Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 22: Finding Bird-o

⭐️Chapter 22: Finding Bird-o

Well, now that they had a trail, the Infernos weren't going to sit there and do nothing. Immediately upon receiving the news about the footprints, the two teams wasted no time in splitting up for brief preparation before following Cosmo and Ella to the site of the evidence. As they got there, they could see the ground was a little damp, and that there were indeed footprints for boots in it. There were even three smaller indents in the front made by the Wave Crashers' front boot spikes, so it couldn't have been anyone else...at least, the group hoped so. The footprints disappeared when the trail started forming into more grassy patches, but now the group had an idea of where to go.

The Thistlins, having visited the area before, easily managed to figure out a possible path the Crashers could've gone, and led the way. The group had to be safe now, because any new and/or noticeable injuries may cause suspicion for people if they had to head back home to their parents. Oh right, their parents. They'd told them that they were going on a walk with friends through the forest and might hang out for quite a while, so if they were gone for too long, they knew where to look. Thankfully all of their parents eventually allowed them to go (some of them being a little more difficult than others), which brought them back to now. 

They'd also brought their weapons, though Silvia had not brought a shooter with her as planned due to the urgency of the situation. The Infernos had the pins, but while at home, the Thistlins had swiped their own weapons, and were manually carrying them. Luckily none of them had brought heavyweight weapons that gave them too much trouble, but they'd still have to be careful. There would be no respawn points here in the wilderness, so unless there was some other magic thing that doubled as one, there was to be no splatting. That would be murder, and none of the group wanted that on their back.

The path ahead was seemingly normal, but there was still a chance for traps. Maybe, if the Wave Crashers were a part of this, they'd set traps along the way or something. If they took Bird, they were probably expecting the group to follow. If they weren't involved though, it would still leave a gap as to who got involved with Bird. Sure the scientists were an option, but...there was more evidence leading to the team of bullies than them. 

The forest's plants were all blurs as the group kept going, as they alternated between running and swimming in ink. Of course, roots and rocks were watched for, but this was no time to stop and smell the flowers. They had to keep an eye out for any creatures or figures as well, because cod forbid they run into mutant wolf fish or worse. Honestly, the Infernos were wondering about the kind of situation they'd been put in. Here they were, chasing after a kid they'd just met some time ago because she wanted freedom from some scientists. And to think that days before, all was calm.

Hopefully Bird was doing okay, wherever she was. The Infernos weren't sure if she was being tortured or harmed as they thought, but they could only go so fast. They almost kind of felt bad for not being able to do this sooner, but they supposed doing it now would definitely be better than later. She could be being experimented on by the scientists, or kicked around by the Wave Crashers, who saw her electric ink as unfair. The group didn't know.

But that also raised the question of if the Wave Crashers were actually involved. What if they weren't, and this was some brand new foe? Like the group had thought before, most evidence led to them. However, that didn't mean that it still had to be them. A new foe with new abilities to deal with would be rather frightening, since the group could face them without prior training.
Well, that just made things more complicated. Was there time to think about it? No. Was there a reason to perhaps think about or consider it later? Yes. Right now, what mattered was finding where Bird was taken. The group could at least make plans when they got there depending on what the place was. If it was a laboratory setup like Bird had worried about, then maybe there was a way to mess with the systems.

Luckily for them, The Thistlins (still leading the group) informed them that they were nearing the spot they believed the WC might've been to. Not wanting to give up now, everyone made a good attempt to go faster and get there. Man, why did forests have to be so twisty and turny without much of a set path other than the dirt exposed by people walking on the same place over and over for so long? Some day, there was gonna be a faster way to travel, Ryn thought to herself as she heard everyone's breathing around her. In the meantime, she could see the Thistlins start to slow down, so she followed along with the rest of the group.

"Have you...have you guys found it?" Jack huffed from the running.

"Yeah, I think...I think we found the weird...weird looking bushes that we saw...last time," Glade replied, also catching his breath.

Ella pointed to the ones they were talking about, and sure enough the Infernos could see that the plants going down that way had been unnaturally pushed around. It was almost like some large thing went through and pushed it all aside, which was probably what the Wave Crashers would do. The Thistlins and Infernos decided to walk through the weird plant path to see where it would go, and Cosmo noticed more prints in the dirt as they went by. Looked like something large and wide had just been dragged through here to create a path, something a brella or large weapon could do.

As the group reached the end of the path, they could see they were on the top of a hill, which, while not being very tall, indeed allowed them to see a structure further ahead in front of them. It was a large gray building made of metal, surrounded by the forest's trees on the bottom of the hill.

It was a laboratory.