The Guild of the Forsaken

CHAPTER 13 - Fear, It's a Powerful Instinct

Everybody (Backstreet's Back) - Backstreet Boys

September 11th 2024

WALES

"Do you think worms can get claustrophobia?"

Chloé blinks, then blinks again. She shakes her head and prays to Kwami that she heard him wrong. Alas, she does not house the Goddess of Luck in her body. Looking towards Nino she notices that he is standing with his hands firmly placed on his hips while he stares absentmindedly into space.

"I mean they couldn't could they. Like dude, they are literally surrounded by dirt, encased in it. If they have claustrophobia, they are dead."

The horror isn't over yet then. Chloé whips her head around and faces the empty shop. Feeling the heat of the thermos in her hands she lifts it to her lips and takes a tentative sip. It doesn't taste drugged. Vaguely she wonders if she is dreaming. Alas a sharp pinch she gives herself on the arm confirms her fear.

She sighs deeply and moves her tired eyes to Alya who met her gaze with an equally exasperated expression. They had been up all last night finalising their plans. Now they were running on no sleep and caffeine. A dangerous combination.

And to Chloé's utter dismay Nino seems perfectly unaffected by any of this. Well perhaps not completely unaffected as the man seemed plenty delusional. But that was hardly out of the ordinary. With a subtle widening of her eyes and tilt of the head towards Nino, she orders Alya to put a stop to his ramblings.

Much to the blondes delight Alya catches on quickly to her request. She steps hesitantly towards Nino, as one would do when approaching a resting animal that could jump up and attack at the sign of a threat.

"Nino, Babe, what are you on about?" Alya's brows furrow in concern for her boyfriend. Nino realising that he had been caught in his ramblings promptly grows embarrassed, his dark skin flushing a brilliant red.

Unfortunately, before Chloé can tease Nino a woman dressed in a crisp white shirt, knee length pencil skirt and stilettos that Chloé would kill to have strolls over to the trio. While she walks over Chloé looks down to her own welly boot cladded feet in dismay.

"Miss Lindow, Mr and Mrs Graham, the Jeep is ready for you," a heavy Welsh accent meets their ears as the woman addresses each of them with a friendly nod. Chloé finds the sound quite soothing. She quickly steps forward towards her. She steals a glance at the woman's name badge, 'Ffion.' Chloé blanches, she has no fucking clue how to pronounce that. She mulls the name over in her head until she feels confident that she could pronounce it somewhat accurately,

"Thank you, Ffion, where do we collect it from?" Ffion doesn't wince when Chloé says her name, she takes that as a small victory.

Ffion smiles at Chloé, "I will lead you to the car now, I presume that you have filled out the appropriate forms already?"

Chloé plasters a brilliant grin on her face and nods confidently at Ffion. The brown-haired woman returns her grin. "Perfect, well then follow me." She turns on her stiletto heels and begins to walk away from the trio. Chloé quickly moves and walks after her, Alya and Nino following close behind.

The first part of their plan required a car. One that could travel over fields and rocky areas. This was definitely a practicality over aesthetics moment, to Chloé's inner trepidation. Earlier in the day they had hiked into the small village near the cottage. Near being the relative term. When there, they asked the locals about car hire, quickly they were pointed in the direction of a car rental place that specialised in four by fours.

It had not taken them long to pick out a car, Chloé left the decisions up to Alya as she herself could not bear to look at the brutish monstrosities. It's not that she disliked the cars, its more that she could never picture herself driving one. For the majority of her life people drove her around. Fancy limos and flashy cars were her norm. Well at least until her father cut her off, and that didn't happen when she joined Marinette.