Ch. 22 Hunted (part 2)

At this time, the Carter family trapped in the Gobi Desert had not felt the danger that was slowly circling them.

Bob's wife, Ethel, was preparing dinner within the RV as the eldest daughter, Lynn, was takes care of her one year old daughter Catherine in the car. Her husband Doug going in the opposite direction as Bob in order to try to find help and has not returned yet.

The second daughter Brenda had moved a lounge chair and sunbatheed outside, but was about to pack it up.

The youngest son Bobby took the two German shepherd and explored the nearby rocks as he was bored.

Everyone was too preoccupied to notice that Bobby has gradually fallen out of their sight of the adults and entered the rugged mountains.

Bobby held a wooden stick and waved it in the air at will as he walked allong with his German shepherds, he preferred walking alone with his pet than sitting with his family having small talk.

As they walked along the mountain hill side, the shepherd dogs suddenly had all of their hairs stand on ends and their hackles raised as they growled forward.

Bobby was taken aback and looked forward only to see a little girl in a slightly dirty dress standing next to a huge rock not far in front.

"Beauty! Beast! Stop barking!"

As Bobby calmed down his dogs down, he got a careful look at the girl and although the shadows of the mountain hide her face, it was easy to see how gaunt and malnourished she looked.

".....Um hello?...My name is Bobby, what's your name?.....Are you lost? Do you need help?"

The little girl didn't speak, but stepped back with some fear in her face as she looked at the dogs.

"Don't be afraid, I am not a bad person... Are you afraid of dogs? Don't worry, these two dogs will not hurt you, they are actually very friendly." Bobby hurriedly said

Before Bobby finished speaking, his German shepherd snarled and barked ,almost appearing unhinged in the girls presence. The little girl immediately turned her head and ran without saying a word.

"Damn dog!" Bobby cursed, and quickly chased after the girl who looked in desperate need of help.

And faster than him was a shepherd dog, who rushed forward first and cleared the way for Bobby, while the other shepherd dog was behind.

As Bobby chased after the girl, a stone the size of a water tank suddenly rolled down from above...

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Looking at the road blocked by large rocks in front, Nick had no choice but to stop the car that now only had back tire, and asked in a deep voice, "How far is the RV?"

Bob gritted his teeth and said, "Itd probably take around 5 minutes to drive."

"5 minute drive at 60 mph, that's 5 Mile's were gonna have to walk" Nick looked sideways at the sun setting on the top of the mountain.

"Then we have to hurry up, if we're fast we can arrive just before it's dark out" Saying this, Nick got out of the car and popped the trunk.

As Bob followed after him, he saw Nick open a secret apartment filled with different times of knives, guns, crossbows, herbs and bottles of strange liquids.

"Ive only been retired for a few years now, has the NIA agents always been so prepared"

Handing the retired detective an AR-15 and an extra mag, Nick loaded his bag with different items he'd need if this was a supernatural creature before grabbed a huge and bulky satellite phone.

"Special Agent Nick Valentine, number 001, security code 731. Calling in a report on a possible anomaly" Nick quickly said.

"Category Green, low threat level but is intelligent and is stalking me while laying traps."

There was a stoic female voice on the phone "Received agent 001, identity has been confirmed, the request for help has been sent, please persevere until they arrive..."

Hanging up the phone, Nick slung his bag of his shoulder before grabbing the HK416 and slamming the trunk closed.

He didn't care if this was a group of human traffickers, bandits or a pack of werewolf's, he'd be dumb not to call reinforcements just because he though they were humans.

"Are you ready?" As he scanned the dim surroundings

"Don't worry, I'm ready at any time. Let's get back to my family!" Bob said as he grilled the gun tight.

"let's go!"

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Located at the NIA headquarters in Washington, Holly was rubbing her temples as she looked at the file on the table. There was a photo of Edward Kim, the man who place nearly a thousand venomous snakes on Nick's plane, alongside a long file that is tracking his past and present actions.

Suddenly the landline on her desk rang, forcing Holly to look away

"What's the matter...another agent called in a possible anomaly, who was it?...Hold on a moment, I'll be over immediately!

Quickly throwing the file into her safe, Holly speed walked to the conference room and saw dozens of people working away on laptops.

"What's the situation" Holly said to her second in command, Henry, who was in charge of dispatching Units.

"Five minutes ago we receivered a request for assistance by agent Nick valentine on a possible Green ranked abnormality. After tracking his coordinates, we found that he is now around the area of the abandoned Kandal testing ground in New Mexico."

Saying this, Henry pulled out files of Kandal and handed it to Holly.

"The Kandal Testing grounds mainly focused on Nuclear weapons experiments and is said to have accumulated 331 experiments. However, all that radiation deemed the Kandal Testing grounds no longer fit for human habitation and was abandoned."

Taking out a paper, Henry showed the different levels of recorded radiation in the Kandal area, all showing that prolonged exposure to the area would undoubtedly damage ones health.

"If this abnormality is inhabiting a radiation zone, then we can draw the conclusion that it isn't supernatural in nature but is instead a mutation. I've dispatched a team to apprehend the abnormality and passed along my Hypothesis."

Hearing his hypothesis and how quickly he dispatched the retrieval team, Holly was relieved she chose Henry as her second in command in leading this new Division.

"Any word about agent Nick Valentine?"

"We lost contact with him immediately after he reported the abnormality, but if he's follow procedure he should be vacating the area and let our team handle the situation."

'Hah, Nick following procedure! Hell will freeze over before that unruly brat follow simple instructions' Holly raised Nick since he was a child and knew him better than anyone else.

Nick always goes with the flow and didn't have any major goals or aspirations, the only reason he became an N.I.A. Agent was because Holly was one. Nick was unambitious but it once he found something he was interested in, he would sink his teeth in and never let go.

She didn't know why or when, but Holly noticed that everything related to abnormalities seemed greatly interested Nick and he would go above and beyond if it meant learning more. Like how the boy who studied just enough tk passed the N.I.A. test, had spent 2 months of straight studying and copying books on supernatural creatures.

'What has overcome Nick? That boy's once dull eyes have been replace by an all consuming desire, but what is that desire?...'

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Nick had been little too optimistic about the time, they were only halfway there but the sun was blocked by the mountains in the distance, and the darkness was shrouded in this desolate land.

As they ran along the desert road, Nick's eyes turned into vertical slits and the world turned bright blue as Nick activated the thermal vision ability he gained from the snake he absorbed!

Looking at his surroundings, Nick could see faint red and orange creatures off in the distance that signified it was a living being. They were too far away to get a good look at, but the distance provided Nick with some safety as even he wouldn't be able to get an accurate shot off at this distance, let alone who or whatever was out there stalking them.

Nick was too preoccupied with his surroundings that he wasn't paying attention what was nearby, but it was Bob who paid the price!

*Clank*

"AAARRGGGHHHH!!!!" Letting out a bloodcurdling scream, Nick turned off his thermal vision to look down and spotted Bob's foot stuck in an old and rusty bear trap!

Looking down at the bear trap, Nick came to a realization and looked up with his thermal vision activated.

Multiple beings were quickly jumping down the mountain at immense speed and charge straight for the duo!