Chapter 70 – Ambush

It was dark by the time Brophy and Sal made it back to their camp. It was the evening of their seventh day in the wilderness and they had managed to get stuck into their routine.

Sal could barely comprehend how much he had improved over the last few days, but with Brophy by his side, he was counting his blessings for having such a veteran as an instructor. He wished he could have said the same for Prestige, but she had focused her time looking after Erika during the day. Not even Erika would say a word about their training regimen. But if her demeanor was anything to go by, it was hell on earth.

“We kept food for you, but it’s cold by now. Want me to warm it on the stove?” Rochelle offered as she caught sight of them. There were bags under her eyes, and Sal knew that she was giving the meditation her all.

Brophy shook his head as he picked up the offered plate. “Cold is fine for me. Is Prestige still training Erika?” He looked around the camp for any sign of them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Rochelle shook her head. “No, Erika came back a while ago. She went straight into the tent and hasn’t come out since. Ioseph is still out in the woods, but he should be back any time now. I was meditating, but I could hear their movements. I didn’t hear or sense Prestige at all.”

Sal took the offered plate and lifted the overturned plate that rested on top of it. He had silently prayed that she would have forgotten about the leg thing from their third day, but when the assortment of green vegetables met his gaze, Sal’s heart plummeted into the bottom of his stomach. Rochelle oversaw their rations, and she was making a point to load his plate up with nutrient-rich foods. It had been far too long since he had a steak, and Sal was justifiably devastated by the loss of meat.

Rochelle pretended not to notice Sal’s dismay as she gestured to where they had entered from. “How did you guys get on today? How many out of six?”

She had learned of Sal’s trials when he had come back cursing the previous two evenings. Despite spending all available sunlight out in the target area, he was no closer to reaching his target. Their most recent practice session had been no different.

Brophy smiled as he raised four fingers. “It was a great achievement, but inconsistent. He went straight back down to twos and threes afterward. I am seeing progress, though, so we can’t give him too hard of a time.” He laughed before taking a seat on the log beside Rochelle.

Sal glared as he took the visor off his face. “If someone kept them all in the same place, I’d probably have more consistent results. Changing targets means I need to keep learning new patterns.”

Brophy snorted. “Firstly, it’s you who keeps destroying them. If you just hit the targets, then we wouldn’t have this issue. Your gun seems to want to take out half the tree every time it gets a hit. Secondly, what demon is going to perch themselves in the exact same place for an entire battle? You need to be prepared for moving targets.”

Rochelle noted Sal’s dark expression and tried to lighten the mood. “Four sounds really impressive, though. Wasn’t your best only two a few days ago?”

Brophy nodded as he pointed his fork at Sal. “Very true. Now your worst result is consistently getting two. You’ve not dropped below that, which is an incredible feat in such a short space of time. You should be proud of yourself.”

Sal smiled humorlessly as he looked at Brophy. “Are you proud of me?” He knew the answer. Brophy held himself to a completely alien standard that didn’t make sense to humans.

Brophy’s grin didn’t falter in the slightest. “Any failure you’re experiencing is likely down to my inadequacy as an instructor. If you keep up this level of growth, then I’m sure you’ll be a crack shot by the time we step foot into the tower.”

Sal laughed. He should have added the caveat to his own thoughts. Getting genuine praise from Brophy was the hard part, like getting blood from a stone. The meaningless compliments came free and easily, but they weren’t even skin-deep. Sal knew very well that Brophy was frustrated by his progress. None of the smiles could mask his disappointment.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Rochelle perked up as she turned her attention toward Sal. “Your tablet was buzzing nonstop a while ago. I could hear it all the way from out here while I was meditating.”

Sal frowned as he put down his plate. “I’ll go and check.”

Both Brophy and Rochelle pointed at his plate.

“Get back and finish your vegetables.”

Both of them broke into laughter as they essentially said the same thing at the same time, but Sal didn’t pay them any heed as he opened the door of the tent and moved inside. The first sight he was met with was the bedraggled Erika. He could have sworn that she was looking straight through him or sleeping with her eyes open. If she was surprised at his appearance, she made no note of it and continued to stare forward. It was incredibly creepy, and Sal didn’t stop for any small talk as he reached for his tablet. It had been placed on silent, which was likely an intervention from Erika.

