We arrive at our cabins in mount rogers. I get out of the truck, and my boots fall onto the powdery snow. The air smells faintly of pine, and there looks to be about seven cabins. James has taken control of the compound for a bit, as Liam wanted to come on the trip.
Wyatt shuts the truck door, already walking to the cabins. Snow already builds up on my shoulder pads, and two UTV's and a Jeep park behind me. Liam steps out of a white Polaris UTV, and walks over to me.
His white ski snow suit blends in with the environment, along with his white ski boots. The inside of his clothes are black with padded material, and the palms of his white gloves have the same pads. He wears a white cloth mask on his face, a smith ski helmet, and a blue and green chrome visor.
"Whose cabin is who's?" He asks, putting his hands on his hips.
There looks to be seven cabins, surrounded by a pine tree forest. It's odd for Mount Roger's to be this snowy in the fall, but then again it is Mount Rogers. "I pick that cabin." I state, looking at a nice cabin that has a porch.
"Alright. I'll go to mine." He says.
A couple minutes later, and I'm sitting on the porch of my cabin. I'm sitting in some rocking chair I dragged I stole from Vex's cabin, but he doesn't know that.
Chris and Zane walk towards me, both of them walking onto my porch. Chris holds his MP5, with iron sights. Same gun he found from years ago. Zane has all camo clothes, a bucket hat, and a foldable .9mm carbine on his back. A large Barrett 50 caliber is on his back as well.
"Hey." Chris says, wiping some snow off of his blue and black dirt bike helmet.
"You guys got your cabins?" I ask, Zane nods.
"Ethan said he he'll be here in a little bit. He's coming by helicopter..." Chris states.
"Yo zane."
Zane perks up.
"Tell Vex to chop some firewood."
He nods and walks away, and Chris leans against a wooden pillar. "Where's Wyatt?" I ask.
"I don't know. I think he's at his cabin."
"Wanna come inside?" I ask, he says yes.
Opening the front door, we walk inside. The door opens to the living room, a cozy space with two leather couches facing a brick fireplace. The room has a large yellow carpet on the floor, the floor is made of dark wood.
"This looks like your old place."
"Kinda."
To the left of us is a hallway, and to the right is a kitchen. The sound of wind bellowing from outside grows stronger. My watch says it's twelve in the night.
"You picked your cabin yet?" I ask, taking my benilli shotgun off of my back and resting it on a hook on the wall. It's on the wall that separates the kitchen from the living room, and there's a painting above the gun rack.
"Not yet. I think I'll pick the one at the top of the hill though." The door opens behind us, and the howling of the wind echoes throughout the room. Vex steps out, shivering slightly, some firewood in hand. His dark green dirt bike clothes have seemed to almost ice over.
"You already got some?"
Vex shakes his head, taking his helmet off. He has brown hair and a pair of dark green eyes, with an extremely short beard he tries to shave every week. "Nah, I found this in the old barn outback."
His boots walk over to the fireplace, tossing the wood inside. "Nice little place you got here."
"Thanks. You pick yours?" I ask, unslinging my AR-15 and holding it in my gloves.
"Right next to the barn. Matter of fact you got a gun safe in here?" Vex asks, Chris looks at me.
"I'll check."
Me and Chris walk in the hallway to the left of the living room. He opens the door to his left, and I do the same to my right. It's pitch black, so I aim my rifle and turn on its flashlight. Vex walks behind me and pulls out a silver flashlight, and the room is lit up.
The room is a bedroom. A bed in the middle at the end of the room, with a nightstand, and an animal hide for a carpet in the middle of the room. To the right of me is a wooden gun cabinet, with glass windows, showing it empty. Opening it, all there is is one box of old .308 Winchester bullets.
"Can I put my gun in here?" Vex asks, looking at the cabinet.
I nod, and he unslings his FAMAS. He places it in the cabinet, and his loaded magazines on the top shelf. I look at the 1911 on his belt. It is silver, with fancy engravings on it, and chambered in ten millimetre. "You gonna put it in here?"
