Wild Ride

After being disclosed such horrifying facts by Arian, Luke couldn't sit idly throughout the journey. He was terrified and scared about what's going to happen. Especially after reading the transcript, where everything seems going smooth when actually a danger lurking behind them.

The rest of the trip soon turned quiet with the chatty Luke didn't have a mood to start a conversation.

"Is it snowing?" Luke mumbled under his breath when he noticed a somewhat white powder fell from the sky, decorating the whole sky with its greyish surface colour. Forwarding his hand outward the window, Luke grabs a little amount of it before withdrawing his hand.

"Is it really snow?" Luke doubtfully muttered and poked it a little, trying to discern whether it's snow or not.

Arian glanced at Luke curiously before abruptly stepped on the brake.

Luke, who wasn't prepared ended up getting his back head bumped to the headrest.

"Ouch, what the heck are you doing, senior Arian?" Luke voiced out in annoyance.

Ignoring Luke's complaint, Arian grasped Luke's hand and squinting his eyes as he scrutinized the suspected-snow on his palm.

"It's not snow," Arian mumbled.

"Huh?" Luke blankly looked at him.

"It's ash," Arian stated while shoving back Luke's hand before resuming the driving.

"What? Ash? How come it's here? Is there a volcano here?"

"Ryte City was surrounded by volcanoes, but they didn't seem in an active state yet. So, I doubted it was coming from one of those volcanoes." Arian replied while tapping his finger on the steering wheel.

Letting out a laugh, Luke responds jokingly, "It couldn't be an ash from dead people, right?"

As he laughed, Luke looked over Arian, trying to search for confirmation. But what greeted him was the same serious looking face. Instantly, Luke shut his mouth tightly and threw the ash away from the van. The atmosphere turned gloomy once again.

...

"We've arrived." Arian's voice immediately pulled Luke from his half-sleeping state.

Wiping his drool, Luke groggily said, "Oh..."

The whole journey was taking nearly a half-day of time. Thus, when he and Arian arrived, the sky already turned slightly dark. Yawning sleepily, Luke saw an old wooden gateway sign of Ryte City. Just by having a glance over it, Luke starts having a goosebump.

The sign wood was already porous due to probably constantly getting corroded by rain. Mark of claws was scattered over the sign, almost covering the whole sign by it.

Suppressing his fear, Luke hauled his eyes to another view to distract his mind. But all he saw was only a dark gloomy forest. In fact, their road now was surrounded by thick trees with no light along the way.

"Can you drive faster?" Luke pleaded. He didn't know what's happening, but his gut telling him that staying any longer at this place wouldn't be a good idea, particularly because the sky is almost dark. He vaguely sensed that many pairs of eyes were currently staring at him from the darkness. It could be a beast, but somehow another worst possible comes into his mind. It was the Transcender that might be the person behind the mysterious disappearance of police personnel who are currently staring at him.

Unlike any other time where Arian often disagreeing with him, this time, Arian immediately agreed with Luke's proposal and stepped on the gas deeper. He also had a feeling something is not right but couldn't perceive what it is.

Just then, a deadly roar suddenly reverberated from behind them.

"Fuck! What is it now?" Luke cursed and tried to look at the side-view mirror when Arian prevented him, "Don't!"

Halted his action, Arian explained, "If you come across a case like this, the best way to survive was to pay no attention to what's heading your way. Not only would such action hinder our movement, but our attention would also be got split. The worst outcome was you'll be too frightened to move. So, focus on the road ahead. If you can't, just block your ears with your finger."

Hearing Arian's reason, Luke had no words to refute. All his words were sounds reasonable. The best method at this moment was not to give a fuck about what's coming into our way. Focus on the escape!

Patting his cheeks twice, Luke closed the window and silently prepared his ability. Peeking at Luke, who's looks prepared, Arian ordered before pressing a secret button beside the steering wheel, "Hold on tight."

"High-Resistance Mode Activated." A robotic-voice sounded within the van while a curtain of black steel emerged from the glass's sides before gradually blocking all the view. With the windshield getting blocked by the curtain steel, a screen displaying the road ahead popped out from the inside.

Before Luke able to comment about how cool the mode is. The van abruptly launched itself like a rocket, passing by many trees on its way with its rapid speed. Closing his eyes in fear, Luke gripped the car armrest tightly until his veins were visible enough to be seen with clear eyes.

The feeling of adrenaline continued until he couldn't feel his own arms anymore due to soreness. A minute? A couple of minutes? Or a few minutes? He didn't know anymore. He couldn't estimate how long does he stay in this state since his brain couldn't think straight at the moment. He only gets pulled from his own world once Arian's voice reached his ears, "We've truly arrived now."

Lessening his grip on the armrest, Luke slowly opened his eyes in hesitation before heaved a sigh of relief. The steel curtain was now already returned and no longer blocked his view. Hence a view of the town with many lights turned on comes into his sight.

"Finally, a sign of living being," Luke muttered in joy. Suddenly, his complexion changed. Without hesitation, he directly opened the door and began to puke on the ground.

After experiencing a wild ride, a van taste like a rollercoaster, Luke's stomach has been churned up so bad that the first thing he wants to do right now throwing up his stomach contents.