Chapter 45

“A baby Walker?” Luke scratched his chin and understood where these people were coming from. It was a curious picture that shifted his attention. He already promised he would get involved anyway because he felt guilty and angry about it. Everything that he was saying was almost unnecessary.

They were lucky. These people. He flicked that shotgun away from Marcus, who would shoot if needed. Marcus yelped and fell to his back due to the strength that Luke exerted. Just a wave of a hand was all it took to send a grown man fly.

“S-stop! A baby Walker, sir!? Isn't that a good bargaining chip?” the woman struggled and moved forward. Her hands were shaking and her voice quivering.

“Alright, alright. I see that Emblem in the middle of his head. Calm down.” Luke said, stepping closer and glancing at the baby in front of him. “It looks a little malnourished but alive. Zealous gold within is clear to my eyes. He needs some care as well as... no boat. No boat, alright?” Luke nodded.

“Darling,” Marcus said as he got to his feet. “Did you show him our baby? You know they will take him from us and leave us to our deaths!” He shouted and pointed his shotgun back to Luke.

Luke, completely unbothered, moved his hair behind his right ear and revealed a device hidden behind his hair. A small stick extended under a simple touch; a microphone and a little device to listen to the other side. It was a rare communication device, the people on the boat figured.

They could only hope for such tools, not buy or create them. For Walkers, it was a reasonable tool for communication, and when fighting, communication was important. Where one couldn't see or communicate across a wide range of problems, a voice whispering to one's ear was better than nothing. Pressing some buttons around this device, Luke conveyed his message to Zep. Their helicopter was more than a hundred feet away, creating noise and keeping up with the boat's decreasing movement.

“Zep, these people are ready for the lift. We are leaving with them, alright? Tell it to others and ready the cargo.”

“Right, Captain. Everyone is attending,” a clear voice with a weird accent spoke in Luke's ear.

All people on the deck sighed in relief and a few even collapsed to the floor. Gladness enveloped their minds, and nobody realized how lucky and unlucky they were.

Above, Melia knew the truth the best, similar to Luke who got a hint of an approaching storm the moment William jolted from that window. If they didn't pick them up, these people would die because of them.

For a while, the boat was in motion. “Stop the engine,” Luke ordered. “This boat will go nowhere, which is a shame, but it is better than nothing. Take everything of any value and gas to the deck. We have enough cargo space for everything and everyone, so let's wrap up this messed-up idea and get you to the Federation.” Luke commanded and looked at each person.

Marcus hesitantly dropped his shotgun and hurried to his wife, who was tearing up. Hugging their child, they did not know if they did something wrong, but their life Outside wasn't great. With this, it could be at least extended and their child safe.

Luke's guilt deepened, but it wasn't rare for it to move down or up.

“Are you sure about it, sir?” one hesitant woman said.

“It isn't my problem. Getting you there will come through some people, and create some trouble for me, or you, or everyone, but people are people. I am sure there is something for everyone in the Federation, and you will get some chance.”

That calmed a lot of people on-board.

Soon enough, the helicopter hovered close to the boat and Luke's team got to work. With ropes, machines, and strength, they lifted every person, before moving to their goods. Canisters of fuel and crates of their belongings went up as well. Unfortunately, Melia wasn't all too happy about these people, let alone their cargo which would take time to lift.

William was curious why she kept clicking her tongue and wincing on the spot as if in a hurry. With Luke hovering on his Cube, everything moved smoothly. Soon, William saw six more people on the opposite side of the helicopter, sitting, and looking worried, or glad.

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Anna made no comments about them, though she noticed that baby with a glinting third eye, which was just a metallic shard with dull waves. It looked pretty, and no one refuted this choice or sight.

Melia only scoffed at that kid, understanding that Luke had no other choice, so she waited for him to go back. However, that didn't happen. Luke stayed outside, hovering in the air on his Cube, looking around and suddenly frowning when he glanced from the direction they came from. There were still things yet to reach the helicopter when thunder and noises spread over the darkening horizon.

“Zep, UP! UP!” he shouted to his microphone, hoping Zep heard it. Unbeknown to him, he wasn't in a cockpit, but he heard it and quickly made his move.

