Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

— Léon —
Bonee let out a low growl and Léon widened his eyes. "He's coming," he said in a rushed tone, skittering to slip back into his hammock. The tigress followed, jumping on him with cat-like grace.
Modraniht looked up, then down at the dismantled phone before him. He collected its pieces, pushed them into his pocket, and leaned against the tree trunk at his back, closing his eyes as if he was sleeping.
Even if they had decided to work with Cae, none of them wanted to actually trust him. Because of that, Mondraniht smooth-talked one of the barbarians into bringing him Léon's backpack—and with it, his phone.
Phillip chuckled and looked at Léon, sucking at a large mango seed. "Do you really think the old man can fix your phone?" Like a lazy ferret, Phillip was stretched belly-down on a foldable bed, half-hanging from its edge as if tempting gravity itself. There was mango juice all over his face and hand, wet and shiny under the morning light.
Léon rested his chin on the back of his hand. "Well, I can hope."
Not a minute later, two hands pushed the bushes and the ragged fabric around their new camping area—one of the perks of accepting to work for Count Cae. It was as private as it could be in the middle of a barbarian camp, but Cae was still close enough to make Léon uncomfortable.
"Good morning!" Cae said, stepping in. His eyes rested on Phillip, and he raised a single brow, the corner of his lips quirking up. He pulled a handkerchief from the front pocket of his shirt and threw it at Phillip. "I was expecting more professionalism from Red Menace of all people."
The seed slipped from Phillip's fingers. He sat up and blinked, schooling his expression. "You know my secret identity. So what? Half of New Continent knows it too—it was plastered on the news for weeks."
Cae made a show of shrinking his shoulders as a toxic smile broke across his lips. "Half of New Continent don't have the means to find out every little thing about you—and those around you. Let this be my warning, all right? Telling me things is the law around here." His hand rested on the holster at his waist. "And I'm an expert at punishing people who"—his smile widened—"break the law."
Phillip raised to his feet and tossed the handkerchief aside. He snarled; his lips curled up like a wild dog's. Before he said anything, Léon jumped to his feet and reached for Phillip's arm.
"I don't care why you're telling us this now, no one here is obligated to —"
"Right," Cae interrupted. "That reminds me—We'll break camp. Get ready."
Modraniht uncrossed his arms. He wasn't pretending to sleep anymore. "What you mean we? Didn't you say us three would track the lost kid?"
"I told you to find the kid, yes. I never said you'd be alone." Cae snapped his fingers, and a barbarian entered their camping area.
The barbarian approached Léon first and took his hand. Gently, he placed a small device against the tip of his right forefinger. The little machine whirred and clacked. Something pricked Léon's finger pad.
"Ouch!" He pulled his hand and sucked at the drop of blood forming on its tip. "What did you do?"
Grinning, the barbarian cleaned the device, replaced its needle, and turned to Modraniht. "Your hand, please."
Modraniht offered it to the barbarian, but his serious gaze was glued on Cae. "Seriously?"
The little machine whirred and clacked, but Modraniht didn't even flinch when his finger was punctured. The barbarian frowned. When they removed the device, Léon saw several small scars on Modraniht's index finger.
"A tracking device? Is this really necessary?" Modraniht glanced at Léon, slip his hand into his pocket, and faced Cae again.
"Only if you try to run away, Doc," Cae said with a smug smile.
The nameless barbarian stopped at a good distance from Phillip. There was a dark satisfaction in the way he smiled, rubbing the small device in his hands with something akin to lust. "Your hand, please."
Phillip scoffed. "Fuck off."
Cae chuckled. "Leave him be, Lei. We have access to his police records and to OC's police tracking system." He pointed at Phillip's ankle, where his GPS chip was hidden, deep into his flesh. "He can't hide from me."
The barbarian exchanged a look with Count Cae and contorted their lips in a crooked pout.
Cae patted their shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Lei. You'll have your chance."
Lei sighed. They dipped their chin and pivoted around to leave the camp area.
"As for you"—Cae faced Phillip, Modraniht, and stopped his gaze on Léon—"I want you ready to leave in half an hour. You three will go with Vanessa and me in my NAV... I want to see your tracking tiger in action."
"Through here," Cae said, waving a hand. At his heels, Vanessa followed with serious eyes and a worried expression.
"Wait a second. It's..." Léon tugged at his collar and swiped his sleeve on his forehead. "It's too hot in this damned forest." The muscles in his legs were still hurting from the almost five hours he had spent in Cae's NAV, sharing a two-people backseat with Phillip and Modraniht—and trying not to sit on the former's lap—plus the almost fifty-minute walk through the jungle.
Now, as the vibrant green left the scenery, replaced by arid-yellows and dry-browns, the place got even hotter, the afternoon sunrays bashing on his head and shoulders like tons of burning magma.
Léon clicked his tongue, leaning a hand against a dry tree trunk. Unlike the other times he touched one of the trees, the outer bark gave into his weight and sunk like a wet sponge, oozing a weird, dark liquid that pooled around the tree's roots. He swallowed hard and grimaced, removing his hand. There was a small smear of sap on his palm.
