Chapter 12: ???

GASP

Shooting up from the ground, a 26 year old man wearing a military uniform looked around his surroundings with wariness and confusion. 'Where am I?' He thought to himself before looking to his right, beside him was a silver revolver and a sleek machete. The man was quite haggard from how his eyebags drooped and black hair dishevelled. His clothing was covered in dust with clumps of grass stuck to it. On his breast was a clip and broken wire connected to it, possibly something that once held an ID. 

The man slowly stood up grunting, his every movement causing a little bit of a sting in his body but it was bearable. He slowly bent down and picked up the two weapons, sheathing the sleek machete, he observed the silver revolver before opening the cartridge. He still had six bullets on it, so he flicked his hands and with a click the cartridge returned to its place before the man holstered it to his side. Opposite of the machete. 

The man looked up to the sky and noted to himself of the cloudy dark sky with bits of silver light breaking through and surmised that it was night time. Sighing to himself, the man looked towards a random direction before he walked forward, planning to find the nearest civilization as he could.

(A/N; Whose mysterious man, I wonder? :3)

John looked up towards the surface of the pool. Beneath him was a Drone template that was half morphed into something that looked similar to a wolf. The other half of its body still looked like that of a Drone's appearance, but the other half was covered in firm muscle and needle like fur, on various areas of its body was a hardened armour of some kind spread around its vital points. 'What was that feeling?' John wondered to himself, while trying to create a new subtype of the Drone, he suddenly felt something like a tugging sensation in his mind. No, the sensation came from his very being like something he had yearned for. 

Then something pulled at his consciousness, John's attention was pulled away and his vision suddenly changed to an unfamiliar area of the forest. He looked around the area before spotting a half built wooden structure atop a tall tree with purple leaves and thin vines hanging from the branches. John looked confused before he noticed Scorran standing on the corner of the platform looking right at him. John was confused at the action of his first sentient creation before he willed himself to move closer to them. 

Connecting with Scorran via the link, John sent a very sensible question. 'Did something happen?' As a reply, Scorran gestured with their head behind him. Following the direction of the gesture before meeting with one of the blue survivors he had found. 'I believe his name was…Merelia right?' John tried to remember the name but more so focused on what the guard captain was doing on the ground. The captain was tying a rope onto a plank that had two holes on the opposite ends of one another. Beside him was a half built rope bridge, John was confused on what he was planning with the rope bridge before he looked to the side and found another tall tree beside them with an empty platform.

Thunk Thunk Thunk

The repetitive thunks made John turn around to look into the unfinished part of a wall. Inside the construction were the older kid hammering on a wooden nail with a flat rock while on the other side of the construction was the young girl knotting some wool into something that looked like a pillow. 'I guess they settled down here then?' John wondered as he watched all three of them tirelessly doing their own thing before looking at Scorran with a look.

Scorran tilted their head slightly in response. 'I can belive they put you in guard duty.' John stated blankly before he began sensing the surroundings. Fortunately, the mountain pool was not quite far and John even sensed some nearby patrolling Drones. Then John sensed Drones right below the platform, moving his perspective to the Drones. He was met with two Drones standing stock still on either side of the tree, looking like stone statues, their arms were covered with knife sized blades while their tails flowed about. 'I thought the two of you returned to the pool???' John asked confusedly towards the two, the only indication of a reply was when one of the drones pointed upwards, specifically the spot where Scorran directly stood on the platform. 

'I guess the more sentient creations are higher up the chain of command.' John thought to himself before he switched perspective back to Scorran. 'Scorran, what are they trying to do by settling down here?' John asked towards them, tone quite curious and prodding. "Shelter…Build to…search for others." Scorran replied slowly, like they were trying to grapple with their words to form a proper sentence.

