"She's not here," a short monster with birdlike features announced. His head rotated nearly a full circle around, his large eyes scanning the surroundings. His folded his wings across his chest, tapping his talons testily. On his large feet were dark black boots specially made for avian scouts like him. They had fantastic grip and worked as an extension of his claws, used for perching on unstable places.
"Dammit. You think some feral got her? Chara got me all hyped up for a fight. Now I wanna punch something," a lean hyena girl laughed. She rubbed her forearms, which were messily wrapped in white bandages. She shook out her black magic resistant vest to dispel the heat under her collar.
"Yona. It would be best if we remain optimistic about Ms. Wicke's situation," said a tall voxen dressed in a black overcoat.
"You can drop the act, Jayken. We know you wanna fight, too," Yona, the hyena girl, guffawed, slapping Jayken on the back heartily.
"I want money to feed my family. I don't want to fight. Fighting is only a means to an end. What good am I dead or injured?"
"Oh yeah, yeah. That's valid, but man, doesn't it get your adrenaline pumping? The fact we get to save a cute girl AND get paid AND fight a giant mutant beast doesn't excite you a little bit?"
"Only the second part holds any interest to me," Jayken replied stiffly, but smiled. He put and arm around Yona's back and shook her lightly.
"Okay pardner. But when we get back to base remind me to ask Chara for some testosterone supplements. You seriously need some. Like, damn, man."
"You may," Jayken smirked. "But it's Ms. Charybdis, not Chara."
"Can you two lovebirds please be quiet?" the owl scout squawked. "This isn't time for fun and games. Every second we waste is one where Ms. Wicke could need our help. And… wait. I'm getting something. On my search magic radar. Nine bodies, a few kilometers ahead."
"I see only one bird here, Wraith," Yona snickered.
"I hate bounty hunters," Wraith sighed, flapping his wings in exasperation.
"Wow. Ruuuude."
Yona and Jayken continued to banter endlessly, much to Wraith's chagrin, as they dashed through the forest. Yona and Jayken both had heightened physical capabilities, due to their innate magic that coursed through all monsters' veins. Wraith flew nimbly, darting from tree to tree, using his special scout boots to push off from each trunk and branch with ease. They covered ground many times faster than Rekka and her group, which slogged on on foot.
"I smell them!" Yona whispered frantically to Jayken. "They don't smell like any monster species I know of, or any feral. They smell… weird."
"Let's take our positions and watch. Let's see if there's anything we need to worry about," Wraith replied, before flying silently up into the trees. He held a device to his beak, which used technology to capture and record his voice and used magic to transmit it to the other devices Yona and Jayken had.
Wicke had one of those, but Rekka had taken it and broken it after she figured out what it was used for. She burnt it for good measure and left it by the rotting corpse of the bristleback, which was starting to attract insect ferals that gruesomely lapped at its insides.
Wraith's eyes widened as he laid eyes on the travelling group. He spotted Wicke, who was surprisingly alive and well, by the side of a young woman in an odd-looking red suit. However, her movements were unnatural, jagged and unlifelike, as if she was a zombie. But that's not what interested him the most. The eight youths other than Wicke had no discernible monsterlike features. Every single monster species had some sort of identifier. Instead they looked… like humans.
"Are you getting this?" He whispered in wonder to Yona, who nodded before realizing Wraith couldn't see him.
"Yeah, man. Kooky stuff. They're like, almost humans. But didn't we get all of em?"
"Perhaps there are a few more than we thought. After all, it's hard to say for certain all the humans are wiped out. There's always the possibility some have slipped under our radar."
"That's still groundbreaking," Wraith squawked. "Charybdis will be so pleased. And you know, if we capture these ones as well, it'll be enough to feed us and our families for a lifetime."
"Fuck yeah," Yona whisper-screamed.
"Amazing," Jayken said, much quieter but even more passionate.
"Imagine turning in not one, but eight humans, and children at that. They'll be perfect specimens. Charybdis will be able to study their brain development. We'll be millionaires," Wraith said, his talons beginning to shake, gripping hard and ripping into the bark.
"We can't mess this up. We're outnumbered four-to-one. They won't have any magical powers, so it'll be easy to subdue them. Threaten them with magical force, but don't hurt them, Yona."
"Sure, sure. I'm not that stupid," Yona protested.
"We've found you!" Wraith cawed, leaping down from his perch, landing gracefully in front of Rekka. She halted, her eyes despairing, like she'd been expecting them but hoping against hope they wouldn't come.
"We're from PSEF, and we're here to bring you back for experimentation," Jayken said, coming up behind Evelynn. The girl whipped out two daggers immediately, pointing them at Jayken's throat. Surprised, the voxen stepped backwards, drawing his golden crossbow. Axel stepped in front of her.
"Consider yourselves lucky," Wraith went on to say. "You're the last humans on the planet. That means, you're the only specimens available for experimentation. So congratulations, you get to live."
"Since your brains are still developing, I expect that you'll be treated kindly so that your brains develop in a natural way. We'll make things comfortable for you, and you'll never have to worry about survival again."
"If you choose to run, however, we won't hesitate to use force to capture you. It's really not a hard decision. We have magic, you don't."
Macy hid behind Julia's back, sensing a fight. Saya looked at Silas with a meaningful glance in her eyes.
If they don't know we have magic, then we still have the element of surprise. They think that they can subdue us with just three people, because they think we can't fight back.
Silas looked at her and Rekka, whose face hardened. They all were thinking the same thing. However, Silas knew that in order for information not to leak out about their existence, they would have to kill these three scouts, who looked young, maybe only a few years their senior.
Was Silas prepared to do such a thing? They were monsters, but he knew next to nothing about them. Did they have families like humans did? Did they love, or feel? The more Silas looked at them, the more they looked human. Despite Yona's canine face and Wraith's talons, the way they moved, talked, and interacted with one another seemed distinctly human.
Saya stepped back and whispered in Macy's ear. Only Macy heard her. Her voice was so quiet even Saya herself had a hard time hearing it.
"See those devices near their hips? The rectangular ones that are hanging. I can sense magic stored within them; they're probably used for something important. You should target them."
Macy nodded, hiding her relief. She dreaded killing anyone, but if all she had to do was destroy electrical devices, it shouldn't be too hard.
On the count of three, Rekka said with a glance, throwing it around the group.
One,
Two,
Three!