"Sounds good." Mike closed the book and returned it to his backpack, then set off purposefully down the beach. "We can take the old road heading west out of here at first, until we hit the bridge going over the riverbed. We'll have to cross through that abandoned town where you and Rick dropped a building on a forest beast a while back–hopefully it's either dead or not around to bother us anymore. But if it does, I might have discovered a way to distract it until we can run."
Tanrial snorted, falling into step beside Mike, “It was like… half a building? And it definitely crush the beast, landed right on the thing. There’s no way it is still alive.”
"I'd sure like to believe that," Mike said darkly. "But with forest beasts, you should never say they're dead until you personally witness their last breath. And that one you fought was especially big and strong for his kind."
"Ah, stay positive, Mike," Bernon piped up. He looked very happy to be back on the road after so long. "We won't reach that town for a little while, so let's not worry about it yet. It's such a perfect day to travel! I feel pretty optimistic about our chances of success right now, so I'm gonna hold on to that."
"Always the optimist, aren't you Bernon," Tanrial chuckled lightly, "How is it the two complete opposites managed to get wrapped up in a journey together? Like, you two couldn't be any different sometimes."
They eyed each other. "I guess they do say opposites attract," Bernon said dubiously. "But we hated each other at the beginning, didn't we Mike?"
Mike nodded. "Honestly, if it hadn't been for the fact that we both wanted the data drive, we would have never stuck around long enough to realize the other wasn't so annoying after all."
"And I think we should give you some credit too, Tanrial," Bernon added with a grin. "You can be a good peacekeeper when both of us get too caught up in our own opinions. I never would have guessed it at first, but it seems like the three of us make a great team, and that's why we're still together."
"The most unlikely of people always tend to become friends," Tanrial shrugged, "Take the trio from Harry Potter for example. Hermione is a stuck up know it all and a goody two-shoes, Ron is the coward and the dumbass who doesn't care about school or rules and Harry is just well.. Harry. They couldn't be anymore different and they still managed to defeat Voldemort. I guess Ryker would be Voldemort in this situation but you get my point."
"Who's Voldemort," Mike muttered to Bernon.
"A super evil wizard with no nose from a fantasy series that was really popular before the world ended," Bernon explained. "My mom used to gush about it a lot when I was a kid." He glanced at Tanrial curiously. "You know, that makes me wonder something. Back then, Tanrial, did your people live alongside humans in cities and stuff? If you read their books and used their technology, that means our cultures must have intermingled at least a bit, right?"
Tanrial hummed and nodded a little, “A small portion of us, yes, did decide that living alongside humans was the best option for us. You can’t advance in a society without help. There were groups that lived in the cities, some only went on trips for trading or holidays and whatnot. A lot tried to stay away, mainly because they didn’t believe intertwining our culture were a good idea,” She shrugged, “I just wished we had more of a chance to get to know the other society better before all this crap happened.”
Bernon nodded sympathetically. "I wish that too. If our cultures had been more familiar with each other, maybe there wouldn't be so many humans nowadays who hate or fear magic-users."
"I'm not sure it would be that simple," Mike remarked, then caught sight of something up ahead and slowed. "Looks like we've reached that abandoned town, by the way. Let's keep our voices down just in case there is something living here."
Tanrial rolled her eyes, patting Mike on the back, “We dropped a building on its head,” She stressed quietly, “I’m pretty sure it’s dead or close to it young man. And if it isn’t then we would have the worst luck in the history of this stupid planet.”
"I've learned long ago never to trust my luck," Mike muttered, starting forward again. "But you're probably right. I wasn't there for the fight so you'd know better than I would."
"I sure hope it didn't survive such a terrible accident," Bernon said. "Even if it did, it would have been trapped under the rubble with broken bones, internal bleeding, no way to call for help…." He shuddered. "Anyway. Let's get through this area quick, yeah?"
“Agreed,” Tanrial replied, letting out a breath, “That thing was huge. If it did happen to survive then I’d rather not face such a thing this early in the morning. Once was enough, anyway.”
Both Mike and Bernon nodded, and Mike quietly led the way down one of the town's side streets. The rows of hollow, overgrown buildings looked just the same as on their previous visit, and a flock of noisy crows still patrolled the rooftops overhead. Late summer flowers bloomed in the cracks in the road, and there were dragonflies and barn swallows everywhere. Bernon loved the change of scenery and took it in with a smile, but Mike was still on edge and kept twitching at every sound.