"I'm taking with me." He responds, patting it. He takes his axe off his back, and walks out of the bedroom. I gingerly place my rifle in the cabinet beside his, and Chris walks inside.
"Your bathroom's there." He states, pointing his gloved finger to the left of my room.
"Ight." I nod, looking at him. "Where'd your rifle go?"
"It's on your couch."
Standing up, we both walk out of the room and into the living room. Vex has his Axe leaning against one of the two couches, as he sits on it. "Can I light it?"
Before I can answer, he lights a match and tosses it into the fireplace. "Do we know when Ethan will be here?" Vex shakes his head.
"He's supposed to be here tonight. At dark in the morning, Jake Smith too." Chris says, sitting next to Vex and putting his MP5 on his lap.
"Alright..."
"Well guys, I'll chop some more firewood for us. And maybe me and you can run down to that ol' market in the mornin." Vex says, looking at Chris as he stands up and grabs his green and black axe.
"Sure."
After a couple minutes, Vex walks out of the backdoor. The backdoor is to the right of the couches, also next to the kitchen. "Hey look. A Ranger." Chris says, looking behind the couch. He picks it up.
It's a small twelve gauge shotgun, the most common Sylvatus manufacturers. It's like the AK of shotguns, simple but reliable. It's mostly camo, but it has a black barrel. It has a small red dot optic, like most ranger shotguns.
It's a dual barrel, but instead of two barrels horizontally, they're vertical. Chris pulls the break-action, and the barrels open. There's an empty shell in the top one, and Chris pulls it out. "It's a slug." I sit on the couch next to him,
"We got any whammy shells?" I ask, the firewood beginning to engulf in flame.
"Wyatt might... Well, actually not. Can his KS-12 fire whammy's?" He asks, looking at me. He puts the ranger shotgun in his lap and takes his black and blue dirt bike helmet off.
"I don't think so. Maybe the Quarry station will have some, could go there." I point out, taking my helmet off. Placing it beside me, he shrugs.
[b]1 hour later[/b]
I sit on the couch, staring at the camp fire. The winter wind howls from outside, the front door rustling slightly. Mount Rogers has always been this way during the winter. Only thing I can really compare it to is the weather in Canada. I never wanted it to go this way. Somewhere out there, hopefully Mitchell is okay.
He seemed to be christian, I'll meet him in heaven... If I even go there. Ezra told me killing was a sin, but killing in self defense wasn't. But, I'm not too sure if I'll be going there anyway. It's fucking summer yet it's snowing like we're on the tip top of mount everest. Chris even texted me that he had to almost kick in the door to get out of his back door.
I guess it's a bit nice though. Reminds me of the times when I was a kid, playing out in the snow and having fun. Maybe I can find an elk tomorrow, we'd be eating good for a while then. Not that we're starving here, we can always go back into that deli-mart on the side of the road, even if it's an hour away from here.
I might even run down with the UTV. Man, is it fun to drive those fuckers.
I sigh as I slump deeper into the couch, but I hear yelling from outside. My head swivels towards the noise and I grab my glock which I left beside me. Peeking out the front door, I see pitch blackness with some lamps hanging from the front porches of the cabins.
Looking around a bit more to make sure, my eyes catch on a giant pillar of fire right where we parked our vehicles. The flame looks over ten feet tall, looking like it came from the depths of hell. That should be impossible, in this cold weather even if one of their vehicles exploded it shouldn't be doing this.
My boots scurry to the front door and I yank it open, walking into the frigid cold. I walk towards the blistering flame, gas and smoke creating an odor coming from the flame. The cold air dances on my exposed skin, the cold seeps into my body and makes my hands slightly shake.
A large group of us are huddled around the fire, some staring at it and some looking around for what could've caused it. The flames part slightly, and I manage to see the front of a UTV inside of it.
Our only way out, to get food, to leave, to survive, gone. Just gone. I stare at the flame and take a deep breath, the air coming out of my lungs visible in the air. Snow gathers in my hair and the glock on my hand seems to get colder.
