The sun ascends as the moon descends, and the sunbeams gleam on Sophie's face. Sophie awakens to the light that reflects in her eyes. She yawns and looks around. She discovers that Lisa is not there and quickly gets up to search for her.
"Oh no, I hope she didn't go alone," She murmurs to herself. "I should have known," She says while covering her eyes with her hands.
"Should have known what?" Lisa asks from behind. Sophie turns around to see Lisa standing with some items and a bag.
"Oh..ah....ah..i...ah... That I should have gone for breakfast," She replies nervously. "Well, I brought some bread, would you like some?" Lisa offers.
"Oh sure, thanks," Sophie replies. They both begin to eat. "So, where are we headed?" Sophie asks after swallowing the bite.
"We are headed here?" Lisa shows Sophie a poster of a mountain. "This is the Frose Mountain, which is after the Terrian Village. First, we will head for Bradford Park, and then from there, we will be going to the Wellermen forest. Then, from there, we will get to the Terrain Village," Lisa explains.
"Sounds like a plan," Sophie says while giving her thumbs up. "How are we getting there?" She asks.
"I have this map that I found in the lab," Lisa replied while bringing out the map from the bag.
"That's great then. By the way, where did you go?" Sophie inquires.
"Oh, I went to get supplies," Lisa says as she shows Sophie the items. "Oh, okay," Sophie says.
After eating, they leave for the journey, heading towards Bradford Park. After some time, a black van pulls over near the old warehouse, and some men come out of the van, including a person dressed in a doctor's outfit who heads towards the warehouse.
"This is the place, Doctor," the man in the black suit says. "Hmmm, start your search," Dr. Dorgan says as he scans the place.
The man in black starts going over the place and begins their search. One of the men spots a poster of the 50th year of the Frose Mountain. He picks it up and goes to the doctor.
"Doctor, I found this," He says as he hands him the poster. The doctor looks at it and then starts smiling.
"Of course, I should have known. Gentlemen, we are headed to Frose Mountain."
They quickly pack up and leave the site. After some time, Sophie and Lisapasseds Bradford Park andweree heading to the Wellermen forest. They reach the entrance of the forest.
"Is this a real forest or is it reserved?" Sophie asks. "Well, the government only reserved half of the forest, and after the fence, it's just hell," Lisa explains. Sophie quickly looks at Lisa as she says that.
"And by hell, you mean it's crawling with wild, flesh-eating animals?" Sophie says ironically. "Yep," Lisa replies while folding her arms.
Sophie then looks at the forest and sighs. "Well, if we are going to do this, we might as well take the risk." Lisa looks at Sophie, surprised.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting that," Lisa says. "What do you mean?" Sophie asks, confused. "I thought you would be like, 'Oh no, there are animals, I can't do it, I don't want to die,'" Lisa says dramatically. "What? You thought I was a scaredy-cat?" Sophie asks, a little annoyed. "Meh," Lisa says.
They both look at the forest and enter. As they go deeper, they don't see anything except for the beautiful greenery. "Wow, forget the animals, this place is beautiful," Sophie says, fascinated by nature. "Yeah, it is," Lisa agrees.
Sophie and Lisa start moving ahead. After some minutes, one of the bushes starts moving, and Sophie and Lisa get into a fighting position, thinking it could be a wild animal. Then, a squirrel jumps out of the bush, and Sophie and Lisa calm down.
"It's just a squirrel," Sophie says as she goes to the squirrel.
Sophie starts playing with the squirrel. Lisa then looks around and suddenly feels a pain in her neck. She holds her neck and her stomach and bends down. Sophie hears her whining, and she quickly goes to her. "Lisa, Lisa!!" Sophie is worried about Lisa's condition.
Lisa is in pain and then vomits a pink substance. Sophie sees this and is shocked. She quickly starts going around looking for water. She finds a river and quickly brings a cup out of her bag and fills it with water. She quickly runs back and sees Lisa sitting, breathing heavily while leaning on a tree. Sophie runs to her and gives her the water.
