Worlds collide

Chapter 16

Crunching of the twigs and leaves under the soldier boys boots was all that could be heard, as we made our way through the semi open forest. It was odd that the wildlife had gone quiet but not unheard of, majority of the creatures that live in this forest haven't seen a human before. The way we move and breathe is foreign to them.

Many scientists believe, including my mother and I, that a lot of different creatures are tuned into the forest; the sounds, the smells and movements. They can sense when something doesn't belong and even though Tanya and I have been trained in how to manoeuvre nature's minefield, the boys haven't so it's not surprising that the animals here have had their flight response triggered. This is the explanation I gave when Kai voiced his concern over the all encompassing silence.

"Oh ok, so you don't think we're going to see any animals on our way back then?" He questioned as we manoeuvred under some large branches blocking our way.

"It's possible, they might've just been scared off by the murder hornet hive coming to kill us. It's very difficult to say for sure without a better understanding of the hierarchy here and which animals are afraid of who." I replied as I lifted a small branch out of our way, waiting for Kai to pass before letting fall back into place.

"Freya! I can see the final marker we placed, we're at the 20 metre mark." Alan called back from his position in front with Hunter and Tanya.

"Alright that's good we've got about 30 minutes before the deadline, let's pick up the pace but be mindful of your steps." I called back to which everyone agreed.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the Jeep, the boys collapsing next to it in a pit of exhaustion, taking small puffs of their respirators in an attempt to restore their normal breathing pattern. Strangely enough neither Tanya or I were feeling very tired, it took a moment for the realisation to hit me that I haven't needed my respirator once since we got out of the water, I mean compared to others I rarely use mine to begin with, but I usually need it at least once in an hour.

Noticing my trip down the rabbit hole, Tanya gave me a nudge and pointed to Alan, who appeared to have been trying to get my attention for a while.

"Sorry! What was that?" I questioned as the others gave a small chuckle at my absent-mindedness.

"I said we've only got about a minute did you want to contact base camp and then your mother before they send out a search party?" Questioned Alan as he regained his breath and added a not so subtle hint of sarcasm to his words.
I rolled my eyes but did as he said, contacting base camp first.

"Base camp this is unit 3 come in please..." I requested releasing my hold on the radios button so they could talk, with no response I tried again adjusting the frequency, figuring the forests canopy was too dense and made difficult for it to penetrate. Finally I landed on the right one and heard the gruff voice of one Colonel Marks...

"Miss Jones, cutting it a little close don't you think?" Of course that was the first thing out of his mouth, but I did take note of the fact that it we only had 30 seconds before our deadline. Close indeed.

"Haha yeah, ran into a bit of a snag, our radios managed to get submerged in water so had to make a two hour trek back to the jeep." I informed him as I watched the others hop into the jeep with me.

"Are you all ok? What happened?" He questioned, his voice raising a couple octaves in worry.
Before I could answer him a voice chimed in from behind me.

"We're fine dad, just had a run in with some not so friendly wildlife, none of us are hurt. Just a bit tired." Kai reported in an attempt to comfort his father.

"Wildlife? Hmm they didn't happen to be giant hornet-like creatures did they?" Marks questioned causing us all to gain looks of confusion at his unexplainable knowledge.