher, accompanied by Maison. Ahead of injured were the Agents carrying, or rather, rolling along the ground, three barrels of water, plus two more carried on another hoverboard. Noah, Doyle and Fortier were among them. The ones that weren't pushing the barrels were carrying heavy sacks with supplies and gear. The procession was helmed by armed Agents on the lookout for any incoming monsters. More guards were tailing them in the case of a rear attack.
Agent Rodriguez finally came to for the first time after the battle. With a groan he tried to sit up, but wasn't strong enough to support himself.
"Don't move" – Maison told him.
"How bad is it, doc?" – he asked her.
"I… It's not looking good. Severe blood loss. Burns. And, well, the bites… I tried to do all I could but…" – Maison answered, with something heavy weighing down her voice.
"It's okay. That's enough." – Rodriguez said as he tried to get off the hoverboard. Maison promptly stopped him.
"The hell you doing, Rod?" – Cindy, who was walking behind them, asked.
"You guys are gonna have to leave me. Look at me, I'm barely even alive. I don't think we're gonna reach…" – Rodriguez looked around. "We're going north, right? I don't think I'm gonna make it till we reach Huntor's. Just leave me now, you've done more than enough already. Use this board to carry someone else, or send a scout out, anything. Just don't waste it on my ass."
"No way we're gonna allow that." – Zebedee intervened. "We will NOT leave a man behind. Not today. Not ever. Come on, Rodriguez, you will make it. We all will."
"Are you serious right now, Zebedee? Look at me. I'm a dead weight on you all. I can't move for myself, I am taking up a valuable hoverboard, my ass has to be dragged around to be saved in a fight. Don't give me that "leave no man behind" crap, you don't waste your strength on me. At least it will be nice dying here… knowing you guys will make it okay…" – Rodriguez told her.
"Not gonna happen." – Zebedee responded firmly. Rodriguez groaned. After that, everyone walked silently for a time.
"Hey, May…" – Cindy started. She was thirsty, but she still had to talk to Maison.
Maison didn't respond.
"Come on, talk to me. You don't have to shut yourself out, you know?" – Cindy kept going.
Maison sighed. After a while, she reluctantly started talking.
"What's even the point of all this anymore? I keep trying to heal people, save people, just like I did in Hero's Hollow for months on end, only to see them all die in front of me. Couldn't save any of them. I…" – she sobbed. "I thought I should try to keep going no matter what, that I could honor those people's memories by trying to save others, constantly saving others, but now I'm seeing them die even quicker and quicker. In front of me, all around me, even as I am holding them in my own two hands. Look at Rodriguez here, for example. He needs to get out of this heat in the next couple hours or else he won't make it either. But his wounds are gonna open up if we try to go quicker. So what's even the point?"
"That's why I keep saying, leave me here!" – Rordiguez said.
"Quiet, you. That's not gonna happen." – Cindy shushed him. "Maison. I know you blame yourself. We all do. I blame myself for collapsing yesterday before the battle even began. I keep telling myself, if only I had stayed conscious, I probably could have done so much more…" – Cindy told her.
"Seconded" – agent Danvers said from behind them. "I got hit with a fireball and knocked out right in the beginning of the first battle, almost missed the second one, and then Calan had to distract the monsters so that my ass could safely make it to the cellar. I barely even got to help out at all. And I'm the one still here, and what remains of Calan is… is…" – Danvers couldn't finish the sentence.
"Survivor's guilt runs through all of us." – Jon Winthrop joined the conversation. "It can drive anyone mad."
"I know, I know, but…" – Maison was about to speak, but someone yelled "MONSTERS!". Several Lizard Queens were approaching from the left flank, heading towards the group of the injured. Zebedee shot at them with her Particle Rifle in her only remaining arm, Danvers tried blasting with a Super Scope Dragon but the recoil was hurting her still freshly burned skin. Noah and the others quickly joined in and even though they made short work of the Lizard Queens, the attack was another reminder that safety was not a luxury they would receive for a long, long time.
"You guys okay back here?" – Noah asked.
"If you consider this okay" – Zebedee said sarcastically as she shook the bandaged end of her amputated arm.
"Well, uh… I'll be around, if you ever need me to, dare I say it…?"
"Dare you... What?" – Zebedee asked, but Cindy immediately realized what was Noah about to say.
"Lend a hand?" – Noah asked with the stupidest grin on his face. "Okay, I know, I know, that was terrible."
Zebedee laughed. Reluctantly. "You did not just…" – she laughed again. "Okay, I'm angrier at myself for laughing at it."
Even Maison chuckled quietly.
"You're gonna have to expect more jokes of that caliber of that from now on. Not from me, god forbid, but from all around. You guys take care. Get well soon, Rodriguez." – Noah said as he left to roll his barrel.
"Look at Noah here, for example. Remember when it was his first mission here and he jumped off the roof of that moving assault vehicle to stop a huge pack of Magma Hulks from chasing it?"
"How could I ever forget? I was on the second one, watching. Noah killed all of the Hulks, but the assault vehicle crashed anyway." – Maison laughed. "Both of them did."
"Probably shouldn't have let Bobo drive. But don't you remember how banged up Noah was after that fight? He was worse than Rodriguez is now. If you hadn't been there, he wouldn't be with us, making, uh… corny dad jokes." – Cindy told her.
Maison smiled. "You're right, but, come on. Back then we had an outpost that wasn't in shambles and I had my medical supplies that weren't ruined."
"And yet everyone still thought he wasn't gonna make it. Even Calan gave up on him, for god's sake. You were the only one that kept trying, weren't you? You made a miracle happen. All I'm asking you to do now is to not stop trying."
"Yeah, you're probably right." – Maison said after a bit of consideration. "Come on, Rodriguez, I'm gonna carry you to Huntor's Crest myself if I have to!" – she told Rodriguez, who muttered "It's not worth it", but nobody heard him.
"Now that's what I like to hear!" – Cindy told Maison.
"Why the hell did I have to pick on three at the same time?" – Shala asked himself as he was running away from a pack of Frilled Fiends spitting Fusion Matter everywhere. "Come on, come on, recharge!" – he was mumbling to his Nano Humungosaur. "Alright, he's ready!" – the Nano's ability was fully charged and he sent him to snare them. While the Frilled Fiends were impeded and all grouped together, Shala changed his Nano to Nano Val Hallen, who sent a lightning blast with his mighty axe that hit all three of them. Now that their strength was draining, Shala shot at them, one by one, but barely noticed the Fusion Matter gathering on the ground under him in time. He made an awkward last-second jump to the side as the ground erupted with Fusion Matter, but he didn't stick the landing and fell down. The two remaining monsters approached from each side, so Shala rolled on the ground right under one of them and shot at its unprotected lower side of the jaw. The Chill Caster froze the head from the inside and one uppercut from Shala as he was getting up was enough to shatter it. The monster started dissolving, but the punch hurt, though. Only one Frilled Fiend remained, which lunged at him, but Shala had already quickly picked up one of the metal scraps that was left from the dissolved monster. He threw it, right into the Frilled Fiend's jaw. This was enough of a distraction to get rid of the remaining monster swiftly and it, too, started dissolving into Fusion Matter.
