Theodore refused to linger near Last Chance Gas, quickly ushering them to follow him into the woods, his cantankerous voice subdued by an undercurrent of paranoia. David and Claire had both exchanged a bit of a look but agreed to follow the much smaller monster away into the underbrush and away from the road, pausing only to shoot a pair of mournful glances toward the decimated front doors.

“Why are we hiding in the woods again?” Claire hissed as she carefully wove between the trees, “We were heading towards Redfield, you know. I promise David and I can handle most of the Quests or random monsters out here…”

“It’s not the Quests or beasties, ma’am,” Theodore replied in a hushed tone as he scuttled over a huge log in their path and rotated to look up at them. David cocked his head curiously, peering out from around Claire’s scaly legs to peer up at him.

“Well, then what is it, Theodore?” David chittered quietly at him.

“Well I…I figure we’re far enough off the road. Call me Theo, son.” The arachnid lowered himself onto the dried wood of the log slightly, “And I owe you an apology for the brawl. Sorry kid, I thought you was with that monkey man and his crew.”

“Monkey man?” Claire and David asked almost in time with each other.

“Y’know, Viktor? Busted out the pen over by Redfield after judgment day?” Theo said in a confused voice, “Been running around ‘conscripting’ people? Acts like he’s some Roman Emperor now that the cops ain't around to put him in his place?”

Claire growled and David couldn’t restrain his hiss of anxiety at the idea, feeling his mane begin to prickle and raise a bit. Theo continued to sit and stare at them, seemingly confused by their response. He waved a foreleg in a small circle in a nervous gesture and backed away a step or two before motioning for them to follow him again as he turned slowly in a circle and crawled down off the log to continue deeper into the woods, vanishing under a stand of saplings before he started speaking again from his concealment.

“You two ain't been out this way since everything went to hell? He rolled into Redfield ‘bout four days ago with two of his goons.” Theo’s voice was frightened and quiet, “Told ‘erryone he was in charge and they’d have to make themselves useful or…contribute.”

David had a sinking feeling as he asked, “Contribute how?”

“He ate ‘em.” Theo said bluntly, “There were a grip of us down there, and we figured we didn’t wanna listen to no monkey with delusions of grandeur. Was a bad call on our part, he’s a bastard but he can fight. Got some crazy skill that calls up ‘bout a blue million smaller monkeys. Almost passes out every time he uses it, but the other two watch his back so you can’t get to him. Don’t matter how many of the little ones you put down, he just keeps calling more. Took the whole day but folks knuckled under after two got ‘et. It was real bad. I figured you two was new ones of his, you just looked…villainous? I weren’t going back to get ‘et myself.”

“Fucking why?!” Claire snarled in horror, jerking her head back and up to rustle the branches above her.

“Said people’s worth more levels than beasties, and if we couldn’t be useful one way we’d ‘contribute’ in other ways.” Theo made a violent spitting noise from somewhere under his hiding place in the dense branches.

David’s ears didn’t quite know where they wanted to be, swiveling backward and forward in shock as his mane poofed out and his lips crawled up his fangs, muscles tensing as he took in Theo’s words. David’s hiss was long and furious, and Claire had gone completely still and silent in a disturbing way as she stood slightly ahead of him in the dense trees. His thoughts turned to Woodland only a day or so’s travel away, less by air, and his stomach dropped, a small shot of adrenaline hitting his system as he imagined them under siege before calming slightly.

No…I think they’d be okay. I’m pretty sure Herold would go ballistic if he thought someone was there to ‘conscript’ everyone at the park. Besides, there’s a lot more of them there and everyone has an evolution under their belt now, I don’t think this Viktor could threaten them. We need to check this out, then maybe I’ll fly back and warn everyone before we…

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“Claire.” David said crisply, “I think we should probably check this out before we go to the observatory.”

Claire made an angry sound of agreement, “Yeah. Yeah, I agree. You already have a plan?”

