May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 62: Forest changed Ecosystem

Aila stepped forward and looked at what was in there. But when she looked all over the bush, she found nothing that stood out. Although she found nothing wrong as far as her eyes could see, with her years of struggling to live, she basically became wary of everything around her.

Glancing at the diligent group of ten under the guidance of Bella, Aila decided to go a little deeper in the forest. Of course, she did not leave without letting Bella know of her destination. She approached the girl and whispered a few words to the other.

Paranoid as Bella was, she did not allow her to get out there easily. The woman was conflicted with her duties she had and her uncontrollable desire to keep Aila within her sights. She lost her Aila once and she does not want to go through that.

Aila comforts Bella that she is really not going too deep. She only wanted to check out something and would be back before she knew it. After all, Aila was not too sure that she could deal with bigger predators that lurked deep within the deeper parts of the mountain forest. Going to the unknown is often what brings death closer, no matter how beautiful the painting of grandeur is awaiting her.

Weighing the pros and cons, Bella ultimately allowed it after she gave Aila a flare signal in case she fell in distress. Firmly, Bella instructed Aila to not disregard her concern and not worry her too much. In her words, there was an underlying threat that tells Aila the other will kill the other ten other people with them to accompany Aila if something happens. Aila could only promise to do her best still.

Thus, she set off just as the other ten had learned how to take on a mutant rabbit on their own. Quite a feat that assured Aila of a brighter future for all of them as long as the trend continues to be like this. As long as everyone has learned enough and become more capable of dealing with their enemies, Aila is assured of their future.

With decisive steps, she left the party and walked deeper into the forest. As she was going deep, she inevitably noticed some things that were otherwise so different to those she and the others had seen on the outskirts. Plants here are somehow bigger and taller the nearer she gets to the heart of the forest. It was no wonder that the forest still looked quite lush on the outside. Although they are clearly smaller in number as far as she could see, the still remaining trees made up the decrease.

Carefully Aila jumped and climbed up to one of the branches of one particular sturdy looking tree. To normal people, this action is simply suicidal, but Aila being Aila, it is nothing of the sort. Somehow or someway, the buff the world has given her in her past life was carried over and was upgraded enough to not let mutant plants not attack her unless she somehow hurt them first.

Aila first noticed these particularities when she began exploring the plants just outside of their base. Whenever they fight with zombies, she strays a little nearer to the plants intentionally and unintentionally. It was in those situations that the plants’ still developing venoms, thorns or aggressiveness is harmless for most parts. Though they did retaliate quite hard on her when she once vented her frustration at them, a painful memory that told Aila to be careful about where she unleashes her anger.

“Well, this is weird,” Aila commented as she looked at the signs of animal activity from where she was. She saw huge prints of some mammals. As inattentive a person Aila was to most animals, she deduced it might be of some ape type, like monkeys or something. The prints were too distinct to be from a feline or some other animal.

Her first thought might have been to get down and further examine the marks, but she noticed a stag coming out of a corner. It was impressively larger than the one Aila and her friends had used to from that one particular trip they had before. The antlers were not much different from what comes from memory, though they are shinier and sharper in her eyes now.

A deer might be a herbivore, but this is an animal they cannot face at the moment. There might not be many changes on the outside for the animal. There is no doubt that they are no longer the prized games that hunters used to hunt. If one engages in a fight with this particular male, the deer will kill them should their antlers pierce them and shrug them to the side.

Though Aila or Bella could take on the stag, the rest of their companions cannot. There is no way Aila is risking them just as they are just starting to get in touch on how to deal with mutant animals. So, waiting out was her action.

With bated breath, Aila waited for the stag to get by. And when she was sure that the animals were heading somewhere far from where she left her people, Aila stealthily went deeper into the forest. More curiosity seeped past her.

Aila was no stranger to forest life as she and her relatives liked to take trips in nature as much as they could. Every holiday that everyone could gather together was spent doing hiking, camping and even island hopping if they felt like it. She is definitely aware of how the ecosystem should be and what she should and not do when animals and the environment are part of the equation. Especially those about territories of territorial predators in these lush forests.

Like, for example, the one in front of her where a huge beehive was situated. She had some painful memories that were included with this colony of insects and she was not willing to visit that experience any time soon. Honey might be sweet, being stinged was no laughing matter. Especially with the mutated version, which is many times more lethal than those creatures used to be.

Her current goal was to examine the origin of the footprints she saw, so she just left the hive without provoking the bees living inside.

Without knowing it, Aila was deeper than she expected herself to be. Still, she did not find what sparked her curiosity. But the day was definitely closer to night despite the lack of sun to say so. Thus she headed back to her companion's location as she remembered it.

But the day was expected not to end peacefully as she had been feeling it since they left the base. A brumating snake’s nest was accidentally stumbled upon by her. In her defense, she had misjudged a branch and that was why she fell into that hole. Aila just did not know if she should be happy or not with the fact there was only one snake in that hole or that it would be vexed because this snake was a venomous one. Hardly she knew what to feel, as the reptile was surely angry at being disturbed in their sleep.

The snake was beautiful with its dark blue scales. It was smaller than the one Aila had dealt with back when they were on the run. And it looked so pissed that you don’t need any snake-related knowledge to know its mood.

Like some species of cobra, this snake spits its venom towards her in anger. Relying on her reflexes, she was fast to dodge the attack and retreat from the snakes’ range of attack. Idly she took a rather sharp looking branch then threw it at the raging snake’s eyes.

Taking the slight opportunity to sense if there were any beasts nearby, Aila quickly scanned the area. She was feeling playful and wanted to be a little mischievous with the snake. And in her luck, it seems that she cannot be too arbitrary in her actions. At just a distance she saw a hollow that might house some other predator.

“Too bad.” Aila sighs with regret before retrieving her knife and slashing it at the snake’s head with precision.

The snake, not expecting it’s doom, died just like that. The whole thing did not last long as the reptile’s skin is not yet as hard as it will be in the future. Aila might not be as strong as she was in her past life, but the skin of the snake is only a little tougher now that she could still kill it in one strike. Her training at the base might have helped her too.

“Pity the base is too far to bring it back with us.” Aila expressed her regrets as she had to choose to bury it under the snow like it was some sort of a nut stored by squirrels before winter. “Harry and Jerome will be happy studying this as their specimen.”

After she buried the carcass, Aila then left before the scent of blood would attract other predators nearby. Although the biggest ones were mostly asleep in this period, there are still other carnivores awake and hunting for food during this cold weather.

When Aila arrived at the area where she left her companions, she saw a small mark that Bella left indicating their new general location in case Aila left. Following through those marks, Aila found Bella and the others taking a break and eating their dinner before they headed back to the base. Their trip out was only a trial one and they dared not stay in his place for so long. Other than the whole world seems to be so dark, there are too many factors that may compromise their lives if they are not prepared and capable enough to cope with them.

“You’re back.” Bella said as she saw Aila returning to their side. “Did your curiosity reach its satisfaction?”

“Not really.” Aila replied as she dug through her bag to retrieve her food. “But I did get some action there. Pity I cannot take my game back with us.”

“Maybe next time.” Bella hummed.

“Next time.”

Silence then prevailed as everyone enjoyed their dinner in the fireless cold place they were in. They dare not light one as they don’t want to attract some animals because of it. Not to mention they already have something that attracts predators, with them. They don’t want anything else to add something else that will likely shorten their life.