I woke up tumbling into the water, as John shot up from his position under me. I looked around both in a daze and confusion, trying to reorientate myself. I noticed how little strength I needed to push myself up and noticed what must have shocked John. Loud noises like machinery were pushing through the forest, heat and smoke could be felt in the air.
“What is going on?” I looked to John as concern plastered his face, whatever was happening was dangerous and coming right towards us.
“Go back to camp and make sure everyone is armed and ready. Whatever is coming is looking for a fight and knows what we are.” John kneeled down, his knees against the dirt and a single hand pressed against the ground. A mild teal glow emanated from around his hand, as he slowly lifted his hand, revealing several roots attached to his hand. As if rising up from the ground, John’s familiar bone ax took shape from the nutrients in the ground and lake. He grabbed the still forming handle and pulled the same ax, etched with a tall strong tree made up the handle from the dirt.
“Alright, be careful.” I turned to head back to the camp, knocking on cabins and relaying John’s message. None of our bodies were as combat oriented as John’s but we were all stronger and faster than we had been before. We grabbed the few weapons we had, large cellulose knives, a couple of axes.
Although as Nate walked out of his home, the wings that were on his back melted away, and a sword slowly grew from his palm. The hilt was cellulose in nature and shining with a light, while the sword was a long blade made of bone. The handle was colored gold, and white while the blade was nearly black in color.
“Is everyone ready?” I looked around at our ragtag group, there were only six of us and we looked pathetic. What little we knew of fighting mostly came from John’s experience or books that Myc wanted to read. We were strong but whatever was coming for us was ready and seemed sure it was capable of wiping us out.
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We can do this, however you will all need to stay here and wait. John is capable but not enough to protect all of you while he is fighting.
“We can’t just sit here and wait for him to get killed.” Liz spoke up, she was carrying a large knife in one hand and a small shovel in the other.
“If whatever is here knows about us, then they are ready. The only way to beat them is to work together.”
Perhaps, but John and I won’t let you all risk your lives to save your pride. He is far more capable than all of you combined. Without true weapons and limited augmentations you will only be a hindrance. Also if this goes truly wrong, you will all need to flee, if one of you survives then we can start over again.
“We can’t just let John be killed because you are afraid of dying.”
It was not my choice, John believes in what we are making. He is willing to risk his life to make sure that the rest of you can continue to live. So that I am not killed and this society can still one day thrive and retake what we lost.
“No! We won’t just let John have his hero moment, I am doing this whether you like it or not.” Cat pushed everyone else out of the way, but I stood in front of her. A long cylinder of cellulose in my hand, I moved the staff in front of her body.
“We have to let John do this. It is not a selfish desire, he is doing this for the collective. Do not let your emotions ruin the one chance the humans have to right all their wrongs.” There was still a part of me that wanted to rush in there to help, to take a blow for John so that he wouldn’t have to suffer a similar fate. But as my body did not breathe and the sunlight hit my skin to fill me with energy. I knew what I had to do, the collective was more important than the individual. I wouldn’t let them destroy us all, just so they could save one.
“I am sorry, but we can’t let his sacrifice be in vain. Everyone spread out throughout the woods, if they make it through I want everyone running in different directions. Whatever this thing is, it is not willing to go public or it would have bombed us to hell. So run in different directions, try to get to civilization and if need be keep going. Get on a plane, go back to your families or just get away from here. They can’t catch all of us, if that happens we will wait, grow in strength and regroup when the time is right.”
It was hard to think about having to split up our little group. However, if push came to shove we would need to or risk letting Myc die. So we all walked in different directions, Liz and Rein were planning on heading to town, Nate and Cat were close to the freeway, while Scarlette and I were going to a hunting lodge.
I took a deep breath and tried to see what was happening with John, trying to relax my mind so that he didn’t have any distractions. I wished that I believed in a God, at least then I could feel like I was helping. But even if I did, I would just be sitting here, waiting while John fought for his life, for all our lives.