The old man stared up at him from below. Blood dripping from his lips. That’s how he should be looking at Gale whenever he talked to him. The protected making demands? The audacity of that was fine. Telling a child to die? Lennard was lucky Rachel and the others were watching.

“That,” Gale looked down on Lennard, “was for Hailey.”

Lennard sputtered, his hand going to his jaw. “You… you hit me! When we get back to Earth, I’ll sue you for everything you’ve got!”

Gale couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. “Do it! Sue an orphan that lives in the woods. See what that’ll get you.”

He couldn’t care less. He could make his own house, furniture, and even get his own food by living off the land. Heck, even getting his own bank account was a pipe dream. Good luck suing someone who didn’t have nothing.

Rachel stepped forward. “Lennard, we know you’re scared. Everyone is, but it’s no use creating more trouble.”

“She’s right, man. We’ve all got our issues. So respectfully S.T.F.U.,” Ollie said.

Annett didn’t talk. Only a sigh escaped her mouth.

“No one wants to stand up to you because no one can!” Lennard pointed at the four of them. “All of you! Always against us normal people!”

“Lennard! That’s enough!” Rachel shouted, heat emanating from her skin, everyone backing off. She stepped forward to the fallen old man, looking down at him. “We could’ve all left you for dead in that encampment and gone to the exit ourselves. But you know what? We didn’t. Did we?”

“Lennard, no one is against you. We’re just all on edge,” Annett said. “You argue and then make people panic. You’re not exactly doing a good job of speaking for the people.”

Lennard looked back at the others in the camp. The ones with no power. No skill. They all avoided his eyes, just like before. Typical loud mouth that didn’t know when to stop.

Annett walked over to the fallen Lennard. She extended her hand to him, waiting for him to take it. Of course, he didn’t take it.

Lennard swatted the hand away. “I can get up on my own. Hmph.” The old man walked away, back into the crowd of normal people.

Gale took a deep breath. The threat of an adult nagging him on every decision he made was finally over. Maybe. For now. At the end of the day, Lennard was still human who deserved to live… but maybe he deserved to be beaten up more. That punch felt good, very good.

Rachel cleared her throat, drawing his attention. “Alright, Gale, can you tell us more about what you saw?”

Others looked towards him. Ollie and Annett. Rachel too. The camp members didn’t seem to care anymore.

“Elliot looks like he’s in the middle. Lots of people around him. He prays and talks to himself and the people following him. Probably robots?” Gale looked at Annett. Hopefully, she could translate.

Annett smiled, then slightly chuckled. But before she could speak, Rachel cut in.

“So you’re saying he has an army, he’s doing some crazy routine, and his army is probably a bunch of those things you fought or under a spell?” Rachel asked.

Gale nodded. “Elliot also has an energy around him.”

“A spell?” Ollie muttered. “Elliot might be an Aurian?.”

“When you guys left me after my fight with the shadow, I learned theres these amulets that might put them under control.” Gale quickly retrieved out an eye amulet from his pocket, showing it to them.

Ollie took it immediately. “Yup, that’s a spell alright. You see the etchings? Each one is a letter binding. Basically an amulet that steals your life and sends it to the master.”

“Didn’t realize you were a scholar on ether-tech. You Americans do surprise,” Annett said.

“Canadian,” Ollie coughed.

Rachel’s brow furrowed in thought. “So what? We’re dealing with a delusional man and an army of… zombies? Mind-controlled slaves?”

“Whatever they are, they’ll most likely become like those ghouls if we kill any of them. Just like the scouts.” A murmur spread throughout the convoy as Gale had said that one too loudly that the others could hear.

“I’ll stay near the enemy camp. They won’t be able to find me,” Gale said.

“Gale, be careful. You run when you sense danger, right away.” Rachel looked him dead in the eye as she gripped his sleeve.

“I will.”

Gale’s eyes snapped open. He had stayed near Elliot’s camp for the rest stop they had planned. Hearing Elliot’s voice first thing after waking up made shivers go down his spine.

He had dozed off during his watch. That was fine. Any of their movements would’ve woken him up anyways. Activating Distort, he crept up closer to the Blue Haven camp.

“Move it, you useless lumps!” Elliot bellowed, kicking at a sluggish servant beside him. “We’ve wasted enough time already. Pack up this camp now!”

The Blue Haven people looked more energetic today than they were before. So rest did affect them.

Gale watched as each person collapsed a tent, disassembled it, and put it into a specific box. Others gathered supplies into different boxes. There were no horses or animals around. Those boxes would be carried by multiple people throughout their march.