"Whew. Mental note – do NOT piss off a pack of dinosaurs in the jungle. But, I guess it was obvious. Now, a C.R.A.T.E., a C.R.A.T.E, all I need is a C.R.A.T.E. One of them has to have swallowed one at some point."
The Frilled Fiend that Shala just defeated did not drop one.
"Come on, one of you has got to have one. I'm 87% sure that the Frilled Fiends that raided the weapons storage facility a couple months back still have some of the stolen C.R.A.T.E.s…"
He went to check the one from earlier, but still no luck.
"Dammit! I need a new weapon! I don't have my sword anymore and the Chill Caster won't cut it in the Fireswamps!"
He went to the remains of the third monster. Among the metal sheets, there it was – a gray cube, which might not look like anything special to someone else, but Shala has been looking for one for hours. Eleven monsters later, he finally had it. He pressed the button on top and the C.R.A.T.E. folded outwards and expanded into a weapon – a Heatblaster. Shala stared at it blankly.
"A… a Heatblaster? A HEATBLASTER? WHAT GOOD IS A DAMN HEATBLASTER AGAINST MONSTERS WHO LIVE IN FIRE AND LAVA? FUCK! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE A HEATBLASTER? GODDAMMIT!"
He sighed. "Well… I'm not sticking around here anymore." Shala looked at the Heatblaster and the Chill Caster. "How ironic…" – he thought. "Let's hope two useless weapons maybe will make for one good one" – Shala told himself as he headed for the path that led under the giant ribcage and through the dinosaur skull, which was the official border between Dinosaur Pass and the Fireswamps.
The group was now taking a short break to rest and eat. The injured were huddled in the middle along with the supplies, with the others all around them. Some were relaxing, some were taking a nap, some were staying ever vigilant, but everyone was exhausted by now. They had already emptied one of the water barrels, which meant that there was less to carry, but the rate at which the provisions were running out was alarming, to say the least.
"So, uh… How about that Helzinger thing?" – Doyle asked while was sitting on a large charred boulder next to Alice, eating an apple. "How did he even wind up here?"
"I saw him during the battle. He was operating one of your wall defense turrets." – SACT Agent August Bock said, who was also there along with his partner Agent Kate Henshaw. "When the Fusionflies showed up, he jumped off the wall and ran outside the camp. Deserted."
"Poor guy, couldn't take the battle." – Alice said.
"How did it happen? Was it the Lizard Kings that got him?" – Agent Esteban, who was there with them, forcibly eating a piece of stale bread, asked.
"No, it was much worse than that. You didn't see his corpse, did you?" – Doyle said and gave out a long sigh. "Suicide. The poor bastard couldn't take it. Maybe it was the guilt for deserting, maybe it was the fear of being all alone in this monster infested hellscape. He could have realized he didn't have any water. Or maybe he just went nuts in the end, I don't know. But one thing is for sure – he was holding his B-99 Hornet, pointed to his head, when Rivera found him."
"I wish the others didn't have to crowd around him when they found him on the side of the road." – Alice said.
"Well, they wanted to pay their respects. Deserter or not, he was still Providence. One of us." – Doyle responded.
"Yeah, but it was too much attention. Like when Maison saw him. Cindy told me that she's doing all she can to keep May motivated but you could tell she didn't take seeing Helzinger's body lightly. She already has other things to worry about that need her attention, like Rodriguez."
"You know, if I had been in Helzinger's position, I would have probably done the same." – Esteban said. "I just… have this thing with flies. If I had had a hovercar or something…"
"Yeah, that'd be the smartest thing to do in that situation, honestly. We were all retreating. Helzinger did the same, only in the opposite direction. The outside of the wall was probably a better bet than the inside at that time. And if he had had a vehicle, he'd be at Huntor's by now, right?" – Alice asked.
"Oh, for sure. Even Dax and Meena would have reached the base by now." – Doyle answered and took one last bite of his apple.
"You think the Huntor's Crest people are gonna send a team to get us? – Agent Esteban asked.
"Whey bether" – Doyle said with a full mouth, then swallowed. "We've dealt with the SACT before, they may not agree with Providence on everything but-"
"That's an understatement of the year" – SACT Agent Bock interrupted.
Doyle side-eyed him. "-they're not gonna leave us stranded out here. Not unless… their camp has been destroyed as well."
"You think there's a possibility of that?" – the other SACT Agent, Kate, asked.
"Definitely." – Alice said. "I- I- I mean, there is a risk of that. Suddenly, the airship is gone, next thing we know, we're being raided. That was a simple tactic for Fuse – kill the comms and it'll be easy to leave us all stranded with no chance of help or backup, then pick us off one by one."
"Hey, NIXON! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" – Doyle yelled at Noah, who was standing at the edge of the "camp", looking out for threats.
"I'M ON GUARD DUTY!" – Noah yelled back.
"ALVAREZ AND SEREN GOT THAT SIDE COVERED, YOU CAN SIT DOWN WITH US!" – Doyle yelled louder, which made Alice, Esteban and the two SACT Agents uncomfortable. Alice grimaced, Esteban covered his ears and Agent Bock shook his head.
Reluctantly, Noah went to them. "Noah Nixon" – he introduced himself to the two SACT Agents.
"Hi, I'm Kate." – she said while shaking Noah's hand.
"Bock." – the other one said dryly.
"So. Nixon. What do you think, will we find the SACT camp in ruins?"
"Nah, it will still be there. The fact that the comms are down means that not only can't we communicate with each other, but with the mainland as well. All Fuse has to do is keep it that way, maybe distract the HQs of our respective ops, just make sure they can't send us supplies. Or evac, for that matter. He'll just choke us out, maybe even have us run out of ammunition before we die of hunger. Hell, if I were him, I'd specifically let this team" – Noah circled all the survivors around them with his hand– "into the SACT outpost. Make them run out of supplies faster."
Esteban gulped. Doyle nodded, impressed.
"That's… Wish that wasn't accurate. But it probably is." – Alice said. "Which is why as soon as we get to safety, we need to start working on getting the comms back online."
"True. We need to send someone down to Forsaken and check out the wreckage from the airship. Maybe some stuff might still be salvageable." – Doyle said.
"Wreckage? I thought we weren't even sure what happened to it?" – Agent Bock asked.
"Well, I don't even want to entertain the possibility that it just randomly departed and flew away towards the mainland, leaving us all here." – Doyle answered. "I don't think anyone would operate like that."
