Journey in the Aftermath

Chapter 8: A New Threat

This chapter is told by the POV of Antonio

Almost day break. Almost there. The walk seems a lot longer now that we don't have anything adventurous waiting for us. I am excited that Kelly gets to see Beth again, she will be so happy. I can tell Beth doesn't like that Devin split up from her but once she is with Kelly she won't care anymore

"How much farther are we going?" Beth asks losing patience. She doesn't enjoy walking with two guys who are both super quite and haven't talked the entire walk here

"We are almost there. Chill out" Forest snaps at her

"Don't tell me to chill out." Beth says back getting steamed. She doesn't like new people. I remember when her and Kelly got into an argument because when they first met, Kelly said something about Beth's backpack and it just escalated from there

"Beth, he didn't mean anything by it" I say trying to stop anything before it begins. Forest stops in place and I know its about to be an argument

"Didn't mean anything by what? Telling her to chill out when she's whining cuz she can't handle a little walking?" He says getting agitated

"Can't handle a little walking?! Look here you arrogant dick, today I got shot in the head and shoulder with magical arrows that dissapear while inside your flesh, got shocked multiple times by my now crippled boyfriend that controls fucking lightning, and oh yeah, don't forget being disinigrated into a pile of fucking ash! So yeah, I'm pretty fucking tired for one day! Now how much fucking FARTHER!?!" she screams in his face then waits for an answer

"About a mile, you uptight cow!" he replies in her face. She smacks him in the face as hard as she can which does nothing. He raises his arm to smack her then is hit with a large flying boulder sending him flying to the ground a short ways away. I walk up to him and pin him down with my foot

"If you EVER raise a hand to Beth or any of my friends like that again, I promise you. I. Will. Kill you. Is that clear?" I say then lift my foot off of him

"Crystal." he replies then slowly stands up and walks away. We walk for a while before approaching the camp grounds. As soon as we enter I get a terrible feeling. All of our stuff is gone. Food, blankets, everything we have scavenged. Along with the people. Nobody is here at all. I run around searching for anything but there is nothing but a weak fire and alot of debris from the bomb day

"Kelly!! Milton!! Oliver!! Anybody!!!" I shout hoping they are just hiding nearby or something like that

"Antonio? Is that you?!" Oliver screams from in a tree. He teleports from the tree to the ground and walks over to me and stumbles and falls. I catch him and lay him down face up

"What happened here?! Where's Kelly?!" I ask panicking

"She was taken, along with Milton and Bailey. They came shortly after you guys left, like they were waiting for you to leave. There were five of them, they just snuck up on us and began taking us out, when I was hit on the head from behind and started blacking out, my reaction was to teleport. I got a look at them then passed out in the tree and woke up to you calling for us" he explains then tries to stand up but falls back on his ass

"Do you know where they went?" I ask him

"I think I do" Forest says quietly

"Where?" I demand, wanting to head out as soon as possible

"The city. It sounds like the same group of people I saw before meeting Levi and Bailey. I was hiding in a building across the street when they attacked a group that was caught trying to take refuge in the city. There were six of them, there were a set of twins, boy and a girl, could create energy weapons, swords and a bow if I remember right. Then there was this huge guy with incredible strength, tore a guy right in half. There was a guy with the power to turn invisible, he's the one that snuck in and got the people outside. There were two other big guys but not quite as big as the super strength guy, but they were both solid metal, like their entire body was a suit of armor" he explains to us, he puts his finger on his chin thinking "There was also a smaller guy with them, he was wearing a leather jacket with a V on the back of it, and a hockey mask, but he didn't do anything but watch. I think that's all, but I feel like I'm forgetting something"

"The tiger" Oliver says in a serious tone

"Yes! That's right! The hockey guy had a pet tiger with him!" Forest exclaims

"Well that explains why there were only five of them. Devin destroyed the energy weapon twins" Beth says

"He.. Destroyed them?" Forest asks looking concerned

"Yeah, huge bolt of electricity, disintegrated both of them and me. Nothing but ash, but unlike me, they can't heal from that. That's why his arms were like that when you saw him" Beth cheerfully says, bragging about her oh so powerful boyfriend. Please, I bet I can take him

"Wow, he's alot stronger than I thought" Forest kind of mumbles to himself. Oliver tries again to stand up and successfully makes it

"Alright, I'm ready to go if you are, just lead the way" Oliver says then takes a step and wobbles a bit, I get up quickly and grab him putting my arm under his shoulder

"I'll help you. You need to save some strength, we will probably need it" I say expecting quite the battle when we get to the city. Forest turns towards me and looks me straight in the eyes

"Trust me, versus these guys, you're going to need a lot more than just some"