"Shit... Shit... Shit!" I stomp the ground, fighting the urge to chuck my firearm into the snow. Chris, who was looking around, walks over to me.
"You okay?" He asks, trodding through the snow.
I shake my head. "No. No, I'm not okay. Our only source of transportation. Gone! Gone! Who did this?" I question, trying to keep my cool.
Chris sighs. "I have no idea. Vex was splitting logs, right next to the things. And then he said the next thing he knew the cars were in flames." He states, looking at me. "I don't know how. I mean look at the ground!"
I follow his gaze, the snow is past our knees now. This is no weather for a fire like this, my gaze returns to the fire. It hasn't shown any signs of letting up, in fact I think it's only gotten bigger.
"You think it was one of us...?" He quietly inquires, seeming nervous for the answer.
"No... I don't think so." I insert, shaking my head. The orange flames curl into the night sky, embers falling into the snow as if the cold doesn't matter. "It just doesn't make any sense... Even if someone dumped fuel, it wouldn't burn like this."
Chris goes silent for a moment. "Did we get those lamps out of the trunks?"
I sigh again. "Motherfucker... Tonight just keeps getting worse." I mutter. "Round up Wyatt and the others. Meet me in my cabin, front door's open."
He fistbumps me, and he stares at the fire as I turn away. My boots step on the wooden porch, the lamp next to the step shining a light onto the area surrounding me. Nudging the door open, I throw my glock onto the couch and I storm into the small kitchen.
I grab a cabinet door and slam it, before gathering my composure and staring at the wooden counter. My mind races to find what caused this shit, but then I remember something. Something we brought. Something we did.
A couple minutes later, Chris steps in, followed by Jason, Wyatt, Vex, and Liam. They all sit down besides me, which I lean against the brick wall next to the fireplace. "Anyone got any ideas about this bullshit?" Jason asks, his leg bouncing up and down.
Liam shakes his head but I interject. "Remember when we went out with that camera Liam?" He nods, everyone looks confused. "We saw... This symbol on the tree. It was carved into a tree on the side of that gravel trail that leads to the Quarry Station. Tyler took a picture of it... It was a couple of weeks ago."
Jason shrugs and Wyatt looks at me. "Okay?" Wyatt says.
"So we put the camera in the glovebox. But then the engine kept dying. Over and Over. I didn't think anything of it then, but now... And the fires destroyed the UTVs." I state seriously, looking around the room.
"That'd be a big coincidence..." Vex mutters.
I shake my head. "Chris, you know. When me and James first founded Sylvatus because we saw it..." I reach my hand into my pocket, gripping the cross that's hidden in there. "We actually took a picture of the Entity..." My hands grip the cross subconsciously, my soul feeling like it's wrong to say that name.
"It was on one of those old polaroid cameras. So we got the film and put it inside a cage and put it in James's parents shed behind his house. And in the middle of the night it caught fire, it was made out of brick and metal... Yet it still burned like it was made out of sticks." I explain, Wyatt recoils slightly.
Chris nods, beginning to see what I mean, and Jason takes a deep breath.
"I think we should be very... Careful where we go tonight. Don't think we should leave camp." Liam says, holding his kriss vector in his lap.
"Well... I think... I'll go now." Wyatt concludes.
Thirty minutes later, I'm in my bed. My body relaxes against the soft mattress, unwinding from the earlier events. Muscles relaxing, I blow the candle beside my bed out.
[b]Chris POV[/b]
I sit on the couch, taking my boots off. My feet sit on the coffee table, as I sip a cup of hot chocolate. I grab a book off the table, it's an index full of monsters that live in this region. I open it, to see if those symbols Landon was talking about are true.
Flipping through the book, I can't find anything that would cause this besides a flamer. But even then the fire wouldn't have been that big, plus it wouldn't light the cars on fire. Reaching the last couple pages, I see the powerful things. A drawing of god's hand reaching to the ground, as its arm is in the clouds, and a description of it sits at the bottom of the page.
