My name is Kagen. People call me Kae. And at the moment I'm freezing my ass off in these woods. I don't know what my brother hopes to find out here in the bang smack middle of winter but here I am in a forest wading ankle deep in sludge of dirt and sleet. The clouds overhead threatened to pour more of the damned snow any minute now in an attempt to drown us.

Shivering, I had my arms crossed and my hands deep in my armpits as I trudged deeper into the forest, looking for my older brother. It was that cold that I was puffing clouds. Urgh, I wanna go home.

"Cody," I call and only met with silence. Cupping one of my gloved hands to my mouth, I try again. This time louder, "Cody!"

As I came up a slight hill I saw some partially crumbled ruins of a small weird looking grey brick building. As I came closer, I noticed a faded blue sign of a white stick person and realised it was one of those old 'public toilets' obviously no longer operational. Who would willingly use one of these places anyway? My brother told me stories that long ago back before the Disaster, people would willingly go and use these as sex stops and stuff and were rarely cleaned or working. Rounding the side of it, I began to call again, "Co-" only to be cut off by something pulled me harshly from the side, jolting me into the wall and ending in a strangled squeak, "-dy."

Looking around I saw my brother at the end of the tight grip on my coat.

"Would you shut up!?" a hiss escaped his lips, his eyes focusing on the trees.

"Sorry," muttering I looked out to the forest. "What's going on?"

"It's them."

Frowning, I forgot he automatically assumes I know what's going on. "What?"

"Ssssh!"

"Don't shush me-"

His hand came slamming against my mouth, pausing me in my attempt to complain. Holding onto me tighter, He pressed himself over me, pushing my back further into the wall as if hoping we would merge with the flaking paint and brick rubble.

That was when I heard the shuffle of cloth and the deep tap-tap of boots marching on the road and a distinct ring from some sort of metal chain. From what I could tell, you know being fully incapacitated by this hulk pressing down on me, there is at least two people.

"You said that it was last sighted here, correct?" A male voice sounded out in the cold still air, which made me freeze.

"Yessir. The last pulse was felt thirty metres that way two minutes ago." Another male, if not a little younger, voice answered back. It felt like they were shouting even though they are speaking in no more than above a whisper.

Oh fuck. I look up at my brother who was out looking towards them, completely forgetting that I was here and his hand was making it hard to breathe. I lick it to get his attention, succeeding as his face screws up in disgust while removing his hand as if I had shocked him with electricity and wiped it on my coat with a half-hearted smack to go with it.

I pull a face back at him, wondering what was going on. Pressing a finger to his lips, he again asked me to be quiet before turning back out to look at what these intruders were up to. Seeing that he was going let me go, my headed rounded the corner to get a better look. My eyes widened in shock and probably what clutched at my heart the most, raw fear.

There were three men standing in the middle of a well-worn road that were once used by vehicles a long time ago. The black leather coats and high-quality garments underneath with the blue serpent insignia across their back, there was no mistaking them. Suppressors. What were they doing this far south of the Fence!?

My head snaps back at my brother who had gone back to ignoring my presence again. He was completely enraptured by them.

"Very well. X." a tall man who was the first voice that I had heard, called attention of a blonde haired boy who couldn't have been much older than my brother.

The blonde boy, X, stood straight like a pole, "Yessir?"

"Start scouting the northern side for about a fifteen kilometre radius. The target will not be going anywhere too far."

"Right away," X disappears into the trees like a flash of light.

"What do you require of me?" I realised that the third person is a girl with short black hair, her voice somewhat unsure about herself.

"You are to remain in my sight for the time being. Come, we will do the south perimeter."

A little deflated, she nodded, "Yessir."

The pair of them walked right passed us and our little hideout, going off into the tree skeletons.

Oh that's just perfect. We are surrounded by these people who have been known to shoot on sight, especially of our type. I shot a glare at Cody, what the hell was he wanting out here in the first place? Markus and Anne were waiting at home and if we don't show up before sundown they'll start balling their eyes out. Not to mention that there was a Miasmic Beast lurking about.

"What are we gonna do?" deciding to voice my mental frustrations out in a small whisper instead of the scream that I wanted was probably the safer option for now.

Looking down at me finally, Cody only blinks before stepping out of our hidey-hole, "Ideally, we should kill them."

"What!?" it was my turn to hiss. Was he insane? Did he finally snap? Did a screw fall lose and his brain fell out somewhere out in the woods on the way out here? "Are you nuts? There are three highly trained monster killers versus us two. I don't like our odds. And I'm not feeling particularly suicidal at the moment."

"They aren't exactly going to freely give us their weapons if we ask now are they?"

I think my brain just farted. "...What?"

"You saw them right? Those black swords? They're made out of black crystal and we need all the protection we can get."

"And you're suggesting we go against the people who are wielding them? They probably also have guns, filled with black bullets."

"Those would be helpful too, yes."

"I'm not making a grocery list!"

"And we cannot go on living out here without some sort of protect other than this flimsy knife!" yanking out said flimsy knife, he flashed it in my face.

I sigh, looking away.

"Also getting rid of them now before they discover Markus or Anne would also be in our favour. They would either kill them or take them away for their sick experiments."

"And what about you?" I snap. "You're also Cursed or maybe you forgot."

"I'll die before they take me away and drag as many of them down to hell along the way."

Giving him a deadpan look, I had no reply ready. Typical old Cody. Go down dying while taking everyone else with him. I loved and hated him for it.

"Good. Now that we're on the same page, I think we should-"

"Oh no. We are definitely not on the same page. I just wanna go back to the place Anne found for tonight. I'm cold and I think my socks are wet cos I can't feel my feet anymore."

"Then what do you suggest, Kae?"

"How about we sneak out really quietly?"

"You know that's not gonna be possible. The moment they spot us, we're dead."

"I think they be more preoccupied by the-"

A loud lung piercing animalistic screech choose to sound off from the trees not too far from us, shaking the top branches and small black birds from their branches.

"...Miasmic...beast..." I finish softly. Typical.

A large creature made a dash from the woods, too fast for me to catch more than a glimpse at before it landed on top of the public toilet building and my eyes widened as it too that moment to open its maw to let out another loud scream that hurt my ears. A demon monkey. Oh you've got to be kidding me. The large monkey was the size of a cow, its long tail twisting around in the air. Large protruding fangs which were too large for its mouth were dripping with saliva and what appeared to be black goo from its last meal. Covered in tanned yellow fur with a large black face, hands and feet with six green beady eyes on top of its head.

"Oh fuck," my brother voiced my sentiments exactly.

We both backed up just a step before those spider-like eyes made a turn to us and my brother shoved a protective hand out in front of me.

"Any bright ideas?" I mutter as we step back again. And again. Jumping off the half gone roof, the monkey began to follow us. Taking a step closer as we took a step back.

"I'm thinking..."

"Well, we're running out of room." I look back, seeing that we were heading for the trees and that was not a safe place to be with a giant jumping spider monkey.