Shades of Wolves

Chapter 25: The Grave for Kindness -p1

PART 2: THE GRAY WOLF SHADOW

She is changing. I can feel it and love it. We've already eliminated Axelsen, but there's someone stronger – Nimir.

Sammul

10 am. Day four of the second eliminating round…

Hoa's group finally came out of the forest behind. The two days there were a truly nerve-wracking, exhausting but also glorious experience. Defeating Axelsen was not any easy thing.

In all of the previous seasons, teams or players had mostly died or been injured when facing him. Even though Hoa's team wasn't really uninjured or whole at all, but killing the most prominent champion of this game, it was a kind of high motivation. It made their footsteps more powerful, even when they reached the edge of this forest, their footsteps mostly were about to go numb.

"Let’s get some rest."

Nabeya gave Sammul and Hoa the pitcher of water, but when looking into the distance, Hoa dared not touch it anymore. Because, she knew that the next type of terrain, water would be gold. Right before those tired eyes was a desert full of gravel, sand, and rocks worn by the wind. It was an extremely arid desert.

“Fortunately, we have storage quite a bit of water. If we save it, we can use it for two days.”

Nabeya looked at the scene in front of her. Really, if she had to choose between the forest and the desert, she would rather the forest. Even if they climbed passes and waded through streams, at least they wouldn’t be afraid of dying of thirst. Walking in the rocky desert like this, if they’re unlucky enough not to be able to find a way out, death would find them very quickly.

Hoa took off her shoes. The skin of her feet was blistered. They'd been walking nonstop since four o'clock in the morning until now. With the scorching sun coming, she doubted that her legs could hold up.

"Let's eat something." Nabeya took out some venison. Last night, they smoked them with wild plants, so they could keep it for a while.

Kiki wagged his tail while following after Nabeya as if he knew she kept food and water. In this group, Kiki was more having more friendly feelings towards the two girls. Simply because Sammul was very cold. The only time he communicated with him was at Donny's, but mainly used him to distract.

"Now you seem more like his owner than I am"

Hoa smiled and patted her pet dog's head. With Kiki by their side, they felt happier. At least dogs did not think and have plans as much as humans.

"She's right. His body is full of your scent!" Sammul replied while eating his bread. It was rare for him to interfere in these chit-chat that was irrelevant to those survival-or-death-game exceptions.

"If any of us live at the end of this game, please take him out."

Nabeya sat down and looked into Kiki's dark eyes. Those innocent eyes reminded her of her brother, who was also waiting for her return. She gave him some venison, and the dog clung to Nabeya even more.

“Wait, something smells like blood!” Sammul raised his hand to alert those two behind him.

“Near the thick grass over there. About 200 meters from us.”

Hoa and Nabeya stood up. They slowly walked towards the direction Sammul indicated. Just like how they walked into the forest, each group had a different entrance, so now they did not have to go out in the same way.

When they got to the spot, they found a lot of blood there. The trap was closed and next to it was a small deer. Its neck was also severed. The cut was very rough. Someone must had cut it many times.

“An animal caught in a trap?” Hoa asked.

“No. This blood is human blood. The bloodstain could have been three or four hours ago. A certain group was trapped and one member was seriously injured. But they intentionally smeared the blood to avoid being noticed.”

Sammul mumbled. He pointed to the sand. It was true that someone had blurred the blood. But upon closer inspection, the sand had absorbed it and the tiny red dots were still visible. The edge of the forest was very easy to be ambushed. In addition, those groups who just came out from the forest, they were still tired and lack of alertness. It's easy to die if they’re not paying enough attention.

"Let's go back!" Nabeya said. That deer, they also dared not eat. Who knew if it was poisoned or not?

After resting for an hour, Hoa group continued. This was a hot desert. The land was only gravel and sand. Plants types were too few that they could be used fingertips to name them. Most of which were shrubs with wiry bodies or thorny cacti.

The scorching heat of the sun became more and more intense. Hoa's eyes were about to blur. She felt countless heat waves floating all over the place. It was a phenomenon that the ground was being heated intensely. Although she had put her shirt on her head to avoid getting a sunburn, this environment was really harsh. She had never been experienced this even once before. Hoa felt blue halos flashing in her eyes.

"Go to the bushes nearby. She's going to get out of hand."

Sammul talked with heavy exhausting voice. Unlike in the forest, they had a clearer direction. They saw a mountain in the distance. If they did not guess it wrong, the next terrain would be snowy mountains. That mountain was not too tall, but it was about 4000 meters and had a climate that was completely opposite to this desert. WIC intentionally forced players to adapt quickly when transitioning between two terrains. Forests (wet, lots of water and trees,) to extremely hot deserts (poor water resources) followed by snowy mountains (cold and precarious). They couldn't predict what would happen, but the biggest disadvantage was…the tower was nowhere to be seen.

This was already the fourth day, only three days left. But the clue about it was like a mystery, nothing at all. Or maybe, they forgot something.

"Here's the water. Drink it!"

Nabeya took a sip and gave it to Hoa. No one dared to squander gold in this desert.