I groan, turning the page once more and seeing The entity and a drawing of it. I immediately turn the page and I see a creature called The Elder. The drawing of it is a giant spider in the sky. Fog surrounds it and eleven fleshy tendrils extend from the gaping mouth that blocks out half the sky.
I sigh and almost turn the page, but then I see the thing he was talking about. A drawing of a tree is at the left of the page, with a symbol scraped onto it. Reading the description, it says the Elder only appears during foggy weather, and leaves symbols on nearby trees.
Looking onto the bottom right corner of the page, I see a drawing of an artefact called the 'Blackstone'.
[b]Landon POV[/b]
I sit on a stool in the kitchen. My rifle is slinged over my back, and I'm eating an apple over the kitchen island. Someone knocks on the front door, and I yell for them to come in.
Vex steps in, and he looks at me. "Hey. Can I get my gun?" He asks.
"Yep."
He walks into the hallway, and I toss the rest of my apple on the island. Standing up, I walk out of the cabin and onto the porch. The vehicles are in front of my cabin, albeit at a distance. They look black, covered in ash, and their tops smothered in snow.
Putting my helmet on, I walk off the porch and to the right. Andrew's house is in front of mine, but also to the right of it. He sits on the porch with Wyatt and Jason, and he points at me and motions for me to come.
After some walking, my boots walk onto the porch. "Sup." Jason greets, his rifle not on his back.
"Sup."
Wyatt nods at me and turns back to Andrew. "You got any ideas about what happened to the cars?" He asks me.
"Nah." Shaking my head, I look back at my cabin. Vex walks onto the porch and looks around. Apparently he doesn't see me and just walks towards his cabin.
After a couple minutes of just chatting, Chris walks on the porch.
"Guys..."
"Yo."
Chris puts his hands in the air. "I know what caused it."
Jason's eyes go wide, his mouth visibly forming an 'o' shape under his black fabric mask. "And what's that?" Andrew asks, leaning against a guard rail.
Chris holds up a leather book, it's one of those monster guide books. He flips it open and reveals a page of something called the elder.
Wyatt's helmet tilts slightly. "That?" Chris nods. "Is that just a kraken?"
"No."
"Why would it burn our stuff?" I ask.
"Remember those marks you said you found? You put the camera in that thing. So I guess it just..." Chris shrugs, Jason sighs.
"Hey Chris. When's Ethan and Jake supposed to be here?" I ask, looking around.
"They already are." He says.
"I don't see 'em." Jason states.
Chris yawns. "You know how Zane is staying over there?" Chris asks, motioning behind our cabins.
I shake my head. "Well behind those tree's is another field. There's three cabins there. Zane and them are staying there."
"I'm going inside. Anyone coming?" Andrew asks, opening his door. Jason follows him, and I walk off the porch.
"Can you ask if Liam has any food, please?" Chris asks, looking at me as I nod.
After another couple minutes of walking, I get by his cabin. It has two floors, of course he'd want the biggest one. He opens the door in grey pyjamas, his Sylvatus gear nowhere to be seen.
Behind him is a spacious living room, multiple heads of twelve point bucks hanging from the wall. "Come on in." I walk inside. An adult Siberian husky is sprawled on a couch, its mouth hanging open. The air has a thick smell of pine cones, if they had a smell.
"You got any food?" I ask, looking at him.
Liam looks back at me. "I got some pancake mix... And some hamburger."
"How much?"
"Just some."
With a sigh, I look at the ground. "Then we need to hunt. That won't last us..."
"And what will we hunt?"
"Deer. If we have to, then some monsters..."
Liam groans. The dog's eyes open slightly, then they close again. "Can you text Ethan and Jake and Zane to come over here?" He asks.
"We've tried texting and calling people, it doesn't work. I can watch YouTube and all that but we can't message no one."
