Kapitel 52: Chapter 52: Human Mutation

Anastasia had to pull the Apocrabile to a stop. The group was forced to take refuge in an abandoned building, while she searched the vehicle. Anastasia had insisted that there was bound to be a tracker somewhere inside. That was understandable given how intelligent the Apocrypha were.

Zane slumped himself on an empty window ledge watching her. The crescent moon hung in the night sky above their heads. Normally, he would feel relaxed in such a situation. The air was cool and the scenery around them was beautiful.

However, Zane couldn't get his mind off what Anastasia had said to them earlier. His mind drifted back towards the incident:

*****

"I don't want to slow us down, but can we stop soon? It's very uncomfortable in here," complained Serenity.

"Right! Zane's hip bone feels like a knife!" agreed Deandre.

"Hey! Have some sympathy for me... I lost my arm you know!"

Layla giggled before she turned to Anastasia. The entire time, Anastasia had remained silent. Her face was void of joy or even a simple smile.

"Anastasia?"

There was no response. Zane and Nick had taken notice of her silence as well. The three had noticed something was wrong with her. Something was on Anastasia's mind and they needed to know what.

Zane had then carefully peeped over Anastasia's shoulder. He noticed that there was a piece of paper in her hand. It had some type of writing present on it. However, he couldn't decipher what it was saying. It seemed like a bunch of random scribbles and markings.

Zane had deduced it was probably the language of the Apocrypha. This was when Anastasia said something that sent shivers racing through his body.

"The Anunnaki..?"

Zane didn't know why, but he could tell whatever she meant by 'Anunnaki', probably wasn't anything good.

After that, Zane had tried asking her what she meant, but Anastasia shrugged it off as nothing. She was hiding something and for some reason, she was keeping it hidden. Zane hadn't bothered to press the topic any further. There was no point if her lips were glued shut.

*****

Layla slowly paced herself over to Zane. Her hands folded around her body, shielding her from the cold. She had noticed the worrisome expression over Zane's face. Calmly, she sat beside him. Her smoky-grey eyes watching him carefully.

"Are you still worried about what Anastasia said?" she asked.

"Yeah... It could just be me, but when she said Anunnaki, I couldn't help but feel like something was wrong."

Layla nudged him playfully. They already had enough to worry about as it was. She knew it was a terrible way to deal with the situation, but she didn't want any additional stress to cope with. When the problem came along, they would deal with it.

They were then interrupted by Anastasia, who was signaling for them to come over. She had seemingly finished searching the Apocrabile.

Slowly, they made their way over to her. They noticed she was holding a small metallic device in her hand.

"Did you find the tracker?" inquired Layla.

"Yeah. Took a while because it was built in, but I managed to." Anastasia paused as she crushed the device to pieces. "We should probably get going. I'm certain they'll notice that their tracker just went offline. We don't want to stick around for them to find us."

No one argued. Quickly, they all got back inside the Apocrabile. Discomfort instantly making itself known. For a high-tech vehicle, they wished it was more spacious. Based on the design, it was meant to carry a maximum of four. With six of them, comfort had no space.

Anastasia then fired up the engine and drove off into the mysteries of the night. While she drove, Layla couldn't help but stare. The interior of the vehicle was so much more complex than anything she had ever seen before. It tugged her curiosity as to how it operated.

"Tasia," she called.

Anastasia glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, "Tasia?"

"Yeah, hope you don't mind. Your name's just too long. Besides, Tasia sounds cute."

(And also because the author is too lazy to continually type 'Anastasia')

Anastasia chuckled. She kinda liked the nickname, "Okay, sure. Did you want to ask me something?"

"Mhmm— I was just thinking as a safety measure, that you should probably teach me how to drive this thing. Just in case a situation arises where you're not present and we need to use the Apocrabile."

"I don't mind. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that though."

Layla smiled as she traced her eyes over the dashboard. The numerals and letterings were all alienated. She couldn't recognize a single character.

"I don't need to learn your language or anything, do I?"

"No, but there is one issue. You need an Apocrypha to start the engine. There is a built-in scanner that only reacts to the handprint of Apocrypha or Chimera. That's the reason humans can't drive these things."

Layla placed her hand on her chin as she thought. There were numerous situations she could think of to overcome such an obstacle.

However, none of them were simple.

