Long Night Ahead

Hearing the Corporal's comment sent a shiver down Lance's spine as he subconsciously glanced at Dan who also looked at him at the same time with wide eyes.

"Sounds like we're in for an eventful night! Good thing you got that extra sleep this morning!" Lance said with a smirk on his face.

Dan looked slightly taken aback, "They're gonna ride us two scouts into an early grave! And wait, how are you able to hear that too?"

Lance said matter of factly, "I got a little something extra when I absorbed the energy from that Hell Hound. Though I haven't quite figured it all out yet."

At this point Corporal Andrews called down for Lance and ordered him to come up into the watch tower. Lance ascended up the ladder and immediately came face to face with the dying girl on the ground with a huge claw mark ripped into her side. From what he could see, it looked as if there were at least two broken ribs and there was a rather large pool of blood beneath her. Luna was kneeling at her side with her long silver hair soaked in sweat and the look of exhaustion in her dark red eyes. Lance understood immediately what he had to do without even being ordered. He reached his hand out to touch Luna's shoulder and quickly filled her energy.

After Luna was revitalized, she quickly attended to Anne once again. Lance saw her ability first hand as the broken ribs returned to place, the blood vessels mended themselves, and the skin started to join together.

Lance asked "Will she be able to survive with all that lost blood?"

"The rest will be up to her. I've done all that I can. Here, let me see your hand." Luna said with an almost emotionless voice.

Lance wasn't sure whether that was exhaustion or just seeing too many of these situations, but the tone sent a shiver through his skin. He held out his hand to Luna and saw how she used her skill to reconnect the knuckles in his hand as well as a couple minor arterioles and ventricles. He felt an itching sensation like no other in his hand and wondered how Anne would deal with it if she woke up.

Thinking of the situation Anne was in gave Lance a thought. "What kind of skill does Anne have?", he asked the man with the raspy voice.

"Anne's skill is speed based. She's a lower body Kinetist. Why do you ask?" said the raspy voiced man.

Lance's eyes lit up as he said "Perfect." and then walked beside Anne, placed a hand on her side near the wound and said, "I believe that while she isn't a full body Kinetist, her body should be able to absorb energy and convert it to energy that her cells use for building up red blood cells." while he transferred what remained of his energy to her body. After Lance was done, he noticed that while her body was still pale, her legs had started giving off heat.

Luna, who was much more sensitive to changes in the human body, looked at Anne with a curious look in her eye as she walked back over to Anne and felt the heat coming from her legs. She then raised Anne's pant legs and seeing that they had turned quite red exclaimed "With what you did, I think she should be back to full health in a couple weeks. We will need to transfer her out of the abyssal zone and to the recovery tent outside tomorrow when her breathing stabilizes a little more. How did you think of this?"

Lance looked at Luna and said flatly, "At the abyss in Australia there was scientist who theorized that this internal energy we developed would alter our cells making them more resistant to stress and that goes doubly so for those who develop body based skills."

A dead quiet suddenly overwhelmed the watch tower as the others stared with wide eyes at Lance, looking at him like he was some sort of monster. "What?" Lance croaked, "I like to read."

Corporal Andrews coughed and said "Well, now that that's settled, we need to figure out what to do with the rock beast. We need a group to quickly go to the nearby watch towers and spread the word regarding the breach and we need a second group to head to the breach, scout the area and repair the breach if possible."

The squad quickly assembled below the watch tower shortly after and Corporal Andrews split the squad into two. Lance, Dan and Candy were part of the group heading to the wall with Andrews while the other group had Rachael as their main scout and Tony assigned to lead the way.

The groups split up and headed towards their assignments as the sun started to set. Lance's group moved forward and headed West into the setting sun while Rachael's group headed North towards the nearest watch tower. As Lance's group headed towards the wall, they could hear the sounds of howling in the distance and it sent shivers down their spines. They looked at each other as they subconsciously gripped their rifles tighter as if it was some form of comfort.

Lance asked Dan as they were marching if there was anything nearby and was given the "All clear!" as he broke away slightly from the group as he absorbed energy from a handful of trees before rejoining the group. "What's that stench? Do you guys smell that too?"

Dan and Candy replied succinctly, "What are you talking about?" before about 15m later hurriedly covering their nose and Candy saying "Smells like decomp."

Andrews led the group and tracked the smell to a nearby patch of bushes. When Dan had given the all clear, they pushed back the bushes to discover the remnants of a beast. Andrews looked at the remnants before stating, "Looks like a Two-Horned Hog, or whats left of one...That smell isn't decomposition, it's poison, so don't get too close. Based on the depth and shape of the tracks, I'd say this was done by that rock beast and not long ago either. Maybe an hour?"

Lance stared at the tracks and said, "Looks like it's headed south towards the exterior of the abyss. What's the plan?"

Andrews thought for a moment before replying, "We have to stop that beast before it leaves the abyssal zone. The base expects the area due south to be a safe zone and only has minimal defences. But we also have to patch that hole as quickly as possible." Andrews sighed before saying, "We need to split up again..."

Lance looked at Corporal Andrews before saying, "Corporal, I have a plan that might work on the rock beast. But for it to have a chance, I'm going to need Stanley and Bruce and both of your grenades."

Andrews looked seriously at Lance for a moment and replied, "Failure is not an option, Private. Make sure those grenades count, you should know about the supply shortage. Report back to the watch tower after you have completed your mission and make sure all of you are in one piece."

"Yes, sir!" Lance replied.