Chef (5)

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Eeeeeeeeeeeek!"

Several gunshots rang out as the soldiers shot their weapons toward a German shepherd-sized green creature that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a fox. 

It had kangaroo-like legs, long fluffy ears, and a whip-like tail that ended in a green, trumpet-shaped flower. It also had a green coat that blended almost entirely with the green plants and trees.

As the beast agilely weaved side to side, waving its tail that spread fine pollen, the bullets finally sank into the beast's side, then the head, taking it down in a gush of green blood and spawning several crystals.

After a heated discussion, the soldier who seemed to be in charge dashed in quickly and absorbed the crystals.

Then he began yelling.

"Get back to work, all of you! We can't leave until all the sacks are filled up, so the quicker you are, the faster the job will be done, and if you don't work, you won't get food! As soldiers, we WILL protect you, so just collect the plants well."

Cyril: ಠ_ಠ

Is…..is this slavery?

Cyril glanced at the brown potato sack in his hands that he was supposed to be filling with vibrant plants surrounding him, the vicious eyes of some people as they glared at the strange-looking beast's body that was being dragged into a veritable mountain of similar bodies, and surreptitiously distanced himself from both.

It was the sixth beast to pop out and be killed within the past five minutes, and the number of shots needed to take them down had increased along with the number of occurrences, which made everyone, including the soldiers, nervous as they continually glanced back toward the area they came from with hopeful eyes.

Almost as if they were waiting for someone.

After the incident at the meadow, they had cut through the forest and walked through a tunnel in a smaller hill that branched into three paths in a way that defied physics and made Cyril's brain hurt.

The path all the way to the left seemed to be made of metal beams and rock, forming an abstract bridge into a dark sky filled with lightning. Within that sky were floating rocks bound together by metallic chains that occasionally clashed when lightning struck them.

The middle path was a tunnel lined with florescent white protrusions that looked like teeth or bones. The tunnel got darker and slanted downward like a slide. The musty air wafting upwards immediately made Cyril want to vomit. It was like the scent of sewage and something dead.

To the right, where the soldier led them, was a beautiful tropical jungle-like forest with a bright yellow sun and clear blue skies.

As his group walked closer, Cyril noticed that there were already people chopping down trees while others tied the logs with ropes and began dragging them in the direction they came from another group had pickaxes and continued deep into the forest.

It was a strange sight, considering all these people wore regular clothes and were being escorted by soldiers.

As soon as their group arrived, the soldiers grouped up to whisper with each other before one went the way they had come, and the rest split the people up hurriedly.

Since Cyril had lost his axe, he was part of the group that gathered plants at a distance, which included the twins and their mother.

After a quick briefing to gather anything and everything that seemed valuable, they were set loose and ordered not to drift too far because of safety.

If they went too far, the soldiers wouldn't protect them.

Since he truly didn't plan on working, Cyril moved himself as far from the soldiers as possible while still being in the range of their guns and casually roamed here and there, collecting plants and putting them in the bag he received for completing a task.

It had the feature of not getting heavy or full, regardless of what he put inside of it, and keeping things in the same state as when it was put in. It was a feature he used to his full advantage, stocking everything he had borrowed from grocery and convenience stores inside.

Even now, after watching another rabbit fox beast get killed and dragged off, he plopped down tiredly and drank from his personal water bottle while others sweated and struggled to pull out more plants.

"Tsk. You! White hair! Why are you not working?! Even the children have gathered more things than you without taking as many breaks as you have!" a familiar soldier began marching over to yell at him.

"I'm tired, hahhhh, and don't want to do it." A completely dry response with a yawn in between. It was an expression of disregard and the soldier lost it.

"You-!"

As a soldier picked up speed, Cyril yawned again, pulling out his notebook and pen to make notes about all the plants he recognized with his herbalism skills. Since he couldn't take some of the plants and trees away, he made notes about them.

He also wanted to collect the bodies of the rabbit fox beast since he saw the faint red lines when he looked at the body, but it seemed he really couldn't do it.

