Cynophobia

☠₂₀☠

I hadn't been able to tell Rose about our escape plan, but luckily Ivy came by. She agreed to pass the message onto Cairo and Rose. Rose would be able to tell Ray. I hoped Ray would snap out of his phase and come back to being one of us. It was always the five of us against the apocalypse, I wanted it to return that way.

Vincent was going to check out the pond to make sure the mesh worked. He allowed me to come with him. I could tell he was trying to rebuild our bond, but I wasn't concerned with that. When he was angry with me, he would sleep on the couch which I preferred.

We went out in the jeeps. It was about one hundred yards from the ghost town, Vincent told me he called it the Principality of Remnant. Every time that we left the cave we had to ride in jeeps, we never knew if the Cynoids would appear from the city and come after us.

"No matter how hard they believe it, this place isn't safe anymore. Being hidden was the only protection this place had. I wish Ash would consider my idea of an electric fence," I thought.

It was just me and Vincent in his private jeep. The way there was quiet and awkward. The other jeep was driven by James. We had a camera that we would throw down there, Ivy would tell us if there was anything left over the walkie.

Two men had a wire mesh. Vincent was going to put this one under the pond for an extra precaution.

"Send the traitor in, she's small enough to swim through the water shaft," James suggested.

Vincent shot him a glare. "It's a steep drop, no ones swimming in. Why don't you go in, don't you trust your girlfriends invention?"

James looked at his pistol. He was armed with electric bullets now. He wasn't about to back down from a challenge. "Fine."

We all aimed our weapons at the hole in the pond as James jumped into the pond. I could see the claw marks where the Cynoids expanded the shaft large enough for them to storm in. Vincent tossed the camera in the water. We waited to see if Ivy would respond.

James yelled down the hole, his pistol was ready to fire. There was silence.

The two men handed James the wire mesh. He started to place it on the hole when Ivy's urgent voice crackled over the radio, "Wait there is still one-"

A Cynoid exploded from the hole, knocking James to the ground. If he wasn't holding the mesh, his neck would have been bit. I jumped into the water, I shoved my pole into its mouth and shoved it into the muddy ledge of the pond. I could electrocute it, but doing that would shock me and James as well.

"Don't shoot! We will get shocked!" I called.

Vincent cursed. He jumped down into the water with me, hacking at the back of its neck with his sword. When he cut some of the wires, he grabbed me and shoved me onto the bank of the pond. The two other guys hauled James out of the pond.

Wet and twitching, the Cynoid tried to scramble after us. It had been in there for a long time. "It's pivots are rusted, it can't move very well," I explained.

Vincent put his gun to the side of the Cynoid's head, right below the ear. He shot once, the Cynoid's eyes faded and it collapsed.

"Ash's bullets really do work," one of the men said intrigued.

"Of course they work, Ashlyn is brilliant," James snapped. He was wet, discouraged, angry, and worst of all, he had to be saved by me.

"Are you guys alright?" Ivy asked over the radio.