Chương 155: Chapter 154 – Shelter in Place

Wayland's eyes widened and he inhaled.

"That's it! That's what I was picking up in the forest last night. What is that thing?" Cole ignored him. He keyed his microphone.

"Morganstern, we've got a big fuckin' problem."" I'll say, the FOB is reporting that Delgada still hasn't made it back to the ridge." Cole looked out over the valley to the south.

"I may know why. That Beast Cult tracker I capped my first time on Curahee is apparently up and mobile."" What?! I thought you shot him in the head."

"Hell, I took the top half of his head clean off. Apparently that wasn't enough. Just confirmed it with Wayland, says blood from a BC artifact matches someone he felt ghosting him in the forest." Wayland perked up at the mention of his name.

"Uh, did I do something bad?"

"No," said Cole.

"Sit tight."" That fills in some blanks. Why can't anything in this goddamn world stay dead?" said Morganstern." Fuck it. Alright. Arley, you copy direct?"" Yes, Mama Morganstern. Sound the alarm?" asked Arley." Get on it." A few seconds later, a siren echoed off the walls of the valley, coming from the ridge to the south. Cole couldn't make out the words even with his enhanced hearing, but he didn't need to. It was a warning to all tryouts: shelter in place, wait for a proctor."

Ketchup, gather your tryouts on the east side of the valley and get them moving back toward the ridge. Arley, start moving north.

Link up with us ASAP and keep an eye out for Delgada. Cole, are we sure this bastard is on the west side of the river?"

"Pretty sure," said Cole.

"The brothers came across it, and it hounded Wayland west of the Silk Forest. If it's anywhere, it should be southwest of…" A flare went up southeast of Cole's lookout, closer to the mountain river path. Goddammit, thought Cole. Judging from the positioning, it was either Akira and Burke or one of Ketchup's teams that had crossed the river. And they'd just given away their position.

Hell, maybe they thought they were doing the proctors a favor, but Cole and the others apparently weren't the only ones stalking the valley.

"Morganstern, you see that?"" Already moving, Airborne!" Cole moved back from the edge, gearing himself up for a running jump.

"Wait!" said Wayland.

"Take me with you, I can feel that creepy fucker." Cole hesitated for only a moment. He was jumping into danger, and protecting Wayland from that danger was his job. But part of the procedure was also to gather the tryouts together for extraction in the event of an incursion, and at the end of the day, Wayland was right. He could sense the mage and had another rifle to point down-range.

Cole put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him along, burning a double charge of his ability to send them both rocketing into the air.

"Oh, holy Jesus!" Wayland shouted. As they flew, three slashes of white energy carved through the trees underneath the flare, downslope from Cole's position. A cloud of dust and plant debris boiled into the air. One red silhouette blurred toward a pair of blue ones.

"No, no, no!" shouted Cole as they plummeted toward the forest. Cole activated his armlet ability which flattened their trajectory, skimming them over the treetops. Ahead, one of the blue silhouettes flickered and vanished. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Cole grit his teeth "Get ready," he hissed.

"Buffs, curses, whatever you got." The glide time ran out and they dropped into the cloud of debris. At the last second, Cole fed the energy into his rifle, which sent him a pang of anxious energy, like it was a dog watching a ball about to be thrown. Well, the squid gun was about to get what it wanted. As soon as Cole's feet touched the ground, he darted forward, rifle raised. As he ran, he passed a body—well, the top part of one, anyway.

Burke's lifeless eyes stared after him from where the Kicker's torso slumped against a tree trunk. His bottom half was still MIA. Cole looked away, blood boiling. He fired several shots at the silhouette before he even got close enough to see it through the thick cloud of dust and debris. The silhouette flinched, turning away from the other tryout to face the new threat. Cole felt an ability charge, and the white claw magic came scything out of the forest.

He just had time to sidestep the spell, but the shockwave from the ability threw Cole completely off his feet. He scrambled upright, just as the mage—or what was left of him—moved into view. The top half of his head was gone. Cole hadn't lied about that. But in its place, a bright orange fungal bloom sprouted. It came at him at a sprint. Glowing blue veins pulsed across its skin and threaded out like fine hair from the new wounds it sported. It hissed like one of the local zombies and launched itself at Cole.

