Back To Krypton

Chapter 17

Alex's boots sink into the mud left behind from the heavy rain, sopping wet through. Every step feels disgusting, and her feet are not appreciative of this mud bath, no matter how sore or damaged they've gotten.

Kelly and Nia are trailing behind them, Esme on Kelly's back happily blabbering away about each plant or rock they pass as though they are any different from the thousands they have already passed.

Alex is a little ways ahead, Kelex hovering by her side as they try and find a way around the slope they had all fallen down to get back in the direction they came, where they had seen the guards of some sort take Kara and Lena.

She has her guesses for who they are and what they may want but doesn't want to put any decisive labels on them, just in case they are someone different, someone worse.

They've been walking for a couple of days now, searching for another way back, praying that they're walking in the right direction. She thinks they might just be able to find Kara and Lena because it's obvious that they have been taken back to the accommodation, there's nowhere else they could go unless the pods took them back to a city.

They owe it to them to try though, so they are heading back there and praying that they'll be there. The only problem they're having with their plan is that they don't have one. They have zero clue what they are going to do when they get there, they have a child with them for Rao's sake, and there isn't a lot they can do.

It would be a bad idea to try and continue on without them anyway, without Kara and Lena to help ground them and guide them through sticky situations they would struggle, and it would reduce their chances of making it all the way to Kandor significantly.

They haven't heard a peep from the people that took Kara and Lena, not since they marched out of view. She was hoping they would for the first day or so but then she realised how selfish that would be to want to be caught after Kara and Lena gave themselves up to protect them back at the trees.

They have all noticed something odd as they walk back in the direction they came from originally; there is a much higher number of plants from The Scarlet Jungle around. They can still avoid them fairly easily but there is a distinct side effect that seems to have come with them.

There's an increased number of locust-like bugs surrounding them and while for the most part, they are staying away from them, if bugs follow the plants, then other animals may follow them too. That is not something they want to find out first hand though, so they want to get a hustle on.

Alex spots more red plants up ahead, grouped quite close together so she decides to stop and wait for the others to catch up with her. Unlike most of the ones they have seen, these ones don't have palm tree-looking leaves, these have much smaller leaves and look slightly spikey, similar to that of a rose bush, minus the roses. They are also much taller, but spindlier, like they are still young plants, barely more than seedlings, even if they are more than a metre tall.

As soon as they reach her side, she points at the plants with a sigh. "We'll have to go around them, they are way too close together for my liking."

"I agree," Kelly states, looking over Alex's shoulder at them and huffing since this means that they will have to walk even further, even if it is only by a little bit.

Nia decides that she really isn't feeling up to those extra steps, she's already doing way more than the recommended ten thousand a day and isn't really interested in furthering that. "I think we could probably –"

"No!" Alex and Kelly cut her off at the same time, both pitching her with matching glares.

"Alright, I was just saying." Nia sulks, holding her hands up in surrender.