Not wanting to stay in her presence any more than was necessary, Sal exited the tent and tapped into his messages while wandering back to Brophy and Rochelle slowly. He had a few dozen messages, all from different people. After scrolling down the list, Sal found the earliest ones in the day from Divinity.

Divinity: How is your shooting practice coming along? Some of the teams are spooked because they think there’s fighting happening.

Divinity: I had a chat with Hannah about everything, and she’s really torn up. She didn’t mean any of the things she said to you and doesn’t know how to make things right.

Divinity: I think I made a breakthrough with essence control, by the way. All through normal meditation. No stupid illusion tricks. Just in case you change your mind and want to try a healthy method.

Divinity: I’m joking by the way. Do what makes sense for you. Hope you haven’t been getting any nightmares lately.

Divinity: Oh! I forgot to tell you. Melanie’s ability started going haywire on our first day, but she’s really getting it under control. This place is filled with death and she’s managed to quiet all the voices.

Divinity: I’ll let you know if she ends up going full Necromancer though.

Sal read through the messages. There didn’t seem like there was any immediate need to worry, and it looked like Divinity was just messaging him as usual. He sent back a few messages as replies and promised he’d read the rest of her messages soon, but that he was eating. Tapping back out of the menu, Sal clicked into the next one and saw that it was from Upgrade.

Upgrade: Just heard from Chatfield that you guys are spending a month in the Reclaimed Zone? I’ve let the commission requesters know that you won’t be getting back to them for a while.

Upgrade: Send me a picture of the tent thing you made. Your guardian reported that you had made a rock cave and I’m curious.

Upgrade: Haven’t let any of the second-years use Room 17, even though you’re gone. You should have seen their faces. Anyway, be safe and try your best.

Upgrade: You’ve got this.

Sal used the picture he had sent Barry and Divinity from his gallery and forwarded it on to Upgrade with his thanks. He really hoped that she was messing with him when she said that Chatfield confirmed they’d be out in the Reclaimed Zone for a month. He had assumed it would be for a week or two, but to be out there for the full duration of time before the tower raid sounded unhinged.

Would they just keep supplying rations to them and hope they wouldn’t ask questions? He needed to ask Prestige when she next appeared. If they were going to be staying at the campsite for a prolonged period, then they’d need to figure something out. There was no method for them to bathe properly other than taking turns with a heated pot of water and seeking privacy somewhere in the wilderness.

Sal reached for his plate and picked up a vegetable, munching on it as he went through the next series of messages.

“Someone’s popular,” Rochelle teased as she cradled her chin in her palms. Her green eyes sparkled from the light of the stove, and Sal just ignored her.

Brophy gave Sal a wary glance. “Anything from Divinity? Things to be mindful of?”

Sal shook his head as he went through the messages. “She messaged earlier in the day with a few random updates. Nothing of note.”

That seemed to appease Brophy, who nodded and returned to his own plate. “Her power is no joke. We’re lucky that you’re friends with her.”

Sal nodded silently as he moved through the messages. There were a few updates from the Credit Store about blueprint sales to the second-years, and also a few updates on prices for hellfire titanium and lord crystal. Sal tapped on those to discard them. He forgot that he had put on a price watch to see if any appeared on their storefront. There was a single message from Vanessa that Sal was curious about. He couldn’t think of what she might want to talk to him about and wondered whether it had anything to do with the Reavers Guild negotiations.

Vanessa: Got a tip off from Watcher. Hunters and guilds will be starting mock raids on the student camps in the coming days. Testing defenses and subduing students. Be prepared.

Sal laughed when he read the words on his screen. Of course they wouldn’t be content with leaving them camping. A storm wasn’t enough to prepare them for the fights to come, so why wouldn’t they launch a raid on the students?

“What is it?” Brophy placed his plate to one side as he got to his feet. Without looking for Sal’s permission, he tilted his head and read the words on the screen.

“Oh my,” he said in a breathless tone.

When Sal looked at him, he was surprised to see a delighted expression on his face. “Were you hoping this would happen?”

“Hoping what would happen?” Rochelle got to her feet.

Brophy grinned at Rochelle and Sal. “Looks like we’re going to get ambushed by the guilds. Isn’t this exciting?” He looked around and seemed to realize that Ioseph wasn’t in the camp yet. “Do we know where Ioseph is?”

