NOVEL FROG Chapter 117: Dead Ends
Crisis rushed through the narrows in chase of the distant gunfire. The gorge began branching out in different paths, heading in opposite directions, but Frost focused solely on the sounds to guide the squad to the nearby combat. But despite Frost’s conviction, his teammates weren’t too certain of his approach since they had dropped the stealth and began running aimlessly. However, as they were prepared for anything thrown at them, they drew their weapons and stayed alert for any movement or figure that showed up. At first, there didn’t seem to be any threats to worry about, but as they got closer to the relentless gunfire, they realized they were heading straight into danger, just like EchoForce and the Heartaches.
The joint team had fewer options to run as the enemy was still on the chase, and they couldn’t even see each other to know where to reunite. At this point, the Heartaches couldn’t even look back to stall the antipunks, let alone stay to fight, so they began traversing the gorge in search of a safe spot, unlike the rookies, who were trying to figure out what to do as they followed Panda’s instinct blindly. They had no choice since they could only run through a long corridor and hope they could outrun the antipunks.
But this changed when their path opened up a little, and they had to either trust their instincts or continue following Panda. He appeared more focused on his surroundings than the enemy behind him, as Cookie was protecting their backs with the shield, but the rookies didn’t have the patience to slow down and assess the situation rationally. They kept running straight while Panda checked both sides of an adjacent passage, with only Scott trying to get him to move. But just as he caught a glimpse of another group running in the same direction on their right, Cookie ran into him and forced both of them to move.
Panda reluctantly kept running in a straight line despite hearing how they were getting flanked, but with the rookies running as fast as possible, he had to catch up and take the lead once again. But once he was at the front with Cookie and Scott, the group turned a corner and found another split path. And this time, there was no more path in the middle, only a slope on the left that continued descending to the right side, and it seemed like they were about to be pinned down as enemies came from both sides.
After meeting a dead end in front, the rookies turned back to see that the antipunks from the path they came from were far behind, so they could still return to the cross where Panda stopped, but he and Cookie were already running up the slope until they saw antipunks coming from above with their rifles up. In a split second, Cookie jumped in front of Panda with his shield to protect him before they looked back to check on the rookies. They took cover at the corner of the slope, and after waiting for Panda and Cookie to retreat, they spotted the Heartaches coming from the right, heading up the slope as well.
The rookies didn’t have time to react and warn the other team, but they had no choice since the Heartaches also had the enemy on their tail, so they kept running forward without seeing what was above. Scott jumped out of cover to lead them away from the barrage of bullets on the left, but in the process, Cookie stumbled upon a crack in the rock formation of the dead end in front. He continued backing away and then handed Scott the shield to check the potential exit route, but he was only able to take a brief look at it before the gunfire forced him to hide.
Without checking if it was a reliable path to take or if there was enough space, Cookie squeezed his way into the crack and began crawling until he disappeared. He left EchoForce with no choice but to follow as the antipunks were making their way down the slope and the ones from behind were catching up. With Panda’s help, Scott faced the slope to cover the way for the rookies to reach the tunnel Cookie took. They hurried up and crawled one after the other, leaving little space in between, but it still took them a moment to make room for Panda and Scott.
The latter tried to look back at the Heartaches, only to see that they hadn’t yet spotted him. But before they could reach his level and meet, Panda tossed his machine gun through the crack, then grabbed Scott with one hand while still holding his shield before bringing him to the tunnel forcefully. With the shield still open, it got stuck at the entrance of the tunnel, blocking the antipunks from coming in but also leaving the Heartaches without an exit. Panda was already pushing Scott to begin crawling while he stayed back to cover the hole, but then he noticed the other team was just outside and cornered.
EchoForce was already escaping through the tunnel, and even though they were slow, after only a few seconds of crawling for their lives, they couldn’t hear any more gunfire. But that sparked concern as they looked back and only saw Scott catching up to them. They couldn’t see well past him due to the darkness, but they could still make out Panda’s silhouette at the entrance, who seemed to barely fit in the hole but was still inside and blocking the tunnel with his shield.
