Days had passed and Mikey had taken to studying medical books in search of a cure for Daniel.
"Check this out," said Mikey as he slid a book across to Konnor's side of the table.
"What's this?" He asked as he picked the book up and began running his eyes over the text.
"It's what I call 'Hope'," came Mikey's response.
The further and further Konnor's eyes ran down the page, the brighter the sparkle in his eyes got.
"It's an old book," Mikey explained. "Belonged to the ancestors of our old village. It contains a bunch of remedies for ancient curses, afflictions and ailments."
"So this little book means the Daniel might still live?" Asked Konnor hopefully.
"Yep, the only problem is that those ingredients are pretty hard to find in the forest," Mikey explained.
"Clearly the are," Konnor sighed. "Where are we gonna get abada milk from? And how are we gonna get Flytrap leaves?"
As the two spoke, in that very same room, Daniel was listening. He wasn't completely comatose as one would have thought.
The youth was conscious. He could hear everything... feel everything. He knew what was being said and, most of the time, he didn't like it.
Constantly hearing things like 'might die' and 'probably won't make it' had began to agitate Daniel. Of all the people, his friends didn't believe he would make it. It was enough to fill him with sorrowful anger ten times over.
"So are we gonna be able to get all this stuff?" Konnor asked.
"It's gonna take a lot of effort but yeah, we can," replied Mikey.
"Well, then let's get on with it," said the immensely large warrior.
"Okay, gear up and we'll meet at the gate in 10 minutes," said Mikey as he stood up and left the room.
The two met at the gate before departure and entrusted one of the Groundsmen to alert them if anything were to go wrong with Daniel. They agreed splitting up would save the most time and so they did.
Konnor took the routes of the forest that were the least crowded so he could swing his fearsome Claymore more effectively.
Mikey took the more crowded section of the forest so he could fire his slugs in cover.
Konnor's progress after the first 15 minutes was slow, having only obtained one item on the list. He though he might as well should have turned back up until he found the Venus Flytrap. Konnor had to obtain one of its large leafs which seemed easy enough on paper until he saw the creature in reality.
The Flytrap was as tall as three Konnors and he himself knew this would be no easy feet.
He grabbed the Claymore from its place strapped on his back at then placed the blade down gently beside him. He took a look at the large plant as if to analyse it.
Konnor reached to his side and picked up a fairly sized rock. He tossed it in between his hands a few times before standing up and savagely throwing the rock in the direction of the Flytrap.
Before the rock could meet the Flytrap, though, the creature had already shot acidic spit at the stone, dissolving it before it met it's mark.
"Ah, I was right," Konnor sighed. "This isn't gonna be fun," he said as his tail waved around behind him.
The feline warrior charged in full of zeal, leaping high to dig an overhead slash into the Flytrap's head. With blatant disregard, the creature simply moved it's head to the side causing Konnor to land behind it.
Konnor then charged once more, targeting the stem of the monstrous plant. The Flytrap managed to bend out of the way, using its head to whack Konnor in the process. The feline warrior fell to his knees but almost immediately regained his stability as he rolled away from a glob of acid spit. He looked at the creature and rushed in once more, dodging each glob of acid that flew his way. He sidestepped and jumped over the obstacles in his path and raised his giant blade before trying at another slash at the Flytrap. The creature dodged the slash exactly how Konnor expected it to and Konnor then managed to sever a leaf from its body. Konnor quickly grabbed the leaf and rushed off, a smug grin having taken residence on his face.
Mikey had quite a few ingredients so far but obtaining each one was proving more troubling than the last.
Whilst treading through the forest looking for the fifth item on his list, he ran into a Kildren, a large bear-like creature with the scales and tail of a lizard. He crouched among the cover of the trees, hoping to pass by unnoticed. He slowly moved past large fallen tree trunks and over ancient stumps. He got nowhere near moving past the Kildren before it sensed him in the area.
If swung it's head directly at Mikey as it raised it's rail and crashed it right back into the ground with a loud thud.
Mikey drew the assault rifle strapped to his back and prepared to open fire if things got rowdy which they certainly would. The creature's entire body now faced Mikey. It stood on it's hind legs and let out a mighty roar before rushing in to kill Mikey. Mikey fired rapidly as the creature ran towards him. Each shot pierced some point of the beast's body but did not stop stopped it's determination. It reached Mikey despite all the tree cover and managed to ram the gunslinger into one of the many surrounding trees.
As the creature prepared it's second charge, Mikey looked for a way out, the surrounding trees being his answer. He managed to find the strength to begin climbing the first tree he could find.
The creature slammed it's head into the base of the tree in an attempt to fell the large oak. Mikey had managed to reach the top and was now digging around in his backpack in an attempt to find something useful. After a bit of searching, he managed to find one of his shrapnel mines. He then entered the startup code and prepared to fall hard once the mine exploded. He dropped the mine upside down so it would explode upon contact.
The mine fell and met the back of the Kildren, blowing up the surrounds and felling the most massive of trees. The trees crashed down as the explosive sound caused ringing in Mikey's ears. Debris had fallen on top of him. It wasn't too bad but he was forced to stay lying down, having been at a loss of energy to stand.
Deep within the forests, someone... or maybe something, was treading through, haunting the cold and dark forest. It wore a cloak of death and carried a scythe with it as it floated through the dense shrubbery. It bore a mask resembling that of a skeleton and exuded an aura of completely savage darkness.
Could it be possible? Could this danger be real? Could Death Incarnate be hovering through this very forest? Would one of the two young Runners come to meet with the Grim Reaper himself? Was someone destined to meet their end on that eventful night?
