CHAPTER 489: WALK AND STAB, TWO DIRECTIONS THAT ARE EASY TO FOLLOW + AN UPDATE!

Kellen could hear Rhys’ voice from behind him. Every step he took, he could hear Rhys crying out to him desperately to turn around, run to him, be with him.

It was heartbreaking, and Kellen had to remind himself with every step that Rhys was outside of the gate, outside of this hell, and he would never, ever ask Kellen to go away from the gate exit.

Because of his haunting voice, Kellen made sure to check in with Bree faster, letting her know that he was still in front of her, still making them move towards the exit. He had his compass tied to a thread around his neck now, allowing for easy access if the carved shapes on the trees got a little too wobbly, too wiggly.

It was day three of their trek back to the gate exit, and Kellen wasn’t sure if they were going to make it at the beginning of day four or day five. He knew they were making incredible time, but he wasn’t sure. He was beginning to lose his grip on reality, and part of that was being unable to fully recall what had happened over the last few days.

That was something that Kellen wasn’t known for, so he knew it was from the poison, the toxins in the air. It was alarming, but at the same time he knew he wasn’t reacting as strongly as he would without it in the air. He was relatively calm, as was Bree, as both felt like they were losing their grip on reality.

Kellen wasn’t sure if they had spedrun their conditions since they had spent time in the denser, more toxin packed forest, but he wasn’t going to rule it out. He also found that his ability to focus on anything was incredibly shot, so he focused on getting out safely with the group he’d found.

~

It wasn’t the beginning of the fourth day, but Kellen knew they were getting closer to the gate. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he just knew. There was a pull, something deep in his gut, a flickering of whatever power he’d had stored there before every once in a while. As if it knew that he was in trouble if he wasn’t able to find it for himself, and therefore they would be in trouble.

Kellen was grateful for any bit of help it could offer. Which meant that he knew they had to have wandered off the path at some point. None of the trees around them were marked, but that was okay. Kellen had his compass, and he also knew that as soon as they got the stream near the entrance into the gate, they were close.

He just needed to be patient, keep his head on for a little bit longer, and then he could relax.

Rhys was outside of the gate. Not inside of the gate. That was something he could have faith in.

Gwen and the others didn’t wake up during their travels. No one was dead, not another soul claimed by this fucking place, but Kellen wasn’t sure how much longer that was going to remain this way.

He was getting numb to the worry that was a pulse under his skin, and he knew that Bree was only holding it together because Kellen was able to hold his own right now.

Things were not going well.

~

It was half a day later when they encountered the stream. Kellen had to yank Bree back from her trying to cross the vibrant shaded water.

"Bree. What the hell are you thinking?" Kellen snapped at the younger woman and she looked at him, exhaustion etched into every facet of her face.

"The exit is right there! Why are you stopping me, Guide Woods?" There was barely any logic to her words, barely any sense. Bree wasn’t in her right mind, and barely understood that anything outside of the vines and pitcher plants were dangerous to her right now.

Kellen sighed, tugging her along to the right of the river since that was where he had originally crossed. Thanks to whatever power was looking over him for remembering that.

"Bree, I’m not stopping you, but that water is only going to hurt you. Look at the colour of it. Water is supposed to be blue. That is not blue." He wasn’t fighting her with true logic, just something she would understand at her level.

Bree, a smart woman, watched the water trickle over the rocks, their world a kaleidoscope of colours before she let out a heavy, defeated sigh.

"I thought the colour was just in my head." She muttered, clearly upset. Kellen snorted.

"No. I can see it too." Kellen assured her and that only made her sigh harder.

"Fuck." She exclaimed, then jerked her gaze to him, horrified. "Sorry, Guide Woods. I didn’t mean to swear." She sounded so panicked, so much like the student he had seen her ask before this experience that Kellen just started laughing. They were stopped on the other side of the stream, on the bank in a safe spot as night slowly began to shift into daytime and Kellen was just laughing his ass off.

Bree was panicking, thinking something had happened but Kellen brushed off her concerns.

"Bree, you’ve more than earned your swear words around me." Kellen finally said after he’d gathered his breath. "Now, as long as you keep following me, we should be good. We might even find our path again." Kellen told her, and Bree nodded, listening to Kellen.

Kellen’s arms ached, but that didn’t mean he was going to tie his sister around his body as well. Each step felt like hell. His muscles screamed, his body nearing a breaking point. He was grateful that he didn’t have to give up much of his powers to anyone since all of this muscle was helping him get them out of the gate practically on his own.

Did he miss having his right hand man with him? Every damn step.

