Chapter 281: The unexpected windfall.
Sunshine scanned the team’s faces-happy, excitement, it amazed her that they were always pumped when going out to face a life and death battle. Where was the fear? Much as she had questions, she was relieved that most of the people were men and women that she had been with on different trips and hunts. She did not have to worry about them making foolish mistakes. "Try not to die out there." She said into a walkie-talkie as she jumped into one of the trucks. "And if I see one phone, I swear to God I will be the one to cut off the hand."
"Who do you think we are, Sheldon?" Elio asked.
There was some snickering around and the cars set off. From a short distance, Jon watched quietly, leaning against a support beam. His expression was unreadable.
Hades noticed and grinned. "Have you changed your mind yet, Jon? You look like you want to join them"
Jon sighed loudly and turned his gaze away. "I am not ready to see another monster so soon after yesterday." He flatly said. "Just have someone drop me off at my base where I will be in hiding for the next foreseeable future. My days of bravery are over."
Hades smirked.
Dwayne nodded. "We will have a team drop you and Sheldon off."
In the cars, before tension could start climbing, Philip started with his usual antics. "Now that we are on the road again, allow me to bring smiles to your faces lads and ladies."
Father Nicodemus sighed.
Philip laughed. "So a priest, a vampire and a hunter walk into a bar."
Sunshine burst into laughter. She had come to anticipate Philip’s jokes on the trips. And she looked forward to hearing what clever joke he had come up with to antagonize Father Nicodemus.
"Bartender says, what will it be?" Philip chuckled. "Priest says holy water. The vampire hisses. The hunter says neat and make it a double."
Father Nicodemus groaned. His frustration could be heard through the cackling of every radio. Men and women chuckled.
"I have a better one." Siegfried cut in. "The vampire orders a bloody Mary. The bartender says, you want it virgin? The...."
"No, no, absolutely not. I will not tolerate your blasphemy." Father Nicodemus threw a shoe at Philip.
There were chuckles and gasps.
"What...what happened?" Sunshine asked eagerly.
"The good Father is finally fighting back." Day shared. "He just threw a shoe at Philip."
Sunshine wished she had been in the same vehicle as them to see it in person.
"Keep it classy Siggy." Philip said to Siegfried. "Like, a priest and a hunter walk into a bar. They see a vampire nursing a bloody Mary. The hunter turns to the priest and says, you bless the drinks, I’ll bless the stake. The vampire sees them and says, I came for the spirits, not an exorcism."
Five seconds passed and Sunshine heard loud voices that seemed to be celebrating a victory.
"He is smiling, I finally got the good Father to smile at my jokes." Philip shouted into the radio, ecstatic.
Sunshine shook her head. The priest was on his road to a conversion of some kind. He was already adjusting. The jokes continued until the lead vehicle came to a stop.
"Leave the vehicles." Morris ordered through the walkie-talkie. "We move on foot from here."
"This is not the road we are supposed to use from the maps given to us." O’toole said, the confusion on his face mirrored that of the others who refused to abandon the cars just yet.
Sunshine got out and gestured that everyone do the same. "Morris and the villagers know this place best, let us trust him."
"Thank you Ma’am." Morris was grateful for the vote of confidence. "This route is shorter but thicker with trees, therefore it is more dangerous."
Some grumbled, why take the riskier route? They should have stuck to the original plan. But truly, whether it was the original route or the new one, they had to take part of the journey on foot.
They moved forward. The forest greeted them like a white graveyard, trees heavy with frost, their branches bending low as if whispering to each other. Each step crunched over frozen moss, bushes and stones. The deeper they went, the quieter it became, until the only sounds were their breathing and occasional growls here and there.
One of the men almost slipped off a slippery root, he quickly supported himself by grabbing the stem of a medium sized tree. "Crap!" He flung his hand to remove the nasty gel.
Everyone paused and looked in his direction, they all saw it. Heavy slime, it was thick-blue, glistening on the tree like coiled oil.
"I told you not to touch anything!" Morris quickly moved back as he condemned. "I hope your gloves have not ripped."
Major Elio’s gaze was pinned to the slime. "This slime was also at the Pearl majestic hotel....."
"It belongs to the snake no doubt." Sunshine interrupted. "We are in the right place, eyes open." She held the hammer tighter.
Morris moved back to the front. "We move." His voice was low but stern.
"Wait!" Major Elio suddenly hissed. He raised his hand signaling for silence.
Morris’ mouth parted, but before he could as what was wrong, the forest erupted.
The ground trembled. Trees ahead swayed violently, some cracking and falling with a sound like bones breaking. Mutated birds scattered in shrill cries and took off. There were thuds, animals scampering from the direction in which they were heading.
"Base command, what is happening ahead?" Sunshine whispered into her radio.
"Do you think that it already knows that we are here?" One soldier asked another.
Nimo shushed and asked them to be quiet.
"Take cover positions!" Morris barked
To their surprise, the iron shirts sent signals that they had detected human movement.
"What?" Sunshine said, frustration coiled in her voice. Apart from killing the snake, they had to first rescue the humans. What were they even doing in the forest so early in the morning anyway?
"We have to help them." Father Nicodemus began to unfurl his wings.
Sunshine cast him a sharp look. "Don’t you dare," She told him. "Wait until we know what this is."
"Father, I told you to leave that savior mentality at the gate." Major Elio reminded him, if you asked him, the father was a grenade just a pin away from exploding.
Suddenly figures darted among the branches, human shapes leaping from tree to tree with impossible agility while making taunting sounds. They swung from the frozen vines and landed in the snow like predatory beasts.
"These are not ordinary humans." Siegfried stated.
"No. I recognize one from Augustus’ description. They are marauders." Major Elio announced.
They all knew who the marauders were, their enemies that were hiding out here in the forest. Their eyes locked on them. At the center, a man with a mole beneath his left eye, his body clocked in heavy fur.
"Scorpion," Sunshine whispered.
Flakes spilled from her mouth, heart pounding. The stories about him from Augustus came to her mind. Imagining him was one thing but seeing him was different. The aura around him made her feel uneasy, he was also reckless, the mere fact that he was fighting the mutated snake without a weapon.
Does he trust his powers this much or has he mastered it thoroughly, Sunshine wondered.
Then she saw Fifi, she stood on a fallen log at a near distance. She was screaming like Scorpion’s cheerleader, "Kill it! Take all you can from it and expand your power."
Sunshine turned slowly towards the group. "No one interferes," she ordered. "This is a windfall. We wait and take on the winner of the battle."