20 The Mission

The LS58 arrived above Sentry. The pilot circled the small town of Sentry looking for signs of life and a spot large enough to land his copter.

"We'll land in the town center. Kyrie, I want you out the side door right after we land. We'll set up a defensive formation around the copter. Once the area's secure we'll split into three groups. One will maintain our defenses, one will search for survivors, and the last group will search for the communication center. Kyrie'll escort Alex, the rest of you know your positions." Soon after the pilot finished handing out instructions the helicopter started its descent.

Just after the helicopter landed Kyrie threw open the door, dropped to the ground, and felt a bit ridiculous as he made eye contact with a person standing on the porch of the city hall building. At least this wasn't the first time he'd done this.

Kyrie decided it would be best to be cautious. After all some Legends can masquerade as humans, "We've got people so give me a sec."

Kyrie walked forward a ways before he said, "Hi, sir. Would you mind giving me an update on the situation?"

The man glanced at Kyrie's weapon and said, "You won't be needin that in town. Whatever's been killin people hasn't made it in."

Kyrie nodded. "Good. Do you have any idea what it is?"

"Not really. We have a few people who think they saw Misty in the trees. But that's all we got. Haven't had anyone come back yet."

Kyrie nodded again. "Thank you, sir. Give me a moment and we'll see what we can do to help."

"Sure thing, kid," the man said.

Kyrie turned and climbed back into the copter. He closed the cold door and said, "Right the situation looks like we might have a human turned into a legend problem. The gentleman outside said none of the people who've left have returned. If he's telling the truth then the town should be safe, but he might be lying so we'll want to stay on alert."

At least the rescue crew remained silent for a bit, the pilot left the helicopter's cockpit and said, "Right, we'll keep two guards on the copter, I want the rest to help out in shifts with the city guard. Mia, Kyrie, Alex, you're with me. Let's find out what's going on here."

As Kyrie reached for Taru's case and Alex grabbed his communication gear, their pilot, Gage, spoke, "Kyrie leave it. I want you ready for combat."

Kyrie nodded, opened Taru's case, and removed the straps for securing Taru to his back. With Taru resting comfortably against his back, Kyrie followed Alex, Gage, and Melissa into the city hall.

The mayor met them in the simple reception area. "Thanks for coming. If you'll follow me to the conference room, we can talk there."

A large oval display table occupied most of the conference room. The mayor sat at the head of the table. Alex and Melissa sat on one side. Gage sat on the other side and Kyrie stood near the door. He chose to stand, even though the sun would be setting soon and today had been an exhausting day.

Gage spoke first, "We know there have been sightings of what people believe is a human in the forest. Can you tell us any more about that?"

The Mayor sighed, turned on the display table, and pulled up the picture of a girl. "This is Misty she's the one people believe they've seen in the forest." He placed a picture of a boy next to Misty's photo. "This is her boyfriend John. They were the first to go missing and were both LegendSlayers with intrinsic abilities. They went missing sometime last night. When we realized they were gone we sent a search party towards the river. The last report we received from the first search party said they had found Misty and that she was taking them back to John.

"After we lost contact for a while, we sent another search party and requested assistance from mission control. The next search party said they'd reached the point where the first party had found Misty and were going to carefully follow their trail. We lost contact with each search party faster than last. Eventually, we lost contact with mission control. Chris, our communications manager, believes we lost contact because our communication line was cut."

"Can I talk to him?" Alex asked.

The Mayor sighed and ran his hands down his face. "He left with the last group. They were searching the communication line for a break. I wish we knew more… After the first search party went missing, we sent the others with silver. There's a werewolf pack that lives on the other side of the Emerilla."

At the mention of werewolves, Kyrie could feel his left ankle ache where it had been crushed years ago.

"They've attacked us before, so we thought it might be them. After we lost the communication line – we were sure, there are no other legends nearby that would cut a communication line."

Gage turned to Kyrie. "How much experience do you have with werewolves?"

"Enough." Kyrie smiled and patted one of Taru's blades. "She's laced with silver."

"Good." Gage nodded and thought for a moment before he said, "I want proof that it's werewolves before we get too far. Kyrie, who do you want to take for a scouting mission?"

"I'd rather go alone," Kyrie said. To him going alone was always better.

"Are you sure? It might be better to have more eyes out there?" Gage said as he watchedthe oh so young man before him.

"I'm sure. If I can go it alone it will be easier for me to fight and escape." Kyrie'd have less to worry about.

"Alright… If you're not back in 3 hours, we'll start evacuating," Gage said as he turned from Kyrie to the Mayor.

"You can't!" shouted the Mayor of Sentry. "We need this outpost to help monitor the river and to notify Laserath of an influx of legends."

"And you have. We just want to keep you and your citizens safe. If we can, we'll retake the outpost and your citizens can move back," Gage said as he tried to pacify the Mayor. Something he had a lot of experience with.

The Mayor sighed, "Yeah. All right. I'll… tell them." It's the least he could do for his people.

Gage nodded. "We'll see Kyrie off and see if Alex and Melissa can remotely find the break."

♢ ♢ ♢

Kyrie walked through the Emerilla gate into the clear and fading sunlight. There was a defensive clearing that ran along the walls encasing the town of Sentry. A faint breeze carried the smell of water, earth, and blood. Kyrie pulled Taru from his back and headed for a clear path leading into the forest.

Kyrie listened for unusual sounds as he followed the trail left behind by the other search parties. The further Kyrie went into the forest the stronger the smell of the earth and blood grew. The sun had finished setting by the time the trees had grown bigger and closer together.

Due to the lack of light and the dense forest, Kyrie was slowly creeping down the remains of a path. He could hear the occasional creaking of a tree and snapping of branches. Along with the rustling sound of something moving along the forest floor. But he had yet to see a werewolf. Or any legends.

Eventually, some green vines began to impede Kyrie's movement speed and he had to work to keep Taru free of them. The vines trailed from a tree's branches towards the ground or crossed between several trees.

"Crack!"

Kyrie turned in the direction of the breaking branch.

"Snap." This time the sound came from behind him.

Kyrie was surrounded by legends. And their numbers were increasing.

As Kyrie tried to spot the werewolves between the dense trees something grabbed his left ankle. He tried to swipe Taru at the hand on his leg.

And as Taru tore through the vines above him heading for the werewolf grabbing his ankle, blood spilled from the vines.

More vines and branches from the surrounding trees rushed towards Kyrie. And, as Kyrie began to channel his aura to help him move faster, the vine on his ankle dug into his boot. Wrapped its way around his ankle and slithered into his leg.

The tree that had staked its claim on Kyrie, yanked him in close and held him up by his left leg. As it flipped him, more of its branches and vines wrapped around Kyrie and greedily burrowed their way through his aura.

They weren't werewolves. They were vampire tress. The forest was full of Jubokko.