Chương 15: Chapter 13: Embark into the Dark

As he made his way towards the nosferians, he looked back towards the twenty or so still not scavenging. Six appeared to be in dire straits, too weak to move, Fiona was there taking care of them, while the rest were simply muttering among themselves, glaring at him. He didn't doubt they'd already have attacked him and tried to take his sword- if not for the giant extraterrestrial behind him, glaring right back.

Their path unhindered, he stepped before the nosferians, all of whom were practically climbing over each other to get a glimpse of him and Squeaky; his bat friend was talking with them, likely recounting what she'd seen, and he let her for a bit, but he wasn't willing to let this drop into story time just yet. Waving his arm in a beckoning motion, he signaled for them to follow, and walked out into the camp.

He saw where the others had already picked through, and how the people spread out like a wave to cover as much as possible, but they still tended to clump together in places- likely for security. The nosferians watched the humans curiously, which he took as a good sign. After all, communal animals such as cats and dogs would copy the behaviors of others to not be ostracized; it would make it easier to teach them if he saw other humans doing it too. So, he got started.

Walking through the wreckage, he quickly collected an assortment of items, holding them up to the nosferians one by one. A metal water bottle, a makeshift spear, some dried fruit, and a bottle red pocket first aid kit- same as the one he'd used on Squeaky a while back- and a bag.

"We need things like these!" he said loudly, and while he didn't think they understood, he passed the items around one by one. The objects made their ways through the nosferians, getting held, studied… licked… and then offered back to him. He sighed with a smile, then took the bag and held it open, letting the unnamed nosferian place them, inside hesitantly. He nodded as they did so… and the nosferian slowly nodded back.

'He really is copying me! How cute.' Then, Aaron handed the bag back to the nosferian, who studied the collection of items, now much more easy to hold. He watched recognition flash through the nosferian's eyes, the bat person hoisting it high, squeaking repeatedly and hopping around in excitement. The others listened, then quickly started looking around, likely to find their own bags. It went faster from there, kicking off quickly.

The Nosferians would dig through the trash, find something, then bring it to Aaron to check if it was useful. He would nod if it was, or shake his head if it wasn't. The nosferians quickly caught on, the items rapidly becoming more useful as the chances of trash plummeted; he never even got the chance to dig through things himself, as he was too preoccupied with verifying everything they found. He slowly led them towards the area where the other humans were searching.

Though both species gave each other weary looks, they didn't attack, and seemed to relax as they worked alongside one another. Amelia walked over, and some of the nosferians looked at her tensely.

"You look a bit overwhelmed, want some help?" she asked, and he nodded gratefully.

"I would appreciate it. I've taught them that nod means yes- that the item is good- and shaking your head means no- that the item is bad- so it should be easy. The nosferians still tried to go to him, but he redirected some towards Amelia, and once more, they caught on immediately, splitting who went to who. The humans and nosferians got closer and closer as their lines spread out more, until the magic finally happened. A nosferian carefully walked up to a random human woman, holding something.

As the one who'd been closest, the woman had been watching Aaron and Amelia's process so, logically, she knew what to do. With a small smile, she nodded, and the nosferian got back to work. Aaron released the breath he'd been holding, and grinned widely. The woman saw him watching, and blushed, turning away and quickly pretending she hadn't done anything.

He shook his head; she had nothing to be embarrassed about, but maybe she just didn't like the attention That event was pivotal, as it'd broken the tension between the two species. The humans didn't lean away from them anymore, and the nosferians simply went to the closest human to verify something was useful. A lot of the pressure was alleviated, but as the lines weren't entirely overlapping, they still needed at least one human where he was- but Amelia was here, and he thought of a better way to use his time.

"You've got this?" he asked, and Amelia nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to check on Fiona and break down the cages; we can probably use the materials later. Come get me if you need anything." Amelia gave him a thumbs up, and he set out. To no surprise, Squeaky joined him, but he raised an eyebrow as a second, unnamed nosferian did as well. They stood on either side of him, guardingly, and he simply shrugged. It wouldn't be bad to have some nosferians watch over him, especially with the hostile people near the cages.

On his way, a face he'd only glimpsed in passing made its way closer. Richard appeared, walking from far deeper in the camp and beelining directly for Aaron. His facial expression was… stoic, but not hostile. The nosferians drew closer to him as Richard did, and he couldn't say they were wrong to do so. Richard was a sadist who'd enjoyed causing pain; even if he was strong, Aaron would be on guard towards him as well.

"Yea?" he asked neutrally, but didn't stop moving, and Richard kept pace a few feet to his right.

"How much do you know about leading people and organizing supplies?" He frowned, seeing where this was likely going.

