Chapter 2: Friends?

"What is on the other side, a monster, or human?"

Vincent's muscles tensed up as the noises in the bushes drew closer. He knew flight was a more possible option but, in the process, he would have to leave Chen behind.

He could only brace himself and face any being coming his way.

Just then, he spotted three figures a few meters running towards them, with their tired expressions and eyes darting around it seems like they were being by something but instead of looking back, they looked to the sides as if the creature was in the trees.

"Help!" A female in the group yelled out.

Behind them was another male but he was rather large, so he was lagging behind them, and by his expression he was on the verge of collapsing.

In his tiredness, he tripped and fell to the ground with a thud. He stayed on the ground for a few seconds catching his breath, but his eyes widened a moment later.

"HELP!" The man yelled for help with desperation in his eyes as he stretched out his arm for help but as he forced himself to get up and begin running.

Swish

A noise sounded in the air, distracting Vincent for a moment only for him to turn back to find the man stood in place his face frozen in regret as he began to fall down and so did the other half followed after two seconds.

"Wha." Vincent's eyes widened in shock just as the two people managed to reach his side.

"What the hell is hunting you" Vincent queried anxiously as he grabbed the shirt of the male, pulling him closer.

"I…I don't know, we were just walking when" The man stammered through the sentence.

Vincent let him go before he stumbled to the ground exhausted with the female too collapsing on the floor. Vincent grunted his teeth as he threw the gun to the floor before unsheathing his sword.

"Vincent, we need to get out of here!" Lu Chen yelled out as he quickly scanned the forest finding nothing as the anxiety built in the air.

"No, that thing is fast. It'll probably pick us off as we ran, we have to take a stand here." Vincent replied, his eyes quickly darting around the forest for any signs of the monster.

Swish.

Vincent heard the sound again, quickly turning towards the source with his sword up.

Ting!

Vincent managed to block the attack but also came face to face with a giant praying mantis. It was a 7-foot long with sharp sickle like arms and clicking mandibles.

Vincent pushed the mantis back before slashing his sword at it before it could fly off into the trees, but its speed had made him miss the attack only managing to cut though one of its arms off in the process.

"Damn it's fast." Vincent thought as he stared at the tree which the monster had landed in, using its body as camouflage but its purple blood was giving it away.

It also seemed to notice this, so it gave up hiding but instead of attacking it just began to fly around Vincent at very fast speeds, leaving afterimages in his wake.

This would be a problem for most people for two reasons, one before they could see the afterimage their head would already be chopped off due to its speed and the second one, even if you could dodge it, you wouldn't know which direction it would attack as an after image would be in front of you meanwhile it was behind.

However, Vincent easily blocked each swing, it was easier due it only having one arm, but its handicap didn't slow it down plus the mantis seemed to have basic human intelligence as it only hit from the sides and back. Quickly flying back after being blocked by Vincent.

Throughout all this, Lu Chen and the others were just looking at them in disbelief, amazed by his reflexes.

"Is that his skill?" Lu Chen wondered.

"Augh, I can't keep on like this forever, I need to make a plan." Vincent thought as he blocked another strike, but his eyes broadened as he figured one out.

"Either it works or not, a head is going to be rolling in the air." Said Vincent as he blocked another hit but this time, he broke his stance while also closing his eyes as if he had been hurt.

The mantis noticed and seeing the opportunity to strike from the front, it charged straight at him, its remaining scythe readied for a clean cut for the head.

Just as it was a meters away, Vincent quickly opened his eyes, shifting his body to the side as the mantis passed right by him. He then slashed upwards with sword when he saw the mantis was in the correct position.

The slash was enough to slash though its neck coming out the other side as blood sprayed in the air along with its head as it spun in the air before landing on the ground. Its body followed suit, crashing into a nearby tree due to its momentum.

Ping

The watch in Vincent's arm let out a noise as the numbers on it increased from 0 to 1500.

Vincent ignored it as he let out a sigh of relief before turning his head to look at the awestruck people behind him.

"What?" Vincent asked, confused by their expression as he sheathed his blade before picking up his gun.

"What the hell was that? I didn't know you were a Kun Fu sword master." Lu Chen exclaimed.

"I'm not, my teacher was though so I guess I'm one step away from that." Vincent said as he walked over to the group looking at the two individuals looking at him.

"So uhm, what's up?"

"Hmm, I don't get why you let them follow us." Vincent said with an irritated tone as he cut through some bushes to allow the now group of five to follow behind him.

"Come on, they begged to stay and what did you say about not leaving people to die plus they are carrying our bags and the girl while we walk." Lu Chen grinned as he said this which just irritated Vincent more.

"Yeah, about the girl…are you sure she's not dead."

"Huh, why would you think that?"

