Death Squad

Chapter 3: The Scout

Drixill Fauzt

Drixill, run! Get away from them!

Take them! Burn them all!

AHH!!

NO!

Nightmares again. Days of peaceful sleep ruined at one night.

I opened my eyes, and stood up from the blankets we have picked. Yesterday, we scrounged a random store for food and supplies, and headed here into an abandoned house. On the way, both of them were talking all the time. What a lucky guy!

Anyway, we discussed our plans. Our first move is to find the location of the Monitor to learn more about the current events. If given a chance, they would likely be training around to discover more of Zack's power. I was tasked to scout the area and pinpoint suspicious people lurking around the shadows.

Zack grabbed some earphones with a little chipped microphone required to be pinned at the side of the mouth. I put the microphone and earphones where they should be.

I walked outside the house, facing the sun as it rises. It's bright and wonderful, makes you feel hope despite the state of this city. The cars filled with moss still block most of the road. Electricity is also cut off as the power stations are unable to supply due to shortages. It has been years since it went out of order.

I jumped to a tall building in order to get a wider view of the area. No activity were spotted since yesterday. This proves that enemies are absent in this zone.

I moved to a taller infrastructure, hopping from rooftop to another rooftop, taking a faster pace as seconds continue to run. It wasn't tiring for I've been doing this for years.

The chirping of the birds gave peace to the sounds of the nature. Those chirping turned to panic when a glass was shattered down by the street. Looks like those are the people I needed for information.

I leaped silently on the sidewalk, casting an invisibility magic I learned from an assassin a year ago. That brings back memories, that pesky man snuck up on me throughout the fight, and I was only able to defeat him by using his own magic against him.

"Take that T.V. out! We can use that later for our gaming console!" a deep voice exclaimed followed with a distracting laugh.

Leaned against the wall, I simply took a careful look at the disturbance. Two men are wearing a coat with a musical note symbol on their backs. They looked familiar. I swear I saw these two before.

It was then when I realized they were the people who went to the grocery store three days ago. If they have connections to the person waiting for Zack at the Monitor, then I must make my move and gain information from them.

I jumped forward quickly, conjuring my weapon at my right hand and gaining momentum to strengthen my attack. The invisibility wore off as I close my distance on the two. I took a stance, sliding my feet on the ground, and while upright, pushed my sword using both of my hands. The moment the tip of my blade was about to hit them both, one man was able to block it with his bare hands. He turned his head around and smiled aggressively. The other twitched, clenched his fist, and struck me with unbelievable force. Before I knew it, I was lying on the ground. My left arm was badly hurt, and my sword rested on the dirt. 

I took a deep breath and carefully stood up. The two men were approaching me with increasing speed, only a few seconds until they can catch up. I need to make my move. Any more damage, I might not be able to take. I would lose my consciousness or worse, I would die.

Feeling that I can lose them in the forest, I blindly hopped behind and took the chance to run. Branches were snapping, and leaves were aggressively rustling; they were chasing me.

"..." I heard a static sound. Oh, I remembered I put one in my ear. "...ix. Drix?"

I pressed on my ear and said, "Kind of busy here, Zack!"

My breathing became erratic, and my legs slowly lost its strength. I was deep in the middle of the forest. It was dark; the surrounding area barely receiving the sunlight. I kept on running as fast as I can. It felt as if I was gradually losing them as the rustling of the leaves became unnoticeable.

Suddenly, the shadows of the trees vanished from a flash of light. A root came out from the ground, unexpectedly shackling both of my feet. I was stopped like a prey hunted by the hungry beasts; instead of filling their stomachs, they were ready to satisfy their bloodlusts.

"There you are, you slippery pest! You have nowhere to go!" the man yelled as he floated in the air. "Unlucky for you, we were too strong for you to handle alone!"

That bright light transformed into a spear. It became apparent to the eye that it holds a massive amount of magical power. The man leaped back, and ran as he was waiting for the spear to fly to his hands, gaining momentum with each second. With all my strength, I tried to struggle to escape. My sword won't come out once again; I had depleted all of my mana reserves. I'm all out of options.

The man threw his spear to where I'm standing. A burst of overwhelming force soared through the thin air. I clapped my hands together to create a rivaling force, but the spear keeps on pushing as harder. I repeatedly clapped again, but it was all in vain.

"...Excomagicka."

With a blink of an eye, an impact was felt right in front of me. Something crashed down, as the dust blocked most of my vision. As the dust settled in, the damaged trees gave light to a man wearing a golden cape covering most of his body. His hair is similar to that of Zack's, black and smooth. The only thing that made me sure is when he laid out his sword in plain sight — a blade with the emblem of the Phoenix.

"Zack!" I said. "Why are you here?"

He then cut off the roots that trapped me so that I was able to freely move. He pointed at the ground, the spear that nearly killed me, broken in half.

"Order. Retreat for now. I'll be with you in a minute." he said.

The way he spoke is as if he was possessed. It definitely wasn't Zack. It must be...

"E-", I muttered as Zack quickly flew past ahead where the enemies are.

The dried leaves scattered along his feet; the clashing of the swords was heard from a distance. Series of explosions rumbled like thunder, and the chaos within the forest culled down the trees that, maybe, were living for hundreds of years. With the laid out fight, I had to get away as far as I can.

It was a struggle dragging my devastated body to a cave with a wide space enough for one person to live. I gradually checked for hazards as I enter the shelter; it would be shameful if someone was to hear a swordsman died because he was bitten by a venomous snake. I rested my back upon a cold wall, giving relaxation to my stressed body as I take a deep breath in and out.

A few minutes passed, and Zack was in my field of vision. His body covered in a golden cape returned back to his usual red hoodie style. As he was walking, he was waving and smiling, giving me the assurance that it was really Zack at this time. He went inside the cave and gave me a bottle with a red liquid inside it.

"Drink it," he said, "That's a potion to heal your wounds."

I drank the potion and it instantly took away the pain. The open wounds were slowly recovering, and my energy was returning to normal. As I looked back at him, his face looked proud.

"Did Eoa do good?"