Depth of Silence (LSoE Series)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

17 March, Year 660

West Agis Forest, 12:44 — Rei Marcotte

The year passed quickly; quicker than expected and quicker than preferred.  The Shadows were numbered in the winter and scarce in the summer.  It was really the spring and fall months when we saw the majority of our recorded Shadows unprotected by their black mist, which I had proudly named Dusk Vapor.  Unfortunately, we never managed to have one-on-one contact with them if they ever came around.  My guess was that they were observing us, and doing a better job of it, at that.  But now—finally!—we found ourselves on a Shadow's trail again.  Inconvenient as always, but better late than never, right?

"All right, Rei, you said you wanted to take this one," Lucas called to me.  "What's your proposition?"

Its weak spot was in its foot; that's where the coldest portion of its "body" was.  Hitting that wouldn't help with our research, though, since that would only cause the death of the Shadow.  Well, as close as a Shadow can get to dying, which is merely dissipating.  As for shocking it with light, it was darting around far too much to get a clean shot.  Shoot at the wrong angle and it could hit a tree.  Next thing you know, bam!  Forest fire.  Before I could reply, two more Shadows flew out from behind a tree.  The first Shadow halted its schemed scurry to look at its brethren and with a sharp pivot, the trio charged straight at us.

Startled by their sudden strong movement, I blurted out, "Exterminate them!"

Our small troop—Lucas, Ryder, and Kote—wasted no time to whip out their guns and aim at the figures.  In less lan a second, there was a flash of light that left the Shadows frozen in their spot.  Each one of the soldiers took their pick at a Shadow and slashed at the spot where the coldness was condensed: the heart.  It was never in the same space from Shadow to Shadow, but each time it proved to be the only successful way to rid the forest of one more Shadow.

"Well, there's three more test subjects eradicated," Ryder grumbled.

"Sorry, I figured it was better to not die," I snapped back at him.  "We'll find more.  Time's up, anyway."

Dakota agreed, "She is right.  We had no vial to capture them in, and it is not like we could have trailed it any longer.  The mission now is to travel to Caspian to retrieve our new recruits.  The previous mission has expired."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how well the next mission will turn out," Ryder replied.  He began to walk again, leading our troop.  "We're gonna have to train all the rookies while we barely know anything!  They're not even needed.  We have everything handled just fine."

"There's nothing wrong with a little help!  They'll only benefit us," I defended.

"No, they'll hold us back.  Can't you see there's not point to having them around?"

"Every mission has a goal, and so does this one.  An effective goal," I said while narrowing my eyes.  "Everyone deserves a chance with this opportunity."

"Jeez guys, can you just shut up?  We're only a couple minutes away from Caspian, so try to use these final moments to pull yourselves together.  Seriously, you're both acting like children," Lucas chided authoritatively.

I hung my head a bit, embarrassed that I had gotten into an argument with our sergeant.  Yes, he who was ranked two positions above me, by our three tiered system.  And sure, he was thick-headed at times, but there's a reason why he was dubbed the leader of our whole district—not only Division 001 but all of the Phantom Regiment.  But, hell, was he a perfectionist!