After the previous trap, everyone had unanimously agreed that Njeru should take the lead. He was the one who found the illusion, and should he find another, he was better placed to avoid them.
As Njeru pushed forward, he kept his eyes peeled. He did not want to lose the trust the team had placed in him.
All this while, he had been looking for ways to contribute, and now that he had found a way, he was not going to to let them down.
As he pondered on what Sallie had said, there was a sudden blazing of an alarm. Simultaneously, sudden light bulbs popped from the ceiling and started spinning, with red and blue colors flashing.
"AAAAARRRGGGHH!" While everyone else was just alarmed, Njeru fell on the ground screaming his lungs out. The blare of the alarm and the lights flashing were designed to counter his enhanced abilities.
A stinging headache rattled his brains, and he felt as though a hundred men were bashing his skull.
This was the least of their worries. For the moment the lights started flashing, small hatches opened on either side and what looked like a swarm of bugs flew out.
The bugs flew out towards the group, and they swarmed them on either side. The group swung whatever weapons they could at the bugs which were the side of a baby's fist.
One bug took a dive, headed directly to one of Kola's men. Before he could react, the bug had drilled into his skull and stung him. The man fell down instantly, his eyes red and his form coming out of his mouth.
"RUN!" Seeing this, everyone took to their heels in whatever direction they could.
In a bid to avoid the noise and the alarms, Njeru dashed out and took off running, not really following anyone. He did everything he could to avoid the tunnel that was a huge hallway by now.
Luckily, he saw a door along the path, and to his good fortune, it was open.
Rushing in, Njeru was relieved that he had escaped the ordeal. With the door locked behind him, he was no longer suffering from the effects of the alarm and the sirens.
However, just as he was about to relax, he noticed two bright lights ahead of him. Looking carefully, he saw the outline of what looked like a humanoid machine.
It had arms, legs and a fierce looking helmet on. In a split second, it dashed forward.
Keshi waved her sword as she ran. By now, the number of people she was running with had significantly shrank, and she was accompanied by seven other people.
Two she didn't know, but the others she was familiar with.
At the time, she didn't have time to know who she was running beside though, all she could focus on was waving her sword and keeping the bugs away from her.
As she ran, she saw two other people drop down beside her.
"I see something up ahead!" Someone shouted as they ran, giving the others renewed hope.
Looking up, Keshi was shocked to see some sort of light, but this fuelled her desire to live all the more. She shot forward.
With every step she made, she inched closer to the light, but the bugs were unrelenting.
As soon as she got a clear view of what she was running towards, all her hopes dashed to the group. She could not believe her misfortune.
The light she was running towards was actually a fire. An entire section of the hallway was burning. The fire was not just some candlelight either, but ferocious and fiery flames consumed the area.
With bugs behind her and a giant fire ahead of her, she had nowhere to go.
Meanwhile, Ruitha was hot on the tales of his leader, Chege. They were running back the way they came from. Most people just started running.
Both had found themselves on the same path, alongside Kilem and a few others they recognized.
Ruitha swung his club at the bug diving at him. Despite the great speed the bug was descending at, Ruitha had managed to swat a few of them.
"Come here and get a squash you mingy creep!" Ruitha shouted as he took down the bug.
The man may have been easy going, but he was no slouch. When push came to shove, he would turn up, and he did.
Given the size of the group, most of the bugs had gone after them. Luckily, being that many meant that they could coordinate and fight the assailants, instead of just blindly running.
They had paid a great price in terms of lives to learn the movements of the bugs, but now they could hold their own, even possibly fight back.
Unfortunately, the bugs were too small to shoot at, so they had to swim their other weapons at them.
Ruitha's happiness was short-lived. Just as he was about to move forward, two bugs dived at his head from different angles. It was a testament to the man's fighting instinct to be able to detect the two approaching threats.
"D*mn it, me and my big mouth!" Ruitha cursed as he swung his club at the oncoming bug.
Amazingly, the club hit the first bug with pinpoint precision. Ruitha even made some ever-so-small adjustment on his wrist and arm, influencing the direction of the club.
Watching him strike at the threat, one could think the club was an extension of his body. Such was the skill on display.
Unfortunately, the bug was a little faster than its opponent, with a flicker of its wings, it had fled the opponent's attack and was almost about to hit his forehead, right between the eyebrows.
Seeing no other option, Ruitha gritted his teeth and jerked his head backward and sideways, hoping against hope that this was enough.
His hail Mary worked. With only inches away, the bug brushed against his eyes as it flew past him.