Sal gritted his teeth as he added Barry and Divinity to a group chat. He sent a message as quickly as he could, trying to warn them about the incoming attacks. He noticed that his tablet suggested a more recent group with both Divinity and Barry. Sal navigated to it and saw that incessant notifications had been coming from it.

Incoming Attack Reports!

Divinity Khan: Ambushes will start tonight. Guilds and Hunters are going to attack in the middle of the night to test our defenses. Add as many Team Captains / Controllers as you know!

Darren Lenihan: Found tracks outside our base this afternoon that weren’t caused by the team or guardian. Do you think they’ve been scouting us?

Victoria Chase: How do we know this is actually happening and not some bullshit prank?

Victoria Chase: Has anyone been attacked yet?

Barry Francis: Who added Victoria? I thought we agreed to let her get ambushed?

Lucia Hernandez: Lol. Thanks for the tip, Divinity. We’re ready.

Whisper Ding: No attacks on our side, but we’ll stay awake tonight. Thanks.

Darren Lenihan: I’m going out to scout the area. I’ll report back if there’s anything.

Barry Francis: Add Blathnaid to the group in case her Controller dies. No offense, Darren.

Darren Lenihan: None taken. Added.

Divinity Khan: I don’t know their names, but three teams have already been ambushed. They’re not from Silver cohort.

Sal turned the screen around to show Brophy and shook his head. “There’s already been three ambushes. One of them is saying they found tracks outside their camp. Do you think that they’ve been scouting around us?”

Brophy shook his head. “No. There’s been no signs of anyone in our area, but we should be fine even if they do try to ambush us.”

Rochelle stared out of the barriers into the darkness. “We need to get Ioseph back here as soon as possible. Should we go out and look for him?” The tremor in her voice showcased that despite the brave words, Rochelle had absolutely no desire to step foot into the dark woods.

Sal continued to read through the thread, hoping there would be some nugget of useful information. He recognized most of the names at first, which he guessed was because of how connected his original group was to those teams, but that changed as he kept scrolling.

Divinity Khan: Can you check your own cohort groups to see who isn’t responding?

Aeon Silverbright: Everything is looking normal over here. Will keep an eye out.

Ellie Nacha: Hey everyone! Catching up with the group chat. Give me a second!

Barry Francis: Lol.

Elias Storm: Flying over our camp now, can see signs of battle near the lake. Can anyone in that area confirm?

Ellie Nacha: Oh fuck! We’re by the lake!

Vex Furor: This is ridiculous. Why are they throwing this at us now?

Divinity Khan: Please refrain from messaging unless it’s relevant to the attacks. We need to know what we’re dealing with. I can’t keep an eye on two hundred teams and need some direction of where to look.

Victoria Chase: Fuck you, Barry!

Jay Darkwind: I threw some lightning down by the lake for visibility. Hope it helps.

Angelus Flavius: Running toward the lake now, have my armor on.

Barry Francis: You’re running…toward the problem?

Brophy stretched his arms out wide as he took a deep breath. “Ioseph will be fine. He’s been ahead of the game for a while now. I actually feel more worried about the guilds that try to attack us.” He looked over toward the tent with a sigh. “We should let her know that things are going to get spicy. Rochelle, would you mind doing the honors?”

Rochelle gave him a knowing look before setting off toward the tent in a sprint.

Sal scanned through the chat in the hopes of finding something of note, but there wasn’t anything factual. Everyone was sharing their observations, feelings, or concerns. Divinity seemed frustrated by the lack of direction, and Sal couldn’t blame her. Barry looked like he was having a great time and seemed content to throw in a few incendiary comments now and again.

“Ah, excellent timing,” Brophy announced.

Sal glanced up.

Ioseph held his chin high as he walked toward the camp. His bloodied hand was holding his nose, and the entire front of his gray uniform was showered in blood.

“Rochelle!” Sal shouted for her to come back while Brophy took a step closer to Ioseph.

“How many?” There was a glint in Brophy’s eyes that Sal had never seen before.

Ioseph bowed his head long enough to make eye contact with Brophy. He removed his bloodied hand to reveal a broken nose. A crooked smile crossed his lips as he shook his head slightly. “Don’t ruin the fun. I let them chase me here.”

Sal stared at their Defense. “Are you crazy? You want them to come here?”

Ioseph’s teeth were covered in blood as he grinned maniacally.