THEM: RAPTURE (Book Two)

Chapter Ten

"We seriously ticked some things off," Thomas said as he looked around. "What do we do?"

"I think I am gonna start hacking and not stop 'til they do," Rick commented. "That sounds like a good plan."

"I could start a fire and make a torch," Brock suggested. "I do not imagine anything here is too fond of fire."

"I am not going down without a fight," Rick commented. "I will take this whole forest down if I have to."

"Looks like that is what has to happen," Brock explained as he took his lighter out of his pocket. "There seems to be little choice."

"Stop!" an unfamiliar voice called out. A young woman ran into the clearing to join the trio. She was wearing patchwork clothes that looks like it had been sown from materials found in the forest. "If you fight, you will be killed."

"What do we do?" Brock asked. "We are very open to suggestions here."

"This forest is like one big creature," the newcomer said as she put a hand to a specific spot on the vine, it reacted to her touch, moving off and becoming less aggressive. "Everything here is connected, every plant, every tree, every vine is all part of the same thing. They are treating you like pests that could hurt it. It is like you would react to rats being in your barn. It is trying to expel you."

"We don't want to hurt it," Brock insisted. "We are trying to find a ship or something the aliens dropped."

"Oh really?" the newcomer asked, her face skeptical. "You want weapons? Treasure? You heard there was something to be salvaged here and you are climbing over yourself to get ahead?"

"The world is far beyond a time that can distract you from the dangers," Rick commented. "There are already far too many who think that all can be accomplished with distractions."

"Then what is it you want?" the newcomer asked. "Why would you risk your lives to come to a place where few can survive?"

"For a better chance against the aliens," Brock commented. "There is a survivors bunker we came from and we can last a long time there but that's no future. We need something that can fight these things and make a difference. The world has gone to shit, and we want to try and push it back."

"It is that bad out there?" the newcomer asked. "I have been here a long time and I did not know."

"Most everyone has given up," Rick commented. "Happy to just let nothing change and wait for oblivion to come. We want to know the secrets of this place and if there is to be a future for anyone."

     The newcomer nodded her head. "My name is Melissa. You are lucky I am lonely here and would love to talk to people again. I will show you to my shelter and we can discuss this further. You touch nothing that I do not tell you to touch. You follow me and you listen to all of what I tell you. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Brock said, still looking at the vines as they slowly reclined back to where they came. "I do not much like the idea of the alternative, so we are more than happy to listen to you."

"I am starting to see why so many people never came out of here," Thomas commented. "This place is dangerous."

"It can be," Melissa commented. "It can also be a great place to call home."

     The group went deeper and deeper into the forest. At first what looked like it was just random hills and topography soon began to reveal itself as more deliberate shapes. Brock paused, looking at some of the ground that at first looked like rocks but then was revealed to be made of some kind of metal he had never seen before.