Elliot paced back and forth. His eyes darted between the working people and the blue moon.

Suddenly, he stopped, genuflected while clasping his hands. Staring above the sky, he murmured loud enough for Gale to hear.

“My princess, my majesty. I promise you today is the day. We’ll catch those insolent wenches and bring them to your radiance. You’ll grow even more beautiful. Your radiance will shine even brighter!”

Goosebumps pricked Gale’s skin all over. The man he watched grew more insane by the day. This crazy had an unhealthy amount of determination to catch them. First things first, he needed to get the convoy to move. Break time was over.

Gale made his way back to the convoy, careful to not brush up against any trees or split any twigs on the ground. He looked over the convoy, most were still asleep. Only Rachel was awake, sitting on the rock that looked to where the Blue Haven camp was.

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Her eyes looked over the surrounding trees and soon caught his figure. She momentarily tensed up, then relaxed when she recognized him.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“Elliot’s on the move,” he said, keeping his voice low to avoid waking the others. “He’s pushing his people hard, packing up camp faster than before. And he’s talking to the Blue Moon again, promising to catch us today.”

Rachel nodded, standing up as her brows furrowed. She turned to the larger group. “Everyone, wake up. Move. We need to move, now!”

Everyone woke up immediately following the shouts. Children jumped up while parents stood up slowly with less energy. Ollie and Annett helped the older folks to stand up from the ground.

A commotion near the edge of the group caught Gale’s attention. One of the rescued women was hunched over. Her face was flushed. Sweat beaded on her face with ragged breathing.

“She’s burning up,” another survivor said. “I don’t think she can walk on her own anymore.”

Gale and Rachel exchanged glances. They couldn’t afford to slow down, not with Elliot’s group right behind them. And he’d be damned if he abandoned one of their own. Going back on his word to Lennard wasn’t an option. It was never even an option for him.

Annett stepped forward from behind. “I’ll carry her.”

“Are you sure?” Rachel asked.

“Plenty sure.” Annett moved over to the sick survivor. “The exit rift isn’t too far now, right? I can manage. But… if we end up in a fight, I can’t help.”

They were all pushing themselves to the limit. Annett sure was too. And she was right. It shouldn’t be too far now. A jinx only works if it’s said out loud anyways.

“Alright,” Rachel said. “Gale, can you go at the rear this time? Ollie will guide at front. Annett in the middle. I’ll stay in the rear too.”

Everyone nodded in unison.

The convoy moved. Gale marched at the rear of the convoy, Rachel beside him. Senses became alert. Breath of the Void spread out as thinly as possible to reach maximum distance.

They had barely even moved for an hour when something tripped the tendrils at the very end. A massive object was moving through straight towards them. It was definitely a beast by the size and feel of it.

“Rachel,” he called out, keeping his voice low. “We’ve got company coming. Forest beasts, by the sound of it.”

Rachel’s eyes widened. “Right. I knew this would happen. I’ll tell Ollie.”

She quickly jogged to the front of the convoy where Ollie was. Gale’s senses brought in what he wanted to see and hear.

Rachel reached Ollie’s side. “We’ve got company. Somewhere, I think. Gale said something’s coming.”

“Shit, how long?” Ollie said.

“Don’t know. Just keep your eyes peeled.” Rachel moved back down to the rear of the group.

“These eyes are always peeled.” Ollie pretended to laugh.

The growls from the beasts finally came into audible distance. Branches snapped. Heavy foot stomps of garbage truck sized beasts. The growls echoed along the treetops.

Children muffled their cries. Women suppressed themselves from screaming uselessly. Everyone moved meaninglessly faster. An extra metre a second won’t save them from beasts sprinting at them.

The convoy pressed on through the lifeless forest. The sounds of pursuit grew ever closer.

Gale tightened his grip on his bone saber, preparing himself for the fight. Tightening his grip on the sabre had become a habit at this point. Rather, it provided the illusion of comfort.

In the distance, violent growls came from behind. The sound of claws ripping against bark, ground, and possibly cracks of bones.

The others couldn’t hear it, but Gale could. He reeled back the spread out thin tendrils and focused them on the distance behind them. Breath of the Void fed him a picture of beasts ripping each blue haven body apart. After each one had fallen, they quickly materialized into the dark gray-skinned ghouls that he had fought before.

For a moment, Gale hoped that the two would eliminate each other, buying the convoy time to escape. Though that was wishful thinking. Fucking Murphy’s Law.

Whatever the outcome of that clash was, whatever came out would either be very angry beasts or very angry ghouls plus Elliot.

