The Industrialist

The Abominant human was still alive, grunting in utter frustration. What surprised Lance was a weapon used to constrict a strong Human Abominant.

Secondly, it grew fast from one small ball. The trigger design was electrical which accelerated the scion inside the gooey ball.

He had never seen this before and it was not military.

The Military only used laser and other destructive firepower to battle Abominants but not the use of plants.

Furthermore, the accelerating exponential growth rate of organic flesh was never before discovered by the current brains of the Corporation and the best of scientists. Such knowledge was still untapped in this age or the confines of Axe Central City.

A humming of rotors was heard overhead. The faint lights below the craft descended, obscuring the rider.

As the hovercraft hovered a meter from the floor of the room, a woman in the gas mask was unconcealed. She wore a coverall vest, emphasizing the shape of her body, with the gooey bomb casings at the side of her belt.

"Son of Erik," the woman said, "hurry, escape with your friends!"

"Who are you?" Lance asked. He meekly stood, as what transpired had filled him with questions.

"There is no time to explain. Get on the hovercraft and take your friends with you."

"What about you?"

"I have my hoverboard with me." The girl responded and pointed at the hoverboard attached to the side of the hovercraft.

She detached the hoverboard remotely and the unit dislodged from the hovercraft.

"Who are you?" Lance asked. Limping, he was ushered by the woman into the hoverboard. He felt the sore on his wrist with blood accumulating beneath his skin.

He could see the grip of the Abominant. He could barely move his fingers, luckily, he could still grip something like riding a hovercraft.

"Listen, I have no time to explain. Do you know how to do this?" Lance rode himself to the hovering craft and let his palms rest on the handles.

"No, I haven’t ridden one of these," Lance responded. He squinted at his comrades and they were immediately awakened as the woman injected a greenish serum into their thighs, granting them immediate energies.

"You have to escape!" The woman ushered them up from the ground as soon as they regained consciousness.

Both were speechless but the need to escape was undebatable. Hence, the two ex-soldiers hurried towards the hovercraft, limping too.

They groaned upon climbing at the hovercraft and sat at the back of Lance.

"Now, listen kid," the woman said, "the hovercraft is like riding a motorcycle. You squeeze the accelerator in the right handle and it will accelerate. To adjust elevation, this is the button right here. This is the fuel gauge. You have enough fuel to travel to Asphodel Cave. Your comrades were hiding there."

"Are you sure you are fine on your own?" Lance asked.

"Don’t worry about me. I have been following you for days. You are on a dangerous mission, son of Erik. Now, go!"

The woman stood over unto his hoverboard. A remote controller on her right hand, clasped on her wrist and with buttons on her palms, was used to maneuver the board.

"We have to go, the constrictor is losing its grip!" She was referring to the gooey bomb that imprisoned the Abominant Human.

The creature shouted to muster such strength. They could hear the squeezing vines gradually loosen and give room for the creature to move his limbs.

Lance squeezed the accelerator just before the Abominant Human was freed from the vines.

The woman sped up as fast as the board could go in the opposite direction to where the Asphodel cave would be.

The hovercraft climbed up above the wall over the roofless floor. Acceleration was easy just by adjusting his squeeze. The elevation adjuster was challenging. To prevent their vehicle from colliding with obstructions, the rider should be quick with his interaction with the button at a quick timing.

The craft wobbled as they descended from the third floor with Damian and Handsome at his back. They could hear the screams of a frustrated beast, echoing towards the dark atmosphere as they sped up to their escape.

The rotors whirred loudly as Lance pressed hard on high elevation function to go over the boulders. Their weight also challenged the craft’s capability and gave a maneuvering challenge.

When they stabilized the elevation and the acceleration, it was easy.

"Incoming, Asphodel Forest," Lance said as they approached the tree line.

Lance knew that even his comrades had a lot of questions to discuss among themselves, especially about their savior, they chose to focus on their escape and back to embrace of the Asphodel cave.

As the hovercraft flew beyond the height of trees, they saw the groundlings were pursuing them below. These were the unorganized groundlings as they were chaotic on how they moved. Unlike their previous encounter, strategic and efficient.

The digital display said six meters from the ground. No groundling could reach them. The hovercraft would climb steeper if they would pass a slope land, and would descend if they would pass on land depressions or trenches.

They were safe.

Lance checked the time.

1930 H

It was way past daytime.

"One hour to go for the cave!" Lance shouted to convey his message to his comrades at the back. The gas mask and the wind muffled his voice.

The craft streaked through fogs alternately. Sometimes, they would pass on grainy breeze felt by their exposed skins.

The contamination counter said the higher the elevation, the lower the level of contamination. It explained why the Abominants hated high elevations.

The contaminated air served as their life source. Without it, they would perish. Well, it’s only a theory that Lance deduced.

"Incoming!" It was Damian who said loudly. "Nine o’clock!"

It was unclear at first but a flock of birds were coming their way. The unkempt flock seemed like a moving fog from afar. But these ex-soldiers knew about them and quickly determined the lurking danger behind the camouflage.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Handsome suggested.

They don’t have guns, they don’t have bombs, and they have nothing to defend. The birds of the night do not chirp, they caw so ominously. The noise echoed through the vast expanse, deafening if they were close enough.

The Abominated birds moved in unison, flocking together to maintain a livable ecosystem. These birds trapped contaminated air from the ground and maintained a surging level to suffice their anatomical needs.

By doing this, they maintained a level of contamination in the air and carried such contaminated level to wherever they migrate. Otherwise, the scant level of contamination of the altitude would kill them.

Immediately, Lance squeezed the accelerator to its maximum capability. The speedometer rose to 100 miles per hour. It was fast but the birds of the night were faster.

"They can smell us!" Damian said. "And they can catch up!"

"What are we going to do?" Lance asked. A cold chill loomed in his spine and crept through his limbs. It was his responsibility now to save his comrades.

Overcoming his fear was most viable at the moment.

"The hovercraft will be faster closer to the ground," Damian suggested.

Damian’s suggestion was right. Even with the presence of groundlings, they could not catch up to them as these creatures could only run up to 80 miles per hour.

Lance dove the hovercraft and adjusted the elevation to two meters from the ground, just before they were mobbed by the flock of birds. A few Birds of the night scarred them with their thorny beaks, and their twenty claws ravaging their vests.

The frustrated predators hovered over them as they weaved through the Asphodel trees. The hovercraft sped up to 120 miles per hour on a clear pathway.

The gap between them and the groundlings increased. Although they were invisible behind the shadow of trees, but their snarls were still perceptible. Therefore, slowing down was not an option.

Fortunately, Lance was able to evade the obstructing trees along their path so deftly like he had ridden such a vehicle before. One wrong move to a crash would deliver their immediate demise.

The groundlings would devour them if they stopped. Alternately, if they went higher the birds would manducate on their flesh. The only option was to go forward without stopping.

After a few hours, they felt their vehicle climb up as they started to enter the foot of the Asphodel mountain, following a familiar sinuous road towards the cave.

They were safe momentarily.