The team pressed on, still searching for any sign of their tracks that would probably lead them out of the unknown path that they had walked into.
They began carefully, by picking their way through the dense foliage, listening for the strange wing-flapping sound that had filled the air earlier before, although they didn't see anything, probably not what they had thought it was.
Earlier on, they had suspected it to be a flapping of a dragon or some kind of wild wing creature, but it was over an hour now, they haven't seen any sign of such.
However, the longer they searched, the more uneasy they felt. The jungle really seemed to be closing in around them in every step, the trees looming over their heads like ominous sentinels.
Mike's voice cut through the silence of the jungle, breaking the tension that had been building as they where all walking. He had been grumbling silently, due to his heavy backpack.
"Alright guys, at this point, I've got a question." he grumbled, as he stopped in his track glancing at them shippishly. "So, why am I the only one here carrying all these guns? I mean, it's unfair!"
Lily rolled her eyes as she turned to look at the guy that she had been somehow crushing on, she sometimes wonder why mike behaves like a toddler.
"You're not the only one carrying stuff dude. I'm carrying all the food! You think it's easy carrying all this stuff?" she asked, her own voice tinged with exasperation as she also stopped in her track.
Although, she felt a bit too harsh immediately after she replied her crush; childish behavior. Though, handsome, but he was really behaving infantile.
'But common, who cares about handsome look now, this is the jungle, he should act responsible, damn!' she thought in her mind while rolling her eyes.
"At least food is light," Mike said, pouting, still behaving like a grumbling kid. "Guns are heavy!"
"And necessary," Zilia chimed in.
"Necessary, yeah, but a pain to carry!" Mike continued complaining. "Maybe we should switch it up or something. I'll carry the food and someone else can carry the damn guns."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Jonas said, his tone serious as he pause in his foot track turning to mike. "See, the guns are too important to risk losing or dropping. And it's not like we can just put them down for a break. We need to keep them with us at all times remember we are in the jungle."
"But my arms are killing me, and no one want to help out!" Mike whined as he stopped in his track again. lily seeing this, also stopped in her track facepalming her face at the way mike was behaving right now.
'oh! Common mike, stop being so lazyyy, dammmmn!' she whine in her thought, as she turned her face from him, avoiding to meet his gaze.
This was one thing lily didn't like; seeing it alone, turn her off especially when her crush start behaving like this.
"Hey, Mike, don't forget, I helped you when you tripped down like baby and fell the last time. My back's not exactly feeling great either." Jerry interjected, making matter worst, as mike would still look for excuses.
"Yes, but...but you're not complaining!" Mike said, his tone turning petulant, of course, he bought it.
Serinal who stood watching, shook her head, clearly irritated with mike awkward behavior, she couldn't help herself, but to chimed into the discussion.
"Alright, i've been carrying all the clothes, so my arms are feeling pretty sore too, okay. But I'm not complaining, because we're all in this together, so what the hell are you talking about mike?" She asked as she stared at mike.
Mike look around, now feeling the pressure, someone had to side him now, because he was actually losing it already.
'zillia say something good, someone defend me!' he yelled in his thought as he turned to see if Zilia or Jonas would support him or say a defensive word on his behalf.
Zilia chimed in, smiling like she had known what mike was thinking about, her voice was light, as she gaze at mike. "You know what they say, Mike - no pain, no gain!"
They all burst out in laughter at zilia's joke, the tension dissipating in the air. Mike couldn't help but chuckle along, at least, to lessen the sole embarrassment that had hung on him.
'oh great, thank you Zilia, you just made things worst, damnit!'
'Dude, you should have kept quiet, at least that would have been better. Now everyone is laughing at you' his annoymous thought condescend on him.
"Hahahaha...…Yes that's true….true." He said giving a hysterical laughter.
"You're right, you're right," he admitted, at least he should just play along, it was really becoming too embarrassing.
"We're all in this together, so we all should just suck it up and keep moving forward." He said, hoping the topic would die there.
Well, kuddos to him, because it actually did, as everyone just continue with renewed determination.
They continued their journey through the dense unknown path of the jungle as their feet where trudging through the dirt and leaves.
They came to a fork in a path, where two trails was somehow diverging in front of them. The trail on the left was a bit wide and well-worn, while the trail on the right was narrower and was quite overgrown.
Both paths actually stretched out into the darkness of the jungle, making it extremely impossible to see where they led to, it was somehow like a puzzle. Hope they get to play it well.
"Which way did we come in?" Jerry asked, his brow furrowed in confusion as he observed the tracks.
"I ca…i can't actually remember," serinal stammered, shaking her head. "The jungle all looks the same to me, if you ask me."
"Well, we have to pick one, else we might get stuck here forever" Zilia said, a hint of nervousness weaving in her voice, as she strode forward to observe the paths.
"Alright guys, live this for me to choose." Mike said, smirking mischievously as he stepped forward. Actually, he was trying to be smart and tough here, perhaps that would cloud his awkward memories with them.
He bow low to observe the tracks that lay in between the lanes, after that, he started pin-pointing the lane, as if he was doing some incantations or something, he kept on demonstrating and mumbling some certain words.
"mini….Mono….mini….Mana…" he kept repeating those words pin pointing to the lane.
'oh, gosh, this dude is kidding me now, why is he doing the guessing puzzle thing? Common mike, you're embarrassing me…. Damn, someone stop him' lily whined as she facepalm her face, avoiding to look at the childish act mike was doing.
"Alright mike, enough of this shit and singing of this….mini…mini… something, we aren't doing some guessing work here!" serinal yelled, clearly pissed of with mike's behavior.
"Alright, calm gal, after all you all would have guessed wrongly if not for me. So, after my observation, I think we came in from the right path. Yes, I remember that branch that was hanging over the trail. It's definitely this way." Mike said, sounding so adamant in his expressions.
"But I'm sure it's the left path!" Zilia argued as he look towards the other direction. "The terrain was more rocky on the left, and there were more plants and vines. I'm positive it was the left."