"Spark" Flower

A red flower.

That was all they could see from the vehicle yet Rook still seemed extraordinarily wary. As if the target in front of him was extremely deadly.

"This is really troublesome" He said with a wry smile as he slowly took steps forward.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

One step at a time, he was in no rush whatsoever to apporach the deadly mutation. I found myself getting wrapped up in the tension even though there was only a flower in front of us.

Tap.

Suddenly, fire.

The flower shot flames towards rook who immediately jumped back. He heaved a sigh of relief even though the flower had just assaulted him.

"No worries, it's just a spark flower." Rook turned to us from the ground and said with a carefree smile. I suspected he was trying to hide his racing heart and mask his unease.

For one, calling something that can shoot flames a spark flower seems like a severe underestimation.

"This sucker is close to mutating though. We can count ourselves lucky." Rook stood up and said. He aimed at the flower and…

Bang Bang!

He shot at the multiple red ones that were growing on the road. The flowers were turned into nothing and some inside of the vehicle felt either confused or relieved.

Rumble

But it seemed that the show was not yet over. On the contrary, it had just started. The encore nobody wanted signified its start with a soft rumble.

The shot flowers writhed oddly, like tentancles or something of the sort and road beneath started to show visible cracks. Something was coming from below the grond.

Boom!

With the sound of flying dirt and stone, something popped out of the ground.

Click, bratatat

Rook changed to fully automatic and fired blindly into the cloud of dust and debris. Our ears were going numb by the continuous blind shots but we didn't dare voice this as we were far more focused on what was happening up ahead.

Swoosh!

A root shot out of the dust cloud towards Rook. He deftly evaded the attack and continued shooting into the settling dust.

Tick

The clip became empty and Rook swiftly reloaded but didn't continue his firing.

I gulped nervously after finally catching sight of the monster in front of us. It seemed to be a bundle of roots encasing a weird sort of red crystal. There were sparse red flowers that likely functioned as its eyes at the top.

I was in disbelief after seeing the true form of the 'spark flower' Whoever named it needed to be desperately fired.

After some seconds of silence, Rook finally lowered his weapon and spoke.

"Looks like it's done! Who wants to help me load this thing into the vehicle?" Rook asked with greedy eyes.

Multiple hands shot up into the air behind me. Rook only laughed before speaking.

"That was a joke, I can't have you guys ruin the materials. Plus, we aren't actually taking it. Just the heart." Rook said and pointed with his rifle at the red gem-like crystal surrounded by spiky brown roots.

He brought out a knife and carefully approached the plant leaving nothing to chance. Seeing no reaction, he slashed away at the brown roots. It took him multiple hacks just to cut through the brown root. He repeated this routine a couple of times until the crystal was finally freed from its bindings.

He ran back to the truck and out of a compartment brought out a thick cloth-like object.

"It's a retardant. The spark flower uses the power of the sun to grow as most plants do. Most of that heat ends up stored in its heart. Touching it with your bare hands can cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns." He then shuffled back and grabbed the crystal with the help of the special heat and fire resistant cloth. It worked like some sort of oven mitts I presumed. He wrapped it tightly and returned.

"It's still pretty hot but I am going to need you guys to hold this for me" He said after entering the driver's seat. Kaiser was the one to take the warm material and hold it tightly.

"Hold on tight, we are going to have to drive around it" Rook said after closing the door and putting the vehicle on drive.

The vehicle accelerated and Rook turned the wheel to avoid the gigantic hole on the broken asphalt road. It was quite scary, the high grass blanketed the windshield and left everything up to chance.

Each second felt slower than the last but we were soon back on the road after Rook turned back. My heart was still racing though. The world was far scarier than I could have imagined as even the grass seemed to hold a hidden threat.

We continued driving and by the time noon came around we were finally at our destination. An empty space near the area.

"You guys will get off here. I wouldn't be able to explain myself if I bring a bunch of people into the camp. There are some supplies on a compartment right there" He said and pointed.

"There should be enough tents and food for you guys to survive a good two weeks. Any longer would depend on yourselves."

Kaiser then asked a question.

"How do we contact you again?" It was an important matter since the current strategy made it seem as if we were being dumped to die.

"I'll pass by on a weekly basis so keep track of the days. That's assuming nothing goes wrong of course." Rook said easing the worries of some of the members.

"Is it possible to shorten that time?" I asked as we all started to get off the vehicle. Seven days wasn't in anyway reassuring. If someone got injured for example we would have no choice but to enter the camp unsolicited. That was obviously asking to be killed or incarcerated.

"I have a busy schedule so I'm afraid not. You guys should just be careful. Oh right, if you guys do want to leave keep in mind that there might not be enough space if you gather too many materials. Best of luck." He said as the final member got off the truck and rapidly drove away.

There was a short silence as we found ourselves under the sweltering heat next to a road without many resources or directions. Perhaps… this was a bad idea?

"First things first, earlier was an exception not a norm. Most of the mutants in the area are below the irradiate level and can be handled with enough caution. Secondly…" Kaiser paused and unfolded a map from his pocket.

"We are about five minutes from the lake Gloom. We will place our camp near it but still in the field of grass as to avoid being spotted. Other than that, have fun. It's also my first time up in the surface." Kaiser had a knowing smile as he spoke the latter words. He was well aware that most were likely curious in regards to their new environment.

No one spoke however. They were still uneasy.

"Nothing? Follow me then, let's walk" Kaiser said and took the lead to head into the tall grass. We now had no choice but to follow close after. Most of my excitement had been killed by reality. Still, there was a strange appeal to our current situation.