•Bella Mondé•

20. La Tour D'Argent

|Part One|

Same afternoon.

"How? And why did you not tell us before?" Blake's fury sprang to life as he made some hand gestures, thumping his hand on the nearest tree.

"No, no. You didn't understand. Even I'm not sure of it. Remember, I told you someone may have pressed the alarm? There's a huge hall-like room which is far off from the reach of the water. It was built for the security of the tourists, just in case, a flood or storm hits the island."

"Where is this place?"

"We just have to go straight and we'll be there in two hours or so." Rolling back the map, Kash safely kept it in his bag, attempting painfully hard to not tear it.

"Wait, let me just drink water real quick." Raylan sat down on the rock, gulping down water. An excitement of freshness and energy striking him.

•••

"Is that it?"

"Yes! That's the one!"

After darting for two more hours, the group came in front of a big hall-like warehouse. It looked mysterious and was hidden by trees and bushes around it. If it wasn't for Jiho to say it, they would've moved forward. They got inside and unhurriedly parted ways, shifting along the area to find anyone.

The first thing they did was to scrunch up their nose in horror. It smelt very ashy and awful. It was pretty dark inside since the sun was down. Vines snaked along the floor, making the room appear abandoned and chilling. The only things sparkling inside was the torches and those weird flowers which somehow got inside the warehouse. Apart from being vacant, the room was mud-splattered too.

"If this is where the tourists came, then I think we should flush the hope of even finding them. Who in the world lives in such a horrendous place? And even if someone did some here, I'm sure they died already." Spitting in contempt, Blake scurried out of the hall and took a deep whiff of air, ballooning his cheeks out.

"Finally some air which isn't stinky."

All this time, the others were just watching Blake as he yelled and got out.

"Man's right, though. I'm asking this again, Tatum. Is this the right house?"

"Do you find any other house anywhere, Jiho? This is the right one! And we have the map if you don't trust me." Tatum creased his eyebrows, pinching the bridge of his nose poorly.

"We should just sleep now. I don't feel good. We've been walking for a long time. Let's just have food and sleep." Raylan unleashed the master ingredient at last. Tortillas.

"We can have tortillas!" He affirmed, happily making a quick roll.

"We can have pizzas too if we manage to lit up the fire." Mark kept his bag on the ground and grabbed the frozen-packed pizza along with his sleeping bag.

"I'll lit up the fire!"

•••

"Ah, that was absolutely spectacular!" Neel groaned in content, resting his body back to the wall.

"Shall we sleep now? I want sleep."

Pulling out their very own sleeping bags, they slipped into it. Soon enough, soft snores started to come out.

An hour passed into their hibernating as something crept closer - massive and destructive. It was looking at them with pure scorn. It strutted past them, still eying them, its eyes bloodshot. Its elongated sword-shaped canines, as sharp as they could ever exist.

"Rrr..." It growled, but not wild enough to revive them up. After sauntering for a few more minutes, it strode off.

•••

"Rrrr..." It rounded them all, growling at a specific time being to make them even more scared than they felt.

"We can't even outrun this thing. We will die." Decided. It was already decided that it was their last day. Their knees were deliberately giving upon them. It was daunting enough for Jiho to almost pass out.

"No, no..." Tears stuck in Aiden's eyes, orbs shaking in anxiety and panic. Suddenly, it pounced on him-

Aiden jerked into wakefulness, adrenaline burning in his veins as he thrashed against his attacker... Until he realised it was a dream. He simultaneously skimmed through everyone, especially Jiho, he can't seem to lose anyone now.

The sun was awake for a long time, it shone through the canopy of the tree leaves, making it seem so bright and cheerful.

"Tyndall effect." Snickering, Blake stretched out, sloppily making his way out of the bag.

•••

"Are we ready to move?"

"Yes, pretty much."

"We are not much distant from La Tour D'Argent diner. We'll be there in an hour or so, I think." Mark rolled back the map and looked up. The group was assembled into a loop, nodding at each other.

"Once we reach the diner, we wouldn't relax as planned yesterday since we slept here only. We don't have to worry about resting actually. There will be a lot of buildings in our way till the forest comes to view, we can stop anytime if we feel like it. May even stock up some eats from there." Neel kept a hand on Mark's shoulder as he passed him a reassuring smile.

"Sounds great. Shall we leave this warehouse now? It smells real bad."

•••

Then again started this journey, the narrow-spacious road taking them to different fractions of Bella Mondé. The scenery was an absolute beauty but was disguised under a bulky membrane of dust and dirt.

"This place seems so beautiful to me... If only it wasn't under all this filth." Raylan shrugged.

"Right, Bella Mondé itself means Beautiful World." Neel chuckled as he ran his eyes through the place. The buildings, the skyscrapers, the hotels, every single thing seemed filthy. As they walked, the batch came to a point where even breathing was like giving an easy invitation to allergy.

"It's so sandy and dusty." Covering his mouth and nose with his palms, Tatum coughed and gasped for a gust of air. Going to the observatory may have sounded manageable but who doesn't like a mission with some adventure? It was waiting for them...

|End Of Chapter|