"Seems like we are lucky," Yve mused as the two came upon a big tree with thick branches that were wide enough for a person to lay on it. This particular tree had been situated in what they considered to be the heart of the forest with a small pond near it and a clearing that was adjacent to it spread for a few yards.
They had spent most of their evening trying to build a shelter for themselves or even look for caves but they hadn't been skilled enough to do the first and the second seemed to be absent in this region. They, therefore, decided that bunking on a tree would be their next best bet.
"I can't say for sure, who knows what creatures might be there up among the leaves, camouflaged and ready to attack?" Aksel muttered still feeling irritated at the blister that had now risen up on his face because of the frog.
"Don't touch it!" Yve swatted his hand as he unconsciously tried to scratch the itch away. Besides that, it didn't seem to have any effect on his body and he was hoping that it would go away soon.
"Let's see, this far we have only come across more frogs, some other giant insects, a few rabbits, some birds but that's about it," she informed counting it out on her fingers. They had marveled at the creatures but given the experience that they had with the few, they had chanced on before, had made them steer clear of any animals. Also, the diminishing light in the sky didn't help much as the emergence of finding a place to rest for the night took priority.
"I'll go up first," Aksel said as he hooked the solar-powered lamp in one of his hands and tried climbing up the tree. To his surprise, the skill came naturally to him and in no time was he standing up on one of the branches that he deemed was fit for them to sleep on.
"Are you okay? I can't see you from here," Yve called out trying to see past the curtain of leaves that Aksel had disappeared into.
"Yes, everything is fine here, come on up," Aksel shouted back, and sighing she hid their bags in the bushes below as she too climbed up to her bed. Their body had been at its breaking point with over twenty hours of exhaustion and every muscle was aching and pleading to finally get some much-needed sleep.
Reaching the branch where Aksel was she decided to make a stop there and sit with him for a while before she would further climb up to her designated bed for the night. The branches weren't very high and thankfully the bushes below would act as good cushions even if they were to fall in their sleep.
"Do you think we are going in the right direction?" Yve asked, settling down beside him as she stared at the dimly lit, moonlight shimmering in the pond.
Before Aksel could answer her question they suddenly heard a whooshing sound in the distance. It was very faint in the beginning but slowly the sound increased. The two became alert as they hid further behind the shade of the leaves and into the darkness trying to identify the origin of this weird noise.
It was too familiar and Aksel was hoping against hope that it wasn't what he was thinking it to be.
The unbearable voice of the flying machine was closer than ever and they noticed from the little that they could see, that a flying truck was being slowly landed in the clearing. The area lighted up with the repulsive neon light that they had become accustomed to seeing in Aquilo and his breathing almost stopped at the sight of this.
'Were they here to capture them?'
"Fuck, what do we do now?" Yve muttered to her partner who she found had become completely stiff beside her. The fact that they would be caught this soon had never struck their mind and she wondered how long it was going to be before they were found out in this uncommon place where they can't even hide.
"Don't say anything or make any sound. Let's watch what they are doing first," Aksel whispered to her and watched carefully as he saw the door of the vehicle open. From it emerged a shadowy figure that seemed to be an Exter with a normal body and exceptionally buffed arms. The man seemed annoyed for whatever reason as he banged the door shut and glanced at the glowing brand that was visible on his arm.
"How long are they going to take?" his voice was gruff as he shouted this out and hit the side of the vehicle with his leg making the metal clang and whir at the effect.
The passenger door opened next and through it came a Contrivo with slim shiny metallic arms that glazed in the moonlight and a swipe in the air showed a hologram appear from his hand showcasing something that was too far for the two unbranded to see.
The Contrivo was calmer in comparison to his companion as he said, "They should be here any minute now."
This made the Exter grunt and then open his door as he climbed in to do something before jumping back down and out of it. Within a second the backdoor of the giant truck opened and Aksel stared at it with bated breath wondering if an army of Branded people would be coming out any minute to search for them.
When there was no such movement or sounds Aksel found his curiosity growing and after hearing the conversation that the two potential threats had, he felt as if there had been some other purpose for them to be present in this forest so far away from the city.
"Hey did you hear that there was a robbery at Charlie's store a day before yesterday? Someone had entered the shop after hacking through the high-security door that he had installed," The Contrivo said making Yve and Aksel look at each other as they wondered if it was them that the two people had been talking about.
The Exter who definably had some anger issues again punched the side of his vehicle and shouted at it as he said, "Yes, I know about it, if only they had dared to show up in front of me then I would have twisted their necks and detached it off their bodies."
Unintentionally Aksel touched his neck hearing the Exter go in further gross details of what he would have done to them when suddenly they heard some rustling in the air and another mechanic whirring noise could be heard.
The trees through which the noise had been coming weren't in their line of vision so they had to wait for whatever had arrived to make sense of the situation when they saw drones flying to the back of the vehicles with big crates secured in their metallic hand-like structures.
There must have been more than twenty such drones that flew in and out of the vehicle placing boxes after boxes inside and after around ten minutes the last of the drones placed the box and then left back into the jungle from where they had come.
"Finally! I hate how much time they take in doing such a simple job," the Exter said as the Contrivo rounded the vehicle and went back to sit in his seat. They seemed to have been done with their work as the back door of the truck shut close and the vehicle slowly rose in the sky again and turning around zoomed in the direction from where it had come.
When the whooshing sound of the engine had finally become non-existent again, Yve huffed out a breath that she had been holding, and turning to face Aksel she worriedly asked, "What does this mean? Where are we? Why were they here and what were they doing?"
The questions that she resonated with had been playing around in Aksel's mind as well but unfortunately, he had no answer.
"I am as much stupefied as you are but one thing is clear they weren't here for us," Aksel said finding hope in that little redeeming point about the situation just now.
"But why were they here then? Are we still inside Aquilo? Is this a part of it? How come the branded people are out of the city? Does the system know about our escape?" She groaned leaning against the bark of the tree as she looked at the spot where the vehicle had been parked a few minutes ago.
"I don't know what exactly is going on here but one thing is sure and that is we need to be careful and get out of here as soon as we can. We might have escaped their vision this time but we might not be as lucky again," Aksel said tiredly yawning despite the stress that was consuming him. In any other situation, he would have instantly gotten into action at once but the exhaustion of yesterday and today had finally hit his body leaving him with no choice but to rest.
Yve got the message of his dismissal of the topic and lifting her tired body she climbed another branch and glancing down once at her partner she too lay down and went into a deep exhausting sleep with the uncertainty of their safety weighing on both of their minds.