The nearly silent buzz of the stealth drone passed over their heads.
The once forgotten fear and tension that Axle felt before had now returned in full force, he cought a glimpse of Kiwi in Allyssa's arms as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.
'7:58'
The full moon was already overhead and illuminating the path as they started out of the clearing where thay had the picnic, casting deep, and in Axle's case, unsettling shadows of the trees. An occasional chirp sounded from the trees, an indication that life still thrived even in a place like this.
The shadows were deep... Too deep for Axle's liking... Too cold. Only the sound of leaves and twigs crunching under their feet as they walked seemed to convince him that those weren't openings to some harrowing abyss beneath them.
Keno noticed his tension and spoke up.
"Dude, you can't seriously still be scared right now"
Axle glared at him in silence.
"Oh come on! You were having fun!"
"Let him sulk if he wants to, as long as we still get that sleepover I'm good", Hailey said, kicking a small pebble forward as she walked.
"So much for you guys being good friends..."
"We're your best friends, no one said anything about having to be good at the same time... Besides, you're being a baby... it was just a stupid cat."
Kiwi meowed as if annoyed, her tail swaying in the air behind her. She gave a Hailey a passing glance and returned to enjoying the comfort of Allyssa's arms.
"I mean it was just Kiwi..."
"And the soldiers did say this area was protected" Ashton added, absentmindedly adjusting the strap of his bag and conviniently ignoring the 'no guarantee' part of said warning. They'd put some of the utensils in his bag this time since he wasn't carrying the drones anymore.
"But how did Kiwi find us?! We're like miles away from Miss Freiya's place. We took a frikking speed train to get here!" He was worried he was beginning to sound crazy, but this did concern him a lot...
"Oh stop whining... she's a cat, it's probably just a cat thing. Who knows what goes on in their crazy little heads?" Hailey's dissmisive tone was evident.
The American Curl meowed again.
"Come on..." Hailey started as she turned to face the cat.
But the cat wasn't looking at her... She was fully alert, still being carried by Allyssa but her head was upright and looking to their left into the forest.
She jumped down and meowed again, this time a bit of ferocity creeping into her voice. Then she took off in that direction, straight into the forest.
"Wait, Kiwi, NO!" Lyssa screamed and chased after her.
"Are you crazy?!" Hailey called after Lyssa and then chased after her.
Keno and Ashton exchanged looks and then ran after the girls.
And Axle..., he wasn't staying there by himself under any circumstances, so he too ran after them.
They wouldn't have trouble navigating back to the original path they were on, as the direction in which Kiwi had ran seemed to have slightly noticeable path of it's own.
They all soon caught up to Kiwi, who was currently sitting... and facing something.
The air here was cold.
She was facing a masterfully crafted wooden box, trimmed with what seemed to be ivory, two oppresive, obsidian looking chains crossed over it... but that wasn't what was wrong.
What was wrong was the shadows, of the trees, of the wooden box... they were facing the wrong way.
No.
They were facing every direction.
The full moon wasn't even shining all that strongly here, but the shadows were deep... almost liquid... and facing the wrong way... and only he seemed to notice it.
Lyssa moved to pick up Kiwi, who readily got into her arms again.
"What's gotten into you today?" Lyssa purred softly into Kiwi's ears, stroking her head like a worried mother.
Ashton's and Keno's eyes were locked on the box, then they met each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking Ken?"
"You're both dumb, of course you're thinking the same thing"
Ignoring Hailey, who was now squatting beside the box, Ashton and Keno went over and tried lifting it.
"Wow, that's... really heavy" Ashton was breathless from trying to lift the box with Keno. They had tried slipping the chains off too, but even those wouldn't budge, even though they seemed like just two thick chains wrapped once around the box.
Axle noticed something else. They weren't all that visible from where he stood, but he could very well tell what they were...
"Runes..."
Hailey loooked up at him surprised to hear is voice after his long silence,
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I... there's runes on the box...", he said, taking a step towards said box as his curiosity overtook his fear for a moment.
Lyssa paused stroking the cat to come closer and get a glimpse of what was going on.
Axle dusted off the the debris and what looked like ash that was covering the runes.
"What, like the ones in your room, and your hoverboard too...?" asked Ashton, try to get a proper view of the charachters.