Alice looked at Doyle, then at the SACT Agents, suspicious that Doyle was insinuating something, but she couldn't see the Agents' expressions clearly, as they were both wearing sunglasses.
"If the ship is neither at Forsaken nor heading towards the mainland, that can only mean one thing. It relocated somewhere else in the Darklands, and their Captain is probably reluctant to reveal themselves in case of another attack." – Noah said before the situation could be escalated.
"Then there's the matter of finding it. The best place to start would still be Forsaken, maybe there are clues that will tell us where to look next." – Agent Kate said.
"We should probably find that guy that sent you the transmission in the first place" – Noah added. Alice nodded – Shala was still missing, probably all alone in the dinosaur-infested jungle.
"And after we get to our outpost we should also send people over to the Precipice to see if the Plumbers are doing okay. In situations like this, constant contact is the most important thing to preserve order." – Agent Kate continued.
Everyone agreed with that, so none of them really had anything to say for a while.
"So, Esteban" – Alice tried breaking the silence. "I haven't seen you around the outpost before. You new?"
"Yeah, just got transferred last week. They didn't even dispatch me here with a jet, just got me a ticket on a 6 AM. S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Then I had to find my own way here from the airship. Luckily, this one Plumber dude was heading this way too, so he showed me around. I think he told me his name was Donnie." Alice bit her lip in guilt when she heard that name. Esteban didn't notice and kept talking. "I wanna say, I sort of had a vague idea of what I was signing up for when I joined Providence, but thinking "saving the world" and actually being there to do it are two completely different things. Plus, this place is a whole lot more dangerous than Townsville, so it took some getting used to."
Noah's ears burned. "You were stationed in Townsville?" – he asked Esteban.
"Yeah, we've got a base in the-"
"In Townsville Park, yeah. How are Rex and Six? They're still over there, right?"
"Oh yeah, I was with them. Agent Six is pretty hardcore, but Rex is a cool dude. From what I saw, he was having the time of his life. I remember him saying that EVOs were exclusively Providence's business, but now with the Fusion invasion he gets to team up with other heroes regularly. I've seen them do work together, Rex, Ben Ten and one of the Powerpuff Girls, uh… the blue one – they took down a Rage Roadkiller without even breaking a sweat."
Noah smiled and remembered his and Rex's adventures together. The ping pong tournament. The movie set. The road trip across the desert. And, of course, the double dates with Annie and… Claire. How well he remembered those. Good times.
"Hey, dude, you okay?"
Naver had been following along the weird the weird force-field like structure that he saw from afar, assuming this was the "Infected Zone" Lars had mentioned. He was looking for anything resembling a camp or settlement. He wasn't out of the jungle yet, but at least being among people again would be nice. He was exhausted from all the running, though. He had just seen what looked like a couple of tents, an RV and a weird platform and rushed over there to see if it was the outpost he was looking for.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Tired though. You won't believe what I went through."
"Well, whatever it was, you're safe now." – the girl wearing sunglasses told him. "I'm Amara Jones. These are John Boyd and Jessica Cahill." – she introduced herself and the others.
"So… I assume you guys are the SACT, then?" – Naver asked them. Finally, he wasn't alone anymore.
Step by step, they were closer to getting to the mountain pass that would lead them into Huntor's. The Firepits were not far from here, either. However, each step forward meant each step closer to new breeds of more dangerous and vile monsters than ever before. So, ever vigilant, ever alert, and still yet, ever depleted, the Agents soldiered on.
"This is hell." – Agent Bullock, one of the rear guards, declared. "I'm convinced. We're all dead and this is our hell."
"Bullock, could you do me a favor and open your mouth when you're NOT complaining for once?" – Agent Seren, who was tired of Bullock's whining, asked him. "Everyone else is keeping it to themselves. Look at Rivera, he hasn't said a word all day!"
"Look around you, Seren, we're in a flaming inferno surrounded by demons! Is this not hell to you?"
"I don't know about the inferno or the demons, but having to listen to you all day certainly is hell enough for me." – Alvarez cracked, and everyone chuckled.
"Hey, at least you're not on barrel duty. Or worse…" – Agent Thompson said and looked over to the group of the injured slightly ahead of them, with Rodriguez on a hoverboard.
"No, I am not. I am, however, next in line for that during the next attack because these goddamn lizards won't stop raiding us!" – Bullock exclaimed and shot at a nearby rock in frustration.
"Speaking of raiding us, guys, there's another attack. We've got at least twenty incoming on our eight" – Astrid Aquajack, monitoring the area with her Nano Hi-Five Ghost's Radar ability, warned the others. "And there's something else too…" – she added, but the Agents were already drawing their weapons, expecting the monsters. Agent Valdez yelled and called others for backup.
"Guys!" – Astrid yelled, but everyone was already in heated battle with the Lizard Kings. So, Astrid ran forward – to the group of the injured and barrels of water, which were barely guarded now as everyone was fighting the Lizard Kings. Soon, there it was – a massive Tar Titan, attacking the injured while everyone was distracted with the Lizards. It immediately started spitting venom at the Agents, some of who were barely able to stand, much less dodge. Some of it hit Jon Winthrop, who couldn't dodge because of his bad limp. Cindy, Zebedee, Noah, Astrid and Danvers kept shooting at it while Maison tried to get Rodriguez away, then she joined the battle after he was a safe distance away. The Tar Titan took another spit – this time it hit Danvers before she could move. Astrid summoned Nano Muscle Man, who took off his tiny shirt and started flailing it around. The power of Muscle Man's pecs stunned the monster. The others, after having defeated the Lizard Kings, hurried over to help fight against the Tar Titan and it quickly dissolved into green goop, but as it soon turned out, Agent Rodriguez and Agent Danvers were not the only ones hit. Two of the barrels were destroyed during the battle, with the water spilling out everywhere. Now they had barely enough for a day. This revelation ran over everyone, rather ironically, just like a cold bucket of water.
After tending to Jon, Maison healed Agent Danvers from the Fusion Matter burns with her Nano Cheese. Danvers was frustrated that she was the one that always had to get healed, but she kept it to herself – she knew it wasn't a good time. Everyone was looking around, making sure that everybody was okay, but suddenly, everyone was disturbed by Maison's soul-shaking scream.
Rodriguez was laying on the ground, with his hoverboard floating near him. His body was still bleeding even though life had already left his eyes. It wasn't the Tar Titan's acid that had killed him. It wasn't his injuries from the previous battle, either. No, it was a B-99 Hornet he was still holding in his hands. The very same one that was the instrument of Helzinger's demise.
"Rodriguez, he…" – Zebedee muttered.
"He kept saying he was a burden…" – Danvers said.
"How could he have done this? Where did he even get that gun? I thought Maison took the one he had?" – Noah asked.
