Track 9

"Well, uh, we're…" Yahd trailed off, looking over to Kalimba, who stared back wide-eyedflu. 

'If he decides to shoot, none of us here are fast enough to activate our energy and push Yahd out of the way before he dies,' Asher thought. 

"Don't look at them. Look at me," the soldier ordered.

"Okay, okay," Yahd's hands were high in the air, "We got a bit lost, alright. We were on this trip with our parents—like a kinda safari tour trip, ya know? They let us kids tour around by ourselves and we drove off an embankment and got lost trying to get back to the route. We've been going for a few days; but it seems like we've been going 'round and 'round in circles. There's no way we can call anyone since our phones can't connect to anything out here…" he trailed off, watching to see what the soldier was going to do next. 

He stared into Yahd's eyes for a while, then eventually put his revolver back into his pants. "Alright, whatever. I don't have time for this shit," he sighed. "Alright, we gotta move!" 

Everyone took a sigh of relief as they watched them all pile back into the helicopter and fly away. 

"I woulda honestly pissed myself if I was Yahd," Asher said. 

The helicopter quickly descended over the small town. 

"Alright," the soldier hopped off the side of the helicopter, walking to the nearest local he saw—a tall man with leathery skin. "You wouldn't have happened to see either one or multiple people come through here with a little girl?"

"Ah yes sir, I did not just ten minutes ago."

"Really?" His eyes lit up, "Do you know where they went?"

"Hmm," the man scratched his chin, "If I recall, they went east," he said, pointing in said direction. 

The soldier smiled, "Thanks, man." He hopped back into the helicopter, relaying the info to the pilot. 

Still on the scent, the beast sprinted through the lonely desert. 

As it took another step forward, it felt the sand give way, as if it were standing on top of an impending avalanche. 

The sand continued to give, cascading down as the space surrounding the beast transformed into a vast pit, sloping toward its center.

A brief sniff informed the creature that this was no ordinary landslide. Regaining its balance as it descended the pit's side, it seized a rock resembling a sizable bowling ball and hurled it toward the middle.

Upon the rock's impact with the sand below, something hidden beneath the surface stirred. Its teeth closed around the boulder, reducing it to dust with a single bite.

Completely forgetting about Melody, the beast jumped down further into the pit; grabbing the sand-creature and pummeling it with its feet and hands. 

It made quick work of the monster; tearing off chunks of its flesh and bone, devouring it until it was just a bloody stain on the sand. 

The red beast opened and closed its jaw, feeling the muscles around its skull grow and change; knowing its bite was now more powerful than ever before. 

With a single bound, it hopped out of the pit; the taste of the girl was back in its mind.

Leo and his two colleagues strolled into the town. 

"Looks like we beat it here," Leo noticed looking around at all the homes and buildings, "Everything is intact."

"Do people actually live here?" One of his colleagues asked incredulously. She looked around, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Clearly," the other colleague said. 

"Like how though? There's nothing around. You can't do anything here. Like, how does an average person even survive this? This isn't even a town; more like a cluster of buildings in the middle of a desert."

"Uh oh," Leo squinted at the horizon. "Someone's coming this way."

They both looked, seeing a metal glint in the horizon approaching quickly. 

"Hey," he turned to his female colleague, "You put the megaphone in your bag, right?"

"Oh yeah. You want me to get it?"

"Mhm," Leo nodded. 

She retrieved the petite designer purse from her shoulder, unzipped it, and delved inside. She produced a colossal megaphone that extended almost several feet in length. 

"That's always crazy to see," the other colleague admired.

Leo clicked it on, and put the microphone up to his mouth, "Good morning everyone! If you can understand me, I advise that you go back and stay in your homes. We are here to protect you, so make sure that you do all that you can to stay out of harm's way."

"That was beautiful," the male colleague said. 

"Thank you," Leo smiled, handing the megaphone back to the woman. 

She slowly pushed the object back into her purse; watching it shrink down as she shoved it inside. 

The gunshots carried over the sprawling desert, quickly reaching the group of kids. 

"It's coming from the town up there," Kalimba said. 

"Are we stopping?" Asher asked from the back seat.

"That's where the tracks lead," Yahd sighed. "We'll get to the edge of town in like two minutes. Is everyone ready?" He looked at them through the rearview mirror. 

Zoe, Mitani, and Asher all nodded. 

The jeep skidded to a stop, and they all quickly piled out of the car. 

'Why is this place so luscious?' Asher thought, looking at the bright green vines hanging from the buildings, the massive ferns that littered the dead sand, and the large oak trees that protruded from yards and the windows from the buildings. 

Everyone's head instantly shot to the side, hearing a scream, and they watched as one of the soldiers they saw from before fly into the side of a nearby house. He fell in a heap; after a low groan, he stopped moving. 

Kalimba closed his eyes; when he opened them, a leafy green aura waved around him. The rest of the group followed his lead, getting into position.

'There were at least seven of those soldiers,' Zoe thought. 'With one down, we may be able to get the rest.'

Kalimba peered around the building, seeing a woman in her late teens or early twenties stroll through the yard of one of the homes, as if she didn't have a care in the world. 'She's definitely not a local, nor is she one of the soldiers,' he thought, 'This is weird though. What is the reason for her being here, then? Was she the one that knocked out the guy just now?' 

Yahd motioned to Mitani that he was going to go down a few houses to look around. 

Slipping from tree to tree, he heard nothing but the occasional gunshot and a rustling inside some of the homes. 

Inhaling deeply, he disengaged the safety on his pistol, steadying it in both hands.

