Their journey started, and they were alert. Rin was leading them as a captain, but there was an awkward silence between the three of them. Luca felt uneasy around the two elders, who were deathly serious. On the other side, at HQ, everyone got back to their training, but in everyone's mind and heart there was one wish and hope—for Rin, Ming, and Luca to come back safely.
Back in the forest, they continued their journey. After two hours, Luca asked, "How far is that fruit tree?"
Rin replied in a calm voice, "It's far away. It will take around five or six hours for us to reach it."
Ming looked at Rin and then asked, "Is there only that tree with that fruit?"
Rin replied coldly, without looking at them, "We are not idiots who decided to go that far away from HQ if there was any fruit tree nearby."
Ming glared at him, disliking his cold response, but stayed silent and clenched his fist. Luca noticed the situation and quickly put his hand on Ming's shoulder to calm him down. Ming looked at Luca and nodded, signaling that he was calm. Rin just ignored it and kept leading them.
After a few seconds of silence, Rin decided to speak. "Listen. If you see any fruit tree there, don't go near it, because not all trees are safe. Some are poisoned—or you could say most of them are poisoned. When we first came here, many soldiers died because of that. We lost nine soldiers checking if the trees were safe or not. In the end, we checked that last tree, knowing it could be dangerous, but we took the risk, and that tree was normal."
Ming and Luca exchanged glances, and Ming said, "But when we were in the forest, running from monsters, we arrived at a cage, then we went to find fruits and found one tree. We ate from it, and it was normal—safe."
Rin looked at them with surprise and asked, "Are you serious?"
Ming rolled his eyes and replied, "No, we're kidding, to kill ourselves."
Luca laughed a little, and Rin glared at him. "Yeah, very funny."
Rin sighed and said, "Okay, can you take me there if it's not too far from here?"
Luca and Ming nodded. Luca said, "Yes, we can take you there, but we don't remember the exact direction. As I recall, we passed this place, so it might be in the left direction."
Rin nodded, and Luca and Ming led him. Along the way, no one spoke—no one broke the silence.
After one hour, they arrived at the same cage where Ming, Luca, Akiko, Sofia, Kenzo, and the other passengers had rested before. Ming looked in the opposite direction to remember which way they had gone, then pointed in that direction. They all walked that way, and after another thirty minutes, they arrived in front of the tree.
"Here is that tree," Luca said.
Rin looked at the tree, then walked around it to inspect closely. His eyes fell on an old, dim blood spot on the trunk. He remembered something, and his expression turned shocked. He stepped back. Ming and Luca both noticed his reaction. Ming asked, "What's wrong, Rin?"
Rin took a breath, turned toward them, and said, "Are you sure this is the same tree where you got those fruits?"
Ming and Luca nodded. Luca said, "Yeah, it's the same tree. And you can see there are no other trees here."
Ming asked, "Why are you asking? What's wrong?"
Rin sighed, looked at the tree, then at them, and replied in a firm, serious voice, "Everything is wrong here."
Ming and Luca were confused. Rin continued, "Because of the fruit of that tree, we lost one of our soldiers. It is one of those trees that are poisoned. But this one is the most dangerous. Other trees are poisoned; they are strong enough to kill a person, but the victims at least survived for a few minutes and died like they were poisoned normally. When our soldier ate fruit from this tree, it didn't even take a second for the effects to happen. He died a painful death—his skin started peeling off, it was brutal. He cried for death, begged for death, and also vomited blood. That blood spot is still on this tree." Rin pointed toward the spot.
Ming froze in disbelief and confusion. Luca also couldn't believe it and couldn't understand how they had survived.
Before anyone could say anything, they suddenly heard the loud roar of… monsters.
End of Chapter 19.