Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 15: Thistling A Tune

⭐️Chapter 15: Thistling A Tune

The Thistlins were currently walking through the forest in a search for the Wave Crashers. Well, they had promised to go looking, so looking they were. They had their turf weapons with them, and we're ready to fire at a moment's notice. Hopefully they would at least be able to find SOMETHING to help in their search for the Wave Crashers...god, they couldn't believe they were doing this. It wasn't like that team needed saving or anything!

Clara and her team had had their fair share of being bullied. When they'd first gotten into turf war, The Wave Crashers had been there. Nobody even knew how long that team had been there, but they were nothing but trouble. Frankly, she would let these guys stay and rot where they were if it wasn't for the fact that they could be up to something. She didn't even know what they had to gain from being jerks to everyone.

As the group trekked forwards, they could see the sun shining through the tree leaves. It was still bright enough in the day to see well, and even though the group wanted to enjoy this day, they couldn't. Even if they were looking for the enemy though, they just couldn't focus. It was two different sides tugging at each other...or maybe it was just Clara thinking this, she didn't know what her teammates were thinking. She wasn't about to ask, however.

Clara remembered when the group had first met the Infernos. Ryn had told them she was new to the sport, and despite having a mix of wins and losses, both groups had agreed to help each other out for no reason other than good sportsmanship and being friendly in general. That relationship had grown on them since, and that brought them to where they were now. Clara had to admit, she never thought things would escalate to here. Heck, Ryn and her friends probably hadn't expected this either, but at least she was doing them a favor.

Glade, meanwhile, was scanning every bush that was large enough to hold a body as closely as possible. He knew how much this meant to Clara, and he was not going to let her down. He had a sibling-like relationship with her, though the two were not related in any way. Sure they fought sometimes, but they were probably the tightest bonded pair in the group of four. Glade just hoped that

Sai on the other hand, was more focused on the whole "Project Thunderbird" thing, and what exactly Bird was. Yes, Sai was also concerned over the fact the Wave Crashers had gone missing after Bird showed up and played a round of turf war, but they'd really thought it was a simple one-day thing. So what if the Wave Crashers hardly ever took breaks? Even if there was no harm in this search, what would happen if they were simply taking time off to reflect on what had happened? Sai wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, but it seemed that everyone else was too paranoid about the other things it could be....so Sai remained quiet.

Ella was nervous about this, and if anything she was blowing things out of proportion. The only thing currently keeping her calm was the fact that she believed that her friends (both the Thistlins and the Infernos) had this under their belt. If things were spiraling out of control, she'd be way worse than she was right now. Her current theories were that the Wave Crashers might've tried to find the lab to get mutated themselves, or were hiding away so they could plot to kill Bird or team up with the scientists. However, she was also paranoid about the thought that BIRD might be the evil one instead, and the Wave Crashers were actually doing a good deed by ridding of her.

Despite all these thoughts swimming within the group's head, everyone remained relatively quiet on their walk. They still hasn't found much, but the adrenaline was keeping them going, so onwards it was. If only there was a way to simply locate the Wave Crashers, like with a GPS or some other tracking device. Alas, the group had none, so old-fashioned searching it was. Well, at least it wasn't nighttime, as that could've potentially made the whole experience scarier for everyone.

Clara paused as she heard rustling in the plants around her. It didn't matter if it was an animal or not, it was something! The whole group cautiously liked around the place, weapons in hand and ready to fire. The whole area was silent for several minutes, and everyone was looking for any sign of a humanoid. Clara could've sworn we saw someone moving, but now it wanted to disappear and make a fool out of her apparently.

Well, the group eventually calmed down and resumed their walk. They were still on high alert though, not willing to give up their search after a mere false alarm. Actually, they had no proof that it was a false alarm, but they weren't going to go after it now because it was too late and the thing was probably far away by now. There were no more suspicious noises for a while as they walked on, though a few dry leaves and twigs crackled under their feet. Their eyes were constantly darting from tree to tree, trying to spot any sudden movement or change in color.

Unfortunately, not much else popped up on the Thistlins' walk. They were considering turning around and walking back to Laocrah Town empty-handed, when Glade pointed out a track in the mud he'd seen. It seemed to be made from boot of sorts, and while the Thistlins couldn't be sure about it belonging to a Crasher, they got riled up over it anyway. They followed the direction it went in while looking for more tracks, though they failed to find any more. They could see a different path up ahead, and all of them burst through the shrubs in the way to try and see if there were any signs of anything here.

Upon looking around, they saw that they had seemingly arrived at a strange part in the woods where a bunch of plants were smushed together off to the side. It almost looked like they were forcefully moved in order to cover up some sort of trail. That looked suspicious enough, so everyone agreed that investigation it was! Ella hesitantly reached out to brush aside the plants, but paused. Maybe it would be better if Ryn and her friends heard about this first.

After all...Something about this location seemed...off.

Very, very off.