Wanderlust ✧ (Milo Thatch)

seven

In the still of the night, the masked figures who had been following the expedition lurked about, rummaging through the crew's belongings. One combed through Milo's bag, tossing away a metal protractor and an explorer's hat before coming across a photograph of the young linguist and his grandfather. 

The figure traced the framed photo until an individual, Milo to be exact, emerged from his tent with a yawn, accompanied by a flashlight, shovel and a roll of toilet paper. This startled the figures and they ran off into the distance without being caught.

Milo carefully tiptoed his way towards the edge of the camp, ensuring not to disturb the others who were sleeping. The last time he did that (not intentionally, of course) he had a pocket watch thrown at him. "The redhead's got a gun," Cookie was still fast asleep and snoring loudly.

Tiredly, Milo was in the process of unbuckling his pants while holding a flashlight underneath his chin. Unbeknownst to the linguist, he shone the light on a cavern lamp which turned out to be a hive where fireflies were residing.

Buzzing fireflies flew out one by one and surrounded Milo. He tried swatting the bugs away and accidentally dropped his flashlight. In reaction, he screamed and squished a bug with the roll of toilet paper which set it on fire. "Holy- whoa!" he dropped it aside. The rest of the fireflies flew out. "Fire," Milo watched as the bugs swarmed in and attacked the camp, setting ablaze the tents.

"Fire! Fire! FIRE!" Milo ran through the middle of the camp, alerting the others whilst desperately pulling his pants back up. Rourke, who was the first to wake up, sighed heavily and checked the time with a weary glare. It was 2 am. "I'm gonna kill him," he muttered and exited his tent, "Thatch, go back to bed," the leader's eyes widened when he saw thousands of fireflies causing destruction.

One by one, the crew members began to wake up, emerging from their tents to discover another danger bestowed upon them. The journalist would have remained asleep, had it not been for Audrey reaching in and shaking her leg vigorously. With a yawn, Challis crawled out of the tent sluggishly, not entirely realizing the extent of the situation. "What the-" she rubbed her eyes and no she wasn't mistaken, the campsite really was set on fire. 

"What happened?!"

"It looks like we're unwanted."

The heat from the fire left everyone with beads of sweat trickling down their faces. The majority of the tents had been completely disintegrated and the crew hurriedly seized what equipment they could salvage, throwing the items into the back of the vehicles. It was getting harder to see through the thick black smoke that engulfed the campsite, or what was left of it.

Vinny was the only person who seemed to be unfazed by the fire. "Vinny, hey! Get those dynamite sticks away from the flames!" Helga shouted at him. "I wasn't doing anything but uh...counting," insisted Vinny but he still did what he was told to do.

Helga shook her head. "This crew will be the death of me."

"Lieutenant! Do something about this mess!" Rourke yelled as he tossed his belongings into his truck.

"Get some water on that fire," yelled Helga at the crew that was running around. "No time, get us into those caves! Move it! Move it! Move it!" Rourke pointed to the bridge.

"This way!" Audrey called out to Challis. The teenager grabbed Challis' hand and pulled her along to the parked cars. Unable to extinguish the immeasurable fire, the group hopped into their trucks and attempted to flee across the bridge to safety in a disorderly manner. 

"Yah-ha, Gertie, pull!" Cookie whipped the motor that hauled his wagon.

Milo hadn't managed to find Challis and the truck, forcing him to escape on foot. Audrey was nestled in the back of a vehicle and she spotted the linguist running for his life. "Milo jump! Right now!" she extended her arm as Milo jumped to her mere seconds before the car behind them exploded. The fireflies seemed to be endless, as they swarmed out of their hive to pursue the human intruders.