"Yeah, those are runes too, but they're symbol runes, these ones are spoken... I think I can read some of the stuff that's on here. My mom taught me how to do it..."
There was a short pause from everyone. None of them liked talking about their parents, but Axle hated it the most, so bringing up his mother now only meant that must have been a core memory for him.
He traced his finger across the single line of runes on the box and read out in runic tongue before translating:
"Ālthūn ḍārūk vërnă ēthār ṣa ŋōvĕrnă · Ĕn khi ēnôr māl ṭharnūk ār, ēl wāvĕrn dārūn ṣā ālthūn"
"All things existing for the resurrection of the void · And when he was once more with the world breakers, he weaved his story in the fabric of all things"
"That makes zero sense, are you sure you're reading that properly?" Hailey asked, mentally questioning the literacy of whoever wrote down what Axle just read.
"I know but... who exactly wrote this... I mean this is supposed to be a lost language if my mom was right...", he shuffled uncomfortably, "so whoever wrote this obviously knew what they were doing. I mean the characters are carved in pretty well"
He held one corner of the box with one hand and tried to look around the other see sides to see if there were any more carvings. As his finger grazed one of the chains, an electric like buzz shot through him. A small metallic rattle sounded and the chains slackened.
He withdrew his hand in fear and the chains slackened further and slid off the box, a muffled clang sounding as they fell onto dried up leaves and twigs.
Seemingly oblivious of Axle's growing apprehension, or the fact that this was the same chain they had tried and failed to remove just minutes ago, Keno and Ashton started prying the box open as everyone watched in silence.
With a creak that was too loud for the forest setting, the mysterious box finally opened. Black ash rose from inside the box as air rushed into it, and the finely finished interior seemed to be heavily scorched in some parts.
There was only one thing in it.
"All that trouble for a book? Seriously?" Hailey began to complain.
"It does look nice actually... It's really fancy" Lyssa said, by now she'd come closer to observe still carrying Kiwi.
And so the book was. Brown and exquisite looking leather binding, with gilded edges and borders, and very thick, almost having a presence of it's own.
Axle reached in and lifted the book out, ash falling off of it as he brought to himself.
Kiwi jumped down from Lyssa's arm and hissed at the forest behind them.
They heard one twig crack and then another.
The first sound of gunshots came from the drones and Kiwi dissapeared behind the trees in that direction. There was nothing they could do to get her back now
The group did not hesitate in fleeing. Axle gripped the book tightly underneath his arm, and moved his feet as fast he could as they ran back in the direction they had come from, making their way back to the original path.
As they got back onto the path the gunshot sounds seemed to draw closer, as well as the loud thuds of a heavy animal running towards them. For a moment Kiwi was back, running alongside them, then after another hiss that sounded louder than it should have been, she lept back into the thick bushes.
Momentarily distracted by her sudden appearance, Axle turned to look in Kiwi's direction. For a split second, he could have sworn, that her eyes went from blue to orange and that there was an orange flash in the spot where she should have landed.
They ran faster, putting distance between them and the thudding.
The military officials seemed to be aware of what was happening by now, because by the time the group was nearing the forest entrance, there were already armed soldiers running in.
They got out just in time to turn and see what was chasing them...
And how close it had been.
This thing couldn't even be called an animal... animals had life in their eyes, vigor, some indicator that they at least had functioning instinct or intelligence... This thing was dead.
This huge boar like creature had completely black eyes. The tusks had broken and decayed, but they were still looking strong. It's snout was split open into four sections, jagged and decay ridden teeth on each section that might have served as lips. It was dead without a doubt, and yet, somehow it managed to look... undead?
Black drool and tears rolled off it's face as it let out a horrid screech, charging towards them. The monster seemed to be undergoing further mutation as, suddenly, the top of it's head burst open, black blood gushing out of the opening, and two crooked horns rapidly extended out of it.
But it would never reach anyone... the soldiers never let that happen. It didn't take that many bullets to incapacitate the beast and once it was on the ground all it took was one soldier to behead it with a machete.
Today they had escaped death.
Lyssa spotted white fur and blood on the mouth of the dead beast, and then so did the others. She turned to Hailey, hugging her and sobbing into her shoulder.
