17. Second Exploration
Sandra's heart was pounding hard watching the Angel of Death walk gracefully into the laboratory room. Her steps were slow but sure. Sandra, who had observed the Angel of Death, from its conception process to being frozen in a cryonic tube, was still amazed.
The Angel of Death was a beautiful woman with an athletic and sexy body. Who would have thought that in that graceful body there was such a deadly danger?
As ordered, the Angel of Death didn't care about Sandra who was still looking at her in amazement. Her round eyes looked around. Searching.
Just at that moment, the cryonic tube opened. Cindy woke up from her cryogenic process. Ben was staring intensely when he saw Cindy standing up. Her slender body looked sturdy when turning her body and face.
Directly facing the Angel of Death who was also staring at Cindy with a threatening look. This is the target!
Cindy didn't seem the least intimidated. Her blood red eyes bulged. Her fingernails were horribly long. Like eagle's hooves. Her body gestures showed that she was the dominant one. Not the other way around.
On the other hand, the Angel of Death displayed an attitude that wasn't much different. The same eagle's hooves, the same well-trained muscles, and the same sturdiness.
The two of them faced each other. Really not much different. The only thing that set them apart was their eye color. The Angel of Death had normal eyes, while Cindy's eyes were as red as coral pea.
Sandra watched all this with her hands cupped to her ears but she wasn't blinking. This was amazing! Sandra would record everything for further research! What would be the final result if there was a fight between the engineered and the natural version?
Ran looked at it all with a pale face. He knew there was nothing he could do. He could only look at the monitor and pray for Cindy's safety.
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The four men who were spending the night in the living forest couldn't close their eyes at all. Everyone was scared. The forest could at any time prey on them in a bizarre way.
They just hoped the sun would come soon.
Ben kept the fire going with whatever objects he could get his hands on. Even now that they had run out of dry twigs, Ben took the initiative to go a little crazy by starting to use the many skulls on the forest floor as fuel.
Surprisingly the fuel from the bones turned out to be working well! Maybe because the bones still contained a lot of animal oil and were not porous. Ben and his friends breathed a sigh of relief. One problem solved. They would not lack fire until morning.
"Ben, I've got an idea!" Rabat's shout broke the silence. Ben and Tet looked at him curiously.
Rabat didn't explain what the idea was. Instead, he was busy picking the bones that were still oily and then wrapped them with his clothes that had been smeared first on the other bones that were crushed. Rabat was making torches!
Rabat turned to his friends who were still looking oblivious, smiling proudly.
"We can find a way out of this living forest tonight. Even explore it if we want. We know this living forest is afraid of fire. We make as many torches as we can."
The others came to their senses quickly. Brilliant idea! Why wait until morning, why not do it now? Time was precious. They didn't know what happened on the ship. Ran and Cindy might be in danger.
They finally managed to make a torch from quite a lot of bones. It was enough until morning. Now was the time to find a way out.
"While walking to find a way out, we have to explore this living forest. Our journey will be useless if we don't. We don't have the luxury of time," Ben assured his friends. Nobody said no. They completely agreed.
They proceeded carefully, trying to find a way out of the terrible living forest. At each step, they took the time to record what they saw and found.
The predatory trees were afraid of fire. The tendrils that are the hands of the prey catcher immediately move away as soon as the fire is brought near. Likewise, the poisonous animals that were so abundant on the forest ground.
Not all the trees were predators. Only certain types could be classified as one. There were trees, with monkeys, snakes, birds and bats slept on branches.
Tet noted the types of predators carefully. This knowledge would be very useful if they had to pass through this strange forest later.
They kept on moving to get out of the forest. There was nothing for them to use as marks. So, they chose to follow the flow of a river.
"Never go into the river. We never know what's inside, especially in that small river," Tet warned his friends.
Before Tet could explain further, there was a commotion behind them. The three of them quickly hid behind a tree. The noise was like an animal in pursuit.
Sure enough! A small deer ran fast trying to save itself from a leopard.
The little deer with all its strength jumped over a small river that was no more than 4-meter wide. The deer's high jump was followed by a leopard who didn't want to lose its prey. The two of them had almost made it to the other side. But what happened next made the eyes of the three friends widen!
As the bodies of the two animals were in the air, what was a calm river suddenly churned. A tongue of water was formed and snatched the two animals. Both animals flailed to break away from the grip of water.
The two beasts were struggling as the tongue of water pulled them into the middle of the river, swallowing both quickly. Tet, a biologist, gaped in disbelief after seeing so clearly as the water bubbles subsided and the river surface calmed. Floating on the surface of the water were bones that were clearly the new bones of the little deer and leopard.
That was the most freakish thing that ever happened. The river was alive and preyed on living things!
This second exploration conducted in the middle of the night showed them things that made no sense! What was this island made of?
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