At least without others noticing.

As he was making a simple sketch of the orange flowers around his sitting area and staring into the air blankly while yawning, black boots stopped in front of him, casting a shadow over his book.

Glancing it up, he noticed that it was the same soldier that had run away when Cyril had chosen to help Lisa rescue her son. It was this same soldier who had been taking out his embarrassment and anger on Cyril from the moment he reunited with the group.

"I've repeated it many times! As a citizen of this country who was drafted-"

"I keep telling you guys, I'm a diplomat, so this draft or volunteer thing is useless to me. I was dragged here against my will and plan on doing the bare minimum. I've packed two bags as repayment for my food and don't plan on eating anymore." Cyril rudely interrupted before yawning again.

For some reason, he felt really sleepy, and his body began relaxing subconsciously against the tree he leaned on, briefly dozing off for several seconds.

Then his body jerked awake as all the hairs in his body stood up.

What-?

"Still! You disobeyed orders; you ate food without fulfilling your end of the contract, and hahhhh—" The soldier yawned as well, and suddenly, Cyril forced his drooping eyes to open as he looked around.

Apart from the faint yellow pollen filling the air, everything looked the same as before, but he felt a chill at the back of his neck.

Me? Falling asleep? How?

That was completely impossible.

"Because of you, our path is blocked Yawnnnnnn"

The soldier yawned once more, this time rubbing his eyes sleepily and Cyril immediately stood up.

"Oi. Now isn't the time to start nagging. There's something dangerous here. Was there always this much pollen around?"

The faint specks of pollen that were barely visible had increased so much that the area was beginning to be tinted yellow.

"Don't interrupt me, you damn civvy! It's just pollen. If you hadn't agitated them even worse than hahhhhhhhhh"

As the soldier yawned again, Cyril glanced at him once more noticing him staggering, hitched his backpack tightly, and began to sprint as fast as he could toward the area his group had come from while covering his face with his shirt.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm talking to you!" as the soldier began chasing him, snagging his bag, rather than struggling, Cyril quickly left it behind and continued running away.

Nope. Nope. Absolutely not.

The bag was useful, but his life was more useful.

He didn't bother responding, instead trying to breathe deeply and increase his speed.

Wait around to see what was happening?

Hard pass!

As he ran past people, including the mother of four, he gave them a single warning.

"If I were you, I'd run away. Now!"

"What are you talking about!?!"

"Excuse me?"

"Mr. Cyril??"

"Ignore him! He's trying to avoid work, but if he leaves the perimeter, he'll get killed by a beast."

Without looking back and utilizing every last dreg of energy in his body, Cyril sprinted back the way he had come. It was the very essence of self-preservation.

After several minutes of running.

Cyril promptly collapsed, doing his best not to vomit.

He was in the area that contained the 3 paths, and as he lay there while trying to wipe the yellow pollen sticking to his clothes…

Clang.

Skrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Clang.

Skrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Clang.

He heard the sounds of metal hitting and scraping against each other.

Forcing his body to sit up, he turned to face the leftmost tunnel as a group of 10 soldiers with guns walked out.

In the center of that group that suddenly parted was a golden-haired man with amber eyes who had a lit cigarette sticking out the side of his mouth. Dressed in a black turtle neck, black pants, and boots, he held a briefcase in one hand and took a puff of the cigarette in the other.

"…We'll check on the harvesting group first before creating a null zone for the path back. Of course, the pay will triple since…"

As smoke trailed out of his mouth, amber eyes swept from side to side before stopping on a figure dressed in white from head to toe staring at him with tired eyes.

“Oh, it’s Alexei. Yo. How come you’re here? And when did you become a dog for the military?” Cyril waved casually at the golden-haired man, staring curiously between him and the soldiers around him.

At Cyril's words, the faces of the soldiers narrowed in anger, and they began to protest, but one voice broke through.

“Again?” Alexei’s smooth voice rang out as he glanced between Cyril and the utterly empty tunnel before turning to the soldiers and then back to Cyril.

He looked completely furious.