10 years ago...
Deep in the depths of the Biouldeon jungle, a young boy was busy running around in search of his friends. Although he looked very happy as he did this, the boy couldn't help feel very worried. Both Dallas and Haimesworth had been long gone, and there was absolutely no trace of where they might've gone.
"Where are they?" The boy would mutter every now and then.
"Oyy! Stevie, right here!"
The then young Stevie immediately stopped in his tracks when he heard the familiar voice calling out.
"Boss?" He called out. "Where are you!"
"Right behind you, kid."
"Oh."
Turning around, Stevie came to face with none other than his own squad leader, a man who he really looked up to, a father-figure almost. Seeing this familiar face, Stevie couldn't help but brighten up. Maybe now he would finally be able to find those two rascals. Of course, those two were older, but Stevie couldn't contain himself.
"Chad!" Stevie exclaimed, pulling the giant of a man in front of him into a hug. "What's up?"
"Nothing much. I was told to patrol the perimeters, but then I saw you running around like a wild deer. What on earth are you on the lookout for?"
Uh-oh.
"Umm, not really... I wasn't looking out for anything specific. I was just seeing the view, you know, enjoying the beauty of nature."
Please let that be enough.
"Oh, and by the way, where's young Dallas and Haimesworth at? Last time I checked, they were with you."
The man named Chad looked towards his youngest member with the utmost curiosity. No animosity was present, but this was not what it looked like to the youngster. To young Stevie, it felt as if he was being brought right onto the execution ground with the asking of that one single question.
"I guess I better come off clean," he sighed, staring down at the ground. "I lost the two of them. We were just hunting some game when suddenly the two of them bolted out into the distance. Being the slowpoke that I was, I couldn't keep up, and by the time I reached the place where I last saw 'em, poof-!, they were gone... Sorry, boss, that was very careless of me."
"Oh it's fine, kiddo. Those two have always been the biggest hassles. Alright, come with me then, kiddo! Let's go find those two," Chad, the leader, said enthusiastically to his subordinate. "And it might be quite the good excuse for me to skip the whole meeting back at camp."
Stevie knew just much his boss hated meeting up with the other higher-ups of the Red Wolves. Pitiful, pompous human being without any dignity, as he would often say. Although this sentiment wasn't exactly something that was shared by young Stevie's mind, he would nevertheless uphold the opinion in very high regards seeing that it was his savior's.
"Okie-dokie, boss."
Without anymore word needing to be said after that, the two of them began speeding their way through the dense woods.
***
The Red Wolves was one of the most notorious Raider clans in recent memory. They were a group of people who were not afraid of looting nor killing people who had high-rankings in all sorts of Kingdoms. They travelled from regions to regions, all in search of people who 'had-it-too-good-in-their-lives' and deserved some divine punishment. Even if such philosophy were very much condemned by many during their time, this did not stop them from having the highest body count of people from monarchies across the land. What made things even worse was that they had a large sense of discipline not akin to that of most Outlaws, allowing them to be much more dangerous than the usual bands of Raiders.
Nevertheless, this still did not stop them from one day disappearing completely from reality.
***
"Boss," Stevie asked while they were buzzing through the thick greeneries. "If you hate the higher-ups so much, why don't you just off them right away?"
...
It took quite some time for the man known as Chad to respond to this sudden question. In fact, it could be said that he was thinking very deeply on how to exactly approach this question.
"Well... You can't always have your eyes on the top, my friend. Otherwise, you'll forget to check in on those nearest to you," he finally said.
"Oh, fair enough."
The moment that this small conversation finally came to an end, the two of them continued to focus their mind to the task at hand. Amidst all of the ruins and the trees that had infested the city, it was still fairly easy to navigate through and as such, so they ended up managing to cover a large amount of land in a relatively short period of time.
And yet... still there was no sign of them. Where could have they gone off to?
"Listen, Stevie. Are you sure that you did not hear anything, anything-!, from them about any place you three have set up as being a rendezvous point?" Chad asked after more than three hours of searching. He was growing more and more worried rather than frustrated, and the fact that sun was getting closer and closer to setting did not help his case.
"N- no. I'm sorry, boss, but plans of anything I did not catch wind of," Steve said rather sadly, feeling more and more guilty by the minute. He too was becoming worried of what had happened to his fellow friends.
Seeing the distraught written on his subordinate's face, Chad decided to call in for a short breather before continuing on with their search. It was certainly a decision that was not received very well by the youngster.
"But we could be losing precious time!" Stevie persisted. "What if they are in danger this exact moment!?"
"I know how frustrating it must feel, Stevie... But really we aren't doing any better now, are we? You might have not realised it yet, but you are sweating buckets. Drink, my friend! And then we shall continue. You stay here, while I go out on the lookout for water. Got it?"
