Back To Krypton

Chapter 28

So, their first night on the outskirts of The Scarlet Jungle sucked major balls.

They were only in their tent for about an hour before they heard some not-so-pleasant sounds around them and the H'Raka started whining so they did what they deemed to be the safest thing to do, retreat.

They packed up their things in record time and got onto Bolt's back, taking up into the sky and seeing exactly what was stalking them without them realizing it, something they can barely make out, something huge and looming. Yeah, they flew further away from the forest and set up camp atop a hill, tent strung up between two trees and Bolt tied beneath them, the wind swinging them and rocking them to sleep.

Well, it was rocking them to sleep until one of the ropes gave way and they awoke to a startling drop, not a large one, just a couple of feet, but enough that they were all hit with a nice dose of adrenaline big enough that they couldn't sleep properly, instead lying there in the dark with their eyes closed, praying that that alone will give them enough rest for their upcoming day.

Kara and Lena had eventually managed to get some beauty sleep but for Alex, who was the one to head outside and check that the rope wouldn't slip further, citing Kara's rope skills to be useless, it just wasn't in the cards so today, she's the grumpiest Kara has seen her sister in a long time.

They ended up flying back to the outskirts of The Scarlet Jungle at dawn, being careful to assess the area they touch down in before beginning their search for the samples they need, a feat that is much more difficult than any of them had thought it would end up being.

There are plenty of plants around, that's for certain but the majority of them are the ones they have already seen, the palm tree types and such, so there's not a chance in hell Astra will be able to use those because she already has access to them so she isn't going to be impressed if they show up with them.

If they want something different, they have to go deeper.

"Watch out!" Alex calls out, annoyed because Kara is walking pretty close to a line of plants, her sisterly protection only working to keep Kara physically safe because her tone is sharp and snappy in the way she knows upsets her sister but she can't bring herself to care even a little bit about that.

Lena pulls Kara a little closer to her by her sleeve, wrapping her arm around Kara's once she's close enough. "Don't worry about it, Alex, I have her and I won't let her do anything stupid."

"Why do you think I would do anything stupid?" Kara asks, jaw-dropping at the insinuation.

Lena holds her a little tighter, "Darling, you're the dumbest smart person I've ever met. You might have the brains of a genius, but you're kind of clumsy and it's one of my favourite things about you when we aren't surrounded by killer foliage."

Kara tilts her head in acquiescence. She can't deny that one in the slightest. "Ok."

"Glad we're on the same page," Lena says with a little smile, lacing her fingers with Kara's and double-checking the position of the sword sheathed to her belt loop. If she's ever going to need it, it will be in this place while there are all sorts of horrible things around that can hurt them so she's very wary of keeping it on hand.

Her hand rests on its hilt as they walk, careful to plan out their path with precise movements since they have to find ways to move where they can take Bolt with them and he won't get hurt. Some of this does mean that Lena has to use the sword to chop at the plants and move them aside with the blade but they have only had to do that less than a dozen times in the few hours they have been walking.

They were certain that they would already have the samples by now and already be heading back t meet the others but they have to keep going.

Astra's people must have gone in quite far because there's no way there are any different plants coming up any time soon.