[REND] B2. 18.1 - Trees and Revelations

I roared, a short burst this time, as my mind pieced together the puzzle that would make a very problematic picture. The danger level of the threat that the Guardian Angel warned us about grew as minutes passed. The threat didn’t seem to be posed by the PCM.

It’s the helicopters, I thought, roaring again. There’d come a point when Deen and I couldn’t escape if they got close. But who were they? The 2Ms? I wasn’t worried about any asshole they’d fly here.

If not them, then it could only be… the BID!

I shouldn’t have told Tower Cop that the PCM was making a Purple Bloom! After Myra’s shenanigans at several PCM offices, the police and the BID should be focused on hunting this possible Adumbrae roaming the city. But since I told Tower Cop that the PCM was sketchy, the BID must’ve deeply investigated them and likely uncovered truly sketchy things. With the BID’s resources, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find all the PCM hidden bases, including this one outside the city.

Took them hours, but they did find it. Just my luck that they couldn’t have attacked tomorrow or some other time. I suppose that this was our tax dollars used well, given how fast and efficient the BID was. Way better than our city government, which couldn’t maintain public bioscanners.

The helicopters continued their approach, their engines distinct in the storm of gunfire. Overdrive and the gangsters were having the time of their lives, hollering and shouting stupid war cries outside.

The PCM members on the walls shouted in confusion, with only some returning fire. Many of the PCM members around me fled this way and that, abandoning their equipment. They didn’t expect that the negotiations would break down so fast. Without their leaders, they didn’t know what to do.

I let out another short roar, followed by a piercing howl. Hopefully, my signal was clear enough to be heard by the gangsters over the noise.

Earlier, while on the way to this dumpster of a base, Overdrive asked me, “Boss, what if the PCM got some really tough monster hidden there? It’s not going to beat you, boss. That’s not what I wanted to say. But what if it’ll give you a tough time? Just a stupidly difficult fight, you know? Maybe you want to, uh, regroup and fight another day.”

I snorted. “You’re asking to set a call for retreat?”

“Essentially, yeah. There’s no possibility the PCM will beat you, boss. Absolutely impossible. But… just in case.”

“Uh, sure. We can be prudent. I’m going to be roaring a lot while fighting. Hmmm. How about three short roars and a howl? I doubt I’d unintentionally make that specific combination of sounds. I’ll call for a retreat only in the direst of situations. If that happens, flee as far as possible, okay? Don’t look back at me. You won’t be of any help.”

“We’re definitely experts at running away,” he replied, chuckling. “That’s how we’ve survived for so long in this business. The illegal drugs business. Not this Adumbrae business—I pray we survive this one, too.”

They heard it! I cheered in my head as the gunfire outside died down. Engines whined, and tires churned against the dirt as the gangsters’ vehicles reversed away from the PCM base.

But this allowed the PCM members to get their heads back on their shoulders. Someone seemed to be taking charge.

“The monster killed them!” Shouted a whiny voice. “What do we do?”

“Run away!” replied another PCM member.

“We’re all going to die!”

“Stay here!” commanded a loud and authoritative bastard. “You have weapons. Shoot! Kill the unholy Adumbrae!”

“Graoahr rrraorg?” Unholy, am I?

I threw Dreyfus’s headless body at the idiot who didn’t want to flee my awesome presence. The corpse hit the side of a pickup truck just as the electroshock cannon fired, sending coils of electricity harmlessly into the air. The night momentarily lighting up became the signal for the PCM members to attack. They fired at me with guns and electroshock weapons.

“Get Myra!” Deen shouted as she distanced herself from my bullet-magnet ass.

She headed to a group of confused PCM members who were fumbling with a huge, boxy machine with vents and tubes lining its side. We didn’t get to see what it was supposed to do because Deen drop-kicked it, sending it tumbling into a wooden cabin.

Instead of running away, Deen proceeded to destroy other machines. This was probably to help me, since she knew most PCM equipment worked against Adumbrae. How thoughtful of her.

“Shoot! Kill the beast!” a random guy shouted hoarsely.

“I’m getting out of here!” cried another.

“Stand your ground!”

Streaks of electricity hit me, making my muscles seize up for a moment. But through sheer will, I controlled my muscles and stopped them from twitching. The damage accelerated my growth while angering and hungering me. However, I was a master of my baser instincts. The human mind was in charge, and I didn’t allow myself to get lost in a frenzy of chasing the PCM members. These puny humans were super weak anyway, and didn’t really excite my predator brain.