–Did they make it?? Are they h-...?– Chappy tried to ask in panic, but he was right behind Cookie, so he couldn’t see past all his friends. They all had their view partially blocked, except Scott, who continued looking back but couldn’t give a straight answer since he didn’t know what he was seeing. But as Cookie was focused on getting to safety as quickly as possible, and both Ace and Shade were pretty much only trying to save their own lives, the others didn’t get a chance to halt, quite literally since Shade kept pushing them from the back to make them crawl faster.
–Doesn’t matter, keep going!– Cookie yelled in response without even looking back, trying his hardest not to focus on their confined space and search for the opening at the end. The tunnel was slowly opening up, giving them enough space to crouch, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to crawl until he was in a place big enough to be able to breathe. And even though it sounded like they were approaching more danger the closer they got to the end, they ignored the increasingly louder gunfire around them to follow Cookie.
Chappy kept hesitating, though, but he was forced to crawl behind Cookie until the tunnel opened up enough for both Shade and Ace to squeeze past him, leaving him as the last one in line next to Zoey. The rest could already get up and run with their heads low, but Zoey and Chappy stayed back as Scott was waiting for Panda; he hadn’t moved much from the entrance. It looked like they weren’t following to block the entrance and buy them more time, but after watching for longer, Zoey and Chappy were distraught to see them both go back out as the Heartaches were trying to fight their way to safety.
The two tried to crawl back to their friend and Panda, but only a few short seconds after turning back, they saw Saint dragging Nolyn to the tunnel, followed by all the other Heartaches right behind as Panda held off the antipunks. He covered the others with his shield, but with Kayden and Agnus staying behind as well to fight off a few antipunks, they bought themselves enough time for all the Heartaches to get in the tunnel and begin crawling with Saint in the lead. Chappy and Zoey turned relieved, but they had no time to waste and continued crawling to the end as the Heartaches were catching up in no time.
One by one, the Heartaches crawled through the tunnel without looking back while the others fought to protect them. It helped that more of the antipunks charging at them attacked with swords instead of shooting them, allowing both Agnus and Kayden to lure them in and strike back until enough bodies piled up around the tunnel for them to make their way in. They escaped with relative ease, but Panda had to hold off for a little longer, now closing his shield to take cover behind a small pile of bodies blocking the tunnel.
Due to being backed against the corner and having little space to move, Panda slid his shield to Kayden before trying to squeeze inside the tunnel again, needing to be pulled by the hands while some antipunks tried to pull him back by the feet. With a few kicks to push them off, Panda’s whole body made it inside, but even when they had all made it in, they weren’t safe yet, as nothing was stopping the antipunks from chasing them through the tunnel. So, without anything else to block them, Agnus, Kayden, and Panda began crawling rapidly, gaining enough distance from the enemy before they began shooting.
The antipunks were still hot on their trail, and the ones that weren’t able to crawl through the crack were already trying to find a way around to catch up to the team. But as a few did chase through the tunnels, it only took a few more kicks for Panda to knock them out and block the way for the others, though he stayed behind since the Heartaches were slowing down. He continued obstructing the tunnel until he was sure everyone else had made it to the other side, but once he reached the point where he could stand up, he struggled to get on his feet, so Ryu and Zayn ran back to pull him out of the tunnel.
A few bullets managed to reach the end, but the team was already in a safe area, though it appeared to be enclosed. Despite seeing very little of their surroundings, the Heartaches closed the tunnel behind them by chipping the rock with their swords until a barrier was formed. But as they tried to follow EchoForce, they noticed they still showed concern since they had reached another dead end. They inadvertently trapped themselves in a sheltered crevice, enclosed on all sides, including the ceiling, forming an isolated rock bubble that soon fostered distress among the team.