"No, it can't be…" – Maison herself muttered in denial. "No. No, no, no, no… no." – she kept saying over and over again.
"Remember when we found Helzinger? After we kept moving when we saw him, Maison needed a moment. Rodriguez was unattended and he used the moment to… well… get the gun." – Doyle said.
"This is so messed up. He… He wanted to make our burden lighter so hard that he… well…" – Trapezainidis muttered.
"Well, that definitely wasn't the right way to go about it. It definitely won't make it easier for Maison." – Jon Winthrop, now covered in bandages, pointed out. Everyone looked at Maison, who was devastated by another loss of a patient. Another lost cause. She didn't even notice dozens of eyes looking at her, staring with compassion, grief and support. All she could think about was finding Fix among the crowd.
Alice grimly said. "Agent Seren was killed fighting the Lizard Kings back there. Thought you guys should know."
"You really haven't been inside an Infected Zone, then?" – Amara asked. Naver shook his head. "Well, then there's a first time for everything. Come on, I'll show you around the ol' Dinosaur Graveyard, and you can help me collect the Fusion Matter pods. It was supposed to be Boyd's turn today" – she said as she looked at him, sitting on the RV's doorstep, "but he didn't take the news about Lars well. They were close."
"Again, I'm really really sorry about what ha-"
"Don't sweat it, bro, it happens to the best of us. There was nothing you could do. I'm thankful that at least you made it out alive to tell us about Lars and the airship – we've been wondering what was wrong with the comms. I was already thinking of packing up all this tech and driving back to base. Yeah, we should probably do that in any case, until things clear up at least."
Naver wanted to tell Amara that there really was something he could have done, and it was all his fault he died in the first place – but he chose to keep it to himself.
"Before we get into the Graveyard, though, are you sure Ridha's old gear fits you well?" – Amara asked about the SACT armor Naver was wearing now.
"It's cool and all, especially these shades, but are you guys sure it's okay?"
"Sure. Ridha won't really be needing it anymore, so why not put it to good use? Alright, now go on, grab your sword, we're warping into the IZ. Wait, hold on a minute, where you going?" – she asked as Naver headed towards the back of the RV.
"To get the jetbikes you showed me earlier. Isn't this Infected Zone really big?"
"It is, but you can't use the jetbikes in there. Fusion Matter has weird properties we still haven't fully researched, and a highly concentrated amount of it, coupled with the properties of the force field all around the IZ, can even defy gravity. We've got all sorts of weird objects flying around up and down, back and forth, and in every other direction in there. They make traversing the zone easier, but a hoverboard or a jetbike or any other vehicle that hovers off the ground is already defying gravity, floating above, so in an IZ it does really weird things to the already messed up gravity. Trust me, you're better off just using a Run Nano if you've got one." – Amara explained.
"But I don't have my own NanoCom! This is Lars', it won't work on me!" – Naver said, and to prove it, he randomly pressed one of the buttons. To both his and Amara's surprise, it worked – Nano Gumball appeared before them, yelling karate move noises.
"I… I thought these things were tied to person and wouldn't work on anyone else?" – Naver asked, confused. Amara nodded.
"That's how they're supposed to work, as far as I know. I don't know a lot about these, I don't have one of my own, but I've never seen anyone use someone else's NanoCom. Weird."
Naver pressed the other buttons, and Nano Numbuh Four showed up instead of Nano Gumball, then was replaced by Nano Eduardo.
"Those are Lars' Nanos alright. I was with him when he got the Numbuh Four one, it was right in here, in the Graveyard. Which reminds me, we've got pods to collect. Plus, Cahill dropped her lunch inside yesterday, and she said there's 50 Taros in it for whoever finds it."
"Dropped her lunch? But wouldn't it get all infected by now?"
Amara shrugged. "I'm not the one that's gonna eat it, and 50 Taros is 50 Taros. Come on, let's go."
The Fireswamps were almost behind them – the team looked ahead, soon to cross into the Firepits where they'd find the passage over the mountains, over to Huntor's. Even though they were almost out of the inferno, morale was at an all-time low. The deaths. The suicide. The loss of water – they only had half a barrel left, and they all knew it wasn't gonna last. Each step closer to Huntor's, and yet, misery was looming over every survivor.
"Hey, Cindy" – Alice asked as she limped forward. "Did you ever get close to finding Bobo yesterday?"
"Oh my god, I almost forgot about him, with all the stuff that's been happening…" – Cindy responded. "I discovered a cave entrance in the Infected Zone. I even got lost, and the comms got cut off while I was in there. Worst timing ever. From what I could make out, it was a complex cave system, I think it's been down there for ages but some of the smaller tunnels do look… strangely brand new."
"So, what happened next?" – Agent Valdez, who was with them, asked.
"I wondered around for a while, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Eventually I got a rough idea of the lay of the land. Like, I noticed that some of the passages lead towards the heart of the Inferno Fields, then there were a couple heading south, but most of them were a path towards the east. Towards Huntor's. I don't know how far they spread, though, before I got a chance to investigate in that direction or keep looking for Bobo, I found one tunnel that looked a lot more infected than the others."
"Of course. And where there's infection, a Fusion can't be far away." – Agent Trapezanidis concluded.
"Yeah, I snuck in and managed to get pretty close to Fusion Courage himself. I didn't get to see him, but I overheard what he was communicating with someone. Or maybe someone else was there with him. All I know is that they were discussing battle plans for the upcoming attack, and, well I knew I had to warn you guys. Unfortunately, I got spotted and chased down. Barely made it alive. But you guys know that already." – Cindy finished telling her story. "So, at least we got info on Fusion Courage's hideout, but Bobo is a no-go. Shame."
"Wait, you actually remember where it was?" – Valdez asked.
"Not completely accurately, but I do have a general idea. These caves really need to be explored further, maybe we'd even get some use out of them." – Cindy answered.
"Hell yeah!" – Valdez exclaimed. "After we survive this and get to Huntor's, we're gonna raid Fusion Courage's secret lair. See how he likes it! If nothing useful, we're at least gonna get revenge out of it. That's good enough for me. Alright! First thing after Huntor's. Now I'm glad I didn't choose to stick around in the destroyed camp."
"Oh, who are we kidding?" – Trapezanidis whined. "We're all dead, aren't we? The monsters keep raiding us, we lost Rodriguez, Seren and now Bullock, and we're running out of water. One half-full barrel left. If we even make it over to Huntor's Crest, how long do you think it's gonna take us to get to the SACT outpost over there?"
"I'm sure Julie will deliver us the extra water barrel in time, don't worry about that." – Alice told him.
"How can I not worry about that? You saw what the monsters can do, didn't you? What if they got Julie?"