Dark Fog spread behind the horizon, dimming the sky like dark paint, and changing water into swamps with deadly colors. It was no true change, for the ocean was far too deep for the Corruption to spread, or for Darks to find a fitting prey. The change happened a few kilometers away from them, and with everyone already inside, Luke made a final choice. Any cargo left on the boat was done for.

Darks were approaching, as he and Melia knew. William tensed up and even the malnourished baby started crying. Crimson moved and William's hand flinched on its own. That often happened, but William was yet to see that storm. He sensed the intensity. It felt the flow of Madness, encroaching, mistaken.

Dark Fog wasn't all that visible due to the direction of the helicopter and his seat. The cockpit wasn't facing it, nor did the windows at the sides show it very well. There was no way to prevent this besides forgetting that boat

Melia knew there were three choices with these people. Ignore the boat, prompt those people to the other direction, which wasn't a good idea either, or help them like this. Luke chose an obvious answer, and Zep promptly moved the helicopters as far and up as he could.

Which left Luke alone, hovering in the air, and facing an approaching storm like a little ant seeing a whole hurricane. Weather instantly got colder, the wind flared up, and the surrounding water and aura were getting crazy due to the approaching Dark Fog of... quite menacing color, flaring energy, and Rank. And it wasn't even that close.

“What is coming from that place?” Luke wondered. “Can I fight it? Kill it? Fog of this quality... is it at Rank 6? How rare... and savage.”

He wasn't sure how many Darks were hiding in those clouds and fissures of dark energy. The helicopter was already far enough in the air to prevent any mishaps, so Luke braced himself for the incoming storm that was moving at incredible speed.

Hundreds of feet in a few moments revealed a nearly thousand-foot-high storm made of Dark Fog. It was dark, looking like a tidal wave of dense mist of darkness. Then, growls and screeching sounds accompanied thunder and wind, hiding within.

No attacks should reach the helicopter, and if they did, things could get nasty very quickly. Luke believed machines like them were a great way to prevent ugly scenarios. Walkers were busy and small, so it became apparent that cargo and rescue operations had to have additional procedures. If they wanted to see a better future, Walkers had to fight and machines had to come back from the past.

Alas, against some places and Darks, some options could become futile, weak, or unlikely to work. Machines weren't enough because the current humanity had fewer resources and space to make an adequate difference. It was about numbers, while Darks were far too savage.

Then, Luke saw it. A beast of size. A Dark spanning dozens of feet across the approaching storm, looking tiny in comparison. It was growling, flapping its large wings that stirred the moving Dark Fog and its multitude of eyes flared from the darkness. Many smaller bird-like beasts were around it as well, adding echoing screeching and sound into Madness.

“Jawran and a bunch of Pterants?” Luke reckoned with a frown, counting the enemies and making quick calculations in his mind.

Amounting to a large building, Jawran's length wasn't all that impressive in itself. Its wingspan was, and so was its terrific jawed head that looked like a triangular beak, spiked and scaled weapon, and hidden within it was insanity, voice, and a lot of sharp objects.

Without the head, it looked like an over-sized mutated bird of prey in a desert of Utah. Jawran was flapping its huge wing-like limbs through the Dark Fog, howling in a sharp and penetrative roar. It was quite an enormous Dark for its Rank with a huge history since the Dawn started. They had awful stamina, so their mostly flapped winged limbs came off as weak when attempting to fly across the ocean. So they swam onward instead, looking pathetic, though from the outer perspective, they were like a large swarm of crazy tidal waves.

That was slowly changing over the years due to evolutions, making Jawrans more effective and versatile. This one before Luke was great at flying, with bigger wings and a smaller, albeit still big head. Alas, its size was still big and it won't be able to last in its flight to reach the Federation, let alone the places across the Atlantic Ocean. Not at its current Rank.

At some point, Jawran resembled a simple bird, with a tail, beak, feathers, and a general light torso, coming from the lower Ranks. This one was quite grown, and its head and wings were in their larger sizes, while its size as a whole was still in dozens of feet. Wings were grotesque, made up of thick knuckles and tough dark skin and spikes.

Personally, Luke didn't see them very often because they preferred wide places with tons of elevations and things to use as footing. They hardly attacked the Federation because of those clear preferences that described various disadvantages.

At the moment, this reeked of a direct clash, and Luke was watching it, not concerned, or afraid.