"What happened to this place?" Phillip stopped beside Léon. He took Léon's wrist and brought it up to sniff the sap on it. His eyes widened. "It almost smells like—"
"I know," Cae said with a dark expression.
The sap was starting to burn. Léon winced and tried to pull his hand away. With a small frown, Phillip slid his thumb on Léon's hand, cleaning the dark liquid.
"You never heard of Senibetama and what happened here?" Cae peeked over his shoulder. After a heartbeat, he sneered. "Of course not. NC really forgot about us, huh."
Something cold and uncomfortable twisted and swirled in Léon's stomach. Yeah, he knew Senibetama. It was the smallest village on the southeast coast in central Old Continent and one of the most beautiful places in the South Forests.
This was the neighboring village of Léon's hometown—a place he and his mom often visited during his school breaks. This village was where he had learned how to ride a bike, where he could eat real fruits, and it was pretty close to where he and Rob had met for the first time.
And all around him, that beautiful, exuberant forest from his memories was now dying.
What the hell?
Cae paused and furrowed his brows, listening. Léon, Phillip, Modraniht, and Vanessa did the same, but only Cae grinned. "Care to answer him, old man? Someone's looking for me."
While Cae walked to a thick bush of dry thorns, Modraniht scoffed. Cae took a machete from his backpack and proceeded to open a path through the bushes, slashing left and right in the deep silence of the decaying woods.
"Fifty-five is not old," Modraniht mumbled. Clicking his tongue, he crouched in front of a tree trunk and placed a hand on it. "Com'ere, boys." He waited for Phillip and Léon to approach him, and then dug his fingers in as if the tree was made of clay. "It started a couple of years ago, after a nasty thunderstorm." Modraniht peeled the bark off, showing the half-decayed inner wood. The sap inside was gooey and sticky like molten cheese. "There was a flood in this area, and it filled these woods with almost half a meter of water. The trees drank it all up... and now they're rotting from the inside while the soil is as dry as chalk."
The metallic smell washed over Léon, and he clasped a hand on his mouth and nose. It's been years since the last time he had smelled the scent of blood.
"But what's causing it? Was it something in the water?" Phillip asked. He inched closer to the exposed wood and raised a finger to touch the mass of molten wood inside it. The tree expelled a dark, purple-red sap. "Holy shit, this almost looks like raw Lifeforce."
Modraniht's eyebrows almost reached his hairline. "It's because it is, kid. I mean, the botanists studying it think this is Lifeforce." He crossed his arms. "How do you know what the raw thing looks like?"
"Work," Phillip put simply. He shrugged.
Léon rubbed his chin. "Maybe it's the effect of Acid Rain? There are still quite a few clouds of radiation around these parts, maybe—"
"Nah," Modraniht interrupted. "This is what people around here first thought, but there are no traces of radioactivity in the sap or anywhere in this area. Whatever is happening, it's something we've never seen before."
For the first time since they left the NAV, Vanessa spoke. "This is my village. I finally raked in enough money for a home in this place, and this is what happens." She kicked a dry clod and huffed. "I saw a strange woman walking in these parts a few months ago. I bet some of the other barbarian leaders are behind this. They can't accept the fact Cae owns the whole southeast coast."
Phillip cleaned his fingers on the cracked, bare earth and got up. From the fissures in the floor, a small number of ants erupted, covering the tree sap. "Well, at least someone seems to be enjoying what's happening."
Modraniht dropped the piece of bark on the floor and sighed. In the next moment, it was covered by ants and small, black beetles with long pincers.
"Not only the ants, though." Cae came back through the dry bushes carrying a big, furry animal.
"You found her!" Vanessa grinned and rushed to her boss. All the sourness from moments ago disappeared when she caressed the young anteater. "Oh, Cae," she whispered. "I'm so relieved. One week is way too much time; I'd never forgive myself if..."
Cae shook his head. "I never doubted Mamón would be around here, Nessa. She can't resist the number of ants in these parts."
"But—"
"Stop. It's not your fault if the little devil knows how to open her cage." Cae popped a kiss on the animal's head and was thanked with a moist, wet snout on his chin. He chuckled, scratching the anteater's neck.
That was something Léon wasn't expecting to see.
"Cats are too mainstream for you, I imagine," Modraniht mumbled.
"Domestic cats get eaten way too easily around these parts; I wouldn't be so irresponsible." Cae caressed the anteater's fur and hugged her closer. "Let's go; we need to reach the village before the others."
It took them one more hour of walking to reach the outskirts of Senibetama, but something was wrong. As the dry earth was replaced by broken asphalt and the decaying trees by once-beautiful houses, a shriek broke the eerie peace of the village. Shouts and a dense cloud of smoke greeted them from afar, the smell of fire robbing every ounce of fresh air they once had.
"Ah, fuck." Without a second thought, Cae placed Mamón, the anteater, on Léon's arms, and rushed to the commotion beside Vanessa.
"That doesn't sound good," Phillip mumbled.
As if agreeing with him, the anteater let out a shrill grunt, clawing at Léon's chest to hide his head under his opened shirt.