"Well, I can't do anything about that, can I? It's entirely up to her. There are other things that we need to think about here and now before we venture into Huntor's Crest. I'm worried about the monsters over there. We're so used to fighting the Hulks, Lizards, Drakes, the others… Meanwhile over at Huntor's, there are the Fusionflies. Wooly Behemoths. Skull Bashers… Yeah, those are gonna be tough. The way they hunt is completely different from the ones here. I haven't studied them as much, and the Agents will need to devise new battle strategies before we face them in the wild, unprepared. Practically disarmed if we go in without knowing what we're doing." – Alice forgot Trapezanidis as she started talking to herself. She then started remembering and listing all the strengths and weaknesses, habits and behaviorisms that all of the monsters expressed, Fusion Matter types, attack patterns, area distribution and habitats. She even started looking through her research files in her NanoCom to double-check her facts about the monsters from the Crest. Alice only snapped out of it when she heard collective cheering all around her. Julie was back, and she had brought the water.
Everyone was beyond happy – not just because of the barrel full of water, but because of the hope Julie brought with it. They didn't even take a break to drink, with renewed energy they soon marched on towards the north-east. A simple event like that was enough to cheer everyone up. By now, the heat, hunger, pain, death, all of that felt like it happened days ago.
"Hey, Julia, you up for another job?" – Doyle asked her after the celebrations died down.
"Sure! Any way I can help!" – she answered enthusiastically.
"I'm gonna need you to get your hoverboard and head to the mountain pass towards Huntor's. We're gonna have to make sure that it's safe to cross before we go in, so you're gonna have to scout ahead for any monsters there. We'll catch up on foot."
"Yeah, sure, sounds easy enough."
"Usually I do the scouting, but, considering current circuimstances…" – he looked back over his shoulder at his broken jetpack.
"No problem. Well, Noah, Doyle, see ya guys." – Julie waved as she activated her hoverboard again and left ahead of the group. Everyone looked at her as she left. "It's okay, guys, she's not deserting, she's scouting for monsters" – Noah had to declare.
"So, why exactly are you keeping that piece of junk on, anyway?" – he then asked Doyle. "Isn't it heavy?"
"What, you mean this thing?" – Doyle slapped the side of his jetpack. "I'm used to it weighing down my back a little bit. In fact, I get uncomfortable when I'm without it. Kinda feel naked, you get what I mean?"
"Yeah, sure. So, any hope of fixing it? And any hope of letting me fly around a bit after you do?"
"Maybe, and HAH, not a chance. I can't do it myself, and Fix said propulsions aren't really his thing. I know a guy on the Precipice, this is right up his alley, but that's still too far away. So, my best bet is finding someone at Huntor's when we get there. Hopefully. Till then…" – Doyle sighed. "Guess I'm grounded."
"Well, learning to fight with your two feet on your ground like the rest of us mortals might do you some good, you know. Your head's always up in the clouds."
"And yours is up in your own ass. Don't think for a moment you can outclass me, I could take more Lizards down than you with one leg tied behind my back."
"The way you were shooting from the sentry tower back at the base? Don't make me laugh."
"Oh yeah, Nixon? Care to make it a bet?" – Doyle asked smugly.
Noah shook his fist, his blood boiling for another challenge. "You know what? What if I…" – but he stopped halfway through and mellowed out. "Actually, no. Now's not the time for this stuff. You know, considering all that's happened to the others…"
Doyle remembered the gravity of the situation. "Yeah. No. Totally. You're right. I probably shouldn't've…"
"Nah, drop it. I was the one who instigated you in the first place. It's all cool." Both were quiet for a second. Then, Noah started again "By the way…"
"No. You still can't have my jetpack." – Doyle cut him off. Noah rolled his eyes.
Soon, they saw Julie heading back.
"Bad news, guys! Bad news!" – she shouted before she got near to the survivors. "Very bad news. The entire mountain pass is filled to the brim with monsters. The entire path is blocked off! There's no passing through. I don't know exactly how many, but they are definitely stopping us from getting through." – Julia explained.
This development immediately washed away everyone's short-lived hope. As if all of the pain and misery they went through, carrying a heavy load of baggage through the hot, scorched landscape, Rodriguez', Seren's, Bullock's deaths, all of that was for nothing. They might have regained the hope momentarily, but now team morale plummeted even farther down than before, possibly even to rock bottom.
"Wait. We can't get to Huntor's now?" – Zebedee asked.
"Hold on, everyone, everyone, we need to think this through." – Thompson said.
"The hell are we gonna do now?" – Esteban asked uncertainly.
"We're not gonna let some more Spawns stop us, are we?" – Bullock exclaimed.
"Everyone, calm down. We need to make a rational decision on what to do. It's the same as before. Either we stay here, we keep going, or we turn back south." – Alvarez laid it out.
"You can't really suggest that we turn back after everything we went through to get here, right? All the people we sacrificed along the way?" – Fix asked him.
"Hold on, Alvarez might have a point. We're not unbeatable, facing those monsters now would be suicide. We'd have a better chance of finding the airship in Forsaken Valley." – Cindy said.
"Cindy, I told you, I got-" – Alice tried to say, but Cindy interrupted her.
"I know you got a message from your cousin. I've heard the message myself. It's full of static. So can you really be sure that we correctly interpreted what Shala was trying to say? Can you really tell me that you're 100% sure that the airship won't be there when we get there?"
"Well, I'm not totally sure. But is it really worth dragging us all the way back to the ruins of the camp, then even further down south through Dinosaur Pass to Forsaken Valley? None of us are gonna make it alive! The water's gonna run out, for one!"
"Yeah, well, the water's running out either way. So, we better make a decision. Quick." – Valdez intervened.
"Can we stay here overnight and wait for the monsters to clear out?" – Athena Meefrey, another Dexlabs Academy recruit suggested.
"No, we can't stay out in the open for an entire night." – Doyle answered.
"What about the Providence assault vehicle wrecks?" – Alvarez suggested. "The interior's supposed to be intact. And we can hold out there till the SACT sends their search party."
"That'd be worth checking out, but there's no way the two trucks would gonna accommodate 25-30 people. Half of us would have to stay out in the open." – Noah shot that idea down.
"We're gonna have to fight the damn monsters eventually, so I say we go through them now!" – Jon Winthrop yelled.
"Those things are just gonna lure us to narrow paths and bottleneck us, then kill us off one by one. Not gonna happen." – Doyle said.
"Well, can't we lure them back so that we're the ones picking them off?" – Jon retorted.
"That would work if it was a random horde of dumb monsters, but it's a Fusion that is behind all this. Fusion Courage wouldn't fall for that." – Alice explained. "That's another reason we can't wait them out – Fusion Courage is gonna keep them there till we starve to death."
"I thought you were one of the advocates for going south, Jon, whatever happened to that?" – Cindy asked him.