[b]20 minutes later[/b]
I spot Jake, Ethan, and Zane walk in between Jason and Wyatt's cabins. Jake wears his yellow chainsaw gear with black accents, a desert eagle is holstered on his belt, and a chainsaw and M16 sit on his back. Ethan is beside him, his camo dirt bike gear clouded by snow. He holds an M249 SAW, painted camo with a Eotech optic mounted onto it. He has trail cameras attached to his gear, waiting to be placed down.
Zane walks in front of them, the snow rolling off of his camo clothes. Ethan waves. "Sup!"
They walk over to me. "Alright... Ethan. Can you put some trail cams around camp? And you just get some wood." I state, looking at Jake.
Jake huffs. After a couple minutes I begin walking back to my cabin. I hear stomping behind me, and I halt. Jake is on Jason's porch, snorting some white powder scattered across the ground. He quickly stands up and stomps his boots, making weird noises.
With a groan, I continue my walk. My boots step onto my porch, but before I can go inside I hear a yell. It sounds like it's coming from the barn, I run to it. The barn is painted red, but you can hardly tell by how worn out the paint is. Inside, there is a pile of firewood, and Vex is hunched in a corner looking at something.
"Dude!" He says, flagging me over. Jogging over to him, I look over his shoulder. He's staring at a chest, it's relatively empty. It has some rocks, an old trinket, but an odd silver compass with a paper map. He grabs the map and holds it up, showing me it.
I can recognise it. It has a weird drawing of the North American continent, but California has a massive lake, and there are large circle's in Canada, and some in America. "It says the circles have something called the Blackstone..." Vex whispers.
Slowly taking it from his hands, I stare at the paper. It feels weird. Almost like touching it makes me feel dizzy in a way. Vex grabs the compass, and stands up. A small cursive writing says the compass leads to a gem, but what gem? In my mind, I make a point to where we are, Mount Rogers.
"Can I see that?" I ask Vex, he gives me the compass. It's in pristine condition, but it shouldn't be. I put the compass on the point where we are, and the finger of it flicks west. Right where a circle is.
Handing both objects back to Vex, I look around the barn. It's normal, no reason for these to be here. "Actually can I have the map?"
"Go ahead." Vex says, tossing it to me. Making me feel all sick and shit. Just gotta put it in my cabin. A circle on the map catches my eye. The valley of the headless men. I've been there, for a vacation. Beautiful waterfalls, if you ignore the increase in monsters.
My gloves fold the map and I walk out of the barn. I walk to my cabin, and I see Ethan tying a Trail cam into a wooden log dug into the ground. We both wave to each other, and I motion for him to come into my cabin. We both walk inside, and take seats on the couches.
"You wanna put your gun up? It's gotta be heavy." I ask, looking at the machine gun on his back.
He looks at it for a moment. "Nah. Have to be ready for some monsters, Eh?"
My hands grab the ranger shotgun from behind the couch. The shotgun is lightweight, excels in this weather. "You can have this. Helluva lot lighter..." He agrees, and takes the shotgun. Ethan unslings his machine gun and lets it rest beside him.
"Why'd you call me in?"
I hold up the yellow paper map. "It's a map. It has these things that show where 'The blackstone' or whatever that is."
Ethan nods. "And what is a Blackstone?"
"Beats me."
He looks around, putting a leg over the other. "Maybe it's something like an Amber Heart. But instead of giving you immortality it gives you a bigger dick."
With a groan, I stare at him. "There's even one where you're from." I point to a circle in the north western territories.
"I'm from Alberta."
With a shake of my head, I look back towards him. "Back on track. We need to figure out what this means."
Ethan sighs, playing with the ranger shotgun. "And who's to say some darn ol' third grader didn't just scribble this down, eh?"
I already have an answer to that. With the way the map feels, it definitely ain't normal. The paper feels warm, makes me feel dizzy, exactly what the other stuff does. I toss it to him, waiting for him to prove my point.
He catches it with a clap of his camo gloves, and he brings it to his visor. "Nevermind..."
"You know what else has that happen when you hold it?"
Ethan nods.
"Maybe this map burned the cars down." Ethan states, his mind racing to come up with an answer.
