2

The flight to France flew by as if completely unnoticed.

— Has anyone fallen asleep? We need to look in the Pampont Forest.— Dariusz was arming himself.— As usual, these guys are somewhat reminiscent of the military… They remind me, they only remind me! —

— Darek, is something wrong?—Cornelius asks.— Yesterday you were as gloomy as a cloud, and today, in the morning, you are so cheerful and overexcited… What are you hiding? —

— Gloomy than a cloud? Me?—Darek put on a double holster.— I was just very tired yesterday. And today I rested...—

— Dariusz, activity has been noticed. Suspicious activity has been detected!The cyborg spoke to Darek with a very human intonation.

— Yes, I see. Stay here, wait for us!—Dariusz waited for the others to arm themselves.— We're leaving!—

Taking out a locator that looks like a huge mirror, Dariusz began to rummage through his pockets.

— What are you doing?—Ryan slung a submachine gun over his shoulder.

— Hm...—Dariusz froze with the look of a lost child.— I'm... looking for batteries...—

Kirby laughed out loud. Removing the keychain from his backpack, he took out two packs of batteries.

— Which ones do you need?—he asked.

— This, littlest… Unfortunately, I have a battery—powered locator...—Dariusz turned on the system.— So, let's wait... just don't forget to check the bullets in your weapon. —

— Yeah, don't forget to put on diapers, sucker!—Cornelius laughed.

The grass crunches underfoot, it seems that you can't take a step here, so as not to step on a berry or a flower.

— Such a place, and they hide weapons here...—Adrianna snorted.

— Yes. I could have brought the girl here, not the bomb.—Kirby said.— Oh, what kind of horror is this?!—

Among the many plants there was... also a plant.

Only two things distinguished this plant from many others: first, this plant was uprooted from the ground, and secondly... instead of leaves, it had tentacles like an octopus.

— Damn, I know this creepy vegetation!—Ryan said.— I sincerely advise you to stop breathing, because this plant is from my planet… It can smell the breath.—

Adrianna checked the bullets in the gun.

The way the grass crunched made it difficult to concentrate on listening to extraneous sounds. It's hard to listen to both at once.

Suddenly, a dry shot struck next to Adrianna's leg. Just one step forward and her foot would have been shot through.

Together, the devil's squad cocked their weapons.

— Where was the shot from?—Cornelius asked, standing with his back to Adrianna.

The whole company stood back to back.

— Damn, I can't see a damn thing!—Kirby said, trying to aim clumsily at the foliage.

Ryan grabbed the gun from him.

— Go to the center of the circle, you can't even shoot!— He said.

— I can do it!—Kirby snorted.— It's just that my reaction is slow...—

People swam out from behind the trees like a huge pile of giant ants. In addition to their military uniforms, they wore robot suits that ended in six limbs on each arm and leg.

It seemed as if each of them had a large spider robot glued to their arms and legs.

Two people in the distance were dragging a huge crate on a cart.

— Can you take the ones with the cart on yourself?—Cornelius asked Adrianna.

— Will you cover me? If I break through, I'll take it.—Adrianna said.— But dig me a path!—

— Great. Darek!—Cornelius made a strange gesture with his hand.

He and Darek shoot synchronously, the lead rain falls to the ground along with the bodies of the soldiers.

Dariusz took out his strange weapon and motioned for the others to scatter.

— Cornelius!—He pointed to the trees.

His creation had just chopped up one of the old and broken trees into fine wood dust.

A scream sounded in the distance.

Ryan closed his eyes.

— The plant has woken up… We're trapped...— He said.

Darek's creation flashed by, and they climbed the trees one by one.

Dariush himself stared in fright at his spiked weapon as it swept past his leg.

The branch almost broke off in his hands. Just a few more seconds and the killer would have been destroyed by his own creation.

The bullet hit Adrianna's forearm. The arm suddenly stopped feeling, and above the wound to the shoulder, the flesh seemed to boil.

Turning around, Adrianna realized that it wasn't the gunshot that caused such a strange state.

The tentacle of the plant that had scared Ryan so much was digging into her wound.

The plant greedily sucks up her blood. The touch of his slimy skin, like a rotten fish, seemed to make it impossible to move.