"Yeah, well, that was back then, now it's clear we won't make it on the way back. No need to drag our asses all the way from here to the beach if we're all gonna die anyway. I still say we find a way to get through the monsters on the mountain pass. It's the only way to get to Huntor's Crest."
"Or is it?" – Agent Valdez interjected. "There might be another way. The caves Cindy found."
Everyone was quiet, considering it for a moment.
"The cave system? Are you nuts?" – Cindy asked him. "It's an uncharted area. I nearly died in there. Hell, THAT'S WHERE FUSION COURAGE IS!"
"You did say yourself that the cave system was stretched all over the place. Including tunnels that headed towards Huntors." – Valdez responded calmly.
"Yeah, but we can't be sure. Those tunnels could end in dead ends. Or get us lost. Or they could take us right into the hands of another Fusion! This is a huge gamble you're going on, so are you really willing to take it?" – Cindy asked him.
"I'm afraid we've got no other choice. We can't head south OR stay here overnight. The water will run out. And we definitely can't charge through Fuse's forces in the mountains ourselves. However, I don't think going into the Infected Zone and passing through an underground tunnel right under his nose is a move Courage would expect us to do, would it?" – Noah broke it down.
"We're gonna have to decide fast. Or else Fusion Courage will decide to stop waiting for us and come for our ass himself." – Alvarez said.
"Alright, alright. Cindy. How well do you remember these caves?" – Doyle asked her.
"I was lost in there for a while, but I didn't get the chance to explore the tunnels to the west. So anything can be expecting us there. Fusion Lairs, monsters, dead ends…"
"Or maybe - just maybe… A pass under the mountains." – Doyle said. "So, what does everyone say?"
"Does everyone realize that the chance of actually passing through the underground tunnels and coming out on Huntor's is extremely small?" – Cindy raised her voice and asked everyone.
There were a few uncertain "yeahs", head scratches, shrugs. "What if we split up?" – Athena Meefrey suggested.
"Absolutely no way. We're barely surviving against monster attacks now, split up and might as well deliver our own heads to Fusion Courage on a silver- no, a golden platter." – Agent Valdez answered. Athena piped down.
"Well, I guess we can't get any more doomed than we are now." – Cindy said to herself. "Alright, fine then, if we're all agreed, then we're going to the Infected Zone!"
"Heads up, Naver! Colossal Horrordactyl on your ten!"
"Yeah, yeah, I see 'em. Horrordactyl's are Blastons, so that means an Adaptium Nano should do it!" – Naver answered and summoned Nano Gumball as he leapt from one massive dinosaur bone, floating through the air, to another. Nano Gumball attacked the Horrordactyl as Naver courageously jumped yet again and struck its right wing with his Aerial Slicer. The monster, however, was tougher than regular Horrordactyls and Naver's attack wasn't enough to cut through. The Horrordactyl slowly started falling as it couldn't flap its wing, and Naver was lost at what to do so he gripped onto his sword as hard as he could. Amara jumped in at the last moment and grabbed Naver's leg before he plummeted along with the monster, and Naver's Nano Gumball finished the job. Amara dragged Naver up to the small chunk of ground which was hanging in the air.
"Thanks for the assist." – Naver said, panting, but smiling.
"Assist? Are you out of your damn mind? I'm the one that saved your butt! But, heh, you're welcome."
"So, where were we?" – Naver asked her.
"We're getting close the end. There's a couple large platforms that often get Terrafuser pod growths, and after we check those out, we're outta here!" – Amara answered.
"No, I mean what were we talking about?"
"Oh, right. So, our team is working on studying the chemistry in Fusion Matter in general." – Amara explained as they kept going. "Specifically, with their reaction to the surrounding areas. You know, not just how it spreads, but how it adapts to the environment. How it reacts to organic and non-organic materials. Especially organic. Be careful on this jump." – she said as she jumped to another platform, which was moving back and forth. Naver joined her on its next trip back.
"Yeah, I noticed. Like, for example, how it's interacting here in Dinosaur Pass with all of the fossils, making dinosaur monsters, right?"
"Right, but I wouldn't really call them fossils exactly. That's one of the strangest things about this island. Fossils are millions of years old, but the crazy thing is, the dinosaur remains found here range from centuries to a couple decades."
"Wait, you're telling me…"
"Uh-huh. These dinosaur remains are almost brand new. Well, either that, or Boyd really messed up the carbon readings on these things. Wouldn't be the first time, heh heh." – Amara answered as she got the remaining spore pod.
"Alright, the exit warp is not far from here. Time to go." – she told Naver.
"But how is it possible then?"
"I haven't got the slightest idea. But legends of a "dinosaur island" have been going around adventurers and seafarers for centuries, and I guess this island is what started these rumours."
"Have you… Have you ever met any real ones? Living, I mean?" – Naver asked.
"Nah, but I'm still holding out hope." – Amara answered. They had gotten to the exit pad, where a Dexbot greeted them. "Initiate warp" – it said as Naver and Amara got teleported out of the containment field, back to the research camp.
Naver had barely stepped off the warp pad as he was readjusting to his surroundings as he heard monster growling. Several bi-pedal dinosaur monsters with crystals coming out of their body were all around them, trashing the camp. "No…" – he whispered in terror. He saw a body, Cahill's body, in a pool of blood. Boyd was probably also gone. "Dark Horntails? Oh no… no, no, no, no, no, we're in huge trouble!" – Amara managed to say, shocked at the loss of her friends. "These guns won't cut it. I'll distract them, you get that big one in the RV! Hurry!" – she told him, but before Naver could react, a Dark Horntail the horn-crystal on its forehead through Amara's chest. Naver expected the same to happen to him from the other Horntail, but instead of stabbing him through, it grabbed him with its mouth and lifted him up in the air. Instead of chewing him up or snapping his body in two, the dinosaur ran off into the jungle, the others abandoned the camp and followed it.
No. This is not how it was going to go down. Not after killing his friends yet again. Naver wouldn't let them. A massive surge of power burst out of his mind through sheer determination, but unlike the time with the rock, he wasn't concentrating now. The telekinetic burst surged in every direction, swirling like a hurricane. Not concentrated, not controlled, not suppressed. It shredded the Dark Horntail that was holding Naver in its mouth, causing him to drop on the ground, and knocked all of the other ones around. The trees around the area all got toppled over and all of the remaining monsters dissolved into Fusion Matter as well.
Naver got up. Just like that, he was alone again. His friends were gone, and he didn't react in time to help them. Everyone around him kept dying and it seemed like it was always his fault. He dropped to his knees, and did the only thing that could express how he was feeling right now, gave out the only thing he thought he had left - a furious, unhinged, primitive roar with all of the air that his chest could gather, his eyes tearing up. And he was alone again.
