The volcanic ashes had then become more intense when we had run for a few minutes. I also had a little difficulty in following Billy, who seemed to be less troubled with the more severe ashes, but not because I had trouble in seeing where he was rushing to. It was his fast movement, unlike before that made me had to practically sprint behind him and Jessica unless I wanted myself to get left behind.
Just then, I suddenly heard a rushing sound from our right direction, which would make it coming directly from the east direction, or to be more precise, from the crater's direction. I was about to warn Billy, but just as before I told him to take aim towards the direction, he suddenly did the same and aimed towards it before he fired several rounds almost only in a blink of an eye. What surprised me yet again was that it turned out he managed to land those shots with an excellent accuracy as we then passed through two dead aliens very shortly after with gunshot wounds near their eyes.
'This young man suddenly becomes a lot scarier than before…' I thought to myself as I continued to sprint and follow him from behind. 'Has something happened to him while we blasted that hovering object earlier?'
It was not actually his excellent accuracy with his submachine gun that made me both amazed and quite terrified at the same time. It was his sudden agile reflex, which he did not show at all prior to our current extreme situation. As I kept on enduring the seemingly increasing heat on our surroundings, I also had myself wondering on how he could suddenly possess such terrific ability.
Shortly after, I heard the exact same rushing sound from our left direction, which was the north direction if seen from the map. At that moment, I decided to not warn Billy about it and just immediately aimed towards that direction since I wanted to make sure if Billy could also begin to hear it. I could actually pulled the trigger right away since I knew the supposed position of the incoming aliens from beneath the ashes, but I somehow hesitated because I kept on thinking if I missed them and only ended up in wasting bullets.
Billy however, he did not seem to hesitate at all in taking his action. He fired upon the direction of the sound exactly in the same manner like before, and when he had finished we passed through another three dead aliens on the ground right besides us, also with the exact same gunshot wounds like the previous two. When I had my head looking straight at him again, he seemed to have just finished reloading another magazine to his submachine gun as he then pulled the cocking handle and loaded the rounds inside again.
It then occurred to my mind that prior to our departure from the Special Forces Command's base, Billy specifically told me that he preferred a compact automatic firearm since he had predicted that it would be inevitable for us to get involved in a close quarter combat once we had arrived on our destination. Either that he had foreseen something similar to what we were currently facing on, or that he actually had a terrific proficiency with compact or carbine firearms, it still looked like he had the ability that surpassed the word 'muscle memory'.
If it turned out that firearm proficiency had absolutely nothing to do with his sudden ability, then I believed there would only be one more possibility that could cause it, a sudden buildup in adrenaline or in short, adrenaline rush. Some people who experienced it would tend to have a temporary increase in either brain functions, muscle responds, pain tolerances, and could even maybe ability to hold breaths much longer. I had yet to however, heard or came to know of a sudden increase in agility of a person that was caused by an adrenaline rush.
Supposing that Billy had indeed experienced an adrenaline rush, I guessed it must have something to do back when he was tasked to wipe out the existence of the radical group that had taken his late younger brother's life. He had mentioned that his team had been pinned down by the group, and I could only imagine that he had experienced something horrible there that it somehow forced him to develop some sort of a buildup in adrenaline.
If that was not the case however, the other thing that might have caused it would most probably caused by the time when he had heard upon the news about his brother. I would not know how much grief he had been at that time which led him to have a grudge against the radical group, and it could also trigger something about his adrenaline rush caused by his immense anger.
By then, I no longer heard any approaching rushing sounds anymore. There were still a few similar sounds shortly after, but they were all very faintly heard and only for a brief moment before they all slowly vanished. Since Billy also did not aim at anything anymore in his rush, I was more or less convinced that there were no more imminent and nearby threat for the current moment.
About some time later, I could feel that the volcanic ashes had somehow become a little more intense again, as well as yet a hotter temperature around us and I also began to struggle to not pant. I clearly saw that Jessica was also drenched in sweat since she had all her back of the t-shirt wet, and began to show a signs of exhaustion by panting.
Billy however, even though he also had his entire body wet because of the sweat, did not pant at all. Instead, when he slowed his pace down and looked around, I could see his facial expression told me as if he felt nothing at all. It was also at that moment when we finally managed to completely get out from the swamp zone.
"Alright we are back outside again…" Billy told us, as he then finally began to show signs of exhaustion as well.
If the volcano had not erupted volcanic ashes, we might have a clearer view of the mountain peak from where we were currently standing. But with our current situation, I could only see it so very faintly as a silhouette that we could see much better back when we were right in front of the crater on the previous day at dusk. That being said, our current location must be a little to the northwest of the crater, which would make us a little further from our next checkpoint.
"Well, I guess we should make our move to the crater that was mentioned on your transmission…" I said as I was also holding my fatigue.
"About that…" he paused for a moment, "I believe that it is best for us to stay here a little while longer…"
"Will not that be more dangerous for us to pause since these volcanic ashes can-" I responded in confusion as Jessica also turned to him.
"Exactly, which is why we could not proceed any further in our current state." he continued by cutting off my words and pointed to the north direction. "But I guess, we will just have to be a little more patient about it…"
I quickly turned to the direction he was pointing, and after a few while I could began to see a very faint silhouette of several human figures walking in a hurry towards us…