"Maybe..." I whisper. He tosses the map back to me and I set it beside me. Ethan cracks the break action, and sees it empty.
"You got any shells?"
"Wyatt should." I respond, picking the map up and standing. "I'll put your gun in the safe." He nods.
"Can you take some of these?" Ethan asks, pointing to the trail cameras attached to his gear.
After a couple minutes, I'm standing in front of the gun safe. I put the SAW in the safe, along with his cameras. Sitting on the edge of the bed, my hands unfurl the map. There is over ten circles on the map, but still... How is California a lake? I hear my front door open.
Rushing over to the living room, I see Vex looking at me. "The compass is moving..."He says. After a couple minutes, we follow the compass, the finger moves randomly until we get close to the barn. Vex walks inside, and the finger turns east. Vex grabs his axe and starts chopping the firewood violently.
"Jesus!"
He keeps going, before he sees a small shelf. His hands snatch a small box and he opens it. Inside is an odd coal like stone. He picks it up and hands it to me. It's warm, just like the map. It hums faintly, and Vex walks in circles around me, holding the compass.
The compass finger follows the location of the stone.
[b]5 minutes later[/b]
Chris sits in front of me in a rocking chair, holding the leather book. I sit vertically to him on a couch, the stone inside the box beside me. Vex has the compass still, the map in my lap.
"So this is the Blackstone?" I ask Chris.
Chris flips to the page, and a picture of the Elder appears. "I've read some more about this thing... Apparently it's just one creature, not part of a species. One must use the 'Blackstone' against it to kill it. That's the thing that burned our cars."
I nod. "Well is this the Blackstone?" I ask, holding the stone up.
He shows me a drawing of the Blackstone. It looks like the same rock I have in my gloves, but it is split into twelve or so pieces. "I guess it's a fragment of the Blackstone... And this says one must bring all the pieces together at."
"Together at?"
"It just cuts off after that..." He says, putting the book down.
With a shake of my head, I put the fragment down. "Can I see the map?" He asks. I comply, tossing him the scrap of paper and he analyses it. "Uhh... Maybe... I think these circles are... spots where fragments are. Something like that."
"It's not like we can look for 'em anytime soon." I state, my voice slightly annoyed.
Chris asks why, and I motion towards the direction of our burned cars. "Yeah... I'm hungry."
It's been about thirty minutes now. Jake, Ethan, and Me sit on Vex's front porch. "I got an idea." Jake states.
I perk up. "I think you just made that map and threw a piece of coal in that box to trick us..." Jake says proudly, hands on his hips.
"You caught me..." Before anyone else can say anything, Ethan catches sight of a drig flying in the air. It's in the shape of a rectangle, its body white, with fleshy tendrils dangling from its underside. Ethan's hands scurry to grab his ranger shotgun, he quickly shoulders it before flicking the safety off.
Ethan pulls the trigger, the air around us cracks. The drig recoils slightly, attempting to float away. I reach for my shotgun or rifle, but I quickly realise I left those at home. Ethan lets his last shot out, and it slowly lowers to the ground like a ballon. Multiple mouthes across its white body open and close randomly, and Jake shoots his desert eagle at it for good measure.
He misses by about ten feet, but it's already on the ground. The drig settles right next to Liam's cabin, the tendrils writhing in the snow. We run towards it, climbing the extremely steep hill as a shortcut to his cabin.
Jake reaches the creature first, putting a shot into a mouth. Its teeth are like human teeth, and the tendrils have no skin on them, just exposed flesh. Ethan unsheathes his knife, and immediately gets to work on the creature.
I unsheathed my machete and hatchet at the same times, cutting multiple pieces of it's white body apart. After I'm satisfied, I sheathe both tools and grab a piece. Jake does the same, and takes the first bite. He gives a nod of approval, taking a second bite.
Unbuckling my helmet, I take it half-off my head and pull down my black cloth mask. I take a bite. It tastes like one of those puffy mushrooms you find in fields, those big white ones. It doesn't smell like anything, or maybe it's because the cold freezing my nose.
