Chapter 184: 184-Mission Failed
Clementine:
"What the heck were those noises?" Yorick asked first. I noticed Haiden giving me a quick once-over with his eyes before finally relaxing.
"It was those things. Remember I told you about a monster I saw outside the mansion last night? Well, those things are real, and they’re deadly," I said, taking deep breaths.
"Are you feeling okay?" I turned to Nate, who nodded. I could tell he was finally back to his senses.
"Shit, so where did they go? Did you kill them?" Haiden asked, shoulders tense. The bite mark on his arm had vanished.
"No. I don’t know. There were so many, but then suddenly they were gone." I tried to explain as best I could, but there really wasn’t another explanation.
"Anyway, what are we gonna do now?" Yorick asked, sounding anxious but confident, like he was ready to show no mercy if the monsters came back. Alphas always got riled up. I was one too, and honestly, I knew it because I got riled up just the same.
"I don’t know. All I know is that the mansion back in the village is one of the safe spots. It’s monster-proof somehow. I don’t know how, but it is," I said firmly. Troy nodded along, even though he didn’t know for sure. He was just backing me up.
"But what about Ian and the others?" Haiden asked. "Are they back already?"
I bit my bottom lip. This was where I had to share my next plan.
"So I was thinking, how about you guys go back to them—"
I stopped when noises echoed down the hall. I recognized them. Our squadmates and the white squad were returning.
"They’re back," Yorick said with a smile. "So if they’re done with the job, we can just go home."
We all felt relieved until the others came into view. They didn’t look confident. In fact, the way they rushed toward us gave me a very bad feeling. The first person I saw was Ian, and honestly, I was relieved he was fine. But as soon as he met my eyes, he shook his head.
"We couldn’t do it. Somehow this cloth wasn’t able to clean that thing," Ian explained once he reached us.
I noticed some of the others were slightly injured. Jack looked like he had just transformed. He kept stretching his limbs. Even Joshua seemed like he’d had to let his wolf out.
"What happened back there?" I asked, curiosity overwhelming me. We had too many questions and didn’t know which one to focus on.
"Some things attacked us, and we had to transition to heal," Jack said, sounding meek and upset.
Then I saw Suki. There were bloodstains on her back, wounds from those things that came from the sky. There had been too many monsters. Honestly, it was getting really hard to keep track of them all.
"Why couldn’t this thing clean it?" Haiden asked, changing the subject again. The conversation was getting chaotic.
"Listen, one thing at a time," Ian said. "You all have too many questions. Calm the fuck down." He grunted.
I already knew Ian wasn’t the type to handle things nicely. If he was in a bad mood, everyone knew it. Suddenly, he pointed at me.
"What did you ask first?"
I felt all eyes turn to me. Him singling me out and giving me the chance to speak felt strange to the others, and I could tell why.
"The same thing. Why didn’t it clean the rock?" I asked, speaking for the others so they wouldn’t feel awkward about their questions being dismissed. We weren’t kids here, we were crusaders. Grown-ups.
"I fucking don’t know. All I know is that the first one who was picked should be the one to do this job," Ian said, holding the cloth.
"So, Matthias?" I asked, and Ian nodded.
"I guess that’s why the ringleaders wanted us to decide who would do which job first. Once you give that thing to someone, they’re in charge of it," Joshua explained. It was all getting messier.
"So wait. How do these things know who to allow, who to let touch them?" Haiden grunted, pointing at the objects.
"I don’t know. Maybe it’s the towers. Maybe the towers report back to the ringleaders, and they already put the names in," I said, looking around at everyone’s faces. They were clueless, and Suki looked annoyed that we were going in circles.
"So are we going to find Matthias or not?" she shouted.
Everyone glared at her, everyone but Joshua. I couldn’t understand how foolishly in love you had to be to still defend someone who betrayed you like that.
"All I know is that once it’s taken out of the box for the first time, it’s initiated. So back when Mr. Rick and Ms. Lenora took it out, it initiated. Then they put it back. Then they let Matthias touch it in the mainland. And now it’s only going to work if fucking Matthias comes and helps us with it," Ian grunted, finally explaining how things worked.
But how did he know? How was he so confident? I didn’t ask in front of everyone, because that would have put him on the spot. But I noticed.
I glanced around at the others and caught Yorick’s face hardening. He was staring straight at Ian, tapping his foot gently on the floor. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.
"Where are we going to find them? Because Miss Clementine over here asked them to leave and go wander around, do whatever the fuck they want. Do you know there’s a deadly monster out there? What if that thing ate Matthias?" Suki almost screamed at me.
We didn’t have the box with us, since the ringleaders didn’t want it displaced. Going back home and trying to initiate it with someone else would be a disaster. I knew the ringleaders wouldn’t let us live in peace after that.
"What exactly was that thing? Did you guys encounter it too?" I asked, finally moving on from the cloth. I only asked Ian, because I knew the white squad was being hostile again. I ignored Suki’s outburst, even when Troy grunted at her for yelling at me. I guess it bothered her whenever my squadmates stood up for me.
"Those things are called Wendigos. They come out when it’s dark, mostly at night. But even if the sun is out, they’re scared of fire and heat," Ian explained in just a few sentences. Troy and I looked at each other, realizing why they had suddenly vanished.
"Then it means we need to find the others before the clouds cover the sky again?" I asked, still watching Ian.
"Yeah, pretty much," Joshua replied this time.