Previously, when they got here, they discovered the bodies of several people. His name seemed to be Kubias. Hoa only recognized his face because the other two were eaten by vultures and crows. The skin of the face, eyes, nose and internal organs were taken out and digested by them. These birds were not afraid of this desert. They only needed to fly a few dozen minutes from the forest and just that, they had delicious food.

Kubias' group must have come out of the forest since dinner and was also the group that was trapped. One person died near the fire from massive blood loss because an artery in his leg was severed. The second person was not far away, about 100 meters from the other corpse. She had also been torn apart by wild animals before the birds had come to cut her off. The most intact was Kubias. He died in a grove of trees. He probably had committed suicide with his eyes were closed. Hoa guessed he had done it voluntarily because he had known that sooner or later, he would have lost his memory. Wandering not knowing a thing in this desert was nothing but pure torture. Suicide must have been a more peaceful death.

“All their belongings were taken, and the book was gone. It turns out that there are several groups out there lately, not just us. Everyone needs water. They can do anything for it.” Sammul said wearily.

“Is there anyone think that the Tower is just a metaphor? It's like the first round. 100 questions are just bait.” Doubtful Hoa. They were walking in vain, from terrain to terrain with directions like fish diving underwater. All they had done from the beginning until now was just walking and walking and walking without any clear paths.

“What about opening the book?!” Nabeya suggested.

"If by the sixth day, and things are still like this, let's open it."

“Okay, that’s also a good idea!” Hoa and Nabeya agreed.

“I have this in mind. Let's depart at night instead of day. That way, we will avoid the sun. "

“This is not a bad idea. So, let's go to the rocks over there. The rocks will help us keep ourselves from the wind and sand."

Hoa's group headed towards those large boulders about two kilometers away. The winds rose up and swept the dust all over the place on them. Heat, sand, stones, blistered skin and lack of water. When touching the the face of the rock, which was almost 60 degrees Celsius, the three of them and KiKi almost collapsed.

“There are people here. One of them is seriously injured, the other two also have blood on them.”

Sammul raised his hand as a sign to warn Nabeya and Hoa to be careful. They thought that if they came here to hide, so did the others.

"Can you figure out where they are?" Nabeya asked.

"Twenty meters from us, in that hollow."

"Let me!" Nabeya walked slowly, her hand holding a knife.

As soon as she arrived, a hand holding a gun reached out. Nabeya cautiously hid to the side, out of range. However, within a few minutes, the hand was shaking as if it couldn't lift the butt of the gun. She guessed that the people behind there were too exhausted from thirst and previous injuries.

……………..

In a narrow cave, the three of them were laying motionless. Their lips were chapped, and their whole bodies were out of strength as if they were drinking pure burial. All fell sideways and waited for death to come slowly.

“They lost all their equipment.” Nabeya looked around. There was nothing but these three bodies.

It's the Bruno - Barol - Maggie team. Bruno and Barol were covered in wounds, but quite small, while Maggi was heavier. Her back had a large blood patch. It was from a gunshot. The wound in her mouth was festering and infected. She had a very high fever. Her life was only counted in hours.

"Are we gonna save them or not?" Nabeya asked Hoa. Because she knew Sammul would say no. Only this girl had benevolence.

"Give them a sip of water. It's the only thing we can do"

Hoa finished talking and went out. She sat down on the sand and leaned her back against the cliff to hide herself from the sun. Her mouth was also chapped and she didn't dare to drink water. However, standing in front of other people with their lives in her hands, she couldn't let it go. She would feel better for all three to die like Kubiak's group. That way, all she could do was to feel grief towards them. To live like Bruno's team, it was more difficult for her to control her feelings.

Sammul sat next to her. He drank some water and passed it to her. Sammul didn't say a word after Hoa's decision earlier.

"You don't blame me?" Hoa asked.

"I never regretted what I did. Because those were the things I was most comfortable with at the time."

Sammul's answer, ostensibly for himself, but inwardly accepted Hoa's actions. Or he didn't really care much about Bruno.

Nabeya went out. She also sat next to Hoa. The older girl let out a few hard breaths. Nabeya also said nothing about giving water. Maybe because her parents had been doctors, so she at least had a heart to save people.

“Are they really that bad?”

“Very bad, but it's Maggie. Bruno and Barol just lacked of water. They lost their belongings because they were trapped by the supervisor.” Nabeya said while closing her eyes and leaning back. She was also very tired.

"If nothing happens, Maggie will probably die in a few hours!" Nabeya said with a very soft low quiet voice. Speaking with normal voice was taking too much of her energy, so she would rather not to.

Neither Sammul nor Hoa said anything. When Hoa pulled out Maggie's shirt, she also knew how dire her situation was.

“But Bruno said, if we find a way to save Maggie, he will say what Kubiak said before he died!”

Nabeya opened her eyes and looked over at Hoa and Sammul. When she fed him with water, he had recovered a little. Bruno knew that Nabeya's group was very smart that they might come up with a way to save Maggie. If Maggie could get out of danger, he would tell what Kubiak had said before he had died. Although what he said was very messy, there might be something worth knowing, since it had something to do with the tower.