He knew that if Brent hadn’t disappeared, he would be in here with him. No amount of barging or bribing would have kept him out of here. Brent had been one of those Guides who had come to the front lines with practically nothing behind his eyes.

Kellen had originally worried that he was going to walk into a gate and never walk out. He wasn’t sure how he managed to do it, but he managed to convince Brent to stay alive.

Kellen’s chest ached at the reminder that he had no idea where his friend was, and Rhys was still begging him to turn around. Finally, he snapped. They were so close to the exit, that he just needed to yell at the fake Rhys.

Kellen turned, anger inside of him as he spat his words.

"Shut the fuck up! You aren’t even Rhys!" Kellen shouted, the forest swallowing up his angry yell and Bree stared at him with wide eyes.

"Have you...been hearing Captain Thatcher this whole time?" She whispered. "How are you so sure it isn’t him?" It was a valid question in any other circumstances.

"He promised me he’d be waiting outside. Plus, there is no way he wouldn’t be shouting for me from the direction of the exit." Kellen told her grimly, and Bree nodded as they started moving again.

Kellen was right. He was able to find the path again, and with his remaining strength, Kellen followed the path to a T. He had a renewed burst of energy now that they were so close to the end. Even the voice had quieted after Kellen yelled at it.

Then, he saw it.

The gate exit peeking out over the trees. Bree let out a choked sob, but Kellen didn’t do the same. He wasn’t going to drop his guard so quickly, and he forced them to a stop and let Bree she needed to remain on guard. The gate wouldn’t be happy that they were leaving it so soon.

They hadn’t lost enough to satisfy its hunger.

Bree didn’t understand what Kellen was trying to say, but she did understand that he was serious, so she prepared herself. Her knives in hand, and they continued on.

Kellen was right to warn her. There was another of those creatures by the exit.

A vine, wormy amalgamation. It stood there, waiting. Kellen scanned the area, trying to see if he could see the injured Esper around, or a piece of his body, but he couldn’t see anything. Kellen swallowed.

Fuck.

This wasn’t good for them.

Kellen looked at Bree, looked at what was tying them together, and he sighed.

He was going to have to be a distraction. He knew it. Bree didn’t have enough of her wits about her, and Kellen was only partially more aware. That small difference was really important.

So, now that he knew, he began to plan.

"Bree? Do you see that creature near the exit?" Bree squinted, even though she didn’t need to. She nodded as Kellen tucked them out of sight, just slightly, so that they could talk. "Well, that’s a problem for us. It’s a creature that shoots vines and controls them. Like the ones you’ve been stabbing." He said, and Bree blinked, before she frowned.

"That is a problem." She muttered and Kellen nodded.

"I have a plan, but it involves you potentially being in danger. Only a little bit. I’ll be in more danger. Do you want to hear it?" Kellen asked and Bree gave him a very concerned look.

"Why would you be in danger? We’re almost out." Bree said, as if she couldn’t connect the dots. That told Kellen how much she had just been following him and stabbing things. Her sense of logic was mostly gone, far more than he’d thought. He had hoped that Carlos had been working on that venom thing longer. He couldn’t remember the word at the moment.

The thing that took away the poison in them. Whatever that was called.

"I’ll be in danger because you’ll be getting everyone else out while that thing is chasing me." Bree’s eyes widened in horror.

"I can’t do that!" She said forcefully. "You need to come out too!" She protested and Kellen nodded. He did need to come out too, but she needed to come out first.

"I have a plan." He told her, but Bree didn’t look convinced. It was going to be a long few minutes as he tried to explain this to her.

~

Hello everyone!

I am sure we have all noticed how serious the story has been getting, and that we’re at a critical part of the story as well. My hope is to finish this arc, and then move onto the second arc.

With that being said, I have decided that I will be putting the second arc into another book. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get it on this website, there are just some reasons as to why I would like to break it up this way.

I also plan to take a little break from Hunting the Field Guide, mostly to reread the story, do some editing to the story, and clean it up to make it a better reading experience.

Some things I haven’t told you is that when I first started writing the story it was in first person, so rewriting it into third person (at least for the first part of the story) has left some rather...awkward writing choices.

Since I am so far away from them now, it’ll be easier to make edits.

I appreciate all of your support so far, and this isn’t to say that the story is over right away! I just wanted to get my thoughts out now so that everyone knows what the plan is moving forward :)

I’m excited for Kellen and Rhys’ journey moving forward, as I’ve only really given my readers a view of what Kellen’s city is like. There may or may not be an international rescue mission in the future ;).

Anyone want to guess what the second book will be called?

Once again, thank you so much for enjoying my story.

CalyB