Minerva makes sure she has food and water for the trip. She carefully looks behind them as they take off trying to see if anyone is following the group from the camp.
"Is this where the soldiers in the camp came from? What a horrible battle." Minerva makes sure her gun is ready to be accessed just in case.
Antonio is appalled at the sight of the battle. "Gregorio, did your people fight the soldiers?!" He goes to each man, doing a blessing on them. "What happened here?"
The next day, Abraham is waiting for the rest of his colleagues to rise and shine in the hot, humid jungle morning. The rainfall does nothing to alleviate the heat. Gregorio seemed ready to take them and as the others assembled, Abraham did one last look over his equipment and weapons. The jungle environment was hell on a firearm.
Throughout the trip whenever they take breaks, Abraham keeps a perimeter up. He eats and drinks little, just enough to make sure that the jungle's heat won't take him down or weaken his senses. Even as sweat falls down his brows, he watches the foliage for anything unusual.
At the ford, Abraham inspects the damage and grimaces lightly at the carnage before them. Memories of the great offensive to set up an attack on Metz back in Europe came back to him for just a moment.
"We don't have time for blessings, Father." Abraham says as he cautiously steps into the shallow, flowing water. "Artillery could still be sighted on us. We cross the river quickly; being caught out here would be real bad." Abraham would move to take point unless he had noticed something before in the forest following them. If he had, he'd take the time to warn the group now and advise how the ford would be an excellent place to defend themselves if needed.
<No. This was the Spanish fighting the Spanish. We don't have the big guns that made those holes. My people mostly use machetes and bows, Padre.> And indeed, the uniforms are a mixture of Paraguayan and Bolivian.
Abraham's trained eye tells him this battle occurred weeks ago and that no large scale movements have occurred around here since that time. The fighting must have shifted to a different area.
Although still feeling the pain of his wounds, Enoli is now in his world and he walks close to Gregorio so he can help keep an eye out for any tracks or others, keeping quiet and alert.
Enoli is disturbed by the lack of animal sounds and motion in the jungle.
Enoli grunts, "This foliage and the fury of the battle makes it hard to track any trails, but I'll get a closer look."
"Just keep an eye out for any leftover traps. It looks clear." Abraham noted there was no dug trenches, merely bodies. The apprehension of walking on a battlefield lingered with him those as he shouldered the M1 Garand once more. Noticing Enoli stepping up beside Gregorio, Abraham would give him a nod to walk with him as he began to cross across the water. "Keep an eye on the trees folks. Don't need to be surprised again."
Gregorio leads you past a stalled truck and on into the jungle on the far side of the jungle. The rain abates and a thick jungle mist begins to rise, lending an eerie otherworldly quality to the strangely silent forest.
In the distance, you hear a strange rumbling roar, a beast of some kind, possibly distorted by the fog. It is the first sound you have heard in some time not made by you. It sends shivers down your spines.
Hearing the roar snaps Enoli out of his frustrating efforts to find any useful clues in the foliage, he listens intently to see if he can tell what animal could make these noises
The battlefield was left behind them now, the misery of war swallowed whole by the thick and dark canopy of the jungle above. The rain finally stopped but a mist began to rise from the ground instead. It was like walking through a dream...or a nightmare.
There was a strange, horrendous roar and Abraham ducked down almost immediately, silently cursing to himself. The shivers running down his spine warned him that something wasn't right. Not for the first time, Abraham longed for the tall skyscrapers of New York once more.
Antonio stops in his tracks as he hears the beast. "What. was. that?" He looks around and then back at Enoli. "Jaguar?" He eases the shotgun off his shoulder and checks that it's loaded.
While Louise has spent a good amount of time pursuing outdoor activities, she isn't really an outdoor person. Skiing, mountain climbing and so forth tend to be very specific and don't translate well into the more general aspects of spending time in the wilderness.
This doesn't mean Louise is helpless and hopeless though. Her tendency to gravitate toward risky hobbies has taught her how to learn quickly so she avoids costly mistakes. She not only listens to what guides and instructors tell her, but goes further in watching them closely. How they move, make decisions, react to situations, and other details. Louise goes beyond doing what they say by also doing what they do.
Doing so has allowed Louise to push a little harder and take things a little farther than others without ending up in a cast or worse. On the jungle trek she judges Gregorio, Enoli, and at the battlefield specifically, Abraham as the ones to watch. She walks where they walk, look where they're looking, and otherwise attempts to model herself on them.
She does wonder if they shouldn't investigate the battlefield a little more closely. It hasn't been lost on her that she's in the minority not having a long gun. She figures there's a good reason to have one, and the battlefield might be the place pick one up. But she would want input from Abe before just picking something up.
Maybe it's best they move on to the location Gregorio is guiding them to first. They can come back if there seems to be a reason to do so
The battlefield is still somewhat fresh enough that there could be useful supplies. Not all of his comrades were as well armed as he would like and the signs of smaller detonations here and there give him hope that a few grenades may be hidden. Even some of the vehicles seemed only mildly damaged. Pausing in his step and lifting up his hand in a fist to bring the others to stop, he'd nod to the group.
"We have no idea what we might encounter later. There might be some useful things around here; shovel axes, spare ammo, grenades, I think one or two of the vehicles here may even be salvageable. Fan out and look for what you can but keep an eye out for ordinance too. Not every shell explodes." Moving into the worst parts of the battlefied, Abraham's eyes scanned the misty ground in search of things to give them more advantage.
Nodding, Antonio decides to check the trucks first. He knew his friends might check the soldiers' bodies for weapons or ammunition, but he could not bring himself to loot the corpses. Not even the Bolivians deserve that. "Um, what about that noise? If that's a jaguar, it might be coming to feed off the corpses."
