Reaching the location where Samuel said he was supposed to be, Paul glances around while Taylor and Rebecca stayed further back as Paul surveyed the area, but the elusive hunter hadn't appeared despite him promising that they'd meet if they followed his coordinates.
Watchful as his angel eyes slowly move, Paul chewed on his inner lip as he hesitated to call out Samuel's name.
Something shot through the air, hit him in his neck, instinctively he yanked it, his fingers covered in blood, but already he felt his eyes heavy, and his body dropped like a sack of potatoes, the world around him spinning.
It took time for him to wake from his forced slumber, when he did, he noticed he was still in the forest, but instantly something was wrong.
"Grace?" Paul called out to her, his angel eyes swaying back and forth, "Rebecca?"
His eyes fell to Rebecca's metal detector, destroyed, it looked like a struggle occurred, both women trying to fight someone, but they failed.
Seeing the broken needle on the ground clued Paul that they were forcibly drugged, too.
The blood on the tip of the needle, a bit of flesh stuck to it, Paul's mind swirled with fears as he scoured for clues.
He was stopped when he found that the radio, he used to communicate with Samuel's gone, taken from him, but thankfully whoever abducted the women didn't get their hand on his Sonic Screwdriver.
In his mind, Paul panicked as he tried figuring out the abductor's identity, if it was Samuel himself, the face eater, whatever, but he found his answer sooner than later, as he struggled.
Whoever took the radio, made sure to turn it off, at least some way of preventing Paul from trying to find it with his Sonic Screwdriver.
"Grace?" Paul tried reaching out to her in his mind, but the woman remained unconscious from the needle.
He struggled not trying to think the worse, but it's difficult seeing the broken needle with blood and a bit of flesh on it, there's even visible blood spots on the forest ground before they disappeared as someone quickly noticed one of the women were bleeding.
Chewing on his inner lip, trying to not bite it off, Paul attempted to use the little blood spots he found to gain an idea of where the women were taken, the blood's still fresh, they haven't gone far.
Since one of them was injured, the abductor would want to get the women somewhere quickly.
As Paul struggled, he's stopped by an unusual appearance ahead of him.
Towards the darkened parts of the forest where the trees blotted out the sun, there's someone standing there.
Tall, thin, Paul thought they might be wearing a suit.
The only thing that stood out the most…
Their illuminated eyes?
Bright blue orbs, bled through the darkness.
As if Paul didn't already have enough on his plate!
Shaking his head, Paul tried to force himself to remain objective and find the women, but something about those eyes, he couldn't look away if he wanted.
Silently, it's though they beckoned him to come towards them, and try and he might, he couldn't get rid of the feeling if he tried.
"Follow… follow… me…" he heard a whispery voice in his head, seemingly intruding his personal thoughts, though as he tried, the voice didn't leave his head, growing insistent that he follow the figure with the illuminating eyes.
Wary, Paul asks, "Who are you?"
The whispery voice answered, "Follow… me… Mister… Smith."
It knew him by name, this whispery voice, and wouldn't tell Paul anything, despite him growing verbally annoyed, continuing to insist that he follow it.
Despite his reservations following a disembodied voice in his head, Paul felt he had no other choice if he wanted to save the women from whoever kidnapped them.
Taking a sharp breath, Paul moved forward in the direction the whispery voice guided him, towards the glowing eyes in the distance.
Certainly, in normal times, this would be considered foolish, but time was of the essence, and he would do anything needed to ensure the safety of Taylor and Rebecca.
Wadding through the weeds that went up to his waist and the intertwining vines, death almost certain if he stepped on a landline, Paul sees he's coming closer to the glowing eyes.
On his mind, he tried deducing the identity of the person, but no one came to mind, sure he has met his share of unusual characters since starting his adventuring, but no one ever crossed his mind compared to this person.
Couldn't been anyone his parents or family friends knew; they'd mention someone with illuminating eyes.
"Come... come..." the whispery voice continued beckoning him until he's short of nearly being blinded by the illuminating eyes.
With him closer, now, Paul attempted to speak with the figure, asking them, "Who are you?"
True to their mystery nature, neither voice nor figure told him, instead disappearing into the darkness.
Seemingly vanishing before his eyes, it left Paul in a peculiar situation, but perhaps not, the path ahead seemed like it's been used frequently enough there's erosion. There are heavy footprints, going back and forth, not from a hunter's boots, instead military.
More, they're fresh, just missed them by a few minutes.
"Grace... please, be okay," Paul muttered under his breath as he followed the path through the forest.
Someone took a great deal of time removing the landmines, there's holes left from someone finding and digging them up, the vegetation cut back enough that whoever made the path didn't have to worry about them overtaking it, seeing how impossible it was to find, this path was intentionally made difficult for anyone to accidentally stumble across.
Paul continues following it until he finally reached the end and there, he sees a sight he never expected…
It's a hospital.
Overtaken by the forest, it blended with the background, this once bustling bastion of healthcare became a leafy tomb, the parking lot having been destroyed by the grass breaking through the pavement, unless someone paid close attention, they'd never find it.
Doubt they'd even find it in the air, as Paul glances up to see the tree limbs intertwining, blotting out the sun in areas.
Cautiously, Paul continued following the path, avoiding the broken windows of the formerly three-story hospital.
Mindful of his steps, he froze in place temporary when he saw a trip wire precariously laid out near the fencing, his angel eyes caught sight of the duct tapped grenades, set to go off the moment someone unfortunate tripped the wire.
Exhaling sharply, Paul stepped over the tripwire with care, but before disabling the grenades with his Sonic Screwdriver.
Once he confirmed the grenades have successfully been disabled, Paul went on to try and find a way into the hospital, watchful of more tripwires, any traps hidden by whoever took over the abandoned hospital after the dust settled from the war.
Reaching the front doors of the hospital, the glass completely blown out from the bombing, replaced with recovered wood planks, hammered into the door frames, Paul carefully reached for the doorknob.
He found the doors unlocked, allowing himself to hurry inside to the remains of the hospital, since become a tomb, as he stepped inside.
The stagnant air in the hospital smelled of strong cleaning products, bleach most of all, mildew, but Paul swore hearing a fan coming from somewhere deep within the hospital.
"Where are they?" Paul demanded the whispery voice tell him where Rebecca and Taylor were, but it hadn't appeared in his head, again.
He tried multiple times, but it's as though it disappeared from his head all-together, and it only made him more irritated.
Sucking the stagnant air through his teeth, Paul went on to scour through the hospital, looking for any signs of the women being brought through somewhere.
TO BE CONTINUED...
"The Perfect Specimen"