บท 10: Taking risks

Renji never turned back once after deciding to enter the forest, he had decided to go inside so he would not stop no matter what. Renji had a huge smirk on his face when he heard the man say they wouldn't chase him, he found it funny that rather than chase him inside the forest he would choose to deceive.

"You want the 5 dollars? Come get that, follow me and I'll take you to your graves." Renji left those words behind before disappearing inside the thick forest. Hearing the words from the 8-year-old kid's mouth many people had their backs drenched in a cold sweat, they were left stunned. Like Renji had predicted after he entered the forest, the number of people who were chasing after him decreased by 80%.

Most of the people were terrified of entering the forest because they had seen the monsters that lived inside the forest was not something that they could handle. For most of them, 5 dollars was more than enough of a reward to kill someone for, but it wasn't enough for them to dive headfirst to their death.

............…..

"Where did that kid go?" said one of the men who was chasing after Renji even after he had entered the forest. After Renji entered the forest, he made full use of the terrain to make his escape from the people who were chasing him, so he managed to escape from their view pretty quickly.

"Fuck! This isn't going to work you take some people and look for him that way and we will go this way." Said another man while pointing in a direction, there were currently two paths that went separate ways, so he thought splitting up would be the better option if they wanted to find the boy.

"What makes you think we will follow your orders?" said one of the men who was instructed to go the other way.

"Do whatever you like." The man didn't argue as time was of the essence, the man who opposed the idea was left standing whereas the others went running different ways without idling. Seeing that he was left behind the man started running after one of the groups as he didn't want to be left behind in this scary forest.

"That's it I found it; this will guarantee my survival for as long as I don't venture too deep within the forest." Said Renji trying to reassure himself, he was picking up some moss that was growing on the bank of a river.

His parents had taught him about this moss when he was taken inside the forest a few months back, according to them the name of this moss was stinky moss. He was told, that unawakened hunters when they wanted to venture inside the forest, would always rub this moss on their bodies. This moss would help them avoid any 1-shard or 2-shard monsters that were found in any parts of the outer layer. Even while hunting they would use baits very far away from them and they would usually hide and wait for the monster to show up if more than one shows up, they wouldn't even move or make any sound.

Taking on one monster is hard enough but taking on 2 is impossible, so with the help of the moss they hide themselves in plain sight. Smelling the scent of the moss the monster would usually avoid them, that was the trick most of the hunters used when treading this dangerous forest. So, Renji didn't hesitate and rubbed all the moss that he found on his body as quickly as he could.

"Hurry find him wherever he is, it will be night soon if we don't find him soon." While rubbing the moss, Renji suddenly heard the faint sound of someone talking. When he heard the sound, he started running in the opposite direction immediately.

"Hey did you hear that? I think that sound came from that direction." Said a man from the group as he had heard some sound from the direction of Renji. Renji tried to run away without making a sound but he accidentally stepped on a dried branch which made a cracking sound.

'I need to be more careful.' Renji thought as he couldn't afford to make any mistake, if even one of them caught hold of him, he would have no chance of escaping as most of them were all adults.

.....................

A whistling sound suddenly came from within a part of the slum, and everyone who heard the sound suddenly turned to look in the direction from where the sound originated. There was a red blob of fire over the sky, the light illuminated the somewhat dark sky with red light. Some people who saw the scene were deeply concerned about what was going on.

"It's time, preparations are over its time to activate everything hahaha." A hoarse voice suddenly was heard from within the forest followed by a sinister laughter.

"Everyone alert, it might be an enemy attack. Ring all the alarms, and notify the superiors about a possible enemy attack." Said a soldier who was guarding an outpost that bordered the forest and the slums.

Suddenly one after another sirens started to go off on the entire slum area, and the sound of the siren slowly covered the entire Fortress cities. Hearing the ominous sound of sirens most of the people started to go into their shelters, while some people started to get ready with weapons and armor.

The entire city was in chaos after many years.

.....................….

While something sinister was brewing inside the city Renji was still running away from the group of people.

-SIGH-

'Finally, found one, I can hide safely now.' Thought Renji as he let out a sigh of relief, he was currently standing near a tree that had a small red mark on it. From the knowledge Renji had gained, this was the location of one of the many bunkers that hunters made over the year. This type of bunker was used by hunters if they wanted to rest or when they were out hunting. Renji knew if he hid here there was a chance that the pursuers won't be able to find him. He quickly scratched off the small mark and went inside the bunker to take shelter.

-TING-

"Why now of all the times?" Murmured Renji as his face suddenly went pale, all the sweat on his body felt cold as he heard faint sounds of the alarm that came from the direction of his city. He panicked after hearing the sudden sound, he quickly tried to crawl toward the exit of the bunker.

"What was that just now? Is the city under attack or something?" suddenly the sound of a man came from above the ground as Renji was trying to get out of the bunker. Renji stopped instantly as he heard the voice, he became silent and didn't move. If they found out that he was hiding here he would be dead.

"WHAT SHOULD WE DO? LET'S GO BACK….." Suddenly a terrified voice shouted.

"SUSH….keep your voices down don't panic, if we try to go back now we might increase the risk of getting attacked. Let's wait out here, I think this would be a safer option." Said a man who appeared to be calm, but if one looked closely his expression said otherwise.