“No, honestly I don’t. I don’t even know what to think right now, I’m just mad. Enough people probably died, or are in a bad spot because of all this without some…” David snarled, “What a…a…that fucker! Theo! You said they’re in Redfield, right now?”

“Yeah? They’re squatting in the city hall like a bunch of bandits and makin’ everyone fight each other until they collapse, I snuck out while they were busy with some Event or summ’at. All the smaller monkeys ran off to fight and I high-tailed it right outta town.” Theo’s voice drifted out of the vegetation again.

“Alright…Theo, if you head over to Riverport and find Woodland Park you’ll be in good hands. Ask for Herold, he’ll say he’s not really in charge but he kinda is anyway. Good person. Tell them everything you told us, and tell them David and Claire are looking into it.” David snapped before turning to his large scaly friend, “Claire, I know this is kinda dumb but I want to go look around. Not now, after dark. Any objections?”

“None.” She snarled, “This is bullshit, everyone got along just fine in Riverport. Enough things are trying to kill or eat everyone without some asshole deciding to cut in.”

“You oughtta stay away from there, son. If I got away chances are others will too, Viktor’s a bad one, but he ain’t that smart. He’ll get himself offed by summ’at eventually.” Theo interjected quickly from the brush, “Don’t go doing anything rash now.”

David smiled a genuine smile, “I think ‘rash’ is my whole shtick, Theo. Besides, I’m not just gonna let someone get away with…that. As bad as everything is, he had a second chance with all of this and decided to be a bastard anyway.”

Claire broke her stillness with a nod, “I think we’ll be okay. Do they have anyone bigger than me?”

“Ma’am I didn’t even know they made ‘em as big as you.” Theo quipped with a faint hint of a laugh in his voice, “Woodland Park, you say? Took my kids there once or twice when we was visiting. I know where it’s at, might take me a while to get there though.”

“You got some daylight left, Theo. Might wanna get moving, we’ll uh…sort it out over here. If anyone wants to come help, tell them we’ll meet them at Last Chance in a day or two if I don’t beat you back there for some reason.” David chittered before flapping up to land on Claire’s back in his usual spot.

Claire rumbled angrily and turned, forcing David to duck as she plowed through the branches back toward the road. Theo yelled a few more words of warning before David’s sensitive ears caught the sound of him scurrying away through the dense underbrush over the sound of Claire muscling her way through the forest with a total lack of concern. His mane was still fluffed out, and he shook himself a bit to ease the tension of his ruffled fur as they emerged from the trees and back into sight of the gas station before Claire came to a halt. She swung her snout down the road towards Redfield, the highway continuing off into the distance until it vanished around a small bend. With a snort, she started forward again before suddenly pausing.

“Think it’s worth it to stay in the trees?” She asked, voice still angry and brittle.

“Yeah, probably. I say we get close enough to see the city and then settle in. I’ve been awake during the day too much lately, and I want to wait until dark before I go poke around.” David yawned, “Keep that sniffer on standby, you mind if I try to catch a nap? I don’t wanna be tired for this and make some sort of dumb mistake. Maybe we can just break everyone out and call it a day without having to do anything too crazy.”

“Yeah…David be careful. If it looks dangerous we can always go get help…or just walk away.” Claire said quietly as she slunk back into the tree line, “I’ll keep the road in sight so we don't get lost but…I know you want to help everybody but this Viktor guy killed people. We should help if we can but…just look around and come back, don’t do anything dumb.”

“I won’t…we still gotta get to that observatory, remember? Worst case scenario I just fly ahead and take a look around, then come back. Later. Right now I need a nap.”

David settled into between her shoulder blades and tucked his head under his wing, closing his eyes and sheltering himself from the stinging sunlight.

Alright, asshole. Just you wait, I know for a fact that monkeys can’t see in the dark. I used to be a monkey. You better hope it’s not as bad as Theo made it out to be…