"Are you okay?" Sophie asks as Lisa drinks the water. Lisa's impulses then relax, and she looks at Sophie. "I am fine, thanks," Lisa implies.
Sophie calms down, and she sits next to Lisa. "What happened?" Sophie asks her.
Lisa doesn't say anything and then sighs, "It was the effect of the drugs and chemicals they had been injecting me." "Really?" Sophie says.
"Yes, that neck pain last night was this," Lisa says as she shows Sophie her neck with a pink spot. "They have been injecting me at this point for so long that it's now starting to hurt, and it looks like it's spreading. And if this side effect does not wear off, I will become a permanent monster," Lisa explained as she showed Sophie her arms, which were filled with pink spots.
"This is not good. We have to find that flower," Sophie said firmly. "But first, let us take a quick rest, Alright?" "Okay," Lisa agreed.
They both rested for a while, and after a few minutes, they resumed their journey. As they proceeded, Lisa spotted a small cabin. "Look, there's a cabin," she pointed out to Sophie, who immediately looked in the direction Lisa was pointing.
"There must be somebody there, let's see," Sophie suggested. "I do not think anyone can be living in the middle of the woods," Lisa implied. "Let just check it out," Sophie insisted.
Lisa reluctantly agreed, and they walked towards the cabin. As they approached, they heard the sound of someone woodcarving, so they decided to move slowly and cautiously. They hid behind a bush and peeked. They saw the back of the person who was sitting on a log and carving a piece of wood into a spear. The person was wearing a white colour Cape. As Sophie attempted to get closer, she accidentally stepped on a twig, causing it to make a creaking sound, which made the person turn around. Sophie saw that the person was wearing a beast mask. The person came closer to the bush and swung the spear into it. Sophie and Lisa ran, but the masked person chased after them. Sophie and Lisa sprinted faster, and the forest eventually ended, revealing a cliff. They turned back and saw the masked man. They assumed a fighting stance, and the masked man ran towards them.
To their surprise, he halted and removed his mask, unveiling a lightly dark-skinned boy of about twelve years old, with brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Sophie was perplexed to see a boy in the middle of the woods. Out of curiosity, Lisa inquired, "Who are you?"
"You are... people?" The boy asked, ecstatically. "Ummm, yes," Sophie replied, still puzzled.
The boy looked overjoyed as he ran towards them and hugged them, "Finally, people, oh thank God," the boy exclaimed.
"Are you living here alone?" Lisa asked as she broke the hug.
"Yes," He replied. "Why?" Sophie queried. "I will explain. But do you guys want tea?" The boy replied.
Sophie and Lisa exchanged glances before nodding. The boy poured tea from a teapot he carried. After a brief silence, Sophie started talking. "So, you have been living here?" She asked.
"Yes, for three years," He replied as he sat on his seat.
"All by yourself?" Lisa questioned. The boy replied in sadness, "Yes." "How come and why?" Sophie asked, curious.
They sipped their tea as the boy began to explain. "Well, let's start from the beginning. My name is Kyle, and I live in Scotland. I had a perfect life until the gas outbreak. I was infected after two years and acquired the ability to talk to animals."
"That sounds cool." Sophie implied. "It was, but the MCA had a different idea," Kyle replied.
Lisa grew more curious, "What do you mean?" Kyle turned to her.
"They wanted me to talk to animals to fight and wage war, like I should lead them to it. But at that time, I was a kid, and I just wanted to go back to my family. But as the situation was, I had to run and hide here in the forest to get away."
Sophie and Lisa looked at each other, "Wait, then how do you deal with the beast that lives in the forest? Anyone who enters the forest never comes out because of the monster," Lisa implied.
"Well, because of my powers, I told it that I meant no harm and could protect it from hunters or the MCA. That's why I attacked you guys. Sorry about that," Kyle implied and apologised.
"No, it's okay. We know you were doing your job," Sophie said.