I stood tall as bullets thumped against my thick fur, drawing attention so that Deen would be safe. Wow, I actually cared about her. She’d find her way through the forest with her Guardian Angel’s help.

It was safer if we went together, but I had to revert to my Erind body at some point. I hadn’t prepared for the big reveal yet, and I didn’t want the looming BID danger to ruin the moment.  

Kelsey should also be making a move—she wasn’t part of the call for a retreat. Mostly because I didn’t tell her about it. And good thing that I did because she had to fetch Myra. But before that…

As the smell of my burning hair and lightly seared skin filled my nostrils, I looked at the squirming Cecilia in my hand. Her head was like an apple in my massive palm. She was also getting electrocuted, but she wasn’t taking it as a light massage like I was.

The tentacles growing out of her neck rapidly alternated between stiffening and coiling. Smoke danced on her reddening skin as her eyeballs rolled in her head to show white. Her mouth was agape as she screamed without sound. A great character meeting a pathetic end. She overestimated her importance and thought she had plot armor. An unfortunate mistake—she lasted only a few episodes.

As an appreciation of her entertaining personality, I granted her death by plopping her into my mouth.

Cecilia didn’t even get to say a cool last line. At least she tasted kind of nice since she was slightly cooked.

I chewed on Cecilia’s head as I ran on all fours, charging at the sci-fi gas truck. I staggered for a moment, my legs almost entangling themselves, when oppressive waves of something slapped against me. Adumbrae-shoo-away machines! These were way stronger than those in the tunnels, not only gifting me with a skull-splitting headache but also making the world around me swirl.

I pushed myself to move forward despite it feeling like I was wading in mud. Surprisingly, I could handle the migraines and not vomit up the heads of Dreyfus and Cecila. But it was still a bitch to endure.

I have to take those out!

There they were, two black columns with blinking red lights flanking the gas truck.

I dug up a chunk of the parking area, gravel and dirt and all, and hurled it at the column on the right. The stupid machine got shredded as if hit by a shotgun. The oppressive feeling lessened. I leaped at the other machine and tore into it with my claws and fangs. Finally, the headaches were gone!

The PCM members guarding the gas truck were braver than the others. They fired guns at me, but all that did was tickle me.

I ignored them as I stabbed my hands into the side of the cylindrical container and peeled it open. Green water rushed out as if a womb breaking. The hell was that comparison? But unlike a womb, there were wires and chains inside. Something living was inside. A very slow heartbeat. Likely sedated. Mostly human scent. I tried to figure out if the smell was familiar, but the sharp odor of the liquid was overpowering.

Stopping for a moment, I glanced southward. I spotted the helicopters' silhouettes against the starry sky. Four of them. They didn’t have their lights turned on just yet, and the PCM members were still unaware of the incoming attack. To be fair, the PCM members couldn’t really focus on anything else with me around.

I hastened to open more of the container, taking care not to accidentally injure whoever was inside. Please, please, please let Myra be—Yes!

Blue hair came into view; I could clearly see the color despite the dim light. I sniffed to confirm that this was really Myra, recalling her scent at the docks. Just in case the PCM pulled a trick by putting a fake Myra inside. This was really her.

That was easy, I thought, raking the wires and restraints off Myra’s naked body. Her heartbeat started to return to normal as she took her first breath after probably a few hours. However, she remained unconscious. I cradled her in my hands and looked around. Where is her purple sister?

“Red Hood!” Kelsey leaped over the roofs of the cabins to the back of the compound, heading towards me. She was splattered with some blood. Not hers and not human. She had fought some of the jigsaw monsters. “Is that my sister? I’m coming to—”

I threw Myra at her. Kelsey stopped. Myra’s body disappeared mid-air, reappearing in Kelsey’s arms.

“Thank you!” Kelsey shouted, her voice on the verge of breaking. Though I was far from her, I could see tears running down the sides of her eyes and over the scales of her cheeks. She resumed coming to me. “Where are we—?”

“Rhraaagrr!” Could Kelsey pick up the tone of alarm in my roar? I frantically pointed in the direction from which she came.

She stopped heading towards me, the scales on her forehead overlapping as her brows furrowed. I roared again, jumping on the roof of a nearby building and heading to the forests. I kept gesturing to head away from the PCM compound.