"Not much, but I can't imagine I'm doing poorly."

"You're not, but it could be a bit better. For a lot of these people, they're only listening because they're scared. When they aren't scared anymore… they might think it's time for a change of pace. Try to overthrow you." Aaron couldn't help it, he scoffed.

"Overthrow? Overthrow? I'm not a king, if they think they can lead they can try, but honestly? I don't think they'll stop being scared. Not til we escape, and if that happens, I'll be just fine." Richard's face didn't respond to his… perhaps unwarranted hostility, but he couldn't help it. He knew where this was going. Richard wanted control, or at least for Aaron to "Hear out" his advice. He didn't trust Richard in the slightest. He'd rather enact his own inefficient good than to trade it for an efficient evil.

Richard, however, clearly locked on to a singular part of what he said.

"Then you'd just let someone else lead if they wanted to?" Aaron finally stopped, facing Richard fully, and they stared at each other for a long moment.

"No." He said that they can try. Not that he would let them. Richard kept the unnervingly flat expression on his face, but nodded, accelerating his steps as he, too, made his way to the cages. Aaron had a bad feeling about it, but luckily, the man didn't move towards the weak, but those who'd refused to scavenge like everyone else. Aaron pretended not to see them as he checked on Fiona and the six weak- plus two more, a tall black man, and a shorter tan woman, both with dark hair and brown eyes.

The two seemed to be debating something with Fiona, and as Aaron walked up, they turned to look at him.

"What's the issue?" he asked, seeing that it was a few different disposable water bottles between them. Each contained a pitch-black liquid. Fiona bit her lip.

"We don't… know how to test if the water is actually safe. We know that other guy said it was, but these people… they need water, but we don't want to make it worse." Aaron looked down, seeing two elderly women, plus three younger men and a woman. All of them were in varying states of delirium. Fiona continued, "They bled pretty bad after the cannibals hurt them, but Nicole healed them after you walked away. Unlike how you sprang up easily, they need water- probably something to do with not having a Primary.

They'll need food soon too, but we can worry about that when there's some… not potentially cannibalistic meat around."

"Why not get Nicole?"

"We… could, but we don't want to bother her right now. She's already doing a lot… and we don't want to think about her Primary right now. If we need to, we will, but do you have another idea, maybe? Some way to test for poison?" Aaron hummed thoughtfully.

"Maybe. Let me see the water?" Fiona handed it over easily, and he looked closely at it. While he did, he asked "Who're these two, by the way?"

"O-Oh! Sorry, this is Alex and Benia, the two Primary-less people who helped Nicole after we got here. Alex, Benia, this is Aaron." Alex snorted, "Yes, I realized that when I saw him coated in dead flowers and being escorted by two aliens." Aaron unscrewed the cap, sniffing the water, smelling the very slight chemical scent of tap water. That… was strange to him. Wouldn't this be lake water? But, no, it was undeniable, this smelled like tap water. Fiona sighed, "I'm just being poli- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

She screamed as Aaron took a large gulp, swallowing the black liquid. The nosferians were actually the first to respond, Squeaky snatching the bottle from his hands and holding it up above him and out of his reach like some kind of unruly toddler. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Aaron didn't immediately respond, looking inwards at his Primary as the water hit his stomach… and not seeing it respond at all. He gave her a thumbs up, "It's safe."

"WHY would you test it like that?! If it's poisonous, we won't even know until you start throwing up!" Aaron laughed, "It'll be fine. I've eaten some terrible stuff that I knew was poisonous, and my Primary flared up, breaking it down into something digestible. It didn't even respond to this water, meaning it's harmless. Not poisonous, not dirty or stagnant, no dangerous bacteria or parasites. My Primary works on more than just poison, so it's even better."

Fiona's facial expressions shifted rapidly between emotions, but Alex looked like he was doing everything he could not to burst out laughing. Benia had settled on being horrified. Squeaky tapped him gently-yet-firmly on the top of his head, staring at him with her ears straight out. Aaron waved her off, pointing at the bottle and miming a drinking motion. Squeaky considered what to do… then shook her head! Aaron sighed, "Look what you've done Fiona, you scared the nosferians!

I doubt they'll let the weaker members drink the water unless you all do first." Fiona grimaced, and nodded, "Yea… you're right." Holding her hand out to Squeaky for the bottle, Squeaky looked between them, then handed over the water. Fiona, without hesitating, drank it. Squeaky seemed close to snatching it back, but Fiona held her hand out, simply giving a thumbs up.

"Try nodding," Aaron supplied, "I've taught them that nodding means good." Fiona nodded, and Squeaky relaxed. Handing it to Alex, the man shrugged and took a sip as well, nodding. Not wanting to be left out, Benia also did.