"Well, she hasn't woken up yet and I'm pretty sure the poison is venomous, and the poison might have entered through her back." Vincent probed her body and was almost sure about his decision.

"No, she isn't dead, at least not yet." Lu Chen interjected.

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked looking at Lu Chen with suspicion.

"I'll tell you later." Lu Chen winked at him, making Vince squint his eyes in weirdness.

"Anyway, where are we going?" Lu Chen continued as he looked at the map in Vincent's hands.

"On the map, there's an image of a building so that's where were going." Vincent explained as he pointed at the image.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Lu Chen asked as he looked at the distance between where he presumed, they were and the building.

"Probably a day or two but we could stop here at the lighthouse and wait out the night but then we have to walk another day." Vincent traced his finger along the map on the other side of map, pointing to the lighthouse which was the closer to them but further than the building.

"Wait is that a waterfall." Lu Chen asked,

"Yes, it leads to a river we have to cross to get to the lighthouse."

"Do you think we could rest at the river for a bit?"

"Sure, but I don't recommend it, Monsters may also take the river as their hotspot for drinking." Vincent commented.

"But still though, why not. We could rest and find out what is wrong with your sleeping beauty." Vincent stated.

"Hey- "

"Shush, I hear something."

"What."

"Denial, I know you like her right."

"Are you serious, what happened to the serious guy?"

"Well, he took a- "Vincent suddenly stopped mid-sentence, looking forward for a few seconds.

"Hey, you." Vincent looked back, pointing to the woman who was carrying his bag.

"Me?" She pointed to herself, obviously startled by her expression.

Vincent nodded his head before indicating for her to come closer with his finger which she did though, although nervously.

"Turn around." Vincent instructed to the amazement of everyone as they just looked at them.

"What are you doing?" Lu Chen asked, confused by his directions.

Vincent didn't answer the question, repeating his request which the woman turn although with nervousness. Vincent drew closer, stopping a few centimeters behind her before opening up the zipper…and pulling out his gun and silencer.

"Okay then, you can stay here, I don't sense monsters here so you should be cool but if not just yell." Vincent stated, leaving everyone in a state of motionlessness as he walked into the woods.

"What just happened?" The lady voiced out, completely shocked by the situation.

"I don't actually know but he could have asked for the gun." Lu Chen commented.

"By the way, I'm Lu Chen." Lu Chen raised his hand out for a handshake as he introduced himself.

"OH, I'm Emily Anderson." Emily reached forward, shaking his hand with a smile.

"What about the guy in the back." Lu Chen pointed at the guy in the back who wasn't spoken the whole time…probably traumatized from the mantis.

"I'm Nate Brice." Nate said although softly, it was audible for them to hear.

"So, what is the other guy's name?" Emily asked.

"It's Vincent…. Hmm, I don't know his last name." Lu Chen introduced Vincent but scratched his head once he remembered he didn't actually know his full name.

In his defense, with being trapped, giant spider and mantis, he didn't really have the chance to ask.

"I thought you knew each other." Emily enquired.

"Not actually, we met each other in the box." Lu Chen explained.

"But you guys talk as if you've known each other for a long time." Emily inquired further, clearly confused by the friendliness of these two strangers.

"I guess we do, huh. It does feel like I know him somewhere."

"But he is pretty strong. He sliced off the head of that mantis like it was butter." Emily added.

"Yeah, do you think that's his skill?" Nate also added in.

"Skill?" Lu Chen seemed confused as Mat mentioned skills. He was spaced out during the skill part as his brain was still trying to understand his situation.

"Yeah, skills, the hooded man mentioned we all get one skill through a lottery remember." Emily explained.

"Yeah, so what did you get?" Lu Chen asked.

"My skill is Poison Gas; It basically allows me to release poison in the form of gas from my body." She explained as she released a purple gas from her hand.

"Wait so like the spider." He recalled the incident but instead of liquid, hers was gas.

"Yeah, I guess so." She agreed.

"What about you." Lu Chen

"Mine's Tracker, that how we run into you guys."

"What do you mean?"

"It allows me to find what looking for, when we were running from the mantis, I used the skill to find a way to kill or escape it and then it led us to you."

"So, you're basically a walking map."

"Yeah, if say it that way then yes."

"Well, so how do I check mine?"

"Just think of a skill and it should appear."

"Okay" He closed his eyes, doing exactly what he had been told but then his expression twisted into one of confusion.

"Well, this is weird, there- "

"Hey! I'm done let's get a move on!" Vincent interrupted then, walking out of the forest, his clothes stained with blood.

He indicated for all of them to move forwards before walking off, making them also quickly follow behind.

"Humph, what a bunch of idiots."

A grin started to spread along a face as they trekked the forest.