CH-14: Run For Your Lives!

SWISH!

SWOOSH!

There were six youths running side by side when the sun hadn't even risen yet. They all had backpacks on their back that were bigger than they were. They would stop every now and then to catch their breaths, quickly hydrate themselves and then continue running. They had made it out of the Aberration Nest's vicinity a while ago, and since there wasn't any illusion to make the oasis bigger than it actually is, they were running on the barren wastelands that enveloped the entirety of the area once again. They would later learn that this wasteland was also caused by a Gate Crystal. In fact, the real reason the Southern Evolver Camp being located here was to observe and utilize that very Gate Crystal, but that had nothing to do with the six youths that were running. They continued with this pace until morning twilight were upon them, barely lighting the wastelands.

"Let's rest here," said a girl of short stature. She had a greatsword mounted on her back, with her backpack above it. It certainly did not look comfortable. "The sun is about the rise up, we will continue with our mission."

"It's good we haven't come across any Abominations so far. Hopefully we won't till we return unlike this foreboder here wants." A boy with wavy auburn hair and hazel eyes was taking jabs at another boy with dark brown hair and eyes.

"Hey, I may be a foreboder but you are a flagger! What's with the flag you just raised, huh?" They were Jayden and Sean. The duo had come a long way since their first introduction, with Jayden becoming tamer and Sean playing a bit more into his antics. Jayden didn't have the best influence on people.

"Don't worry guys. We are bound to find an abomination or two anyways. It's more of a problem if they find us first." This positivity came from the relatively tall girl behind them. She had a shield on her back with a mace strapped to her backpack. "I'm sure we can deal with them if we come across any, right Tyson?"

"Not sure, depends on their evolutions." The boy with jet black short hair was not as optimistic as she was.

"Great, another foreboder too!" Jayden exclaimed. "It wasn't enough we had one isn't it?"

"Everyone, focus!" The short girl, Latoya, gathered their attention. "We will move as a single team, although we were under an illusion when we passed through here, the Aberration couldn't have played with the landscape much more than making it look like oases. We will be doing brief and quick searches, while keeping pace. Understood?" 

"Yes ma'am!" With Latoya giving one of her longest speeches as a leader, Jayden couldn't hold himself back from playing into a role. While the ma'am in question rolled her eyes, she started her search after drinking water from a bottle. The rest was over.

The other five quickly followed her, slightly spreading. Although they would move as one, they would still cover more space as to be more through. With the sun rising and them being in a wasteland, they wouldn't easily miss any traces. They continued that way for a few hours, but before sun could reach it's zenith, and the group reached the place they would be brought back...

"Hey! The ground here is weird." Jayden informed the rest.

"Weird how?" Tyson asked.

"It looks like someone digged the whole place up. Let me check it."

"Looks like it's been dug?" Sean mumbled. "Shit, Jayden don't touch it" He yanked Jayden, who was just about to step onto the weird ground.

RUMBLE RUMBLE

The ground started shaking, and the weird patch of dirt started to collapse down.

KIEEEEK!

A sand worm rose from the ground, lifting up dust and dirt. Its shriek echoed through the wasteland. It had thousands of sharp teeth at its mouth and was as big as a bus, maybe even bigger.

"Shit! Run!" 

The group did not waste time and made the most effective strategy the came up with, run at the sight of a huge abomination. Although size was not a definitive indicator of strength, it was generally linear with size, at the same rank that is. The worm fell with a big crash, shaking the are. It then started to slide through the ground. As it opened its mouth, several tree trunk-thick tentacles shot out inside its mouth.

"This fucker even has tentacles?" Jayden dodged one of the tentacles that tried to crush him. "How do we deal with this!" 

KIEEEEEK!

The abomination shrieked again, and crashed its tentacles to the ground, and then burrowed underground.

"Did it stop chasing us?" Samantha asked while still running. 

"Nope, did you not watch the movie?" Jayden asked back.

"No? Which movie?" 

"The one that everyone is in a desert! When these fuckers burrow underground, it means they will pop up rigth in front!" Just as Jayden said, the ground shook and the dirt ahead of them started to collapse.

"Fucking knew it!" 

"Shut up and ruuun!" the group made a sharp turn to avoid the worm falling on top of them, but what came out of the ground was not the worm. Several tentacles shoot up from the ground, closer to the group then ever before. One hit from those and they were minced meat.

"AARGH!" 

Latoya swung her great sword to one of the tentacles, just cutting it enough for her to not get crushed while she stumbled. The cut sides of the tentacle slowly slid backwards, but another tentacle from above came to crush the annoyance there. Before it could slam on Latoya, Samantha rammed it from the side with her shield, giving her time to get back on her feet. They ran back to get out of the tentacles range, but their reach seemed even bigger than before.

"They have longer reach when the Abomination is mounted!" Sean shouted. "Throw grenades at its mouth!"

One of the supplies that they were given was Ethernades. Ethernades were grenades were made with small, volatile Ether Crystals unsuitable for manufacture. When the pins were pulled, it would send a small wave of Ether to the crystal inside, making it explode. They couldn't use these before because of the size of the Aberration. It was slightly larger than a bison, although still bigger than a normal gazelle. If they were to use it back then, they couldn't guarantee a hit as the Aberration could simply run away with nothing holding it back, and they didn't have enough time to entrap in one place. It was different with the sand worm, although it would possibly be more resilient than the Aberration, it had its mouth wide open for them to throw the nades. With several of them it was bound to be wounded.

Six Ethernades was thrown into the air, each falling into the mouth of the Abomination. They did not wait to see the result as they continued their run. Even if the Abomination still chased them after the nades explode, it would be slower due to its wounds.

BOOOOM

KYAAAAAK!

The Ethernades exploded with much noise, showing the power behind the explosion, muffling the creatures shriek. Tentacles retracted with great speed, and the Abomination used its tentacles to get above ground. The group of six could not see the Abominations condition, as they were running without looking behind. Even if they did, whey still wuldn't be able to see anything due to dust clouds. Only the unmuffled cries reached them.

The group ran as they fast as they could. They were going in the direction which they first came from, and did not care if they shot past the meeting point. They couldn't wait there as they were told. They hoped to meet with them earlier by doing so. 

RUMBLE

The Abomination had pulled itself up, and started to chase after the six. Its mouth was a bloody mess, with dozends of fronth teeths broken and rest cracked. Blood spilled onto the ground as it slid, leaving a trail behind it. The Abomination kept chasing the group despite the inconveience it faced while sliding, but soon it wasn't a problem. For the first time, the abomination closed its mouth, and continued sliding that way. Although it was faster now, it seemed it couldn't follow the group as well as it did before.

"Fuck! It was one of those d*ck worms!" Jayden couldn't believe his eyes. This fucker of an Abomination was straight from video games! "Yikes, it looks even more disgusting in real life."

KIEEEEK!

While the group of six was running for their lives, back at the camp earlier that night...

"Man, you wouldn't believe it. The little bastards I dropped off at Sector 12-A are so lucky. I didn't know there was such a big oasis in this goddamn desert."

"How big?" Another officer was intrigued.

"As big as a city! Those bastards, if they are lucky to not face any dangerous Abominations, it may as well be a vacation. Just then Captain Henry Hawks entered the cafeteria, and happened to hear the conversation between officers.

"How big did you say the oasis was?"