In It For the Money

XXXI

They found themselves listening to the quiet breathing of the creatures around them, Jill closed her eyes to listen to the sounds coming from outside the cave. Once everything seemed to die down and become more calm she opened her eyes and broke the silence. "What is that thing?"

"What did you see Jill?" Chris asked.

"It was huge, bigger than the beast we were told about in his memory. But it was chasing someone in a hood down into the thickets. I don't know what happened after that." She answered, hands still shaking at her sides. Her nerves had her on the edge, but the feeling of someone's roughly calloused hands taking her left hand into its warmth calmed her down. Even in the dark, she could see the defined features on Chris' face.

"We have to find a way to get out of here." He spoke softly. "Did he remember anything else?"

"Not much..." She answered with a small frown. "But our reports mentioned the beast with us in the cave saving his team. Which means that they had to have understood the issue."

"We have to help these things if we want to get out of here?"

"In a way, yes. I think if we can help them find whatever they needed from the destroyed place could help."

"Or that giant monster could eat us." Piers retorted.

"That is true, but if we don't try we'll be stuck here for a while." She argued back softly, sighing and running her right hand through her dirty blonde hair. "God this is a mess..." She mumbled it, but Chris squeezed her hand.

"How can we help?" Leon's voice echoed through the darkness.

"Monster." The creature grumbled out. "Monster." It simply repeated.

"We don't have the supplies to kill it," Leon answered, frowning. Suddenly a flashlight illuminated the entire cave and blinded the group of people.

"But I do." Came a familiar male voice, Leon's heart began racing in his chest as they saw the figure behind the light. Though their head was covered with a hood and mask, Leon knew deep down it was him.

"You're okay..." He uttered softly. "How did you find us?"

"I didn't." He stepped aside, revealing the members of his team. "They did."

The woman spoke softly, "We've been tracking you since you left the compound. Boss's orders."

"When you didn't reach the next checkpoint I knew something was wrong. So I activated the tracker on Blaze and followed you here with my team." He added, adjusting the light so that everyone could see better. "Pretty smart if I'm honest."

"But.." Leon was cut off when Maggie spoke.

"We didn't have much of a choice." She adjusted the assault rifle in her hands, eyes dancing over the rest of the team. "There's five of us in total."

"That would be, Parker Miller. That's me. I'm the second in this team. This is Maggie Tharn, Alexander Hibbons, Ava Cohen, and our Captain. But you know his name." Parker spoke, smiling calmly. "We're here to finish what we started. Killing the dangerous BOW in the area."

"What about these guys?"

"They're not our enemy. They never were. They only saw us as a threat in the past because we came in heavy numbers. They thought they were losing their home to another monster. But once they realized we weren't like that beast and didn't want to kill unless provoked they left us be. They even saved our lives." Ava explained, fixing her hair as one of the bangs fell into her eyes. She had her rifle on her back and a heavy-sounding medkit on her hip. "I'm the team's main medic, Maggie is too, but she's mostly firepower. Alexander is our human database. He collects information about BOWs and helps decipher situations. We work extremely well under any circumstances. And we're gonna stop this monster and get you guys back home."