But to their curiosity, more gunfire could be heard directly behind the rock wall they were facing. Panda took the lead once again as everyone else began panicking, and while they couldn’t see it since his large body blocked their sight, he had found another small crack to crawl through. This time, it wasn’t a tunnel, only a tight squeeze leading to a much bigger area from the looks of it. There was light coming from the other side, which was peculiar enough to prompt Panda to prone and peek through the hole, but he stopped before crawling through it as it looked like they had just made their way into danger once again.
With no time to stop and think, Panda followed his instinct once again, and after checking on Cookie and receiving an approving nod, he decided to take action. First, he blindly slid his machine gun through the crack before risking poking his head through it, and it appeared to have hit something. A thud served as confirmation for Panda to crawl through the hole swiftly, sticking his legs on the other side first as Cookie handed him his sword.
But before having the chance to get on his feet, he noticed the legs of another person touching his precious weapon. By the time he was on the other side, Panda could only look up at the face of an antipunk staring down at him, already pointing his rifle, though he hesitated to shoot. Panda panicked for a moment but immediately reached for Cookie’s sword before the antipunk came to his senses. He struggled to pull the sword out as the spoon-shaped handle got stuck on the rock, so Panda had to resort to sweeping the antipunk off his feet by striking him on the ankle with his feet.
Shortly after falling to the ground, where Panda noticed some other enemies lying dead, the antipunk tried to grab Panda’s machine gun instead of his rifle while they both tried to get on their feet. Panda slowly retrieved Cookie’s sword, and once he was up, the antipunk tried to shoot him with his own gun, only to find out that there was no ammo. In response, Panda slashed his face and grabbed his gun back before turning to Cookie, as he was trying to help the team crawl through the hole as well.
Cookie made it to the other side and tried pulling Saint next, but that’s when they picked up on what they had stumbled upon as they glanced back to see an ongoing fight. Immediately, Panda stopped the rookies from advancing as he and Cookie stayed low and took cover behind another rock wall in front of the crack they crawled through. They approached the corner, where they were able to crouch behind a crate and observe the conflict taking place right before their eyes.
They were in one of the many corners of a large, open, and flattened area. It no longer looked like the uneven, tight corridors of the gorge, and it much more resembled a portion of the battleground from an ongoing war. They were in an irregular circle surrounded by rocks, well-lit due to a few torches scattered around what looked like an arena as barriers, crates, and piles of corpses littered the area. Past all the mess in front of them, there was another passage, wider than the previous ones, but on both sides were two paths filled with enemies, with another one closer to their right being obstructed by a pile of broken crates.
It looked like all paths from the gorge converged in this one area, and they also led to a point of interest as enemies on opposite laterals were shooting at each other while trying to make their way to the wide passage on the front. Panda and Cookie didn’t show much reaction, but once Saint and the rookies joined them, they noticed that the enemy wasn’t shooting them for once and were actually fighting each other. But this didn’t stop them from taking cover on the corner as stray bullets flew everywhere, and each side was trying to flank each other in their attempt to access the main route in front.
Since there were no allies present and the only path for them to escape seemed to be the one in front, it was clear that they couldn’t run through the stream of bullets from both sides. Panda and Cookie watched while the others caught up, and as alert as they were, they could only wait for one side to annihilate the other and clear the path for them. But this goal seemed all the more difficult as a small pit of burning corpses was found in the middle of the arena, clouding each adversary’s sight and forcing everyone to stick to the sides, getting near the team.
–Why are they fighting? Who are those??– Saint asked in confusion after noticing that the antipunks on the right side were trying to shoot a different-looking enemy. They appeared similar in style as they also used dirty and ragged clothes, but they appeared to have more animalistic features in their clothing, like tooth necklaces, helmets with horns, fur hoods, and vets with foliage patches to serve as camouflage. On top of their peculiar clothes, it looked like they covered their faces in all kinds of shades, though it looked more like paint and blood instead of the black dirt and mud of the antipunks.