Jay was speeding through the Fireswamps on his hoverboard, determined to get to Forsaken Valley as quickly as possible. He needed to find Demongo. He needed to find LG Shala. He needed to find the chronoton particle. And figuring out why the comms were down would be useful too. Despite the fact that a couple hours had passed, Jay was still mad at himself for sleeping for too long. After days of uninterrupted pursuit of the chronoton particle, stopping to sleep for a couple hours was one thing, but sleeping through most of the afternoon? That was the last time he'd allow himself to doze off at a time like this. Especially when Demongo had finally started making moves, whatever they were.
Jay felt a tremor in the ground. He almost lost balance and fell off the hoverboard, but managed to stay on. He stopped, carefully listening for more disturbances, with his Couture Rifle ready to shoot. He wasn't too familiar with the Fireswamps monsters, but he couldn't think of one that could cause tremors. Considering whether or not to include this event in the Fusion War Journal, he decided to keep going, but even more alert for monsters than he usually was.
Soon, he felt another tremor, much stronger than before. He jumped off the hoverboard and readied his weapon, but it didn't stop. Jay realized that something was underground and immediately, the ground shattered and a hideous creature burst out of it. Without hesitation, Jay started shooting at it while taking a couple steps back. The thing gave out a battle roar – which sounded more like an ear-stabbing screech than a roar – and moved towards Jay, with half its body still sunk in the ground. Jay summoned Nano Buttercup to try and stun it while he dodged, and it barely worked. Before the Fusion creature got a chance to turn around, Jay took the time to assess it properly, but that didn't mean he had to stop shooting. It was a giant dirty brown worm-like monster, that apparently could burrow into the ground. Its external body was covered with scales- wait, were those scales? No, more like wrinkles. Lots of them. Jay didn't remember ever seeing or hearing of any creature like that in the Fireswamps. He managed to get a brief look at his NanoCom, but it had no data on the monster either, not even a name.
Jay's Couture Rifle blasts were having a little to no effect, unfortunately, so that meant he had to change his strategy. The Couture Rifle disappeared into the NanoCom to make room for Jay's secondary weapon – the Scorpion Predator. As the worm headed for him again, he pulled the trigger, readied himself for the massive recoil as the weapon charged itself up and… BOOM! The monster didn't even shrug.
Jay took a couple steps back, but he was running out of room to work with as he was getting dangerously close to a stream of lava. "Never even heard of these things before. If the monster had a weak spot, I can only assume it'd have to be the mouth!" – he thought to himself, but he had yet to see the hole from the inside – the monster only opened the flaps covering it once, during the roar. Quickly, Jay had to think of something. He wouldn't get the chance to hit the creature in the mouth with the Scorpion Slayer – the chargeup was too long. As the monster attacked him one more time, he summoned Nano Buttercup again, but just like before, her stun barely worked.
"Is it too big… or is it the wrong Nano type?" – Jay wondered to himself. If Blastons wasn't cutting it, the monster must be Adaptium, so he switched to his Cosmix Nano – Larry 3000. Luckily, Nano Larry had another combat ability – Drain, one that would weaken the monster over time. Time and space, however, was something Jay was running out of, as he was at the edge of the lava stream and the monster had almost reached him. Jay blasted it with the Couture Rifle to no effect, just like before, but then the worm opened its worm flaps and for the first time, Jay got to see the repulsive insides of its hideous hole – many horizontal rows of sharp teeth, hundreds of them, all moving parallel to each other – some forwards, some backwards, spread in the mucus that was oozing with Fusion Matter. In this split second he put his hand in his back pouch to get an Energy Grenade – but instead of attacking Jay head-on, the monster burrowed underground again directly in front of Jay, so he lost his clear shot. The worm's bottom half, something resembling a tail, rose out of the original hole and quickly disappeared into the new one. Before Jay got to process what was about to happen, with another tremor the worm burst out of the ground – on the exact spot where Jay was standing! It caught Jay with its mouthflaps and started pushing him down deeper into the mouthhole as it dived into the hole it had dug moments ago. Jay was dragged underground, plunged into darkness, and couldn't move either of his hands. He knew what he had to do – he had to let the monster eat him completely so that he'd finally get an easy shot – the easiest shot of them all – inside the monster's mouth. As long as he didn't blow himself up with it.
As the worm swallowed him, he was covered in Fusion Matter secrete and hundreds of tiny teeth started piercing him, slowly moving in opposite directions, like a saw. The digestive tract was extremely narrow so he couldn't move properly and his body was pressed up against the mucus. All of this was extremely painful, but that didn't matter right now, there was no time to lose, as Jay felt the monster going deeper underground. The Couture Rifle was out of his reach and he couldn't get his right hand to the NanoCom, but the left hand was behind his back, so he could easily access his back pouch. Quickly, he got an Energy Grenade and tossed it as deep into the monster's digestive tract as he could. He waited… Three… Hopefully this was big enough. Two… But not too big. One… He clenched his toes in anticipation of getting them blasted off… A red energy burst lit up the monster's esophagus for a split-second, revealing just how many teeth it had, right before blasting the rear end off. The blast tore the monster in two from the inside and Jay was able to climb out of the exit hole. The monster started writhing around, but it couldn't move and after several of Jay's blasts it started dissolving into Fusion Matter itself, which Jay then absorbed in his NanoCom. "Gonna have to look deeper into these worms. They don't just pop up out of nowhere. Maybe I should review the War Journal to see if I ever mentioned anything like them… But that's for later." – he thought to himself.
The worm was defeated, but there was a whole new problem now – Jay was dragged underground. He went along the tunnel that the worm had just dug through, and soon enough, he saw daylight, high above, but he was too deep underground to be able to climb up. Considering the fact that the worm (or worms, if there were more of them) he lit the flashlight built into his NanoCom, summoned his hoverboard and followed along the tunnel, looking for other exits. "An unfortunate setback. I need to get back on Demongo's trail ASAP. Or at least find his hideout. Or find Shala and maybe can lead me to him…" – he muttered as he started the exploring of what soon turned out to be a complex system of convoluted tunnels.
After a while of trying to find a way to the surface, Jay managed to get out of the narrow worm-dug tunnels, but he wasn't exactly out. As it turned out, there was a large, naturally formed cave system with many tunnels leading in and out, which only got even more convoluted with the holes the worms had dug. Jay remained ever vigilant, reflexes on point for even the smallest noise. He got lucky with the last worm and he didn't want to risk it.
"If I keep going like this, I'm definitely getting lost. Need to figure out a way to know if I'm walking in circles." – Jay thought to himself. He looked at the compass in his NanoCom, but it was acting strange – spinning around without rhyme or reason, randomly changing speed and even direction. "Interesting." – Jay thought.
