DAA) Chapter 1 Part 4

“Aiya.” Carlos tapped me on the shoulder before handing me something.

I held out my hand to see silver dog tags that had been cut in half now lying in my hand. The chain had been fixed so that the tags would not slip off. I widened my eyes and looked at Carlos, who only smiled at me before going back to guarding the rear.

“Thanks…” I held the dog tags in my hand and bit my lip. I know I should mention the strange window in front of me, but I did not wish to worry anyone at this time. If it was a normal battlefield I would have spoken up. But we had no path to retreat, and our surroundings were dangerous. If it turns out I am going crazy, I will just off myself and leave it at that so I do not endanger everyone else.

Not that I want to, but if it came down to it… I let out a silent sigh. I do not wish to die. I really need to clear my head. This train of thought is not good. Fuck it… “Cap…”

“What’s up Aiya?” Cap asked without turning around.

“Since I killed that monster thing, I have had a window appear in front of my eyes that says [Level Up!]. No matter which way I look it is still there.” I planned to keep it to myself, but I knew that withholding such information could cause trouble as well. Plus, if I was really going crazy, maybe these guys could restrain me.

“Aiya, you know you should be telling us this shit before we begin moving. Do you feel dizzy or anything? Besides the window thing, do you see anything else?” Cap stopped moving forward and turned to look at me. I couldn’t help but scrunch my neck. His gaze right now was fucking scary. It reminded me of when we were training. He always had this look in his eye that made you think he was going to kill you at any second.

“No. Just the window nothing else. I… Sorry Cap, I should have said something as soon as I saw it.” I lowered my head. I was ready to be chewed out.

“Considering the circumstances I will let it slide this once. If it happens again, when we get back to camp, I will make sure to triple your training.” Cap actually let me off easy. I had to thank him later. Maybe a bottle of wine. He was a wine lover. Mm… yeah. I will brown nose a bit.

Cap then looked around at everyone else. “Anyone else seeing shit? If so speak up now. If not let’s continue forward. I want to get home as soon as possible.”

When no one responded, Cap turned around and continued forward. The silence was a bit heavy, but we had no choice. We were all walking as soft as we could. But the quite situation was not helping my mind. Being paranoid about running into more monsters, as well as the images of Briggs dying in my head, were causing me to flinch at even a drop of water. I know my actions were not going unnoticed. Carlos had moved a few steps closer to me so did Bryan and Thomas. Cap stayed at a steady pace, his eyes always scanning the area in front of us.

Cap suddenly stopped and raised his hand giving us a signal to move towards the wall. We did as he said and opened our ears. Once more, shuffling sounds could be heard, followed by strange clicking sounds.

“Hey, Cap, we are sitting ducks standing here.” Thomas whispered. Being stuck up against the wall was not good for us. We need to cover some places. We were soldiers, not wall ornaments.

“Cap there are rocks over there.” I said in a low whisper, pointing to the rocks sticking out of the ground. Cap nodded and gave us the signal.

Bryan went first. Each of his steps were silent as he made his way over to the rocks. Once he was in position, he gave us a signal, which meant it was my turn next. Normally, it would have been Briggs, Bryan then me. Followed by Thomas and Carlos, with Cap taking up the rear.

I quickly made my way over to Bryan who pulled me down behind him up against the rocks. I quickly mounted my gun on the rocks and looked through the sight, looking for whatever was making that sound.

I do not know if it was just me or not, but my eyes seemed to have gotten used to the darkness. Although I had the annoying [Level up!] sitting in front of my eyes, I could still see quite well. I scanned the area around us until my eyes finally fell on some movement to my right.

Without a word, I tapped Bryan and gave him a signal. He followed my lead and scanned the same area. His face slightly paled, but he did not make a sound. When the others came over we began our planning.

“It’s at 2 O’clock,” I whispered.

“Then we will do this. Aiya, you are our eyes. Look for a weakness. You out of everyone is able to do this the best. We will keep it busy until you can pinpoint it’s weakness. Once you do let me know. I will help you kill it. No more running off on your own.” Cap said the last part firmly.

I nodded since I was not looking at him. My attention at been on the monster in front of me. It seemed to be very long with numerous legs. The shape of the monster seemed to be something like a centipede. If this was the case, then we might be in for a fight.

“It’s at 3 O’clock!” I called out, which was followed by Cap’s order.

“Fire! Keep it busy!”

Firing blindly like this was not smart, but we really could not risk letting it get too close. Trying to take it out from a distance was our best bet. I could only hope I could find the weak spot before it was able to get close to us or shoot something out at us like the other one did. I did not want to see another family member die.