–I don’t know… I can’t see well…– Panda replied slightly dismissively as he focused on finding an opening to run across the battle zone they found themselves in. He couldn’t look much past the giant flame in the middle, which burned so hot that not even the rain could put it out, which was becoming heavier as it put out the torches around both sides.
–They haven’t seen us yet, let’s just wait…– Cookie ordered, addressing the rookies directly as they looked more lost than ever. They couldn’t help but grow curious about this new enemy they had encountered since they seemed to be giving the antipunks trouble, putting up a good fight, and even overpowering them as they possessed spears and handmade javelins. But since Cookie was right, they didn’t try to risk having the new enemies spot them, so they could only stay low and wait for the Heartaches to take cover with them.
Heartaches stayed busy as they were trying to find another way out since the rocks around them weren’t too high or steep to climb. Despite both enemies fighting each other and completely ignoring EchoForce, it appeared that they would not stop coming from each side, and even if one ended up winning, they would block the way or make it impossible to sneak past them. Panda kept watching both enemies studiously, seeing which one would eventually come up top, and they would have to fight their way through to reunite with Crisis at their meeting point.
But what Panda wasn’t considering in his strategy was that Crisis was already making its way to them, as they could hear the same gunfire only a few feet away. The problem was getting into the secluded spot as all the paths led them in other directions, and there was more movement from other areas. Frost kept running in the same direction regardless, chasing the sound until they reached a dead end, where Kiwy and Tricky turned back and spotted a thin passage. It went in the opposite direction, but it showed more activity than the empty narrows they had run circles through.
Frost reluctantly followed Tricky as she approached this passage, with Nitro and Candy walking alongside her until Frost took the lead again and reached a corner of an adjacent passage. They checked the right side first, which extended for a mile without any turns. It was a straight path to what looked like where they had to go, but to get there, they needed to get through the several omens running in that direction. Frost didn’t hesitate to run after them, but the closer Crisis got, the more enemies they found.
The path split into a big passage with a slope that headed north and a narrow path that continued left. In the former, they caught a glimpse of a bigger part of the omen army going north, but a few troops split up and ran through the narrow path. Seeing this number of enemies ahead caught the squad off guard, but Frost dismissed the army as he was already focusing on the smaller group. Knowing that they didn’t stand a chance against the troops, let alone the army, Crisis took advantage of the fact that they didn’t check back and sneaked past the enemy after waiting for all to leave.
But unlike them, Frost no longer cared for stealth, and despite the back row of the army still being near, he ran straight after the omen troop on the left, managing to catch up to them before the rest of the squad could even move. The enemy was also chasing after the gunfire, so they were oblivious to his footsteps as he charged from behind at a turn. He only needed to run up to them and slash the back of their necks before they could react, as all the omens were running into a different battle.
Thus, Frost caught them off guard while concealing his attacks with the noise nearby. Killing one omen and following up with another attack before the first one could even hit the ground, Frost slashed his way forward, picking each of the omens off one by one. Crisis struggled to keep up with him, but even Frost had to chase after his targets since they were in a hurry. But while he was focused on killing as much as possible, Tricky and Nitro seemed amused by keeping count of all the dead omens they ran past.
It looked like Frost was getting all the kills for himself, and he was enjoying it thoroughly as he racked up many points without giving the others a chance to fight. But once his teammates caught up to him, they all stopped as he stood still at a dead end. Frost had seemingly killed everyone in his path, yet he looked frustrated as some managed to slip past, and he couldn’t figure out how. But after some looking around, Tricky spotted a crevice big enough to squeeze through on the left side of a large rock formation.
However, Frost deliberately stopped his murderous spree to return to his cautious approach as he heard the omens getting into a fight, which was enough to let Crisis know that something was up. They could only stand back as he got close to the rock to listen to the battle taking place behind it. And while they had no idea who the enemy was fighting, they couldn’t wait, and soon enough, they peeked through the crevice to observe the danger waiting for them on the other side, though they were met with much more than they expected.