[137:50:49]
They had already been in that hot, mosquito-filled forest for a few hours. The students' pace had slowed down, but not as much as expected. They had probably walked several kilometers, and Oliver never imagined before this apocalypse that he'd have the stamina for it.
"Something's wrong... i could ignore it before, but now it doesn't make sense. We're not getting that tired, and clearly some people are slimmer and more muscular. I guess what Gael said about me losing a bit of weight wasn't a joke."
Up until then, not a single one of those damn vipers had shown up, and honestly, everyone must have been loving it. Of course, that was too good to be true. Just when they thought they had found the right path and were safe, the demon appeared.
Sssssssssssss!
A faint hiss was heard, and everyone froze. A few dozen meters away, coiled around a tree, a viper several meters long stared at the group. Its slit pupils were calm, almost as if it were peaceful.
"We can go around it..."
Zim!
A bolt flew straight into the slits and pierced the brain of the damn snake. Its body collapsed quickly, and everyone could see Luísa reloading the crossbow.
Everything went silent.
"Well, it was just a snake. Nice shot, Lui—"
Sssssssssssss! Sssssssssssss! Sssssssssssss!
Before Samuel could compliment her, the chorus of hisses began. As if the death of a single serpent had alerted them all, two groups of half a dozen surrounded them from the sides.
The battle quickly broke into the formation. Nikki danced with her blade between the creatures' scales, and Samuel pierced everything in his path. Like two pillars of power, the others stayed around them, but clearly this wasn't an advantage for Oliver's group.
Soon, two serpents broke away from the main fight and came toward Oliver's group. He saw the nervousness and concern in the eyes of... his... team...
"No! Don't think like that, it's just teamwork! Damn it!"
The closest friends jumped at the snakes and halted their advance. Dust rose into the air, axe and spear clashing against fangs.
"They won't last long, especially Gael, with only one arm."
So Oliver aimed at the viper attacking Gael. He had never fired a crossbow before and was pretty nervous. Still, he took a deep breath. Aline and David had appeared at his side, as if ready to protect him.
He focused everything on that shot.
His breathing slowed, his hands steadied, and his vision locked in. He remembered his father's teachings.
"The most important thing isn't speed, but keeping your breath steady. Find your balance point and slowly pull the trigger while exhaling." It was as if Oliver could feel his father whispering each word into his ear.
These memories were growing more vivid and painful. Still, even if a crossbow wasn't a firearm, it was the closest thing he had in a situation like this.
He aimed right into the viper's right eye and slowly exhaled, forming a small cloud from his lips.
And pulled the trigger.
Zim!
The air sliced and it was clear Gael flinched slightly as the bolt flew right past his face, but still pierced the snake's eyeball.
Boom!
Its body dropped lifeless.
Gael nodded in approval and ran to help Lucas, who was still struggling with his opponent.
While Oliver reloaded the crossbow, everyone could see David's manic grin and Aline's sigh of relief. Not even a minute later, an axe cleaved half the creature's head and it dropped dead.
The group was panting, but still... that had been their first team battle. And it was more coordinated than expected. Meanwhile, on the front line...
Heavy breaths filled the air and blood was splattered everywhere.
More than half a dozen vipers, over ten meters long, lay dead, and many irritated faces could be seen.
"Why the hell did you attack the snake, Luísa?! We could've just gone around and kept moving," Nikki shouted, but Samuel stood in front, shielding Luísa.
"She did the basics, don't be an idiot, Nikki. These abominations could ambush us. At least dead, nothing's sneaking up on us."
"Whatever, but if we keep getting into fights all the time, we'll be wiped out before we even reach... wherever the hell we're supposed to go!" Nikki stomped away toward her team. Everyone could see the fury on her face.
"She's really not happy about having to work with Samuel... This won't end well."
The group started moving again. This time, it looked like Nikki wanted to keep more distance, and the formation slowly spread out.
"It won't take long for this group to fracture."
They kept walking through the forest, its geography a pain to deal with, and the sunlight began to filter down onto them.
"Oliver! Something's wrong," Aline whispered in his ear, and he felt her hand on his shoulder.
"I feel it too, but I don't know what it is." Oliver's instincts were screaming danger deep in his chest.
"My Scanner is notifying me of a specific amount of energy, but it's not coming from a being, it's coming from everywhere. It's a type of energy we haven't analyzed yet." Her voice sounded like that of a frightened girl.
"But your Scanner didn't work on objects... or maybe the ones we scanned before just had too little energy and were ignored?"
All the students kept walking among rays of sunlight and forest shadows. The duality of the environment was both magical and terrifying. Any shadow could be hiding a waiting viper, and clearly this place was perfect for an ambush.
His instincts started screaming, and cold sweat ran down Oliver's spine.
"We need to fall back. Screw this whole raid idea." Just as that thought formed, Aline's hand vanished.
Everything went silent.
Everyone simply vanished.
David, Aline, Lucas, Gael. They disappeared right in front of Oliver's eyes, and fear took over his heart.
Amid the sunlight and the forest's dark depths...
He was alone.
[135:40:30]