As he gets to the destroyed vehicles, it occurs to the priest that he really doesn't know what exactly to look for.
Abraham stops his movements for a moment, his eyes taking account of a small box that was partially covered in dirty and mud. Crouching down, he brushes it all away and grins at the title of it. He didn't need to speak Spanish to know what hopefully laid inside.
"Look! This truck is just stuck, not destroyed! If we can lift it out, we could get it moving." Antonio points to one of the vehicles mired in mud.
Minerva is miserable as she tromps through the jungle. "What I wouldn't give for a nice cocktail party or a museum heist." she mutters under her breath.
She has her pistol out looking around the area as the others examine the remains of the battle. She especially watches the trees for movement or hidden creatures.
Louise decides the most safety-minded thing she can do on an abandoned battlefield is to go with Father Antonio to take a look at the truck. It's something she knows a little about at least.
"Do you think we'd actually be able to drive to anywhere we're on our way to out here?" she asks the priest. "It would be nice to not have to carry everything on our backs, especially that 'living mummy' we're supposed to be fetching" she adds sarcastically.
She eyes the truck and makes a suggestion.
"Tell you what Father. If you'll go ask Gregorio if there's a route we can drive, I'll give the truck a once-over to see if it's fit for travel."
Antonio nods. "Sure. But I don't think his people use trucks very much. But let me go ask."
Father Peña goes to find Gregorio, pointing to the truck. <Gregorio, if we can get that working again, is there a road to the temple? It will be faster than walking, and might give us an advantage.>
"You'd be surprised what these trucks can drive through. As long as the foliage ain't too thick, we could drive up there." Abraham lifts up the box he found, a wry grin on his face. "Found some eggs, more than enough for us to deal with an issue." A few properly booby-trapped or thrown could decimate even the soldiers they were on the wrong side with.
"Let me help try to get the truck up and out of the mud. Enoli, come help me. Abraham murmurs, placing the box of grenades into the back of it after he stows two of them onto his belt.
Minerva seeing nothing moving moves up next to Abraham and puts her strength to pushing the truck out of the mud. "A truck will certainly end any stealth approach, but it would be nice if we do indeed find the mummy."
Enoli moves next to Minerva at the back of the truck to help push. Despite the sharp pain in his shoulder, he manages to get under a section of the truck and push with his legs.
Louise put her back into it as well.
The engine won't start. It seems as though it should, though. The truck hasn't taken any battle damage; it's merely abandoned.
Minerva climbs up on the fender and takes a look at the engine. "What you got there Louise?" She sees nothing, and shrugs. "No idea." She shrugs.
Antonio shrugs as they aren't able to get the truck started. He wipes his forehead. "Maybe we should just go. We're losing time here if it won't start."
"Damn, that's unfortunate." Abraham mutters, shaking his head as he looks at the others. "Grab an egg if you want. Just don't pull the pin early, alright?" Abandoning the truck, Abraham goes back to the front of their little expedition and begins to follow their guide once more through the mist-filled jungle foliage.
Louise steps back from the truck and shrugs irritably.
"No idea what the problem is."
As they start walking away Louise pipes up with her original question.
"So Abe, should I get one of those rifles or what?"
Abraham gives a look to Louise for a moment before giving a nod.
"You know how to shoot one? Be my guest, they ain't using them and having range on the enemy always works best."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Minerva decides to take another look at the truck before they give up completely. She curses as she makes things worse.
So what's the team do next?
Gregorio leads you deeper into the jungle. You walk for hours until you arrive ato a low ridge that stands over a valley blanketed in thick green vegetation. The jungle is very quiet.
<This is very strange,> he says in Spanish. <I hear nothing. No animals. No birds. Not even insects. I do not like it. Maybe the Dreamer does not want us here.>
Enoli tightens his grip on his rifle and whispers to his group, "Remember this happened before the last attack, it got strangely quiet, the life in this jungle does not like whatever else is here. Those men were a part of that, same as that creature who roared."
Antonio looks at Enoli and then looks around the area nervously. He moves to Gregorio and whispers to him. <It was like this when we were last attacked, Gregorio. We must be careful. If fighting starts, get down. Do you see any signs of people approaching us?>
Abraham's grip on his rifle tightens as his eyes scan the mists carefully, looking for another ambush. There was a tension in the silence, the gentle squeeze of a trigger about to shatter the heavy muteness. Each step was slow and careful, trying to anticipate the danger before it caught them off-guard.
Abraham hears something shuffling through the trees ahead. It could almost be the breeze on jungle foliage, but the air is as still and unmoving as everything else. Abraham has just enough time to signal everyone when a brilliant gout of flame erupts from a nearby treetop and sears the ground at his feet, leaving a charred and smoking hole!
STATUS
Louise
Abraham
Enoli
Minerva
Monkey
Father Antonio
Upon seeing the spout out toward them, Louise quickly makes a few assumptions:
1. The fire is bad and dangerous.
2. She doesn't need to wait and see what Abe or Enoli will do; they will seek cover. Louise does the same immediately.
3. Her new rifle has a longer reach than the fire does, backing up some would be a good idea.
When Louise finds a place she believes will keep her safe and out of site, she takes a knee and begins to look around to find the source of the threat. Obviously the tree where the fire originated is one, but there may be others.
Louise had picked up a rifle at the battlefield, with no guidance coming from anyone about how to choose, she opted for the cleanest looking one she could find. Now she takes it from were it's been slung on her shoulder and checks to make sure it's loaded with a round chambered.