The Gizmo- The Heroes Quest

Chapter 14- An Easter Egg?

Time passes by, and as night falls, the woods start to get darker. Searching for the herbs was harder than I had anticipated. Anderson and I kept wandering for an hour, and yet we were out of luck.

We found the herbs mostly at the base of trees, or in thorny bushes, where in Anderson and I struggled to collect. We tried avoiding as many Grievers as possible, by hiding in bushes, or on the top of tall trees.

A couple of times, when we couldn't escape, we had to battle. Soon, we realized that Anderson's fire magic was super effective against grievers.

Apart from the Grievers, I started to observe the dark woods even more clearly. The whole sky, was covered with the canopy formed by the tall trees, showing traces of moon light at some spots. A couple of times, we heard gunfire and howls of grievers which creeped me out.

As we kept moving deeper, we also found a bridge, which separated the woods into two halves. The bridge appeared as though it might fall off, and it also had many griever claw marks and bullet holes on it, showing that people have crossed this before. And underneath the bridge, was a huge dark space, that made it impossible to see what's underneath. I tried looking down using my sniper scope, but all I could see was thick, black clouds.

We decided not to cross the bridge, as it appeared scary, and you may never know what might happen beyond it.
So, we backed away from the bridge and kept on searching for the herbs before it.

But, that's when we heard the third scream. This time, I could identify that it was a girl's voice. It was not too distant, so Anderson and I sprint forward to save her.

On the way, I check my minimap and realized Amber and Shu were separated, and now we're miles apart!
Amber was running fast back towards where the others were, and Shu remained motionless, at some point away. But ahat would have happened?! And why isn't Shu moving?!

Anderson and I decide to split up. Anderson decided to go save Amber and I decided to go for Shu.

I run as fast as I can, towards the point where Shu was. After running a certain distance, I realized I was running back to the same spot where the bridge was. Upon reaching, I couldn't find Shu, but a pack of three grievers at the bridge looking down and trying to claw something.

This was my chance! I climb up a tree so that the grievers wouldn't notice me. First, I aim at one of the grievers, and shoot it down. Before I could attack the second griever, they had already noticed me. The grievers switch target, and run towards the tree, trying to attack me. Before it could even leave the bridge, I successfully took down the second griever. But before I realized, the third griever had already climbed the tree I was on, and was just a few inches away from the branch!

Before it could even take a step forward, I jump back, with my spine facing the ground. I aim for the third griever mid air, and shoot it down.

I groan as my back back hits the ground. Falling from that height, reduced my health to 40%! I immediately get back to my feet and sprint towards the spot where the grievers once stood. I look down, to find Shu hanging onto a rope attached to the bridge. I pull the rope up, helping Shu to get back on the ground.

I look at him as he gasps for breath. He had turned purple and the cloth around his shoulder had been ripped off, indicating that the grievers had got a hit on him. His health had been reduced down to 20% and the poison kept reducing his health slowly. He looks up at me and grins. Who in the whole world would grin in that condition?!

"Hey! I guess I found something cool down there.", He says with a wide smile.

"And what's that?", I ask.