Chapter 158: A twist in the hunt.
Another group had set out for the same woods, a combined team of people from all the Westbrook bases. Just as it had been the last time, Sunshine led the Fortress Four group. This time however, mercenaries that worked for Jon and his rich friends joined them.
Two hours was all the time they had to spend on the hunt and Elio was the eyes of the team.
As the team swept their way through the still standing greenery, the soldiers wondered how the forest had not been turned into a green graveyard. Yes, a bubble had covered most of the forest but how had the gel been applied to maintained it? The most abnormal part of it all was the way the forest seemed to have thrived during the acid rain.
It was greener, thicker and richer. It looked more like a tropical forest than some woods on a mountain.
They had many questions that they did not dare to ask Sunshine because Nimo had advised them not to poke too much into the business of the base leaders.
Major Elio’s vision caught a trace of shadows in the forest, miles away from where they were.
"We are not alone." He said into a walkie-talkie. "There are others in the forest that are hunting, people and animals."
The hunters clenched their hands around their weapons and hoped they would not run into anything too dangerous.
Raul, the youngest on the teams at the age of seventeen kept mumbling the Lords prayer.
Nimo shook her head every time she saw the boy, wondering what he was doing out there with them. Did Jon have no grown men to send?
"Birds and eggs." Elio shouted.
He pointed up at the canopy which overshadowed them. Some sunlight was filtering through it but there was not much the rest could see.
Hades leaped up and jumped on one of the trees. Then, he jumped on the one next to it and finally vanished into the crowded green leaves.
"Damn, does he have monkey genes or something?" Someone asked.
They heard some screeches, cursing and then an egg dropped drown. Sunshine rushed to catch it and found that she could not hold on to it alone. It was a giant egg, not the kind a normal bird would lay.
It was at least the size of two ostrich eggs put together and yet the shell and coloring appeared to be that of a chicken.
Two soldiers rushed to aid her, stabilizing the egg before placing it in the storage cart.
The struggle above continued, and two more eggs were dropped without warning. This continued until they gathered thirty eggs.
Suddenly, Hades jumped from above with a panicked look on his face. "Angry bird," he bellowed, "Very angry birds."
Major Elio added to that. "Chickens, giant chickens."
Birds dropped out of the sky, clucking like they sought to destroy the mountain. They were towering feathered monstrosities with beaks the height of flag poles and talons that could shred tanks. Worst of all, they were vengeful.
The mercenaries started firing bullets.
Sunshine was pissed and she bellowed. "You morons, this is food."
"This is why I said we go alone." Nimo screamed and tackled one of the mercenaries.
Suddenly it was raining chaos, Fortress Four soldiers were fighting and disarming mercenaries.
Sunshine, Hades, Major Elio and others were fighting giant chicken.
She was using her hammer to knock out as many as she could, Private Juno was scaring them with fire, Hades buzzing like a fly in the air, spraying sleeping spray and Major Elio had turned on the calming lullabies while shooting at the beaks and eyes of the chicken with rubber bullets.
Other soldiers were tangling the feet of the birds in rope and nets.
"Oh crap!" Hades shouted from above. "Alpha Rooster!!"
The trees shook like there was an earthquake, something let out a squawk that sounded like a bark. The ground vibrated.
The hunters became nervous.
Major Elio did not have the patience like everyone else, and he could see the giant chicken before it reached them.
"To hell with waiting." He mumbled. He had got his hands on one of those experimental grenades from the weapons lab.
It looked like big beach ball but could sail through the air with the force of a tennis ball.
He threw it through the air, and it land at the feet of the rooster. The rooster which was just coming into the eye view of everyone paused and tilted its head.
Then it pecked.
Boom.
The explosion rocked the forest. The rooster staggered, screeching. Soldiers charged, dodging its flapping wings and beak that was pecking out randomly.
Sunshine threw her hammer out and hit it on the head. When it collapsed, Raul was suddenly brave enough to drive a blade into its neck.
"It’s ours." The boy shouted.
Hades kicked him off the neck of the rooster. "It’s my wife’s." he declared.
****
The hunters from Stone village paused their movements when they heard the explosion coming from another side of the forest.
"We are not alone." Elan, the leader said with worry on his face.
He looked at the prey they had gathered so far and wondered to himself if it was enough. So far, they had survived being trampled by two very large deer. Being mauled to death by a group of rabbits and being stung by a scorpion that had no business being in this part of the forest.
Elan was like the chief, a believer in the mountain god. He knew that land had changed. The animals had also changed with it. To be greedy without observing what had changed would lead to disaster.
"Maybe we should turn back." Damien Quinn suggested.
The other men looked at him with scorn.
Morris laughed with mockery. "You outsiders only know how to eat but not how to work. We have all caught some prey but you have caught nothing and yet you will be the first to eat when we sit down and make a fire for the night. You should have stayed back and dried herbs and vegetables with the women."
Most of the men laughed, even the fourteen-year-old Buck. In fact, the young boy pushed his chest out, feeling proud because he felt more like a man that the adult Damien Quinn.
"Help me." A voice suddenly came from the shadows in the forest.
The men went still.
"Help me." The voice called out again.
The men became skittish. Nobody was supposed to be in this forest. There had been no other outsiders on the mountain since the acid rain fell.
Why would someone be inside the forest?
"That sounds like old man Volas." Buck said in astonishment.
Some men gasped, realizing that the voice was familiar indeed.
Buck did not feel brave anymore.
"Have you all forgotten that old man Volas is dead?" Elan asked them. "We burned his body to ashes. Something in the forest is playing tricks on us."
The hunters formed a circle, weapons raised. Damien and Morris were back-to-back. Damien had long forgotten his plans, Morris had not.
Morris turned around, raised his hand and stuck a blade into Damien’s back.