The snow reaches my knees, it's a bit taller in this hill. After a while, I'm in Liam's cabin, along with Jason and Wyatt.
I gave them a briefing about what I found. "Yo, Liam?" Jason asks.
Liam nods. "Can you make some pancakes?" He complies and goes to the kitchen to make some food.
"So... What now?" Wyatt asks.
"We gather the stones... and we kill it." I state, like it's common sense.
Jason shakes his head. "Why?"
"Because I feel like it's targeting Sylvatus."
"Why?" He repeats.
"The soldiers in Canada, and on our ride here Mason sent an image of the Elder. We tried texting him back but he didn't answer. Don't know if he's alive or not..." I grab a cup of sweet tea, sipping it.
Liam steps back in. "How much longer you think we'll be stuck here?" Jason asks me.
Liam answers for me. "I told James I'll be back by ten A.M today. Since it's past that hopefully soon..."
[b]1 hour later[/b]
Me and Liam are putting the information down on his MacBook google earth map. Liam is putting points on the map from where the circles are on the paper map. Right now he's on the Señor Desert. Some people call it Bryce Canyon, Some call it Redwood forest.
My grandpa told me that Bryce Canyon used to be smaller, but somehow before I was born it grew. He plants a point in the Señor Desert, the blue point contrasting with the orange surface. Liam moves to another circle, drawn in the salt plains.
His cursor moves over the Great Salt Lake Desert, and he moves past it. A little bit away is the salt plains. Were the ground is grey and cracked, completely barren of life. Liam looks back at the map and plants a point. "Is there one anywhere else near there?"
"Nah... There's one in the Woodland plains though." I state. He nods and moves to where the Great Plains are. The woodland plains is an odd place. It's like a giant dug a shovel in the ground. The Woodland Plains is two hundred feet below the rest of the ground around it, about thirty million acres or so.
After he plants the rest of the points, he claps. "Well-" Before he can say anything the MacBook explodes. Smoke pours out of it and he throws it to the ground. "Motherfucker!"
I stay planted in my seat, looking at the laptop then back at him. "I'm done!" He yells, storming out of his Cabin. With a shake of my head, I reach for the MacBook. My red and black dirt bike gloves block the heat, and I head outside as well. I toss the electronic into the snow, and I see Ethan staring off into the distance.
"You good?" I ask him, as he stands beside me. Liam doesn't have a porch, so he's just standing in the snow.
"Remember the time we got stuck here when we were younger?" Ethan says, turning towards me.
I nod. We told everyone we got lost, so we stayed here for a week or so. We weren't really stuck, plus it was summer so it wasn't very cold. "That was like two years ago."
"Still."
Liam's dog barks from inside, probably Liam went inside by his backdoor.
[b]3 hours later[/b]
The snow is pouring down again. Me and Wyatt are on Andrew's porch, sipping water. The snow creates a fog like effect for the air, Wyatt looks at me. "Where are we going next?" He asks.
"I'm not sure... Wherever the compass leads to, I guess."
He nods. "Think we'll be out by tonight?"
"Hell no." I state, looking at the fog.
He gives a quiet chuckle, before sipping the glass of water. A large silhouette becomes visible through the fog. It's in the direction of Zane and them's houses, but they're at Liam's cabin.
It floats in the sky, its body like a squid or something. Looks to be about three hundred feet tall, it's tendrils dangling from the sky.
"Look. A kraken."
Wyatt's gaze snaps towards it, he stares at it for a moment. "That's cool..."
[b]Tyler POV[/b]
I'm standing inside a cell room. The second floor loft, the floor made of the black cloth like the rest of the Nonagon. My hands shove a prisoner in a second floor cell, the prisoner below him staring at us. The prisoner's body falls into the white fur cell, a small pillow sitting on the floor for a bed.
I zip the cell up, instead of bars we use durable netting. A guard in all black dirt bike gear holding a UMP-45 patrols the loft, walking past me. The light blue LED lights that line the walls of the holding room shines brightly on the ground. Taking my green mask off, I walk over to a bench.