Eventually, they reached a crossroads midway through the town and got to see the recently collapsed building in all its glory. There were only a few steel support beams left standing now, and the crows hopped busily through the rubble as if they thought something good lay trapped underneath.
Bernon's good mood faded a bit. "Let's keep going," he whispered. "This place is creepy."
"It's only creepy if you make it creepy," Tanrial replied quietly, stepping around what looked to be an old door that had rusted and fallen off whatever building it had been attached to, "Although it was unsettling how quiet it is…"
"I don't think the crows would stick around if they thought there was danger," Mike pointed out, but he still made sure to keep a sharp eye on their surroundings in case he was wrong. "I think this street goes right out of town, so let's follow it and get back to our original course as fast as possible."
"I wonder what the forest beast was going here in the first place," Bernon said as they walked. "Doesn't seem like a great place to set up a territory, really. Maybe it was just passing through?"
"Do you remember that nest or sorts we saw in the building we looted?" Tanrial frowned slightly, "I doubt it was just 'passing through.' I mean this place has got good spots to hide, probably has a good food source, why wouldn't you stay?"
(sorry I got to this so late, oof)
"You make a good point," Bernon conceded. "I didn't know there was a nest. It just kind of surprises me that a forest beast would choose to live in a human settlement, abandoned or not. From what I knew, they usually prefer to stay as isolated as possible."
"There are exceptions," Mike said as the edge of town came into view. "When I saw it, that forest beast looked pretty old for its kind–maybe thirty or forty. Normally by the time they're that age, they've settled down somewhere and started a family, but I think this guy was alone. I've heard that prolonged solitude can do weird things to their brains and make them start seeking out any kind of company, even humans. Trouble is, they're usually half-crazy with pent-up frustration and loneliness by then, so you can't really make friends with them. It's a bit of a downward spiral, unfortunately."
“Damn,” Tanrial pursed her lips, “At least Fear and Snatch have Rick and each other so they won’t go crazy… it’s sad, really. I mean it’s not their fault they’re like this and everyone has this stigma around forest beasts. Maybe if they didn’t they wouldn’t end up alone and crazy by the end of their lives.”
Seeing how sad Bernon looked, Mike added, "Well, luckily this kind of thing doesn't happen very often. Forest beast are usually pretty good at finding each other, they say. And who knows, maybe the male that lived here did have a family at some point. They might have just….gotten killed or sick or something, leaving him to carry on without them."
Bernon slumped further. "You sure know how to make a guy feel better, Mike. I'm real glad to have you around."
Tanrial nudged Bernon with her elbow, “Hey I’m sure it’s okay. Maybe him and his partner had some kids and they’re off exploring the world together and finding others like them living a good life,” She shrugged, “It’s sad, yes, but sometimes it the way life is. And hey, just think about all the other amazing life forms that live here now.”
"You're right," Bernon agreed, sighing. "It's the circle of life. At least we haven't run into any trouble yet, that's a pleasant surprise."
Mike nodded. "We're almost out of town, too. After this, our next stop is the old bridge, and from there we can start following the river. You guys let me know when you're ready to take a break for lunch."
Tanrial shrugged, "Well we really only just had breakfast, granted it was small but I say we wait till closer to mid-day before we think about lunch. The more we do now the less we do later, right?"
Mike nodded his approval. "I agree. Let's see how much ground we can cover before noon."
After walking for a while in silence, Bernon spoke again. "I just remembered, Rick said he was going to write us a letter to give to his uncle when we reached the west coast. We did get that from him before we left, right?"
Right," Mike assured him. "He gave it to me when we visited them to say goodbye."
"Okay, good. I was worried there for a minute, heh." Another pause. "I wonder what Ricks uncle's gonna be like. They seem to be an interesting family, from what we've seen. I hope the guy's more like Rick and less like the other Gator Boys we met a while ago."
"Gosh me too," Tanrial shook her head a little, "This trip has been stressful enough as it is, I hope this last part goes at least somewhat smoothly. Knowing us we'll probably run into some crazy person or group."
"It's almost a guarantee, given how far we have to go," Mike said. "But let's focus on one thing at a time for now. Once we make it to the top of this hill, we should be able to see the broken bridge and be able to till if the riverbed will be dry enough to travel through safely."
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