"Here's how it's gonna work: If I tell you to attack him, then you can. If I say nothing, then don't do anything. This way, if something bad does really happen, I can't just switch to a different outcome."
"Yeah, yeah, just make sure to pick the right one. We don't wanna lose the kid on the first day."
Cullen stood in the middle of the river, shocked at how this had developed. The only good thing was that Adam removed Cullen's vest. To hit him, that is.
"Eric, shouldn't you stop this?" Greye asked.
No response.
"Attack!"
Cullen blinked, and Adam was already upon him. His strength gave him deadly speed, much quicker than Cullen could react to. But since he was witnessing this, doesn't that mean the pathway was already chosen?
Adam prepared to punch Cullen in the gut, but vines shot out from his side before Adam even started. They grew out of Cullen at an even faster speed than Adam. Forming a blunt end and slamming into Adam's chest, the vines sent him flying backward.
He landed on the ground near the riverbank, groaning and struggling to get up.
"Ha," Ryan laughed. "The Triarch's prodigy sent flying by some vines!"
"Alright, that's enough." Eric stood up. "I knew I'd be traveling with children, but you couldn't even sit still for a few hours."
"C'mon, aren't we just wasting our time?" Adam complained. "Shouldn't we train or something? Sitting here is useless."
"You can find your own ways to train, just don't attack each other and stay on the river. That isn't too much to ask, is it?"
"Tsk."
Adam walked up to Cullen and put the vest back on.
"Just 'cause you got a special Abomination protecting you doesn't mean you should get stronger yourself."
'I guess he's right.'
By the time it was night, Adam had bored himself to death, Ryan had smoked all of his cigarettes for the whole trip, and Cullen's body felt like it would implode. Only Greye and Eric seemed to be enjoying doing nothing. Although it was warm, they still lit a campfire for Greye during the night. His body couldn't adapt as well as a Gifted's. For food, Cullen had packed a large stash in his backpack for everyone to share. Surprisingly, its weight didn't increase at all—something Cullen hadn't realized about the Abomination's ability.
Besides the food, Cullen packed the ring, the armband, the Cursed Mask, the Eye Amulet, the compass, and the knife Lyra gave him. The knife was the only thing he kept on his body; the rest were in the backpack.
Lying down on hard soil, Cullen found it difficult to fall asleep. It wasn't so bad, though, because there were more stars in the sky than Cullen had ever seen before.
Earlier, Greye explained to Cullen that light pollution was the reason for the city's dull sky. On The Island, Cullen noticed he could see a little clearer, but this was a completely different experience.
'It probably won't be long till humanity reaches another planet, with everyone's abilities and everything. If Greye's Abomination were actually his ability, it might have been achieved with training. Wait…'
Couldn't Cullen kill the Abomination and give Greye the ability? It may be possible, but its exact ability remains unclear.
'It's probably not worth gambling our only way back. It would suck to travel that far on foot, especially with a normal human with us.'
A little while later, Cullen finally fell asleep.
"Alright, enough time should have passed. Everyone grab my arm again."
"Whoa, what happens if it hasn't been enough time?" Adam asked. "Will we end up in some random place?"
"Let's see,"
The next second, the five of them stood in a large green valley. Two mountains blocked each side, and a manmade trail led down the middle.
"We should be somewhere in Venezuela."
"Venezuela? Where's that?"
The four of them looked at Cullen strangely.
"South America," Greye answered with a smile.
Eric was the first to let go, then looked around to assess their surroundings.
"Being in a valley is too dangerous; let's climb up a side and observe what we see from there."
They did just that, with Greye on Ryan's back to make it easier. After reaching the summit, they saw a vast landscape of forests, rivers, and the sea a few kilometers away.
"We can stay here for now. It's the safest place for us to wait."
The top of this mountain was a small rock, only a few meters wide.
"No, no way." Adam opposed. "Not after yesterday—there's no way you can shrink our cage even further."
"I have to agree with Adam," Ryan said. "This place is way too small."
Eric stood silently for a moment before answering.
"Fine, but one of you has to carry Greye. We'll move closer to Brazil. Also, take Cullen's vest off."
Those were the kindest words Cullen had heard this whole trip. But even with the vest off, Cullen would be the slowest. Not to mention how tired his body was.
As the vest disappeared from Cullen, he felt as if he were free again. And when they started moving, he felt as if he were back in hell.
Adam carried Greye, so Cullen remained in the back of the group. It was obvious that the three of them were holding back their strength.
'Maybe waiting wouldn't have been so bad.'
A few hours later, Cullen's body actually felt a little better than before. His Gifted body regenerated faster than the running wore him down.
They were deeper in a forest now, with no clear goal in sight. However, Eric would occasionally jump up to see what waited ahead. This time he noticed something.
"There's an abandoned village ahead. I didn't see any sign of life, though. It would be best to move around."
Although they never did visit the village, Cullen wondered what they would find there. An Abomination? One that killed every person who lived in that town? Perhaps survivors, Gifted, who needed help.
There were other humans in the world outside of the city. That meant there had to be plenty of people in danger, ones that the city's Gifted had probably stumbled upon. But the government couldn't leak that information. Cullen imagined that they were probably killed or left to die.
And the man who made those orders was leading Cullen right now. But he didn't think Eric was a serial killer. Despite knowing him for such a short time, Cullen couldn't imagine him in that position. Eric was a strange, quiet individual who was never clear about what he wanted. Lyra, though, acted the opposite, proving to Cullen that his suspicions about the government were true. He was glad Eric came instead of her.
A while later, Eric suddenly stopped running.
"We'll set up camp here for the night. There's plenty of fog around us, so I'll be able to detect anyone who tries to ambush us."
It was indeed foggy. They were in a different forest this time, but they could barely see one meter in front of them.
"One more night, right?"
Cullen turned around to see Adam speaking with Greye.
"Yes, we should be in running range tomorrow. Or jumping, whatever you Gifted do."
Before sleeping, Greye approached Cullen to talk with him about the gun he had made.
"I noticed it sucking in the fog around me earlier, but it's slowed down. Should I attempt to test it out now?"
Cullen looked at the gun in Greye's hands, but no apparent change took place.
"Sure, just shoot it at a tree for now."
The other three were interested, then Ryan offered an idea.
"Should we test it while using my ability, just in case something goes wrong?"
After agreeing to Ryan's plan, Greye aimed the weapon at a tree around 10 meters away from the group.
Cullen watched anxiously, not wanting his weapon to fail or hurt Greye. Luckily, Ryan was there to stop it.
"Shoot."
BANG!
A bullet, too fast for even the Gifted to see, shot out of the gun and cleared the fog around them. It split the tree in two, then traveled through many more before leaving their eyesight.
"Holy shit." Ryan stood there, stunned.
Adam looked strangely at Cullen, almost admiring his creation.
The strangest thing, though, was that Greye didn't feel any kickback. That was the central aspect Cullen focused on. He knew that a normal human would be shooting a gun with unreal power, so he used the Abomination's body to prevent that force.
"It's hard to explain, but I noticed that the Abomination was planted onto the ground to prevent that from happening. I tried to use that feature when creating the gun, but it's hard to explain how it works exactly."
Greye looked from the gun to Cullen.
"Thank you, Cullen. You don't understand what this means to a regular human, to have the power to fight against Abominations."
The five of them went to bed that night ready for whatever would come. They knew the danger of entering an uncharted Grade-E, but everyone had their reasons to push forward. Cullen swore he would kill this one, just like The Island.