Peering around the corner of the small-town store where he had taken cover, he observed Leo, surrounded by a yellow aura, advancing past the helicopter toward another soldier entangled in a tall tree, its vines dangling from the branches.

Yahd's eyes widened as he watched another of the compound's troopers step from behind the helicopter, the rifle in his hands aimed at the back of the man's head. 

'Oh, no no no no no no,' Yahd's mind raced. He raised his pistol, aiming it toward the soldier. It was as if in that instant, time had slowed, and Yahd was able to see everything with immaculate detail, as if he were studying a painting. 

The bright green leaves of the nearby tree bore a gruesome coat of blood and brain matter as Yahd squeezed the trigger.

Leo turned in surprise, observing the teenager with trembling hands aiming a pistol at the now lifeless soldier. The fallen figure slumped to the ground, blood spilling from the head wound. However, what captured Leo's attention was the vibrant pink aura enveloping Yahd.

With a deft hand motion, a tree branch descended from above, entwining itself around the soldier ensnared in the vines, making a makeshift wooden sarcophagus for the soldier as his muffled screams were silenced once the box was completed. 

"He's still alive in there," Leo said, noticing Yahd's wary expression. "Are you here alone?" 

It took several seconds, but Yahd was able to answer. "No," he said quietly. "There's a few others. Four more people." He stared at the body on the ground. "He…he was going to try to kill you right?"

"Try, yeah. He would've tried to."

"I did a good thing then?"

Leo looked from Yahd to the corpse, "Look," he sighed after a long pause. "We can talk about this in a sec. There's still some of these guys around."

Inside the helicopter, the mercenary ripped his hand away from the binding, finally wiggling free and removing the rest of his bindings. 

He took a shaky step from the helicopter, looking around, noticing there wasn't a soul insight. 

Taking advantage of this brief opportunity, he sprinted out of the town, away from everything, toward a small patch of nearby forest, disappearing into the foliage. 

Both Leo and Yahd rounded the corner of the home, looking into its backyard, seeing two soldiers on the ground with six people surrounding them. 

Yahd pointed his gun, but quickly dropped it seeing his group, along with the woman he saw before, as well as a man he wasn't familiar with, but wore similar clothes to that of Leo and the woman. 

The woman smiled when she saw Leo. "Leo!" She ran over, "I was honestly worried," she said as she hugged him. 

"Woah," Asher thought, staring at the woman. 

"I've dealt with a lot of poachers; this wasn't so different."

"Okay," Leo said into his phone. It was a massive thing, with a box on its back and an antenna sticking out of it. "Yeah, they'll be in the middle of town, tied up." He paused, listening to someone on the other end. "I'll have both of them keep watch, just in case." He put his phone in his pocket. 

His two colleagues both nodded and walked off to go round up every soldier in the area. 

"Well, can't stay long, kids. Hope you guys have a ride cause I'm off," as he finished talking, his yellow aura appeared, and within seconds, a massive condor, about the size of the jeep they rode in, swooped down and landed next to Leo. 

Zoe's jaw dropped open, staring at the creature. "How did you do that?"

Leo didn't answer, as he hopped on the back of the bird, and with a single flap of its wings that sprayed sand everywhere, it flung itself high into the air, disappearing into the distance. 

"Now what?" Asher asked. 

Zoe looked at the ground around them, "we keep following the tracks, I presume."

"Yeah," Kalimba said. "We can't really waste more time," he looked at Yahd, whose eyes glazed over as he stared at his feet. Between them, his gun sat sticking out of the sand.

"You okay?" Mitani asked, following Kalimba's gaze. 

"Mm," he grumbled, reaching down and picking up the gun with shaky hands. Without a word, he turned and walked back toward the jeep. 

The rest of the group exchanged looks, but followed him back to the car. 

After fueling the jeep, they continued following the quickly fading tracks. 

The sun had dipped back down across the sky, turning it a slight orange. 

Palmer yawned and looked at his watch, "Jeez," he turned to Melody, who also yawned, fidgeting with his empty back-up pistol. About two football field's distance away, he spotted a cluster of small abandoned shacks, barely bigger than an outhouse. "We're gonna rest for a few hours," he said, pulling over to the side. 

Melody yawned, "can we do it outside," she begged. "This car is so uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, there's a small house right here."

"Ewww," Melody held her nose as she walked toward the shed, her hand tightening around Palmer's. 

"Yeah, I know it's not the best, but we're only going to be resting here for a few hours." 

A wave of golden aura surrounded her as she walked into the shack. For that brief moment, a sweet smell wafted through. 

"What the-" Palmer's eyes widened as he watched the energy arc around the room, billowing from Melody. 'This smell…it's like I'm in a bakery.' Before he could say more, the energy dissipated just as soon as it materialized; with that, the smell. Melody yawned and fell forward. Palmer caught her before she hit the floor. 

"She's totally out," Palmer thought, carrying her the only bedding in the shack, placing her on it. 

"I think that's the car," Yahd said, pointing straight ahead. The sound startled everyone, as Yahd had not said a single word since leaving the small town. 

Zoe looked between the seats, squinting through the dusty window and seeing the glint of something metal from the headlights. 

The sky had turned black at this point; stars littering the sky like she'd never seen before. 'Pretty-ful,' she thought, a smile coming to her face. 

"Wait," Kalimba said, "Stop the car here, and turn off the headlights. Quickly."

Yahd did as he was told. 

They all sat silently in the jeep, not moving. 

"So, who's gonna be the one to sneak in and grab her?" Asher asked. 

Everyone turned and looked at Zoe.