'They settled down to look for other survivors?' John said, astonished before he began to think to himself on the reasons. 'Maybe they settled down temporarily to look for survivors of their group before they move out?' John thought inwardly before he began to observe the construction and Merelia closely. John couldn't differentiate the wood they used but he guess they got the planks by scavenging or recycling from broken buildings or even picked them up from one of their fallen belongings. Merelia stood up from his position, stretching his body, showing off his well toned body with a few scars showing. John then suddenly felt a shift of emotion behind him, an emotion of curiosity and delight. Looking behind him, Scorran was intently staring at Merelia with a gleam of interest in their–her eyes. John sensed Scorran's body and was slightly surprised that it was more akin to a feminine physique. 'I guess you picked your gender.' John pushed back his surprise and felt proud that his first sentient creation had made decisions for herself. 'Maybe at a later date, I can test out how smart you are.' John noted and shelved the idea in his mind before returning back to his previous observation. Once done stretching, Merelia looked up at the platform and subsequently Scorran. John noticed how a dreamy look quickly covered Merelia's face before disappearing, he began to wonder how a hybrid from Scorran and Merelia would look before he removed the idea in his head.

'Don't think about that!' John reprimanded himself, mentally kicking and hitting his head on a mental wall. 'Such ideas are dangerous with who knows what kind of effects it could cause to the hybrid or the parent.' Although John wanted to test out the theory, there are certain things that are not meant to be done or found out. So John opted the safer route and began to send glares to Merelia, like a protective father that was against his daughter's choice of a partner. Stubbornly, John sent an order to a nearby Drone patrol to gather material and ore piles to be transported here. 'The quicker they build their shelter, the quicker they can find survivors. Maybe then I could commision them in building at least a hut for the children back at the main pool.' John thought resolutely. 

Meanwhile, in a certain area of the forest, a large wolf that was at least the size of John's Tank stood atop a mound of rock. Below it were thousands of wolves in various sizes but still the size of a Drone. This was The Wolf King, John's unwanted yet somewhat trustworthy neighbour, and below them were their entire pack. Usually, the pack was scattered about and patrolling their territory and the only reason they met up as one was when they wanted to attack somewhere.

The Wolf King, with its dark grey fur flowing in the wind, its body was quite muscled yet athletic. Its paws that were the size of a 8 year old child, claws with the length of an average person's arm, scraped the rock beneath it. Its stance was wide yet majestic, deadly yet captivating. It growled towards its subjects before it raised its head high to the sky and let out a deep howl. 

The other wolves did the same, the collective howl of the pack echoed in the entire forest. Warning the inhabitants that the Pack was moving, and that blood was about to be spilled like a river. The Wolf King stopped its howl before it jumped off the mound towards a direction to the east of their territory, away from John's territory, behind it was half of the pack following in its footsteps with saliva dripping down to the ground from time to time. 

Their movements were uniform and swift as the wind, when they passed by the only thing they left was a powerful gust of wind and leaves flying. After a while, The Wolf King began to slow down with the group following suit with their leader.

In front of them was a suspicious clear ara with no amount of plants dead or not. The Wolf King's left ear twitched before a lone wolf broke away from the group and walked a couple steps forward with caution. It stopped in it tracks and began to sniff the air and ground. Raising its head back up, it let out a huff of air before it took another step forward.

Then as quick as lightning, something in the ground moved before something long and slithery bursted out from the soil and grabbed the wolf before it whipped it around letting a sickening crack and crunch. Then dragging the corpse underground, leaving a splatter of blood and some guts in its wake. The wolves let out growls and positioned themselves for battle, but they returned to their positions when the Wolf King turned its head to them and let out a soft growl like an order. 

The Wolf King looked back at the clearing before it narrowed its eyes. Turning to the right, the Wolf King began to scent the area as unsafe. The scenting process was red mist that came out of its back acting as pheromones. It circled the entire edge of the clearing with the scent of danger. Once done, the Wolf King regrouped with its pack members before making the entire group circle around the clearing and continued their run deeper into the east. Letting out a loud bark, The Wolf king turned left with the group following with. In front of them were various fallen trees creating a wide path, the soil had deep potholes. There were also some infected wandering about.

Further down the path, a deep aggressive growl came. The growl was directed at the group of wolves, making their hackles raise and spreading out their legs before growling back. A large shadow emerge from the path with various appendages all over its body. 

ROAR

RRRAAAAGGGHHH

The sides pounced towards one another, the other side far agile in their movements while the opponent was heavy and made loud thuds making the ground rumble slightly. An echoing bellow came out of the large shadow as a large basin of a maw filled to the brim with needle-like teeth opened wide. The Wolf King opened its mouth to bite as well, its fur looked like it was raised like spikes with a sort of glint on the tip.