Not sure what Kelsey thought I meant to say, but she nodded once and ran away with Myra draped over her right shoulder. Good thing that Kelsey didn’t continue to join me, understanding that I threw Myra at her so that they could separate from me. It was much easier for me to hide alone, and spreading out provided more targets for the BID to chase. I was going to turn back into human later; I didn’t want an Adumbrae with me.

Just maximizing my chances of survival.

That said, it would be bad if the BID found Kelsey—I’d have to go on the run. But that’d beat being caught together with her. Still, I hoped that all of us could escape.

That was the troublemaker Fletcher sisters out of my hair. Kelsey should notice the helicopters soon and realize she should do her best to hide. Deen? She was the least in danger out of all of us. The gangsters? The BID might spot their vehicles, but they were lowest on the BID’s priority list.

And highest on my priority list was my own ass!

If Deen’s Guardian Angel was so worried about the BID, it could mean that they had the means to take down my giant werewolf form. Part of me wanted to duke it out with BID agents to see how strong they were. I might even face the multi-armed Matt, who gave me quite the shock at my condo’s lobby. I didn’t think the BID agents would do much better than the 2Ms’ forces. But I was listening to the Guardian Angel, unlike Deen.

They’re here… The helicopters had turned on their searchlights as they flew over the clearing in front of the compound. Explosions. Gunfire. More shouting. I didn’t care to look back at what was happening.

One leap, and I soared over the barbed wire on top of the wall. I headed to the line of trees. I wasn’t an outdoorsy type of girl, but I could figure out how not to get lost in the forest. Kelsey and Myra were somewhere to the east, already out of sight.

“Red Hood!”

I stopped. And so did my heart.

“Red Hood, wait for me!”

Checking over my shoulder, I saw Deen jumping down from a guard tower. What should I do?

I planned to run as fast as I could deep into the forest—no way the BID could catch up to me—and remove my Blanchette mask, returning to my cute and lovable self. Would be difficult to hide if I kept on growing into a hairy hill of muscles. Dealing with the drama of revealing my secret identity wasn’t included in that. Frankly, I was quite done with everything tonight and just wanted to sleep in my bed.

That said, going with Deen was exponentially safer. I knew that even though I could barely remember my math lessons about exponents.

I decided to wait for Deen. Maybe I should stop avoiding the big reveal. It was just that I sucked at handling emotional scenes. Ugh.

“Those helicopters…” Reaching me, Deen grabbed my fur and tugged. “We have to get away. Far away! I think they’re the—woah!”

I picked up Deen and tossed her on my back. I ran on all fours, zigzagging through the thick trunks. The younger trees, I just ran over. I could see quite well in the darkness here. The dense canopies blocked the light coming from the scant moon and stars. The cover would prevent the helicopters from spotting us.

Same plan, still. Run far as Blanchette. And then, turn back into Erind.

Kind of funny, but not really, that I dreaded revealing my identity more than getting caught by the BID. Not sure what this meant.

Deen hugged my back. She was so light I could barely feel her. “The BID. I think they’re the BID. When we were looking for Myra this morning, the police and BID were investigating PCM establishments. I’m not sure how, but someone must’ve tipped them off that the PCM conducted human experiments. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sought out the PCM’s secluded base.”

“Rhgraoor…” My bad, there.

“My power—it warned me of extreme danger. There may be BID agents in those helicopters. They’re expecting to find Adumbrae. For now, let’s continue on this course. We’ll find a different way back to the city. Uh, but I don’t know how…”

“Grhaorr… rhoa…” Me neither.

“Following the road might be a bad idea,” Deen said.

I felt her shift her position from lying face-first on my back to sitting on it. She secured herself by clamping her legs on my back and grabbing my fur as if they were the reins of a horse. She was really enjoying her ride, huh? Did this lower my standing? From a sidekick to just a ride. I was a huge werewolf, but I still couldn’t be the main character.

I had no idea where I was headed. Deen would give some instructions to turn left here or right there. She’d also tell me to stop and hide inside a ravine or quicken the pace.

The faint buzzing noises in the distance might be BID drones tracking us down.  

(Author’s Notes: Unlucky for Erind that the BID came. Though she's also lucky that the BID didn't strike before she got there and captured Myra. In a way, this is Erind’s fault for reporting the PCM to Tower Cop. Also, as much as I liked Cecilia’s character, there was no way she’d survive this encounter. May she rest in pieces in Blanchette’s stomach. And what a bonding moment for Erind and Deen. We’ll have Deen’s POV next chapter. Thanks for your support!)