Ryan saw that the plant had attacked Adrianna, and stabbed the parasite with a swing.

A green liquid, smelling of swamp, is flying in all directions.

Adrianna quickly grabs a weapon, runs away from the second, exactly the same monster, and manages to block the path of the guys dragging the box with a well-aimed shot.

The shot interrupts a thin tree and blocks the road.

— Let go of the box!—Adrianna shouted.

The men raised their hands and at that moment two of Darek's creations bit into their backs.

***

Cornelius looked around the blood-soaked clearing. A strange feeling of euphoria did not leave him.

He seemed to revel in what he was doing.

— Corey, what was that just now?—Darek sat down next to his older brother.— What happened to you, Cornelius? It didn't look normal!—

— I don't know… I do not know what is happening to me...—Cornelius said sadly.— I haven't been able to understand this for a very long time...—

Adrianna grabbed a bayonet and tried to tear off one of the planks.

— Hey, guys!—She called out to the others.— Sorry to bother you, but could someone help me open this?—

Cornelius jumped up and began to lift the wooden board with his fingers. The wood cracked.

Darek stayed away. He took a photograph out of his pocket and looked at it.

— Adrianna, be careful! If you suddenly shake explosives, you don't know what will happen!—Ryan held Adrianna's hand.

— Are you going to tell me what I already know?!—Adrianna said irritably.—Well... there's no bomb here at all...—

***

The contents of the box were impressive.

No, of course it's not a bomb.

Not a weapon.

And not what anyone would think.. Nothing that causes pain.

— Hm...—Cornelius looked at the contents of the box.— My mind is running late… I don't even know what to say about this.—

There was a guy in the drawer. He couldn't have been more than twenty. Although there may actually be more.

In this world, the main thing you can't trust is your eyes.

His sweaty black hair was plastered to his forehead.

Adrianna bent down to check if the guy was alive.

—Are you going to touch him too? What if the guy is toxic? I've seen a lot of things in this life!—Ryan said.

But Ed didn't listen to him. She bent down and carefully brushed the dark bangs from the young man's forehead.

The forehead is hot. Even scalding, a little more and the temperature will reach the state of a scorching hot frying pan.

This guy has a slightly big nose, long and fluffy eyelashes, and a little pale skin, although at this temperature he should be redder than a tomato.

Adrianna checked his pulse.

A high-pitched rhythm, but not too much. It's almost normal.

— If we wake him up, this thing will take his hands off. this thing will take his hands off.… Probably...—Cornelius said, looking at the mechanism that restrains the guy.

— Will it deprive you of your hands? No... — Dariush came up to the company.— Look: these hollow tubes are aimed at his wrists and neck. He'll move and they'll run him through. Bottom line: the guy will either die of pain or drown in his own blood.—

— And how to remove it?—Adrianna asked.

— Are you sure we should release him? We don't really know who he is. Maybe he should be sitting in a drawer?—Darek said it with an incredibly calm intonation.

— Dariusz... sometimes you have to trust people.—Adrianna sighed.—If you don't even try to free him, I will. What happen will happen!—

Darek pushed her away and took out an ordinary penknife.

— Ryan, you're looking at him strangely.… Do you know him?—Adrianna asked, stepping aside with her foster father.

— Those small eyes, big nose… In general, every feature of this guy's face perfectly repeats me when I was young. The only difference we have is our physique, but it's not that important. Just the fact that we are so similar makes me very nervous...—Ryan took off his purple sunglasses, which miraculously didn't break in the commotion.— Do you remember the anomaly in my left eye? We'll need to look at his eyes.—

— I remember the yellow symbol on your iris. I'm attentive, so... if I notice something...—

I could hear the parts of this strange mechanism falling to the ground.

While Dariusz was disassembling the mechanism, it became clear that the guy's arms were crossed on his chest for a reason — if the mechanism had been activated, not only his arms and throat, but also the heart of this guy were pierced by titanium pipes. Those tubes that would pierce his wrists would also pierce the guy's heart in four places.

— So, it seems, vampires were packaged in ancient times...—He suddenly chuckled.— I'm kidding.… I'm just kidding, don't look at me like that, Adrianna...—