"We should stop wasting our water," Benia said after her sip, "And start giving it to those who actually need it." The nosferians were more relaxed as they saw all the humans drink it before giving the rest to the weak members. Aaron took the empty bottles, offering to fill them up and come back. He walked with Squeaky and friend, who hadn't done anything to stop them since first taking the water bottle away.

Looking at Squeaky, he tried deciphering more of her emotions, any sort of body language he might be able to read. He could only sigh. Without the Corruption and context of a situation, he still couldn't see more than anyone else. On his way to the pond, though, he realized that the thirteen slackers- plus Richard- were nowhere to be seen, and immediately became suspicious. Looking out across the landscape, he saw, to his surprise, that they were collecting stuff, if still distancing themselves from everyone else.

And making their way towards one of the working cars. He felt a burst of irritation well up, and was tempted to say something… but ultimately, he let it go. It didn't matter. Aaron had a little over seventy people- forty eight humans and twenty five nosferians, if he'd counted correctly- following him. In the camp of what had once been over a hundred cannibals, there were eleven cars, which had dropped down to ten when he counted that Amelia had destroyed one.

If Richard's group took one, and Aaron still had the hidden truck outside of the camp, that left ten cars to drive them all. Seven people per car was more than doable. However, if they got greedy and took two, he would stop them. They finally reached the black pond, and he bent down, filling the water bottles one by one. Curiously, when he lifted them out, not a single drop clung to the outer edges. All of the water was either in the bottle or the lake, no mess at all. It didn't even cling to his hands.

Dipping his hand in it, he lifted it out and found a… strange dissonance. His hand felt like there was moisture on it, and when he rubbed his fingers together, he felt that slightly-higher-friction of mildly damp hands, but he could see no blackness on them, and there was not even a sheen to indicate otherwise. Cupping it, he let it slowly dribble away, and he watched some of it cling to him like normal water tension would, but when he turned his hand, it would still quickly fall off and rejoin the main pond.

'Strange.' When all the bottles were filled, he cupped his hands again, filled them up, and drank straight from the pond. It was… refreshing. Not like tap water, but in a more natural way, like from a spring. A sip from the bottle… and he tasted tap water again. That… had odd implications'Really, really strange.' Squeaky, watching his example, also leaned down, lapping some of it up at first.

Her eyes widened in recognition, then she gingerly dipped the lower half of her head into the water, drinking deeply for several seconds, before she was satisfied. The other nosferian followed soon after, and when both had their fill, Aaron set back towards Fiona and the others. * After giving the water to Fiona, he finally set about doing what he'd originally intended to: Breaking down at least one of the cages. The bars themselves were simply too useful to not at least try to take.

He didn't know if they'd keep their properties once separated, but if they did, he could see them being worth a fortune as weapons. A metal bar that was indestructible to everything except magic? Who wouldn't want that? And even if they didn't keep their properties, it was still a metal bar. So, he started to experiment. He didn't want to overextend his Primary again, but that probably wouldn't be necessary. He wasn't on a time crunch anymore, and he could afford to go at it slowly.

So, he began to play around with his Weight. He found that he could extend a little bit of green and yellow energy from his core, but it moved sluggishly compared to the lightning it'd burned under his skin before, which just further supported that his Primary would overclock in response to his emotions.

'Hysteric strength, but for magic I suppose.' He slowly, carefully, extended his Primary down the edge of his blade, then tapped it against the bar. It didn't scream as it had before, but let out a small, soft grinding noise. Pulling back, he saw a sizable nick in the metal, and was reassured that it would be possible to break this down without setting his Primary off to fester again. Without further ado, he got to work, slicing up the cage for spare parts.

He got the first bar off, and grinned when he realized it did keep its properties. Listening to it, he could hear the drum of that unfamiliar voice. These would prove incredibly useful.

* The exact events that he'd predicted came to transpire: Richard's people took a car, put a bunch of stuff on it, then sat next to the cages after Aaron's group moved the injured further away, and Aaron finished scrapping the first cage; truthfully, he only got around seventeen metal bars before stopping as, even taking it slowly, his Primary started to ache.

They glared at Aaron's group from a distance, likely expecting him to fight over it, but he simply shrugged and turned away, helping get as much on the cars as quickly as possible while his Primary recovered. When they'd loaded up as much as they could on the trucks, Aaron took Squeaky and got his hidden truck, with even more loot on it.

Richard's group looked like they'd sucked on a lemon when he saw that he had even more to bring out, but he wasn't going to bother himself over the opinions of the lazy and the sadists. Finally, he gathered the people around once more. It'd taken about five hours to sift through everything and fill up as many water containers as they could, but they'd done it. He saw some weary eyes and a few people threatened to nod off, but also…

a lot of joy at having worked towards a manageable goal, and maybe acceptance of him as the leader.

