224 The Center of the Forest

I was thinking the exact same thing that my sister. Doing this would be difficult.

It's true that as long as we keep moving there shouldn't be too many troubles, but we tested that a while ago and in just one type of leaf. The plants here might be stronger than the previous ones.

There was also the possibility that the flowers, grass or even the branches had a different interaction with the leather, so far as we moved here, there were moments when we touched a branch, or a leaves but the time was so short that there was no effect as expected… but to advance we need to be sure that we will be safe.

"Help me with something."

Hope nodded as she started to help me took the timing that it took for each kind of plant to start attacking me. The leaves and the grass all had a similar delay of about ten seconds, while the trunk, branches, and roots needed twice as much time to act. Finally, the petals were more dangerous as it took them just half the time to start sucking out the blood.

Using my enhanced touch, even if it hurt more, I also noticed that in fact there was no need for direct contact for them to start taking my blood. The distance still was at most just a couple millimeters but every bit of information would be useful and might help us in the future.

I also noticed that most of our equipment had the same effect except for the soles of our boots. Our soles were thick enough to put enough distance to prevent it… it was that or the time that it took for them to start sucking our blood was over ten minutes… and I don't plan to stay that long in the same place.

"Spence, wouldn't be easier if you get a bicycle or something like that?"

"No vehicles at the shop…"

"Mmmm, what about something metallic we can step on?"

I understood her intentions right away.

"I might but will you be able to lift it with your powers here?"

I knew that there was a certain amount of metallic component on the soil and the blood have some iron in it, but it was enough?

"I don't think I can't make it hover over the floor like with my sneakers, but I should be able to move it, at least that way we might have a way to move without being in contact with the grass… it would at least give us a place to rest from time to time."

It made sense, but the problem with her idea was that the floor wasn't flat… we need something different if we want to avoid the ground.

Suddenly I had an idea… we might not be able to buy a vehicle, but maybe we can improvise something.

In the end it the materials cost about 150 points, but if we manage to take this out of here, it would be great.

It was a simple giant plastic ball with a zipper on the side… using superglue, I filled the inside with wires that still let us see what was happening outside while covering most of the inside… finally, I put a platform, a circular metallic plate with enough space for the both of to be. It would be a little crowded with both of us there, and the outside could use some improvements, but it would do the trick for now…

Hope was looking at it with curiosity.

"I call it the "All-terrain hope fueled vehicle," ATHFV for short…"

"But it's just a wired plastic ball…"

"Just get inside and get ready…"

She went inside and sat on the platform. I followed her and sealed the zipper and sat behind her.

"Ready?"

She asked, despite her trying to act normal I could see in her eyes that she was interested in the ATHFV."

"Sure let's move."

The platform and the wires repelled each other. And the platform floated slightly over them… the next second the plastic ball around use started to rotate, and we moved forward… the ball stopped and began to move in random directions after that…

"Hope what are you doing?"

"I'm getting used to controlling it."

"Oh… okay…"

I let her do whatever she wanted as she moved the ball in different directions I wanted to leave this place soon, but it's true that she needed to get used to it before we get to the dangerous part.

She did that for about ten minutes. From the time that I could see in my missions I knew that outside has been about 1 and a half hours since we disappeared.

Because of the trees, I couldn't see what happened with the storm, and the only clue I had about them was the thunders that could be heard from time to time.

"I think I get the hang of it… we just need to go in that direction?"

She asked pointing with her hand…

With all the turning and random movements it took me a few seconds to respond her luckily I heard one of the thunders, and that helped me be sure about the right direction, it surprised me a little the fact that she was able to point the right direction without even thinking, but it must be related to her memory.

"Yes."

This time the ball started to move in the right direction at a higher speed than before.

"Hey slow down!"

"Don't worry I have it under control!"

I'm not going to lie. Hope's words didn't help at all, I was already seeing both of us crashing against a tree but just as she said… she had it under control. The ball always would do a slight turn in the right moment, and we would pass by the trees and bushes without problems.

We didn't test the interaction between the plastic ball and the plants but I was sure that it would be okay, there was a thick metal between the floor and us anyway, and there was also enough distance from the plants to us to know that we were safe inside the ball.

"Hey, do you think hamsters feel like this when they play in their balls or wheels?"

"I don't know, I never had a hamster. If this platform wasn't here, and we were running, I would say that it's similar."

"If we manage to leave this place can I keep the ball?"

"Sure… but once we are outside you could probably ask for better one don't you think?"

"YAY!!"

The bubble swayed to the side with her excitement

"Hey focus!! Eyes on the road.."

"Sorry… so how much deeper we have to go?"

"I wish I know…"

No new plants had appeared for the moment, but it was good that we build this ball. There were moments were finding a safe passage was a little tricky, but with the ball's protection, it wasn't as big as a problem as for how it would have been if we came here running.

The place was covered by a lot of roots, and for the first time, we noticed that the trees, bushes and everything in the forest was connected as if it was just one giant tree growing underground. It made sense… were in the third stomach after all.

We also noticed that unlike what we thought before the plants can move a little. I didn't think about it because that soft swaying could perfectly have been because of the wind… but right now the corpse of a bull was slowly being dragged in the same direction that we were going.

The fourth stomach was in charge of finishing the digestion because the first two places were frozen and a storm was going on I didn't think about it, but this place must have his way to move the "food" from one place to another.

"Follow that bull."

Hope also noticed it, and we also went in that direction.

The bull moved slowly as we followed it and after what we thought was an eternity we finally arrived at what seemed to be the center of the forest…

"Don't get near that thing… "

The ball for the first time in a while stopped moving… we weren't worried about it, but we have to follow with our sight the fate of the bull's body.

The center of the forest was a blood lake… in the center, the biggest tree of the forest was swaying from side to side…

The willow's roots left the lake and spread in every direction forming the rest of the forest.