Meeting a friend? or foe? Or?

'tic…..tic….tic….'

The jarring reverberating low pitch sound rang in the wilderness, seemingly where the group was resting for the better half of the night this time. They had long left behind the forest and now had stepped into the somewhat plain area with irregular vegetation and bare soil.

Whether to carry on walking or to rest here, the good part of the majority opted to rest here. None of the group of nearly twenty members were pushovers, therefore instead of one or two voices, democracy was ruling till now. Though two or three among them definitely had a bigger say owing to their reputation and well-known strength, they too were not keen on taking charge, because they were still unclear of the general situation.