Expedition. (4)

"That wasn't… what I…"

"I don't care if that wasn't what you were trying to say, because you didn't actually say anything at all! I've been saying this for years, use your words!"

"You. Understand."

"That's because I've known you my whole life!"

There was a lull in the 'conversation' before the Captain looked at his aide again, with a slightly confused expression.

"Again?"

"Yes, he was one of the survivors we pulled during the disastrous first Expedition."

The conversation between the two Venators continued, however on the other side of the portal, Kumkani found himself in a wooded area, not dissimilar to where he was when he first entered Horatio's body – save for the clearing. What was different this time though, was the fact that it was quiet, and he was not under siege from monsters. The pin beeped a few times, and suddenly projected a display with all manner of information. There was a map which displayed the total estimated size of the Zone, as well as the areas that had been explored in the previous Expedition.

'This place is huge, yet comparatively, the area that's been explored is pitifully small.' Kumkani thought to himself as he looked at the display.

There was quite a bit of information on the screen, including the time of day, a timer displaying how much longer was left in the shift, and his current location which was also the location of his own personal portal.

'If Horatio's memory serves, this thing responds to voice commands.'

"Menu Off." He called, and indeed, it switched off.

He looked around, and as much as he was in the underbrush, the starlit sky still peeked through between the leaves and branches. Kumkani took a moment to settle himself before taking off, moving swiftly yet quietly through the trees. As time went on, he bore witness to many a strange thing, individual clouds releasing torrential downpours over a specific area, gusts of wind so powerful they were bending and twisting trees into odd shapes, lightning streaks dancing across the sky, the cries and howls of creatures that were as spine tingling as they were sporadic, it was just a whole lot.

'This place is… odd. The quicker I find an animal to turn into a familiar, the better.'

The sounds of battle and the cries of his fellow Venators would sometimes echo through the trees, but Kumkani paid them no mind, simply moving swiftly through the forest, doing his best not to get caught in any winds or breezes that could carry his scent, and only stopping to catch his breath or have a sip of water before moving. It looked as though it was night time, however all of the strange atmospheric happenings provided more than enough light for him to see where he was going. After a few hours of forest travel, Kumkani found himself at the border of the forest. It was fenced; however, the fence was in poor enough condition that it could be surmounted or even cut through. Kumkani walked along the fence for a good, long while until he came across a small hole which was just big enough for him to squeeze through. After doing just that and walking for a little bit more, Kumkani came across a road, and just as he did, lightning danced across the sky to reveal the skeletons left behind by carnage, as wrecked cars littered the long road and destroyed buildings off in the distance.

"It looks like nobody managed to escape when this place went to shit." Kumkani said out loud as he looked at the piled-up wreckages.

He began down the road, using the cars as cover, due to the fact that he was exposed on the open road, and it was just as well, as the cries and wailed that could be heard in the distance, as well as in the surrounding darkness were completely different to ones from the forest.

'I can't stay.' He thought to himself. 'There's very little to obscure me or keep me hidden – especially from above.'

Just as he finished the thought, a tear appeared in the air, from which a cloud suddenly materialised, and no sooner had the cloud appeared before a few rumbles, followed by an absolutely destructive lightning strike shot towards the ground below. It struck the wet turf with such force, it actually dug out a little crater, sending mud and rocks flying everywhere. The noise it made was so loud it was deafening, while light was also near blindingly bright, that for just a moment, it revealed what looked to be a nuclear power plant off in the distance, but more alarmingly, a horde of bipedal and quadrupedal creatures between the road, and the station.

"Fuck."

The word escaped from Kumkani's lips before he even knew what was going on, and immediately after that, he was on his bike, running down the road towards whatever settlement or town it was that was at the end of it. His was dipping and ducking between the cars whilst trying to stay low, however any time there was a bit of a gap between cars, he just sprinted as quickly as his legs could carry him – which was actually surprisingly fast. Horatio Rex may have been an F Rank Venator, but it appeared that the sole reason for that low evaluation was his inability to handle Aura. Physically, he was a trained specimen, and as much as he was still recovering, and had spent who knows how long destroying his body with drink and drugs, it certainly was a resilient body. That being said, it was still tender, owing to the just how severe the injuries were, so Kumkani was sucking in a lot of oxygen between sprints. The reason why he was moving with such intensity was because of one thing – sounds. The emptiness of his immediate surroundings meant that the Venator could hear the noises made by the monsters he saw briefly getting louder as they started to close in from either side of the road. Another tear in the tear in the sky produced another random storm cloud, from which lighting struck the ground, revealing how much closer the things were, as well as just how quickly they were moving towards him. The lightning strike did take out a fair few of them, splitting their bodies and sending limbs tumbling everywhere. The ones that had avoided the strike seemingly did not care at all, as they just ran towards Kumkani, who they could clearly not only smell, but see as well.

"Fuck!" He said again, realising that it was pointless trying to be stealthy.