Sitting down, I unlatch the stainless steel canteen from my belt and bring it to my lips. The warm water runs down my throat, prompting a sigh after I'm done. I check my phone, my green cloth gloves gripping the leather phone case. Landon hasn't answered.
James sent a helicopter to search for them tomorrow morning, maybe they're out somewhere doing stupid shit. I put the canteen onto the back of my belt, my hand bumping into the machete sheath on the left of my belt.
That prisoner is booked for interrogation, most of them are Hiwassee's here. Two guards walk past me, holding a prisoner's shoulders with his hands tied behind his back. Probably to be executed.
"Hey!" A voice yells out. I look around, but I can't see no one. A gunshot rings out, I shoot up and take out my M16. It has no accessories, it was my gramps rifle in 'nam. Scanning the loft, I see a couple prisoners, somehow armed. A guard lays on the ground, his visor cracked and his handgun gone.
A prisoner runs around cutting up the nets, letting prisoners free. Firing a couple shots off, I shoot the two next to the guard, but another armed prisoner shoots at me. I quickly run off the loft, the main exit blocked off by some netting. Letting the M16 dangle from my sling, and I cut it up with my machete.
Sheathing it, I shoulder the rifle again, kicking the exit door open. The hallway is black, with red LED lights flashing through the halls. Some pods are connected to the hallway, but past them are more halls.
After a couple minutes, a group of prisoners step out of the door. I shoot the first one, his brains shooting out of his skull like a ketchup bottle. The second prisoner slams the door shut, I shoot at the glass door, but the bullets get wedged inside.
The prisoner steps back and flips me off.
"Fuck you!" I yell, shooting the door again.
The prisoner laughs, and I take off my backpack. He looks at me as I reach inside, grabbing a bear trap. Setting it in front of the door, I salute him before walking off. He won't get stuck inside of it, but he won't be able to open the door either.
I can hear the prisoner attempt to open the glass door, but the bear trap acts as a door wedge. The smartwatch on my wrist gives me a notification, it says multiple rooms of prisoners have escaped. They done planned it out. Soldier run behind me, one grabs my shoulder.
"Sir! You need to get in a security room!" A soldier yells.
"No... I can handle my own."
"You have to!"
I take a moment to consider it. Shaking my head, I follow him as he leads me to a safe location.
[b]Landon POV[/b]
I step out of my cabin, walking onto the porch. My hands grip the map tightly, staring at it. The shotgun and rifle are both slinged over my back, the morning sun melting a layer of snow on the ground.
My boots step through the snow, powder coating the steel toe. Walking on Vex's porch, I knock on his door. A moment later he opens it. He's still in his gear, he puts up a hand to greet me.
"You find out where we're heading next?" Vex asks, leading me to the living room. It's a lot like mine, but just a bit smaller and with a moose head on the wall.
I point to a 'x' on the outskirts of the Hudson Bay. "Why not the one in Virginia?" He asks, pointing to another x.
"I gotta go to Celtic station. And on my way Imma review some new missiles."
"New missiles?"
"Top secret." I state, curling the map up.
"Can I go?"
Putting the map in my pocket, it sticks out a lot but it won't fall out. "We'll talk about that later..."
After a couple minutes, we walk back outside. Holding the map in my hands, we stand in the snow as we stare at it. Vex says he wants to go to the one in Virginia, then changes his mind and points to the one in North Carolina. Before I can say anything, the map catches fire.
"Shit!" I yell, still holding the map in one hand. The corner that caught fire turns to ash, then the rest of it combusts into flames.
Tossing it into the snow, it crumbles to ash. "Are you... Ugh!" Vex yells, stomping his boots into the snow.
"Please tell me you have the compass..." I whisper, staring at the ashes.
"I... I do." He states, looking at the same thing I am.
"And the Fragment?"
He nods. I take a large breath, the vapour lingering in the air. Taking my helmet off, I toss it in the snow. A heavy buzzing sound comes from above us, I look up and I see a shape hovering in the air. A helicopter.