Chapter 3: Morning Ambush.

The group realized they have traveled quite a distance and that night was approaching. It would be very dangerous to stay in the cold areas of the abyss during night as temperatures drop far below freezing. If there were any moisture in those area, they would have immediately froze, whether it be dew or mist.

The best hope they had for surviving the night would be to find a pocket of molten metal that doesn’t seem dangerous, but this is very difficult as most of them are very spontaneous and random.

Somehow they manage to find an area where it was warm and stable enough to set up camp for the night. Most transport vehicle carries camping gear incase accidents happen and they have to stay the night outside of the main camp.

[Simon]: Everyone, let’s set up camp here. There’s no use trying to get further during the night.

[Karl]: Right, they probably haven’t sent out a rescue party as it has only one night. Most likely they just assume we had an accident and have to camp out.

Simon reassures everyone, knowing that tensions are high and added with the fatigue may cause panic in some people. Having an organized group is of top priority when they are in the wild. Having conduct search and rescue missions himself, he understands the process. He was a natural born leader.

Simon took a blue package out of his backpack and started to set up a tent. It was large enough for four people to lie on the floor without feeling cramp. On the top was also a small light source so one can see inside the tent.

[Simon]: Karl, Burnst, after your done setting up, come see me.

He beckons to the two.

With Crule still sleeping on Ms. Burnst back, Karl helped her set up her tent which was about the same size as the one Simon had. Although it took a bit of effort, at least it came with an instruction manual. Burnst spread out a sleeping bag and carefully place Crule in it. She zipped up the tent and headed over to help Karl with his tent. Afterwards, they both walked into Simon’s tent.

[Simon]: I called you two here because out of everyone, you two seemed the calmest.

[Burnst]: Well, back in the day, I used to be a girl scout.

[Simon]: Hahaha. Good good, the more experience we have, the better the chances of our survival.

[Karl]: What should we do about our current situation?…

[Simon]: What we need to do is to confirm our plans. We have a limited amount of time to escape and we barely know where we are.

[Burnst]: We are walking towards the walls of the abyss. Assuming the distance we traveled today was about the limit of how much a group can walk in a day, we are only about half way.

[Karl]: So basically we have another full day of walking before we reach the walls.

[Simon]: *sighs* Sadly we have limits in the time we have to escape. After three nights, they will have assumed our camping supply has run out and send out a rescue team. If they found the site of the vehicle with no people there and an empty trunk…Well, they would be searching for us and the borders will be heavily guarded.

[Karl]: That is if they don’t assume we are already dead.

[Simon]: Well, I took precaution and had the back end of our group brush away our footsteps as we walked. This way they shouldn’t know which direction we went.

[Burnst]: That should buy us some time.

[Simon]: What I’m more worried about is what happened to those guards…

[Burnst]: I too am worried about something that can take out so many armed guards and can also take on heavy fire from weapons.

[Simon]: We also didn’t see any traces of blood and also none of the footsteps within the area shows the guards were carried away on foot. The only footprints where of where the guard got out of the vehicle and stood.

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[Karl]: No use worrying about it so much, we need to get some sleep or else another full day of walking may cause our minds and body to crash.

[Simon]: True…we can’t really send people out to look for whatever or whoever took the guards. Let’s just hope it doesn’t consider us the main course after an appetizer of guards…

______

The next morning, Crule woke up to a loud sound. The snoring was extremely loud as it echoes through the tents and seem to have come from Karl. One can only wonder how someone so small can make such a loud noise.

Covering his ears, Crule crept out of the tent as to not wake Ms. Burnst who was asleep next to him. Thanks to the nearby molten metal river, the area wasn’t as cold even in the morning although it was a bit chilly.

Crule tried to remember the face of the woman he saw when he was falling asleep yesterday, but it has been far too long. Trying to remember something that happened six years ago when he was four was difficult as it was sixty percent of his life.

One would say not being able to remember your parents face was a sad, sad thing now days but to Crule who lived on the Rig his entire life, he had no idea how unfortunate he was.

But he was not sad. He had people close to him who loved him, and he knows it. He was happy to have Ms. Burnst.

But happiness never lasts. Fate was a cruel mistress and torments the innocent.

______

Suddenly, Crule heard some strange sounds. It was the sound of wind, but not what you would normally hear in the abyss. It was more of a buzzing noise.

Then, with his limited visibility in the darkness, Crule saw them.

Large black creatures with wings. Either eyes glowing yellow in the darkness, quickly approaching the camp. Their wings beating so fast it was hard to see their true shape. It was only a blur of silvery flashes are it reflects the light emitted by nearby crystals.

Not knowing what to do, Crule had to wake up the person who knew what to do in such situations.

Crule quickly ran to Simon’s tent trying to wake him up.

[Crule]: Mr. Simon, something is coming, and it doesn’t look friendly.

Having been on alert, Simon slept lightly and was prepared to move at a moment’s notice. He quickly opened his eyes and jumped out of the sleeping bag. He reached for his gun and ran outside. Upon seeing the dark shadows approaching so close he knew that they were not prepared to fight back.

[Simon]: Shit, just when we are least prepared. Crule, go wake everyone up, tell them we are under attack, maybe we will survive this ambush.

Crule nodded and quickly ran around the tents shouting.

[Crule]: *yelling* EVERYONE WAKE UP! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!

People quickly run out of their tent with their guns, but it was far too late. The swarm descended upon the helpless camp. Their numbers were too many, far outnumbering the prisoners. The screams of people and screeching could be heard everywhere. Panic and fear ran amok around the camp. The creatures were picking up the people and biting them. Those bitten went limp and couldn’t move or speak.

Crule looked on with fear at the people being were carried off. He didn’t even have time to react when a shadow swooped down and picked him up. He looked up and saw the creature closed up. It was a large insect looking bat. Then he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder and he couldn’t move anymore. No sound escaped from his mouth as he was carried off too.