"Everyone!" he called out, "It is time! We're as ready as we're going to get. I know some of you are tired, but I have to insist that you sleep while riding along. I've seen many of you already, padding the floors of the cars with blankets, and it's time to put those to good use!

"Some of you may wonder where we're going, and trust me, my intention isn't simply to wander around in the dark indefinitely. Before coming into the camp, I heard the cannibals speak of a faction of people that were insultingly called the Ticks, who actively hunted and raided the cannibal camps, supposedly a group that's powerful enough to maintain a presence down here.

I've even managed to get a general direction, which is why we've set all the cars up on this side of the camp, opposite the cages, as they are somewhere this way.

"Our goal is to make it out there, find whatever established base they may have, and hunker down with them." There was a general hopeful energy in the people, but he also needed them to be on guard. To temper their expectations… and know what to do, should the worst come to pass." However. Do not forget why we are moving quickly in the first place! The Mushki is out there, and the Voice of Nothing told me a little bit about it. For one, it hates challengers, and will always attack the person who confronts it first.

And two, it will always chase if you run away. That means our best hope for surviving it is to simply not encounter it, because if we do, we'll just have to pray that someone in the area is running before us." There was more general unease, but he continued speaking.

"If it does end up chasing us though, do what you can! Last as long as possible, and maybe, just maybe, another Mushki in the area will challenge whichever chases you. There isn't much else you can do, but that's exactly why we're leaving in the first place! Because the chances that it is on its way now… are too high to risk.

"So! Get a last drink, use the bathroom if you can, and hop in your cars. I'm going to hand the key over to the grays, and we'll be out of here the moment I get back!" They scattered to follow his instructions, and soon, nosferians got the gist as well, following suit. Luckily, Squeaky wasn't in any need, so she was happy to tag along- plus another nosferian, different from the first guard. He made his way to the cages, and walked straight up to the grays, throwing the keys on the floor of the cage.

"Cya," he said, and turned around.

"That's it?" the alien called out, "Nothing?"

"Nope." There seemed to be a stunned air that ran through them, as if they couldn't believe Aaron was just.. Leaving.

"Wait!" he called out, but Aaron didn't look at them. Turning towards Richard's group, all of whom glared at him, his expression softened.

"Good luck… I mean it. I really hope you all survive." That seemed to throw them for a loop, though Richard's face never budged. Even if he didn't get along with them, and wouldn't welcome them into his group, he would still wish them the best. But he wouldn't sow chaos just to appease some unlikeable bastards. Climbing up into the same truck he'd come here with, he made sure everyone knew how the vehicles worked and that they couldn't stop driving or their cars would shut off.

Then, he took the lead, driving to the entrance of one of the heavily-used caves. With any luck, they'd be able to follow one of the cannibal's paths and find the "Ticks," or whatever they were actually called. He let his car slowly inch forward, turning around to look at everyone. Amelia, Squeaky, Nicole and her trusted four were at the front with him. That left nine people in this… He frowned,'Nine?' Quickly doing a recount of heads, he, in fact, counted nine, so he simply shrugged and forgot about it.

He still needed to see what other people got from the System, but that was another thing to ask while driving. Behind Aaron's car was a procession of followers- each car holding a mixture of humans and nosferians, some skewing one way, others leaning another. They looked… ready. He raised his hand to say something cheesy like'Let's ride,' but found himself cut off. A slow whistling rang out, cutting off all chatter from everyone in the cavern. It came from the the far wall…

from the exact entrance he'd come through, when he first got here. It started off low, then gradually rose in tone, lasting for ten long seconds, some covering their ears and groaning in pain as it stung to be so close to. Aaron felt as though his heart stopped as the blood drained from his face. He knew that sound. He'd heard it once, the titan chasing after the cannibal's boss.

From the oval entrance he'd driven his car through, one gargantuan claw reached out, crushing a handful of black glass as it pulled, dragging its main body forward with calculated slowness.

"Everyone," he said quietly, though it cut through the silence like a knife, even their engines seeming quieter by comparison. He knew everyone heard him. A second clawed hand came through, grabbing opposite the first one.

"Move." A third, bending up unnaturally to grab at the wall above it.

"Slowly." And finally, its fourth. With it, came the rest of the beast. The Mushki's front half dragged itself free from the confining caves, Between its limbs, two massive sets of wings unfurled… encompassing three fourths of the entire cavern, clinging to the walls and ceiling as, even with this space, it couldn't stretch out its body without restriction. The featureless feathered head split open again, its maw dripping with fresh blood.