"What about fuel? What are these things fueled by?"

"It's funny, but it's actually sunlight. In the day, we usually park them in the sun. Then by night, we're able to use them."

"That's ironic."

As the two girls spoke among themselves, Zane pondered about his next plan. The Apocrypha were sure to become upset if they found out what had happened.

If that were to happen, then stealing a boat would become much more difficult. Zane had concluded that time was against them. They needed to get into Florida and they had to make it quick.

Just then, Zane heard Serenity complaining. There was a hint of fear in her voice;

"Guys, what's that..?"

"What's what?" queried Nick.

"I see it too! There's someone in the road!" alerted Deandre.

Everyone threw their eyes in front of them. Even Anastasia was caught off-guard. In the middle of the road, a middle-aged man was walking towards them. His eyes were pale-blue and his skin was pale-white. He seemed very sickly. Anastasia didn't know whether or not to run him over.

"What do we do??" she cried.

"Run him over of course! We take no risks!" declared Layla.

"Serenity! Deandre! Close your eyes!" ordered Nick.

Zane stared at the man intently. For some reason, his intuition beamed with curiosity. Something was obviously wrong with the man and he wanted to know what. Zane didn't have a problem killing the poor guy, but he felt like he would regret it if they didn't analyze the situation.

"Stop! Don't run him over!" bawled Zane.

Anastasia swung the vehicle out of the way. They screeched to a dangerous stop, barely missing the man.

Layla turned to Zane in confusion. She didn't understand why Zane would stop them.

"Zane! What the hell?? Why did you stop us?!"

Zane took a deep breath. He felt as if something was very wrong that they needed to know. It was just a hunch, but he felt he needed to act upon it. "We need to analyze the situation."

"What? Bro, what's there to analyze?? We lose nothing from flattening him!" boomed Nick.

"Why would a human being walk out into the path of a vehicle belonging to the Apocrypha? It makes no sense." defended Zane.

"Um— maybe because it's an Apocrypha under disguise??" exclaimed Layla.

Zane shook his head. He doubted that was the reason. "In human form? Remember, Apocrypha can't identify one another when in human form. It would be endangering its life for no reason."

Layla and Nick quieted down. Zane had a point. There was no way an Apocrypha would do something so reckless. There had to be more to it.

"Okay, you got a point. But what are you implying?"

"My intuition is telling me to check it out. Something ain't right with that guy and I think it would be beneficial if we found out what it was."

Layla contemplated whether or not it was worth it. They would be taking a risk, not knowing if anything good would come from it. However, she had learned to trust Zane's intuition. It had never been wrong before, so she had no reason to doubt it.

"Okay, fine. But who's going?"

"Anastasia and I will go." declared Zane.

"No, Zane. Your arm is injured. We need someone who can hold a gun in case something happens," scolded Layla.

"You all need to stop treating me like I'm disabled..."

"Aren't you though?"

Anastasia then opened the door and stepped out in the open. She turned her head to see the man approaching them as if he was some kind of zombie.

"Okay, Layla and I will go." she declared.

No one complained— apart from Zane, of course. Layla got the rifle by her side and stepped out into the open. She turned her eyes upon the strange man that approached them. Apart from his sickly look, Layla noticed something else that made her want to pick her feet up and run. Sections of the man's body had bulging purple veins that netted under his skin. There was also a foul odor that attacked their noses. Zane was right. Something was wrong with this man. What it was? They didn't know but definitely needed to know.

"Tasia, he's not an Apocrypha, right?"

Anastasia squinched her eyes to get a better view. She looked directly into the stranger's eyes, deciphering his species.

Suddenly, Anastasia jumped back in fright. Her body trembled and worry grasped her soul.

"What is it??" quickly asked Layla.

"I-I can't..."

Layla was perplexed. Why was Anastasia acting so frightful?

"You can't what?? Speak clearly, Tasia!"

Anastasia turned her head towards Layla. Her eyes were filled with fear. The words that left her lips next surely marked the beginning of things to come;

"It's both human and Apocrypha!"

AUTORENGEDANKEN
Prince_nonchalant

I have a question for readers because I have 2 directions I can bring the story, but I am uncertain which I should go with;

What do you think of bringing the story off Earth for a while? Or do you rather to have the story remain on Earth? I have ideas I can go with for both ways that are really good, but it's hard deciding.

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