“Keep moving!” Rachel called to the front, no longer keeping her voice down. “Ollie, how much further?!”

“A bit further. Over the hill and straight through the meadows!” Ollie shouted.

The survivors pushed themselves harder as much as they could. Not enough.

“Stay together!” Rachel jumped over a large log.

Suddenly, a young girl near the middle of the group tripped, her small frame hitting the ground with a thud.

Without hesitation, Rachel darted forward, scooping her up in one fluid motion.

“You’re okay,” Rachel said, setting her back on her feet and gently pushing her towards the others. “Keep going.”

The girl nodded, tears in her eyes, and rejoined the group.

A blur of movement caught Gale’s attention on the side. A ghoul lunged from the shadows, hurtling towards one of the convoy members with viscous black liquid dripping from its claws.

In a split second, Gale altered his bone sabre to lengthen dramatically. The ghoul, mid air, couldn’t change its course.

Gale dashed to meet the ghoul where it was going to land. In one fluid motion, he sliced upwards, decapitating the ghoul right from the shoulder. Its head and arms flew wide, hitting a man and an older man harmlessly.

More movement caught his eye. Breath of the Void told him the number of ghouls there were. Almost half of Blue Haven’s army had turned over. Their grotesque decaying forms focused on one single thing: the fleeing convoy.

“Ghouls! Multiple targets! Keep moving!”

Gale shouted a warning to the rest, his voice carrying over the chaos of the whole convoy trying to run out of the forest.

“Ollie, cover fire! Annett, stay with the civilians!” Rachel shouted.

Ollie’s gun cracked as he began picking off the approaching ghouls. He specifically aimed for the joints to slow down the ghouls’ chase.

Gale positioned himself directly in between where the ghouls came from and the convoy. A ghoul charged at him with an open mouth and claws out.

He sidestepped. Put his sabre up to meet the ghoul. It decapitated itself from its momentum.

Another ghoul charged at him. A bigger one. Gale aimed his swing right at the neck. It was blocked by its bulging arms covering its head.

Phase Touch activated. Again. Slashed. This time, it went through, decapitating it even with its hands up.

Rachel cast off a couple of fireballs towards the back for cover fire, hitting one of the ghouls. The ghoul immediately burned. Its dry skin provided ample fuel to the fire.

The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air as the ghoul writhed in agony. No time to waste on the stench. Rachel’s eyes narrowed as she readied another volley of fireballs.

“Gale!” she called out. “We need to thin their numbers! Can you funnel them towards me?”

Gale nodded, quickly assessing the terrain. He spotted a narrow passage between two large, dead trees. With a burst of speed, he positioned himself there, using his elongated bone sabre to create a deadly barrier.

He darted between the trees. Each step he took on the ground turned his trajectory towards the target. His body narrowly missed trees that passed by him.

Multiple ghouls behind. His movement had attracted them, and they followed suit. It looked like a stampede of decaying corpses behind.

Sweat beaded on his brow and invaded his eye. He wiped off the tear, but a large root on the ground tripped him forward. Left hand immediately went on the ground, pushing his body forward into a sommersault.

One more jump towards the two big dead trees.

“Now!” Gale shouted.

A fireball shot from where Rachel stood near the convoy.

Gale ducked, and the fireball went directly into the middle of the trees. The fireball plowed through the funnel of ghouls in a single shot, engulfing all of them.

However, more ghouls kept coming from behind the ghouls that burned to the ground. Even then, the convoy kept moving, almost at a sprint’s pace and laboured breathing. If any of them tripped, the stampede of the convoy would be the one to kill them.

“Rachel!” he called out between strikes. “How much further?”

“Not far!” she shouted back. “There’s a clearing up ahead. If we can make it there, we might have a chance!”

Gale redoubled his efforts. Another ghoul came at him. Again, it had its hands up. Phase Touch activated along the edge of his sabre as he swung against the oncoming ghoul.

A bigger ghoul charged at him from the side. It was too late. Gale couldn’t dodge mid swing of his sabre. The ghoul tackled him, and its melted flesh smeared across his clothes. Putrid saliva spat at his arms as he covered his head.

Before the ghoul could swing its claws at him, he kicked it off him with all his strength. The smell lingered, almost making him want to vomit.

As he stood up, he looked around. Chaos everywhere. From where the Blue Haven ghouls came from, growls and guttural roars erupted. There were flashes of blue light that came from there. Must’ve been Elliot. And the convoy ran as fast as they could. Women and children no longer muffled their screams.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep