21 Survivors

A woman in a khaki tank top and camouflage trousers that matched the other Augmented stalked out from the ferns. She wore the same heavy duty boots the others wore, she had brightly dyed purple hair and a muscular frame.

Unlike the others, however, there was nothing that would distinguish her from any other regular person one might run into on the street.

She was a tanned, fit, older woman, and she had a button nose and wide brown eyes, as well as a pouty mouth that was open in a grin, revealing pearly white teeth.

"Looks like you lads don't need any help, what was that flare for then?" She continued, speaking in a distinct accent, which marked her out as a foreigner.

"That was me, Rachel. I was alone here, with this old gentleman, and the survivor I reported on earlier. I expected to find some survivors bullying each other, not the Forest Wolves that had torn most of them apart." Frederick grumbled, shepherding Winston in front of him as he clanked his way into the clearing.

"Ah, I see. So where is the survivor you reported in, Fredrick?" Rachel said with a cutting tone, but with a smile still plastered on her face, it was clear that she was somewhat annoyed.

"He seems to have decided to be a hero, and ran off. He's probably lost in the surrounding forest. He's a good lad, just a little off, I think." Frederick said defensively, looking around the clearing, as if hoping for Zac to pop out of a bush and surprise them.

Rachel just frowned at Fredrick, and shook her head slightly.

"Look! Jay and Ying only arrived afterwards, and then we took care of the wolves. Simple as that, besides, it's not as though you have somewhere else to be?" Frederick continued.

Meanwhile, Ying whispered to Jay. "To think, a beast like him would turn into such a little push over when it comes to her." Jay gave Ying a knowing smile, and then leaned over to him.

"You know why it is, remember how he begged us to let her join when we first ran into her." Jay smirked, as Fredrick continued to explain himself to Rachel.

"As a matter of fact, I do have somewhere else to be! Klaus and I came across a pretty big group of survivors, we found those trees with the white bark, and before long, we found a few survivors." Rachel's tone grew more and more annoyed, and she turned around, before saying over her shoulder.

"I'll be heading back to those survivors, there were Magical Beasts attacking from all directions, thanks to those who died in the transition. I'll be sure to shoot a flare when I need a little help." Rachel gave Fredrick a mocking smile, before disappearing back into the forest.

Frederick gave a sigh, and shook his head.

"Thanks for having my back, guys." He said sarcastically, but Jay and Ying only chuckled at him.

"Don't forget, you brought this on yourself." Jay laughed, and Fredrick scowled at him.

"Yeah, and I brought the only X-Type willing to work with us into our crew. I don't see you guys complaining when Rachel save's your asses!" Fredrick said bitterly, and then turned away from the rest of them.

"Winston, please go and stand with the young woman over there. That man with the stupid grin on his face is Jay, he'll look after you for the time being. I'll go and try figure out where our young friend Zac has gotten to." Frederick said, shaking his head at Jay, whose grin only got wider.

-----

Zac halted in his tracks, he was nearing the clearing and his ears twitched as he focused in on the unfamiliar voice.

He continued listening, and listened as Fredrick bickered with the new person, and realized that it had been another one of Fredrick's comrades.

Zac continued crouching where he was, as the person walked away from the clearing.

'So they found the other survivors from my apartment building.' Zac felt a weird sense of relief, mixed with guilt, hearing the person talk about how she'd found a 'few' survivors.

'Maybe if I'd tried to go back and help them, after I'd formed a Mana Core and discovered my ability, more people would have survived.' The guilt continued to well up, but soon enough, Zac's cynical side that had developed over the past year raised its head.

'They probably would have banded together and attacked me, seeing me in hybrid form.' Zac dismissed the thoughts, and his ears pricked up as Fredrick said he would start looking for him.

'Dammnit! I need to get back, now." Zac started running to the left, right now he was directly opposite where he had left the blanket, and the wolf's corpse.

The leaves barely whispered as he moved, slipping through the dense forest with ease, his wolf instincts allowing him to run through the tangle of plants while barely disturbing the plants in the slightest, and the soft pads on the bottom of his paw like feet cushioning his footsteps.

It didn't take long before Zac's nose picked up a familiar smell, which resonated with him, it was the smell of his human self.

He didn't recognize through any deduction or its characteristics, but it was a smell that was so ingrained into his brain that he no longer noticed it, except now, in his wolf hybrid form.

Nose sniffing the air, Zac ran toward the smell, and there in front of him, was the silver blanket that Frredrick had given to him.

A few meters away lay the corpse of the wolf, and Zac purposefully didn't look at it, not wanting to reignite memories of acting like a complete beast.

Zac carefully picked up the blanket with his furred hands, pinching it between his fingers to avoid tearing it with his claws.

"Zac! Zac! You there? Come out, kid! It's safe now!" Zac heard Fredrick crashing around in the bushes not far from him, and froze up.

'How the hell am I going to explain this?"