He made his way through the maze of tunnels, with constant passages leading left, right, upwards, downwards. Dead ends and circular tunnels were a huge annoyance. There was a very steep fall Jay avoided, then he found himself in a large chamber with multiple holes in the ceiling. Wherever he was going, he could tell that he was getting farther and farther away from where he got attacked, and if he had to guess a direction, he would say north or maybe north-east. In the next passage he heard a monster snarl – but luckily it was just a Lizard King, not a giant worm. Slowly, he could tell that these caves were showing more and more signs of Fusion Matter infection. "Must be near the Infected Zone. Or probably even in it." – Jay thought.
After more exploring, the strangest thing happened – he started hearing faint voices. Of people. That was something he did not expect at all. His mind immediately jumped to "Demongo lair", "chronoton particle" and "tachyon scanner" (the latter of which he had in his belt pouch) but quickly realized that it was unlikely. To double-check, he still got the scanner and checked around the chamber. The waves were… fuzzy, but not fuzzier than usual, so there was no indication that a chronoton particle or anything of the sort was around. Either that, or Demongo was too good at hiding it. So, Jay put his scanner away and headed for the voices. It was tricky – several passages were leading out of the tunnel, even two clearly worm-dug ones, so Jay listened carefully. The voices were getting louder rather than quieter, so they were approaching. Judging by the sound of the steps, it was a large group of people. Jay couldn't risk a hostile encounter so he drew his Couture Rifle.
"I'm telling you, Alice, this tunnel is getting us closer to Fusion Courage's Lair and farther away from Huntor's!" – a female voice said.
"And I'm telling you, there was an extremely high amount of Fusion pollution in the tunnel you were leading us. There's no way that path didn't end with a bunch of Terrafusers, and therefore – monsters." – another female voice answered. Soon, Jay saw light ahead – and the speakers came into view. He could see a of group at least 10 people, but there were more he couldn't see. Most were wearing Providence armor. While Providence as an organization was secretive, they hadn't yet displayed a reason to distrust them. Judging by the conversation between the two girls leading the group, they were as lost as he was.
When the two girls saw Jay's flashlight, they stopped talking and halted. So did everyone behind them, one by one.
"Who's there?" – one of the girls, the blonde one that wasn't wearing Providence armor, asked.
"I'm Jay. Who are you people?"
"Dude, are you with the search party? Did Meena and Dax get to the camp at Huntor's? Are you guys finally gonna save us?" – one of the Providence Agents enthusiastically asked.
"What? No, I'm not with any search party. Haven't seen anyone named Meena and Dax. I'm got dragged down here by this weird monster, like a-" – Jay started explaining, but the blonde girl interrupted.
"Like a giant worm? Yeah we've had encounters with those things as well. Wasn't pretty. We're Providence, well, obviously, and our outpost got attacked by a massive swarm of monsters and we're all that survived. We're trying to get to Huntor's Crest, but the mountain pass was blocked so we had to take these caves, but considering someone" – and she side-eyed the other girl, the brunette, "has no idea where she spent 8 hours and which way to go, we're lost. Oh, and I'm Alice by the way, and this is Cindy." – she added and pointed to the girl next to her.
"I got dragged down here by one of those worms. Is there an exit somewhere near here?" – Jay asked Alice.
"Well, there is one that leads into the heart of the Firepits, I could tell you where it is-" – the other girl began, but Alice cut her off.
"Listen, Jay, we need your help. Could you please accompany us till we safely get to Huntor's? We're somewhat short on manpower and-"
"Sorry, no. I'm in a hurry. I was heading towards Forsaken Valley, and, the worm and this cave has been enough of a detour." – he told Alice. He turned to the other girl. "The exit?" but before she got a chance to speak, Alice asked him something again.
"Can you at least tell me if you've seen a guy called Shala? If he's alive?"
Jay flinched. "N-no." – he said shortly.
Alice sighed. "Alright, that was a long shot anyway. But please, we really need your help here. We've been wandering around this dark cave for an hour, before that, we had to cross the entire Fireswamps on foot, in the heat, and we just ran out of water. We've already lost people to these worms, good people, and they're gonna keep on coming. Seriously, we need all the help we can get here, or none of us will live to see the daylight again. Come on, please. And then I will personally come help you out with whatever your mission is." Everyone waited anxiously for Jay's answer.
Jay considered it. After sleeping in, then getting dragged underground by a giant worm creature and being lost in a complex tunnel system, this backtracking towards Huntor's Crest was the last thing he needed. The girl, whoever she was, seemed to know Shala, but considering that she didn't even know if he was alive or not, that wouldn't be of much help in finding him. He looked at Alice, pleading with her eyes. He looked at the faces of the other Providence Agents. Faces expressing pain, fear, desperation. Visible injuries and scars. A guy had his body almost covered in burns, another girl was missing an arm. Even if he had a demon to find, was saving others not his ultimate goal?
Reluctantly, Jay told them "Alright, alright, I'll come with you. I'm gonna help you get to Huntor's. Or at least, get out of these caves." He looked at Alice as he said it, and even his mood got lightened when he saw her face brighten up with relief.
"So let me get this straight. You let that worm eat you?" – Doyle asked Jay as they followed Cindy and Alice into yet another chamber. This one was larger than before.
"Well, I didn't exactly let it, but I had no other choice. Plus, that gave me a clear killshot."
"Yeah, I tried throwing a grenade in its mouth too. The mouth flaps reached in and chucked it right back." – Doyle answered. "I guess your way was better, even if you did almost get digested doing it."
"Hey guys, do any of you know what this means?" – Alice asked. Cindy pointed at a flat, metal lining along the wall.
"Whoa. This is a real wall. Man-made." – Noah said. "Don't tell me we already reached Huntor's Crest and this is like, the SACT outpost's underground base or something?"
"Nope. It's not SACT. I'd remember if we had something like this." – SACT Agent Kate said.
Jay thought it looked familiar, but he chose not to reveal his suspicion.
"Whatever it is, we need to find a way to get in. It might be a safe hideout." – Trapezanidis suggested.
"Or a death trap." – Valdez retorted.
"This whole cave is a death trap, so I don't think that'd make a big difference." – Doyle said. "Whatever it is, I don't think even the worms can dig through that, so I'd rather be on the other side of this wall."
The group kept going through the cave, following along the metal wall and after several twists, turns and dead ends, reached what was unmistakably an entrance door. Which was sealed. There was a small keypad next to the entrance, though.
"Does anyone know what could the code be?" – Cindy asked and already reached her hand out to input a guess, but Jay knew what was going to happen if the password was wrong.
"Stop! Don't touch that keypad!" – he intervened. Fortunately, she didn't have to, as the giant metal door silently opened on its own. A dimly-lit tunnel, completely lined with metal from the inside, awaited them. Everyone looked at each other uncertainly, hesitant to go in.
"Well, Bobo, I reckon you were right. Guess we should expect the visitors to arrive anytime now. You'll be seeing your friends soon, real soon."
End of Chapter 8.