Ashton and Keno plopped to the ground in exhaustion and Axle just stood there, clutching the book like his life depended on it.
He could have died today.
He could have died on his birthday.
"Never in all my years of service, have I seen anyone as lucky as you kids... And i don't think i ever will again" a thick and familiar voice came from behind them, making their neck hairs stand on end.
"Major Erwin, sir!" The soldiers saluted.
"At ease, soldiers. Now, pray tell, how did five kids like you manage to attract and escape death on the same day?"
None of them said anything.
One of the soldiers walked over and whispered something to the Major, causing him to sigh and shake his head. He placed his hands on his hips and just stared at the kids for a few moments. Then he spoke.
"Recall your drones. Go"
The terrified friends didn't need to be told twice, starting to take hurried steps back to the train station.
"Oh, one more thing...", Major Erwin called out after them, and as they stopped and turned to listen, he said coldy, "You see that rotting beast you just escaped? That used to be a class E-9 mutant. An F-4 would have been enough to kill you all, but this one...? This one was in the middle of a progressive mutation, basically a death sentence for you if you had all been about twenty to thirty seconds slower." He observed them with emotionless eyes, letting the message sink in.
"I never want see you five near here, ever again... Understood?"
They all nodded and resumed hurrying to the train station, Axle clutching the cold book tightly to his chest.
Soon enough, they got on the next speed train, having a chance to sit and calm their nerves. Lyssa had started crying over Kiwi's death and Hailey was sat beside her, comforting her, Ashton was on his phone also beside her, making sure the drones were still following them. Keno, however was sitting on the opposite seat beside Axle... having an argument with him.
"We were just unlucky, that's all! How the hell is it our fault?!"
"Keno... We were nearly killed by a black plague mutant... killed for fucks sake! So yes, it is your fault, because you all decided that the most dangerous place in the city would be a 'nice hangout spot'!"
Hailey butted in,
"Oh, stop being such a baby. It's not like we knew we'd come across a mutant or something. That place was supposed to be a safe zone as far as we knew"
"Can we not do this right now guys?" Lyssa said in a slightly raised voice, her eyes still red from crying. She sniffled a bit and then wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
"Yes we really lucky to come out of all that alive, but these arguments will get us nowhere pretty fast. It's still Axle's birthday, we shouldn't make it any worse than it's already been, so everyone can either make up or shut up about it." she said sternly and then continued, "Now we're ending this celebration with a sleepover at Axle's place like we talked about, so i don't want to hear any further grumbling or arguments from anyone. Understood?"
Everyone nodded and continued the train ride home in silence. No one argued with Alyssa when she was angry and definitely not when she was holding back tears.
Eventually, they got to their stop and got off the train, deciding to walk the distamce to Axle's house. They got to his front door and Axle placed his palm on the security panel once again, causing it to glow green and unlock the door after identifying him. They set their bags down by the corridor and took off their shoes, making their way into different parts of the house as they were already really familiar with the place.
"Oh, so you were serious about not having anything at home... This shit's emptier than my love life" Keno called out from the kitchen, the sound of a closing fridge following soon after.
"Ah dang it!" Axle facepalmed, stopping on his way up to his room, "I forgot to get the groceries on our way back"
"Don't worry about it, I'll order takeout from Rosco's. Anyone want pizza?" Hailey's voice sounded from the living room. A slight murmur of what sounded like agreement came from the other two also in the living room. "Alright then, delivery gets here in about forty-five minutes."
"Hey, Axle...?"
Axle looked back at Kenov
"I'm sorry man... About today, not exactly how I planned it. So I'm sorry...", Keno had his head hung slightly, not wanting to look him in the eye.
"It's alright man... Sorry I lashed out too. It was kinda your fault..., but then again, it wasn't. You know what i mean?" said Axle with a laugh.
"Yeah it was kinda my fault" Keno laughed as well.
"I'll be upstairs in the shower" he called out making his way to his room once more.
"Dibs on the jaccuzi after Axle!"
"Damn it Keno, you were first last time!"
"Yeah cos you're slow as fuck!"
Axle closed the door to his room on Keno and Ashton's squabbling and set the strange book down on his bed.
He would attend to it after his shower.