There was silence for a moment, and Kyle spoke up, "Why are you guys here?" He then got a horrifying thought, which made his eyes widen. "Are you guys with the MCA, and you are here to get me?????" He said as he jumped back.
Sophie and Lisa got up, "No, no. We are not," Sophie assured him. "Yeah, we are also mutants," Lisa implied.
"And how should I believe you?" He said in anger, standing in a defensive position.
Sophie and Lisa then looked at each other and nodded. Lisa transformed into an alien, and Sophie emitted a soft glow from her hand.
"See?" Sophie said. Kyle then calmed down. "Then why are you in the forest?" He asked. "We are heading to Frose Mountain," Sophie replied.
"Why?" He asked. Lisa looked at Sophie with a questioning face, "Why did you tell him?" Sophie remained silent for a few seconds, and Kyle said, "No, no, it's okay. You don't need to tell me. You guys must be tired from the journey; you can stay for some rest."
Sophie looked at Lisa, indicating that she needed rest. Lisa agreed. "Thank you for your hospitality," Sophie appreciated.
Kyle smiled and led them to a room. He opened the door, revealing a bed and a closet. As Sophie and Lisa entered, Sophie smelled a very bad odour coming from the room. They both got comfortable by sitting on the bed and looked at Kyle, who was standing in front of the room door.
"Alright, guys, make yourselves at home. I am going out to get some more wood for the spear. It might take a while,"he said. "Okay, no problem," Sophie said, smiling.
Kyle smiled back and left. As they made themselves comfortable, Sophie asked Lisa, "Hey, Lisa?" "Yeah?" Lisa said.
"Do you smell that?" Sophie asked, covering her nose. "I thought I was the only one," Lisa said. "What is it? Smells like a dead rat?" Sophie implied.
"I think we should check it out," Lisa suggested. "Ummm, you mean sneak around?" Sophie said.
"No, let's just... get rid of it. Can you stay with the smell?" Lisa asked. "No," Sophie replied. "Then let's just check," Lisa said.
Sophie reluctantly agreed, and they both started searching the room. They checked everywhere but did not find anything. Lisa then smelled the odour close to the closet. As she got close, she saw a gap between the floor. "Sophie, look, it's coming from this gap. It is below the room," She said, pointing at the floor.
"Then let's go and see," Sophie suggested. They both left the room and went downstairs. As they got there, they were shocked to see only two doors: one that led to the bathroom and one to the front door, which was only a small hallway below the room.
"I don't get it. How can there be a dead rat in the wall?" Sophie said as she looked around the wall.
Lisa began to scan the room while Sophie stood still in front of the wall, gazing at it intently. Suddenly, a thin line caught Sophie's attention, and she attempted to touch it. As soon as she did, a lever was released, and the wall opened like a door. Sophie pushed the door open and was shocked by what she saw inside.
"Li... Lisa, it's not a dead rat," Sophie said in a low, horrified voice.
Lisa rushed over to Sophie and looked inside the open doorway. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw 9 rotting bodies in the dark smelly room. Sophie quickly shut the door and turned to Lisa, her hands shaking with fear.
"Kyle, don't just talk to the beast..." Lisa said, "....He IS the beast." Sophie completed.
They heard someone opening the front door, and they quickly acted like they were coming downstairs. The door opened, and Kyle walked in. He saw the girls, "Oh, hi guys."
"Oh, hi Kyle, so sorry, but I just thought we should get going. Because the sooner we get there, the better. But thanks so much for all that you did. We appreciate it." Sophie said, as she and Lisa walked past Kyle and went close to the door.
Kyle turned his head and saw that the door was open, even though it was closed. As Sophie and Lisa were about to leave, they heard Kyle say.
"Aww, I wish you could have stayed longer..." They turned around to see Kyle with his head bent down.
"....So, we could have fun," He completed as he raised his head and smirked. Their eyes widened as his blue eyes were now green cat eyes.