Chapter 39:

As Mill arrived in the field where they left the car Xenai slowly roused from her sleep. "Nice timing, we made it back to my group's campsite." Xenai took a second to completely wake up before looking around. It looked like they had truly made the campsite out here. They had a fire in the middle of the field, a few tree trunks knocked down for sitting, and off to the side was the car that Mill kept talking about. Everything was surpisingly homely and it gave Xenai a sense of comfort that she hadn't felt in a while.

Mill walked over to the the car and placed Xenai inside to rest. Mill looked around the campsite to find his friends and Myst. "It's way past the meeting time so where is everyone? I mean I thought I would be the last to arrive."

"Well you're not the last but you certainly weren't the first, dear leader." Myst's voice came from the forest as he and Lua walked out with some wood, likely for the fire. Ignoring Myst, Mill walked over to Lua. "How long have you two been here?"

"We got here around an hour ago or so ago and got everything set up here. So what took you so long because he's been annoying me for the entire hour and I want a dumb reason to hit you." Mill nodded toward the car. "I found a survivor, a kid. It took awhile to convince her that I wasn't a monster so that's what took so long."

Lua squinted her eyes with suspicion as she walked over to the kid in the car. Once she saw Xenai in the car she clicked her teeth and said, "I really needed to hit someone." Mill didn't show it but he was relieved that his reason for being late was good in Lua's standards.

" 'ey, there's always Darren and Karl. And you know that they won't have a good excuse." Lua smirked at Mill's response and the idea of beating Karl and Darren to a pulp. "So, what information did you get out of the kid?" Myst stood to the side to listen to the conversation. Mill tells the two about the interaction that he had with Xenai. 

"So, you did all of that and the only information that you got from the kid is that we're dealing with shape-shifters." Lua recounted the information that Mill gave them in clearly annoyed by more than just the information.

"Didn't we agree to explore the town to find what we were fighting since the quest sheet didn't tell us? Why are you so upset?" Mill could tell that this was the moment that Lua was waiting for. A chance to explode and vent everything that she had went through since the group split.

"You know what, you're right. The information is great and is could really give us an advantage in our fight against those shape-shifting freaks but with that in mind did you really not think for even a second that the girl that you brought back could be a shape-shifted monster!" Mill went to speak but it was clear that Lua wasn't done.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU MILL! You were the one that we chose to be the leader and somehow you're the one that's making all of the biggest mistakes and always putting the rest of us in danger! And you put me with the instructor just because you didn't want to deal with him when it should be someone like you that gets stuck with the annoying people." Mill glanced over to Myst who was just leaning against a tree not too far away. Maybe he should have been the one to take Myst along but Mill had felt strange about being around Myst since he killed his ancestor. No, Mill made a choice and he intended to stick by it.

"My choice to pair you with Myst was because I knew that you were the only one that would actually be trying to keep an eye on him to find out his intentions and because I knew you wouldn't let him get too close because of your curse." Mill's sudden rebuttal through Lua off. "And my choice to bring Xenai back was to ensure that she would be safe. She had been in that house alone for three weeks with no food. She even too scared to go to sleep so yes I didn't even for a second stop to think wrong of her because I became an adventurer to help people and make sure they didn't end up situations like the ones that I've been through when no one was around to help! We both know that I didn't choose to be the leader so the least that you could do is understand that neither one of us is happy with this situation."

While Mill was yelling at Lua it started to get hot as he got more and more heated. Now that he was done the heat started to subside and both of the teens grew silent. "Alright, we should take this time to get some rest while we wait for Karl and Darren to get back. Mill go see if Xenai would like to join us for some food." Myst took complete charge of the situation now that the arguing had stopped. The group including Xenai sat around the fire and started to eat some of the food that they had brought along with them. It was uncomfortably silent but no one spoke up and they just continued to eat. Eventually, Mill was the one to break the silence as he looked to Lua. "So, you never did tell me if you guys found anything." Lua hesitated for a second before speaking.

"We didn't really find anything. There were some destroyed building but that's everywhere so it's just a bunch of useless information. It was just a waste of time." Mill nodded to Lua and looked over to Xenai. "And how are you feeling now that you've gotten a bit of sleep Xenai." Xenai looked up from her food when Mill acknowledge her and smiled. "I feel 10, no 20 times better. Even if the food doesn't taste as good as my dad's did. He always made the best food when he would get back from working in the mines. Like Ghilli Birds baked with a special seasoning that he made himself and there would be grilled vegetables with the town's special sweet and spicy sauce." The group listened as Xenai continued to recollect for a full hour about how good her father's cooking was.

"That all sounds delicious, Xenai. It's got me wanting to taste your father's cooking." Myst stood up and moved around to Xenai. "Why don't we make sure these fools find him so that we can all try that amazing cooking of his?" A bright smile appeared and Xenai face as Myst said this. "You promise that you'll find my dad! What about my mom and my big brother? They're missing too so can you find them?" Mill placed his hand on the young girl's head and gently stroked it.

"Of course. We'll find everyone in you family and in the village so you need to make sure that you get some sleep so that you don't pass out when you see them again, okay?" Xenai nodded excitedly and ran back to the car to go back to sleep she stopped for a second and ran back to give Mill a hug. "Thank you for helping me. I know you'll save my village." Mill returned the hug then ushered for Xenai to go get some rest.

After the girl was placed back into the car so that she could rest the group reconvened. "Something's happened to Darren and Karl. It's been two hours since the agreed meeting time and they still aren't here." Lua and Myst nodded. "Those two may be idiots but they aren't stupid enough to forget where we parked are they? Actually, I take that back they might really be that stupid." Lua reassured herself.

"I'll go check around where we sent them to see if I can find any clue as to what happened to them. You two should stay here with Xenai until then." Lua nodded but Myst held up a hand.

"Actually we seem to have some company here in the shadows. So why don't you stay for a bit and help us with these shape-shifters." As if summoned by Myst's words monsters with grey skin that looked slimy to the touch and fully black beady eyes crawled in with elongated limbs and slowly surrounded the group.

"Well, I guess if we're gonna throw a party the least I could do is welcome our guests." Mill drew his twin swords and stood at the ready. Lua and Myst also readied their weapons as more and more of these strange looking monsters revealed themselves.

"All right, I've been waiting for something to hit." With those final words from Lua combat started.