Cyber Mortality

Chapter 59:

"So, a T-Rex," Nyle stirs up conversation after several moments of silence.

"Yup," I nod. "He's pretty big, but we could outrun him."

Nyle nods before helping Flint to his feet.

"You going to be alright?" Nyle asks Flint.

"Yeah," Flint nods, looking much less like a ghost than earlier. "Teleporting that many people put a large strain on my energy. We should get going."

"If you think you're ready," I reply.

"Of course I am ready," Flint shoots me an irritated glance.

I hold up my hands in defense. Of course he would not like us seeing him as weak, but sheesh.

"We should be ready for anything," Flint warns while equipping his leather armor. "Are you going to stay in that?" his eyes look my black skin tight suit up and down.

"You don't like it?" I pout and do a spin. "Zephyr made it for me."

Zephyr grunts from where he stands leaning against a wall.

"I like it," Nyle winks in my direction.

"It is certainly much more foxy than anything else you've worn," Jez smirks. "I'm sure I would look better in it though."

Well she's not wrong. Her sumptuous curves would be very attractive in this suit, but I am the one wearing it.

"Can we please get on with scouting?" Flint scowls before marching off.

"Guess we're going this way," Nyle chuckles and chases after his brother.

"This suit is basically kevlar," Zephyr shrugs after falling into step with Jez and I. "You don't really need armor. Less clunky that way."

"I don't wear armor," Jez shrugs. "At least not in the sense of what Nyle wears." She gestures to her usual attire. Leather ankle boots, a swishy skirt which exposes a lot leg, and her crop top. "They're all enchanted of course. Can't risk burning off my clothes." She purrs beside Zephyr.

"Oh lord," I mutter under my breath.

"Is Jez flirting with everything that moves again?" Nyle sidles back to walk beside me.

"Egh," I groan in response.

We continue in silence after catching up to Flint. He leads our arrow shaped party down each street until we come face to face with one of the large inner walls. It stands nearly ten times my height gleaming in the sunlight. Flint touches it and his fingers come away slimy.

"Ew," Jez's nose scrunches.

"Guess we won't be able to climb this wall," Flint wipes his fingers on his jacket before following the edge of the wall. No buildings butt up against it. There is always a five foot space between. Not that any of them reach the height of the wall anyway. Most stand at half its height.

"We will have to find a gate," Flint plunges on down the alley beside the slowly curving wall. "Unless if you think the two of you could fly at least forty people over."

"I doubt it," Zephyr shakes his head. "It would take time and we could do it, but more than likely we would attract the Pteros attention. It would be better to go through a gate if we find one."

"Are you sure it would be better to go through that gate?" I raise an eyebrow. Nestled in the gate are two sleeping raptors with their nest of little ones. Slime oozes down from eggs which appear to be freshly hatched from.

"For all we know there are nests in every gate," Flint scowls and marks down a note in a book before stashing it in his pocket. "This would be a western gate." His eyes narrow at the suns position. 

We back away quietly so as not to disturb the raptor family.

"If I recall correctly, raptors are much faster than a T-Rex. And deadlier." Jez whispers. "I don't think we want to mess with them."

"Agreed," Zephyr nods.

Jez bats her long thick black eyelashes in his direction.

I gag.

When our hour of searching concludes, we meet back up with the rest of the party.

"Does anyone have anything of note to report?" Vyra inquires from where she stands on the water fountain. Her short red hair blows in wisps across her face as she places her hands on her hips.

No one steps forward.

"No one found a way through or over the wall?"

"From what we could tell there are nests in many of the gates," Flint calls out. "And the walls are ten times my height and slimy. Climbing would undoubtedly be futile."

"Then what about flying?" Vyra turns her eyes toward Zephyr and I.

Zephyr and I exchange a glance before looking at the size of the crowd.

"It would take some time," Zephyr replies. "And we don't want to deplete all of our magic just to get over one of the walls. There is still another leading to the inner stronghold."

"I see," Vyra purses her lips and turns to look at Birch. He shakes his blond mane. "And teleporting would be out of the question. Rocky just teleported everyone not too long ago."

"I can do it if we can get the beacon over the wall," Flint clenches his jaw. "You don't need to worry about me."

"It's too much, Rocky," Vyra shakes her head. "We can't have you out of commission in the middle of taking this dungeon."

Flint curls his hands into fists. His silver hair falls across his eyes as he glares down at his boots.

"It's alright," Jez wraps her arms around Flint's right arm. "Just take it easy for now."

"Yeah, Bro," Nyle claps him on the back. "You already did so much work getting everyone up here."

"I can do more," Flint scowls.

"We know you can," I smile and touch his taught shoulder. "But don't wear yourself out. We will need you later. I can't fly everyone over either."

His silvery green eyes rise to meet mine. He holds my gaze for a long moment before glancing back at the ground.

"Alright," he mutters.