Burning blue energy coated its grasping claws. Certain he did not want to get hit by that, Cole twisted behind a tree, only to watch as the swing split through the trunk like it had been made of foam.

"Fuck!" shouted Cole, holding his arm against the spray of splinters that peppered his face and neck. He dropped his squid gun, which swung itself around to his back on its own. Cole pulled his vorpal spear, instead, and barely got the thing extended before the mage was on him again. It hissed, teeth gnashing towards his throat, but Cole caught the thing on his spear tip and shoved it away. Orange goo spurted from the wound, spilling onto the ground.

The creature landed on its back, then flipped over onto all fours, skittering sideways as it looked for an opening. How it could see anything, Cole had no idea. Wayland finally caught up with him.

"On your right!" he called, coming up on Cole's four o'clock. He fired his entire magazine—only for the rounds to skip off a half-dome shell of energy.

"Aww hell, reloading!"

"He has to drop that shield to use his other spells. Be ready." Almost as soon as Cole said it, a charge popped. Then another, and a third in rapid succession. A multi-charge spell was brewing. The half-dome flashed and shattered as the creature opened its mouth and shrieked.

"Now!" shouted Cole, just before a wave of heat and nausea hit him like a freight train. His vision went double, and he felt his legs wobble underneath him. Wayland fired from behind, sending his second magazine down range. These rounds hit home, as Cole saw chips of fungus and flesh burst across the creature. It shrieked again, and Cole saw the last few rounds skip off the ethereal shell again as the creature scuttled back, finally pushing itself up to its two feet. Cole felt Wayland burn a charge behind him.

Cooling relief washed over Cole, taking the worst of the edge off. Enough for him to stay on his feet, anyway.

"Thanks," said Cole.

"What was that?"

"You just got cursed," said Wayland.

"I can't fix it fully. It's gonna get worse again." Shit. That had been what put Morganstern out of commission last time. It was a damn good thing he'd brought Wayland after all. But his clock was ticking. The fungal-infected mage knew it, too. It opened its mouth and belched out a thick cloud of dark fog, using the smokescreen to melt back into the forest.

"I can still sense it," said Wayland.

"Do we pursue?"

"Negative," said Cole. He honestly wasn't sure if the pair of them could take down the thing supercharged by Curahee's rot. That mage had to die, but the priority now was preserving life.

"Akira is still here somewhere."

"I feel her, she's bleeding," said Wayland. He closed his eyes and spun in a slow circle.

"There," he said, raising a finger to point towards the three vertical slices in the canopy.

"Hundred meters." Cole moved along with Wayland at his back, navigating over the wrecked foliage of the mage's initial attack.

"Friendly!" he called as he ran. The last thing he needed was an accidental bullet from Akira.

"Airborne? Is that you?" came a voice from the other side of a small mound. Cole hopped over it, finding Akira struggling to her feet. She had dozens of small cuts across her left side, but it looked like the worst of the attack had missed her. She looked up at him and Wayland and grimaced.

"Burke?" she asked. Cole shook his head.

"Dead. It was quick." Akira closed her eyes and muttered something in Japanese.

"I told him he should not fire the signal flare. He didn't listen." She gestured to the small mound.

"If I hadn't been low I would be dead, too."

"You're not out of the woods, yet," said Cole. Akira cocked her head and looked at him, then at the forest around them.

"I know." Ah, right, non-native English speaker. He'd had to explain idioms to their Syrian allies on multiple occasions, never appreciating before that just how much of English was complete nonsense.

"You're alive, I mean. But we're still in danger."

"Yes, I heard gunfire. Did you kill it?" Cole shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no. The bastard is damn tough. Doubt I'll be able to take it down without Morganstern and Arley, at least." Especially now that he'd been cursed.

"Speak of the devil," said Wayland, turning his head to the northeast.

"Morganstern is here."