Crossover Escape: Gotta be more than Lucky to survive

2.17 Unsettling Night

Still Luca could ignore the lack of animals to an extent he wasn’t trying to be very quiet and the other tromped around like a tour group. With that much noise and disturbance seeing animals would be strange. What really concerned Luca though was that he hadn’t seen any signs of the supposed giant predators that the territory was named for. Even if he assumed that they were hiding or elsewhere he also hadn’t seen any insects. No beetles or flies or even mosquitos. With how humid and rich the area was that was truly disturbing.

It could be that the ecology that he expected based on his experience on his world didn’t apply. A fact that would have been more convincing if hadn’t seen an extreme but relatable example of a food chain with the incidents at the river. Still they progressed safely until it got too dark to continue. They had made it past the halfway point through the forest. The map wasn’t accurate enough to know that, but Luca just knew the same way he knew which direction they needed to progress in. after camp was set up Luca arranged a watch two people at a time one of each of his team with one of the others. In consideration Luca paired Holly with Declan first shift and Tails with Shade second shift. Luca went with Cowboy for the third shift while Ghost and Rӓv got the sorcerers for the fourth and fifth shift.

Luca woke to the faint vibration of the alarm he’d set on his watch. With a frown Luca sat up and looked around the empty tent. He’d set the alarm on reflex since he didn’t normally group with what he’d call reliable people. Now though he was concerned because Tails should have woken him. He wouldn’t normally make the mistake of sleeping on watch. Especially since he was sitting with Shade as an unsure variable.

Luca exited the tent and then flinched. He hadn’t seen a spiderweb all day he rather wished that trend had continued. If he hadn’t known better Luca would have thought their camp had been unattended for a couple of years. Cobwebs thick enough to hang someone draped over the tents and around the trees. It was in one word creepy.

What really concerned Luca though was that he couldn’t see Tails or Shade in fact he couldn’t see any other people despite the fact that all the other tents where open. Luca scanned the campsite and spotted to suspicious looking cocoons. Lil’ Miss had vanished just before the Elemental rampage. The storm seemed to have passed now so Luca turned back to the tent and picked Help up from where they slept. If the storm had still been raging Luca wouldn’t risk exposing the small fairy. Now though he felt it was more dangerous to leave them alone. Pulling his jacket on Luca put Help in the pocket and then grabbed his swords.

The swords had been lying inert, but they came to life at Luca’s touch. Their sheaths a belt forming around his waist while Luca drew one sword and moved carefully across the camp. Luca looked around everywhere trying to determine if he was dealing with a swarm of spiders or just a very large spider or something else entirely that just produced something similar to spiders. He humorously though that it could be a giant silkworm. Though actually maybe the spider would be better than the thought of a giant worm was like a giant snake, and it gave Luca chills.

Approaching the nearest cocoon Luca carefully sliced an opening in the side. immediately a hand spilled out, the pale delicate skin showed in the faint light and Luca bit back a curse. He checked for a pulse and sighed in relief. Rӓv seemed to just be unconscious, in which case it would almost be safer for her to stay where she is since the cocoon while disturbing offered some protection.

Luca was going to leave the others but then thought better of it. Just because Rӓv was fine didn’t mean everyone else was fine. Not to mention in such a thick cocoon there was the potential for suffocation. With a similar cautiousness Luca moved around the camp and carful slit a whole in each cocoon he found and checked on the person inside.

Everyone he found was fine just unconscious. The problem was that Luca didn’t find either Tails or Cowboy. The other thing that puzzled Luca is that everyone had been strung up at even distances there were no two people close together. Considering that they would have exited the limited number of tents in group it was weird for them to be so dispersed.

Still the weird habits of the creatures were the least of Luca’s problems he needed to find the missing two and the monster. He rather hoped that the monster came with a weakness chart but he rather suspected that he wouldn’t be that lucky.

Luca scanned the campsite slowly it was hard to see in the still dim light. Weighing his options Luca finally relented and pulled out a glow stick. He needed a little more light but didn’t want to be to conspicuous. After a thought Luca cracked the glow stick and tossed it hard directly across the camp. It snicked into a tree and cast a faint blue light around the area.

As the light had moved Luca had noticed several distinct drag marks leading to the west of camp. Or what he assumed was the west since it was the direction they had been moving in the entire time. Luca crouched and moved out of the small clearing they’d camped in and then moved up into the trees. With a look towards the forest and then back at the camp before reaching down to prod Help a few times. When they groggily responded “Wha?”

“Sorry to disturb your rest but we have trouble, I need you to watch for the others waking up at camp while I go try and find the two that are missing.”

Help went from asleep to awake in a flat second. With a sharp salute and a horrified look at the hanging webs Help moved to the centre of the gamp where he could see all the cocoons around the camp.

Luca followed the drag marks cautiously the further he went through the less light he had to work with. With gritted teeth Luca reached for another light only to freeze as his blue light suddenly closed in on him. Luca turned his head and was not really surprised to see Lil’ Miss headed towards him with the glow stick in her paws. Luca thought about waiting for the dragon to crash into him with the very obvious light source and decided that he’d rather play chase. Hoping to convince the dragon that it was a game Luca smiled, waved a hand and then used the approaching light to continue to follow the drag marks.

Gun shots sounded from off to Luca’s right and Luca veered headed straight towards the sound. After all guns were a rather unique thing particularly the rather distinct sound of a modern semi-automatic pistol. As Luca heard two more shots from just ahead, he slowed and when Lil’ Miss caught up Luca grabbed the dragon and tossed the light across the way. It lit up the slight gap ahead and Luca caught a glimpse of Cowboy standing in front of Ghost’s prone form guns up shooting across the space. Luca moved forward again and finally noticed what Cowboy was aiming at.