A Chapter 20 Separation(5)

  Deep within the Endless Forest

  19th, Blue, 2043.

  Luthor Dugavu(POV)

  With a click, a new cartridge was locked into the chamber, though, I rolled within the mud, away from a monkey that fell from above. Without even pausing for a second, I rolled onto my knee before it could regain its bearings and pressed the trigger, a hole opening up within the middle of its dark ridged brows.

  Hurriedly pasting my back against a tree trunk, I took in the situation around me with a grim expression while shooting at anything that so much as tried to attack me, or those that I could rescue.

  Before even five whole seconds could relapse, a chill crept down my back, with my reflexes hurling my body from the trunk, only for the ripples of an impact to assault my ears. I rolled within the mud, my heightened sense of smell taking in the rot, but my mind wasn't on the disgusting smell at all! Instead, it was the dark green-scaled figure raising its head from the obliterated tree root I had previously been occupying. My face drained of color as the fear of near-death, lingered.

  Something dark flashed within my peripheral vision, vanishing with one of the monkey corpses into the undergrowth. Without hesitation, I pointed my gun at the snake and let loose, instantly emptying the entire cartridge while making a retreat towards my fellows. Even though the bullets failed to penetrate the thin blue membrane layered upon its skin, they still elicited a hiss of pain from the snake before it slithered into the bushes on the side, vanishing from sight. Whether it was hiding and biding it's time for another chance, I couldn't tell.

  Dan appeared before me, one of his metallic rods releasing a pulse of spiritual energy that slowed down a lunging monkey before the other one released a faint laser light that decapitated it before vanishing, as if it had been an illusion. The man spun to the side, with the momentum of the corpse carrying it past his form even as he leapt into another battle, where he took some pressure off Snow, Raiden, Ril and Ravena since they were being overwhelmed.

  My gaze left him to search for another figure, finding him hidden behind a large tree root, oblivious to the danger encroaching from behind. Another cartridge instantly slid into the chamber, as I raised the muzzle and pulled the trigger, all in one smooth motion. The orange flash penetrated the right eye of a monkey, instantly ending it's life, with its body falling onto the hidden Maxwell, startling him so much that he jumped out of his hiding place with a yelp.

  Breaking into a sprint, I ate up ground, appearing beside him even as I emptied the rest of the twenty bullets into the lunging beasts. Their bodybuild was akin to five-year-olds, but they were furry and crimson eyed, with ferocious expressions.

  "These things are endless!" shouted Maxwell, helping occasionally with a shot, missing some, while others only injured. He had never gotten plenty of chances to serve on the front lines, and most of those times were when he was far from the action, shooting at beast hordes. With how numerous the beasts had been, the chances of missing even a hair, were almost zero. But here, he couldn't achieve that same accuracy with all the panic. His pale expression was already weighing heavily upon my heart.

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  We needed something, a plan. But so far I was coming up empty. The places we could hide within were nonexistent. I wiped a smear of blood onto my sleeve as I loaded another cartridge, courtesy of Maxwell who still had two full spares.

  "We need to move! It's only a matter of time before a person dies!" shouted out David, his figure dancing on the forest floor, while his muzzle continuously spewed bullets, with each shot, bring an end to a monkey. His movements while switching out the cartridges were also smooth. He didn't even hesitate to use his knife to gut the monkeys during the small window when his gun couldn't fire. A malevolent grin was layered upon his blood-soaked face, whose ruby eyes were burning brightly within their sockets.

  "Where?" asked Ril. Her face was spotting a shade paler than her healthy one, while her brows were furrowed. Her jaw appeared to be wound tight even as she tried to dodge the spewing blood at her side brought about by Ravena decapitating a monkey with a movement I could only describe as artistic.

  "Sir! He's right. We might stumble upon a hiding place if we travel far enough." Aila said, having appeared at my side. Her facial expression was locked into that of a cool headed beauty, yet the way she had materialized had been way too cool!

  "Then we should head deeper!" I coughed before nodding.

  "The monkeys came from that same direction! We need to arc around that route!" proposed Chief Lutalo while rolling across the muddy forest floor after slitting a monkey's throat to avoid one that had taken that chance to sneak up on him. He ended it with a bullet to the throat after coming to a stop in an awkward posture.

  I found it gratifying that the backpack sticking to my back was waterproof, and most of all, the items inside wouldn't get damaged by impacts or strenuous movement.

  "Maybe... We could... Split into multiple teams? To scatter the monkeys!" shouted out David between dodging and slaughtering.

  My face instantly turned ugly at his suggestion. That was not a wise decision!

  I leaped to the side as a monkey's claws swiped where I had just been, only for another to circle it's thin legs around my neck. Breath struggled to enter and leave my lungs as I fumbled around, using both my hands to hold back it's claws. As we struggled, I fell onto the ground and rolled around, trying to get it off, yet the bastard was hanging on for dear life! Then all of a sudden, the tension left the monkey, and I jumped back onto my feet, scanning the area vigilantly before resuming firing at the monkeys. Someone had just saved me, earning my eternal gratitude, though I didn't know who.

  Before I could rejoin with the others though, something fell from above and crashed in the midst of Ravena's group, scattering them. Ril's back collided with the trunk of a tree, with her mouth opening wide to release a gasp before she crumpled onto the root, moaning in pain. Upon confirming that she was still alive, and that someone was moving towards her, my gaze moved to the assailant.

  My eyes narrowed upon laying eyes upon its form. It was a monkey, tall and thin. If you deducted it's brown fur and dark face, considering only it's height and girth, then it wasn't inferior to any human in proportion!

  It gazed at us, with the other monkeys halting their assault, standing within the branches of the trees surrounding us. Our immediate surroundings were plunged in enough silence that my ears even captured my heavy breaths. Only now, did I manage to feel the pain of the multiple bruises and small cuts on my body, not to mention the blood, mud and dead leaves coating and soaking my outfit. My sweat was in the mix too.

  This monkey had a long stick that rivaled it's height contained in its hands. It gave off a silvery sheen, as if metal, yet the creases and notches upon its surface gave it away as having been a branch at a certain point, one that should have been broken off from a spiritual plant. Set within its dark face were a pair of crimson pupils that were eerily gazing at us with what I could only describe as both intelligence and curiosity. Then, there was also it's mouth, curved upwards in what I could only take to be a smile.

  It twirled the staff in its hands, stirring a gust of wind that caused the dead leaves resting upon certain dry patches to flutter into the mud.

  Then, it's eyes fell upon David, whose face was curled into a cruel smile as he took a step towards it. The snake and the dark beast had been dangerous, yes, but this monkey was on an entirely different level! My instincts would never lie! Even though it was just at the first threshold, its intelligence had elevated it from the common chaff.

  "So, monkey king! Killing you should make it easy to deal with your annoying flies, right?" he asked even as he raised the muzzle of his gun, pointing it straight at the humanoid beast.

  It didn't even flinch at the man's provocation, yet the monkeys surrounding us started making noise, as if affronted that some unknown creature dared challenge their king!

  It's knees bent, and it crouched. My eyes widened and my Iris shrunk as a metallic gleam enlarged within my gaze! Hadn't it been facing David?! I wanted to scream out that question even as I scrambled to react.