The Forest

IMANI

Imani let out a huff as the humanoid robot stopped her from falling after she snagged her foot on a root that was protruding from the soil. "Thank you," she said as he helped her stand upright.

They were all wearing Krynt Danmat suits. Danmat stood for dangerous materials and the suit was a fashion outfit that was turned into a PPE, personal protective equipment, when the Sirizan virus became a threat to the human race. The form-fitting suit provided reliable protection from chemical, nuclear and biological hazards and was made from an impermeable barrier film. The suits included gloves, boots and helmets that had air filters to provide clean, uncontaminated air for the wearer.

"You're welcome Imani," he replied and stepped away from her.

"Watch your step," Lucille, who was a couple of feet away from her, stated without looking back as Imani stepped over the root and kept following the woman.

They had been traipsing in the forest for over an hour with five humanoid bots, trying to find the place where the people who said they were here four days ago got the virus from. Imani hadn't wanted to come to the forest because she was scared there would be wolves in it but she realized she had two options. She could follow Lucille and help stop the virus from infecting more people after they find where it is in the forest or she could stay in the lobby of the lab and wait for Lucas to come back because she really didn't want to go upstairs and end up running into Lucy.

Lucille had told her Lucas wouldn't be coming back anytime soon because he was addressing a lot of people who were going to have a lot of questions. She also told her that there would be no wolves in the forest because all the people in Wolfborn, including those at work, will be listening to Lucas' address so Imani had decided to follow the woman to the forest.

They had stopped a couple of times and collected different samples, leaving markers at where they collected them so they'll know exactly where the virus is after testing all the samples. That meant a lot of mice were going to be used for the tests and they were going to have to wait for three to five days to get results. Imani really hoped that their efforts wouldn't go to waste.

"Lucille, wait," Imani called out after a couple of minutes as she hunched over and placed her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths. "Just give me a moment."

Lucille turned around and began to walk towards Imani while the humanoid robots, who were carrying sample collection boxes that contained all the samples the two scientists had already taken, kept on walking. "Humans are so needy."

Imani let out a laugh and slowly stood upright, still taking deep breaths, as the woman stopped in front of her. "Sorry."

"Are you okay?" Lucille asked as she lightly touched Imani's arm and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. And the terrain isn't really helping," she replied as she placed her hands on her waist before the woman called out to the humanoid robots, stopping them.

"We'll be going back to the lab soon," Lucille stated as she walked away from Imani and towards a dying tree, crouching next to it. "Wade," she called out and one of the robots quickly headed towards her.

He opened the sample collection box when he got to her and she removed a sample bag and a lab spatula from one corner in the box before she began to use the spatula to place soil into the bag.

When Lucille had collected the first soil sample, Imani had told her she didn't think the virus was in the soil because the sun would have most definitely killed it. She also didn't think that the virus was the reason for the dying trees but the woman replied with a 'just in case'.

Imani glanced at her surroundings as she waited for Lucille to be done and spotted a dead tree off to her right. She furrowed her brows the moment she saw that it wasn't just one, it was a lot of dead trees, and she began to head there. She was a couple of feet away from the first dead tree and was about to call out to Lucille when the woman suddenly appeared in front of her, making her heart jump.

"Don't do that," Imani said as she tried to control her racing heart.

"Sorry, sorry. I just didn't want you to go in there," Lucille replied and Imani raised her brows. "Everyone avoids it. You know the Wigan Coven?"

Imani nodded because she had read about them and the stories about the coven used to be quite popular years ago. "Yeah, I've... heard of them."

"They used to live there," Lucille stated as she gestured in the direction of the dead trees that went on for miles. "The land is basically condemned."

The Wigan Coven was one of the eight covens that had existed in Manhattan till a hundred years ago. All the stories Imani had read about them described them to be more dangerous and powerful that the seven other covens. They created spells that affected the entire world and could bring people back from the dead. It is believed that their coven created the spell which brought about vampires and werewolves centuries ago but those weren't the only reasons why their stories had been popular. They had also been popular because a hundred years ago, all the witches in the Wigan Coven disappeared without a trace.

As of today, witches no longer existed and according to the articles online, vampires and werewolves had killed all of them fifty years ago but no one knows why they killed them.

"Shit. Hey!" Lucille's voice snapped Imani out of her thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

Imani turned around and saw two boys and two girls that looked eleven standing where she and Lucille had been earlier. Lucille walked around Imani and towards the children while Imani glanced back at the dead trees before she finally followed the woman.

The children looked nervous, like they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't be doing. "We just wanted to go for a walk," one of the girls said as Imani's eyes darted to the small odd shaped transparent bottle in her hand which contained water.

Imani furrowed her eyes at the bottle as it looked familiar before she suddenly remembered that she had seen that kind of bottle in one of the labs in the Barnes Institute of Medical Research with a biohazard symbol on it.