After having finally managed to persuade Stevie, Chad was finally able to let out a sigh of relief. He needed to take some time for himself, to think clearly. He was just as agitated as Stevie was, but he could not let the façade of a calm leader be shattered so easily.
If there wasn't him to stay strong in front of his men, who else was there left to do so?
"No! Don't lose courage! I mustn't!"
This particular dilemma was a constant recurrence in the life of the man named Chad. Back and forth, back and forth he kept on tiptoeing around the line, but never truly once did he allow himself to fully falter and let the mask that he had been building throughout the years to get cracked. Not once did he ever let his men catch a glimpse of what lay underneath this whole act, to see that deep down their leader was just as lost and confused as they were sometimes
No matter what, he was going to keep his crew alive.
Thankfully, he was finally able to regain back the determination and calmness of mind to continue, and thus he was able to make easy work in finding some water from the trees around him. After having stored some in a small bottle that he always carried with himself, he returned back to the place where he had previously left Stevie...
Except he wasn't there. In fact, he was nowhere in sight!
"Stevieee!!" Chad called out into the distance, hoping that the youngest of his men had only disappeared to take care of his bladder. "Stevieee, where are you!?"
And yet, no answer came to reply. Only the wind continued to blow as seconds passed by, and with every passing fleeting moment, Chad's fear grew exponentially larger and larger, as he saw that his men had one-by-one disappeared. It was like a black hole sucking him deeper and deeper into despair, taking away his ability to think things through rationally.
Chad continued to call out and yet still no response. Sunset was only an hour away, and the sight of the lowering Sun gave him such a morbid feeling that he became unsure of whether to continue yelling or not.
"Where could they have gone to?" He let out, pleading almost in a way for something to show him a direction to go.
After having walked around aimlessly for around ten minutes, Chad could still find nothing of use. The footsteps, if there had been any, were muddled due to the ground being wet and everywhere he looked, no silhouette of a person could be seen.
However, this all immediately changed when suddenly the whole air pressure around him turned three times heavier out of nowhere. It was as if the whole world around him was bending under its own weight. What was this feeling!?
Feeling both dizzy and nauseous due to this sudden change in atmosphere, Chad immediately sat himself down behind a trunk of a large tree and tried to look around for the source of this immense presence. Not only were his head being pierced from its sides, it felt as his whole body was going to get squashed in the process.
Something. Something was coming.
Holding his breath for as long as he could, Chad turned around from behind the corner and tried to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was moving past him. Even with him no longer standing, the aura that was being radiated from this one single passer-by was so immense that it felt suffocating. Nothing in Chad's life could ever compete with the sensation he was feeling at that moment — pure terror — and even until this very day, nothing had ever come close.
The sight that greeted Chad's eyes, however, was not one he was expecting
It was a boy. A boy who couldn't be more than twelve, whistling as he made his way through the woods.
Such a young kid and yet such a terrible presence, Chad thought to himself as his senses finally came back to him. Even if the scene did not add up to what had been built up within his mind, he no longer had the courage to look any longer and so he retreated into the safety that lay behind the tree next to him.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Chad waited for the whistling to die down as well as for the air around him to become lighter. Once these two things had been achieved, he could finally start breathing again.
"The hell was that!" He panted, cold sweat gushing down his face.
It was due to this momentary intrusion that all thought of finding the others had been lost. But as soon as time began to resume its never-stopping walk, he immediately got back onto his feet and scanned the area to--
Wait... Could it be possible for that boy to have...
Realising that this was the worst-case scenario, Chad immediately ran towards the direction from which that boy had come from, and navigated his way through the terrain that was lying right in front of him. So far, there was no sign of anybody nor any body, but this did not do well to calm his nerves down. As a matter of fact, it only made it even worse.
Where are you, Stevie? He repeated over and over within his head.
But after having slightly deviated from the path, a structure that lay not too far away from him caught Chad's eyes. It was a small building, a fossil of a radio tower, and although nothing could be heard coming from inside, it proved to be quite the point of interest if one were to hide themselves from such a harrowing presence.
This has to be it, Chad thought ominously. Please...
Making his way towards the structure as quickly as possible, Chad made sure to make the least noise as he possibly could. He didn't want to attract anymore unwanted attention.
As soon as he finally arrived at the front door, he took out his own weapon of choice — a crossbow — and prepared himself for anything that could have been hiding behind the corner.
Keeping his breath and aim steady, Chad slowly approached the turning point, ready for contact with any hostile.
As soon as he was only one step away, he took one last silent deep breath before turning around to face whoever was awaiting for him. The moment that he did this, he was immediately met with a bat hitting him right on the face.
And all then went dark.